~Two days later~
-September 30th, 8:21 a.m.-
~Tobias's POV~
I wake up to the sound of soft snoring coming from beside me, and I open my eyes to see it's my beautiful girlfriend, obviously in a very deep sleep. I sit up a little, and I admired how peaceful and serene she seemed. I notice she's shirtless though, and I clench my jaw. I fight the urge to start our morning off like that, even though I know she wouldn't mind. I carefully turn and I gently pull her close to me by her waist.
I slowly snuggle in her neck, wrapping my arm all the way around her. I breathe her in, and I guess she finally wakes up because, the next thing I feel is her snuggling back into me. She grumbles a bit, like a little bear cub, before wrapping her arms over mine. "Good morning beautiful." I whisper near her ear, and I feel her slightly vibrate against me. I realize I gave her goosebumps, "Good morning handsome." She responds, and her groggy little morning voice puts a smile on my face.
I kiss her neck, and although I don't notice I am, I started twisting and playing with the promise ring on my loves finger. And I'm guessing my actions reminded her of today's date because, the next thing I know I'm being rolled over and laid on. She straddles my lap, and wraps her arms all the way around my neck, snuggling into it. I wrap my arms around her just as tight, "Happy one year anniversary my love." I say softly, and she says it back to me, even though she knew she'd be muffled by my neck and our pillows. I laugh at how funny she sounded, inevitably making her laugh as well.
Something both stops us from laughing, and that would be Jasper and his little whine. Natalie rolls off me and peers over the edge of our canopy bed, and picks Jasper up and sets him on our silk sheets. He's gotten a bit bigger over the few months, especially his paws. The moment she picked him up though, his whines turned into happy little barks. He pounces onto Natalie as she sits criss-cross apple sauce in front of me, stealing and wrapping the blanket around her chest and body.
I pull Jasper away for a second while she wraps it nice and tight, and I let him go once she puts her arms down. He nearly tackles her with love, and a part of me develops a slight case of envy. Given she doesn't look no where near as happy when I give her love. Then again, I did get her the dog, and, not to mention, he's a dog, not a person. "You look so jealous over there." My love tells me, and I realize I had my arms crossed while staring at Jasper pretty hard.
"Well, maybe I am. He just stole my girlfriend's attention." I say, giving her a sad face. I roll over and bury my head into my pillow, and hear and feel her put Jasper back on the ground. I feel her crawl back over to me, and she stops right above me. The next thing I feel is her lips connecting with the middle of my back, sending shivers down my spine. She trails her kisses up, following the line my spine makes within my skin. Or more like, following the inked factions on my skin. Most likely kissing each factions symbol, given I felt five soft and slow kisses before she skipped up to my ear lobe. By then, I was already locked in a trance, a trance only she could put me in.
***
~Jade's POV~
-4:22 p.m.-
"So?" I ask, "What'd you guys think?" I add, and both Christina and Lauren sit speechless on my couch. And they both visibly struggle to form words. I just revealed to them what my anniversary gift is for Tobias. "Oh my god, it was that bad?" I ask, feeling my face and heart drop. My gift is a song, a song that I personally wrote.
And that's when both of them snap out of it, and they quickly correct me. "No Nat, that's not it at all. That was absolutely amazing. That's why we couldn't form sentences." Lauren explains, Christina nods in agreement. "But I was also imagining you singing it to him. Picturing his reaction and such." Chris adds, and I raise my eyebrow at her. "And?" I ask, wondering if either of them think that he'll love it. "That man is gonna love it, Natalie. Assuming he's never heard you sing before, right?" Lauren states and questions, and I nod.
I've never really sung in front of him before. But I do tend to sing to myself, in the shower, while cooking, doing laundry and etc. So I think he's probably overheard me, but he's never actually heard me heard me, y'know? "Yeah, there's no way he's not gonna love this song. Even if he has heard her sing." Christina sorta hisses at Lauren, but Lauren obviously brushes it off. I suspiciously stare at both of them, since their body language changed right after Chris's comment.
But before I could comment, my doorbell rings. I head over to the door, and look through the peephole. And I watch my two doofus brother's make silly faces at the little hole. I laugh, and let them in. I greet them with hugs and kisses on the cheek, and they greet me back the same way.
"Hello our oh so beautiful sister, and lovely ladies over there." Miles says, waves over to Chris and Lauren. Liam blows a kiss towards Lauren, and she catches it. "Okay so, here's what's happenin'. Tobias wants you two to give said beautiful sister a make over. That matches this dress that he picked out." My little brother pulls out a dress from behind his back, and my eyes widened at it a bit. It was so pretty. Christina jumps up and snatches me and then the dress. And she helps me get into it after we climbed up my stairs and entered my room.
After that, someone knocks and once I knew it was Lauren, I let her enter. She comes in with her makeup bag, and she also heads into my bathroom for my makeup as well. And before I knew it I was sat down, and the two of them went at it once again. Of course, minus my beloved aunt and that cursed she-devil. Christina did my hair, making two French braids all the to the ends of my hair, and laying my frizzy little baby hairs down as well.
While Lauren worked her magic on my face. It's always such a relaxing process when getting a makeover. I'll be sure to return the favor to both ladies. Given this is the second time getting a makeover from them. The two finish after adding some jewelry, and strapping me in some heels Lauren literally ran to her apartment to get.
I notice the dedication in both girls, and although I'm absolutely flattered, something starts to become obvious. There's a reason behind this behavior, from both my brother's and my friends. It's my boyfriend's surprise. They're in on it, they all know what it is. And I don't.
"You two know, don't you?" I ask, and they both freeze, like deer in headlights. And that's all I needed to know the answer to my question was yes. They didn't even need clarification. "You're mad, aren't you?" Lauren asks, trying to avoid eye contact. "No but, it sucks to be the only one that doesn't know. I know it's my surprise but, everyone's making this seem so serious and I have absolutely no idea what it could be." I say, and they both look at one another, and smile.
"Trust me Natalie, the suspense is all gonna be worth it."
***
~Miles POV~
-5:58 p.m.-
I listen to my brother explain exactly how Tobias wants this to pan out, and notice his eyes flickered behind me. I turn and watch as my sister walks down her spiral stairs, looking as gorgeous as ever. My eyes start to water, and I try to remember what Tobias said, "Don't show emotion, it'll be hard but, I need her to not suspect a thing." And I swallow the forming lump in my throat as I smile at my approaching sibling, along with her friend's following behind her. "Woulda look at you." I say, spinning her around by her hand. She smiles, "You look amazing sis." Liam comments, and Lauren comes over and hugs him. "Aren't me and Chris awesome babe? We did that." She asks and says, and he hugs her back.
~Jade's POV~
And I find my brother's and friends all admiring me as I flipped my long braids in front of me. I look at all of them, before squinting my eyes suspiciously. "What?" I ask, and they all snap out of it. They all break off and Liam offers his arm to me, and I take it, even though I have no idea where he's about to take me. We head out my apartment and he leads me throughout the halls of Dauntless, and a few turns later I realize I know exactly where we're going. We're going to the net room. I smile wide as we hit the doors, and Liam lets go of my arm.
He kisses me on the cheek, and points towards the net before exiting the net room. I look towards the direction he pointed, and I notice candles, making an obvious pathway towards the staircase under the net. I follow it, and I look under my heels to see rose petals, sprinkled neatly within the lined up candle pathway. I look up to see my love, right under the net, with his back to me. I walk up the candled steps, and he finally turns at the sound of my heels.
I look him up and down, and I couldn't help but bite my lip. Button up shirt, vest, dress pants and dress shoes. I step closer; hair slick, new gold watch, glistening. Why does he look so good? I look up at his face once again, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that likes what I'm seeing. "You look ... perfect." He mutters, stepping closer to me.
I clench my jaw, having his mind-numbing cologne fill my nostrils. He tucks a curl behind my ear, and cups my jaw. He places his lips on my cheek, then down to my jawline. "Far from perfect." I mutter, nearly breathless. He then kisses down to my neck, "Hush." He simply says, and glides his hands to my waist.
He grips it and pulls me even closer. "The perfect spot for the perfect girl." He says in between kisses, and I smile against his cheek. "Exactly where we first met." I comment, kissing his cheek. He gestures for us to sit on this fluffy white blanket that was laid on the last step up. We sit, and I throw my leg over one of his, and take his hand in mine.
He smiles at me, and squeezes my hand. But I notice something, his hand is sweaty. Just like when he met my dad for the first time. He's nervous. Why is he nervous?
Curiosity got the best of me and I ask him, and he swallows hard. "Why do you think I'm nervous?" He asks me, and I squeeze his hand. "Your hand is sweaty, and the only time your hands sweat is when your nervous. Like when you met my dad for the first time." I explain, and he bites his lip. "So don't even try to lie. Why are you nervous Tobias?" I ask, and he quickly wipes off his hands on his pants. "Alright, you got me. I'm only nervous because of you." He confesses, trying to suppress his smile and avoid my eyes.
But I can tell there's something else, "It's my surprise, isn't it? I don't make you this nervous." I ask and state. He fidget's next to me, and I get my answer without a word from him. "Go first." I blurt, and he looks at me inquisitively. "I want you to go first. I want my surprise first. It's obvious this is just as torturous for you as it is for me." I repeat, and he raises his eyebrows at me. "Are you sure? You were pretty defensive about your book." He asks me, and I nod.
He takes a deep breath and I take his hand once again, just to calm his nerves. "Okay, before I show you what your surprise is, I have to come clean about something." He starts, and he captures my attention instantly. "You remember when you found your baby picture in my jacket? And I told you that things went bad that time I went to see your dad by myself?" He asks me, and I nod. "I actually lied." He says, and I raise my eyebrows at him. "So, it actually went good?" I ask, thinking of all the other questions I now wanna ask.
He nods, "When I got there, he was on your guys back porch. Your mom made me grab a glass before heading back so, I assumed he was gonna be grilling me for what he found out about the future." He explains, and I begin to paint a vivid picture. "But," my love pauses, "I was so wrong. He pours me a drink, and handed me that picture of you. He still said all those same things that I talked about but, the difference is," He pauses once again, "He trusted me, he actually revealed to me that he liked and respected me. Your dad may have been planning to cuss me out that night before but, either someone or something must've changed his mind because, that next night he asked me." My love explains, and I hang onto every word that came from his lips. He stands from being seated and pulls me up with him by my hand. "He asked you what?" I question, with mighty caution. I compare our heartbeats, and the difference was apparent.
Mine was moderate with a dash of concerned and curious thumps here and there, while his on the other hand, was jumping out of his chest nonstop. I straighten out my dress, "He asked me, to ask him, for your hand." He says with a shake in his voice, and a glint in his eyes. My heart drops into my toes once I realize exactly what he just said. But before I could say a word, I watch the love of my life reach into his pocket, and pull out a little velvet box. I clamp a hand over my mouth, nearly gasping for air.
"Before I asked, he showed me this ring, and asked me three questions. He asked me if my love for you was fake, if I'm impatient, and if I'd ever cheat on you. And of course, I answered all three questions with firm no's. And after I asked, he gave me your mothers ring, without a worry in the world. He wants me to be your husband, just as much as I want to be your husband." He continues, and tears started to blur my vision. "And after all this asking and answering, there's really only one question, and one answer that truly matters now." He adds, and I blink the tears out of my eyes, and they roll down my cheeks as he gets down on one knee. "Natalie Harris, will you do me, Tobias Eaton, the honor, of becoming my wife?" He asks, and I shake as he takes my hand and opens the velvet box. I gasp, holding back my sobs as he shows me the ring of my dreams. That same beautiful engagement ring that my mom let me play with when I was little.
The same one she considered was "too much" But to me? To me it's always been perfect. And I have a feeling my mom also had a part in this surprise for me. I lock eyes with Tobias, and without a ounce of hesitation in my heart, "Yes, a million times yes, I'd gladly be your wife Tobias." I answer, wiping the wetness from my cheeks.
He smiles wide up at me, right before excitedly taking my promise ring off, and sliding on my mothers engagement ring. Right before sliding my ring on, I mean. And I don't even take the time to admire it. I immediately embrace Tobias around the neck like no tomorrow, crying. I knew this was bound to happen but, I didn't know he'd do it today.
Nor did I know my father changed his mind about him. "I'm so glad you said yes." He whispers near my ear. I sorta laugh-scoff, "Of course I'd say yes, I couldn't possibly think of saying yes to anyone else." I tell him, and he pulls out of our hug a bit. He looks into my eyes, placing his hand on my cheek. He wipes away my happy tears, making me smile. He places his lips onto mine and it felt exactly like the very first time we kissed.
***
Tobias leads me back to our apartment, of course after I blew out all the candles with a snap of my finger. He leads me back, spinning me around and smiling. At one point, he picked me up, bridal style. I laugh aloud, and apparently whoever was in our apartment had heard and opened the door for us. He puts me down in front of the threshold of our door, obviously wanting to wait till our actually wedding day to carry me through.
I walk through and I notice the little party me and Tobias' friends and family put together for us. We walk in, and they start clapping and cheering. My brother's, Tobias' mother, My aunt, Alexander, Melody, Lauren, Christina, and lastly, Will. They made a pretty banner, and hung up gold and silver streamers. Alex, Will, and my brother's all surround me and one of them holds up my left hand to get a good look at the ring, they hype up Tobias, patting him on the back and congratulating him.
All the other ladies in the room though, surround me while screaming. Tobias' mother embraces me with watery eyes, while his sister reaches up for me. I pick her up and she hugs me tight, "You're my big sissy now, okay?" She says, and my bottom lip pokes out at her words. Tobias comes over and kisses his little sister cheek, right before handing me a glass of wine. Melody reaches for the glass and I hold it away from her, "Not so fast little girl, this is an grown up's drink." I tell her and she pouts a bit, so her mother comes over and swoops her out my arms.
"Speaking of grown ups, how about we let the two grown love birds here enjoy their day together. Harris-Eaton family, let's head out." His mother announces, and everyone gives hugs and congratulates me and Tobias once more before heading out our front door. I close the door behind my brother's, locking it. And I turn around to see my love approaching me with his own glass of wine. I stand in front of him, holding my glass, crossing my other arm underneath the arm that held the glass. He stands in front of me, with one hand holding his glass, and the other, in his pocket.
And we both just ... look. We look at one another, with growing smiles on our faces. I squint my eyes at him though, "So," I start, "Is this something I'm going to have to get used to? You always one upping me?" I question, "My gift for you is no where near as special as your gift for me." I tell him, letting my eyes fall from his to his chest. He lifts my chin with his pointer finger, "Don't get mad at me but, I had Liam tell me what exactly your gift is. You wrote me a song?" He asks me excitedly, searching my eyes with a smile. I nod, "But it's honestly nothing compared to what you did." I say, shaking my head.
Whole time I was writing a simple little song, he was basically setting up our future together. "I still wanna hear it. I still wanna hear what you wrote for me. It's been one of the main things on my mind since I caught you working on it. I watched you for a split second, deep into writing. I can tell you put your all into it, so I still wanna hear it. In my eyes, I haven't topped anyone. All I've done is proposed to the same woman who's going to sing to me, right now." He tells me, taking a sip of his wine. I bite my lip, as he peeks behind him to make sure the couch was close enough to lean up against. But, as soon as I was about to start singing, our doorbell rings repeatedly. Both me and Tobias furrow our eyebrows as he stops me from heading over to the door, and proceeds to himself.
He checks the peephole and opens the door quickly afterwards, and in barges my older brother. "Down ... near ... Chasm ... Gun ... Engaged." My sibling tries to explain in between harsh and fast breaths. He's pointing out the door he barged in through, "Breathe bubbie breathe." I say, seeing that he must've ran all the way from what I assume is the chasm. We both give Miles a minute catch his breath, "Okay, now, what's going on?" I ask him, "Eric's drunk down near the chasm, he has a gun, and he's also found out you two just got engaged. Let's go alpha." He explains, and a frown finds its way onto my face. Tobias immediately starts heading out the door, but once I follow along, he tries to stop me.
"You're stupid if you think I'm not going with. He has a gun, and last time I remember, I'm the one that can stop and take a bullet." Is all I say, before pulling him out apartment and racing down the hall with him and my brother. And yes, I can run in heels. We make towards the hallway of the chasm and it's filled with a crowd. Not for long though, once people recognize me and Tobias are here, people start announcing our presences. "The alpha and beta are here, move out the way people!" Someone shouts, and everyone clears a path for me and my love that lead straight to a spastic, and bewildered Eric.
He had a bottle in one hand, and a gun in the other. Before he spotted us, he was waving his handgun in every direction while sipping the liquor, obviously speaking with his arm. After he spotted us though, the handgun instantaneously was aimed towards my fiancee. "You!" Eric shouts, pulling the safety off on the gun. The crowd jumps and backs up, some even flee, like smart people would.
But that's one flaw Dauntless has, severe curiosity and fearlessness. Given the different amount of things that's happened within the headquarters. I make sure to stay one step in front of Tobias, even though I stay beside him. Tobias unbuttons and rolls up his sleeves, before unbuttoning his vest and shedding it off. And he did so while approaching Eric with his hands up, indicating he's weaponless.
"Eric, what're you doing man?" He questions him, and I watch as Eric's eyes bounce between Tobias and myself. I study him. His blonde locks were disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot, and not to mention, his snakes bite piercings were irritated and bleeding a bit. He seemed fidgety, and wired. And yet, he also seemed calm, and focused, as if there was a plan in his head.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm drinking and pointin' a gun at you, Alpha leader." Eric spat, putting extra emphasize on the title alpha. "Eric you're not thinking straight-" Just then, he lets one off, right after aiming towards the right of Tobias. And that first shot, sent people running. All except Tobias, myself, Miles, and oddly enough, all five of our inconclusive initiates.
They must've been near when Eric first started to make a scene. I see them, and I point for them to get out of here, "And don't make me tell any of you twice." I say, and all but one leaves. Stephanie. She scrunches her nose and squints her eyes at Eric. Oh no. Not now.
"Stephanie, not now. This is obviously not a very good-" - "So this is Eric Coulter?" She cuts me off. She wants answers to something that literally has nothing to do with her. Besides the fact her sister's in the mix. "Wai-what? How does she know my name?" Eric asks, surprisingly coherent, not taking his eyes, nor his gun, off of Tobias. I can see it.
The alcohol's becoming not enough for him. "I know your name because many years ago, apparently my sister, Elaina Matthews, cheated on mister alpha leader over here, with you. Is this true or false?" She explains, and asks. Really? Right now? "Ooooh so you're that Stephanie. Erudites little once prodigy suddenly drops in test scores, and then drops from the faction as a whole. I vividly remember reading that section in the news. Considering it was on the front page." Eric starts rambling on about, and I don't even need to look over at Steph to know his words were like little pinpricks.
Poking her, repeatedly. "Mind your business." - "How bout you mind yours?" Eric immediately counters her response with. Slightly gesturing the gun to the confrontation in front of her. Stephanie rolls her eyes, and turns on her heels, but right before she gets out of earshot. "But to answer your question, so you don't come running to find me, yes. I am a part of the reason why him and your sister aren't together anymore." Eric confirms.
Stephanie stops in her tracks for only a moment, before continuing out the hallway. "Karma's a bitch y'know. I fuck your ex-girlfriend, you two break up, and you just so happen to also get the girl that I wanted. I practically made sure this would happen to myself." Eric goes on about, letting his guard down. And I watch my boyfriend slowly creep towards him in my peripherals. And he would've been able to disarm Eric, if it weren't for the gravel that got caught underneath his shoe. Eric heard it, and immediately changed the aim of his gun.
He then aimed it at me. "Move one more fucking inch, because at this point, I won't hesitate to take away what's yours." Eric threatens, and my heart jumps out of my chest. But for only a second, before remembering who I am, and what I'm capable of. "Don't force my hand Tobias, especially not today of all days." Eric adds, gesturing his gun down at my left hand for a moment. He definitely knows, but the question is, who told him?
How did he know when our anniversary was? How did he find out about Tobias's proposal? I take a step closer, "No you won't." I simply say, and he tightens his grip around his gun. I look over at Tobias, and he looks over at me with worry in his eyes. I give him a reassuring nod, and take another step closer.
"Jade, please don't think I won't." He threatens once more, and enhance my vision, and see that his arm began to shake, and his heartbeat quickened. "Well, I know you won't, and even if you tried, it wouldn't matter." I respond, taking another, and the click of my heel echos throughout the hall to the chasm. He takes a small step back, "Natalie," He warns once more, and I take one more step, landing me right in front of him. Landing my forehead nearly an inch away from the barrel of his gun. The barrel of his shaking gun.
I look into his eyes. And in the days of my years initiation, he'd get into my face and the one thing that would always stand out, were his piercing bright blue eyes. But now, they're more of a dimmed light blue, nearly grey behind his now forming tears. Grey on Hazel, neither sets of eyes blinking. And before I knew it, he was already lowering his gun from my forehead.
He wipes his tears with the ball of his palms, causing him to hold the gun funny. But just as I was about to try and calmly take it from him, he flinches, and takes a few steps back. "Eric, you won't shoot me, nor will you shoot the leader of Dauntless. If you run, it's our obligation to chase after you to make sure no one else gets hurt. And plus, I can already hear Dauntless patrol coming this way so, how about you just give me the gun? There's nothing else you can really do here." I calmly address him and explain. And before I knew it, he was lowering his gun from my forehead. He chokes back a sob before wiping his tears with the ball of his palm, causing him to hold the gun funny again.
He turns around and walks near the edge of the chasm with his hands in his hair, holding the gun very carelessly. "There's one thing I could do." He mutters, pulling at his hair. And I furrow my eyebrows at him as he finally decides to turn back around. And to my mortification, he places the barrel of his gun against his own right temple.
And to make matters worse, Dauntless Patrol arrives at the very same time. I turn and stop every single Dauntless member in their tracks with a single whistle. And I turn back around and put my hands up to Eric, "Eric," I say scarcely, "Out of all things, please don't do that. I'm literally begging you, not to do that. You could go back to aiming at me for all I care but please," I pause with a crack in my voice, "do not do that." I add, with tears nearly bubbling at my waterline. I already have the guilt of one person ending their own life due to something I took part in. No matter if he was my friend, or if he was in the wrong, everyday, I still feel like it's my fault.
And I'll be damned if I let another person kill themselves because of me. I won't let him. I don't care if he has to find out about my powers. I don't care if I have to babysit him, or come see him everyday, I will not let this man harm himself. "Why shouldn't I?" He asks me, and once again I move closer to him.
But this time, my heart jumps in my chest, and I move with severe caution. "Because, it's not the answer. It may seem like the only escape, but it's not Eric. It's truly not. You have people who care about you-" - "Who?!" He abruptly cuts me off with, letting this tears flow. "Name one person who gives a fuck about me. Name just one person, and maybe I'll consider not blowing my own fucking brains out." He says to me, and without hesitation, "Natalie Harris," I name, "I care about you Eric." I add. And he shakes his head, "No you don't. At least, not in the way you care about him." He responds, gesturing over to Tobias. I look behind me, and Tobias gives me this look.
This confused look, and I know exactly why he's looking at me like that. "I'm not gonna lie, you're absolutely right." I pause, looking into my love's eyes. "But that doesn't change the fact that I still care. There are really only two ways this can go. You can either, god forbid, pull the trigger. Or," I pause, thinking this through carefully, "you can drop the gun, and come over here."