Underneath the stars
He sat a little bit apart from the others, staring out at the ocean. The waves were outlined in silvery light from the moon and stars. A fire burned on the beach,.
Like we need one, he thought, inhaling from his cigarette. It was to damn hot as it was.
He could suddenly feel someone watching him, and without knowing why, he knew who it was without turning round.
"You want something freckles?" he asked her coldly. He felt her sitting beside him.
"No," she answered him. "Don't you want to come sit with us?" she asked after a moment of listening to the waves against the sand.
For some reason he couldn't seem to look at her. "I don't play well with others," he muttered.
She nodded. "So I noticed."
Will she never leave? The thought kept running through his mind, and this small talk was beginning to grate on his nerves. He never was good at this kind of thing.
Kate looked over at him, wondering if this had been the best idea in the world. Ever since Jack had left with the others to go live at the caves, she'd been determined to get to know everyone in her group better, because they'd probably be here for a while, although she hoped not.
But she'd started to realize that wasn't as easy as it sounded. For one thing, nobody seemed to want to share their past life history, including her. So it was hard to get to know someone, when you talked about small things like the weather all the time and what crazy thing the island would throw at them next.
"Damn," he muttered, throwing his cigarette on the sand.
"What?" she asked. "Last one?"
He chose to ignore her.
"Probably a good thing," she continued. "They say one takes a year of your life, or something."
"Whatever you say, mum," he shot back at her.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked finally.
"I'm thinking it's just my bloody luck to wind up on an island with some smart ass health freak!"
"I'm serious Sawyer,"
He shrugged. "Hell if I know sugar. Listen, don't you got someone else to annoy? I'm busy here."
"Yeah, sure," she rolled her eyes.
Finally, he actually turned to look at her. "Fine, you want to play this game? I was thinking…why didn't you follow Jack the leader up to the caves?"
The question caught her off guard, mainly because she didn't know the answer to that herself.
"I don't know," she answered guardedly.
"Sure you do," he answered. "So come on Kate. You wanted to play the whole getting to know you game. So play. What's one thing I know about you so far? You and the doc, practically joined at the hip these days. Hell…it's all anyone can talk about. So colour me surprised when you decided to stay here. Thought for sure you two'd hook up…thought I'd be buyin you bloody wedding gifts by now!"
She rolled her eyes at this comment. "Never knew you new so many words Sawyer!" she laughed. Then she sighed and turned back to the ocean.
"I guess I just haven't given up on the idea of rescue yet," she told him wistfully. "What about you?"
His silence spoke volumes, but she couldn't read him…and she was usually good at doing that.
Hell if I'm gonna say the real reason, he thought bitterly. She didn't exactly answer my question now did she? Usually he didn't care about anything, but the idea of loosing Kate to Jack bothered him more then he'd like to admit. "Better view up here then in the caves, if you know what I mean," he answered suggestively.
Looking disgusted with him, she stood up abruptly. "Guess I've found out all I needed to know about you," she murmured, and she started to walk back to the fire.
And for you're information, she thought, looking back at him still sitting there like nothing had happened. Rescue wasn't the only reason I stayed.