Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Fliss

"Oh my god," I breathed slowly as I followed Van up the driveway to his old front door. He grinned back at me over his shoulder knocking on the door.

"You recognise it?"

"Yeah," I smiled looking up at the front door as I heard someone's feet on the staircase inside. "This is the place," he flashed me another smile just as a woman I didn't recognise opened the door and pulled him into a hug he hadn't been expecting.

"Ryan love I wasn't expecting you until tonight!" She beamed, it was only when she spoke that a wave of nostalgia washed over me and something in the pit of my stomach flipped making it impossible to wipe the smile off my face. I wasn't sure what it was about her that I recognised but it awoke a part of me I'd been trying to ignore for a long time, evoking a million different memories I probably shared with her, my brother and sister.

"Alright alright mam," grinned Van finally wriggling free, "christ you nutter, you nearly strangled me!" He laughed brushing himself down and correcting his hair.

"And who's this?" She turned to me then, a cheeky smile forming on her lips as she looked me up and down. Suddenly I felt a little shy, smiling softly at her, forgetting momentarily how to talk.

"Hiya, I'm Fliss, it's nice to..." I said quietly but Van cut me off.

"See yous again!" He grinned, "Fliss used to stay here when she was dead little!"

"Oh so you're Fliss!" She beamed pulling me into a hug, "its lovely to finally meet you... you used to stay here when you were younger?" She asked holding me out in front of her, studying me closely. For a second she seemed blank and then a fond smile curved into the corner of her lips, "wait, Fliss Thomas, I remember you!" She beamed sending a shiver down my spine with the use of my dads second name.

"I haven't been called that in a long time," I smiled softly.

"You used to stay here all the time! You and your brother used to run riot round here!" I giggled at that remembering fondly all the times me and my brother had wreaked havoc around this little seaside town. "Gosh you've grown up to be quite something haven't you... mind you you were always quite something even when you were just s littlen...." she turned to Van then a look of disbelief on her face. "And you Ryan, I can't believe you didn't recognise the girl who drew all those flowers on your maths homework!"

"You're joking!" He took a step back turning to me, "oh my god that was you?! You little...." he trailed off editing himself because of his mother, "you know how long my mates laughed at me for that?!" He grinned through the shock of this new discovery.

"I barely remember doing it!" I giggled, "I must have been tiny!"

"You were, a right little dot of a thing you must have been... gosh I don't know, we hadn't known your dad that long you could only have been about 2 and a half, maybe 3..."

"Did you know my dad well then?" I'd asked the question before I could stop myself, getting a little carried away in the moment.

"Mmm very, Craig was quite a good friend of ours for a long time..." she smiled softly, almost somberly, perhaps she understood.

"As if our parents have been friends years and we've never once met!" Van ran his hands through his hair looking between the two of us in awe. I didn't bother to correct him. He'd said "parents" but my mother would never have befriended Van's parents, she'd probably never have stayed the night in their home at all.

"Its mad isn't it," I smiled softly looking round the hallway, his mother seemed to sense my curiosity and stepped asside.

"Why don't you come in, have a brew and a little look round, Van can show you all the places you used to try and hide in..." we both looked at her confused, though the further inside the house I wandered the more memories came creeping back. None of them complete, just little snippets of scenes that seemed familiar. "You're not telling me you don't remember that girl getting stuck in the bathroom cabinet?" She laughed, "Don't you remember running down to me at the crack of dawn cause there was a little kid asleep on the top shelf in the linen cupboard?" She looked at Van almost shocked at his apparent lack of memory but he only shook his head and smiled at me over his shoulder where he stood making the tea.