by Thomas, Anne
Harrison shot him a sharp look, then slumped back in to the sofa and nodded. "Whatever."
"Wait...so you're really...really going to do this?"
"Probably. Not right away. I think I want to make sure that...you know...I'm not going through manly PMS or something, you know? Just being super emotional and over thinking things. I'll give it a bit, not let anyone know there's even a question in my mind about my relationship with Molly and Candice. I'll ignore things and see after a week or two how my thoughts stack up. I guess I'll go from there."
"Sounds good." Joe agreed. "But I got to go. I still have a life, you know." With that, he stood up, grabbed his coat and walked out the door, flashing a wry grin over his shoulder at Harrison as he went.
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"Okay, I'm starting to get really creeped out now." Marty whispered.
Molly laughed. "So it's not just me?"
"Hell no."
Their gaze landed on Harrison, who was staring at Molly in another world like gaze.
"Could it be possible that you put on perfume that smells like delicious steak or something? Because that's how he's looking at you, girl. Like he's a starving, pitiful dog that hasn't eaten in a few months." Marty commented.
Molly laughed. "Shush, he is not. Besides, he's probably just in a daydream and thinking of Candy Grey...or food. The boy does have a big appetite."
"That he does, but I don't think it's for food."
"Do you remember that this is Harrison we're talking about? Harry. The man who's dating exmodel slash cheerleading captain."
"The Harrison that you're in love with too."
Molly's eyes widened as she looked at Marty. "You have to stop saying that!"
Marty gave her a grin that said she knew a secret, then walked over to Joe. "What's up with your friend today?"
Joe flashed her the same smile she had to Molly. "I can't imagine what. But I sense something's going down that neither of them wants us to know about."
"No. They don't want each other to know. They don't want themselves to know! Those two are insane they'd rather battle than have peace."
Joe smirked. "That's true. But these things can never be ignored. Either there's going to be one hell of a fallout or they're not going to be around us much longer."
Marty wrinkled her nose. "I didn't think about that part. Once they're together they'll want to be together all the time."
"Making those stupid lovely faces."
"Hanging all over each other."
"Spending all their time at each other's places."
"Cuddling up on sofas and acting all cute."
"Going on dates by themselves."
Marty groaned. "That's going to suck. Yet it still beats out the alternative."
The two looked at Molly, who was leading the pack, and Harrison who was behind her a few paces. Molly's stance looked like she was readying to enter the military, her shoulders strictly back, her eyes glued to what's in front of her, silence alluding her.
Harrison's eyes were only for Molly, on the other hand. He looked almost disgusted with himself, but that didn't mean he stopped drooling. It was a toss up on which way this would go, but neither of the two friends had a good feeling about it.
"It'll be an interesting ride if nothing else." Joe ventured.
Marty agreed as she continued to survey the ones in front of her.
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Harrison rushed in front of Molly and opened the restaurant door for her. She flashed him a surprise glance, not used to him ever going out of his way for anyone, then went inside. Her look was more shocked when he pulled out a chair for her. Handed her the menu that was just out of her reach before she even asked. Arranged the salt and pepper shakers so that they could both reach them. And he didn't look over at Joe once.
Molly nearly had chills from such an experience. Either somebody had replaced Harrison with someone she definitely did not know, or he must be terribly sick. He was never one for courtesy in all the twenty five years she'd been around to know him. She glanced over at Marty, but she still had that stupid look on her face that told her she knew everything that was going on. Joe carried a similar one. Did Joe know she had...new feelings for Harrison too? Had Marty told or was it that obvious? If it was...did Harrison know? Could that be what was infecting him?
But no, that was quite impossible. Harrison wouldn't take such knowledge so nicely. He'd more likely be enraged. He had a girlfriend, a good life, and everything was great when they were just friends. Why would he see the good side to advancing their relationship? Why would he when she herself could barely see it?
Yet all the thinking was starting to cause her a headache. Taking a gulp of water, she stared back at Harrison angrily. Why was he still gazing at her that way? Perhaps he was just trying to understand why she was acting a little off. If she could, why couldn't he? Usually he could sense when she was feeling strange, maybe this was one of those times and that's why he was being so nice and gentle towards her.
The waitress came and awaited their orders. Harrison always had to order first it's how it had been forever. He always got his in first.
"Molly, go ahead." He said instead.
That triggered something inside, making a glow of fury start in her chest. What was going on? What was with the alternate universe symptoms? Besides that, she couldn't order she hadn't even started to look over food options.
"What is going on with you?" She said instead of complying.
He looked taken aback. "What do you mean, Molly? I just said you could order is all." His voice was soft. Caring. What the hell?
"Why are you acting so weird today? You're being...not you. It's freaking me out."
The waitress looked as confused as Harrison. "Um...maybe I should come back in a few minutes?"
Joe waved her over to his side of the table so he and Marty could order until the others were ready.
"So I act a little nice and this is how you repay me? Really Molly!"
She shook her head. "You're always predictable. That's how I get through life with you. But you're off my radar today and it's making me really uncomfortable."
"So you have to have tactics to get through life with me? You can't just be my friend? Where's that coming from?"
Her insides seemed all twisted up. Her thoughts were scattered and unable to read. Whatever was coming from her mouth was not coming from her brain. The two seemed disconnected as her head started to throb. She squinted at him, trying to make sense of it all. "Is there something going on, Harry?" She finally asked.
"Yeah, we're trying to order here, what do you think?" He snapped. No more Mister Nice Guy, she had broken through that. But now he seemed pissed.
Her world was tilting off her axis anyway and she was hardly hungry. Instead of ordering, she stood up and walked towards the door without a word.
"Molly, come back. I'm sorry I snapped at you." Harrison said, running after her and grabbing her upper arm.
"You never apologize for yelling at me." She commented, staring at his hand.
"You never walk out on me without yelling back."
Their hard gazes were fixed on each other. Until Harrison's went lower, to rest on her lips. Suddenly images of his dream started to invade his brain and took up every thought he had. It seemed to take over him and he couldn't break free. But hell, he wasn't quite sure he wanted to break free anyway.
Then sanity started to creep back in when Molly's eyes widened when he had stopped all speech. Had she been talking?
She couldn't know about his feelings. It would ruin everything. With the way she was, she'd probably hate him for it. She wasn't a fan of dating or love and heaven knows how scared of relationships she is if it's serious. And he planned to make it serious if it was going to be born.
She was finally starting to get out there and take hold of his life. Without a doubt she'd think
he was a nuisance and only getting in her way from reaching what she wanted. And he would be he'd want all her attention all the time for a good long time.
A relationship with Molly would never work out. It just wouldn't. They were too different and too the same. Too many things were wrong to ever try to make something glorious and beautiful out of it. And hell if he'd be the one caught in the cross fire with only his heart standing in wait to be killed. No, if she didn't want his love, he wouldn't give it to her.
He'd recline all of it. He'd let go what he was harboring. He'd go back to the way things were. After all, no lines had been crossed. Nothing revealed. Everything was still in its early conceiving stages. It could still be ended. It wasn't too late to put a stop to what would surely be a disaster that would end up ruining twenty-five years of good times.
"You know what, you're right." He finally said, his voice coming out strong and unfaltering. Surely that meant he was doing the right thing with aborting his mission? "I was acting weird. I haven't been sleeping well again. Whatever, I'm sorry. And...and I forgot I'm supposed to be meeting Candice right about now."
The ending wasn't a lie. He was supposed to pick her up and take her out to eat. They had arranged it two weeks ago, but in his haze of dreaming about Molly, he had overlooked it. "I'll see you later." He finalized, then turned and walked down the sidewalk to hurry a few blocks away to home to get his truck. Candice, a willing woman who actually did want him, was awaiting his arrival.
Inside the restaurant, Joe and Marty backed away from the big window and scurried to their seats.
"Predictable." Joe was the first to say. "I knew they'd choose option B."
Marty nodded. "Prepare for long battles and sleepless nights from those two. They're going to fight this thing out until there's no emotions left in them."
Joe looked at her in worry. "You think they'll hurt their friendship over this?"
She shrugged. "I guess only time will tell."
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Marty stood in front of the tv, staring in interest to her friend that was slumped on the sofa. Her arms were crossed tightly, bound to get some answers and to the bottom of this.
"Why'd you blow up on Harrison, Molly? He was just being nice. Why'd you need to fight him on it?"
Molly sighed, looking away to avoid eye contact. "I don't know." She whispered softly.
"You're upset that you did so. Upset that Harrison is mad at you."
"He's not mad at me. He's...he's acting weird. It's that false niceness. He's annoyed with me. He's distancing himself." Molly looked up to her friend. "I think he's...he's trying to stay away from me."
"But that wasn't like that before. Just since you got angry for him being nice to you. He was sweet and you got freaked. Why did you? Why didn't you let him be sweet to you?"
Tears welled in Molly's eyes and swallowing became difficult to her. "Because...because..." She sniffled and Marty handed her a tissue. "I'm scared, alright? I'm scared. I don't want him to be sweet to me because I really will fall for him. And I really don't want to. It'll mess everything up. It's better if the whole thing is forgotten but if he acts that way with me like this...I won't be able to cleanse myself of everything. I just need some time to myself."
"So you're distancing yourself from Harrison?"
Molly nodded before she realized what she had to just agreed to. She stared at Marty in horror. "I'm the killer of the friendship not him! Oh God Marty...I'm the one to blame!
Harrison is probably just being ignored by me and I didn't even realize it! God, I'm so stupid!"
Marty sat beside her friend and wrapped her arms around her. "This is why I don't do the emotional stuff." She teased, then grew serious. "You're not stupid. You're not a friendshipkiller. You're just afraid and confused. It's a bad time for you and maybe it is for Harrison too. But you'll both get through this. The clouds shall clear and things shall make sense once again. Just wait it out. After twenty-five years, nothing is going to separate the two of you. Especially not a little scuffle. Just you wait and see. It'll all be fine."
Marty looked to the ceiling and wondered how Joe was going with his speech.
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Harrison was pacing back and forth in front of Joe, who was sprawled lazily over the black sofa. "Look, I don't have all night. If you're going to talk and get this out, then do so before I fall asleep from boredom." Joe said, breaking the silence.
Harrison lifted his head with a grunt, as if only acknowledging his friend's presence for the first time. "I'm busy." He growled, not stopping in his fast walk.
"Yes, I see that. Busy wearing out your carpet. Why don't you chill a minute and tell me what has you so worked up?"
"You know what. It's the same thing every damn time. The same thing that drives me out of my mind. That thing."
"Thing...or person?" Joe said gently. He knew that the man before him was ready to break any second.
"Molly! My God, it's Molly! I swear I shall go insane soon enough, courtesy of her! She drives me up the wall and I don't think I can take this much longer!" Harrison met Josiah's eyes. "I have to break up with her."
Joe looked back in horror. "Break your relationship with Molly?"
Harrison was taken aback. "What? No, no no no. Break it off with Candice."
Joe scratched his head and made a confused face. "How the hell does that have anything to do with going crazy over Molly?"
"Because...well...okay, I'm not sure. But whenever I think about Molly getting me aggravated, my thoughts jump to breaking up with Candice."
"Yes...that's the part I'm having trouble with. Why?"
Harrison shrugged. "Don't know. But I really I got to do it, Molly or no Molly. It doesn't matter whether I can tell Molly of my...strong feelings...or not. It matters that I'm dragging along with me this woman who I really don't love. That I'll never love her."
"...Because you'll always love Molly?"
Harrison rolled his eyes. "No, not because of that. Candice is great but she's not the one. I knew she wasn't from the beginning. She was just...I don't know. Kind of fun to be with. But now she's just weight on my mind. And with all that's going on with Molly, I can't handle it. One woman is too much for me. Thinking on two is overload."
"So when are you going to do this?"
Harrison stood up with determination. "Now."
Joe's eyes bulged, looking down at his watch. "It's nearly midnight!"
"Which is even more reason to get it over with. I won't be able to sleep a moment until this is finally over with."
Harrison marched out of the apartment with a sure stride, leaving Joe in an empty room, debating whether he should sneak down to Molly's place to see how Marty had done.
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Joe watched his nervous friend from the passenger seat of the rusty truck. "So...you're sure about this whole thing?" He said, breaking the silence for the first time in well over a half hour.
Harrison, who was staring straight ahead of him, nodded slightly.
"And you do know that though you break up with this great girl, there's no guarantee that you'll get Molly?"
He nodded again.
"Okay...so then why have we been parked here for the better part of twenty minutes?"
Harrison looked over at him, wiping sweaty palms on his jeans. "Because this isn't exactly my favorite past time. Sure do hate when they cry..."
Joe looked interested. "You know, if you need backup, I'm right beside you." He said, patting his shoulder. "Though I won't be on your side. You're a horrible monster and the girl is innocent and sure she can cry on my shoulder. I'll even take her out to eat some comfort food and nurse her back to normal."
Harrison rolled his eyes and opened his door. "Thanks but no thanks, bud. I do this on my own or not at all. But a very generous offer anyway."
/>
"I just hope you don't use that kind of sarcastic on the lovely lady. Unless it'll make her cry more...then go right ahead."
Harrison shut the door and started to walk towards the back of the school, where Candice would be setting up her equipment for the cheerleading meeting later on.
"Well...there goes one brave man or the most foolish one I've ever known." Joe said, sliding over to the driver's side and heading to his own job.
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"What? You're...you're..." Candice's voice was full of exasperation as she stared in shock. "Are you serious?"
Harrison nodded. "Afraid so. I'm really sorry, Candice, I am. It just...it wouldn't be fair to you to keep dragging you along when I know this could only end badly."
"How do you know? What happened? Is there..." Her eyes widened. "It's another woman, isn't it? You're in love with someone else!"
He shook his head. "No, it's not that"
"Yes it is! I can see it in your eyes! You're not really sorry for dumping me you've already moved on to someone else! Who is it?"
"Candice...it doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with you. It's all me."
She put her palm against her forehead. "God, you said those words...we really are over! But I won't take this stupid dumping! You come at..." She checked her watch. "Five thirty-two in the morning to the place where I work...in a muddy football field to say you're ending it! No nice dinner or at least a place I could run away from you for the day. You have to do it here! Where I must be all day! If I have to do that, I want to know who I'm being dumped for!"
Harrison swallowed hard. "It doesn't matter..."
"I'll find out, you know. I will. If you don't tell me, I'll find a way. It'll only be easier if you tell me up front."
He squeezed his eyes shut. "Candice..."
"A name!"
"Molly Radcliffe."
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Molly was searching desperately for another piece of white chalk. She was only through writing half of the assignment on the board when her last one broke in two, making the pieces unusable short stubbles. Just as she was rejoicing in finding a whole box of chalk, the classroom door flung open in the wake of a woman with tears running down her red, puffy face. Candice looked beyond distraught and terrible, making Molly immediately take pity upon her.