Oxygen (Catfish And The Bottlemen/1975)

Saffron

"Come on, come and dance wi me," grinned katie, arms outstretched, fingers twinkling beneath the stage lights. I grinned back took her hands and joined in despite myself.

The lads were on stage and that meant that Fliss was alone. The first night I hadn't felt so guilty leaving her alone, but tonight, after three nights of her relentless fever, I felt a little more than troubled. I kept thinking of her, lying alone in that tour bus, stuck in the middle of a nightmare, delirious.

"Maybe one of us should go see her..."

"She'll be fine, Van says she's just sleeping..."

"I know but..."

"Saffy, sugar bean, shes okay, we've gotta let her rest,"

"I know..."

"But?" She raised her brow skeptically, smart as you like was our kitty. "Honestly saff you'll drive yourself mad worrying about her..."

"I already have," I smirked dryly, dancing along, only stopping when she did, caught mesmerized by someone on stage. "Theyre better than I thought they'd be in real life you know," I said following her gaze.

"How so?" She asked not taking.her eyes off Benji for a second.

"I don't know, I know you and Fliss always rated them, but I used to think they'd be jus like everyone else we ever met..."

"Bland fuck boys?" She turned to me then with a dry sort of smirk. I smirked back nodding my head. "Dont tell," she said carefully, "but I always thought that too,"

"Really?" I giggled, surprised by her confession.

"Yeah," she nodded glancing back at the lads for a second, "come on sugar even Fliss thought something was up when they first started hanging round..."

"An she was besotted," I winked.

"Don't let her hear you say that," grinned kitty taking me by the hand to drag me back stage to pour another few drinks.

"She is though isn't she, its so obvious,"

"Whats so obvious?" Andys voice caught us off guard.

"Not you, lurkin around on your own, whatre you playin at," I laughed him off quickly, hoping that my cheeky smile might stop his questions.

"Oh im sorry I forgot I was dealin with the cheeky one," he winked. I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Im not the cheeky one," I smirked, "you know that," he held back his smile and whatever snide remark had been waiting for us. I poured another drink, a spare so that we wouldnt have to come wandering back out here without the lads.

Kitty did the same, she never said a word in front of andy. She'd come out of her shell a lot since we had left england, but there were some people who sent her spiralling straight back down to square one. Andy was one of those people.

I couldn't blame her though. He made my skin crawl.

I shivered as we left the room and Kitty turned to me, holding back a laugh, eyes glistening once again.

"Do you hear yourself sometimes?" She let it out when she was sure we were out of earshot. I laughed too. We were like two school girls who'd just been caught passing notes by the teacher.

"I don't know what youre talking about" I smiled clever as you like, leaning up against the wall eyes fixed on the lads as they threw themselves into Outside. "I think this ones my favourite," I nodded along.

"I like tyrants," replied Kitty.

"You like all of them," I grinned nudging her in the ribs so that she jumped back giggling into her drink.