Bang Bang (Annoyed)

Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound

It was Tuesday in the late afternoon.
I lay on the sofa, my arms wrapped around Jim's neck, feeling miles high and drowning in his eyes.

We had an awfully nice afternoon with some extended cuddling on the couch right after we came back from hospital. We entered the appartment, I threw my backpack in a corner, stretched with an "Awrrrrrr" and felt two arms embracing me from behind.
"What about some cuddling on the couch before we do anything else?", I heard Jim whisper into my ear and felt a pleasant shiver run down my spine.
"Sounds good to me", I murmured and was already softly pushed into the direction of our couch.
On the way Jim took my jacket off and put it on a chair. "Lay down, hun", he whispered again close to my neck and I gladly obeyed. "Love you", he murmured and bent over me to kiss my forehead. I wrapped my arms around him and we did not leave the sofa for the next two hours.

Jim tenderly caressed my cheek, looked into my eyes and sighed an "Oh my love...." I could just reply with another sigh and pulled him a bit closer to kiss him.
When we parted again, Jim swallowed hard. "Phew...what a wonderful afternoon..."
"Mhmmmmm", I replied lazily and caressed the back of his head. "My lovely husband", I smiled at him and he beamed back at me.
"Your lovely husband thinks coffee would be a great idea now", he grinned and reluctantly crawled out of my arms.
I sat up and stretched again. "Coffee! Yes! Brilliant thought!"
"I know, my little addict", Jim smirked and made his way into the kitchen.

I sat back contentedly and closed my eyes. A perfect afternoon, really.
"Heck, no! Shoot!", I suddenly heard him curse in the kitchen.
My eyes popped open. "What's up, dear? Everything okay?"
He peeped into the living room. "Nothing's okay."
I frowned. "Oh...did you hurt yourself?", I asked concerned.
Jim grinned. "No. But we have no coffee..."
"Catastrophe!", I exclaimed. "Pandora opened her box!"
Jim sighed. "Yes, it's a scandal..."
I got to my feet and grabbed my cane. "Your hero will save the world!"
Jim raised an eyebrow. "And what's the name of that hero? Cane-Man?"
I stuck out my tongue. "I did not think about that yet."
Grabbing my sport coat I pointed at him. "Whatever the name will be, I'll save us both and go and get some coffee. Anything else you'd fancy? I'll have a short walk to the little supermarket at the end of the road."
Jim rubbed his chin and pondered a while. "Fudge, please. And something for dinner."
With a nod I waved and turned around to leave the appartment.
"Wait", Jim said and approached me.
I looked over my shoulder and saw him approaching me. "Hm?", I asked.
"Take care, darling", he smiled and kissed me goodbye.

With a broad smile from one ear to the other I left our appartment and made my way to the supermarket. The air was warm and pleasant and had that typical smell of after-rain-summer-breezes. Looking up to the sky I wondered once again what I had done to deserve my luck. My luck, of course, was Jim. He was able to turn every single crappy moment into bright sunshine for me, to bear my grumpiness, my moods, my Vicodin consumption, my sometimes ill minded sense of humor and so much more. I kicked a small stone out of the way with my cane and continued walking down the road.

I was a bit surprised when I reached the supermarket and saw a very familiar blonde woman stepping out of the door. She was accompanied by a wealthy looking dark-haired man who almost was as tall as me.
"Oh now look what the cat brought here!", she exclaimed and nudged her companion's side.
"Julie?", he asked a bit puzzled and she gestured to me. "Gregory House, my former husband's best friend!"
I rolled my eyes with a snort. "Not so nice to meet you, Julie."
She nodded. "Just what I thought. I forgot you live here..."
Her new husband raised an eyebrow. "So that's Greg House? I heard a lot about you."
He even reached out his hand and I condescended to shaking it. "I bet you did. Julie always loved me..."
Julie crossed her arms. "So....how are you doing? Still addicted to your pills and hanging around with James consuming loads of Single Malt?"
I shrugged and grinned. "From time to time. I'm quite fine though."
"Yah", she nodded. "It was almost scary to see you walking - or should I say hobbling? - down the road with that smile on your face. I bet the hooker was good. Or you got a new prescription."
"Julie...", her husband tried to interrupt her, but she raised a hand. "He can handle this, don't worry. He's the greatest asshole and curmudgeon in the whole wide world."
"Ah, too much honor, Julie!", I replied with a smug smile. "Actually, I got a new prescription, yes. But no hooker...."
"Well", she shrugged, "you probably jerked off over your pills then."
"Julie, Julie", I tutted. "It's always the same. You confuse vulgarity with sarcasm...."
She turned to her blushing companion. "Now listen when the expert talks..."
The man smiled at me a little embarassed and uncomfortable and she continued. "So, how's James doing? Did he already marry again?"
I nodded. "Yes, he did so...Last November."
Now she looked slightly dumbfounded. "We've been divorced in November! And...he already married again then?"
"I told you so a few seconds ago, didn't I?"
"..."
I wanted to squeeze past her and enter the little supermarket, but she grabbed my arm. With an annoyed sigh I turned to her. "Don't touch me, or do you want to pay the dry cleaning?"
"Pft!", she answered. "Just tell me how he's doing."
"Well, Julie, he's doing good. Actually he's having the best time in his life now, I suppose. At least he told me so. And he told me he's deeply in love and never felt like this before he met...that person."
"Oh....", she just said. "He's happy then..."
"He is", I nodded.
She stared at her expensive Prada shoes. "I never managed to make him happy, I suppose."
I shrugged and entered the supermarket. "Bye!"

That was annoying. Julie was a true nag and one of the last persons I wanted to meet.
With an enervated expression on my face I searched the shelves for coffee. That supermarket was really small, but they had Segafredo and illy. I chose illy and turned to see what we could have for dinner.
"Salmon would be nice", I thought when the hubbub started.
A stupid looking guy with a mask and a hood brandished a gun and yelled at the man behind the counter.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "That damn dweeb", I thought. I just wanted to get my things and leave and was not in the mood for such crap.
So I just stood there, watched the other costumers hiding or laying down on the floor and that asswipe still brandishing his gun.
"Hey, asshole!", I addressed him. "Do me a favor and rob some other market, okay? You are bugging me!"
The guy flung around and just fired his gun.
"Damn douchebag!", I yelled at him and tried to approach him. But my feet did not want to move and I looked down at me in surprise. There was a quickly growing spot of blood on my belly and I touched it. When I withdrew my hand it was all red and I looked up at the guy again. He dropped his gun and ran out of the shop.
"Fuck", I muttered and shook my head. I felt strange and my head began to become dizzy. The world suddenly turned too quick and I sank to my knees.
I tried to get up again but could not. With a groan I noticed it was getting fairly cold and dropped to the floor. "Not again", I thought and tried to look at the still growing spot of blood. My shirt was already soaked and the guy behind the counter jumped over to me.
"Oh my God!", he exclaimed. "Call the ambulance!", he yelled at one of the customers.
"PPTH, please", I managed to say before my vision blurred and I passed out. God, how I missed Jim.

Next thing I knew was that I suddenly found myself in the living room. Jim sat on the couch and read some Byron, candles were lit and I thought "Geez, what a strange dream that was."
I embraced him from behind and kissed his neck. To my surprise Jim startled and looked around with wide eyes. "What the...", he muttered. I heard an awful sound, was dragged away and found myself in an ambulance. My eyes fluttered open and I looked at a man with a defibrillator. "He's back!", he yelled and I thought that there was no part of me that did not hurt before I closed my eyes again.

When I opened them, Jim tenderly caressed my cheek, looked into my eyes and sighed an "Oh my love...."