Page 74 of Rules to Love By

“There’s no one in the city.” No one like Iris.

“There’s Eli.”

“One date, Tris.”

“One date you stayed on all night and ate breakfast with him the next morning. You’ve never done that. Ever.”

“Because they leave.”

“Do they?”

“What?”

“Or do you?”

“I…”

“I don’t know,” Tris said hastily. “Honestly. I don’t. And you don’t have to tell me. Forget I said it.”

For a few minutes, Marcus watched him mix food dye into sugar icing until he had a bright red froth of it. He then scooped it into a piping bag.

“Go out with him again,” Tris said, focused on his work.

“He won’t sleep with me again.”

“Like, ever?” At least that got Tris to look at him for a second.

Marcus shrugged. “I have to go on three more dates with him first.”

“Says who?”

“Him.”

Tris harumphed, then went back to painstakingly piping icing strawberries onto pink cookies. “Seriously?”

“I know. Weird, right?”

“Why?”

“Do you believe he’s never slept with anyone on the first date before?”

Tris grinned. “And you’ve never had more than one date with anyone. This is awesome.”

“You are an asshole. Stop enjoying this so much.”

“So”—he spun his cookie sheet to get at more cookies—“he made a rule that he won’t sleep with you again, until you’ve gone on more dates.”

“Yeah. Like, get to know each other better and shit.”

“It’s a good rule.”

“It’s a shitty rule.”

“But you like rules.”

“Not this one.”

“Liar.”

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