Under My Skin - Catfish and the Bottlemen

6. I Wanna Love You

"Never have I ever...said the wrong name in bed."

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Uggghhhh..."

Everyone laughed and looked at Cassie, who swigged at her hard seltzer. Van chuckled.

"Hate to have been that lad!"

She sulked, swallowing. "And he wasn't worth it, anyway."

The sounds of The Strokes blared through the bus speakers circling the center table, where were all squished together, devouring takeout burgers. Van had decided it was high time to "get to know each other better."

Van was always making up loopy games to push conversation, and push the envelope in the process. But maybe, like me, he needed something to take the edge off. Our bus was generally a guys' den where we didn't worry about farting or belching or any other of our disgusting manly habits. Now there were actual women aboard, and Van, ever the entertainer, probably felt like they needed to be entertained.

"Right. Miriam, you're up!" Van's eyes gleamed.

I pitied the shy girl as everyone turned to her. One of those who could play to 20,000 people and not miss a note, but if you looked her in the eyes, she blushed and chewed her fingernails.

"Ummm, I don't know. I'm not so good at these games..."

"What's the most embarrassing thing you can think of? Bet someone here's done it." Zoe smirked as she spoke, then popped a crisp in her mouth and crunched it.

I'd felt something between relief and disappointment when she'd sequestered herself in the front of the bus earlier, dozing off with Benji. I'd zoned out to Los Bitchos, dozing myself. But when lunch arrived and she'd come to the table, laughing over some bass joke with Benji, that familiar ache in my stomach returned.

She'd looked at me a few times as the conversation flowed during lunch, even smiled when she told some daft story about the last band they'd toured with getting lost on the way to a venue. I had hope that we were drifting back to an equilibrium, one in which we could be easy around each other.

"Ok, um...never have I ever...gone to the bathroom outside?" Miriam looked around hopefully.

We all groaned and reached for our drinks. Miriam looked around wide-eyed, in shock. I caught Zoe's eye over my pint and grinned at her. Her smile didn't fade.

"Girl, you're something else," she laughed, shaking her head. "Right, my turn." She thought for a moment. "Never have I ever been to a nude beach."

I swallowed, looked around, a heat rising to my face. The guys didn't even know about that one time... Everyone was looking from one to another, but no one drank.

I cracked my knuckles, lifted my pint and took a slow sip. She was the first to notice, and when her eyes caught mine, I fancied a saw a sparkle in them, something between surprised and impressed.

"Bondy! What the! You've never said!" Van's voice was shrill as he started barking questions at me, Cassie, Artemis and Benji dissolved into giggles, Bob smirked, Miriam grew even redder and Zoe just looked at me expectantly.

"Eh." I waved my hand absently. "Had to, didn't I, in Croatia last year." I sipped again.

"Go on, then." Zoe's voice rose above the commotion. Her eyes were bright. "What was it like?"

"I reckon it was...itchy?" Everyone broke into laughter, and even Zoe allowed a small chuckle. I grinned like a fool.

"Boys! Gather up please! Oh, and girls too, I suppose."

Our tour manager's voice cut through the din, and everyone rose, sweeping away the lunch trash. I squeezed down the narrow hall to my bunk to gather my things, then slipped into the bathroom.