'I Wanna Make You My Business'- Van Mccann

4

I actually had a great day today. I couldn't believe it. I put my Oasis vinyl into my record player and jumped into my bed, with one of my many notebooks. I scribbled lyrics down for what felt like hours. I just wanted to catch the feeling i had today in a song. Slouched against the wall, I played a tune on the guitar singing away some of the lyrics I just wrote down. I heard a knock at the door but just ignored it like usual. Mum was muttering to someone downstairs- "upstairs to the left love"

"Hello hello Mrs Kathleen" Van whispered poking his head around the door.

"VAN! What are you doing here? Who let you in?" I asked.

"Your mum let me in. I was heading out to rehearsals with the lids and I thought you might want to tag along?" He said.

I got to my feet and put a jacket and my dr martins on and we headed downstairs. "Mum, I'm going out. I'll be back soon" I shouted and left before waiting for a response. I grabbed Van's hand and started to run down the street. I explained she would make me stay home if she caught me.

"KATHLEEN ELIZABETH OCTON GET THE FUCK BACK IN THE HOUSE NOW. IF YOUR NOT BACK HERE IN 10 SECONDS YOU WILL FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO SLEEP TONIGHT BECAUSE IM NOT LETTING YOU BACK IN, YOU BITCH" She screamed from the house. Still holding Van's hand we ran as fast as I could.

"Is she always like that?" Van asked me. I explained that my dad had made her like this. She had gone crazy. I hated being in the house with a control freak like that as a mother.

After about 5 minutes of walking a car pulled in beside us. A familiar voice came from inside "Eh Van, wanna lift?" . It was Larry. Van and I jumped into the back of the car.  "Benji and Bob are going to kill us for being late again you know mate" Larry said.

We drove for about 5 minutes and then the car stopped. Van and Larry jumped out of the car. Larry ran inside the garage at this unfamiliar destination. Van waited for me, "You'll like the rest of the lids. They are real nice" Van said, holding the door open to the garage for me.

As I walked in, I saw two boys sat on a couch. I recognised them. They used to sit at the back in my old geography class at secondary school. I think they were called Matthew and Robert if i remember correctly.  Larry pulled me over to them. "Benji, Bob this is Kate, Kate this is Benji and Bob."  We gave each other a hug and said our hellos.

"Did you go to my secondary school or not because i recognise you from somewhere?" I asked them

The one with the brown, fuzzy, broccoli looking hair started talking. "Oh yeah we did, we never talked though. I'm Benji and thats Bob. We changed to our nicknames because we preferred them. We used to be..."
"Matthew and Robert" we both said at the same time and laughed.

Van came over and started talking to Benji and Bob, "Where the fuck is Billy? Does he think this is some sort of fucking joke. This is serious. He has missed like 2 weeks of rehearsals. FUCK SAKE"

"Van what's up?" I asked him.

"It's our guitarist, Billy. He thinks that we haven't got anywhere with the band yet so we never will, and so he doesn't take him seriously. But fuck him." 

The boys practiced for like 2 hours straight while Larry and I sat on the couch watching them. At the end of the rehearsal Van slammed his guitar down. "Fuck this" and he left to go outside. All the boys looked at me, and I took this as a signal to go and see what was wrong.

Van was sat on a wall in Benji's garden struggling to get his lighter to work.

"Van, let me get that for you" I said taking the lighter off him and lighting his cigarette. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it just stresses me out. I love our music and I love all the lads but being down one member really stresses me out. We have a gig next week and I feel we need to get rid of Billy, do you want one?" Van said taking another cigarette from his pocket. "It relaxes me a lot"

I took one from him. "Thanks Van." I lit it and took a breath of it in. I started coughing straight away and blew it all out. Van chuckled.

"Kate, watch me. Suck it in. Let in chill inside you for a few seconds and gently release it." He explained. I tried it and it was great. We sat outside for a while just smoking for a bit. Van seemed to get a less stressed and then we headed inside.

"Larry, give us a lift home would you mate" Van asked Larry. We said by to Bob and Benji and headed back into the car.  I jumped into the back and Van sat in the front. Larry drove us back but we went straight past my house. Did he forget I was in the back. Anyway I wasn't bothered, I didn't want to go back there tonight. We pulled up at another unfamiliar destination. A sign read outside the house 'McCann's B&B' so I guessed we were at Van's house. We jumped out the car and Van grabbed my hand. "Suppose you better stay over, since your not allowed back to your house tonight" Van said smirking at me.

He pushed open the front door and we walked into his house. The house was very small, but it felt very cosy and loving.

"Mam, Dad this is Kate , she's new in my music class. Kate,  this is my Mam and Dad, Mary and Bernard" he said. His parents were very nice. They welcomed me into their home and made us a cup of tea each, before we headed upstairs.