Longshot - catfish and the bottlemen

26- Bella

Time seemed to pass so quickly when it's spent with Van, too quick for my liking but before I knew it, I was sitting watching them do soundcheck for the first show of their tour. I've seen them go from boys who played in Vans garage to men who played arenas and some of the biggest festivals, it's amazing what they've done. Being on the road again will be good for Van, he was definitely getting a bit fed up of being at home as the tour bus has been his home for the past three years pretty much so he was definitely missing it. Now he's back doing what he loves, performing to thousands of people instead of sitting in a studio recording.

"s'huge ain't it?" Van asks, throwing his arm round my shoulder and turning me to face the empty venue that was soon to be filled with thousands of fans.

"Yeah, massive" I respond, looking up at him with a smile. He's got such a cute smile, his dimple becomes ten times more prominent when he does it.

"oi pricks!" Shouts a voice from behind us, interrupting me and Vans little moment. We turn round to see Larry who's in stitches over god knows what. "Blake's just ordered a pizza right and then the man drops it off and shits himself cause he's obviously a fan or whatever, blake's shits himself as well and gives him a tenner. A fucking tenner, not a photo, not a autograph or anything, a tenner." Van soon bursts into laughter and I can't help but join them.

You can just imagine the look on the poor guys face but you can picture Benji standing there awkwardly. When we walk back to join the rest of the boys there's a dominos on the table and as soon as Van makes contact with Benji he erupts into another fit of laughter, Benji just shakes his head trying so hard not to let out a laugh. "mate that's class, what did you even say" Van asks, grabbing a bit of pizza and throwing himself down on one of the sofas in a room behind the stage.

"He said he recognised me from the band and stuff, I said thanks cause what the fuck do you even say when someone says they recognise you from 'that band that sing Kathleen'? Then I was like here's a tenner enjoy your night and shut the door" Benji tells us, everyone's bursts into laughter, Van spat out pretty much the whole bite he had in his mouth which only added to the hilarity of the situation. We carried on laughing till the point it hurt but you can't beat moments like this. There's nothing better than laughing with your best mates to the point you can't breathe.

8PM eventually comes crawling round and the boys are all standing in the wings, buzzing to be back on stage playing live. Vans jumping up and down like an excited little boy but I couldn't tell whether it was nerves or not. He did look nervous but as soon as the light hits him all of that would disappear and he'd be jumping around, probably chucking the mic stand about like it's nothing. Just before he steps out he turns round to face me with one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen.

"I love you Bell" His arms soon make their way round my waist and I can physically feel his smile against my shoulder as I wrap my arms round his neck. Next thing I know there's another pair of arms round us, I turn to see Larry with the cheeky smile he always wore.

"Group hug?" He teases. Soon Im in the middle of these men who are all at least a foot taller than me, except Larry of course, I genuinely can't see nothing but I don't mind.

"Good luck" I wink as they wander on stage, all of them absolutely ecstatic.

"Don't need it" Van jokes back before he takes his place in the middle of the stage.

The lights hit them and within a fraction of a second they're all so smiley yet they look so cool playing all their songs to a crowd of thousands of people who're all screaming the lyrics back at them. Larry runs on to the stage with a different guitar for Van and it's clear how happy he is to be back in his element. You'd hardly guess they'd taken a few months off, it's like they've been doing this since they were born.

"you know when you're gone I struggle at night" Van sings with thousands of people singing along with him, he can't help but smile. His head turns towards where I'm standing in the wings and his smile widens slightly, he gives me a week wink before turning his attention back to the crowd. This song means a lot to us and hearing all these people singing it too is honestly unreal. "Offer my hand i'll take your name, share my shower, kiss my frame cause I wanna carry all of your children and I wanna call them stupid shit"

The crowd erupt into a loud roar, cheering at the end of the song as Van steps back grinning like he's just solved world hunger. His voice sounds just as raw and just as beautiful as it did when I last heard them live. Van jumping around the stage, drenched in sweat is a sight Ive definitely missed. Although now he's doing it in front of 20 times more people.

"Thank you very much London we are Catfish and The Bottlemen!" He shouts to the crowd with so much enthusiasm as the boys all make their way off stage. Of course Van is the last to leave, savouring every moment in front of the crowd but by the time he's off the stage the lads have all disappeared through the back and it's just me standing there with a towel for him.

"That was absolutely amazing Van I'm so proud of-" I'm interrupted by his arms picking me up and swing me round in a circle. He holds me there in his arms, his bright blue eyes look up at me through his unfairly long eyelashes.

"I actually love you so much" He exclaims, tightening his grip around my waist. I wrap the towel round his neck and use it to pull him in to meet my lips but within just two seconds someone's calling his name. A little sigh escapes his mouth as he places me back down on the ground.

"Later" He smirking, giving me a wink before he vanishes off to join the boys.

The fact I was in denial about joking them shocks me, this is night one and it's up there with one of the best nights ever. I can see why they love it so much and all I did was stand at the side watching.

Hey, this was kind of shit sorry:// But I'm so happy people are reading and voting for this:))) Thank you so much