Weeping Angels

Part IX: Hangovers And Oil Canvas Paintings.

Kettu awoke with a headache and a nauseous gurgling in his stomach. He felt as physically terrible as he did emotionally.

And what made it even worse was the fact that he didn’t know where he was. Quite frankly, after his eighth drink, he didn’t remember much.

“Is this him?” He heard a shrill voice cutting through the fog of his mind and groaned as his headache responded with a paralyzing amount of pain. It seemed the fog of his mind wasn’t the only thing that that voice cut through.

“Yeah, that’s him.” He heard Ben’s voice, it was distant, Kettu assumed he was in another room. Ben must’ve taken him back to his home, not that Kettu blamed him after his actions last night, he wouldn’t have been left him alone if he was in Ben’s position either.

“Well, he’s still alive, but I doubt he’s enjoying it.” Kettu cautiously opened his eyes and forced them to focus. Above him stood a woman, her makeup plastered heavily onto her face as she puffed away on a cigarette. Kettu sat up, groaning again and rubbing his eyes.

“He’s awake, Ben!” The woman screeched.

Good God, does she have to be so damned loud? Kettu thought to himself. He drearily opened his eyes as Ben entered the room.

“Morning, Big K. Man, you really tied one on last night. You probably don’t remember a thing!” He laughed. Kettu shook his head, fighting off the urge to vomit. “You kept going on and on about Nina, how great she was, how kind and gentle she was and how you and her were going to meet again today, you even sat there and wrote a song for her on a bar napkin before the bartender cut you off and told us to leave.”

Oh, shit. Kettu’s head jerked up, “What time is it?” He gurgled. He had to be at The Den in six hours, and he definitely didn’t want to show up hung over.

“It’s noon.” Said the woman as she butted her cigarette out in a steel ashtray.

“Who is she?” Kettu asked Ben, as he shook his head.

“Kettu Kinson, meet my girlfriend, Andrea Harman, she’s been living with me for a few weeks now.”

“Charmed.” Kettu buried his eyes in his hands.

“Likewise. Do you two do this often? Because I’d rather not have you dragging drunken friends home in the middle of the night all the time.”

“Yes, dear.” Ben rolled his eyes.

“How did we get back here?” Kettu asked, his head still swirling.

“I stopped after my second drink, and after the bartender closed up, I was sober enough to get you back here. I wasn’t about to leave you alone after last night.”

“I don’t blame you.” Kettu said, “I should probably get home and get cleaned up.” He said, standing up shakily.

“I’ll drive you.” Ben volunteered, “Wouldn’t want you passing out on the sidewalk and cracking your head open.”

Kettu nodded in thanks, he knew the real reason behind Ben’s generosity, but was thankful at his careful discretion.

“So where’s the gun?” Ben asked as Kettu unlocked his front door. Kettu stepped back and pointed at the firearm, which still only lay a foot or so from the door. Ben approached the gun carefully, and with expert skill, picked it up, pulled the chamber back, emptying the cartridge and ejected the magazine before stuffing the magazine and the loose cartridge in his pocket.

“Do you have any other ammo, or mags?” Ben asked. Kettu shook his head. “Good, because I’m keeping this. There’s no reason for you to have it, aside from reasons that aren’t in your best interests anyway.”

Kettu nodded as Ben stuffed the gun into his belt and covered it up with his blue denim jacket.

“Now go get cleaned up and I’ll take you downtown to meet Nina.”

“You don’t have to follow me everywhere, Ben.”

“I know.” Ben said with a sadistic grin, “Truth be told, I’m avoiding cleaning up the mess you made in my bathroom last night, If I leave Andrea long enough, she’ll do it.”

“How chivalrous of you.” Kettu said sarcastically.

“Hey, I’m not all courtesy and rainbows, ya know.” Ben laughed, “Now hurry up, I’ve got an idea before you go to that coffee shop.”

“What kind of idea?” Kettu asked, eyeing him suspiciously, he didn’t like where this conversation was turning.

“Nina is an art lover, or at least that’s what you told me the other night,” Ben said, looking around Kettu’s apartment, “And you also said you wanted some way of paying her back for saving your life on the bridge, so I thought I’d take you down to the art exchange downtown so you can get her some art supplies or something.”

Kettu nodded, that was a thoughtful idea, he almost felt a little jealousy that he hadn’t come up with it himself.

This could work out, Kettu thought to himself, If I pay her back for what she did for me at the bridge, I won’t feel indebted, and can dismiss this boyish crush.

“Thanks, Ben.” Kettu said as he walked into the bathroom. He was already starting to feel better.

The Art Exchange was filled from floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves of art supplies, but Kettu still found himself at a loss for any kind of ideas. It hadn’t occurred to him that he never saw any of Nina’s art, or even knew what she painted with, and the labels on the paints were confusing him even further. He wandered through the store, shaking his head and grumbling to himself. What started out as a good idea was quickly becoming an exasperating waste of time.

“Hey, Big K! I found something!” He heard Ben shout. Kettu sighed, unsure of what Ben had found, but he had a bad feeling about it. He looked over in his friend’s direction, where Ben was holding up a small painting of a unclothed couple embracing. “Short, direct and to the point!” He chimed. Kettu sighed. Ben had been a great help to him since last night, but his juvenile antics were still prevalent. He opened his mouth to reject the idea when he something caught his eye.

“I just found something even better.” Kettu said as hurried his way past Ben and plucked a painting off the wall, a clever grin crossing over his face.

“What could be better than this? It’s a painting that screams, ‘I want you in bed!’ What kind of -” Ben stopped short and looked at the painting that Kettu had in his hands.

“The city center bridge?” Ben asked, a look of stunned disbelief on his face. “You want to remind her of your first suicide attempt?”

“No.” Kettu scowled at him, “It’s where we met for the first time, and in some way, it’ll be a reminder of what she did for me.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea too, I guess.” Ben said, scratching his head, putting the painting he had in his hands back on the wall, “But frankly, I’d go for the painting of the couple going at it.”

“The only reason you like that one is because there’s nudity.” Kettu glanced at Ben out of the corner of his eye as he tucked the painted canvas under his arm.

“That’s besides the point.” Ben protested quietly, trudging after Kettu.