A Few Little Scars

by Casey McMillin

  The show wasn't supposed to start until eleven that night, so Molly made plans to hang out with Taylor and Hannah beforehand. Several of Molly's friends from Reflections and Taylor and Hannah's friends from the coffee shop were planning on going to the show as well. The Midnight Inn was cool, and it just so happened that pretty much everyone they invited didn't have other plans for Valentine's Day.

  Hannah had been hanging with Jason all day and would see him again at the show, so she used the window from 6-11 to hang with Taylor and Molly. They would have dinner together and then Molly would make them all look like movie stars with her ninja hair and makeup skills.

  They met at their favorite place to get sushi. It was a restaurant Jason turned them on to. The food was extremely fresh, and they went there frequently enough for the sushi chefs to recognize them, which made it fun. The plan was for the three girls to meet at the restaurant and then go to Molly's apartment to hang out and get dressed.

  As usual, they sat at the sushi bar. Hannah was in the middle, and Molly leaned past her to speak to Taylor. "The drummer just broke up with his girlfriend," she said. Molly was constantly scheming to hook Taylor up with someone. Molly thought the drummer for The Half Nelsons was seriously a good option, but Taylor just laughed and blew it off as if she was joking. "You're gonna change your mind when you see him," Molly said.

  Taylor laughed. "I guess you should make me look good just in case."

  "Auu, Jason and Neek came yestaday," the chef, whose name was Tak, said. Molly knew who he meant by Neek, and her throat instantly tightened at the mention of his name.

  "They told me," Hannah said.

  "Jason toll me to make you try uni."

  "The mustardy looking stuff?" Hannah asked with a skeptical face.

  The chef apparently didn't understand the question because he just smiled and bowed slightly like they do when they have no idea what you're rambling about. Seconds later he held up a black spiky thing with a pool of mustard colored goo in the middle.

  "Uni," Tak said.

  "Is it sea urchin?" Hannah asked, pointing at the spiky thing.

  He understood and nodded wide eyed, looking surprised that she was right.

  She shook her head decisively. "Not for me," she said.

  "I'll try it," Molly said.

  Tak smiled from ear to ear and lifted the urchin toward Molly. "You rike uni?" he asked.

  Molly shrugged. "I might," she said. "You never know unless you try."

  He may or may not have understood her remark, but he smiled really big at Molly before going back to the task of making all the sushi orders that were lined up in front of him and the other guy.

  It took almost thirty minutes for Tak to hand the girls the sushi they ordered. It was all on one big boat. He had set it up on top of the seafood case for them, and when they lowered it, they could see that all the pieces had been arranged in a heart.

  They all three looked up at Tak at the same time, smiling. He had been waiting for their reaction and was smiling proudly when they made eye contact.

  "Happy Varentine's Day!" he said.

  They all thanked him for the kind gesture and he bowed slightly before focusing again on the other orders. A minute later, he put another plate on the top of the seafood case in front of Molly. It was one piece of uni. It hadn't been on the original order, but he remembered Molly saying she wanted to try it.

  She gave him her sweetest smile as she took the questionable piece of food and set it in front of her. She knew enough about sushi from her brother to know that things that were presented like that were meant to be eaten in one bite. She inspected it for a few seconds before carefully putting the whole thing into her mouth. It was a huge bite of food, and she had to turn her head to the side to keep the uni from falling out of the little seaweed and rice container it was sitting in.

  Hannah, Taylor, and Tak watched with curious expressions to see how Molly would react. She tried to make her expression unreadable because, honestly, it wasn't the best thing she'd ever tasted. It was like nothing she'd ever had in her mouth. The taste and texture were both totally foreign to her, and because of that, her initial reaction was to spit it into the nearest napkin. She resisted the urge when she glanced up at sweet Tak, who was smiling expectantly at her. She kept chewing, mixing it with the rice in an effort to make it more palatable. It was the weirdest mix of gritty and gooey, and it took a lot of self-control to make it go down. Chicken, chicken, tastes like chicken. She smiled and nodded at Tak as she swallowed.

  "You rike?"

  "Pretty good," she lied. She knew it was probably a delicacy and she was probably a country bumpkin for not liking it, but good Lord, she'd be happy to never, ever have that in her mouth again. "Thank you," she said, and Tak blinked and bowed at her as he continued to work.

  Molly used a hand to shield her mouth as she whispered, "I almost didn't get that down."

  Hannah giggled as she looked up to make sure Tak couldn’t see. It was a busy night, and he was making sushi a mile a minute, but Molly was still quiet so he didn't overhear.

  "I think I might seriously be buzzed from eating that just now—is that even possible? Maybe I'm about to start trippin'. Maybe that's why people eat it."

  Hannah leaned over and told Taylor what Molly said about it, and they all had a laugh. "Don't feel bad," Taylor whispered, leaning over Hannah to look at Molly. "I don't like it either, and I eat sushi all the time."

  "I'm usually a pretty adventurous eater," Molly said. "I just haven’t reached uni level yet."

  "Me neither," said Taylor.

  Hannah just shook her head. "I thought I was gangsta for eating a California roll," she said.

  The girls ate their sushi for a minute or two in companionable silence before Molly spoke. "Zeke asked me to work the merchandise booth," she said.

  "You mean at the show tonight?" Taylor asked.

  "Yeah, he said they'd have a table set up. I don't think they need me to sit there the whole time or anything, but I told him I'd do it."

  "What are you selling?"

  "CD's, T-shirts, bumper stickers, and other stuff." That reminded her… "Hannah, Zeke said he wanted to talk to you about drawing them something. He mentioned something about wanting you to do a moose on a skateboard, but you'll have to ask him. I wasn't really paying attention."

  "Are you just pretty much not paying attention to Zeke in general?" Hannah's tone was jovial when she asked it, but it was a real question. Molly knew her disinterest was evident, so she didn't bother denying it. "I'm just really busy and so is he. It works out for both of us that we can have lives outside of our relationship."

  "Plus you still have a huge crush on Nick Logan." Hannah was half-joking with the comment, but Molly instantly got defensive.

  The comment was so totally one hundred percent true, that Molly couldn't stop the rush of blood that went to her face. She could feel it traveling up her chest and neck and into her cheeks, and she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was bright red. She was so thankful that they were all sitting at a bar so neither of the other girls was looking directly at her at the moment.

  "I do not," she said. "It has nothing to do with him. I'm just really busy with school and work and everything."

  Hannah seemed surprised by Molly's defensiveness. Molly hadn't even mentioned Nick since she moved to Nashville. The comment Hannah made was just random, but seeing Molly's reaction to it made Hannah curious.

  "Have you seen Nick since you moved here?"

  "No, why?"

  "I was just wondering." Hannah looked at Molly as if she might detonate at any moment. She spoke patiently, and Molly took a silent, deliberate breath, telling herself to relax. "He asks about you all the time."

  "What? Are you serious? Nick? What's he say?"

  Hannah giggled. "Oh shit, Molly. You're seriously in love with Nick. I can't believe I didn't see it."

  "I am not in love with him," Molly said.

  "What if I told you
he was coming tonight?" Hannah asked.

  Molly's face morphed into one of confusion, worry, and maybe a little dazed or dumbstruck. "Is he?" she asked. Her voice was vulnerable, and she knew how obvious her feelings were, but could do nothing to make herself able to fake it.

  "No, he isn't, Molls, but now that I know it's like this, I might call him and tell him to get his ass down there."

  "Oh Hannah, for the love of God, please don't do that. It's not like anything. I just think he's hot or whatever. I'm with Zeke and he's with Daisy. Please don't go stirring the pot."

  "He's not with Daisy and Zeke never makes your face turned red like this."

  Molly put her face in her hands. "Hannah, I'm not stupid. I saw him and Daisy on the cover of one of those gossip magazines the other day."

  "Oh, that little picture on the side—we saw that too. That's what made me ask Jason if Nick was still seeing her. He said they weren't talking anymore as far as he knew and that it must have been an old picture." Molly took in everything Hannah was saying, feeling the oddest sense of happiness at the thought of him not hanging out with Daisy anymore.

  Chapter 20

  Nick had plans to party with his mom on Valentine's Day—although it wasn't as desperate as it sounded. Mary Lou Logan was a Nashville socialite from way back and knew how to throw a party. She and Nick's dad had been divorced for many years, but she hung on to the name Logan since it commanded such respect. She and Leroy still had a really good relationship, and he didn't mind her staying a Logan.

  Anyway, Mary Lou was having a big Valentine's Day shindig and Nick didn't have anything better to do, so he was planning on being there. He invited a few of his friends including Jason and Hannah. Jason said he'd stop by for a while, but Hannah couldn't be there because she had plans. Nick thought it was peculiar that Hannah would have plans with someone besides Jason on Valentine's Day, but he didn't ask.

  He was afraid it'd have something to do with Molly. He tried not to ask or even think about Molly. It had been way too long since he'd seen or talked to her, and the feeling of emptiness that he hoped would close in on itself and go away, only felt more noticeable. He overheard a few of Hannah and Jason's conversations and knew she was doing really well in school and already had a job at a salon. He remembered offering to give her the name of someone who could probably give her a job and was somewhat wounded that she hadn't called for his help.

  She hadn't called at all.

  Sleeping with that girl was the stupidest thing Nick had ever done because now he couldn't get her out of his head. He knew she was seeing someone else, and even if she wasn't, she probably didn't want to speak to him again. He hated not getting what he wanted, and Molly's absence in his life was like a thorn in his side. It seemed like he wanted her more as time went on instead of less, and he didn't really know what to make of that.

  He had his choice of women who were willing, and he wasn't the type to beg, so the thought of being desperate enough to try to convince Molly to break up with her boyfriend and go out with him against her will wasn't really an option.

  Did we already establish that Nick hated not getting what he wanted? He did. He stayed busy and wasn't obsessed or anything, but not having her nagged at him, and he hoped against hope that he'd be able to turn it around and forget about her like he intended.

  "What are you doing here so early?" Nick asked when he caught sight of Jason coming into the big, basement family room at his mom's house. It was only 7:30 and the party had only been going for thirty minutes.

  "I'm meeting Hannah and them at a bar later on so I wanted to come by early. I think your mom invited a few people I never see on Music Row and I wanted to make sure I ran into a few of them."

  "Jason, you've had three huge hits in the last year. You don't need to schedule chance meetings. You can call anyone you want in this town and they'd clear their calendar."

  Jason laughed. "I don't know about all that."

  "Where are you going later?"

  "Midnight Inn."

  "I heard they had some good stuff going on there," Nick said. His expression turned curious. "Who's playing?"

  Jason gave a little shrug. "I don't really know them, I think they're sort of heavy. They're called The Half Nelsons. It's Molly's boyfriend's band."

  Nick's jaw and fists clinched. Also, he found that he was forgetting to breathe and had to think about it for a minute to get his lungs up and running again. He had the distinct feeling that he wanted to accompany Jason to the Midnight Inn and beat the ever-loving shit out of Mr. Nelson.

  "What time's that?" he asked. He was seriously considering issuing a face pounding when he reminded himself that Molly was right where she wanted to be (even if it was stupid).

  "I think it starts at ten-thirty or eleven. Hannah said she'd text me to let me know for sure."

  There had been a few other times recently when he knew Molly was going to be somewhere and could have run into her. All of those other times he chose to avoid her, but tonight he was really tempted.

  Just then, Mary Lou came to ask a favor of Nick. Jason greeted her with a hug, but said he was glad to let her have Nick since he saw someone across the room he needed to catch up with anyway. Jason and Nick were separated for a while after that, and Nick wasn't around when Jason took a call from Hannah. Jason missed her call by only a few seconds, so right away he found a quiet corner where he could call her back.

  "Hey," she said when she picked up, "I wanted to see if Nick was coming with you tonight."

  "I don't think so," Jason said. "He's doing this thing with his mom. They have a lot of people over here. Why?"

  "Don't tell him this, but I think Molly's smitten and I just wanted to see if sparks would fly tonight if Nick showed up."

  "Are you with Molly right now?"

  "We just got done eating sushi. Taylor and I are at her apartment getting ready for the show. Molly's doing Taylor's hair so I'm running to the gas station to get gas and gum."

  "Why are you asking me to bring Nick? I thought it was that dude's show?"

  "It is his show, but Molly doesn't even like him. I don’t even know why she's with him. I just thought it'd be cool to see what happens if we invite Nick. You never know. It is Valentine's Day."

  "You just want to see a fight."

  Hannah laughed. "I just want to see if they'd notice each other. She asked me if he was still seeing Daisy. I told her no. He isn't, is he?"

  "No," Jason said. "I don't know what he's doing. I think he's working a lot."

  "I think you should bring him."

  "I'll see," Jason said. "What are you wearing?"

  Hannah laughed. She knew how the evening was going to end when Jason asked what she was wearing. She experienced a round of butterflies in the tummy at the thought.

  "I'm not telling."

  He breathed a laugh. "You're gonna be in trouble for that."

  "I hope so."

  Jason was suddenly wishing the evening away so he could get home and get his girl in bed. "I'll see you in a little bit," he said.

  "Don't forget to bring Nick."

  "I'll try. He's helping his mom out so I doubt it."

  "Okay. I love you."

  "I love you too."

  If they were in person, Jason would have answered her I love you with I know, but over the phone, they always said the real thing. Jason talked to several other people before he saw Nick again, so it almost slipped his mind to invite Nick to the show like Hannah asked him to. They'd been talking for a few minutes before Jason finally remembered to bring it up.

  "Hey, Hannah mentioned bringing you along tonight if you wanna come."

  Nick coughed a laugh. "To see that guy's band play?" he asked. "Why'd Hannah say that?"

  Jason shrugged. "I know. I don't get it either. She said something about her friend wanting to see you, but it's the same girl who's boyfriend—"

  "She said Molly wants to see me?" Nick asked. He stared at Jason as if the answer to that were
a matter of national security.

  "Yeah, she said Molly wants to see you. She said she thought she liked you or whatever."

  "What's that mean? She's still dating that guy, right?"

  "Yeah, but Hannah said she didn't care about him or something." Jason let out a macho sounding groan at the fact that he was being asked to give details like that. "Just call her if you want to know more."

  "Who? Hannah? Molly?"

  "Whoever. I don't really know what they're thinking. Hannah just told me to ask you to come because she thought Molly liked you or something."

  Nick groaned back at Jason for not giving up more details. Jason was right, though. If he wanted more details, he'd just have to call.

  He took his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. He couldn't decide who to contact, Hannah or Molly. He thought it about it for several seconds before choosing to go with Hannah.

  It wasn't a crazy party by any stretch of the imagination, but there were a lot of people, and the murmur from the crowd made him decide to text her rather than call. He found a spot where he could space out on his phone for a few minutes, and sat there thinking about what he could say to Hannah.

  Nick: "Jason said you thought I should come by that bar tonight."

  He heard back from her within seconds.

  Hannah: "Hey Nick! I'd love it if you could make it out tonight. We're about to head over there in a little bit. Please come with Jay."

  Nick: "Why?"

  Hannah: "Just cause I wanna see you."

  She added an emoji of a blushing smiley face.

  Nick: "I thought Molly wanted to see me."

  Hannah: "Did Jason tell you that? Imma kill him."

  Nick: "Does she want to see me?"

  Hannah: "Yes."

  Nick: "You're sure?"

  Hannah: "YES!"

  She added a few heart emojis on the end of that one—three or four of them, all in different colors. Nick didn't text her back. He had a lot to think about before he went to that bar to get his girl.