Deceptions & Secrets

Chapter 6: Dating in Secret

Chapter 6: Dating in Secret

+++o+++

Chapter Disclaimer: While this full chapter is within the guidelines for a T-rated story, we still want to give you the option to skip over the more adult content. So, for our more conservative readers, we have placed /XO/ at the start and end of that section of the chapter as a helpful guide.

+++o+++

Chapter 6: Dating in Secret

Date: Two months before Tobias's Choosing Ceremony (April)

*Tobias POV*

I have been lying here for over an hour, but it's as if rubber bands are connected to my eyelids, forcing them open every time I try to close them. I know why. I didn't get a moment alone with Beatrice today.

Two weeks have passed since Beatrice and I finally admitted our feelings for one another. The late hours that our parents often work have been more welcome than ever. We still do our chores and keep our feelings for one another completely a secret in front of others. We have always hurried to finish the chores thanks to Marcus's volatile nature alone, but we are now even more motivated-- the sooner everything is done, the more time we have to steal away together.

We have also changed the way we go about chores. Whenever possible, we either work on a task together, or we stay near one another-- for example, Beatrice will dust and clean the living room floor while I sweep the fireplace. That way, we are near enough one another to continue talking. When chores are in the more hidden areas of the house, such as the bedrooms or bathroom, we can steal kisses without worry that we will be caught; we can always hear the front door opening, and that gives us plenty of warning.

Marcus has been quite frustrated as his plans to find me suitable wife have proved fruitless. It seems that the kind of families that he would want me to join by marriage... are led by fathers with too much integrity to play into his schemes. These fathers are conservative and have plainly told Marcus that, as their daughters are nearing the age of courtship, bringing their daughters for dinner at our home would be inappropriate. I am thankful that Marcus has not somehow blamed this on me, though I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop in that regard-- I have no doubt that I will receive a beating for it sometime soon. Of course, Marcus certainly cannot be expected to take responsibility for the error himself.

I almost think that the incident with the one father who did accept the dinner invitation, would be worth the beating. Almost. Marcus had invited the Jameson family to dinner, asking that Mr. Jameson bring his entire family along-- of course, he meant the eighteen-year-old daughter, Abigail... but it apparently did not occur to Marcus that he would need to be so specific. It took every bit of self-control I had to hold back my laughter when Mr. Jameson arrived with Mrs. Jameson and their eight-year-old daughter, Hannah, but left Abigail at home to complete her chores, stating that she was much too close to proper courtship age to attend dinner with a family with a boy of that age as well.

I am surprised that steam did not come out of Marcus's ears. He kept that fake, placid Abnegation Leader expression on his face, but the deep shade of red his face took on was impossible to hide. Beatrice actually had to excuse herself for a moment, and afterward, she told me that she was afraid everyone might still hear her laughter from upstairs, where she was muffling it in her pillow.

It was a good relief of tension after the rocky afternoon we had together in preparation for the dinner.

++O++