Red roses hurt the most - Chapter 1

A Chapter by Bobby

Bob Walker is a normal guy, with a normal life, and a normal job. But behind the scenes, lies a darker truth.

Thanks to:

Tenyo, Audy, CelticaNoir, Reason, MakennaC3, ScarlettFire

Red roses hurts longer

The smell of roses overwhelmed me as I entered the store. Annabel was standing by the checkout, selling roses and tulips like if she had a time limit. I figured it was best to just wait, so I tried to blow off some time by looking at flowers. A huge stand with roses was towering high over me. It almost looked majestic. While looking at them, I didn't notice the person coming up from behind.

"Bobby! You came on time!" In a mirror next to the roses, Annabel's gorgeous smile blinded me. I turned around.

"Yeah. Surprised?" I looked at her big, green eyes, and they were full of joy.

"You..." She brushed her long, red hair away from her face. "I didn't actually think you would come on time, so yes." She blushed.

"It's ok." I smiled. "Let's go then." She took my hand and squeezed it.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Our relationship started three months ago. We were both at a bar called "The Vampire" that day, and we happened to meet on the dance floor. After that, we went to her place and talked for hours. I'm pretty sure we were drunk that evening, but I can't remember. I don't really care either.

The way to the cinema was long, but walking with Annabel, I wished it was longer. I loved talking to her. It was like if the whole world was brighter, and everything seemed perfect. We were going to see a horror movie, since Annabel loved vampires. I still wondered why, but who cares. I was with Annabel now, and nothing could change that. Nothing...

The cinema was in an enormous building south of Annabel's flower shop. Well, the store belonged to Annabel's mother, but Annabel worked there. The movie was in cinema number 13. 13, because the number 13 fits better for horror movies. I thought that was hilarious.

I read the movie title.

"Rise of the Vampires... It doesn't sound very good." I turned around, expecting to see her reaction, but to my 0surprise, she was already on her way into the cinema, and couldn't hear anyhing. I chuckled, and followed her inside.

"I love you, Bobby." Annabel looked at me and kissed my cheek. I blushed, and gave her a hug. Annabel's perfume smelled of roses, and I loved it.

"I love you too, Annabel." We just looked at each other until the movie started.

The movie itself was actually not too bad, and the actors were actually really good. Except one of them, the one who played the vampire king. He didn't look convincing enough.

In a part of the movie where the two main characters kissed, Annabel surprised me by taking my cheek, turning me around, and giving me a kiss. Her soft lips moved passionately around mine, before she started kissing down my neck, and held it there. After 20 seconds, she raised her head and said:

"I'm really glad I have you, Bobby. I really am." She smiled, kissed my forehead, and turned back to the movie again.

25 minutes later, the movie was done, we both headed against my apartment.

"Wow! That kiss was amazing." I looked at her, and kissed her cheek.

"Thanks," she answered, but she didn't sound too happy.

"Is it something wrong?" I asked her. Her red hair was hanging freely, and looked beautiful.

"No." Her voice was quiet, and she didn't convince me.

"Are you sure?" I smiled at her, but she didn't want to meet my eyes. She nodded, and started walking faster. Her head hung low, and I knew there was something wrong, but I didn't want to annoy her. She hated when people nagged. I just let her go, keeping my own pace.

The second I entered the house, Fred came running down the stairs. He had been my best friend since kindergarten, and he was living with me so we could split the rent.

"Darn. How long was that movie?" His powerful voice filled the whole room in an instant. It was good to be home.

"Two hours. Remember. I had to walk to Annabel's store, then to the cinema, then back home. Takes some time, you know." I chuckled, and started making some bread. Fred closed the door behind me, and came up to me.

"That's one hell of a hickey," he laughed, and touched the spot on my neck Annabel had kissed.

"Yeah, I know. Annabel surprised me too." I smiled. "How did she make those two red marks?" He looked at me with his tiny eyes.

"I don't really care right now. She looked really sad when we walked home." I sat down in the sofa by the TV.

"Sad?" Fred opened the fridge and took out the rest of yesterday's dinner. "What do you mean by sad?" He put the food into the microwave, and sat down in the sofa with me. Usually he would have pushed me away and taken my spot, but he didn't do that. He knew I was troubled.

"I don't know. She just looked really sad, and when I asked about it, she started walking faster. I didn't really try to keep up with her. You know how she feels about nagging." He nodded.

"Well. You made a good choice by not walking after her. I remember once..." I quickly interrupted him, "I don't want to listen to another one of those crazy stories about your earlier girlfriends." He sighed, and turned on his favourite TV-show, "The mysteries of the world."

"Okay. Just do what you want, but don't mess this up. Annabel is the nicest girlfriend you've had in quite a while." His eyes looked serious, and I knew he was right. The girl I dated before Annabel was a real d****e. She stole money from my wallet while I slept.

"Yeah. You're right. I can't mess this up." I jumped up from the sofa, held up my fist, and stared at it. "In the name of Brithlord, I swear, I will not mess this up!" The second I ended the sentence, Fred started laughing hard. That quote was from our favourite movie, "Space balls and Other things". We loved that movie.

"Go to bed now, Bobby. You need to sleep. It's workday again tomorrow." He was still laughing , so I just barely understood what he said.

"Yeah. Good night, Fred. Don't wake me up when you go to bed, ok?" We slept in the same room, so we usually went to bed at the same time.

"I'll try not to!" He smiled. "Good night, Bob!" He looked at me, making funny faces after me while I went up to bed.

"Dear Brithlord, help me sleep tonight!"

The morning after, I got a call from Annabel.

"I'm sorry for yesterday. I didn't know what happened. I just got a little depressed. I hope I didn't hurt you or anything." It was great hearing her voice again, but she sounded stressed.

"I'm ok, Annabel. I'm ok. Are you ok?" I tried to use a soothing voice to calm her down.

"I feel much better, at least." Her voice was calmer now. "But Bobby." She was serious, but flirty now. "Is Fred still there?"

"No.He went for work one hour ago. How come?"

I could hear a low giggling on the other end, before she said: "I have a gift for you. Come to my apartment tonight." Her voice was really flirty now. She was almost moaning.

"When?" I tried to sound flirty.

"Eight o'clock?" She was back to normal.

"Perfect!" I felt happy inside.

"Seeya!" She hanged up. This day was going to be perfect.

I went to work at the electronic store as usual. Looking at the store, I realized one of the letters on the giant logo above the door was almost falling down. I chuckled a second, and went in. The first thing I saw was a man who jumped up and down and cried angrily. I smiled, and hurried over there to see what was happening. Frederico, our 25 year old rookie, was standing close to the man, shaking his head.

"What's going on here?" I asked loudly so the man would calm down. They both looked at me, and Frederico came walking against me.

"Thank god you're here. This man won't stop nagging about our bad customer service." Frederico's eyes were begging.

"I'll see what I can do," I replied.

Walking towards the old man, I could already see that he and Frederico had been discussing this for a long time, because he was breathing heavily and sweating like a dog.

"So. What is the problem here?" I tried to sound as polite as possible, though I'm not really good at it.

"That man, Frederico, is the most unpleasant man I have ever seen in my life. I just came here, complaing about this coffee machine, and his answer was, try turning it on first. I have never seen such impoliteness in my whole life!" The old man was about to break again, but I just had to say it:

"So... Did you try to turn it on then? Maybe it'll work." The old man's eyes widened, then he shook his head, and ran out the door.

"Thanks man!" Frederico was grateful. "Hey. You're our rookie. We've got to take care of you." I tried to sound mocking, but it sounded more like a reassurement.

I headed for the break room since the lockers were there. I went straight to my locker, where I picked up my "uniform". The yellow and blue striped shirt did not match the black pants, but that was how we had to go.

"Bobby! You're here!" Jesse kicked away his chair and ran to me.

"More or less." The second I heard his voice, I became grumpy. I hated that guy. His cocky attitude, his way of always sounding happy, and the fact he was my boss. Worst boss in the world. How did he even get that role. He probably had to coerce his bosses with dirty pictures or something.

"So. How are you doing, pal?" I hated it when he called me "pal". If he was my pal, I wouldn't really care, but he wasn't. And he knew that.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Now, can you please leave me alone?" I almost moaned the last sentence.

"Oooh. Grumpy today, are we? Well. Do a great work today." His smile was mocking me. He turned around, ready to walk away, before he turned back and whispered to me: "If you're like this with the customers, I'm going to kill you. Literally." With a giant smile, he turned around again, and went over to his office. I sighed, and sat down at the lunch table with Mike, who had been watching the whole scene.

"Tough day today?" He smiled comforting.

"Not really. Today's going to be a great day. Annabel told me she had a gift for me tonight. I'm really excited about it." I used to tell Mike everything about my relationship with Annabel, becasue he always knew what I needed.

"Ah. She wants to do it. You lucky b*****d." His smile turned from comforting, to perverted. "Didn't you guys decide to take it slow?" He picked up the chair Jesse had kicked down a minute ago, before he put his feet on the table and waited for my reply.

"Yeah. I know, but this morning, she gave me a call. I'm gonna be there at eight." Mike quickly kicked away his chair, just like Jesse did, but Mike did a different gesture. He ran over to the public mic, which is a mic that you can talk into if you need a specific customer. Mike picked up the mic, and cried out loud: "Bobby's getting something tonight!" I tried not to laugh, but it was close to impossible. The guy had just cried to all the customers that I was going to get something tonight. And I was. Probably.

Standing outside the door to Annabel's apartment, I realized I should have bought something for her. "Oh well. She won't think about it," I told myself. I went up the stairs to ring the bell, but before I could press the button, Annabel came jumping up from the bushes.

"Oh my god! I almost got a heart attack!" I cried out loud. Annabel laughed hard, and I couldn't resist the urge to do so myself. She jumped up the stairs and kissed me.

"I have a gift for you now." Her voice was soft, but flirty. "You excited?" I just managed to get a quick "mhm," before she opened the door and dragged me in.

The room smelled of incense, and there were wax candles lit up all over the apartment.

"Wow!" I can't remember smiling so widely in my life. Annabel grabbed my shirt, and pulled me close. "Well. I have lots to show you," she said, and kissed me. Yeah. I like that better. As she lead me up the stairs, I could see rose petals scattered all over the floor.

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