[for Britta]

[wingerguarantee]

Getting away from the party had been apparently a good idea, as the bad mood he'd been in before had mostly lifted. Granted, he'd give Britta that her coming along probably had more to do with it, despite her insistence on being contrary on just about everything they'd talked about. Ending up on the beach was a bit of an inevitability - there wasn'

Comments

[fakejaded]

"We should've taken, like, a bottle," Britta agreed, following suit with a quiet oof. The combination of heels and a tight skirt made sitting less than simple, and she was half-drunk on top of it, though that, at least, meant she wasn't really embarrassed by the gracelessness of her effort. Besides, who was she kidding? This was Jeff, he'd seen her in worse states by far. Leaning back on her hands, she squinted up at the sky. "Next time we're stealing a bottle. It's not even stealing when everything's free." God, there were so many stars. She never got over how weird that was.

[wingerguarantee]

"I could make that argument work," he agreed, smirking. At the point he was now, he had a feeling he'd be willing to take any case, even something as small as that, even if being caught would've probably only just added to the community service crap. "Even if we stole like, three."

He wished they had three bottles, ill advised as it was to keep drinking when he was already pretty far gone already. He tossed the glass he'd been holding aside into the sand, where he already had a feeling it'd be left. Was there any laws here against littering? Whatever.

"I bet no one would even think of anyone stealing anything to begin with, with how nice people are here," he added, his tone denoting a bit of actual annoyance. He'd come from a world that was full of cut throats, then ended up in a college of misfits, and now he was here, where sometimes he felt like he was always one second away from a group hug from strangers. It was unnaturalHe glanced over at her after he spoke, noticing she was looking up instead of at him. Which wasn't a bad

[fakejaded]

Britta scoffed, shaking her head. "It's weird," she said. In a more guarded, more sober moment, she might have tried to defend it again, because it was also weirdly sweet, entirely unlike anything she'd ever known. People here were kind and she didn't understand it; even among protestors and activists, people didn't do something for nothing. There was a price or a reason or whatever, and here it was just like everyone was bored into niceness, except it wasn't even as simple as that. She would have understood that, at least a little.

"And confusing. What are you supposed to do when people don't expect anything?" At least it meant she had no one to fail, but even that was confusing sometimes. "It's almost worse. At least when people want things, you know where you stand."

[wingerguarantee]

"Whatever you want," he shrugged, because that was what it really came down to. Everyone chose to do things. If people didn't choose, they'd all probably be screwed at this point, so it was probably good the place was filled with crazy people willing to work for free. The fact was, no one really blinked an eye if you didn't do anything. He was sure no one even noticed he barely contributed to what he got.

"Anyway, why are you worrying?" he asked, still looking at her. "You're obviously better than a lot of this island just for actually wanting to volunteer. Sounds like a good standing to me."

It came out as a compliment, and it sort of was (as much as Jeff still thought she was crazy for wanting to contribute when she didn't have to), but mostly it was just the straight facts. He knew there were plenty like him that took and didn't give back.