Red is the Divine Exception

The angry man glares at me from across the room. What have I done to make him mad? After all this fucking time I'm done with his shit. I stride over to Ghoul, trying to figure out what I did wrong.

"Why such the dead stare, Ghoul?" I bluntly ask.

"Like you'd care to know, you shit head." He scoffs.

What the hell is wrong with this guy? I've done nothing wrong.

"What is your problem? You must be mental to think I caused your irritation." I say. Who is this guy to make me pity him? I'm the god forsaken most wanted man!

"Oh and now you act like I was the one to blame! Poison, you really are as horrid as your name!" He grunts in frustration.

"Ugh, how can you say such rude things to me? I mean seriously you leave us in our pleasant greeting- to fucking work! Ugh how can I say this without pissing you off? Maybe, how 'bout, fuck off bastard! I mean you act like you know me, but you don't even know a single fucking thing about me. I don't know you either." Slowly as the words come out I begin to calm myself.

"You never called me- and I know that you have a strange affliction for women's lingerie. So yes I know at least one thing about you." A smile plastered onto his face.

"What are you talking about? I don't have your phone number, I couldn't have called you."

"I wrote it on the napkin while I was on the phone. Did you not see?"

"No, I-I'm sorry. But trust me if I saw it I would've called you right on the spot." His gaze begins to brighten and I look down at the floor from embarrassment.

"Well, I have too much pride to write my number down again, so you have to give me yours instead."

I nod and write down my number.

Since I've been in the drug business I've always had three phones. The first phone it one of the phones where you can buy them at gas stations, and I use them for the normal crackheads and junkies to get their fix of the day. The second is for emergencies only, it's only been called once by Mikey, but it's also used for calls from people who I work with on the most recent heist. The last phone is a more expensive one, It's only use is for entertainment, like Ghoul. You never have just one phone if you're someone like me.

"Thank you, Poison. Oh and I'm sorry I said those rude things earlier, I was just mad 'cause I sat in the coffee shop for hours waiting to see if you'd come back. I didn't mean to take it out on you." He stares at the floor waiting for my acceptation.

"There's no time for apology. If there was I'd die saying sorry for things I did that are minor problems, you can't pity everybody." I lift his chin and smile.

"You're brilliant, Poison."

"I'm just a drunk, a naturally negative man." I chuckle.

"Well, I have nothing to do while I wait for the laundry to finish, so -um- would you like to come by my place and mayb-."

"Oh yeah, that sounds wonderful. How about I make dinner for the both of us?" I answered interrupting him in the middle of his sentence.

"That sounds lovely, I haven't had anyone over at my place in a while, Luckily, I just tidied up the place." Ghoul grabs my hand and we head out of the laundromat.

The cool breeze blows on our noses and Ghoul sneezes. I giggle and he punches my shoulder lightly.

"Shut up, I have a cold." He jokes.

"Oh okay, sure you do. You must get sick a lot."

"Actually, when I was a kid I was always sick -ugh- it was terrible." Ghoul replies.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I used to miss school a lot, but not for the same reasons." My sight shifts downwards and I focus on the glistening concrete path, not in the mood to pay attention to the real world.

"Why'd you miss school?" He asks curiously.

"It's not important, trust me you'd be less interested in me if I told you."

"Who says I'm interested in you? Plus, I want to know. Spit it out asshole." Ghoul laughs when I look up to him.

"Well for starters, I wasn't one for school. I'd always been the odd guy out. I wasn't bullied or anything, I just wanted to be alone and I think all the kids knew that too. So eventually, I just didn't go. The teachers were absolute shit like the school in general, but I wasn't school smart. You know?" I ask.

"I understand how you feel. You're smart just not the way school wants you to be." He adds.

"Yeah." I say while we turn into an apartment building.

"This is the place." He looks up and sighs, but a home-y sigh like he's used to it.

We head towards the elevator and Ghoul presses the seventeenth floor.

"Damn, that's high." I comment.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I forget I'm in the luxury suites."

Luxury? Well, I guess he makes bank like me too.

The elevator bell rings and immediately I'm welcomed to his front door as he puts in the lock and it slides open.

His place is filled with everything you could imagine. Guitars are lined along a wall to the left and on the right is a stair case leading up to the second floor. The grand piano beside the staircase is the beauty of it all. The slick wood finish gives it a diamond shine. I walk over to the piano and touch the dark oak, the wood cold under my fingertips.

"It's gorgeous." I say.

"Do you play piano?" Ghoul asks.

"My grandmother taught me when I was younger. I only knew one tune, she played it so many times I have it embedded in my head." I look over sadly, but then I smile remembering the good times with her. "She was a remarkable woman. One of kind."

"I can see she taught you well." He comments

"Hell no, she'd slap me if she knew what I was doing. I'm a drunk for god sakes, she'd be so disappointed with me."

"Then make her proud."

"I can't. There's nothing I can do to fix myself." I want nothing more than him to stop talking about this. I hate talking about me and my problems.

"Yes you can, Poison. You said there's no time for apologizing, but that's exactly what you're doing right now. You keep trying to make up for whatever is holding you back."

"How the hell can you figure out people like that?"

"Cause I know how it feels. I still deal with it." He stands up and gestures me to follow him.

I walk into the kitchen. It's a simple kitchen, but quite modernized.

Oh shit, I'm terrible at cooking. Oh shit, shit, shit, shit!

"I'm going to go take a shower, if you help with anything right over there is the mic, just press master bathroom then hold down the button and talk."

"Sounds great, -um- You're okay with anything right?" I asked him. I know one food that I'm absolutely perfect at baking.

"Sure, what did you have in mind to make?" Ghoul replies setting his elbows down which makes his body slouch over the kitchen counter.

"It'll be a sweet surprise." I respond. I don't tell him, because I'm hoping he'll take it as confidence more over than my nerve racking drunken state.

"Well, I'll be going now, you know where I am. Call if you need me." Ghoul adds.

"Okay, Mother." I roll my eyes in a jokingly way. He just giggles and strolls up the stairs.

I go through his cupboards finding only two bowls that I need. Shit, does he have a mixer? Ah there it is. I grab the mixer from one of the cupboards below. Now I have to find the mix. Through the time of about 10 minutes I finally found the fucking mix; it was lodged behind dumb ass sugar. I'm pleasantly surprised he actually owns it, I know my family always had mix for it cause it's like a tradition. It was a tradition.

I grab a pan hanging from the ceiling and turn the oven top on. After preparing the mix and pan I pour it over and begin to wait for the golden brown to crisp.

"Shit!" I say when I accidentally burn my finger. I immediately put it in my mouth to soothe the pain, but I won't seem to fade. I really don't want to, but I think I need to ask Ghoul where the first aid is. First, I place them on a plate and turn the oven top off. I don't want to burn his place too.

I click on 'Master Bathroom' and press down the button," Hello? -Um- Ghoul? I need help."

About a few seconds later he replies, "Did you ask for something?"

"Uh yeah, I need to know where the first aid is." As I finish the sentence I can hear laughing from upstairs, "Fucking asshole it hurts."

"Okay, okay. So in the bathroom downstairs there should be a first aid under the sink counter. What did you do?"

"I-I burned my finger." Getting every word out was painstakingly hard considering I could now hear the laughter again.

The best thing to do is walk away and that's exactly what I do. I don't know where the bathroom is, but I might as well have a private tour of this place for myself.

Luckily, the first door I find is the bathroom, because my finger is starting to blister. Good thing I finished the food before I burned myself. I heal my finger in a matter of time and head back to the kitchen. Fuck that's some nice ointment he has.

Ghoul makes his way downstairs fully dressed with wet hair. He looks damn gorgeous. Those tattoos are going to be the death of me.

"Oh my god, shit, you made pancakes! You're so damn fabulous, Poison!" He hugs me and begins to stuff his face in the food.

"You're welcome, but don't you want syrup?" I ask chuckling to myself. He looks so cute, his tiny figure just gobs down every scrap.

"I don't even need it. You're pancakes are so delicious I can't even control myself." He finishes before I'm even half way done.

"Are you going to finish that?" Ghoul asks.

"Probably not, did you want mi-." He grabs my plate and starts munching everything down. How the hell can he fit all that in his tiny body? I'm jealous.

"I'm so fulllllll......" He comments while leaning back and holding his stomach.

"I told you, you shouldn't eat that much. You're tiny body can't take it."

"Shut the fuck up. It's your fault, you made the pancakes."

"You ate all of them." I add making the both of us laugh.

"That's okay though, because you still look stunning." I feel different suddenly, almost....rosy. Like a light feeling. Just soft enough to give you chills down your spine, but I'm not sure I've felt anything like it. This feeling is new, I've felt sorrow unlike you'd imagine through my life, but I also have felt joy and endless happiness as a kid. Nowadays all that's left is the blank lie of my smiles. This unknown feeling leaves me on the edge. I end up just staring at the ground with my hands on my thighs.

"Thank you Poison, I would say the same for you, but I wouldn't want to degrade you like that." We both sat there in silence, not thinking, just forgetting the world for a split second. Of course that wouldn't have lasted with the both of us and soon we were fighting over which shitty horror movie we should watch.

"I want to watch Vampire Cheerleaderssssss....." Ghoul whines.

"Well I want to watch Zombie Pornstar Bloodbath." I demand. I'm not giving up on this, I will succeed.

After digging through his gigantic movie collection for what seemed like hours, Ghoul picked up a disc with a bright smile on his face.

"OH MY GOD POISON WE HAVE TO WATCH THIS!!!" He rushes over and shakes my body.

"Oh god please don't shake me I'm barely starting to get my hangover." He stops and shows me the movie.

Corpse Bride

"That's it we're watching this." I say agreeing with him. This has to be one of my favorite movies. I'm so excited!

We get placed on the couches and once we're comfy Ghoul starts the movie. Through out the masterpiece I'd wound up having three fluffy blankets covering my entire body except for my face.

"I always had a crush on Victor, You know? I think I have a thing for people that are so pale the look dead." I comment. I never realized how appealing that feature is to me. I look over at Ghoul, his face shimmers in the dark and his smile glows as he chuckles.

"I didn't know you were gay."

"Oh please! That was my damn lingerie and you know it." We burst out laughing and end up missing the ending of the movie.

"Why wold you need that? Ooo is it for someone special?" He bugs in.

"No, no." I take a breath to relax a little and calm my breathing, "I happened to walk into a Drag queen at the bar I go to and well she dolled me up and made me the hottest David Bowie. And well after that was much of a daze I don't really remember what happened after I got of the strip." What did happen after that? I can't remember, but something tells me I had another fuck toy.

"Sounds damn hot to me."

"I'm sure I wasn't all too great, I was drunk at the time and I'm not much of a dancer."

"Then what are you?" Ghoul questioned.

"I like to think of myself as a free ranged artist, music wise too. Those were my only talents." I miss the days where all I'd do is sit in the garage, me and Mikey, and just play the hell out of our shitty instruments. We were the definition of grunge.

"I used to be in a band, but my father wasn't accepting of it so I quit." He says sounding disappointed.

"Fuck that, you do what you want to do. And if that's what you like I wouldn't mind joining you, we could make our own mini band."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course, I like hanging out with you, you don't have anyone like me do you?" I asked him.

"No, you're my only friend. No one ever took the chance to get to know me since I was born. My dad was always demanding more from me, but he never understood why that wasn't important to me. I never had a mother, after birth he said she died and he took me. He only wanted me to be him, but it's not what I want." After his little story a tear slides down his cheek.

"It's okay to be different. No matter who you are there will always be someone who accepts you, and if that's me it's fine cause I don't mind being the shoulder you want to cry on." I wipe away his wet cheek and wrap my arms around him. His body just sinks into the embrace and shows all his saddness at once. Ghoul's body trembles with angst, it hurts me to see him this way. I don't know why we're already this close, but I like being with him so it's fine with me. I just hope he doesn't get too attached, because it's not smart to feel emotions when your a criminal.

"C-Can you just hold-d me for the night?" Ghoul asks, stuttering from his lip trembling. "I-I don't want to b-be alone right n-now."

"Shh, just sleep, I'll be here. No need to worry." I don't know if what I can say to reassure him is true, but I'll try.

Like that we slipped away in a tight grasp, I don't think either of us were willing to admit our sorrow instead we showed it to one another. Maybe that's our coping with emotions. Who knows?

Notes

SHIT! I'd write more, but then i'd be late for the bus. I'm starting to get into the story more. Well i hope you like it so far.

-XOXO Fqomb.