Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Van

"Alright Kitty," I grinned closing the door behind me as I slipped into their hotel room and looked around. It was smaller than ours, but warmer, and when my eyes rested on Fliss in a Glasvegas tshirt and a pair of Nike leggings, her legs crossing as she kicked them slowly behind her, I felt a homely sensation wash over me.

"Ayup Felicity Wishes, what're we watching?" I asked flopping down onto the bed beside her. She glanced at me with a tired half smile, her eyes warm and watery as she turned back to the screen.

"Marky K," she sighed a little wistfully still with her eyes on the screen. I bit my tongue, watching her expression carefully, she was smiling softly, she didnt look sad but there was something strange about the curve of her lips and I could tell that something was wrong.

I watched her shoulders deflate and her warm facade waver, so I bit back a sigh and turned to her friend, slipping my hand into Fliss's as I did.

"Oh Kitty, Blakes says me an you are swapping pillows tonight so you're lookin after these reet?" I tossed a set of keys over my shoulder at her, struggling not to laugh when Katie had to jump to catch them.

When she shut the door behind her Fliss let her head flop down onto the pillow, her eyes lit up by the screen in front of her.
She seemed transfixed by it, a little quirk in her lips, her dimple denting her cheeks as she listened to Mark Knopfler talking about Newcastle and blues.

"Are you okay love?" I asked unsure how to start, I could tell she needed to get something off her chest, but I also knew what she was like and her little bundle of joy facade was difficult to break through.

"Mmmm" she said softly, reaching over me and under the pillow for her phone. I smirked, a cheeky smile as she tried to pull her arm back and check her phone.

"oh no don't pull away," I grinned wrapping my arms around her, pulling her in quickly, smiling as she let out a laugh and our noses brushed, our eyes locking, suspending us in a moment with more meaning than I could understand. "I like you with your arms around me," I smirked at her, our eyes gleaming as they met.

"I like you with your arms around me too," she was trying not to laugh, I could tell because she kept looking down, biting back a smile and shivering a little. My eyes lingered on her, her eyes lingered on me, and when I leant down to place a kiss on her forehead she shifted and tilted her head until her lips met mine and she smiled into our kiss.

I pushed her hair from her face and pulled her in closer, holding her lower back, running my fingers down her bare arms, admiring her T-shirt.

"Good band,"

"I only know a few songs," she admitted looking over her shoulder at the screen once again, "it was me dads," that was when I noticed the shyness in her again, it didn't come out often but when it did I got the feeling it was because she was revealing a side of Fliss she wasn't so sure about.

"Ey you know me mam called me this morning said she'd seen him earlier,"  I flashed her a smile in the hopes that she was light up again but instead she only frowned.

"What?"

"My mam said she saw your dad, he's staying in Llandudno again, probably at me mam and dads place now..."

"Oh," she said softly, her expression hard to read as she turned the volume up on her documentary. I bit my lip, my frown matching hers because that hadn't been the response I was expecting. Still it didnt stop me forcing a new smile and trying again because I couldn't stand to see her looking so lonely when she was by my side.

"She said they were talking about you, he was telling her all about the band," I said again, this time she stopped, looking up at me under her eyelashes and swallowed. Her lips parted slightly as she repeated my words on a loop in her head until she'd come to the conclusion that perhaps I wasn't lying to her.