Outside

17

The time tonight flew by faster than either of us could even blink. It's already eight by the time we settle down after dragging ourselves around the arcade, which wasn't really big but it was big enough for my legs to get tired. The sky is already dark and my feet are hurting due to how many places Van had dragged me to.

We were now sat on a bench at the edge of the pier, just watching the ripples in the dark water below us and although the cold air feels like a second skin at this point, I'm having one of the best nights since I was a little girl. Van had taken me everywhere he could think of, the arcade which was eventful, an hour consisting of Van having a full-blown, high pitched argument with a thirteen year old who tried to steal his prize from the claw machine- in the end I made Van let it go, I'm pretty sure he's still mad at me for doing that. He then showed me his and Larry's 'special smoking spot' for when they were just kids, when they weren't allowed to drink alcohol but still stole their parent's gin and got wasted in the woods behind Larry's house.

It was nice to see Van smiling and laughing whilst he told me stories about him as a teenager since I wasn't there when he was younger, it felt like I was though. The way he described everything with such a vivid way of doing it, it felt almost as if I was actually getting stoned with him and his mates behind the school science block. He told it like a story rather than just a little tour around his hometown.

"You know what we need?" Van says, snapping Van me out of my thoughts and back into reality. I look at him with an expression as if to ask him what he was talking about, "we need alcohol" he replies with a smile, a cheeky one that tells me we're getting drunk rather than just having a few.

"And how would we get back home if we're off our heads on booze?" I ask him, shifting to face him with a confused look on my face, wondering if he even thought about the fact that we're four hours from my home, the only 'home' here being Van's parents' home, which I'm not even sure is here anymore since we haven't actually talked about that.

Van just giggles at me, following it up with a wink "who said we're goin' home?" He laughs again, only this time rising to his feet and holding his hand out for me to take.

And I do, I grab his cold hand and lace his fingers with mine as we walk back down the pier to the bustling streets, all lit up with street lights and glowing signs from pubs and little corner shops.

"Wait, where are we staying then?" I ask, worry lacing my words as I stop him in his tracks and pull on his arm slightly in order to get him to face me.

"My parents have a bed an' breakfast near the pub, we can stay there for the night, don't worry so much Oasis" he looks at me with a rather sympathetic smile, leaning down to lay another small kiss on my forehead before he leads me in the direction of where he parked the car.

We don't even make it to the car before it begins to rain, and when we finally do slide ourselves onto the cold seats, we're already drenched from the typical English weather. My hair, which I neatly curled this morning, is clinging to my face and I can't help but feel annoyed that I'd done my makeup this morning just for it to be rubbed away by the rain.

"Sorry, maybe I should've parked closer to the pier eh?" Van chuckles, buckling his seatbelt before turning on the car, allowing the warmth from the heater to be felt on my cold legs.

I chuckle at his comment before turning to stare out of the window at the gradually darkening sky, watching the streetlights slowly getting brighter along the roads Van drives along. It truly is beautiful, I don't know why Van would ever call it boring, it seems like there's so much to do round here I could never get bored. But I guess when you've lived somewhere your whole life it would get a little boring after a while, I know London lacks fun but I also know that Van- and probably a lot of other people- would disagree with me.