Cherry Bomb

I sighed into Rosalie’s creamy skin as he face nuzzled into shoulder and I slowly brushed my fingers through her long, silky red hair. It was late afternoon, and the sky had only begun to show the faint tinges of the darkness to come.

My hand wove down Rosalie’s strands to reach her soft back and I allowed myself to feel her skin underneath my fingers. She felt so soft and so ‘woman’ even now after we had already finished a passionate embrace, I could feel myself stirring and wanting more.

I could feel her smile against my skin and she pushed herself away from me and rolled across the bed to curl up like a cat. She batted her long black lashes at me and I stared at her.

“Where do you come from?” I asked her. Where had her story begun?

She smiled and I watched greedily as her tongue rove over her teeth. Her eyes glinted and I had a sudden feeling, an awful feeling that she was like a lioness watching her prey before she pounced. I shifted and moved from the bed.

“I’m from everywhere and no-where,” she spoke quietly, answering my question and I could feel her eyes staring at my back. I heard the faint sounds of her moving from the bed sheets as I looked out to the street below from the window.

I moved past her, walking to the bathroom, “That’s not an answer.”

Yet again, I wondered at her and this time instead of a vague sense of amusement at her silence of her past, her unspoken words frustrated me. I felt like I was giving so much to her, much more than I had ever given to any other girl yet I was receiving nothing more but barely there whispers from her.

“The answer isn’t important,” her voice was further away, no longer in the bedroom.

My hands automatically gripped the sink in anger. “How isn’t it important?” I snapped and whirled around, stamping out of my bathroom.

I was met with silence.

“Rosalie?” I called out, already knowing she wouldn’t answer. She was gone.

My grubby flat always appeared much darker without her. It was if her bright red hair was a beacon of light, warming everything up.

I sighed, and sat down on a tatty chair covered with clothes. I picked a denim jacket off the floor. She must have left in only her little black dress. I closed my eyes at the sexy image of her long legs barely covered and a little bit more cruelly, I wished for rain. She had pissed me off.

My phone rang and I jumped across the bed to answer it, “Rosalie?”

A female laugh sounded back at me, “Sorry to disappoint Lukas.”

My shoulders drooped a little bit, “Hey Bambi, what’s up babe?”

I nodded along as Bambi gave me direction to a party at our friend Danny’s house. I dropped the phone and sighed.

“Fuck it…let’s get wasted.”

~

Hours later, as I passed around a joint, I tried not to feel Bambi’s eyes staring at me. She hated when I drank or smoked too much. She couldn’t help but take care of me when I ended up in a state by the end of the night. And to be completely honest, I liked being taken care of. I don’t think Rosalie would do that. She would sooner leave me in a heap on a stranger’s couch then help me home and put me to bed. I smiled. Bambi was a good girl.

I looked up, expecting to see her looking at me and froze. A guy I didn’t know was staring at her.

I nudged Danny, “Hey man, who is that talking to Bambi?”

Danny looked up and smiled, “Oh that’s Craig. He’s great, he scored us this weed. It’s so good man, I’m so wasted right now!”

“Shut the fuck up Danny, no-one cares,” I snapped.

Danny began to laugh and I glared at him.

“Come on man, don’t be like this again, “ he puffed out smoke into my face, and I waved it away.

“You have that look in your eyes again.”

“What look?”

Danny shrugged, “You know…that look. You get it anytime some strange guy talks to Bambi. I don’t know dude. I think you should just bone her already and get it over with.”

A sudden rage came over me and I grabbed Danny by the scruff of the neck, “Don’t fucking talk about her like that, got it?”

Danny laughed and I let him go, watching Bambi as she wandered over to the drinks table, leaving the douchebag talking to her alone. I got up and it didn’t take long for me to whisper a few choice words to him, and after sizing up my muscles compared to his, the kid scarpered, leaving me alone with Bambi.

I smiled at her, watching all four of her come over to me with that Bambi frown on her face.

“You’re so pretty!” I slurred and she smiled, shaking her head.

“Okay mister, I think we need to start the drill now!” she put her arm around me and I leaned on her as she walked me out the door, waving goodbyes to people. I flipped off Danny as he waggled his
eyebrows at me. I think I saw him pass out after that.

Bambi bundled me into a taxi and was able to manoeuvre me upstairs to my flat. She had a spare key to let us in. I could always trust Bambi.

I fell onto my bed and smiled as Bambi tugged a blanket over me. She looked at me with concern in her eyes.

“Rosalie doesn’t look at me like that,” I murmured. I know I was baked like a cake but the words just spilled out. I couldn’t stop them.

Bambi frowned and sat next to me. Her dress was backless and I looked at the sallow skin with a curiosity. I wondered if it was as soft as Rosalie’s.

“She doesn’t care like you do,” I whispered into the pillow. “She would never…worry about me. She just vanishes…just like that.”

Bambi’s face crumpled in concern and her fingers trailed down my cheek in a soothing gesture. I reached my hand up to cover her on, marvelling at how small it was underneath mine. She was so tiny.

Bambi kissed my forehead and got up to leave. She would set my alarm clock for the morning and then go home, to her empty apartment.

I caught her arm as she turned for the open door and stopped her. She looked back at me, eyebrows raised in a question.

“Stay…”

And she did.