ANYTHING | Van Mccaan (pt 1) - completed

Chapter 5 - Larry

Larry cheered as we finished singing and playing the guitar. I turned my head towards him and he had the black camera in his hands. I smiled happily, content, hiding my shyness and anti-socialness inside.

"I bet the fans would love this." Bob smiled and did thumbs up to me. I nodded and breathed. I did it. I sang in front of people, I wasn't scared. They were praising me.

"You've got a good voice. It matches perfectly to Van's." Bob said, I smiled. "Thank you."

I was now sat with Van, inside the venue where they would be playing. They had an hour. An hour for a soundcheck. He was strumming his guitar getting ready to be called by Larry for his guitar to be checked for any loosening of strings or any scratched or if the aux doesn't fit/work etc. The soundcheck was pretty fast, they had 15 minutes to spare and Van now was sat with me, again. His shirt exposed a little bit of his chest hair but all he did was look at me and have a cigarette.

"What?" I looked at Van, his eyes now a translucent green. He was focused on me with a cigarette what rested in between his teeth. I saw the camera sitting quietly on the coffee table, I picked it up. I was intrigued into what all of the buttons did and how you record. I pressed a small button on the head of the camera and a small red light began to flicker. I went to turn to Van to see if I'd broken it.
He removed the cigarette with his index and middle finger, "no, you've done it right."
I'm going to get him back for videoing me back at the hotel. He was still staring at me, so I lifted up the camera to my face and made sure Van noticed instead of looking at me. I said the same question, "what?" and replied with a simple "nothing." And scrunched up his nose and smiled. He was so cute.
Those 15 minutes of me spending time with Van made me realise that he was not a bad guy or that he was not somebody who always wanted attention, he was simply a guy who loved to be near people who make him happy, like the boys and the fans.

"Van, time to go." A voice called, I had figured out most of their voices  and who's voice belonged to who, and I'm guessing, Bob?
Then Bob's head turned and peered around the door frame.

"Yeah I'm coming." Van said, standing up, offering me a hand. I watched as Bob's facial expressions drooped a little. Why did he look sad every time he sees me with Van?

I grabbed the camera and filmed them discussing the songs that they was going to sing and what order they would go in and on a sheet of paper, they quickly changed some of the orders.

"Okay, ready?" Lady's voice spoke and they all nodded. The lights were dark and non of the fans had seen them go on, but from the side of the stage, they walked on: one by one.

"Hey, we're Catfish and the Bottlemen, how are you guys tonight?" Van spoke and the crowd went wild!
It was so loud, it gave me goosebumps and made me feel something strange...butterflies? How could I be possibly nervous? I mean there was a meet up afterwards, just near the back doors of where we would exit but that wouldn't make me nervous?

I shrugged it off and videoed as much of the concert that I could. Larry by my side, preparing Van's acoustic guitar for Hourglass, Heathrow and Glasgow.

Those were the 3 most sentimental songs in both of their albums what I learnt back on the bus. I didn't know all of the verses yet but I knew some lyrics. Larry nudged me.

"I take it you like it then?" He almost shouted over the amps and speakers as well as Vans voice.

"Yeah, it's something alright. It's amazing." I smiled and giggled in excitement. I never knew I could get that excited? I hope I didn't look like a twat.

He nodded agreeing. "Vans voice is quite something, I agree." He smiled and began tuning the guitar.

Van? He was on about Van? That sparked my thoughts: what was they talking about back on the bus when Van had his phone out?

"Larry?" I asked, turning the camera to his view.

"Yes." He looked up and sighed happily with a chuckle.

"What was you and Van laughing at back in the bus?" I asked and he smiled and shook his head.

"Oh nothing." He laughed and polished the guitar.

"C'mon, you can tell me. I won't tell Van." I bribed Larry and he revealed the secrecy.

"Van did take a video of you, if that's what you're wondering? He just videoed you in a nice, cute way. He just told me that you was really pretty and he'd love to spend more time with you." He explained midway polishing the guitar.

And once we had our conversation, it was time for Larry to go on stage and swap guitars with Van. Larry came off stage, shaking his head and laughing to himself as the crowd cheered his name. Van looked to the side of the stage and smiled.

Was it for me?

I smiled back and Van turned his head down to get his fingers on the right cords then placed his lips to the microphone.

"This songs called Heathrow." And he began singing. The crowds happily sang along and when it got the chorus, he let the fans sing as they would play the music. I made sure I got this part on video as I feel this would be a good heart warming moment. Van looked at the crowd in amazement. I loved how he loved watching the crowd, I know I say this a lot, but he is really angelic. Is he even human?