Anything {Catfish & the Bottlemen}

7

It was mid November. I hadn't spoken to or heard from Van, nor had I seen him or any of his friends.

So why was I still thinking of him?

As if forcing me to distract myself from that thought, my phone rang. I answered immediately, "hi, Darren! Everything good?" I asked, a smile on my face at the sight of his name. "All's great, chuck, I just wanted to.. ask something," he said, uncertainly. I furrowed my brow, then asked Daz to proceed.
"I was wondering... if you'd like... to go for dinner with me on Thursday night?" He practically whispered the words, as if from embarrassment. I found myself shocked, but with the smile on my face growing wider. "Yes." I said, definitively. "But, listen, I have to get back to work, so, text me the details and I'll see you Thursday," I said, hanging up the phone.

This 'thing' with Darren was quite random - since that night at work when he asked if I was okay, he'd been constantly checking up on me and texting me; I'd eventually told him everything that happened with Van and he forbid me from saying his name. I thought it'd help, and it had. Darren was good company, I valued him as a friend.

But he was no Van. It was horrible to compare the two men, but it's hard not to.

I walked out of the staff room, and back into the floor of the record store. I'd come to the decision that I wasn't going to get a job managing anytime soon, so Oliver offered me some extra weekday shifts. Monday, Wednesday, Friday; then the usual Saturday. In between I either am job-hunting, or down by the beach, thinking.

After work today, though, I'd agreed to go out for a coffee with Jess. Everything had been up in arms since I told her what'd happened between Van and I. She'd stayed in contact with Bondy which made things awkward for the both of us.

—

3pm came around quicker than I thought, and I said my goodbyes to Oliver; heading towards the café near the store, where Jess and I agreed to meet.

"Hey," she'd spotted me before I did her, and was walking over to me by the time I'd acknowledged where she was. We smiled at each other, then sat down at the table Jess had got for us. "So, how are things?" I asked, and she beamed at me, "I don't know if I should mention this, but Bondy asked me out on a date!" I just smiled and said "congrats," not really wanting to get excited. She wouldn't know who Bondy was if it weren't for me meeting Van after their gig 6 months ago.

Everything was awkward for a while, but after we'd got some booze in our system we talked for what felt like forever. "Listen, I'm going to a party on Thursday, with Bondy and the rest of the band. I know it's a long shot, but I wanted to know you're welcome if you fancy it." I smiled, appreciating the gesture. "I'll think about it," I said, knowing full well I wasn't going to go as I had my date with Darren.

"I'd best be off," she said, "things to do, people to see and all that," we chuckled together, hugged and went our separate ways.

Say hi to Van for me, if you see him, I thought of yelling after her, but stopped myself, and just waved her away.