Cherry Coloured - Alex Turner

14. Sweet Things, Tainted Mornings

"Morning," a sweet voice whispered in the quiet hours of an unusually sunny morning.

  Safe in the misillusions of morning grogginess, Alex pretended behind his closed eyes that the soothing voice and gentle hand creeping up onto his shoulder belonged to the dark haired siren who smelt of vanilla and cherry.

  "Wake up, wake up," she whispered into his ear, her lips grazing over his lobe.

  Alex relaxed into his mattress, keeping his eyes closed to let his imagination run just that little bit longer. He thought of her lips tracing over his neck and down his jaw, begging for him to turn around and kiss her. He thought of her fingers brushing his hair off his face, her deep red nails just grazing his scalp as she grinned against his cheek and coaxed him to roll off his side and onto his back.

"Morning dickhead," she beamed, her voice soft, low, and hoarse, soothing him out of sleep. The ends of her deep brown hair dangled down and brushed over his face as she hovered over him. Alex thought of how peaceful, how perfect that morning could be.

He would open his eyes, savouring the sight of her as the first thing he saw, the most divine being on earth, then he would lift a hand to her face and pull her lips to his. She would tease him and nudge him out of bed to drag him into the kitchen to help her make them breakfast before he left for work. The only loud sound that morning would be laughter and his head would be clear of storm clouds and rioting voices.

Instead, he opened his eyes and smiled at Vienna as she rocked him awake. Those thoughts of Maeve slowly dissolved like salt in water. Like a dream he'd never remember again.

  "Morning sweetheart," he said to his girlfriend, settling into reality.

  This wasn't the first time Maeve had slipped into his daydreams and it surely wasn't to be the last. He hated himself for it but he began finding himself waking up with memories of inappropriate dreams he'd had of them; fantasising and materialising the impure thoughts he'd push away whilst he was awake.

  Vienna grinned and walked her fingers up Alex's chest. He wrapped an arm around her, holding her close for as long as he could. "I let you sleep in a bit," she smiled down at him, appreciating the care he took in himself. Many of the other guys she saw had terrible hygiene routines, Alex was the only one who shaved regularly enough that kissing him wasn't scratchy or prickly.

"What time is it?" Alex asked, taking the time to admire the woman next to him. Her blonde hair was tucked behind her ears with her bangs brushed to one side, her blue eyes wide awake; she'd always been a morning person.

"Only like seven," she said and brushed her thumb over his chin. "Can you give me a lift to work today?" she asked with puppy eyes.

"Of course, love," Alex's smile turned into a grin when she kissed his cheek. Vienna worked in a different direction to Alex's workplace but he wanted to do everything he could to make her happy. Even though it meant he got to work late and got grilled by Raymond once more.

  "You and that Maeve still seeing each other?" Vienna asked as Alex made them coffee that morning.

  "I'd prefer not to talk about her," Alex said and focused on stirring the sugar into Vienna's mug. "No we're not," he eventually added.

  "Aw, I'm sorry darling," Vienna hummed, "I didn't think so, she was pretty but it really wasn't ever going to last as long as I'm sure you wanted it to."

Alex just grit his teeth and kept his mouth shut, hoping Vienna would catch on and diffuse the conversation.

"It was a good first attempt but I don't think a stripper was the best choice," Vienna continued. "I don't know if you were worried about emotionally cheating on me but baby, you can do better than that."