Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Fliss

I hadn't expected to see Van after he'd left the 3 mornings before, but Wednesday woke me up with a phone call and walk round Maida Vale looking for a good chippy - one that sold proper chips, with proper gravy and proper mushy peas.

It turned out however that there was no such thing, that our end of London apparently lacked the charms of the north. The mushy peas and the gravy.

So instead I found myself lying back in the grass under a tree in the local park, Van rolling a cigarette above me, little bits of tobacco falling into my hair.

"Your parks are shite," he smirked looking out across the grass where a homeless man lay passed out on his back in a sticky puddle of spilt special brew.

"Oh yeah and I suppose Llandudnos a tropic paradise is it? A true example of the miracle that is our planet?"

"Attenboroughs doing a documentary about it and everything," he said shooting me a similar sarcastic smile to the one I had graced him with moments before.

"The sad side of Survival of the Fittest..." I shot back with a teasing smile biting back a giggle and a flinch when he pretended to tip his tobacco over my face. "Fuck you Van," I giggled, laughing harder when he looked down and shot me a wink.

"Oh baby I wish you would,"

"You're such a jerk off," I smirked taking a cigarette from him and lighting it up.

"That was mine!" He exclaimed as I took a drag.

"You want it back?" I raised my brow with a smirk when he frowned and shook his head and rolled another. "Didn't think so..."

"Shouldn't you be in uni anyway, whatre you doing skyving off at the park picking on me?"

I pushed my sunglasses out of my eyes to look up at him, to meet his gaze with a cheeky smile.

"Given the choice between three hours of music theory, or three hours winding your mate up in the park..."

"You should value your education a little bit more," he teased frowning at me with a stern expression that only really suited him because I knew it would be followed with the flash of a smile and laugh as he tipped his head back.

"Maybe, if you think schools so important you shouldn't have invited me out in the first place..." I said placing my sunglasses back over my eyes so as he couldn't see the way they glistened with the beginnings of a bad joke. "If it matters so much..." I said slowly trying to gauge how he'd react.

"Yeah well, your teachers will be around in a day or two... I won't," with that he stole the remains of my cigarette from my mouth and took the last drag for himself.

"I don't think some of them actually know who I am..." I mused exhaling, already missing my cigarette. Van chuckled softly and shook his head.

"You're worse than I was in school you are..."

"Yeah well if you can get by doing very little whilst still getting results... why shouldn't you?" I shrugged sitting up to sit beside him and people watch.
"Think about what you could do if you applied yourself more..." he shrugged, "do you think someone should put him in the recovery position?" He nodded to the homeless man centerfield.

"We'll call an ambulance when we leave," I sighed, "usually he wakes up at about 4,"

"You come here often then," he smirked nudging me a little playfully.

"Me an Katie do sometimes yeah, if we come down before the other two, you don't wanna be around Saff on uppers when you're feeling low...." I said, "she brings the bass down and I pretend im jack white," he laughed at me then holding his hands out to frame my face, one eye squeezed shut like a hollywood director.