Red

12

I walk out behind Van, keeping a couple feet between us as we walk over to his friends. They were trying to get a fire going with someone's cigarette lighter. "How's it goin?" Van says.

"We're getting there," Bondy says he turns around and notices me with Van too. "Evenin', Tris," he nods his head toward me. "How're you both doin?" He moves away from the group trying to light the logs on fire and sits down on one of the few towels that were placed around the fire.

"I'm alright, Bonds. What about you, Tris?" He looks over at me with a smirk that only I could see.

"I'm good," I say my voice quiet, but I made sure that both Bondy and Van could hear.

Van sits down on the towel that was next to Bondy. "Come on, don't be shy," Van says. He pats the empty part of his towel, telling me to sit down with him. I sit down, making sure to stay as far away from Van as I could.

Bondy leans over to look at me. "That a Strokes shirt you got on there?" He asks me. He had a smile on his face, but it was genuine. I nod my head giving him a smile back. "Mighty fine band, aren't they? Van listens to them more than anyone I know. I'd say he's obsessed." He shoves Van's shoulder jokingly.

I look over at Van thinking he'd get mad a Bondy, but he didn't. He laughs instead. "I'm not obsessed," he says. He was smiling, but it wasn't the usual deceptive smile he gave me, it was real. "Guess I just can't like a good band without being judged for it these days."

The fire finally lit, making the lads working on it cheer. "Nice work, team. We did good," Bondy raises his cap toward Bob even though he didn't really help with the fire.

"Aye, shut it," Bob jokes, taking a seat next to Bondy. Benji, Larry, and the only other girl who stayed to help with the plane say around the fire as well.

The girl sat next to me. "Van," she greets him, a smile on her face. She was beautiful. She had short, brunette hair, big, blue eyes, and she was tall. She looked like a model. I felt insecure just being around her. "How are you?" She asks Van.

"I'm doing fine, Daisy. Have you met Tris?" Van replies. He puts his hand on my back and I tense up. I just hope he wasn't able to tell.

"I haven't!" She says. "It's nice to meet you, Tris. I'm Daisy." She holds her hand out for me to shake. "Ah, what the heck," she says, changing her mind and going in for a hug instead. "Handshakes are too formal."

I hug her back and smile. She seemed so nice. "It's nice to meet you, too," I say. My voice so different from hers. She sounded confident and fun. Me, on the other hand, not so much.

"I'm go grab some food. Tris, I'll get you something. You want anything, Daisy?" Van offers while getting up.

"Nah. I ate a while ago. Thanks," she says. Van nods his head and wanders off.

Benji comes over and takes a seat next to Daisy. He smiles at me when he sits down and then starts having a conversation with Daisy.

I sit quietly and watch the fire. It was fairly large and I could feel the heat coming off of it. It felt nice since it was getting a little chilly.

"Heya, Tris. Van left ya?" Bondy asks.

I stop looking at the fire and look at him. "Mhm. He said he was getting food for us," I explain, sighing afterward.

Bondy nods his head. "Something got you down?" He ask.

"I just was wondering-" I stop myself. "Promise you won't tell Van that I asked you this?" I ask, wanting to confirm before I continue.

"Secret safe with me," he smiles.

I nod my head. "Has Van...said much about me?" I ask. "Like, if he hates me or...anything, really. If he didn't, it's fine, I was just wondering. Maybe he talked about my-" Bondy decides to cut off my anxious ramble.

"Jesus, you got a lot of words all of a sudden," he jokes. "And Van hasn't said all that much about you. Just that he enjoys having you around. Says your good company," he shrugs. "Why're you asking?"

I blush, feeling embarrassed for talking so long. "I was just curious," I tell him. "Thanks." Van didn't really say that I was good company, right? There was no way.

"You're welcome," he says. I look down and play with my fingers. I was never good at holding conversations with people I didn't know too well. "So, favorite Strokes song?" He asks me.

"Hmm," I think for a few seconds. "Probably Ize of the World," I say. That was definitely on of their best songs.

"Oh yeah?" He questions. "Van's, too. I'm more of a Soma person, but I can see how you both groove with Ize."

I scrunch my face up. "Really? Out of all their songs, soma is your favorite?" I say, kidding around with him. "That's easily one of their worsts."

"Wow, so you're opinionated about music, aren't you now?" He chuckles.

Van comes back before I have time to reply to Bondy. "Hope I'm not interrupting," he says, taking a seat in his spot.

"Here ya are, Tris," he hands me two halves of a coconut and a couple bags of pretzels from the plane. "I know it's not the best dinner. I promise tomorrow there'll be something better, okay?" He seemed so sincere, and I hope he was like this for a while.

"That's okay," I say while taking the food from him. I wasn't terribly hungry, anyway, since I ate that coconut with Sam earlier. I wasn't going to tell that to Van, though. "Thank you, Van."

He nods his head. "Of course," he say, patting my back before grabbing his own food and beginning to eat.