Red

57

Once we arrive back at the beach Van sets me down on my feet. I focus my attention over to the fire where I saw Sam, Bondy, and a few others hanging out and then look up at Van with hopeful eyes.

"C'mon," he nods his head in the direction of the plane, pretending he didn't see my desire to join everyone else by the fire. "Let's go inside." 

"But everyone is over there,"  I say, the disappointment evident in my voice. There was nothing to do in the plane except sleep, and I wasn't tired at all.

"That doesn't mean we have to join them," Van says. "It's getting late anyways. They won't be out much longer." He was lying, though. It wasn't even that late. The darkness hasn't completely taken over just yet, it couldn't be later than nine o'clock.

"Please, Van," I frown, looking at him with puppy dog eyes, hoping they will help me get what I want. 

Truthfully, even I knew that I didn't deserve to be able to stay out late with everyone like I wanted to. I had broken Van's rules one too many times for him to still trust me, and he probably didn't feel comfortable with me anywhere except for the plane.

"Tris, plane," he says, pointing to the plane. He was stricter this time, not angry, but not as gentle as I would have liked. "Don't make me drag you over there." 

But I wasn't going to give in this easily, even when I knew there was no winning. At least not with Van. "I'll stay right by your side, I promise," I plead, tugging lightly on the bottom of his shirt and not giving up with the puppy dog eyes just yet.

"No," he says. "I'm not going to ask you again, love."

"You don't let me do anything," I say, upset. I let go of his shirt and cross my arms. I know it was ridiculous to say what I just did considering he just did let me hang out with Sam, and I'm the one who ruined that. But I wasn't thinking logically, I just wanted to push Van's buttons, see how far I could get before he got really mad. 

"No, darling, I let you do too much. That's what I'm starting to think I'm doing," he says.

"Fine," I huff and turn around, starting to walk toward the plane. "Stop calling me darling...and love. I don't like it." 

Van walks next to me, but he doesn't say anything. He was probably tired of my attitude, I would be too.

I wanted to wind him up again, though. If he was going to make me miserable by keeping me on the plane, I would make him miserable as well. So I swallow and clench my fists together. "I don't even love you," I say, my voice sour.

And also because I knew what I was saying wasn't true.

"You've figured it out finally?" Van asks.

I look up at him for a split second, only to see the smirk on his face, like he knew something I didn't. He probably did, knowing him.

"Figured out what?" I quietly question, feeling stupid as I ask. I was supposed to be mad, I was supposed to be confident.

Van chuckles. "Well, we were just talking about whether you loved me or not. Seemed to be pretty difficult for you to decide back there, no?" he says. 

A light blush coats my cheeks as  he looks down at me. I shake my head, thinking it's better to deny it than admit Van was right.

"Right," Van says, but he didn't believe me, of course. "Whatever you say, honey," he teases.

I clench my jaw and ignore him as I walk onto the plane and take a seat where I usually sleep and lean against the wall of the plane. I grab Annabelle's flannel and hold it close to my body and then look up at Van, who was standing, watching me.