Longshot - catfish and the bottlemen

25- Van

Just lying in her bed with her head on my bare chest makes me feel like the luckiest man alive, I don't know what I did to deserve this. Spending the day with her and her niece Macy made me realise how much I really did love and how much I want her to be the person I start a family with but first we need to live together and I forgot to ask her to come on tour with us.

"I've got a proposal" I tell her. She shoots up and squints her eyes at me which makes me laugh, her ginger curls fall to one side and her lips eventually form a smile.

"I need to pee" She jumps up out of bed, flashing me a quick smile before vanishing behind the door.

The fact she's only wearing one of my t-shirts makes me feel some sort of way I've never felt before, she wears my clothes better than I do, I'm glad though cause she's bloody got half of them anyway. Soon she reappears, joining me back in bed, lying down resting her head on her arm. She looks adorable, like someone you that could seriously fuck up your life but in a good way, although she's way too good natured for that, she'd never hurt a fly.

"Come on tour with us, for the UK run." She sits up straight, looking at me like I'm delusional but just as she's away to talk I interrupt her, knowing exact what she was about to say. "I know you work in the shop but you have so much more potential than the record shop we used to spend afternoons in as kids. Leave your job, come on tour with us and use the time to figure out what you can do with all your brains." In one hand I have hers, tracing patterns on the back of it with my thumb and in the other I have her cheek, rubbing the side with my thumb also.

"I don't know Van, I-" She's nervous, avoiding eye contact and looking down or around the room.

"I'm getting a house, I can't keep coming back here to my parents house and I thought, well actually it was the boys idea but I thought you could come on tour with us while you look for something other than the record shop because you're so much better than that and I'll look for somewhere to live. When the UK tour is over and we're off to the states you can start your new job or whatever and move into the house, have it all ready for me coming back you know." I don't realise until I've said it that it all just sounds like a dream, a dream that's more realistic than most of my other dreams but it's a dream we can make happen, if Bell wants to.

"You want me to move in with you, to a whole new house and get a whole new job? What if I actually really like the record shop? It's cosy and quiet, I get to listen to music all day. What if I like my house? It's the one thing I have pride in, you can just move in here if you want to move out of your parents house, can't you? You practically live here anyway." I knew it wasn't going to be easy to convince her, she's not one for change, probably because every change she's gone through has brought nothing but bad luck to her but not this one, this change will bring a new chapter of our lives, a whole new book.

"I know you don't like change darling but this will just be us starting a new chapter of our lives together. I know that you love this house but we can make our house even better and you'll be free of all the bad memories you're faced with every time you sit in the kitchen for too long or in the bath for too long. It will be our house babe, ours. I know you love the record shop but do you really want to work there for the rest of your life?" I ask, talking in a way that isn't too pushy but pushy enough so that she knows I'm not just letting her take the easy option. It's all about risks and we'll take this risk together, if it doesn't work out we'll go down together.

"Fine" She smiles, almost laughing at herself. "Fine. I'll do it. I'll come with you and quit the record shop and we'll get a house together." Bells so smiley, she's got such a contagious smile and I can't help but wrap my arms around her so tightly she'll probably burst.

I'm proud of her, she probably doesn't even realise it but the fact she's agreed to start a whole new chapter of her life with me after everything she's been through is brave, she's got so much courage she doesn't even realise she has. I know that us moving house together etc. isn't going to get rid of everything that's happened but it's moving past it, she's not letting that hold her back anymore and all it took was a little convincing. I can tell she's proud of herself too but the person that's probably the most proud of her is her dad. I wish he was here to see how far she's come but I believe he's watching over her, glad she's doing him proud.

"Do you remember all the baby names we discussed or am I a psychopath for still remembering that shit?" She asks, I'm shocked she thinks I won't remember, I wrote about that in a song... of course I remember.

"If we have a boy and a girl we'd go with either Miles and Millie or Evan and Evie, if we have two girls we'd go with Halle and Holly and if we have two boys we'd go with Brodie and Blake." I respond all proud of myself, she's looks at me in shock. "I was also thinking that if it's a boy we can give them your dads name as a middle name and if it's a girl we'll give them my mums. Like Miles Levi Mcann or Millie Mary Mcann" The smile on my face comes naturally when I'm thinking about a future with Bella, the smile she wears on her face is different, different in a way I can't describe.

"I love you" She says with a slight chuckle, coming in closer to me and resting her head on my bare chest.

"I love you too beautiful" I tell her, giving her head a kiss before she dozes off in my arms, where she belongs.