Cherry Coloured - Alex Turner

17. Paradise

Alex felt the garden of his soul rapidly wilt and crumble as those words left Matt's mouth. What had already become a cemetery quickly became cremated when Maeve pushed passed them both and disappeared out of his grasp once more. Each stomping clop of her shoes against the wooden floors sent a dagger into Alex's heart. All pining him to his place and restraining him from following after her.

"Did I interrupt summat...?" Matt asked, confused to why Maeve had stormed off so out of the character he knew of her.

"No," Alex said quickly, "what do you mean, Vienna's here?"

"She's here," Matt said, unable to find any better way to explain it. "I came to find you."

"Shit," Alex swore under his breath. He felt anger bubble in his chest but soon felt the fire douse out with an odd excitement that his partner had made time to swing by. "Is she looking for me?" Alex asked hopefully, his soul torn in two opposing directions.

  He followed Matt back out into the open living room where everyone else was, clueless and conflicted. That head of blonde hair caught his eyes immediately and he found himself holding his breath as he waited for her to turn around and see him.

  "There you are!" she exclaimed with a grin, "I was worried I missed you." She cupped his face in both of his hands and kissed him hard as a greeting.

  "What are you doing here?" Alex stammered, looking back at her. If his heart wasn't racing before, it was now. "I thought you had summat on?"

  Vienna smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I do but I thought I'd swing by. For you." That was it. That was all Alex needed to hear for his anger to melt away as he melted for her like hard candy in the sun. He grinned and embraced her tight, grateful to be kissing her lips as if it proved his kisses weren't as poisonous as Maeve had made them out to be.

  "I've got to go say hiya to everyone, I only just got here," Vienna said and interlocked a hand with one of Alex's.

  "How long are you staying?" Alex asked, following her around like a dog as she led him over to some people she knew and wanted to say a brief hello to. He practically had puppy eyes for her.

  "Only about twenty minutes, I'm super busy as you know," she told him and plastered on that terrifyingly wide smile as she greeted this group of people.

  Holding his lover's hand tight, Alex couldn't help himself from worrying about Maeve the moment Vienna's attention was off him. You fucked it all up again. His eyes were constantly scanning over the room, hoping to see her if she hadn't left already.

  She had found an empty room to seek refuge. Everything from her body to her soul was aching excruciatingly and she had to put it all on hold to answer that phone call from her father. Pressing the pick up button alone sent a sea of anxiety flushing through her viens.

  "Hello?" she spoke quietly, terrified to say the least.

  "You are the most selfish woman on earth." Her father's voice came back harsh and unforgiving like torrential rain. The moment she heard his voice Maeve knew however bad she had imagined this call to go only mere moments ago was no where near the level of destruction it was going to cause.

  "What?" Maeve asked, chewing on her nails.

  "Kurtis."

  Maeve's blood ran cold.

  "I told you never to contact him!" Maeve's dad shouted. "But you were so selfish that you put your own need to fuck everything up for him before your own brother!" Maeve knew Kurtis would've never told their father that they'd been in contact and so wondered how he had found out.