Overlap

Van

🌼 2015 🌼

"Its Johnnys birthday, its Johnnys birthday, and we would like to wish him all the very best," i  watched Eponine and Laura sing with a teasing smile, the two of them chastising my best mate with jazz hands as their slow amd low tune got louder and the grin on Bondys face grew more and more sheepish.

"Its Johnnys birthday, its Johnnys birthday and we're so glad to have you back to be our guest!" Laura had said this made up for the years of embarrassment he'd caused her by seronading her with the scissor sisters every time someone said her name.

"Well this is nice," he smirked burying his face in his hands, trying to hide away. We were only back for a day or two at his parents request because his mother missed him, said she deserved a birthday with her son since she hadn't had one for the last few years.

So they'd thrown him a bit of a do down at the local hall and wed all been invited down. I'd made the mistake of being early however and so now as I leant up against the wall with a beer bottle in my hands, all I could do was watch the two girls taking the piss, laughing which was nice. It made a change.

I'd wanted to make that joke to Nina but it didn't seem right. It was strange because the way in which I knew her was so here and there, we'd shared moments over the years which should have been shared by close friends, sensitive moments a stranger wouldn't know, and so I was caught somewhere between feeling like I knew her so well and feeling like I still didn't know her well enough.

Perhaps it was that she was a little bit older or perhaps it was just that I was seeing her feeling herself for the first time, seeing her unwound and relaxed, but she seemed prettier tonight than she had ever seemed before. Every now and then she'd look up and her eyes would catch mine set on her. She'd flash me a a fleeting shot of her Kiera Knightly smile and I would revel in the moment she'd reserved it for me alone. Her dark eyes glinting under the warm light of the village hall.

"Van whatre yous doin just watchin them attack me like this!" cried Bondy reaching out for me as if i was going to be the one who saved him.

"What can I say Bond, its your birthday," i tried for a smile, her smile specifically and when I heard the two girls giggling away I struggled to hold back my own slyly proud smile, giddy on the pleasure she had taken from my childish remark.

"Consider yourself formally uninvited," Johnny huffed folding his arms across his chest slouching into his chair with a dramtic eye roll. I wondered whether it was because of my refusal to side with him, or whether it was because he'd caught me eyeing up his little sister only monents before. Either way I struggled to hold back a laugh.

"Oh leave him alone Johnny," pouted Laura, "you need him here, he's one of your only mates," she managed to slip it in right at the end. He'd been expecting grovelling but no. I didn't know it at the time but Laura wasn't the type.

"Oh get t fuck," he chuckled, "dya know how many drinks yous are all gonna have to buy me to make up for all this bullying later on?" he slurred, already a little tipsy.

The answer to his question turned out to be 10. 10 drinks were all it took before he was throwing his arms around me telling me how much of a class mate I was, thanking me for all sorts of thoughtless little things I'd said or done to him over the years.

I always forgot how wholesome a drunk he really was but it happened every time. He'd always have one drink that knocked him over the edge into sentimentality almost vulgar.

"Alright alright," i chuckled struggling to break free from his monster embrace. "Christ youre soft," i laughed giving up, letting him lean on me where we stood at the bar waiting for what I didn't realise would be our last drink together of the evening.