Outside

7

"You gonna tell us how you know each other then McCann?" Lois' much softer voice fills the silence that washed over us a few minutes ago, making everyone's heads snap towards Van and I, probably waiting for answers too, "back alley after a gig" Van replies with a short but weirdly accurate explanation, but Lois' curious expression doesn't shift, clearly she was expecting Van to start going off on a huge rigmarole about how him and I met. To be honest I was too, and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, they all were.

"Boring" Bondy speaks up, singing his words loudly and taking a swig of his straight vodka, wincing slightly at the taste, "when's the wedding?" A few laughs are heard after Lois jokes, resting her head on Bob's shoulder, Van rolls his eyes in response and I just let out a sarcastic laugh. Lois looks really tired, like she's about to fall asleep at any minute but the only thing keeping her awake being the knowledge that there's still shots on the way "this is dead weird though innit, what a coincidence that yous know each other" she says, apparently voicing everyone else's thoughts as they all nod in sync, agreeing with her.

She's right, who knew out of all people Lois could've ended up with, it would be the drummer of a band that also happened to contain the childish duo, Larry and Van, who I just can't seem to lose. Not that I'd want to of course, they're all class lads, I'd be fairly devastated if I never saw them again. But I know one day I probably won't, and that'll obviously sadden me, at least I'll know it's for a good reason though.

•••

We ended up calling it quits on the drinks a few hours in, realising that if we had anything else we'd all be fucked, and with it edging towards midnight, everyone was definitely more than smashed. Larry was probably the most sober out of the lot of us, he was busy texting away on his phone just like he was yesterday at the store, practically ignoring everyone's presence. I could sense that Van was getting pissed off though, every time he tried to make conversation he was bluntly answered, and occasionally ignored. I didn't blame him though, I'd be pissed too if Lois did the same thing, it was rude and I couldn't understand why Larry wasn't just having fun with the rest of us.

"Dance with me" Van randomly blurts out after a long period of silence, we were now sitting at the bar, sipping on the pints of beer we'd just given into, despite saying we wouldn't have anything else.

I can tell Van was only saying this because Larry was ignoring him and he had nothing else to do, and although I was a little confused as to why he wanted to dance with me, I didn't hesitate to nod in response, grabbing his hand tightly, trying to keep up with him as we make our way towards the middle of the dance floor, where a large amount of sweaty bodies were also dancing.

The awful sound of mumbled rapping disappear after a while as the familiar tune of Arctic Monkeys filled the room and Van's blue irises lit up, I could have sworn I saw the room get a little brighter with just the action of Van widening his eyes, though it could have just been the vast amount of alcohol I'd consumed during the night seeping into my brain. Grabbing my waist rather gently, Van sways to the song, singing the words quietly and gazing down at me whilst I look up at him. The alcohol in my mind takes control and suddenly I'm grabbing Van's hands, removing them from my waist and using them to spin myself around, watching his face shift into an amused and somewhat puzzled expression.

I shake my head in mock disappointment, "you ask me to dance and you ain't even dancing" I shout over the loud music, it comes out slightly slurred but I'm glad I actually managed to string the sentence together. It usually comes out all jumbled and not making sense.