Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Katie

I lay on my front on the bed I'd be sharing with Fliss for the next few days, my legs kicked up behind me, Adidas stripes on my ankles, tucked into my socks. With my head on the pillow and my eyes fixed on the screen of her macbook pro I felt a world and a half comfier than I had when I was trapped on an aeroplane next to angsty Benji.

He'd been off the whole evening. I'd noticed the way his jaw remained clenched and sharp in Spoons and then on the plane, so that even in the rare moments he found sleep, his body never quite relaxed. I wasn't worried though, I knew exactly what was wrong.

"We are the Sultans, we are the Sultans of Swing," sang Fliss softly as she grooved her way across the bedroom towards me, flopping down beside me in a pair of pyjama shorts and a smile. She'd put a Mark Knopfler documentary on five minutes before, because he reminded her of home and apparently she was already feeling a little strange on American soil. "Look at him though, he's such a cutie... Imagine being that good at anything... I'd die to be that good at somet," she smiled watching contently, the warm glow of the screen washing over her, bathing the contours of her face, lighting up her eyes as they remained fixed on his fancy finger work. "you know I can just about do that, but only on 9th, and only on the last three strings, I just don't understand it, he's heaven sent, he must be," she carried on and I smiled along though I wasn't really listening because I was tired and too emotional to engage in nostalgia tripping.

I was waiting for Ben to knock on for me because he'd promised me we'd spend the night together, we just had to be a little more careful than usual.

He'd not told me directly about the label, but I'd heard enough from Fliss to know that they weren't happy about me and him, that they'd been putting a lot of pressure on him to back off, and yet no one had really given an explanation for their interfering.
All I knew was that I didnt like the taste it left in my mouth when I talked about strangers talking about me and him and all the emotions and sentimental things we shared in private.

I didnt like the way my skin crawled when I felt eyes which weren't his, follow us around the room, look me up and down, study our shadows on the walls.

I rolled over and off the bed as someone knocked on the door disturbing the peace, but it wasn't Benji and when Van slipped in greeting me with a smile I felt my chest sink.

"Alright Kitty," he grinned closing the door behind him, "Ayup Felicity Wishes, what're we watching?" I smirked when he fell down onto the bed beside her and failed to draw her attention away from the screen. Dire Straits were her first love and no man would ever mean as much to her as Mark Knopfler, that was just something Van would have to deal with. "Oh Kitty, Blakes says me an you are swapping pillows tonight so you're lookin after these reet?" He tossed a set of keys over his shoulder and I had to jump to catch them, but I caught them all the same and when he applauded I took a timid bow before disappearing bare foot, down the hall, leaving him to vye for Fliss's attention.

When I found Bens room I hesitated a moment before pushing the door to, I could hear voices behind the closed door, raised and laced with a subtle aggression which put me on edge.

"Ben what part of no don't you understand?!"

"The part where a lad 2 years younger than me gets to dictate my private life!" He snapped back, I winced as once again they turned the volume up and I found myself the center of their debate.

"I'm on your management team, its my job! You can't keep this up Ben, the label don't like it!"

"She's my girlfriend for crying out loud, she's not a fucking song or a questionable T-shirt, they have literally no right to get involved!"

I bit my lip listening as their discussion continued to escalate, and I would probably have remained shivering in the hallway had Bondy and Bob not tapped my shoulder and guided me into their room and out of the way.