Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Fliss

I'd had a few by the time we wandered out onto the stage, the afternoon sun beating down, catching the glitter in my lashes so as everything seemed to sparkle.

I couldn't tell whether it was the light or the lines I'd taken, but everything seemed strangely surreal.

I could feel the lads in the wings watching us, and when I turned to the side smiling over my shoulder Van flashed me a grin and a wink and called out something obscene sending a ripple of laughter through the group.

"Eyup Finsbury Park, whats the Craic?" I smiled into the microphone tuning up my guitar as I grinned at the floor. "In case you didnt already know, we're a little band called Honeymoons and we're from over there somewhere," I threw my arm out lackadaisically gesturing towards the west.

"Good though this Int it," I couldn't help but giggle, "mad cause a bet yous lot didn't even know who we were this time last week," I smiled, "anyway, this ones called Jennifer," I grinned closing my eyes, struggling to take it all in, a crowd that seemed to stretch on for miles, all jumping along in waves as far as I could see.

"cheers lids," It was difficult not to laugh, the scene before me almost overwhelming. The fizz on the back of my tongue and the gleaming light of the sun seemed to swirl my reality up into some kind of supernova haze, heart rate thudding, all elation and thudding euphoria.

"So this is our last song," I smiled giddy and childish, my hair a mess as I pushed it out of my face and glanced over my shoulder at the lads. Van was standing cool as you like, leaning up against a stack of gear with a cigarette between his teeth, he was clearly gagging for a fag, and yet there he was still waiting to watch us finish. It was one of those silly sentimental sort of things but it made me smile and stumble all the same. "Now a know 6 hours in yous are probably all getting sick of hearing this, especially off us but you know, its class of the lads to have us on, so you know super thanks boys," I teased giggling at my Inbetweeners quote, thumbs up and all. "Really though lids, cheers for the support, I pinky swear if anyone ever let's us make an album we'll name it catfish and the bottletops, just for you,"

"Or Van McCanYouNot,"

"Or The War On Bondy," giggled Saffron, I could see Van smirking in my peripheral vision, all I wanted now was to join him, steal a drag of his cigarette and steal him away to somewhere else where no one would accidentally stumble upon us getting too sentimental to pass it off as friends.

It had been close enough this morning with Katie in the car, if she'd have turned around sooner we'd have been caught and though I knew she'd understand I knew the others would struggle to.
They wouldn't like that I'd been so secretive and they wouldn't like that I was letting myself get caught up in something so soon after the last something had gone wrong.

"Anyway," I smirked, "here's wonderwall," and with that we lost ourselves to the last song of the afternoon, heads spinning as we sang and danced to a song I'd written 4 years before, at the grand old age of 13, sitting under a table at a house party, watching my older friends struggling to stand.

"That was fucking next level lass!" Grinned Honey pulling me into a hug as i skipped off stage and the other girls followed. Benji and Larry were waiting with us too each of them pulling us into a hug before Benji wrapped his arms around Katie and lifted her off the floor.

"Fucking hell," she breathed clearly overwhelmed, "did you see that?" She gestured behind her drawing a laugh from Larry and Ben.

"Aye and that'll be the smallest festival crowd you ever draw in again,"teased bondy only trying to wind her up.

I leant my head against his shoulder as I rolled a cigarette and he offered me a bit of his beer, tipping the bottle a little too far back on purpose, though the joke was on him because I could drink for england and I swallowed the mouthful with ease.