15| g e t t i n g  h e r

3 months later

Cara and Tris sat in a diner, their eyes on their phones as they sipped their milkshakes. They were silent until Cara swore, looking up at Tris.

"More high school drama?" Tris teased, her eyes moving away from the screen.

Cara rolled her eyes, "Please. We graduated two weeks ago. I'm so over that."

The brunnete laughed. Her friend never missed an opportunity to point out that they'd graduated. Of course, Tris didn't need a reminder. It was odd sitting next to someone else instead of her best friends like she'd planned to; odd watching Rosie give the valedictorian speech and not being able to congratulate her for it afterwards. It was odd seeing her three best friends take selfies without her.

But what was really odd was watching the sport team captains going up to receive their awards and not seeing Zayne amongst them. Instead, the Grey twins stood up their, large smiles on their faces and Tris knew there was no separating them.

"What's so interesting then?" Tris took a sip of her bubblegum milkshake, cupping her chin in her hand.

The blonde's blue eyes left the screen of her phone. "Well, my idiot half brother is in town," She mumbled, "He's enrolling into NYU."

A woman bypassed them, her baby shrieking in her hands and Tris smiled at them, her eyes moving back to Cara. She frowned, "You have a half brother?"

Sighing, she nodded and leaned forward. "You see, my mum and dad were seeing each other when my dad was already married. He had a son with my step mum and one with my mum....me," She spoke with the tenderness Tris associated with her being sad so she placed a hand on hers.

"What's his name?" She asked, giving her a small smile. Cara smiled, squeezing the hand that was offered and drank her milkshake. Cara was obsessed with milkshakes. She often told Tris they had magical healing properties and since it was the second time she'd heard that, she believed it.

"Clive," She answered, blinked and smiled. "He's hot. Well, I don't see it but everyone says so."

Chuckling, the brunnete rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat. "I can be the judge of that," She answered, challenging her. Cara smirked as she showed her a picture. It was a picture of Cara and him at the beach with her thrown over his shoulder as he grinned. He has curly dirty blonde locks and blue eyes. He reminded her painfully of....

"I admit," She said, brushing the thought out of her head. "He's hot."

"And he's single," Cara added as an afterthought.

Once again, they were back to this. For so many weeks Cara had been trying to get Tris to go on a date. In reality, she'd only ever been on like 3 and they were all with the same guy. Apart from that, she wasn't in the whole dating game.

And she didn't want to be. She looked at the photo again. Or did she? 

"You already know I don't date Cara," Tris groaned, shrugging as she took another sip of her drink and tugging at her lip. "It's just not what I do."

As expected, the blonde argued, "Well it what you're gonna have to do sooner or later if our kids are gonna be hanging out,"

Despite herself she smiled. "Who says I need a man?" She raised an eyebrow, "I could get a donor."

She received an unamused look and shrugged again. Cara frowned when she realised her milkshake was done and set the glass down, her phone lying between them on the table.  Tris' eyes wandered to the photo again before she looked up.

"C'mon,"Cara said, "You're interested."

Tris nodded, "I am."

"So?"

She shook her head, "Still no."

The answer that came made her wince,"Zayne would've wanted you to move on."

Silence enveloped the two and both of them regretted Cara's words for her. But she didn't say anything or apologise because they both knew it was the truth. Zayne wouldn't have wanted her to wait for him. For her to wait to move on.

"What Zayne wants isn't important," She said, rubbing her hands together, "I'm not gonna do it just to prove I'm over him."

Realising that she'd hit a nerve, Cara leaned towards her and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry," She began, "I just don't want you hung up on Zayne. The faster you move on the better."

Adamantly, Tris shook her head. She didn't want this. She wasn't going down that road again.  "Tris, look. I had a guy I was madly in love with from childhood. I did everything for him, "Blue eyes travelling to the couple across the room, Cara frowned, "I changed myself for him. I dated people to make him jealous."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Tris snapped her fingers in her friend's face, trying to get rid of the faraway look on her face. "Who?"

"Who else? Max," She said, chuckling bitterly, "I've had a crush on him since the 3rd grade. But he only started liking me in the 10th grade when I came back hot."

An awkward chuckle floated between the both of them.

"He told me he loved me one night. In the back of a pick up truck last year on New Years. It was easily the best night of my life," She chuckled again and it reminded Tris of an old woman talking about her dead husband. The thought was chilling but sweet. "Then he told me he couldn't be with me and I didn't know why. And I did everything I could to get him. Even dating his enemy...."

Realisation struck. That was why Cara had really dated Zayne. Not because she was using him for his looks, or because she wanted to be more popular. It was all because she wanted that moment, that single moment where Max would tell her that he loved her.

"But," There was no sadness in those dark blue eyes anymore, "I'm moving on. You should to."

Silently, Tris' eyes drifted to the photo of Clive. Should she still be dwelling on the past?

She thought of that moment with Zayne at their sport. Laughing together. Watching movies. And then she thought of the moments after. Of her crying and running until her lungs felt as though they were going to evaporate.

Then she thought of her friend, who from the 3rd grade had cared about a boy she was never destined to truly have. The same boy Tris had been pinning after.

"One date," She said finally. Cara squealed and she held up a finger. "Just one. One condition though..."

Cara nodded quickly and Tris continued,"You let me borrow your car."

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Tris sat in Cara's car alone, staring out at the view infront of her.  She touched the steering wheel, thumping it with her fingers according to the beat that played on the radio. She felt sick, being back here but of course, she tried to convince herself she wasn't. 

She needed to do this.

Leaning back, she stared at the view again. The waves were roaring, glinting in the sun, showing off the beauty of the ocean. It was funny, she thought,  that oceans and large masses of land separated her from the reason she knew this place.

A tear rolled down her cheek and she imagined being in the passenger seat, hands intertwined with Zayne's. She thought of them here again. She could smell the pizza from their first date.  She could feel Zayne's lips on hers. She could feel everything Zayne had left on her.

Every scar. Every burst of joy. It was all Zayne.

"Hey," She said, realising that she probably looked crazy, talking to herself. But she didn't care. Nobody was around to see anyway."I just wanted to tell you that I have a date tomorrow. It's gonna be my first one since....well you know...you."

Silence. Just as she expected.

"I really do hope you're okay. Wherever you are," She continued, wiping away the stray tear. "And I hope.....I hope you find someone. Someone you'll be honest with from the first moment your eyes touch to the moment you get her to say 'I do.' and after. That...that would make me content."

The words were spilling out of her without her controlling them but she didn't stop. She didn't stop because this was her letting go. This was her allowing herself to finally move on from what he'd done to her.

She'd been played.

And now she would have to move on from that. It wasn't worth her heartache or her attention. Those boys had wasted her time.

"I hope you had fun. With everything. I had fun with you, I won't lie. And I know you loved me too at some point," She started the car and gave the view one last glance, "And you obviously know I loved you too. But I guess this is it. The end of our journey."

Slowly, she backed away from the cliff's edge and drove away from their spot, not looking back once.

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Hey guys!
I just wanted y'all to know that this might be the last chapter. I'm considering making a sequel but I'm not sure

Tell me what you all think

Love
Musawa
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