Cancerous ☹ Catfish and the Bottlemen

Fourteen

"Jake, erm, i'm off to Van's. I won't be back tonight, so just take care of Camilla for us, will ye? I left the stuff you need for her, it's in my room on me bed, feel free to go in and grab it. I'll call you when I figure out when i'm comin' home, a'right lad? Take care, I love you."  I speak into the phone, putting it back down and gripping my suitcase.

"You ready to go?" He asks, and I nod. I grab my keys and he follows me out, and I lock the door behind him, jumping into his car. Van puts my suitcase in the boot and he too gets in, driving off as we start small talk. I couldn't help but stare at his lips almost all of the time he was talking, after all, my body had still been left paralyzed by that kiss. And I didn't know what that simple kiss meant, but I was excited to find out.

"School holidays, 'ere we come." He grins, and I smile, quickly leaning over to kiss his cheek.

***

"Belle. Wake up, love." He mumbles from above the sheets, gently rubbing my shoulder. I groan and pull the covers down, Van smirking at the sight of me. He leans down to kiss me but before he can, the phone starts to ring, so he excuses himself and leans over, picking it up. I don't think anything of it, sitting up and rubbing my eyes, yawning as I do so. I look over at his alarm clock as it reads 8:36 AM in bright blue numbers. He hangs up the phone with a sigh, grabbing my towels and putting them on the space behind me.

"I wanna spend the day with you, okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, of course. Don't we always?" I smile, and he nods.

"True, true. You feeling a roadtrip?" He questions with excitement in his voice.

"When am I not? Of course, Van. I would love to." I smile, Van cheering.

"I was thinkin' about goin' to Manchester, or summat like 'at. If you want." He suggests, and I bite my lip, seeing Van trying not to look at the scars on my neck, now slightly faded.

"Sure." I give a simple answer with a smile.

"I'm just going down to get the mail, go have a shower and go downstairs cause Mam will have breakfast ready." He smiles back, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek before leaving his room. I slowly got up out of bed and pull his shirt over my head, throwing it onto the bed and I pull of my socks also. I let down my hair and quickly brush through it, taking my underwear off and wrapping a towel around my body, tucking it in so it didn't fall. Van comes in as I grab my other towel, ready to walk out, and I stop in my tracks, so does he. He gives me a little smile and I feel myself blush, Van chuckling lightly.

"Go on then." He smirks, brushing past me as I continue on my way with the same smirk, stepping into the bathroom across the hall from his room. I lock the door behind me and throw my towels over the railing, beginning to have a shower.

***

Twenty minutes later, I stepped back into his room to see him drying his hair with his towel. He points to my clothes on his bed so I walk over, looking at Van. He turns around and looks at me, putting his towel down.

"You want me to go?" He asks politely, and I nod, quietly apologising. He walks over to me with furrowed brows, shaking his head.

"Why are you apologising?" He asks, and I shrug.

"It's no bother. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, love. I'll come back in 5 minutes." He replies, kissing my forehead and walking out. I let my towels go as he closes the door and run my hands over my thighs and hips, wanting to magically get rid of all the bumps from scars. I know I can't, though. I know i've thought about it too much, so I continue to get dressed. I keep my hair in the towel and put my bra and undies on, picking up the dark blue jeans that he picked out from my suitcase. I didn't expect him to find an outfit, but I find it cute that he did so. They had a single open rip in one of the knees and the other had a single cut, which I liked. I slipped on the plain white shirt he lay out and put on the thick cardigan that was there too, and I looked in the mirror, surprised at how good it looked. I slipped on my boots and tied them up, Van walking in about a minute later.