Red

60

"Lass, I think it's about time we head in, don't you think?" Bondy says.

I look around. Larry went in a while ago. It was dark, there was hardly anyone else outside besides me and Bondy, and I was starting to get cold.

I reminded myself of the feeling of Van's arms around me and the warmth he provided me with. I longed for the feeling of him holding me. I wanted to rest my head on his chest, and I wanted to feel his chest rise and fall with his steady breaths, the breaths which could always relax me no matter what was going on.

"Lass?" Bondy waves his hand in front of my zoned out face.

"Hm?" I hum and look up at him.

"Time to go inside, yeah?" he says with a chuckle. He was still holding my hand, just as Van had asked him to do.

I shake my head. "I'm not really tired," I lie and shrug my shoulders.

I wanted to wait longer, wait until Van had gone to sleep before I went back inside. Because I don't think I could deal with him tonight. Not when he was upset with me, and not when he wouldn't tell me who Abby was. But I should know better than to think Van would go to sleep without knowing I was inside. Safe.

"C'mon, it's pitch black, probably past midnight by now. Van's gonna start wondering where you're at, I'm sure of it," Bondy urges.

"No," I say. "Please, just twenty more minutes," I beg. I hated even thinking of Van right now. And I didn't want to feel his cold stare on me as I walked to my bed. I didn't want him to say anything to me. 

Bondy seemed to realize this too. "You're worried about Van, aren't ya?" Bondy asks with a sigh.

I nod my head hesitantly. "H-he doesn't like me anymore," I say, my voice cracking as I thought about Van.

Because as much as I didn't want to go inside and be around Van, I realized that I was equally as worried about him ignoring me on the plane. I didn't know which was worse: Van being mad at me or Van not speaking at all.

"That's not true, c'mon," Bondy says. "I don't think I've ever seen Van care more about a girl than you. He isn't gonna let you go so easily."

"Well, Van has a girlfriend already," I pout, feeling pathetic as I felt my eyes start to water.

Bondy sighs and shakes his head. "Van's not dating anyone. Abby wasn't his girlfriend," he says. But I didn't believe him. Van and Bondy were friends, I'm sure he would lie for Van.

"Then why wouldn't you guys tell me that earlier," I say, trying to pull my hand that he was holding away from him. He doesn't let me, of course. I shouldn't even be getting mad at Bondy anyway, but I couldn't help it. It just seemed like he, Van, and Larry were in on a secret that I didn't know about. I think I was more upset that they wouldn't even tell me when I asked.

"Okay, Tris, listen to me," Bondy says. "Abby and Van were seeing each other, but that was it. They weren't in a relationship. They knew each other for a month, at most. I'm not going to lie to you anymore and say there was absolutely nothing going on, but I am going to tell you that, if Van had the could choose to be with you or her, he would choose you. Promise yous."

"But," I sigh, about to continue, but I didn't even know what I would say. All I could do is imagine Van with someone else and feel upset about it. But I shouldn't even be upset. It wasn't like Van even knew who I was before all this happened.

"But what?" Bondy asks, a smirk on his face because he knew I didn't have anything to say, he knew I had no good reason to be mad at Van.

I shrug my shoulder. "What if someone finds us here and brings us back? He would go back to Abby then," I frown.

"Tris, I've known Van nearly my whole life," Bondy says. "Believe me when I tell you he would never leave you, even if we went back. I mean, c'mon, when he's mad at you he still makes sure you're as safe as you can be." He looks down at my hand which was held in his from when Van left earlier in the evening. "If you don't think you're the most important thing in the world to Van, and if you don't think you'd still be the most important thing in the world to Van if we ever got off this island, then you've gotta be mad."

I couldn't help but smile at Bondy's words, whether they were true or not. I tried my best not to let Bondy see. I don't know what made me decide to believe him, either how tired I was or how much I just wanted it to be true. Maybe a little bit of both.

"You believe me?" Bondy asks, tilting his head to the side and smiling when he saw my own smile.

I nod my head. "I believe you," I whisper, feeling shy all of a sudden.

"So you wanna head in, see Van?"

I nod my head again and stand up when he does too. 

As we walk toward the plane, I start to feel nervous again, I start to doubt what Bondy had just told me.

I stop walking just before we reached the entrance of the plane, making Bondy stop too. He looks down at me, confused and then lowers down to my level. I push the sand around with my bare feet as I try to think of a good excuse to stay outside longer.

But I couldn't think of anything good. "I changed my mind," I say, an unexpected pool of tears welling up in my eyes. A few spill over and run down my cheeks.

"Tris," Bondy says. He sounded tired, not angry at my stubbornness, just tired. And I couldn't blame him. He probably didn't want to look after me in the first place. 

I look up at him, and I could see there was some pity in his eyes. I shake my head.

"Lass, you're going to have to go on the plane eventually, might as well be now, yeah?" Bondy says. He shrugs his shoulders and looks at me, waiting for a response which I never give. "C'mon. It'll be fine. Don't worry so much, especially about things like these, things you can't control."

I stand there for a minute, thinking, before hesitantly agreeing to go inside the plane. 

Because Bondy was right. I couldn't ignore Van forever.

And, deep down, I knew I didn't want to ignore Van forever.

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(Hi! Sorry it has been so long since the last update, I've had a lot of school work to do. :( But I'm going to try to update more frequently because I really like writing this story!💕)