A Few Little Scars

by Casey McMillin

  "So was she right?" he asked.

  "What? Who?"

  "Hannah. Was she right when she said I'd be received?"

  Molly glanced back at him for a split second before turning to face the stage again. "Did Hannah tell you to come here?" she asked.

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, making her more breathless than before, if that was even possible.

  "I wanted to come here. Hannah told me I'd be received if I did." He paused. "Was she right?"

  Molly didn't answer right away. She leaned against him, relaxing into his embrace.

  "Was she right?" he asked again.

  "Yes," she breathed.

  He had been talking near her ear the whole time, but he moved so that his mouth was right on top of it. She could feel him breathing.

  "I think about you all the time," he said.

  Her eyes stung with the pain of unshed tears, but she willed herself to hold them back. She wondered for a second if it would be okay to tell him she felt the same thing.

  "Me too. I don't even like my boyfriend," she said. She almost said more, but clamped her mouth shut before she could. She felt the vibration in his chest and knew he was laughing. "It's true," she said. "I haven't been right since…" She paused, thinking back to the first night she met Nick at The Pit. She remembered that first kiss in the dark hallway and realized she hadn't been right since way back then.

  "Molly, I'm not just talking about having sex with you. I want more than that." He reached up and used a finger to push her hair behind her shoulder. "Are you gonna be able to give me what I want?"

  Now this was crossing the line into fantasyland. Molly couldn't wrap her head around what was going on. She couldn't have planned a more desirable dialogue if she would have tried, and the perfectness of the situation had her doubting everything.

  She had to investigate.

  She turned to look at him. He looked down at her with a smile. It was really Nick—standing there staring at her as if his statement about wanting to be with her wasn't a total mistake.

  He was so beautiful that nervousness almost overtook her. "Nick, what are you doing here?" she asked.

  His expression turned serious. "I'm here for you."

  She returned the serious expression—only hers was tinged with the hint of a smile. "So, we're just supposed to ride off into the sunset, or what?"

  "I thought so," he said. "Too easy?"

  She took a second to think before she spoke. "It might be slightly messier than that considering I'm supposed to be here with him." She gestured to the stage. Zeke was looking in their general direction, but Molly was almost certain he couldn't see them with the way the stage lights were shining.

  They were both silent for a minute before Nick spoke again. "Leave with me. Let's lock ourselves in my apartment for the rest of the weekend."

  She so desperately wanted to say yes. Instead, she let out a disappointed sigh. "I can't," she said. "I have to take care of all this tonight, and I have school tomorrow anyway."

  "Tomorrow's Saturday," Nick said.

  "It's our busiest day," she said.

  "What happens if you miss?" he asked.

  "Nothing, you just have to make up the hours before you graduate."

  "Do you have to work on Sunday too?" Nick asked.

  "No."

  "Then just skip tomorrow and spend the weekend with me."

  "I would love to, you have no idea how tempted I am, but I've got some bridesmaids coming in the morning. I've already had a consultation with them, and couldn't stand them up. Not to mention, I should really try to do the right thing and deal with ending this situation." She glanced regretfully at the stage then back at Nick. "Hopefully there'll be some sleep in between the two, but probably not given the circumstances."

  Nick smiled in spite of the fact that it pained him to think about leaving there without her. "What time are you done at school?"

  "Four."

  "Seriously? How many bridesmaids are there?"

  "School closes at four. I'll be done with the wedding party at noon, though."

  "Text me the address to your school and I'll be there to pick you up at noon. You can leave early, can't you?"

  She gave him a defiant glare. "What if I say no?"

  He smiled confidently. "You won't."

  "You're right."

  He still had his hand on her waist, and he pulled her in, squeezing her tightly. He felt like he never wanted to let her go.

  "So what's next?" she asked.

  "I'm leaving. This band sucks." His mouth lifted at one corner just slightly before returning to its neutral position. "It's not my ideal scenario, but I think it's only fair that I let you finish what you need to do here, and do your wedding hair in the morning." He held her securely against him, and she breathed a sigh of contentment. "Don't forget to text me the address," he added. "I'll see you at noon tomorrow, and make sure your calendar's clear for Sunday too."

  He leaned in and put a swift kiss on her cheek before turning to leave. She watched as he walked away, marveling at his confidence. He was just walking away like he had no doubt she'd break up with Zeke and be waiting with bells on the next day at noon.

  He was correct in assuming she'd do that. That was exactly her plan. She watched him the whole way to the door. He was a gorgeous creature to look at, even from behind—or maybe especially from behind. His hair was longer than she'd ever seen it. She was reasonably sure he hadn't had it cut since the last time she saw him, which had been a while. The longer style looked good on him, and she admired his hair and gorgeousness in general until she could no longer see him.

  Nick never looked back in her direction, and once he was gone, she felt like a timer started. It would go off the next day at noon, and suddenly she wished she'd left with him instead of making them wait. I could have just gone with him. I could have said screw Zeke and this no-selling merchandise and screw the bridesmaids too. I should have just gone with him. Why the hell didn’t I just go with him?

  "Jason said he thought he saw Nick over here talking to you," Hannah said. She'd seemingly come out of nowhere, and Molly turned quickly.

  "No, Nick?" Molly was making a confused face as part of her instinctual lie. She caught herself and realized she had no idea why she was lying—other than the fact that she didn't quite believe the whole fairytale thing with Nick would play out the way she hoped. She sighed. "He was here, but just for a second."

  Hannah's eyebrows narrowed. "Where'd he go?"

  "Home I think," Molly said.

  She wasn't offering anymore so Hannah threw her hands up, desperate for more of the scoop.

  "What'd he say?"

  "He said he likes me."

  Hannah's eyes got round "He did?"

  "Yeah."

  "What'd you say?"

  "I said I like him back."

  "You did?"

  "Well, then why'd he take off?"

  "Because I've got to finish this up tonight and then I have a wedding party coming in tomorrow morning at school."

  "What do you have to finish tonight?"

  "I just need to take a second to think about everything and end things with Zeke instead of disappearing."

  "You're breaking up with Zeke?" Hannah asked.

  Molly looked at her like that should be obvious.

  "Are you doing that so you can be with Nick?"

  Molly nodded, but it was slightly stiff since she didn't quite believe it herself.

  "I think he's crazy about you," Hannah said. "I talked to Jason about it, and he said the same thing—he said he could tell Nick was catching feelings for someone, but didn't know it was you. I don't want to see you hurt, so I wouldn’t tell you to go for it if I didn't think he was serious."

  Molly smiled, thinking about Nick catching feelings. She was about to joke about it when Hannah's gaze shifted to whoever was approaching from behind Molly's shoulder.

  "Was it Nick?" Jason asked walking up to join
the conversation. His question was directed toward Hannah, who nodded. "I told you he was coming," he said. He came around, regarding Molly with a question in his expression. "Where'd he go?"

  "He left."

  Jason looked confused.

  "I'm sort of here with…" Molly pointed at the stage. Zeke was talking in between songs. The crowd was still really into the show even though not a single one of them had bought a thing.

  "So what? He just left?" Jason knew Nick better than anyone, and Nick wasn’t the type to just give up and walk out.

  "He was gracious enough to let me take care of everything I needed to do with Zeke. Plus, I have a group coming in tomorrow—" Molly trailed off, not really wanting to explain the whole wedding party thing again. She looked back and forth between Jason and Hannah. "It's still a little hard for me to believe, but I'm almost sure I'm breaking up with Zeke tonight with the intention to hook up with Nick on a more than sex basis."

  At the exact same time, smiles spread across Jason and Hannah's faces, which, in turn, made one spread across Molly's face.

  "I told you," Hannah said, looking at Jason, and pushing at his chest. "I told you to tell him to come tonight. I knew sparks would fly."

  Molly smiled to herself thinking about the electric feeling Nick gave her. Sparks flying was accurate for sure. She decided to talk to Zeke before they left the Midnight Inn that night. She saw no reason to prolong it, and hoped the success of the evening would soften the blow. She wound up selling two-hundred-dollars worth of stuff after they were done playing, and knew Zeke would be happy with that too.

  Sometimes things are best treated like a band-aid and ripped off quickly. Molly felt she should end things with Zeke in a quick, non-dramatic fashion, and that's exactly what she did. She told Hannah and Taylor that she'd just be a few minutes and asked them to wait outside.

  "Hey, you guys sounded amazing," she said when Zeke made his way around the table she'd been standing behind all night.

  "Thanks," he said. He reached out to grab her, but she moved, evading his touch.

  "Hey, I sold a bunch of stuff when y'all finished playing," she said. She smiled, but it was forced.

  "That's awesome," he said. "Thanks for staying back here."

  "You're welcome. You guys sounded amazing."

  He smiled. "You already said that."

  Her smile became a neutral expression before she said the next thing. "I need to break up." She hadn't meant to phrase it like that or say it so quickly, but there it was, hanging in the air in front of them.

  Zeke stared at her for a few long seconds without saying a word. "Are you being fucking serious right now Molly?"

  She cringed at the harshness of his tone.

  "I'm sorry."

  He gave her a disgusted look. "You're so weird. Are you seriously just walking up to me after a show and saying you need to break up? And on Valentine's Day no less."

  She got defensive when he said the word weird, and was looking agitated by the time he finished what he was saying.

  "I'm sorry," she said.

  They stared at each other for an awkward amount of time.

  "What do you want me to say?" he asked. "I know it wasn't perfect, but I thought everything was okay." He stopped himself from saying anymore, and looked away from her as if he couldn't stand the sight of her any longer.

  Suddenly she felt stupid for sticking around to break up in person. She wished she'd just left with Nick and sent Zeke a break up text from the getaway car.

  "I guess I just wanted to try to do the right thing and talk to you in person," she said. "I think you're a great guy—"

  "Just not the guy for you?" he asked sarcastically.

  Molly breathed a frustrated huff. "It's not like this is out of nowhere, Zeke. We barely ever see each other."

  "That's all you," he said. "You're the one who's keeping her distance."

  Molly knew he was right. She gave him a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry Zeke I really am."

  He looked around as if this had to be some big practical joke, and then made eye contact with her, shaking his head. "Whatever," he said, throwing his hands up.

  "For what it's worth, I'm really happy for you that the gig went great tonight. You deserve it."

  His face broke into a patient half-smile. "Thanks," he said.

  Molly looked down shyly before turning for the door. "Bye Zeke," she said.

  "Bye Molly."

  Just then, one of his band mates walked up and tried to ask Molly how she'd done at the merchandise table. She heard Zeke say something to stop him then she glanced back to wave regretfully in the general direction of Zeke and the other guy as she made her way out of the club.

  Chapter 23

  Hannah dropped Molly off at her apartment after the gig that night. She dropped Taylor off too, but Taylor just stayed long enough to pick up her car. The girls said goodbyes in the parking lot and Molly went in to a quiet apartment.

  Her brother was in his room sleeping. He wanted to make it out to the show that evening, but recently took a part-time job doing landscaping and had just come off a day of long hours and heavy lifting. Part of her was glad for the quiet apartment, while the other part of her wished her brother were awake so she didn't have to be alone.

  What a weird night. She never liked confrontation, so the breakup with Zeke weighed on her in spite of it not being much of a relationship in the first place. She just hated feeling like she let anyone down, and was left feeling yucky. That was just a teeny tiny piece of her thoughts, though. For the most part, she was able to keep the regretful feelings about Zeke tucked away in a manageable corner of her mind so that she could concentrate on the really important part.

  Nick.

  Nick Logan liked her. Did he? She relived every second of their conversation, hoping she hadn't misunderstood. After giving it some serious thought she felt like the chances were pretty good that he would show up the next day.

  At one point before she went to bed, she daydreamed about getting a text from Nick. The hypothetical text sounded like this:

  Nick: "Hey Molly, I just wanted to confirm that I wanted you to be my one and only and I will be picking you up for this appointment at noon tomorrow. You're beautiful and amazing. Signed, Your true love."

  Molly smiled at herself for wishing such a text existed.

  It took her forever to go to sleep that night, so when her alarm went off at 7AM the next morning she felt more dead than alive. She had to be at school at eight, and she couldn't sleep till the last minute since Nick was theoretically meeting her there before she had time to go home, and she needed to put some effort into getting dressed.

  Molly thought about Nick all morning at school while she was styling hair like a madwoman. The wedding party came in right when she got there at eight, and she worked on the bridesmaids non-stop before they left at just after eleven. Her hands and forearms were sticky with hairspray, and she washed them and made her way into the student lounge once the clients were gone. Molly had given the front desk a heads up that she would be leaving early, but hadn't yet mentioned it to anyone else.

  She'd become close with quite a few people at school, and was happy to see two of her favorite friends when she walked through the door of the student break room.

  "I have a color coming in thirty minutes," her friend Emma was saying to Nick.

  Yes, there was another Nick—only this one was one of the most flamboyant gay guys she'd ever met. He was probably one of the gayest guys on the face of the earth. He was so flaming gay that when someone would ask him if he was gay, he'd laugh at them to their face. Nick Billings was the exact opposite of Nick Logan in so many ways, that Molly barely even noticed their names were the same.

  "That wedding party looked fabulous," Nick said, looking at Molly.

  See right there? You'd never catch a straight guy saying the word fabulous.

  "Thanks," she said. She collapsed onto one of the uncomfortable, vinyl couches that lined the walls i
n the lounge. She had been standing for over three hours without even so much as a restroom break. She made a cup of coffee for the road and grabbed one of her brother's protein bars on her way out of the apartment that morning, but she was exhausted from the busy morning and lack of sleep. She was still too excited to go very long without smiling, though.

  "How'd they tip?" Nick asked, picking up on the smile.

  "Twenty bucks," Molly said. That was a big deal since most people who got their hair done at a beauty school didn't tip very well.

  "You go girl," Nick said. "I only got two dollars from my girl and I put two rounds of foils in to get it as light as she wanted."

  "I need to watch you do color sometime," Molly said.

  "Have you done any on the floor?" Nick asked.

  "I'm not cleared to take color clients yet," Molly said. "Just cuts and up-do's, and as of next week I'll be able to wax."

  "I have another color coming in at one o'clock if you want to come by my station," Nick said.

  "I have one in just a little bit too," said Emma. "I've seen you in class, though. You're a natural. You're gonna be fine."

  Molly gave them both a smile before resting her head on the plastic couch and closing her eyes. "Thanks for offering, but I can't watch you guys today."

  "Busy afternoon?" Nick asked, thinking she was already booked.

  "Not exactly. I think I might be leaving at noon."

  Nick looked at his phone, which said 11:13AM. "What do you mean you think?"

  "I'm supposed to be picked up by Prince Charming at noon, but I'm not sure if it's seriously happening. I was a little lit when he said he'd come up here, and I haven’t had much sleep, so I'm starting to feel like maybe I made the whole thing up." Molly smiled sleepily.

  Nick stood up and crossed the room, turning off the lights. They were the only three back there at the time and neither Molly nor Emma protested. There were a few windows, so it wasn't completely dark—there was just the absence of fluorescent lighting, which was wonderful for Molly.

  "I am a firm believer in the catnap, girlfriend," Nick said. He handed Molly a plastic-covered pillow from one of the other couches. "I'll wake you up in thirty minutes and we can do a ten minute mini makeover in case Prince Charming shows up."