I Must Become A Lion Hearted Girl, Ready For A Fight Before I Make The Final Sacrifice
Chapter: 2/?
Song: Rabbit Heart( Raise it Up)- Florence + The Machine
Word Count: 2,570
Summary: she only agrees to a date to get out of blackmail from her sister.
“So I heard that you stuck your tongue down some guy’s throat last night.”
Molly looks up from the paper that she’s working on and sees her sister, Shannon standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, her arms folded over her chest, bleach blonde hair pulled into a high, sophisticated pony tail.
Molly shakes her head and looks back down, trying to hide how upset she is.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Then you heard wrong. He kissed me. I didn’t really care for it.”
“Your fingers were tangled in his hair.”
She puts down the pen and looks back up. “Who is telling you these things?”
“You have some loud mouth friends, sis.”
“Dammit. I was drunk. It didn’t mean anything.”
“But you had fun?”
“Not really.”
“Oh Molly, what are we going to do with you?”
“You’re going to leave me alone so I can do this inventory.”
Vivere l’Amore (Molly remembers laughing at the name suggestion, causing Shannon to get upset. “Why are you laughing, it means ‘live love’ in Italian.” “It means ‘Overpriced Pants.”) was opened by Shannon six years ago. She got the idea nine years ago and spent three years saving up all the money that she had to buy the pricy closet space on fifth. She could’ve gotten another place somewhere cheaper, she could’ve not
had to have been working three jobs and surviving on Ramon Noodles but she needed to be on fifth. Wouldn’t settle for anything less. The store looked like an expensive bomb went off in it the first time Molly saw it, before Shannon hired the construction team to come in and fix it up, that was on Daddy’s dime, not Shannon’s so she really went all out on that one. It took them six months to finish it. Six whole months to finish a forty by twenty foot space. But, Molly had to admit that when it was done it did look beautiful. The walls were draped in fabric, the floor was tiled and extravagant, and Shannon could not be more proud of her hard work. (“Look at what I did, isn’t it amazing?” “Well, yeah but you didn’t really do it, you had a construction crew, it’s not like you were swinging a hammer.” “But I told them what needed to be done. And I decorated it.” “You hired an interior decorator. You just picked maroon or champagne for the walls.” “Yeah….well…shut up.”)
Despite the teasing the store does very well. Shannon makes a crazy profit mainly because she only has one employee, (mainly because only one employee can fit in the store) and that’s Molly. She spends most of her time in the tiny office behind the register balancing the budget, and doing inventory, her four years at Yale going to waste. But she can’t really complain. It’s close to her apartment and the pay is great, it’s not like it couldn’t be, she’s also in charge of payroll and it’s something. She initially took the job just because she needed something to do. She had to keep busy, keep her mind on something other than Brad and how she feels but sometimes, while she’s all alone in that little office, with a pen in her hand and spreadsheets in front of her that’s all she can think about.
“I think you should call him.”
Molly sighs when the conversation picks back up again. “I don’t have his number.”
“Do you have his name?”
“Just the first one.”
“Then…”
“Shannon, forget it. It’s not going to happen. The kiss was a mistake anyways.”
“I just think that you should call someone, Molly. You can’t be alone for the rest of your life. You’re only 23.”
“You’re 26 and you’re alone.” She mumbles then freezes and casts a wary look up at her sisters, afraid that she truly offended. But thankfully Shannon doesn’t offend easily if ever.
“Not by choice. You have men falling all over you…”
“They are not falling over me.”
“I heard you had two guys after you last night.”
“Oh, two guys, my god, what a slut I am.” Molly says sarcastically, a tacit that she specializes in.
“That’s more than some girls get.”
“I can’t do anything about it. I don’t have his number. This is a big city; I’ll never see him again. Plus he said he was a musician.” She makes a face and Shannon’s arms uncross.
“Musician’s are hot.”
“Musician is a code word for unemployed.”
“So then don’t marry him or anything. No one is going to buy you a white dress and flowers if you just go out with a man.”
“I had my chance, Shannon.”
“Oh god.” Shannon puts her hands and her head and whines. “Do you think you’re special or something Molly? I that you went to Yale and you’re taller and thinner and mom like you more than I do and all that but you’re really not that remarkable with this thing. Millions of women go through what you went through all the time.”
“All the time? Really? I feel sorry for them.”
“Not all the time, but you know what I mean. They all picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and moved on with their lives. There is more to life than just moping around and feeling sorry for yourself. You have to move on. It’s getting pathetic.”
“Thanks for your two cents, Shannon, but until you go through this I’ll thank you to keep your mouth shut.” She stops her comeback when she hears the bell above the front door ring letting them know that someone is in the store. “You have a customer to take care of.”
“This isn’t over, Molly.”
“Can’t wait for it to continue.” Molly calls after her, sarcasm falling off her lips.
Molly’s left alone in relative silence, she can still hear her sister and another voice, a male voice, and she smiles to herself. Men only come into the store to buy something for their wives or girlfriends. Whipped men who can’t say no to the question of buying something expensive. They’re all the same. They come in hoping to find something for around thirty bucks and they quickly figure out that will only buy them a piece of costume jewelry and before they can get back out the door Shannon will have swooped in and talked them into buying an necklace, bracelet, and ring for around three hundred. She’s either a great saleswoman or the men are too tired to fight back against any kind of pushing.
“I’ll be right back.” She hears Shannon says and then she hears her even footsteps that suddenly speed up to skipping and she bursts back through the office door. “Oh my god.” Her face is flushed and she’s smiling.
“Is someone famous out there?” Molly asks, giving her sister a little attention but still keeping a cool exterior.
“No. There’s a guy out there…”
“Is he robbing us?”
“No, he’s asking for you.”
“For me? You sure?”
“He asked me if I knew a tall brunette.”
“That’s it? He didn’t say my name.”
“He said that he didn’t know your name.”
That’s disconcerting. “A lot of girls are tall brunettes. Doesn’t mean that it’s me.”
“Oh really because he’s holding that blue sweater that you borrowed from me. He said that his name was Lee.”
“Shit.” She gets up from the desk and stands next to her sister and peers out into the store. Lee’s standing there with her sweater resting on the counter. “Damnit.”
“So you do know him.”
“He’s the guy that I met last night.”
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”
“Shut up, it’s no big deal.”
“How’d he find you? This is fate. Go talk to him, take him out, I’m letting you leave work early for this.”
“I’m not leaving. I must have left that sweater at the bar last night and god, I told him that I worked on a store on fifth so he must have tracked me down.”
“He searched all of fifth for you? God, he must really like you.”
“Just tell him I’m not here.” She starts to go back into the office but Shannon holds her by the shoulders.
“Are you kidding me? You’re going to at least talk to him. Thank him for returning your sweater.”
Molly shakes her head.
“Molly, do this. Do this or I’ll set you up with a new guy every night.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Oh yes I can.”
“I just won’t go.”
“I’ll pay them ten dollars to wait outside your apartment door just waiting for you to come out.”
“Ten dollars?”
“I didn’t say that they were going to be good men.”
“I’m pretty sure this is illegal.”
“I’ll check my book.”
“No, don’t…”
The book is the giant book of rules that the state handed to Shannon when she started the store. It’s got rules and rules about what she can and cannot do. Where she can advertise, what she can put on the store front and a whole section on sexual harassment in the work place. A section that bawdy Shannon read and read, backwards and forewords. She knows her rights.
“There’s nothing about that in here. You’re my sister anyways; I can do anything I want to you.”
“You know that it wasn’t in there, you have that thing memorized.”
“I like to know my ass is covered. By the way, dress code is in here and those flip flops you’re wearing are breaking it.”
Molly laughs. “I’m a rebel.”
“Please go talk to him, Molly, please. Just do me this favor. I can’t go back out there and tell him that you don’t want to see him, he’s got such
sad eyes anyways.”
“Did he like, charm you or something?”
“Why, you jealous?”
“No. Not at all. You could throw him down on the counter and do him for all I care.”
“That is definitely in the book.” Shannon says as the two of them watch Lee. “Go deal with this.”
“I hate you.” Molly says after she gives in and wanders out into the store, grimacing when his mouth curls into a smile.
“Hey, I knew that I would find you somewhere.”
“Did you look in all the stores?”
“Not all of them. This is my fortieth.”
Her eyes go wide. “Oh….my god.”
“I’m not some crazy stalker or anything.”
“Sure.”
He holds out the sweater. “I just wanted to give this back to you.”
She takes it from him. “Thank you.”
“And I wanted to see you.”
“Oh boy.”
“I’m just asking for one date. Or a name, preferably both.”
“Her name is Molly.” Shannon says. It’s hard to have privacy in a closet and Molly shakes her head.
“Molly. I like that. Molly, please go out with me.”
“I can’t.”
“That’s a lie.” Shannon says and Molly turns to her.
“This is none of your business.” She turns back to Lee. “It’s not personal. Honestly. I’m just not dating anyone. It’s not your fault.”
“Why aren’t you though?”
She holds her breath thinking that Shannon will butt in and tell all but surprisingly she stays quiet. “I’m just not. It’s hard to explain.”
Shannon scoffs.
“You seem like a decent guy.”
“I am. I try to be. I’m not trying to…I don’t know.” He sighs and rubs the back of his neck with his hand. “I guess that’s it.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” He hangs his head in disappointment and she feels bad, something she didn’t know that she was capable of feeling when it comes to men. “It was nice to meet you Molly. I…” He stops and waves to Shannon then turn and walk out of the store.
“Why don’t you just go kick a puppy, Molly?” She says when the door swings closed.
“Stop.”
“Punch a baby.”
“Knock it off.”
“Trip an elderly person.”
“Shannon.”
“Push an old lady, holding a baby and walking a puppy in front of a bus.”
“Shannon. I wasn’t mean to him, I didn’t tell him off, I thanked him and then denied him in the politest way that could.”
“Fine, fine.” She takes out her phone and starts to look through it.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for guys to set you up with.”
“You’re not being serious.”
“I am. Now, first, I know this guy named Cooper, I know, total douche name but he’s really not that bad and if that doesn’t work I can set you up with my florist, his name is Peter, there’s a chance that he’s gay so if you can try and have sex with him and we’ll see if he lets you or tells you that he’s just not into that. Don’t give me that look, I warned you. You know that I’ll do it too.”
“What can I do to get you to not do it?”
“Just give Lee a chance. One chance.”
“He’s gone.”
“You could catch him. Go, he went out the door and to the left. He’s probably dragging his feet all sad like Charlie Brown. Catch him.”
She stands still for a minute realizing that Lee is the lesser of two evils.
“I hate you.” Molly repeats as she rushes out the door.
She finds him down at the end of the street, waiting for the crosswalk sign to change and she comes up behind him and takes his arm dragging him away from the group of people and off to the side, out of the way. His face lights up again when he sees that it’s her and not someone trying to mug him.
“I don’t want a boyfriend.” She blurts out.
“That’s fine.”
“But I won’t be some one night stand either.”
“That’s okay too.”
“I have no clue what I want.” She laughs as she says it.
“I’m good with that. Seriously, I spent twenty four years of my life no knowing.”
“That doesn’t bother you? That I don’t know what I want?”
“Not at all.”
She nods her head and looks him over. He needs a belt. “It bothers me.”
“Then it’ll bother me too. We can be even. I just want one date. Give me a chance. What’s the worst that could happen? You’ll go out with me and realize that you hate me and then I’ll never talk to me again and you can tell this story as some funny anecdote to break the ice on some other date.”
“That’s not the worst thing that could happen.” She says and he doesn’t ask what that means. “I’ll give you one date.”
“Yes, yes, you won’t regret it.”
“You better hope not.”
“You won’t. Tomorrow? My friend is having this party, it’s totally casual, I’ll pick you up at your place and we can go, if you don’t like it, or me, we can leave and do something else or you can curse me out and slap me, if that makes you feel better.”
She laughs in spite of herself.
“That would probably make me feel better.”
“Then I better make sure you have a damn good time so that doesn’t happen.”
“You sure? I’m kind of looking forward to hitting you.”
He shakes his head. “You’re going to like me by the end of the night, I promise.”
She smiles weakly. Her life is fucked if that’s true.