The Gravity of Love

by Thomas, Anne

  "Oh Lord, Candice what happened?"

  "Your...your...your friend..." She was having a hard time breathing and spitting out the words. "Broke up with me!"

  The fresh, new piece of chalk fell out of Molly's hand and broke in three short stubbles on the floor, but it went unnoticed. "Harry broke up with you? When? Why? I thought everything was going so well with the two of you!" She said, wrapping her arms around the sobbing form.

  "I thought...thought so too! It was so out of the blue...I don't know what happened! What did I do wrong? Oh God, I can't believe I lost him already! Tell me Molly, in all honesty, did he say anything to you? Did he say where I displeased him?"

  Molly wrinkled her nose, her eyes turning red. "Displease him? Good God Candice, if you have to act like a slave and wonder where you displeased your master in fear of severe punishment, then you shouldn't be with him anyway! Harrison is always like that with his girlfriends I really don't know why anyone dates him not to slant you in anyway, but really!"

  Candice sniffled, patting her nose with a tissue. "I don't understand it either. He's such a deceiver! He's sweet and nice and promises you amazing things and then he just gets tired of you and decides to move on! Anyone who ever agrees to date him is a damn fool! He's not capable of love!"

  The school bell rang, making Candice gasp and quickly wipe away her tears. "I'm so sorry for burdening you with all this, Molly! You've been so wonderful to me."

  Molly shook her head. "No, you've been through a lot. I'm really sorry my stupid friend treated you like this. I apologize for him."

  Candice nodded, moving towards the door. "Thank you, you're so good. But I must wash my face and get fixed up before classes begin. But Molly...just remember that you're too good for that man. Don't let him take advantage of you and never be fool enough to date him. Ever. He'll only rip you to shreds."

  Molly nodded watching as Candice left the room. She turned her back and went to finish writing up the day's lesson in her fury towards Harrison, never seeing Candice ditch her tissue and put on a devilish grin.

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  "I am going to Spork you to death!" Molly screamed angrily, holding a white plastic spork in her hand. Her eyes looked like they'd match the fires of hell.

  "Holy shit!" Harrison yelped in surprise, scrambling out of his chair to turn and look at her. Joe, who was seated a few feet nearby in the small principal's office, spun his chair to face Molly's direction in fascination, as if it was a great movie coming on.

  "What the hell are you doing, Molly? What's your problem now?"

  "What's my problem? You broke the heart of yet another innocent woman who comes crying to me. You're an ass and you deserve a slow, painful death to learn just how that feels when you break up with someone like this! What, Candice lost her shine, you lost interest...you don't care...what the hell is your problem?"

  Molly's wrath was unleashed, which was a dangerous thing. But it was worse when school was in session and a mildly sharp object was in her possession, pointed straight at his chest. But this escaped him for a moment. "Candice came to you? What did she say? What all..."

  Joe's eyes widened. Harrison had already recalled how he was forced to tell Candice the name of his true love. "Did she say"

  Harrison kicked Joe's leg to shut him up. "What did she say, Molly?"

  "She said that no one should ever date you. That anyone who does is a bloody damn fool. And I agree with her! You hurt her!"

  Harrison flashed Joe a look. At least it appeared that Molly knew nothing of his secret feelings. "Why did she come to you? I thought you two hated each other?"

  "No, not hate!" Molly argued, the spork in her hand twisting from the strong grip. "Only...misunderstood! And if you paid a little more attention, you would know that Candice has constantly been coming to me when something went right or wrong with the two of you. She really thought that you two had something special. She had diamonds in her eyes when she talked of you."

  "Diamonds, huh? As in diamond rings? She knew we weren't that serious I told her I wouldn't get married."

  Molly shook her head, approaching closer. "Then why the hell do you fool around with these girls' heads? It's evil and downright mean! You lavish them with attention, get bored and break it off, knowing the whole time you're deceiving them and you won't persue them. I can't stand to see you do this over and over again. I won't stand for this. And yes, I

  do have a say in your relationship business because I'm freaking apart of it! All your girlfriends, when they're heartbroken don't cry to their friends or you or their family they come crying to me! Well I won't stand for this again! I won't do it, Harrison Redford!"

  Harrison put up his hands, walking towards her. "I understand. And I'm really really sorry I've put you through this. I won't do this again."

  But she just shook her head. "I believed you. The first ten times you told me that." She said with tears brimming. She stabbed the spork in to the breast pocket of his jacket, then spun around and hurried out the door.

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  Chapter 10 Sometimes the Very thing you're looking For...

  Molly tapped the end of her pen on the desk in rhytmic motion and in time with the second hand on the clock. She was conscious of Marty staring at her from the seat in the corner a few feet away and knew Harrison was lingering around the doorway, awaiting until she got annoyed enough to let him in and pay attention to him. Unfortunate for him, she had a large stack of tests that were overdue for grading.

  She finished one test, laying it on the done pile and started on another, tapping her red pen up and down.

  Harrison approached. She didn't look up.

  "Aren't you eating today?" She heard Marty say, chomping on her own sandwich as she sat in her corner seat.

  Harrison half shrugged. "Not too hungry lately." Was his reply, his arms crossing tightly over his chest.

  Suddenly there was a high pitch musical noise that filled the room. It took a moment for Molly to realize it was her cell phone. But by the time she went to reach for it, Harrison had snatched it up and looked at the little window.

  "A phone call from the folks? I didn't know you heard from them much anymore." He said with a raised eyebrow. Did he know how sexy he looked when he did that? Of course he did this was egotistical Harrison she was staring coldly at.

  "Did me my phone, Harry."

  But he just smirked as he slowly took the collar of his shirt and made the neckhole a little wider. As if in slow motion, she watched helplessly as he slipped her phone in to his shirt. "Not until you talk to me. I'm sick of your cold shoulder and I intend for it to stop no matter what it takes."

  "When hell freezes over." She growled, staring at the little lump that had formed right above his belt.

  He gave a dramatic shrug. "Your parents are going to be awfully concerned when you don't answer their phone calls anymore. If I'm correct, you just changed your home phone number a little while ago "

  "I can call them back." She said simply, lifting her stubborn chin higher.

  He shrugged. "Fine, call them back on your home phone. But it's going to take a chunk out of your savings money when you have to get a new phone and a new service and"

  "Isn't this harassment at work?" She asked Marty, who watched in as much interest as Joe always did.

  "Mm...dunno. Best to just keep fighting it out, seeing that he's the only person you can really complain harassment too without your phone."

  A low growl sounded from deep in Molly's throat as her gaze returned to Harrison's. "I'm talking. See? Talking. Now give me back my phone. Now!"

  The phone stopped ringing, making her eyes burn in fire with fury.

  "What if I said you have to go out to eat with me for me to give it back?"

  She stood up, her chair screeching backwards as the musical tone started again. "What if I said I don't mind coming over there
and attacking your ass?"

  His right eyebrow arched again. "I'd say that sounded like a come on. A sexy one too, at that."

  She looked back at Marty, pointing at Harrison. "Now that is sexual harassment! You better be recording this or something!"

  But Marty just shrugged. "I don't have a very good memory these days, you know."

  Molly fumed. "Harrison, take me phone out of your damn shirt right now!" She shouted, right as Candice was walking past the doorway. She looked in with mild interest, then it turned to hurt as she hurried away. Harrison caught this as well and stopped the games. Unbuttoning the bottom of his shirt, revealing tanned skin over tight abs, he retrieved her phone that continued to ring and handed it over.

  Molly made a gagging look, then answered it. "Hello?"

  "Molly dear, what took you so long? Am I interrupting anything? I have such a tight schedule that I wasn't sure if I was interrupting but I have little time for personal phone calls."

  "No Mother, it's a fine time." She sighed.

  "Great, because Elizabeth and I were wondering if you and Harrison would come home this Christmas. Everything is already set up. I'll be working until Christmas Morning but I thought you could come and be with the Redfords' for a while. And your father misses you so much. I believe Aiden wants to see his big brother as well. I think he must be jealous by now that you get all his attention."

  Molly snorted as she looked up at Harrison. "Yeah, that's definitely worth being jealous over." She said sarcastically, but her mother didn't hear. Instead, she went on more about plans for Christmas, leaving no outs or a way for her to say no.

  "So? When can we expect your arrival?"

  Not her arrival. Not in the single tense. Plural. As in she and Harrison the one man she most despised...and a little something else she still wasn't sure of yet. And she had to agree to fly from Nevada to Vermont with him, spend Christmas with him, and stay in their childhood homes for what would surely be at least two or three weeks. "Gosh Mother, I don't know. I mean, I don't even know how long I can stay. The holidays only last about a week and a half after Christmas "

  "Oh hush. You know Harrison can find a replacement for a few days."

  She gritted her teeth. "It's not that simple, Mother." She let out the fact that it wasn't so simple because he had dated half of the teachers that were able to substitute and now they all hated his guts. But that would be digressing and that wasn't safe when she was talking to someone like her mother. Not to mention, saying anything against this

  Christmas vacation was quite fruitless.

  "But if he is capable, we'll both be there. When must we?"

  "Christmas is in five days, Molly. Why don't you come in three?"

  Her hand trembled with the phone. Three days? She'd be in Vermont in three days? Yes, she dearly loved her home and she hadn't been to her old home in two years, but Christmas had terrible timing. In three days she'd be bombarded with sly looks, wink winks and nudges. Flat out questions asking if she and Harrison hooked up yet, or at least fooled around. The two families, the entire two families that included uncles, aunts, cousins and the works, have been at it their entire lives. When were Molly and Harrison, who'd make the cutest couple, finally surrender and get together? Any other time, the two would make the most of it. Laugh it off or even play along. But this year it guaranteed hell on

  Vermont's green earth. Yet what could she do against two stubborn mothers and an ailing father and brother? They'd have to go. And if one went, the other better go with or it would be all they heard about. She, for one, wouldn't be the bad child who ignored her family.

  "Okay Ma, three days."

  "Great, see you then!" And with that, the line went dead.

  Molly dropped the phone from her hand and it dropped like dead weight. She gulped, looking up at Harrison.

  "You should have kept the phone in your shirt." She whimpered in misery.

  He nodded, already knowing what had gone on. "I told ya. But the real question is this do you want me to find you a sub or not?"

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  Molly sat crosslegged on her bed, biting her thumb nail a habit she had long given up until tonight. She looked worriedly around at the opened suitcases, knowing they needed to be packed, knowing she needed to go with Harrison in two days. She dreaded it more than she wanted to admit. No, on second thought, it wasn't dread she didn't want to admit. She embraced that willingly. It was the fact that her anger wasn't the only reason for it. Perhaps her anger was only a farce? A humorous joke that covered for what she really was scared of.

  Could Marty be right? She always did have a tendency to bury her emotions so that she didn't have to deal with them. Get hurt from them. Is that what she had done here? It was undeniable that she had a hard crush on him in her past. All through her teen years, she didn't date because she couldn't find any one that was better than him. That could even compare. In her twenties she experienced the hell of having him risk his life day and night, far far away from her. She was too focused on him to notice any man that crossed her path but her father, who was ailing. When he came back, she was too joyous to care about another man. When she came to live here, she was busy adjusting, which meant spending more time with the man who held her affections for so long. But she had thought it all stopped. Hadn't going out with Ephram proven that she was over Harrison for good now? Perhaps not. It could easily be one of those situations where she had decided to ignore all those feelings, shove them down in to the black, where ever she couldn't feel them, and forgot about them. But feelings that were left to be dealt with later always came back up at some time.

  Candice's warnings came back to her. Molly had to acknowledge the truth in her words. Harrison did only use women. He didn't take them seriously, never love them. And never sticks with just one. Only a fool would carry this knowledge and still want him. The question was, was she a fool?

  No. Molly had been many things in her life, but a fool she was very determined not to be. And if that meant not being with Harrison, having to face the feelings and move on through the pain that they cause, then so be it.

  Yet that still didn't solve how she'd get through these next few weeks with him. A living hell, it would surely be. What a wonderful time to go to her childhood home for the first time since she moved out two years ago. This would be the first time to revisit, seeing her friends and family. A trip in to the past. It would be an interesting journey, to say the least.

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  "So what's your plan for surviving this?" Marty asked in great interest as she helped to carry the five suitcases lined up at the door.

  Molly shrugged. "We'll see as I go, I suppose. I'm determined to make the best of this, even if I am still angry at Harrison and know that our families shall torture me. It's

  Christmas time after all. It can't be all bad."

  "You keep telling yourself that." Marty laughed.

  Once they reached the porch with the five cases, they saw Joe had come to see the two off, helping Harrison load the back of the truck.

  "Are you sure you want to take Jake with you? Marty and I can take care of him while you and Molls are gone." Joe offered as he watched the old mutt circle happily around his legs.

  "Oh please and risk the pup's life? What if Marty gets a new crush? She'll be all ga ga about him and the thought of a poor, innocent, starving dog will never cross her mind. And you...well I don't trust any living thing with you at any time."

  Joe's jaw fell open. "You allowed me to drive Molly places dozens of times!"

  "Yeah well, if she wants to be stupid and risk her life, I cannot help that. But this pup here is my responsibility and my life. Now, remember to take care of the list I gave you. I gave a copy to Marty in case you forget, which means Marty will probably be the one who does all of it. But whatever." Harrison rambled, opening the back of the pickup for Jake to jump in to,
among the suitcases and such.

  Molly and Marty set their bags at the back of the truck, busying themselves with packing them around the dog, avoiding eye contact with its master.

  Molly heard some kind of grumble coming from Harrison, who was leaning against the truck, watching her every move. When she finally shut the back and said goodbye to Marty, seemingly taking a while, Harrison started getting louder.

  "My God Radcliffe, are you ready yet?"

  Molly winked at Marty, saying a last goodbye to both she and Joe, then climbed in to the beat up truck. Harrison started up the engine and pulled out of the drive way.

  "And...we're off. Gone. For weeks." Harrison said softly, side glancing over at her to see her reaction.

  Molly had to hold herself back from slamming her head against the dash board a few times.

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  "Hey, you alright Slapjack? You look a little green still, though I don't see how you could possibly have anything left in that stomach of yours."

  Molly swayed, putting her palms against the airport wall. She had managed to only throw up three times during their five hour flight, running back and forth to the bathroom, but she still felt like running for it again. At least after nearly upchucking on Harrison, all his stupid jokes had stopped and he took it more seriously, with just a touch of sympathy. Which was saying a lot for the man.

  He handed her a bottle of water and she quickly swallowed more pills in hopes of being able to drive a half hour from here to home.

  For someone who had a hate of airports, Harrison was at least appearing quite calm, despite the fact that he was jingling the new keys in his pocket that belonged to the car he had rented while she took a run to the bathroom.