Cherry Coloured - Alex Turner

26. Tomorrow Day

  The air was damp with the scent of wet leaves and the snow had melted into a murky brown film over the backyard.

  There were voices hid around corners and muffled through walls but none intelligible enough to blur Maeve's line of thought. The world had turned back five times from present day. She could see the damp brown grass beneath the muddy slush, crushed into pools of water that made the scenery undisputedly miserable. However, even the corpse of the lush snow that had fallen over the past week couldn't dilute the excitement in Maeve's heart.

  A drunken sailor wailing about Wales sloshed around somewhere closer to the commotion. The voice bellowing out of him was warped and failed to break through the stadium noise that was occupying Maeve's mind. It was when the sailor stumbled into the wall behind her that Maeve finally realised that he'd been calling out 'Swansea'.

  "Swans...Swansea...where are you? Swansea! Maeve! Maevey-Moo! Maeverietta!" he was slurring. Maeve stubbed out her cigarette and looked over towards the yellow-light lit back corner of the house and squinted to see the face of the dark shape stumbling over to her.

  "Maeve Jade Byrd! There you are!" the man exclaimed and slumped down next to her so quickly she initially assumed he'd slipped on the slush.

  "Christ, Chuckie, you are pished beyond recognition," Maeve laughed, making room for him on the concrete path that wrapped around the side of the house.

  "Where the fuck'd'ya go?" Chuck asked, clearly inebriated. Maeve held up her tattered packet of cigarettes at him and then stuffed them into the pocket of her thick coat. "Right. Whatever. Who's this fella I'm hearing about?"

  "What fella?" asked Maeve.

  "The one that your lot are saying yer smitten for," Chuck grinned, nudging Maeve's side and simultaneously pulling a box of cigarettes out of his own jacket pocket.

  "Mind yer own," Maeve said, failing to hide a smile.

  "Hash?" Chuck offered and handed her a spliff when she nodded. He lit both of theirs with a plastic lighter. "You know there's no point trying to hide him from me. C'mon who is it?" 

  "No one," Maeve said and brought the spliff to her lips.

  "Oh grow up Swans," Chuck groaned. "Liz told me you said she wasn't allowed to say his name but that he's the opposite of night. And 'Day' sounds pretty fuckin' stupid to me but I'm too fuckin' plastered to think of anything else."

  Maeve laughed to herself and nodded. "Day is correct actually. If you take the piss I'm not telling you nowt," she added when Chuck opened his mouth to tease.

  "Alright, alright fine. Who is this lad? Where'd you meet?" Chuck slurred, taking long inhales of his special smoke.

  "When Liz and I went up to Sheffield," Maeve said, tapping away the grey ash. "After we sussed out the flat we went for a couple drinks where I met him at the pub. He's an engineering student at the Uni there."

  "Well look at you, securing the bag before we've even gotten out of here," Chuck marvelled.

  "You're a comedian," Maeve said, "anyway, you know I don't usually give a shit about guys I meet out but he's actually really lovely. And he's really socioeconomically accepting despite the fact that he's smart as shit and going to make millions. Got good taste in music. Takes care of his mum and little sisters. And he's a full fucking laugh I tell ya. You'd like him too."

  "Awe, look at you," Chuck teased and tickled her side. "All gooey inside like a jam donut."

  "Fuck off," Maeve laughed and pushed his hands off her. Their almost innocent souls burned side by side like embers in the increasingly drowsy nighttime.