Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Benji

"Ey ey ey calm down calm down," I had her held to my chest, kitty that is, rocking her gently, my lips on her forehead placing tender kisses across her features, her cheeks, her nose, her eyes.
She looked at me, a frightened rabbit, and I sighed stroking her hair. "Whatever are we gonna do wi yous ey?" I asked with a small smile, "c'mon babe you know jus as well as I do that you're gonna be amazing," I said into her hair, "more than amazing, youre gonna be something else kate," when our eyes met I held her gaze and for a moment we poured our hearts out without a word. Something in her fathomless pupils stirred something in mine. I cupped her cheek and placed a kiss on her lips. She held onto me.

"You say such lovely things," she said softly.

"I mean every single one of them," I smiled, she smiled too, her dimples twitching in her cheeks.

We were backstage at the venue, hidden in an empty dressing room somewhere down a corridor we weren't supposed to have access to.

In half an hours time she would be on stage with the girls and I would be watching from the wings with the lads.

She held onto me, her fingers gripping my tshirt, scrunching the cotton in her fist. Her other hand, palm flat to my beating heart, moved in time with my breathing, steady, or as steady as I could manage when she looked up at me like that.

"Kate," I said with a slow smirk.

"What?" The space between her brows scrunched a little and I smiled more.

"You look beautiful today," I said grinning when she did, her cheeks flushing a light shade of pink.

"Ben," she smiled softly, shyly, unsure whether to look at me or my shoes. She wrapped her arms around my neck and nestled closer. She was about to say something too but a shout down the corridor closed her mouth and she said nothing.

"Kitkat cmon, stage now!" I rolled my eyes at the sound of Alices voice interrupting our moment.

"Fuck," said kitty, her eyes watering, darkening. I watched her neck pulse as she swallowed hard, "oh god,"

"Shhh," I said gently, "breath deep kate," and she did. She closed her eyes, pressed her forehead to mine and inhaled slowly, shakily. "And again," I said coaxing her along as best I could.

Slowly she calmed opening her eyes, her gaze locking with mine.

"You know you can do this," I said firmly, that steady, sugary sort of firm only ever intended to calm someone.

"I believe you," she said but I could tell that she didn't.

"Odds on, prove yourself wrong," I smirked and she smirked too.

"How much?"

"I'll take you for breakfast?"

"Oh well you know how I feel about breakfast," she grinned her hands holding mine now, our fingers interlinked. She traced the freckles on the back of my hand.

I placed a kiss on her forehead to seal the deal, she smiled and kissed my lips.

"Come on then," I nodded to the door and began to walk, tugging on her arm lightly so that she would follow.

Side stage the girls were waiting for her, Saff was grinning, Alice was sitting with Jazz. She had the face on.

"Line or a shot?" Asked Saffron holding a glass in one hand and her house key in the other. "Can I tempt you to both?"

I looked between the two of them, kitty stood there tentatively, Saffron with the forced smile of a mother trying to put on a brave face for the first day of school. "It'll be a big adventure sweetheart, you're going to have so much fun..." that sort of sugar coated crap.