by Anne Thomas
"If not, then it's a nastier word for what you feel towards her. And you should she treats you like dirt. And that woman who tries to walk all over you because she thinks she can, is now dating your best friend and you can't help but blame yourself because hey, you're the one who told him to solve it instead of stepping up and doing it yourself." Molly glanced up at her friend with a look of horror. "Is that what you think?" She asked in a whisper.
"Oh hell no. But I know that's what you're thinking. And I know you're convincing yourself of those fine points. I know that for a fact just as much as I can tell that there's a volcano building up inside of you, bound to explode probably...quite soon."
Molly shook her head. "Nope. Nope, I'm fine. No fuming for me. No explosions. No yelling at Harrison. I'm fine. Just fine."
Marty's eyebrow raised in curiosity. "O...kay. So what's up?"
Molly shrugged a shoulder. "I'm just done with him. Let him do what he wants why should I hound him about everything? I'm laid back. I'm cool. I get it. I have my own life to live it's not fair to either of us to keep trying to help him. So I'm letting him go. I hope he has fun with Candy Grey." She said.
Marty smirked at the name. Candy Grey had been Candice's modeling name. "Sounds good to me." She said, handing her friend a glass of red wine. "A toast?"
Molly grinned. "A toast. To new outlooks and a new way of living."
Their glass flutes clinked together, then the tv was clicked on, starting their laid back style immediately.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Seeing that Marty had forgotten to lock the door behind her, Harrison came walking in. Marty laughed at the coincidence while Molly growled with a roll of her eyes. Standing from the couch, she walked back to her bedroom without a word.
"Uh...what's with her?" Harrison asked Marty, who shook her head in pity.
"The blind will never be able to see what's right in front of them." She noted, then fell back on to the sofa and sprawled out her body, clicking the tv remote to a channel she wanted to watch. Harrison shrugged, pacing back to the bedroom and knocking on the door. "Hey Radcliffe, Joe and I are heading to the Cali boarder to go try out an experiment and I was wondering if you wanted to go." He said through the wood. He was getting used to talking through her doors.
"What kind of experiment are you to nutheads trying out now?" He heard her ask.
"Well, Joe read somewhere that the only thing you call throw out of the window on a Californian highway in a moving car is chicken feathers and water. We called up his brother, who is going through law school now, and he verified the fact, so we're going to see if it works."
Molly rolled her eyes as she played with the lamp switch that sat on her desk. "I've heard that one already. 'Of course it's legal I've read every law book in Dad's library. It's totally legal." She quoted.
Harrison squinted, trying to think back. "...Wasn't that you?"
Molly laughed. "We both said it. Only difference was, when I said it, I was right. When you said it, you were always wrong. Just because you read all the laws doesn't mean they'll bow down and bend for you. But no thanks, Harry. Just let me know when you go so I can get the bail money from your drawer and so I don't make an fancy plans for that night."
Harrison smirked. It was true he had called Molly on occasion to do just that. It wasn't very good for his reputation, true but all work and no fun led to a very boring life, which he was determined to never partake in.
"Not this time, my friend. This time it's legal. But alright then, more water and chicken feathers for me then."
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"So she wouldn't come, huh?" Josiah Jeffers asked, holding two sacks of chicken feathers with a few jugs of water resting on the tops of his boots.
Harrison shook his head, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter. "She acts fine...but I think she's mad at me. How am I to know though? She always gets difficult."
"Didn't you say that your dating that Candy chick?" When Harrison confirmed this with a nod, he continued. "Isn't that the same Candy Grey that we hear Molls and Marty talk about sometimes? You know, that woman they can't stand?"
Harrison shrugged. "I don't know. I can't keep up with all their chatter. And if she don't want me to date Candice, why don't she just say so? Why did she ask me to fix the problem if she wouldn't like the way I'd handle it? I mean really, would she have liked it better if I went on the intercom and announced to the school that we weren't? I'm sure she would have been oh so delighted!"
"You know how complicated women are. Can't understand a single one of them. You must know that more than anyone."
"Why? Because of my horribly infamous dating habits?"
Josiah looked at his close friend in amusement. "I was going to say because you've had to deal with Molly since a year before you started kindergarten, but hey, that works too."
Harrison slowed his speed until he was at thirty miles per hour. He had chosen a highway that had very little activity to guarantee no one getting hurt while driving behind them. And then, they started to pour out the jugs of water. At the same time, Josiah threw fistfuls of feathers out the window, watching as they hit the road, wet with their water, and stick fast to it under the baking sun.
"Shame we aren't allowed to let glue out the window that might make it in to a comedic situation." Josiah commented.
Harrison shook his head. "No way man the idea here is to get away with throwing things out the window, not to get glue all over my truck in the process. Contrary to popular belief, this is a damn fine truck. And I like this truck of mine."
"It don't even make it up a steep hill anymore. It's chicken enough to wear these feathers."
"Only if you're brave enough to risk the fist in your face."
Josiah stopped after that, knowing fully what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Harrison Redford's anger. Instead, he threw the rest of the water out the window and started pouring out the feather stack. It was almost empty when they saw the familiar glare of red and blue lights, siren blaring in fury, directed at them.
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If Harrison was one to blush, he would be doing so at this moment, watching in humiliation as Molly counted out the bills and signed the release forms for her two stupid friends that couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. And once she was through and the guard slid the cell door open for the two to walk out, Molly simply turned her back and started walking to her car without a word. Starting up the engine, she waited until they were seated, Harrison in the passenger side and Josiah in the back, and then took off.
At first, Harrison tried to enjoy her silence. He ran his fingers along the window's edge, liking the feeling of the blue material under his fingers. He remembered the day she had dragged him to the car dealer to help her sign off for the car. A three year old Volkswagen Jetta wasn't much, certainly not to his tastes at all, but she was in love with it, that much was obvious. Her whole face was lit bright with her ecstatic excitement. He gave her a bit of grief about it as they drove away in it, but it all stopped with her explanation. "It's the exact same color as your eyes." She had glowed. It made him grin the fact that she could love such a car, just for its unique shade of darkened blue that happened to match his eyes. But now it was years later and she was riding him home in that old blue Jetta, and fuming at him. Most likely she had regretted buying a car of this color and probably thought about changing it to something, anything, other than this blue. But she never did. She hadn't given up on him quite yet.
"I didn't know that the chicken feathers had to be limited and because there were actual chickens on your truck. And that you weren't supposed to dump gallons of water only a little to get you by..." He said weakly, not daring to look over at her.
Molly didn't reply.
"So what, now you have to be farmers to follow the law? That's just not right." Josiah commented.
Molly sai
d nothing, and Harrison glared him a warning glance. Josiah had a tendency to take a bad situation and blow it to all hell.
A cell phone rang then, Harrison realizing it was coming from Molly's pocket. She stopped at a red light so she could cram her hand in to her tight pocket and get out the slick phone. "Yeah?" She asked, not in the mood for generous greetings.
"Oh hey. Yeah, I'm just about to cross the border now. Of Nevada, of course. Don't' you remember Harrison's lovely phone call that was on the other end when we two were talking?" Molly cringed. "I didn't realize I hung up on you. I'm sorry! I guess having to pick up Harrison and Joe got me rattled enough to make me forget. I'll be at the house in about twenty minutes, if the traffic lets up. Uh...yeah, I'll tell them. Bye."
Harrison and Josiah stared at her expectantly, until Molly let out a low groan. "She said the two of you are complete idiots and you owe her fifty bucks for the bet." She finally said. But before either could say a word, she turned on the radio and let it blast.
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Molly tried to keep her calm. She should be used to this by now, but that only made her angrier. She loved Harrison, she did. He was her oldest, dearest and all around best friend. But he had a lot of growing to do, and she wished he'd do it sooner than later. She wished he would shape up and become the man she knew he could be, instead of landing his arse in jail once a month.
Harrison really was a great guy though, despite his immaturity. Just like she was there for them when they ended up behind bars, he was there for her for everything. Anything. He was the only one who knew every one of her deepest secrets. He was the only one she could ever trust with them. And he never told a soul about even one. For really, as childish as he could be some times, he could be trusted. Trusted to stay by her side, on her side. To be the holder of all her secrets. And to support her in everything. He was a great guy, with a steady job and is a hard worker. But he wasn't challenged enough. Which was why he turned in to a daredevil when he met Josiah Jeffers. Because he had an adventurous soul and feet that only wished to be on the move. He had bonds when his heart whined to him to be set free. She knew from their rare past midnight talks when he let it slip, that it hurt him to stay here. To hold such a job that he found, to say the least, boring. To live in an apartment that he wasn't fond of and felt like it's walls were closing in on him, bound to crush him sometime. And she, because it had happened to her already, had to pity him there.
She took a quick glance over at him. He sat there, solemn and quiet, staring at the base of the window as he kept running the tip of his finger over the blue fluff interior. It was obvious in his posture and in his little actions that he was upset and disappointed in himself. If she could see his eyes, she'd read sincerity in them. She also knew that he wasn't upset in himself because of what he had done, but because he had known that he had upset her.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she lowered the volume of the radio until it could be just barely heard. "I thought perhaps we could all have dinner at my place tonight. I'm cooking and Marty is already there. She has a stack of videos from the rental store and is bringing over the movie essentials the coziest blankets, fluffiest pillows and the best energy drinks to keep awake. If the two of you want to come over, you're welcome to."
Harrison looked over at her in confusion. "But...you're supposed to be angry and furious. Where did this come from?"
She shrugged. "I know you. And I know the reason for your actions. And I know that no matter how long I stay angry at you, you'll just do it again so it's basically pointless to waste my anger on you."
He shook his head. "No, I won't do it anymore, Molls. This was it. Last time."
"Don't tell me that, Harry., I might just foolishly believe you and then get my hopes up again. You'll do it again. Don't tell me you won't because you will. That restless spirit of yours rules you and as long as you sit idly by and don't do anything to calm it, you're going to get in to plenty of trouble."
His eyebrow quirked in curiosity of her words as he looked at her, at a loss for words on how to follow that bit up.
Instead, he returned his gaze to out the window and remained silent for the rest of the trip home.
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The next day, Harrison, Molly and Marty all shuffled in to the high school with dark circles under their eyes and barely awake.
As it was apparent, the energy drinks they had consumed at midnight had worked better than they had expected, and it was only about two hours ago when they finally passed out. Unfortunately, it was an hour ago when they had to wake.
"So what would it be saying for my teaching if instead of Abram Jones falling asleep in half of my classes and me scolding him...that I just join him today?" Marty asked.
Harrison smirked. "You realize you're talking to your boss, right?"
"Actually, I was talking to Molly you just happen to be standing here."
"...you realize you're still talking to your boss, Miss Disrespect?" He teased.
She stuck her tongue out at him, then peered in to her bag, praying she had remembered all her books that she'd need today. They were there, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Molly was pulling back curls back in to a low pony tail, not having time to do it before. "No one come to my room for lunch today I'm going to be skipping food and sleeping in."
Marty grinned, her weary eyes brightening a little. "Yes...lunch period. I think I'll do the same."
But it was Harrison's eyes that glowed the most when his mischievous grin appeared upon his pale lips. Flashing this look over to Molly, he started to run to his office.
"I hate that man." Molly said with a grimace. "He can go back there and fall asleep in his sofa and overstuffed leather chairs and not get in trouble for it, thanks to him being a light sleeper and every one liking him. But us? No, we can't. We actually have to do our jobs."
"Look at it this way," Marty said as they turned the corner, nearing their class rooms. "Christmas break is only sixty or seventy something days away."
Molly frowned. "Was that supposed to be comforting? Because it sucked."
This earned a laugh from Marty until she fell against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment.
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Sleep. Oh, the joys of blissful sleep! Molly was enjoying her world of dark and her mind of fog that she had just entered, when there was a sharp knock on the door.
Gasping, she sat straight up, her chair almost unsettling as she wiped the side of her mouth with her shirt sleeve. Blinking a few times against the harsh light of reality, she saw the last person she would want to see at a moment like this Candice Greybill. Taking a breath, Molly decided dealing with it quickly would let her get back to sleep sooner, so she plunged ahead. "Yes Candice?"
"I...I just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes. But if you're...uh...busy? Then I'll just let it go."
Molly shook her head. "No, no by all means, come on in."
Candice did so, walking up to her desk and planting her hands flat upon it., her face just a foot measurement or so away.
"Well, you know, of course, that Harrison Redford and I are finally going out. Well, I don't know if he really ever talks to you, so I thought I'd stop by and ask if it's okay with you."
Molly's temper soared inside her. Her calmness came from the wisdom of knowing that Candice was only trying to get her goat, and hell if she'd get it.
Though it did anger her to no end to let Candice say that she and Harrison were hardly close.
She shrugged it off. "Harrison and I are only friends. Why would I mind?"
Candice pressed on. "Why, everyone knows that you have been in love with him for years. It's very obvious. It always has been. So logic had me thinking that this might hurt you, seeing that Harrison can be very blind to your feelings when it comes to attractive women."<
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Molly wished that Marty was here. She had a way of calming the storm of fury in her, even when her resistance was failing. But she had told Marty to not come today, and she could hardly excuse herself from Candice to go scream her frustrations out to Marty. She could do it on her own anyway.
Swallowing the Scottish temper, she plastered the fakest smile upon her lips. "When it comes to me, he's never blind." She lied.
"Oh...so he just ignores your intentions then?"
"On the contrary I ignore his. Didn't you hear the other day? The rumors spread around?"
"Yes, I did. But then he dated me he claimed that the kids just took a simple joke the wrong way."
"He'll claim that he's Zeus's son Hercules if that'll get him a girl. We didn't want the rumors to keep going around it's bad for our reputations." As soon as the words fled from her mouth, she inwardly grimaced. There she went again painting colorful lies to save face. A sneaky, evil voice in the back of her head told her that it was all Harrison's fault for dating the snobbiest, bratty woman he could find within the state. After all, how can he possibly ask her to behave when his own girlfriend was doing this to her? He should know her better than to expect more. Just as she knew better to expect him to stop doing idiotic acts that landed him and Josiah in jail. But looking Candice over again, she realized how attractive this woman was, and worried that Harrison would think of that before thinking of what she had done.
"I agree with you. I suppose dating you here would be bad for his reputation." She said, her words laced with poison of a snake's. With a flash of a bright smile, she spun on her heel and walked out of the classroom, sure to give Harrison an ear full.
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"Why Molls, why?" Harrison said in complaint as he slid in to the blue Jetta.
She bit her lip, looking over her shoulder at Marty, who was suddenly wide awake and looking very interested.
"Why Molls why what?" She asked eagerly.
"I'm assuming you're talking about Candy Grey?" Molly asked.
