'I Wanna Make You My Business'- Van Mccann

10

"So what do you think?" Larry asked, pulling a chair up next to me. He had put on a brightly coloured bandana since last time I saw him.

"Yeah they are really good! They sound so much more confident than in Benji's garage, ahah," I replied.

"Yeah that's Van for you, loves performing for people." He said, taking a drink of his beer. "Do you not have a drink Kate?"  I shook my head. Even though it was very hot in the room, I didn't fancy a drink. "What kind of a boyfriend is Van if he didn't get you a drink? I'm going to have to have a word with him." 

The music was loud so I wasn't sure if I heard that right. Boyfriend? My boyfriend? Van? What?

"What, Van's not my boyfriend? Where did that come from?" I asked Larry.

"Fuck my life, he hasn't asked you out yet. Jesus he's taking his time. Err lets forget I mentioned that for now, yeah?" He asked.

I agreed but it didn't leave my mind. Van, my boyfriend? Surely that was never going to happen.

-

The set finished and Van came off stage to get a drink that Larry had just bought everyone, and he took a huge mouthful of it.

"Van! That was amazing!" I told him. "Benji, Bob, you were great too!"

They all thanked me and we finished our drinks. We all packed the kit away back into the van. I sat down on the floor of the car park admiring all the boys trying to fit everything inside. You could tell they were getting a bit frustrated with themselves.  I headed inside to go the toilet before we set off home.  By the time I came outside, only Bob and Benji were to be seen.

"Bob, where's Van and Larry?" I asked.

"There just over there. They told me to keep you entertained for a few minutes till we leave. So did you enjoy the show?" He said. I told him how good I thought, keeping an eye out for Van's return.

They appeared from around the corner and Larry pulled Van aside. I couldn't make out what they were saying to each other but Van kept looking over at me but not smiling like usual. After about a 5 minute talk they returned to the rest of the group.

"Hey what was all that about?" I asked Van.

"Oh nothing. C'mon lets get back to Benji's. We'll have a party when we get back"

-

We all partied at Benji's house for several hours. Something seemed to be on Van's mind as he was very distant for the rest of the night. I took it upon myself to find out what was wrong, so I pulled him outside for a chat.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"Nothing"

"C'mon Van. You have practically been ignoring me since we left the pub. What's up?"

He didn't answer and just pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

"Van?.... Van?"

"Kate. I really don't know what to say. I'm just going to do it. Right, I really fucking like you. I like you far more than I even realised. I was feeling so down about Billy and that and then I remembered you were here and I was... actually just forget it, I'm real shit and this kinda stuff."

"Van, just carry on..."

"I was just wondering if you, y'know, want to go out on a proper date? Hanging around here all the time isn't the best."

I stood looking at Van and he stood looking at me. I really liked him too but I didn't want to admit it straight away.

"Yeah, that sounds fun. But don't diss this place though. I like watching you jump about it's really sexy!" Shit it slipped out. I just admitted it. I just told him that I thought he was sexy. Fuck my life. Hahahahahahahahate my life.

"Oh you think I'm sexy. Thought I didn't even look nice." Van said smirking at me.

"Shut up Ryan" I said pushing his shoulder.