Cherry Coloured - Alex Turner

15. Blood in Her Hands

Coating the sky came a thick blanket of black velvet. Long fallen was the sun and leftover were the mistakes and melodies of the night to run rampant under the deceitful eye of the moon. Spilling out from open windows came the scent of roasting vegetables and sizzling steak, all accompanied by the quiet singing of a record player's voice.

"I wanna make it, I wanna make it wit chu," Alex sang to himself as he swung around his kitchen juggling pans and plates and spatulas.

The clock was smiling, perhaps laughing at the house's inhabitant who must've been the only person awake to make dinner at ten past ten. In Alex's defence, he'd been tirelessly working away in his study ever since he'd gotten home. Lost in the words on his pages made him lost in time. Supper was better late than never.

His phone began to ring from one of the countertops, humming into the painted wood until Alex wiped his hands on a tea towel and brought it to his ear.

"Hello? Maeve?" Alex moved back over to his stove, checking on his food to make sure he wasn't going to burn anything during the distraction his phone provided him.

"Hey uh...you busy at the moment?" Maeve asked unsurely through the speaker of his phone.

"No, just at home," Alex responded, "why? Everythin' alright?"

"Sorry for being a nuisance, I tried calling Chuck but he's out and not picking up his phone," Maeve sighed. "My car broke down on my way to work. Is there any chance you'd be able to come by and give me a lift or if you know anything about cars, get it working again? If not it's fine, don't worry."

"Sure—of course," Alex stammered and quickly turned off his stove, taking his pan off the heat. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just stressed," Maeve sighed honestly.

  "On your own?" Alex asked, abandoning his kitchen and picked up his jacket off his settee.

  "Yeah but it's fine," Maeve dismissed. "I'll send you my location."

  Alex pulled on a pair of shoes and grabbed his keys, locking up his house and jumping into his car. It had been years since he'd felt so needed and trusted.

  "Thank you...Alex," Maeve eventually said, "you're a life saver you know that?"

  "It's not a bother," Alex smiled, "I'm on me way now, be careful, I'll see you soon."

  Maeve took the phone from her ear and held it in her hands as she stood on the path by her car. Too scared to wait inside it, she killed her time pacing around and checking her phone for the time. Blake's going to kill me. She had already been running late, now she was just running later. It didn't help that under her black coat all she was wearing was her cherry red uniform.

The street she'd pulled over on wasn't disturbingly busy which was probably the luckiest part of it all. There was barely anyone unsavoury out and about to disturb her or ask her for 'directions' as she waited alone. She hadn't yet been approached by anyone and hoped Alex would arrive before that could change.

There was a pay phone down the street that had caught Maeve's eye during her three unanswered calls to Chuck and a couple of other people she knew that she hoped would be free. It had been glaring at her ever since. Guilt soaked her from head to toe but before she finally decided a call was worth a shot, a car pulled over and parked in front of hers.

Alex hopped out of his car and jogged over to Maeve to assess the state of her car when instead, the red smear under her nose shocked him into redirecting his worry to her. "What happened? Are you okay?" he exclaimed, dashing up to her as she calmly walked over to him.