Kathleen ~ Van McCann

2

"Thank you so much! We are Catfish and the Bottlemen," the singer says proudly before jogging off the side of the stage into the back room with the other member.

The bar tender slid me a glass of water during the middle of the song after I told him I didn't want a beer. I pushed the lemon around with my straw, having nothing else to do.

From the sound of rain pounding on the roof, I can tell that the storm is sill coming down strong. I grab my phone from my jean pocket and check the time. It is only 7:45.

I shut my phone off and draw my attention back to my glass of water which I've still have yet to drink from.

•~~~~~

Random thoughts of how I'm going to earn enough money race through my head as I sit alone at the bar, until I feel a hand gently rest on my shoulder.

I lift my head up, surprised at the touch, and turn to the side to see who it was. Hopefully it isn't some creepy man. That's the last thing I need.

"Hello," the British voice says, which immediately leads me to realize that it was the singer from the band. "I noticed you came in a few minutes ago. You missed most of the performance, sadly," he says with a smile and taking a seat on the stool next to me.

"Oh... um, yeah, I wish I could have seen the rest of it. I really liked that last song you played," I say, trying my best to sound confident, even though my crippling anxiety is most likely evident in my voice.

"Well, thank you. The name is Van, by the way. May I ask yours?" He says, leaning his head slightly to the side, showing curiosity.

"I'm Kathleen," I say. "You can call me Kathy, though."

"Kathy?" He questions. "How about Kat? Kat is cool. You're too cool to be a Kathy," he says.

I'm not sure if I should take that as an insult, since he made fun of my name, or a compliment, since he said I was cool. "Thanks?" I say with a small chuckle, unsure of what to respond with.

"Don't worry, it's a compliment. Anyway, what are you doing alone at a bar... drinking water?" He asks, laughing when he notices my full glass of water in front of me rather than a beer.

"It was raining outside," I say with a shrug, realizing it was kind of a stupid reason to stop driving.

"Oh, I get it. So, your afraid of the rain," he says, nodding his head slightly.

"Hey, I never said that," I laugh. "I'm not afraid of the rain. Actually, I like it," I tell him, with a little bit of sass. My anxiety seemed to diminish rather quickly, which I greatly appreciated.

"So you came in here because you love the rain and you get a nice view in this windowless bar. Got it," he says, the sarcasm evident in his voice.

"No, I guess I just don't like thunder. And my windshield wipers aren't working too well, so I couldn't really see," I say.

"Ah, it's perfectly fine to be afraid of the rain. Let me buy you a drink at least. The rain doesn't look like it will be stopping soon," he says.

"I don't think I need a drink... I should go," I say. The phone now says it's 8:12. My mom is probably wondering where I am by now since her shopping list was so short.

"Oh, come on. Stay, would ya? You just got here, after all," he says, grabbing my hand while I stand up.

"My Mom is going to be worried about me if I'm out much longer," I say.

"Your mom?" He asks with a little smirk. "Aren't you like twenty or something?"

"Van, it's complicated," I sigh. "And I have some stuff for her that I picked up at the store. I really need to go. Talking about family is... well, it's difficult for me right now." I pull my hand away from his grasp and he nods his head. Hopefully I'm not hurting his feelings. That's not my intention, really. If it wasn't for my mom, I would have stayed longer.

Van moves his hand back. "Hey, listen, I'm sorry," he apologizes. His hand moves to the back of his head and he scratches it. "Um, We're performing here again tomorrow night. You should come. It starts at 7:00," he tells me.

Of course I want to come see them perform again, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. "I'll try my best. Hopefully I can, it's just sometimes things come up," I say.

"I understand, can I at least get your number? You can let me know if you'll be coming later," Van says. I felt my cheeks flush. I hope he doesn't notice. No guy has ever asked me for my number yet, so this is kind of surprising. He can't be flirting with me, can he? There's definitely nothing special about me.

"Y-yeah," I stutter. Damn, right when I thought I was no longer nervous around him.

He smiles and hands me his phone which was open to the contacts app. I click the new contact button and type my information in, leaving my name as Kathy rather than Kat.

I hand him his phone back and he laughs. "If you don't think I'm changing your name to Kat, then you're wrong," he tells me.

I playfully roll my eyes and laugh. "You can do whatever you want. I've just never been called 'Kat' before. It's kinda odd," I tell him.

"Alright, Kat. I'll text you later so you have my number," he says. I nod my head before walking out of the bar, leaving my full glass of water on the counter.

•~~~~~

The rain was still coming down while I came home, but it wasn't as hard as before. It only takes me about ten minutes to get home from the bar, and, for those ten minutes, all I was thinking about was Van for some reason.

When I pull on the driveway I shake the thoughts from my mind and grab the groceries from the back seat.

I walk inside and my mom is sitting at one of the chairs in the kitchen. "Hi Mom," I greet her. She looks up and nods her head, as if that's some sort of greeting. I put the bags of the counter and grab a granola bar and banana from the counter. It would have been smart to get some dinner while I was at the bar, but of course I didn't think of that.

I walk up to my room and shut the door. If my mom doesn't want to invest time in her daughter, she can't expect me to invest time in her. I sit on my bed and decide to text Olivia, my coworker about what happened today.

Kathleen: Hey, you there?

Olivia: Yup. Just got off work. What's up?

Kathleen: Ok, so call me crazy, but I went into a bar tonight just for a few minutes to listen to some music and escape the rain.

Olivia: Ooh, underage drinking! How rebellious!

Kathleen: Hey! I didn't even drink. Anyway, I met the lead singer and he asked for my number and he wants me to see him perform again tomorrow. I though he might be kind of into me, but I'm not so sure now. He could have just been being nice. I don't really know where I'm going with this. I just wanted to rant to you about boy problems, I guess.

Olivia: That's great! He's totally flirting if he asked for your number. Guys don't just do that these days. It's about time some guy recognizes how beautiful you are.

Kathleen: I don't know what I did to deserve a friend as nice as you. So, you think I should go back?

Olivia: Totally! Go get 'em.

Kathleen: Thanks, Liv! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Olivia: You better. Talk to you later!

I shut my phone off and turn on my laptop, searching all about Catfish and the Bottlemen. All their songs were really good, but my favorite so far is definitely 'Anything.'

The rest of my night is spent learning more about the band and listening to their music. I eventually fall asleep to the song 'Glasgow.'