Tris Conquers Her Fear

Do You Accept?

Tris POV

Tobias and I walk to the restaurant hand-in-hand. The host greets us and takes us to a table as soon as we arrive. I notice that there is soft, romantic music playing in the background.

Our waiter comes to our table shortly after.

"Four! Man, how are you?" Tobias stands to give him a handshake, and they embrace at the same time. Some thing guys do, I guess.

"Hey, Chris. It's been awhile." Then he turns to me. "Chris, this is my girlfriend, Tris." I also stand politely to shake his hand.

"It's nice to meet you," I say.

Chris replies, "It's nice to meet you, as well. I used to work in the control room with Four. Got bored of it, and they offered me a job here."

I nod. Tobias and I sit back down. Chris hands us menus, and we both order waters.

As I look over the options on the menu, I realize how expensive they are. Tobias will probably pay, so I choose a pasta meal that is not too pricey. He orders a steak when Chris returns.

I glance around and notice that everyone here looks to be high-class members of Dauntless. I wonder what kind of jobs warrant that lifestyle, but I suppose Tobias and I may be considered of that status. We just aren't the type to flaunt our successes and spend our money on extravagant meals all of the time.

I am about to take a drink of water when I notice Tobias smiling at me. "What?" I smile.

"I don't know if it's just me, but I feel a little out of the ordinary here."

I shake my head. "I do, too. Don't get me wrong, this is extremely romantic and I like dressing up every once in a while, but I think I'd rather stick to my normal lifestyle."

"Me too." He pauses to take my hand across the table. "But I do like getting to see you dressed up and being able to treat you like a lady on nights like these."

I smile. "Oh, stop. You always act like a gentleman."

"Well, tonight I'm extra gentlemanly," he says.

I laugh with him. I don't think that's a word.

"So are you excited to start tomorrow?" I ask. I'm so happy for him.

"Definitely." He grins when I mention it. "You know how much I disagree with some of the procedures, though, so it's going to be a lot of hard work."

I nod. Tobias has talked about it every time that Initiation has been brought up in our conversations. "Did Max tell you what you would be doing?"

"For the first few weeks, I'll have to do a lot of writing and speaking. Meetings, most likely. Proposing ideas, backing them up, talking to others. I'm hoping I'll have normal hours, but something tells me that I'll be having some long nights." His face drops at the thought. I remember how tough it was when he worked the night shift for that one week.

I try not to show any unhappiness because I know how much this job means to him. "You have to do what you have to do." I shrug. "We'll make it work."

To change the subject, I add, "They don't know what they have coming. If they thought Eric was bad ... you're going to be a real pain in the ass."

Tobias smiles. "I think I can be pretty persuasive, especially when it comes to something I feel so strongly about." Then he squeezes my hand. "And you know I'll always make time for you, so don't worry about it."

I smile. "I know." I release his hand to take a drink.

About fifteen minutes later, Chris returns with our food. The portions are so big that I don't think that we'll be able to finish them in this sitting.