❂ Left Handed Cigarette ❂ // Van McCann

6.

I walked down the road leading to the Citrus bar and nervously looked down at what I was wearing. I had opted for a dark shirt to match my suede fringe jacket I had gotten at a thrift shop downtown. And as always my black jeans and leather boots.

I wanted to look good for him, it was strange, I don't remember putting this much thought into how I looked since high school.
The thing was that Van made me feel like I was fifteen again, I was constantly nervous at the thought of doing things with him.

My thoughts were interrupted as I faced the the door of the bar before hurriedly making my way in. I hated going to bars by myself, I always felt so watched.

I discreetly took in the room, wooden benches and tables were scattered behind a lowly lit scene, most likely where Van was going to be performing. I therefore opted for a bench at the back so I wouldn't bring too much attention to myself. I wanted to enjoy the performance and I knew that wasn't possible if Van was eying me the whole time.

As I sat down, a woman in her forties approached me to take my order.

"I'll have a Smirnoff Ice please." I politely ordered before being frazzled by someones weight on the other side of the bench.

"Isn't that a bit light for you love?" I turned my face to meet those same icy blue eyes I had looked into a couple of days prior.

I smiled,
"Don't diss my favorite drink, you're rum was shit anyway." I said with a smirk, playing with the bottle facing me.

He just stared at me wildly,
"I missed you." He said, dismissing my snarky comment.

He seemed so much more confident that usual, I had trouble keeping up with his speed.

"Well that makes one of us." I smirked jokingly. I had missed him too but I wasn't going to give in that easily.

He just hummed as an answer like he knew something I didn't. I guess I wasn't good at hiding things. One of my exs once told me you could always tell what I was thinking by looking into my eyes. He was a right prick though.

"I'm up next, after those lads up there," he said pointing to the stage, "rumor has it they've been playing here since they were our age."
He smirked.

I looked up at the men on stage, I could see why that rumor had spread, their clothes looked overstretched and it honestly looked like they'd only aged physically. The heavy rock sounds seeming out of place with their grey hairs and beer bellies.

"I'm actually quite excited to see your band play, not gonna lie." I smiled, letting down my guard slightly.

"You better be, we have a good audience tonight, since we've been playing here for a while." He said, his mind being somewhere else, hands resting on the bench.

I guess the pre-performance nerves were getting to him.
From a distance I caught a glimpse of what Van was looking at, a short guy was standing by the side of the stage with cables in his hand, looking utterly confused.

"That's my mate, I think there's trouble with the tech, I'm gonna have to sort that out." He spoke apologetically as he turned towards me.

"Good luck then." I eyed him. I really wanted it to be good.

He stood up before leaning down and kissing my cheek causing me to blush slightly. He was grinning at me again and I couldn't help myself from matching his facial expression.

He quickly took a swing of my Smirnoff and ran off before I could even start to protest. I shook my head at him with a smile, I guess I was going to get myself another drink.

I eyed him a bit while he was getting frustrated with the cables, he looked good tonight. His black and red striped sweater was driving me wild. I didn't usually go out with guys as good looking as him, but it's not like I approached him first so I couldn't really blame myself. I wondered if he knew how charming he was.

I then decided to go on my phone so I didn't feel weird just by myself when the bar started to fill up. Before I knew it I was hearing Van's voice booming through the room.

"We're Catfish and the bottlemen, thanks for coming." He said hurriedly before getting into the first song. It seemed like an old habit to him.

It was good, his voice, everything just fit together. I mentally thanked him for not being shit cos I hated having to give fake compliments to people, especially to people I slept with.

The performance went by faster than expected and before I knew it they were playing one of their last songs.

I noticed a group of girls swooning over the boys and I could feel the slight jealously building up inside me. I decided to just ignore it as I usually did. I literally had no right to feel jealous but I never could help it, it was one of those things I could never control, especially as a child.

During the last song I decided to sit next to an open window to sneak a quick smoke, I didn't know what it was but as soon as I'd had a drink or two I always felt this urge to have a smoke.

I had almost finished smoking when I saw Van come off stage and converse with a few people from the audience, before nonchalantly making his way over to me. I then killed the cig and finished my second drink before opening my arms to great him.

"You were really fucking good Van." I said, smiling over his shoulder.

"I kind off thought you'd buggered off when you moved to the window." He admitted with a grin, letting his arms rest on my shoulders.
Why was he so bloody tall.

"Happy you think so highly of me." I joked, leaning into his chest slightly.

His hands found their way around my waist as he leaned down so I could hear him.

"Do you want to go have a drink at mine?" He asked, his eyes full of lust.

I stared back up at him, our height difference still prominent,
"If you don't mind." I spoke softly.

Smirking, he answered,
"Why would I mind?"