Day 14

"Let's go for a walk before we have to pack," Tobias says as he nuzzles into me. "I want a little alone time with you while I can still get it."
"Okay," I say through sleepy eyes. I step cautiously over our sleeping friends and head to the bathroom, pulling my still teased hair up into a ponytail and washing some of the glitter off my face before heading out.
"I need to change, I look ridiculous," I say as we walk down the corridor.
"No way. I totally dig the Madonna vibe you got going on." I give Tobias the side eye, and he laughs. "Okay, let's go."

One jeans and t-shirt change later, I feel more like myself.
"Better?"
"Much," I say. "So, where to?"

We pick up some croissants and hot tea, and I follow Tobias as we walk. When we end up at the Amity Atrium, I smile.
"Thought we might bring it back to the beginning," he says.

We sit under the tree we first kissed in, enjoying the sounds of the chirping birds that live in the atrium as we eat.
"I'm going to miss you," Tobias eventually says.
"I'm going to miss you too." I watch him as he looks around nervously. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," he says. "I just...I'm not really good with goodbyes."
"Me either," I whisper. "Let's try and think of it as...until next time. Or even to be continued, instead of a goodbye."
"Okay."

Tobias leans back against the trunk, and pulls me into him. We kiss and enjoy each others company for as long as we can, and still refuse to leave when Christina starts blowing up my phone.

"Okay, Okay, I'm coming," I say after finally answering. "I'm being summoned to help pack."
"Okay," Tobias says quietly. "I'll walk you back."

After going over Christina's list for the third time, and checking the whole room for the fifth, we both agree that we haven't forgotten anything. I run my hand along the photo album and smile as I zip it safely into my suitcase, along with my folder from the observatory, my first prize trophy and blue ribbon, and the not so dorky photo of Christina and me at the reef.
"You ready to say goodbye?" Christina asks.
"Not really."
"Yeah. Me either." She leans over and gives me a big hug. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Being you. And having a good time. And letting go a little and meeting new people." She winks at the last one, and I smile. "Come on. Let's go say goodbye."

We meet everyone in front of The Burger Bar like we planned, and disembark together.
"Bye!" Marlene says as she starts the round of hugs. "I'm really glad we met you guys. We have to make sure to hang out at least once a week."
"Okay," I say with a smile.

I move down the line giving hugs and saying my goodbyes, and when I get to Zeke, I'm surprised when he pulls me in and whispers, "I'm really glad we met you."
"Me too," I say.
"And if you ever tell him I said anything, I will deny it and make you look crazy, but you make him a better person," he says, motioning his head to a confused looking Tobias. "In all the years I've known him, I don't think I've ever seen him open up like this. You're a good thing for him, Tris."
I smile and wipe away the sloppy kiss he plants on the side of my head as I walk over to Tobias.

"What was that all about?"
"Nothing. I think Zeke likes me." Tobias holds his arms out and gives Zeke a 'what the fuck' look. "Not like that," I say. "Just that he likes...us."
"I know. I'm just giving him a hard time." He leans in and gives me a kiss on my cheek. "Can I tell you a secret?" he whispers against my skin.
"Yes," I say breathlessly.
"I like us too."

I close my eyes and pull Tobias into me, taking in every last second with him that I can.
"Tris, we have to go if we're going to make the train."
"Coming, Christina." I give Tobias one last kiss and slip a piece of paper in his hand. "My address, and everything else you need to get a hold of me. Text me when you get home."
"I will." Tobias gives me a small smile and waves as we leave.

My phone rings as we walk, and when I pull it out of my pocket, I see Tobias' face on the screen.
"Hey," I say. "It's been what, two minutes?"
"Three," he says. "Turn around."
I look back, and see everyone has climbed up onto whatever they can and are waving wildly. "Chris," I say nudging her.
"Awww!" she yells out. She starts blowing kisses to everyone, and I smile and do the same.

"Will and I are going out to dinner tonight."
"Okay," I say. It still feels weird being back. Two weeks have passed, and though I've talked to Tobias in one form or another almost every day, between my classes starting back up and his job on top of his classes, we figured we can't meet up for another three weeks still, and it has me a little down.
"You want to come with us?"
"No. You two go and have a good time."

I grab my Kindle and curl up on my bed, hoping to get lost in the wizarding world for a little while. When there's a knock at the door, Christina yells for me to get it.
"Hey Will," I say as I let him in.
"Hey. How are you Tris?" I shrug and give him a little smile. "I actually have something for you," he says, a small smile on his face.
"Me?" He nods and pulls a single flower from behind his back; a stargazer lily.

I look from his hand to his face and back before taking it from him. "Thank you," I say.
"Well, it's not actually from me, but you're welcome." I smile as I bring the flower up and smell it. "Christina said you didn't want to come to dinner with us, but if I asked you, would you reconsider?"
I raise an eyebrow, but give in to the pleading puppy dog eyes Will is giving me. "Okay."
"Yay!" Christina yells from our bathroom.

We go out to the pizza place that's just a couple of blocks away, and just spend some time talking and reminiscing about our trip. I see Christina occasionally text someone, but don't think too much of it.
"I think we're ready," she says all of a sudden, and Will stands.
"Oh, okay. Do you want me to go get lost for a while?" I ask, confused by her sudden outburst.
"Nope," Will says, and I look back and forth between the two of them, but both of their faces are blank.
"Okay then," I say.

As we walk back to campus, Marlene comes up to us out of nowhere. "Hey!" she says to me as she bounces a little in place.
"Hey yourself. What are you up to?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just about to meet Uriah. Can I walk with you guys?"
"Sure," I say, getting more suspicious about everything as each minute passes.
"Oh, I almost forgot. This is for you," she says as she pulls a stargazer out of her purse.

I stare at her, but she just smiles sweetly and pushes the flower in my hand. "Uriah should be around here somewhere," she says as we start walking. I look over at Christina, but she is busying herself with staring at her fingernails as we walk.

"Marlene!" I hear a familiar voice yell. Uriah bounds up and gives her a big hug. "Hey guys!" he says with a smile on his face. "What are you up to?"
"Just heading back from dinner," Will answers.
"Cool, cool. Ready Mar?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. See you guys later. Oh, and Tris?"
"Yes," I say slowly.
"Here," he says as he pulls a stargazer out of his back pocket.

I take it and turn to Christina. "Okay, what the hell is going on?"
"What?" she says calmly.
"You know what," I say, but she just shrugs.

We just hit the steps to our dorm when Zeke and Shauna come walking through the doors. "Oh there you are!" Zeke says to Christina. "We just stopped by to say hi, but you weren't home."
"Stopped by my butt," I mutter.
"Hey Tris," Shauna says as she leans in for a hug. "How have you guys been?"
"Good," Christina answers. "Actually, Will and I were thinking about taking a walk. Want to join us?"
"Sure," Shauna says.

I eyeball the back of everyones head when they turn and leave me standing there, and shake my own in total confusion before heading up the stairs. I've had enough weirdness for one evening. Just as I reach the door, I hear heavy footsteps.
"I almost forgot," Zeke says from behind me as he plants a wet kiss on my temple and holds out two more stargazers.
"Thanks," I say as I wipe the side of my face with my sleeve. His face breaks out into a huge grin and he winks before he runs back to join the others.

I smile in the elevator on the way up and smell my flowers; five now in total. When the doors open, I walk quickly to my room to get them all in some water.
It takes me a minute to notice the one laying on my bed, along with a little card attached to it; I hesitate for just a moment before reading it.

Look out the window for your other half
T-

I can't stop the enormous grin that spreads across my face as I rush over. Standing underneath the giant oak tree that's right outside our window is Tobias, flowers in hand. He waves, and my heart stops for a moment as the words he wrote echo through my mind. Sure he has the other half of my dozen flowers in his hand, but it could also mean...

Without another thought I race down the stairwell, too impatient to wait for the elevator. When I burst outside, he is already halfway up the stairs.
"What are you doing here?" I ask through the kisses I am showering him with.
"I wanted to visit our photo album," he says with a sly grin.
I roll my eyes, but smile all the same. "I thought you had to work?"
He let's out a fake cough. "I'm sick."
"Oh you poor baby," I say with a laugh.

"So, where's my other half?" I ask as I look at his empty hands.
"Right here," he says as he looks in my eyes, and now I know he isn't talking about the flowers. I pull him into me and kiss him with more passion than I ever thought I was capable of. When we separate, he reaches over and grabs the rest of my flowers from the wall where he set them.

He leads me across the grassy common area, hand in hand, to where everyone is waiting for us.
"Thank you guys. That was very sweet," I say.
"Anything for you," Christina says as she hugs me.

"Since I'm here," Tobias says, "How about I cash in that rain check for dessert?"
I look over at Christina who says, "Ice cream?"
"Sounds good to me," I say.

We spend the evening hanging out and talking in an ice cream parlor, and everyone eventually filters out, leaving just Tobias and me.
"Thank you," I say. "I was feeling a little down today that I had to wait so long to see you, so this was the absolute perfect ending to my day."
"Well, it's not over yet."
"Oh," I say, with a raised eyebrow.

He takes my hand and leads me back towards my dorm. He doesn't say anything, and I let him fumble around the building for a little while before finally asking if I can help at all.
"I'm just looking for the damn emergency exit," he says.
"It's over here," I say with a confused look on my face. He gives me a small smile before leading me up the stairs.

When we get to the top, he props open the roof access door and leads me out. I stop in my tracks when I see what's up here.
"Tobias," I say quietly.
"I thought that maybe we could start our own tradition," he says. He takes my hand and leads me over to the brand new telescope that's sitting here, complete with red bow and all. "Meeting you has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me, Tris. I love the memories we made on the cruise, and truthfully, I hope we make many, many more."

I spin around and take his face in my hands, kissing him softly. "Tobias, I want nothing more in the world. But how did you?"
"Zeke and Shauna," he says with small smirk.
"Ahh. Clever." He smiles and gestures for me to look in the telescope. It takes me a minute, but I get the position just right, and let Tobias look.
"To making memories," I say as he looks in the eye piece.

Saturn may have been something I shared with my father, but I am more than happy to share it again with someone else, someone who I could love just as much. I run downstairs and grab a couple of blankets and we stay on the roof, talking and looking at the stars, until the early hours of the morning. I convince Tobias to stay just one more hour with whispers and promises before taking off my shirt and his. When we finally say goodbye with a kiss by his car, our hair and clothes a rumpled mess, he whispers into my ear, "To be continued."
"Until next time," I say, and my heart skips a beat at the thought of how many more of those there will be.

A/N:

Well, that's all she wrote. I hope you all enjoyed this because I had a really fun time writing it. I am going to continue this story, but not in the typical story fashion. Most of the time the reason most modern day's don't work, I think, is because there's literally infinite things you can write about them in an infinite amount of years, and it just goes on and on and on. I don't want to do that story. So instead I'm going to write it as a series of one shots and/or short stories through both POV's, going through the different stages in their life that are super important as far as a relationship goes, to things that don't really matter and are just another day.

I have lots of ideas to incorporate, like Jealous!Four and Jealous!Tris, meeting Marcus, an actual REAL first date, Tris getting to see Four mode in action, college graduation, some smut- because really, that's why you're all here lmao. (I ain't even hating, I'm right here with you haha.)

If you guys have anything you'd like to see, or an idea for certain type of scene you'd like, MAIL ME! I'll see what I can do about incorporating your ideas, and I can get a feel for some of the things you're after. I think I'm also going to add in one scene from this story from Tobias' POV (meeting Eric before dinner. Spoiler: there's your first chapter. :P)

I am already in the middle of another story though, and this one is really hard for me. (and longer. 30k already, and probably half way!) I'm going back to basics, only...darker, for lack of a better word. I don't know that I'll be able to write both at the same time, seeing as how they're SO different, so I probably won't get started on this sequel until I'm done with the other one. (and you guys might get two stories at once.) I'm gonna push myself to get posting by Halloween (fingers crossed), so make sure you're following me as an author to get updates for both of these stories.

Once again, THANK YOU. You guys are just, so, SO awesome. All the comments you leave, and the mail I get, I love all of it. You really make me happy, and make me feel like I never let you down. I'm always at a loss for what to say to you guys, because half the time I just can't put what I'm feeling into words. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.