20 - Love
Set immediately after #77 - Upset. PG-13, maybe? And I think you've read the extra scene I added onto the end of this [and by you, I really mean Katy].
Molly had been avoiding my phone calls. Ruby normally picked up and would make an excuse, but the tenth time, she had reached the end of her patience. “Look, James, she doesn’t want to talk to you, okay?” And she hung up.
So I turned to Dorian for advice, who hadn’t been much help. “Well, it sounds like it’s all your fault,” he said as he reclined on my couch. I scoffed at him, but thankfully Steph was much more helpful.
“James, if you really want to win her back,” she began.
“Which I do,” I interjected.
“Have Dor let you into her dorm building, get all dressed up-like, a suit coat over a nicer shirt-bring a single red rose, and beg for her back on bended knee,” she explained. Both Dorian and I stared at her incredulously.
“…How long have you thought this?” Dorian asked her, but Steph just laughed.
“It’s the perfect way to sweep Molly off her feet, I swear,” Steph promised.
“Steph, if this works, I will love you forever,” I told the woman thankfully.
“I won’t hold my breath,” Steph replied, laughing. Obviously, the thought of me professing my love to my best friend’s girlfriend was something that wasn’t about to happen.
* * *
It took me two days to get everything set up exactly how I wanted. And Molly was still ignoring my calls. It didn’t matter; if Steph was right, I wouldn’t have to worry about being ignored any longer. I was still beating myself up over how things had happened on Monday at the dance, but it wasn’t as if I could change anything.
Dorian had obliged to helping me get into the dorm, though I think Steph had something to do with it, and he was waiting for me outside of Molly’s building, twirling his student ID between his fingers. “Don’t look so smug,” I told him, shaking my head. He was probably laughing at my attire: a black suit coat with a collar-less white shirt underneath, and a pair of dark blue jeans, a style of dress that came into popularity over a decade later.
“I’m not smug!” Dorian replied, sounding offended. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
I followed him inside, silent for a change. As he slid his ID through the scanner, I said, “I have a feeling this is going to become a trend.”
“You pissing off your girlfriend?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.
“No-you letting me into her dorm building.”
“Yeah, well…” But Dorian trailed off and gestured at the door.
“Thanks,” I said before I slipped into the stairwell, nervously spinning the red rose between my hands. My heartbeat accelerated with every step that carried me closer to Molly’s room. What if she slapped me? What if she slammed the door in my face? What if she wouldn’t listen to me? I knew that I didn’t want to lose her, even if we had only been going out for three months, because I was already in love with her…even if that sounded cheesy.
Before I knew it, I was standing in front of Molly’s door, practically hyperventilating. Thinking about it, I don’t think I had ever been that nervous for anything in my entire life, but the next few minutes were pivotal to what my future would entail, and it wasn’t something I was going to take lightly. Would Molly be in that future? I could only hope the answer was yes.
I reached out a hand, curled it into a loose fist, and knocked on the door. I could hear shuffling movements coming towards the door. Don’t be Ruby-she’ll slam the door in my face, I prayed silently, tapping a foot in nervous anticipation. The door unlocked and wrenched itself open.
It was Molly.
My anxious expression cleared as soon as I saw her. Her eyes were rimmed with red, several dried tear tracks on her cheeks, a wet tissue clutched in her right hand. I think she let out a little squeak of surprise when she saw me. Speech failed me. All I could do was gape at her wordlessly. It seemed all right, though, because that was all Molly was doing, too.
Finally, I fell painfully to my knees right in the middle of the hallway. Had I been any weaker, I would have shed several tears, but I thought it might be a little too overdramatic.
“James…” Molly finally said in a breath.
“I’m an idiot!” I blurted out loudly as I remembered how to speak. “I should have told you right when we left the dance what exactly happened with that drunk girl.”
“…She was drunk?” she asked, sounding faint. I nodded, swallowing.
“She came up to me and tried to kiss me, telling me that I was handsome,” I continued, my words flowing out in a rush. “I laughed because I-I thought it was funny and…and I told her she was five years too late for that part of my life.” Molly’s eyes widened at my last statement, but she remained silent. “Molly, I’m a fucking idiot and I don’t deserve you and I would cry right now if I could. Please…” I held up the rose as an offering of sorts. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
Wordlessly, she reached out and pulled at my shoulders so that I returned to standing on my feet. Her silence was almost worse than, well, anything. It wasn’t just a temporary pause, either; Molly stayed silent, her eyes searching my face wonderingly.
“Say something, Mol,” I begged as we took several steps into her room.
“Kiss me,” she said, taking me by surprise. My eyes widened to match hers and eagerly, I placed my hands on her waist and pushed her inside the room, kicking the door shut behind us. Her arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me close to her. As our mouths neared, she pressed her forehead to mine and whispered, “I shouldn’t have assumed. I should have asked you rather than just exploding at you-”
I pressed my lips to hers to get her to be silent; Molly let out a cute noise in response. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her, gently brushing her hair behind her ear and stroking tenderly at her cheek. “Something like this was bound to happen at some point.” The brunette let out a choked noise between a sob and a laugh. “Mol, trust me when I say that high school is behind me.”
Molly nodded furiously, tears gathering in her eyes. “Okay,” she breathed. “I trust you.” We shared a wide smile before I brushed my lips past hers and pulled her into a long, hot kiss.
Things were working out perfectly.
* * *
“I love the mix tape you made me,” Molly said as I opened the door for her two days after our make-up. I had given her a mix cassette tape with choice songs on it, as a token of my appreciation. In other words, it was a way to shower her with gifts for taking me back, although she had told me before that it was unnecessary. She waved her cassette player in my face as she walked by and I noticed she had rather large headphones around her neck.
“That’s a good thing!” I replied, closing the door and following her out into the family room area of my loft.
“But ‘Black Country Woman’ didn’t really fit with the rest of the songs,” she added, sitting down on my couch; I sat down next to her, grinning.
“But it’s an excellent song!”
“I suppose that’s true…” the woman said in a sigh. She turned to me with a smile on her face. “I did like one song a lot…”
“And what song would that be? There are quite a few on the tape.”
Molly didn’t reply, she just slid the headphones off of her neck and placed them over my ears so my hearing was relatively muffled. I watched her fumble with the ‘play’ button and immediately heard the final notes of “Such A Night” by Elvis. Drumbeats followed moments later, a guitar chiming in as well as piano. Of course: John Mellencamp.
“I’ve had a lot of girls in my life
That never meant that much to me
A good time was always had by all
But those good times, they were fleeting memories
I used to lie to ‘em, and then I’d kiss ‘em
But I kept an arm’s length away
Well, hey man, you know me
And look how silly I’ve been acting today…”
As John Mellencamp’s song played, Molly climbed onto my lap and practically towered over me, her arms curling around my neck as my arms wrapped around her back and pulled her close; we were both grinning. Moments later, as the chorus started up, she leaned down and pulled me into a kiss so that my head was resting against the top of the back of the couch.
“This time I really think I'm in love, I'm in love
This time I think I'm really in love
This time I really think I'm in love
I’m in love
This time I think I'm really in love…”
One of her hands rested against the side of my neck as the other tangled itself in my hair (or as tangled as a hand can get in such short hair). I was too intent on the song and Molly’s physical presence to be aware of anything else. It was bliss. My arms tightened around her, a hand sliding up to her shoulders. She was taking control and I was loving every moment of it.
“I used to roll down the window
And let that tape deck blow
And look at the honey that I was holding that night
I'd say, ‘Hey girl, you're the one.’
And then I'd laugh when I'd take her home
You got your arms around my shoulders
You got my soul confused with my heart
You were too smart to believe all those tired lines
And I was too dumb to know what had started…”
Molly pulled away and looked down at me, smiling warmly, her eyes like melted chocolate. And then I said it.
“I love you,” I murmured, despite the fact that I couldn’t even hear myself over the guitar solo in the song, but I was positive that I actually had said it because Molly’s eyes widened and then her face broke out into a huge smile. I watched her lips move, but again, I couldn’t hear anything. “What?” I asked. She threw her head back and (probably) laughed. Finally, she pulled one of the headphone’s speakers away from my ear.
“I love you, too, you idiot,” she said into my ear, still laughing.
“I hope you don't lose that innocent laughter
I hope time doesn't take that away…”
She kissed me again and I was lost in the ocean once more, my eyes sliding shut. I felt her fingers undoing the first few buttons of my shirt and then stopping, her hand resting on what little was exposed of my chest. One of my hands found its way into her hair, pulling her mouth closer, if that was even possible.
The volume must have been relatively high because Molly pulled off the headphones as the music slowly faded into silence. I opened my eyes and looked up at her as I felt her pull away; her face was inches away. “Did you mean it?” she asked, her voice low and wary. I let out a chuckle and brought a hand to her cheek, letting my thumb stroke at the soft skin.
“Yes,” I replied, pressing my lips to hers for a few seconds. “I love you.” I watched small tears gather in her eyes as she smiled from ear to ear again, nuzzling her cheek into my hand.
“I love you, too,” she whispered, blinking, which caused a tear to roll down her face. I wiped it away.
“Tears are necessary for this moment why?” I asked with a smile.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…” Molly cleared her throat. “Seven years is a long time to wait to hear those words from you. And I really hope this isn’t a dream.”
“Seven years?” I blinked and counted backwards. “Since you were in seventh grade? Really?” Molly just nodded and said nothing, blushing furiously. “Well, I can assure you this isn’t a dream…” I leaned forward again and captured her bottom lip between mine.
“That’s the problem,” the brunette managed to say through the kiss. I stopped so that she could talk. “I can’t tell…” I snorted and pinched her arm, which caused her to slap at my hand. “That hurts!”
“Then you’re not dreaming, milady,” I replied, grinning. Molly rolled her eyes at me, but she was too thrilled to look bemused for too long. “Which means that it’s not too early in the relationship to be professing my love to you?”
“Not at all, James,” Molly said, laughing, as she curled up in my lap and my arms wrapped around her tightly. “Not at all.” And she kissed me again.
Molly had been avoiding my phone calls. Ruby normally picked up and would make an excuse, but the tenth time, she had reached the end of her patience. “Look, James, she doesn’t want to talk to you, okay?” And she hung up.
So I turned to Dorian for advice, who hadn’t been much help. “Well, it sounds like it’s all your fault,” he said as he reclined on my couch. I scoffed at him, but thankfully Steph was much more helpful.
“James, if you really want to win her back,” she began.
“Which I do,” I interjected.
“Have Dor let you into her dorm building, get all dressed up-like, a suit coat over a nicer shirt-bring a single red rose, and beg for her back on bended knee,” she explained. Both Dorian and I stared at her incredulously.
“…How long have you thought this?” Dorian asked her, but Steph just laughed.
“It’s the perfect way to sweep Molly off her feet, I swear,” Steph promised.
“Steph, if this works, I will love you forever,” I told the woman thankfully.
“I won’t hold my breath,” Steph replied, laughing. Obviously, the thought of me professing my love to my best friend’s girlfriend was something that wasn’t about to happen.
* * *
It took me two days to get everything set up exactly how I wanted. And Molly was still ignoring my calls. It didn’t matter; if Steph was right, I wouldn’t have to worry about being ignored any longer. I was still beating myself up over how things had happened on Monday at the dance, but it wasn’t as if I could change anything.
Dorian had obliged to helping me get into the dorm, though I think Steph had something to do with it, and he was waiting for me outside of Molly’s building, twirling his student ID between his fingers. “Don’t look so smug,” I told him, shaking my head. He was probably laughing at my attire: a black suit coat with a collar-less white shirt underneath, and a pair of dark blue jeans, a style of dress that came into popularity over a decade later.
“I’m not smug!” Dorian replied, sounding offended. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
I followed him inside, silent for a change. As he slid his ID through the scanner, I said, “I have a feeling this is going to become a trend.”
“You pissing off your girlfriend?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.
“No-you letting me into her dorm building.”
“Yeah, well…” But Dorian trailed off and gestured at the door.
“Thanks,” I said before I slipped into the stairwell, nervously spinning the red rose between my hands. My heartbeat accelerated with every step that carried me closer to Molly’s room. What if she slapped me? What if she slammed the door in my face? What if she wouldn’t listen to me? I knew that I didn’t want to lose her, even if we had only been going out for three months, because I was already in love with her…even if that sounded cheesy.
Before I knew it, I was standing in front of Molly’s door, practically hyperventilating. Thinking about it, I don’t think I had ever been that nervous for anything in my entire life, but the next few minutes were pivotal to what my future would entail, and it wasn’t something I was going to take lightly. Would Molly be in that future? I could only hope the answer was yes.
I reached out a hand, curled it into a loose fist, and knocked on the door. I could hear shuffling movements coming towards the door. Don’t be Ruby-she’ll slam the door in my face, I prayed silently, tapping a foot in nervous anticipation. The door unlocked and wrenched itself open.
It was Molly.
My anxious expression cleared as soon as I saw her. Her eyes were rimmed with red, several dried tear tracks on her cheeks, a wet tissue clutched in her right hand. I think she let out a little squeak of surprise when she saw me. Speech failed me. All I could do was gape at her wordlessly. It seemed all right, though, because that was all Molly was doing, too.
Finally, I fell painfully to my knees right in the middle of the hallway. Had I been any weaker, I would have shed several tears, but I thought it might be a little too overdramatic.
“James…” Molly finally said in a breath.
“I’m an idiot!” I blurted out loudly as I remembered how to speak. “I should have told you right when we left the dance what exactly happened with that drunk girl.”
“…She was drunk?” she asked, sounding faint. I nodded, swallowing.
“She came up to me and tried to kiss me, telling me that I was handsome,” I continued, my words flowing out in a rush. “I laughed because I-I thought it was funny and…and I told her she was five years too late for that part of my life.” Molly’s eyes widened at my last statement, but she remained silent. “Molly, I’m a fucking idiot and I don’t deserve you and I would cry right now if I could. Please…” I held up the rose as an offering of sorts. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
Wordlessly, she reached out and pulled at my shoulders so that I returned to standing on my feet. Her silence was almost worse than, well, anything. It wasn’t just a temporary pause, either; Molly stayed silent, her eyes searching my face wonderingly.
“Say something, Mol,” I begged as we took several steps into her room.
“Kiss me,” she said, taking me by surprise. My eyes widened to match hers and eagerly, I placed my hands on her waist and pushed her inside the room, kicking the door shut behind us. Her arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me close to her. As our mouths neared, she pressed her forehead to mine and whispered, “I shouldn’t have assumed. I should have asked you rather than just exploding at you-”
I pressed my lips to hers to get her to be silent; Molly let out a cute noise in response. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her, gently brushing her hair behind her ear and stroking tenderly at her cheek. “Something like this was bound to happen at some point.” The brunette let out a choked noise between a sob and a laugh. “Mol, trust me when I say that high school is behind me.”
Molly nodded furiously, tears gathering in her eyes. “Okay,” she breathed. “I trust you.” We shared a wide smile before I brushed my lips past hers and pulled her into a long, hot kiss.
Things were working out perfectly.
* * *
“I love the mix tape you made me,” Molly said as I opened the door for her two days after our make-up. I had given her a mix cassette tape with choice songs on it, as a token of my appreciation. In other words, it was a way to shower her with gifts for taking me back, although she had told me before that it was unnecessary. She waved her cassette player in my face as she walked by and I noticed she had rather large headphones around her neck.
“That’s a good thing!” I replied, closing the door and following her out into the family room area of my loft.
“But ‘Black Country Woman’ didn’t really fit with the rest of the songs,” she added, sitting down on my couch; I sat down next to her, grinning.
“But it’s an excellent song!”
“I suppose that’s true…” the woman said in a sigh. She turned to me with a smile on her face. “I did like one song a lot…”
“And what song would that be? There are quite a few on the tape.”
Molly didn’t reply, she just slid the headphones off of her neck and placed them over my ears so my hearing was relatively muffled. I watched her fumble with the ‘play’ button and immediately heard the final notes of “Such A Night” by Elvis. Drumbeats followed moments later, a guitar chiming in as well as piano. Of course: John Mellencamp.
“I’ve had a lot of girls in my life
That never meant that much to me
A good time was always had by all
But those good times, they were fleeting memories
I used to lie to ‘em, and then I’d kiss ‘em
But I kept an arm’s length away
Well, hey man, you know me
And look how silly I’ve been acting today…”
As John Mellencamp’s song played, Molly climbed onto my lap and practically towered over me, her arms curling around my neck as my arms wrapped around her back and pulled her close; we were both grinning. Moments later, as the chorus started up, she leaned down and pulled me into a kiss so that my head was resting against the top of the back of the couch.
“This time I really think I'm in love, I'm in love
This time I think I'm really in love
This time I really think I'm in love
I’m in love
This time I think I'm really in love…”
One of her hands rested against the side of my neck as the other tangled itself in my hair (or as tangled as a hand can get in such short hair). I was too intent on the song and Molly’s physical presence to be aware of anything else. It was bliss. My arms tightened around her, a hand sliding up to her shoulders. She was taking control and I was loving every moment of it.
“I used to roll down the window
And let that tape deck blow
And look at the honey that I was holding that night
I'd say, ‘Hey girl, you're the one.’
And then I'd laugh when I'd take her home
You got your arms around my shoulders
You got my soul confused with my heart
You were too smart to believe all those tired lines
And I was too dumb to know what had started…”
Molly pulled away and looked down at me, smiling warmly, her eyes like melted chocolate. And then I said it.
“I love you,” I murmured, despite the fact that I couldn’t even hear myself over the guitar solo in the song, but I was positive that I actually had said it because Molly’s eyes widened and then her face broke out into a huge smile. I watched her lips move, but again, I couldn’t hear anything. “What?” I asked. She threw her head back and (probably) laughed. Finally, she pulled one of the headphone’s speakers away from my ear.
“I love you, too, you idiot,” she said into my ear, still laughing.
“I hope you don't lose that innocent laughter
I hope time doesn't take that away…”
She kissed me again and I was lost in the ocean once more, my eyes sliding shut. I felt her fingers undoing the first few buttons of my shirt and then stopping, her hand resting on what little was exposed of my chest. One of my hands found its way into her hair, pulling her mouth closer, if that was even possible.
The volume must have been relatively high because Molly pulled off the headphones as the music slowly faded into silence. I opened my eyes and looked up at her as I felt her pull away; her face was inches away. “Did you mean it?” she asked, her voice low and wary. I let out a chuckle and brought a hand to her cheek, letting my thumb stroke at the soft skin.
“Yes,” I replied, pressing my lips to hers for a few seconds. “I love you.” I watched small tears gather in her eyes as she smiled from ear to ear again, nuzzling her cheek into my hand.
“I love you, too,” she whispered, blinking, which caused a tear to roll down her face. I wiped it away.
“Tears are necessary for this moment why?” I asked with a smile.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…” Molly cleared her throat. “Seven years is a long time to wait to hear those words from you. And I really hope this isn’t a dream.”
“Seven years?” I blinked and counted backwards. “Since you were in seventh grade? Really?” Molly just nodded and said nothing, blushing furiously. “Well, I can assure you this isn’t a dream…” I leaned forward again and captured her bottom lip between mine.
“That’s the problem,” the brunette managed to say through the kiss. I stopped so that she could talk. “I can’t tell…” I snorted and pinched her arm, which caused her to slap at my hand. “That hurts!”
“Then you’re not dreaming, milady,” I replied, grinning. Molly rolled her eyes at me, but she was too thrilled to look bemused for too long. “Which means that it’s not too early in the relationship to be professing my love to you?”
“Not at all, James,” Molly said, laughing, as she curled up in my lap and my arms wrapped around her tightly. “Not at all.” And she kissed me again.