Red

13

As it gets later and later, more people head onto the plane to sleep. I was still sitting around the fire with Van, Bondy, Daisy, and Benji. I think Benji and Daisy had a thing for each other, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

Van was being really nice tonight.  Pretty sure it was because we were around his friends. He seemed like a different person with them around. "Van, maybe you should grab your guitar and play us a song. Haven't listened to music at all today, Bondy says. Van didn't seem like the person to play guitar. I always thought of doctors as boring and serious, not musical.

"Why'd you bring a guitar?" I blurt out, and immediately regret it. I haven't spoken at all tonight unless someone had asked me something. I don't even know why I asked. It wasn't any of my business anyway.

"Eh, you haven't told Tris yet?" Bondy says, laughing at Van. "Van likes to write songs. Could be massive one day. He's got a lot of talent in him," he tells me.

Van shrugs and looks over at me, his lips forming a slight smile. "Bondy's just exaggerating. He's bloody brilliant, though, I'll tell you that," he says.

"Then, why don't you both play something," I say.

"Van first," Bondy says as he stands up. "I'll go grab a guitar." He leaves and I look around. It looks like Benji and Daisy left as well, leaving only me and Van. There were still a few other people outside, but they were further away from us.

"You want to hear a song, don't you?" Van hums, looking over at me.

I look down and play with my fingers, starting to feel nervous with it just being him. "O-only If you want to," I whisper.

"Why so quiet all the sudden?" He asks in a whisper, just like me, with a smirk.

"I-I," I frown, feeling embarrassed.

"Calm down, princess. I'll sing you a song," he says. He places his hand on my back, making me flinch. "You need to relax, babe. It's not so good to be so tense all the time." Babe? That was new.

Thankfully, Bondy came back carrying two acoustic guitars. "I got them both," he says, handing Van one of them. "Now, go on and play Tris an original, would ya?" Bondy sits back down, his guitar resting in his lap.

"An original?" Van thinks for a minute. "Cocoon sounds good?" It surprised me that Van sung, but him writing originals is crazy.

Bondy nods his head. "I'll play along," he says. Van nods his head. They look at each other, counting off, before starting.

"I fell straight, into your arms, like a drunk," Van starts singing. He looks up at me every once in a while when he's not focused on his guitar. Bondy remained focused on his guitar for nearly the whole song.

Van's voice was really good, as much as I hated to admit it. And his lyrics were pretty good, too. It's about a girl, obviously, but I wish I knew who it was.

"I'd rather go blind, then let you down," Van sings, ending the song there. He raises an eyebrow at me. "What do you think?" He asks.

"It was good," I say. "Like, really good. I... I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did." I smile and look down. Even though Van and Bondy probably couldn't see me too well because the only light was the fire, I didn't want to risk either of them seeing my flushed cheeks.

"Oh, yeah?" Van laughs. "And why's that?"

I let out a yawn and cover my mouth. I didn't sleep too well last night and it was pretty late right now. I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know any musical doctors," I say.

"Look at that, you wore 'er out," Bondy chimes in. 

"Looks like it. You tired, Tris?" Van asks me.

I shyly nod my head. "Just a little," I say quietly.

"Alright, then. Maybe we should head back to the plane. I promise you'll be able to sleep better tonight," Van says.

"Here, mate," Bondy says. "I'll grab your guitar. Gonna go hang out with those lads over there for a while." I look over and the people and it looks like Sam is there. I can see him laughing and having a good time. Part of me wished to be with him, but I also really enjoyed just sitting here tonight.

Van nods his head and hands his guitar to Bondy. "See you in the mornin," he says.

"See ya," Bondy says. "Night, Tris." He waves at me, so I wave back, and then he walks off.

"Come on, now. Let's head to bed," Van stands up and holds his hand out for me to grab. I grab it and stand up. He doesn't let go as we walk to the plane entrance.

"Watch your step," he warns me when we get to the small set of stairs that led into the plane. I nod my head and walk on carefully.

He gets on behind me. "Sleep well," he says quietly to make sure he didn't wake anyone up as I sit down in my area of the plane. There was a towel that I used as a blanket.

"You too," I whisper. I watch his dark figure move to the side where he disappeared behind his own sleeping area.

I lay my head down and fall asleep much easier than last night, but it was still hard. I probably spent a good two hours just thinking about Annabelle before I even closed my eyes.