I woke up wrapped in Van's arms and I instantly panicked. What happened last night? I wondered. Did we...?Then I remembered that we lay on the roof and it was all fine. In my mini heart attack moment Van had woken up, and was now squinting at my face. His eyes went wide and he jumped away from me, saying, "what happened last night?" And then it hit him too, and he grinned at me, poking me in the stomach. I raised my eyebrows at him before poking him back.
Five minutes later we lay on his bed, in tears, laughing so hard at our poke war. It turns out that Van McCann is an extremely ticklish person.
"What time is it?" Van asked, looking for his clock.
"Quarter to ten," I replied, pointing to the clock on his chest of drawers.
"Shit," he said, his eyebrows shooting up, "we're gonna miss breakfast!"
It took me a moment to process what he just said when my stomach rumbles and a cheeky grin stretched its way onto Van's face. I shot up off his bed and vaulted down the stairs, Van hot on my heels. At one point Van realised he wasn't going to beat me and just swept me off of my feet, carrying me into dining room of the little bed and breakfast. Mary greeted me with a good morning and Van with a nag about making a good impression on the customers. Van pulled a face at me before setting me down on a chair. He nipped off and came back with two plates stacked with bacon butties.
"Be back in a sec darlin', go grab us some drinks will ya love?" Van said before popping off again.
I sighed contently, a smile playing on my lips as I looked at the choices of drink before me on the table of non cooked breakfast stuff.
"I have to say, the strawberry milkshake's got to be the best here."
I turned around to find Bernard, Van's dad picking out his cereal.
"Thanks," I replied with a smile, before grabbing two glasses filled with strawberry milkshake, topped with whipped cream and a cherry.
Just as I set them down on the table, Van came through with a plate full of steaming waffles and pancakes, covered in strawberries and blueberries and sugar in one hand, and a can of whipped cream in the other.
My jaw dropped at the sheer beauty of the sight before me. Van placed the plate down on the table and pretended to 'worship' it as he slid into the chair opposite me and began to tuck in.
We raced to finish the bacon butties first, and Van won, as predicted by himself. Then we turned to the pancakes and waffles. I won that, and Van's excuse was "I was tired from the bacon buttie." Our final competition, and the decider for the Breakfast Olympics was the milkshake. On three, we both stuck our straws into the drink and my god I have never drunk anything faster than I did then. We didn't break eye contact for the duration of the race, both of us finishing at exactly the same time.
Van's jaw dropped in dismay as he realised we drew. Grinning, we shook hands, Van cheering, "good match, good match!"
I shook my head at how young Van made me feel. At home, I had to look after my brother and my sister (when she wasn't at my grandparent's house) and deal with my parents, and I felt old. Too old for my age.
Soon, Mary came over to tidy up our plates, and we were sent back upstairs to Van's room, to chat before I left for home.
"An' I said to him, 'you wanna laugh lad? I'll show yous a laugh!'" Van said, jumping up and down on his bed telling me about his best mates who were in a band together. Plus Larry, who tagged along as their 'guitar tech' because he couldn't play any instruments. I laughed along to the little story Van was acting out like a kid on a sugar rush.
"Speakin' of them, yous wanna meet 'em?"
"Yeah, of course I wanna meet your legendary friends!" I laughed.
"Alright then, we've got band practise tomorrow, how's about that?"
"Sounds good!" I said, smiling at the thought of seeing Van tomorrow, that would keep me going for the whole day.
I jumped a bit as my phone went off, and Van chuckled a little at how jumpy I was today. If I'm honest, I had only been acting like this around Van. Then it hit me, I have know this guy for 2 days and it was as if we had been the best of friends for ages!
I looked at my phone and saw a text from my mum.
"Uh, Van, I think I better go home now," growing worried at the fact that I would have to face my dad at home.
"Aw, come on love, stay for a while?" Van said, his eyes saddened a little.
"I'm sorry Van, my dad..."
"Oh," Van said, instantly understanding what was going on.
"Let me walk you home?" He asked.
"Uhh, Van I don't think that's a good idea," I said, their first meeting wasn't exactly great.
"Nah, don't stress kid, maybe I can sort things out a bit better this time," he said with a worried smile.
"Thanks Van," I said, eternally grateful for his kindness.
"Come on then love, let's get yous packed up."
