A Few Little Scars

by Casey McMillin

"Yeah, but we don't have to go if you don't want to. It's not that big of a deal."

  Jason apparently finished his phone call because he came in from the patio without it at his ear. "That was Nick," he said. "He called to see if we wanted to go to a movie tonight."

  "What'd you tell him?"

  "I told him I'd talk to you and see what you guys were doing."

  "We'll probably see this band Molly wants to see. I'm sorry I didn't mention it before. I totally forgot about it until just now."

  "Really? Where?" Jason asked.

  Molly had picked up on him being a little protective of Hannah, and wondered how the conversation would play out.

  "This little place in Printer's Alley," Hannah said.

  "Really?" he asked again. He looked as if he was about to ask if he and Nick could accompany them, but changed his mind. "What band?"

  "The Half Nelsons," Molly said.

  Jason considered for a moment. "I'll probably hang out with Nick," he said. He reached out to pull Hannah into his arms. "I'd love it if you guys came out here to spend the night when you're done, though."

  Hannah looked at Molly, who nodded. She could think of worse places to sleep.

  Chapter 4

  It was Saturday, and even though Hannah wasn't working at the coffee shop, the girls had plans to go by there. Jason had something going on with his sisters, so Hannah and Molly had the day to hang out. Their first stop was Common Grounds.

  "I'm glad you're here, Michael," Hannah said as they walked in. She looked over at Molly. "Michael's the manager. He's the one who hired me."

  Molly smiled and waved at him and he returned the greeting.

  "I wasn't on the schedule," Michael said, "but two people called in this morning with that stomach bug. I came in to help Anne and Nothing, but I think they're out of the weeds now. I'm about to head out. My daughter's got a soccer game in a little bit."

  "Well I'm glad I caught you," Hannah said. "This is my friend Molly. The one I was telling you about who's moving here."

  "Oh that's right. Beauty school, right?" Michael gave Molly a bright smile that had her feeling altogether at ease.

  "That's the plan," she said. "I'm hoping to move around Christmas or New Year's at the latest, depending on when my brother gets done with his deployment."

  "Hannah said you might be looking for something part time," Michael said.

  "I asked her to put a bug in your ear just in case," Molly said. "In my ideal world, I'll be able to get a job working in a salon while I’m in school. I'd like to try to be around a salon all the time, but I honestly have no idea how hard it'll be to find a part time job like that."

  "Well you can certainly apply here if you need to," Michael said sweetly. "If Hannah says you're great, then I'll take her word for it."

  "Aw, thanks so much," Molly said.

  "Please! The love in this room is too much for me to handle." Of course the comment had come from the guy working the register. Molly turned to find Nothing rolling his eyes.

  "He's an atheist," Michael said, explaining to Molly. It was something they said all the time to annoy Nothing. Molly had already met him the night before and knew all about his case of atheism.

  "That has nothing to do with anything," he said. "I'm just pointing out that the whole conversation you just had was a big waste of time. There are like fifty thousand salons in this town, and I'm sure it's not that hard to get a job sweeping floors in one of them. It's not rocket science."

  Molly probably should have been offended by his comments, but for some reason it felt a little like he was rooting for her. Of course she'd be able to find work in a salon. That was one positive thing about being stuck in her dad's hardware store for the last two years. She was bound and determined to make it happen once she moved to Nashville.

  She smiled at Nothing for being so honest even if it was slightly rude. He barely nodded at her smile, but otherwise kept the straight face he seemed to always wear.

  The girls got coffee and sat out on the deck. It was brisk outside, but they were dressed for it, and the coffee did a good job of keeping them warm. Hannah's phone rang, and she regarded it before looking up at Molly. "It's Jason," she said, "do you mind if I take it?"

  "Not at all," Molly said.

  Molly heard the one-sided conversation as Hannah spoke, but couldn't really make out what they were talking about. She heard Hannah say, "I'll ask her," so she figured she'd be getting some sort of question when Hannah got off the phone. After she said goodbye, Hannah sat her phone on the table and looked over at Molly. "Jason said he and Nick decided to see some live music too if we changed our minds and wanted to go with them."

  "A different band?" Molly asked. "Who?"

  "Who?"

  "I didn't recognize the name of the band, but he said we were welcome to go with them if we wanted to."

  For whatever reason, Molly was feeling stubborn. She wanted to see The Half Nelsons with her girl Hannah without anyone noticing her scar or making out with her accidentally.

  I can tell them to go ahead and we can figure out something else to do," Hannah said, sensing Molly's mood. Molly thought about the kiss and the way Nick looked at her from across the bar afterward. She was just too nervous to see him again.

  "I think we should catch that band I was telling you about," she said.

  "I'm good with that," Hannah said. "Are you sure we can get in?"

  "Yeah, it's eighteen and over, we just can't drink."

  "Okay, sounds good. And it's no big deal about not meeting Jason and Nick," Hannah said. "He said he just wanted to offer. I'll tell him we'll catch up with him afterward." Hannah set her phone on the table in front of her. "I'll text him in a few to let him know."

  Molly thought for a second. She felt slightly guilty about wanting to stick with her plans and almost told Hannah to invite the guys to go with them, but she changed her mind.

  "That guy from RCA who we were talking to at the end of the night said you looked like Cameron Diaz," Hannah said, changing the subject completely. It was something Molly had heard a few times even though her hair was long and dark, and she didn't see it at all.

  "I think it's my mouth," she said. "Someone told me she has sharp teeth like mine."

  Hannah's head whipped around and she regarded Molly with a confused expression. In all their years of friendship, Hannah had never once noticed any sharpness to Molly's teeth. "What are you talking about?" Hannah asked, trying to look in her friend's mouth to see for herself.

  Molly flashed her a smile.

  "What?" Hannah asked. She used the tip of her tongue to prod at her own canines. "I thought everybody had sharp teeth right there."

  Molly laughed. "I think mine might be sharper than other people," she said. Just like Hannah, Molly used the tip of her tongue to test the sharpness. "People barely notice it. I think only people who stare at my mouth see it."

  "I would never have noticed that. It's definitely not something you should worry about."

  Molly laughed. "I'm not worried about it. I just mentioned it because I think that's why people say the whole Cameron Diaz thing."

  Molly and Hannah spent the afternoon at Hannah's apartment near Belmont University. They decided to be there to get dressed for the evening since most of Hannah's clothes were there.

  Molly and Hannah got dressed and set out on their way to the little dive bar where The Half Nelsons were playing. It was a place called Bucky's that was famous for tiny but awesome rock concerts. The show was scheduled to start at 10PM, but they knew they'd have to be there by nine to avoid it being sold out.

  Hannah checked in with Jason a few times throughout the night, but never acted like she wanted to be anywhere other than where she was, and the girls had a really fun time dancing and watching the band.

  The Half Nelsons were one of Molly's favorites, and it didn't hurt matters that all four of them were extremely easy on the eyes. Molly was smiling at the lead singer when Hannah leaned across the smal
l table and said, "He's been looking straight at you all night. And he's not even shy about it, is he?"

  Molly had her eyes trained on the guy Hannah was talking about. "No, he's not," she said, smiling. The singer returned her smile before he looked down at his guitar to play a solo.

  Molly looked at Hannah with wide eyes. "That's crazy," she mouthed. He was being really obvious with the eye contact, and it had both of them giggling. Molly leaned in. "You know I'm gonna have to stick around and say 'hi' to him, right?"

  "Well, duh, Molls."

  "Do you think he's cute?"

  Hannah looked at him for a few long seconds before answering. "I never thought I'd say this about anyone who looks kind of emo like that, but yeah, he is. He's really cute. He actually pulls it off."

  "You better not let Jason hear you say that," Molly said.

  Hannah laughed. "Jason knows he has nothing to worry about."

  Molly laughed too, but was too distracted by the thought of sticking around to meet the singer to really take in what Hannah was saying. She took her phone from her purse, opened the web browser and typed in the words, half nelson lead singer. There wasn't a lot of information about them, but she found out a little bit by following a link to their Facebook page. Apparently his name was Zeke Driskill.

  She watched the rest of the show kind of daydreaming about what the lead singer was like off stage. They hung out until after the show was over so Molly could try to talk to him.

  "Do you think we should just walk right over there, or what?" Hannah asked.

  "I'm gonna give him a second," Molly said.

  Zeke had already stepped down from the small stage and put his guitar into its case. He stood talking to some of his bandmates and a few fans that had walked up. None of them looked to be his girlfriend, but Molly still felt like she wanted to lay back and see if he made the first move.

  "He's coming over here," Hannah said. "Oh my God, I'm nervous for you."

  "Shhhh," Molly said. "Oh snap, Hannah, what am I gonna say?" She was talking without moving her lips, and Hannah stifled a smile at how nervous Molly was.

  Zeke walked up and sat his newly opened beer on the small table. He gave them both a bright smile, but focused on Molly.

  "You look familiar," he said. "Have we met before?"

  "No," Molly said, "but I'm a big fan of your music."

  "That's awesome." He smiled and stuck his hand out. "I'm Zeke."

  She shook his hand. "Molly."

  "Molly like the drug?" he asked, smiling.

  "Yeah, just like the drug."

  "Have you ever—"

  "Yes."

  "Really?" he asked, interested.

  "Really?" Hannah echoed, although she wasn't really all that surprised since Molly had always been a bit of a daredevil.

  Molly glanced and smiled at her friend for a second, but quickly returned her attention to Zeke. "I thought I should probably know what it feels like since we share the same name," she said.

  "In that case, you can call me Mary Jane," he said.

  After that little comment, one thing led to another, and long story short, they ended up smoking two blunts in the back of the club with the band and one of the bartenders.

  Hannah started letting it pass without hitting it after about the first three times it came to her. Molly, however, ended up hitting it about eight or ten times before it was all said and done.

  It had been over an hour since the show had ended, and because the blunts that had been passed around were filled with extremely kind bud, they were all thoroughly blitzed.

  "Hey, we have to take off," Zeke said. He looked at Molly with admiring eyes. "I'd love to stay, but I have to help them with all the equipment."

  "It's all good," Molly said. "We were planning on taking off anyway. Hey, thanks for sharing that stuff."

  "Thanks for sticking around," Zeke said. He moved in to give Molly a little hug. "I guess you should probably give me your number before we go."

  She smiled up at him. "I guess I probably should," she said. Molly held her hand out. "Give me your phone and I'll put my number in it."

  Zeke did as she asked, and she typed her phone number and gave it back to him. "Where's this number from?" he asked.

  "It's like an hour and a half east of here," she said.

  His eyebrows drew together. "Did you drive all the way here to see us play?"

  "I came in for a party last night, but I wouldn't put it past me to drive in for a show sometime."

  Zeke's band mates had been yelling his name jokingly, but he knew they would eventually get annoyed for real if he didn't help them out. He couldn't ignore them any longer. "I guess I'll be in touch," he said.

  "Great," she said.

  Without warning, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Molly felt the rush of hot blood fill her face when he did it, and she was extremely glad that the club was dark.

  "Oh, crap!" Hannah said once they were outside.

  Molly looked around nervously, thinking that someone was surely around and could hear them. "I know," she whispered. "I can't believe he just walked up to the table like that."

  "I was talking about him kissing you, but I can't believe you're surprised he came up to us, after the way he was looking at you the whole time."

  Molly was giddy with excitement, but she tried not to show it. She didn't want to get her heart set on some kind of love connection with the rocker until she had a little more proof that he actually liked her.

  "You think he'll call?" she asked.

  Hannah gave her a disbelieving look. "Of course he will. I mean he kissed you for crying out loud."

  "On the cheek."

  "Still. He liked you, I could tell."

  "Thanks for hanging out," Molly said. "Are we gonna be in trouble with Jason?"

  Hannah breathed a laugh. "No, I think we'll beat him home, actually."

  Molly and Hannah got to Jason's house at 1:30AM, and sure enough, Jason wasn't there yet. He had already warned Hannah that he'd be late because of Nick's shenanigans, so the girls just went inside and made themselves at home. They hung out, eating some snacks to satisfy their munchies for a few minutes before deciding to shower and crash for the night. Molly thanked Hannah for the fun evening and told her she'd sleep in one of the guest bedrooms so she wouldn't be in Jason's way when he got home.

  Chapter 5

  Nick ended up seeing some live music with Jason that night. He liked it better when Cam came along because Cam was still into talking to the ladies and Jason wasn't, but Cam was working and couldn't make it. Nick and Jason had met at the bar thinking they would both be able to drive home, but that was before Nick proceeded to have seven scotches.

  Neither of them wanted to leave their car there, so it was up to Jason to arrange for someone to pick up Nick's car and drop it off at his apartment. He called their friend Paco, (because that's just who you call for a favor like that) and put the keys and a hundred-dollar-bill (because that's just what you pay for a service like that) in the glove box for when he got there. Nick wanted to stay and see the band's whole set, and by the time they figured out the ride situation and got in touch with Paco, it was 2AM.

  "I shoulda just left your ass in the car and made you wait till Paco got there to give you a ride," Jason said. He was driving Nick to his downtown apartment even though it was out of the way. He was pissed at Nick—tired of taking care of him and ready to get home.

  "You should have left me," Nick said, slurring his speech.

  "Why? So you could just start the car and drive it home yourself?"

  "Yesss," Nick said.

  "You're crazy if you think I'm gonna let you drive like this."

  "I've driven in much worse situations, in fact, I—"

  "Shut-up dude. I don't really even want to hear about it. I'm ready to get home, and now I'm stuck taking your ass across town."

  "Fine, I'll just crash at your place," Nick said. He leaned back on the headrest wishing Jason would q
uit driving so fast, or the dizziness would go away, or preferably both.

  "Hannah and her friend are there."

  That was news to Nick. He looked at Jason. "I thought you said they were doing their own thing."

  "They did, but they're in Brentwood now."

  "They're spending the night at your house?"

  "Yeah, why?"

  "Because you said they were doing their own thing."

  "They did. But they're done and they crashed at my place." Jason spoke impatiently as if he couldn't understand what Nick was missing.

  "Her friend from the party?" Nick said. "The one with the teeth?"

  Jason shot him a frustrated look. "I don't know what you mean by teeth, dude. It's her friend Molly—the one who was at the party with her, yes."

  Nick rested his head on the seatback again. "I'm crashing at your house."

  "What?"

  "You heard me. You didn't want to drive me home anyway. Just tell Paco to bring my car to your house."

  "Are you serious?"

  "Yeah."

  "I hope you're not trying to hook up with her friend."

  "I'm not, I just know that you don't want to drive me home and I don't mind staying at your crib. This makes everything easier."

  Jason made a U-turn. It would save him the better part of an hour to take Nick across town, so he wasn't about to argue.

  There was a note on the counter telling Jason that he could be as loud as he wanted to be since Molly was in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Nick stared down at the note. His head was still swimming, and he absentmindedly grabbed a pack of Combos from the island near the note, opened them and began eating them. They tasted sharp, and he glanced down at the bag to find they were pizza flavored. He didn't really like them, but he popped a few more into his mouth before tossing the bag onto the counter again. A few of them rolled across the counter, and Jason huffed. "Just crash on the couch so you don't disturb anyone."

  "By anyone do you mean the girl upstairs?"

  "Yes, I mean the girl upstairs, Nick. You said you were gonna be cool."

  Nick raised his hands in surrender. "I'm cool," he said. He thought about Molly. He remembered the kiss the night before. Was that really last night? It seemed like an eternity ago. He could barely even remember what she looked like. Vampire teeth. He imagined her biting him with those teeth. He wanted her to bite him.