Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Benji

"No lets just fuckin start again Bobs right," sighed Van hitting his head softly against the microphone. "May as well get it perfect like..." I shrugged my shoulders when they turned to me, it was easier just to agree with them in these situations. The studio was bad for getting Van riled up, but it was worse when we weren't recording, when we were just rehearsing for a tv performance or a radio show. Today we were in the live lounge and we had been so wrapped up in the cover we wanted to do that we gad forgotten to practice our own song.

"We've played it a billion times before, we're not likely fuck it up..." shrugged Bondy but Van just shot him a look.

"Yeah I know," he sighed after a moment. "Fuck it, lets just do it once more..."

And so we did. Bondy rolled his eyes at me and I bit back a chuckle as we counted three and started playing oxygen once more.

We had been planning on playing something else but Van had changed his mind the day we'd last seen Fliss and I couldn't help smirk when I realised the connection.
She was after all the girl with a tank full of highs.

"For fucks sake!" Groaned Van sitting down on the floor and letting out yet another frustrated growl. "This is fucking, fuck!"

Larrys wolf whistle only frustrated him more, making us laugh and drive him up the wall.

"Calm down lad, whats gotten into you lately?" I chuckled but I knew exactly what had gotten into him... it was Fliss, it was the girls in general, it was the fact that he hadn't seen them for weeks now and we'd all been off busy with our own careers.

If it wasnt interviews it was signings if it wasnt signings it was recording, if it wasnt recording it was writing, if it wasnt writing it was interviews and of it wasn't interviews it was signings.

I couldn't help but feel for him a little, I felt deflated enough and I'd had time to call Katie, I'd even seen her a couple of times. I suppose Bassists don't have quite as much to do.

If I missed Katie despite our calls, despite our little hour visits to parks and cafes and anywhere else she thought I ought to see, well how was Van supposed to feel good without Fliss.

"Im just fuckin knackered alright," he groaned. Van was usually so upbeat, a little ball of sunshine, but today someone had swapped him for a storm front. Grey clouds and the long wait before the storm.

"Why don't yous give it a rest then la, go back to the hotel for an hour ajd have a nap," shrugged larry sitting down beside him taking the mic from him before he wound up chucking it.

"Because if I do that, we'll definitely fuck it up.." he scowled getting a little lary as he pushed himself up and shrugged again.

"And so what, youve never been arsed before smirked Bondy, and he was right. Van had never really cared about fucking up, he had too much faith that he wouldn't to ever really worry about it.

"It wont matter anyway mate,"

"Its fuckin radio 1 Bob!" He snapped only drawing a laugh from us.

"Exactly mate, you do nowt but slang them off when youre not on one of their shows!" Grinned larry.

"I do not!" He cried out even more exasperated now than he had been before. We all chuckled then, laughing harder when his cheeks flushed red and he threw his arms into the air. "I fucking do not!" He shouted standing up and storming out, leaving behind a wolf whistle and a few laughs. None of us were worried though, he would only have gone outside for a smoke.

"Christ alive,"  sighed larry rolling his eyes, "the fuck was that about..."

"I wonder..." replied bondy dryly, apparently it was as obvious to him as it was to me.

"I swear he doesn't usually get this bad," breathed bob his eyes still fixed on the open door, a small smirk on his lips.

"Just you wait till he gets back in here," sniggered larry, "I'll crucify him," he was almost giggling with the joy winding Van up gave him.

"Well I can't wait to see how this goes down..." I smirked watching the door for Van, he didn't return until ten minutes later and when he did Larry sent him through the roof.
He didnt even have to do much, just drop hints here and there, "is it cause fliss is going to be listening... is it cause its about fliss and you need it to be perfect, is it because you think she's beautiful, is it because you think shes sexy, and you want her body..."

"For fuck sake I am going to fucking swing for you in a minute Larry!" He yelled glaring at our friend who couldn't stop himself but crack a smirk, deteriorating swiftly into manic laughter as Van yelled more profanities in his face. "Youre such a fucking wanker, fucking hell mate shut the fuck up!"

"Touched a nerve?" Chuckled Bondy.

"You can shut it too!" He glared over in our direction and perhaps we'd have been intimidated had it not been Van, had we not also seen these kind of temper tantrums over lost phones, stolen crisp packets and larrys general teasing.

"Ey Van lid, cool it yeah, cant have yous on the bbc swearing all over the shop..." I said finally chucking him a banana, "have that, you'll feel better," I chuckled, cracking up with laughter when he caught the banana and lobbed it across the room at larry. Of course when it hit him in the face we all had to stop and take a breather, practically on the floor in hysterics.

By the time we made it into the live lounge Van had called larry several incredibly inappropriate names more than once and as entertaining as it was to see the vein in his neck flare when he gritted his teeth, I was beginning to worry that he wasnt going to calm down enough to be his usual cheery self when the time came.
However when we got there I realised that I needn't have worried about Van at all because as we sat down and gathered in the studio sharing out the microphones, despite the fact that me and bob intended on saying very little, someone else walked into the producers booth smirking at us through the glass.

"Yeah the tracks are sounding nice, but we're not so record focussed at the moment... the festivals are what we've got...What the..." trailed off Van midsentence as he paused and set eyes on Fliss, I saw a small smile play out on his lips when he saw her and for a moment he said nothing as the interviewer only giggled and clapped her hands with glee.

"I feel like im on friends reunited or something," she beamed, "so whats happening here boys and girls is that we here at the bbc have been very cheeky..."

"Fucking Fliss," mouthed Bondy to me with a smirk, Van still remained glued to his seat gobsmacked at the sight of her as she tiptoed into the studio and squeezed in between me and Van. He turned to her then as the interviewer continued to explain just how cheeky she'd been.

"This is mad," he chuckled wrapped an arm round her and pulling her into an awkward hug. It had been a squeeze already but now it was worse. Fliss was tiny, but her elbow jabbing in my waist didn't half hurt. "Ereyare lass sit on me knee," he said shifting so as we all might feel a little more comfortable, still it didnt stop larry shooting him a wink through the glass and Bondy wolf whistling him just to wind him up. Still, we needed to wind him up in the hopes that hed get fed up and do something about the tension that even we could see between them.

"So basically, what we thought, is that since you two have become such good friends recently, you might like to do a little collaboration..." smirked the interviewer shooting the two a cheeky smile. Bondy cracked then laughing a little, a slow round of applause at her "cheeky" trick.

"Did yous know about this?" Grinned Van to Fliss who smirked and shook her head.

"As if I was gonna get out of bed this morning without knowing exactly what for..." she giggled rolling her eyes at him.

"You cheeky..." started Van, still not quite over the shock of seeing her.

"Eyyyy bbc voices you two," I grinned shoving Van slightly, "yous two are as bad as eachother," I smirked trying to defend myself when fliss shot me a scowl.