The Gravity of Love (10 page)

He asked, a slow smile spreading. Maybe he didn't
have anything to worry about after all.

"Oh, I don't know. Molly loves the
name. Especially his last name."

"Last name?" He swallowed hard.

"Yeah. She keeps getting these dreamy
eyes. I think I caught her already writing down 'Molly Vinick."

"Vinick? What a stupid name."

Marty hid her grin, enjoying Harrison's
obvious jealous immensely. "Molly don't think so and that's all that
matters."

Harrison noticeably grew more unsettled.
"How long has she been seeing this guy for?"

Marty made the motions of zipping her lips
and throwing away the key. Harrison glared at her, but she didn't budge from
her decision.

Frustrated even more, Harrison turned and
stomped out angrily. "Gee, thanks a lot." He grumbled before slamming
the door.

Once in the hallway, he flipped open his
cell phone. "Hey Joe any more remarkably unuseful ideas?"

"Didn't go so well, huh?"

Harrison let out a low groan. "You
know that it wouldn't."

"Yeah well, you tried. Now you only
have one choice ask Molly."

"Yeah, I don't think so." He
replied, closing his cell phone and stomping down the hall. "Judas Priest,
all stressed out and no one to choke." He swore.

_______________________________________________________________________

His plan to find out about this new
mysterious guy had failed, yet that was only half of the reason he was near
foaming at the mouth from his boiling mood. He had yet to understand why the
hell he cared about this Ephram Vinick being in Molly's life. What did he want
to know for? He had Candice Greybill to keep him occupied he didn't need to
brood over Molly's own personal life. She was a big girl she could take care
of herself.

So why did he still care so much?

Maybe, he told himself, it was because they
stuck together through everything. They were so close and now, could it be,
they were drifting apart? Now that they were both busy with their own affairs,
would there still be time to retain a good relationship as they had always
done?

His sensible side told him that of course,
nothing like that would change. It didn't matter. It never did before, and
Molly wouldn't allow such a thing to happen he knew this. So how could this
be the problem?

The only thing worse than brooding over
something you hate, was brooding over something you didn't understand.

But even though he already knew this would
stick like glue to the back of his mind, he still wasn't able to lower his
pride enough to go talk to Molly.

He wasn't that desperate yet.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Hey Harry, got a sec?"

Harrison looked up from his desk, his
fingers entwined in his shaggy hair.

Molly stood in his office doorway with a
beautiful smile on. She sure was happy about something.

"Can I trade this job for what's
behind door number two?" He replied, watching a pencil roll off his desk
surface and land with a light clatter on the floor.

She smiled wider, a curl falling over her
forehead that she tried to blow away but failed. "You can trade this job
in for anything you want. You just got to want it bad enough to do the
work."

"Hmm...another thing to ponder
over...just what I need." He joked, then nodded over to her. "But you
didn't come here to listen to my sorrowful woes. What's up, slapjack?"

She laughed when he used her old nickname
from way back. How strange was it that all the high school girls used to get
jealous over Harrison giving her a nickname after a breakfast food.

"You remembering those girls in high
school?" He grinned.

She threw her head back in joyous laughter.
"Yep."

"Those were some crazy times back
then."

"Definitely. But uh...I was wondering
if you wanted to go out to eat with us tonight? Marty just dropped by to ask
me, so..."

"Oh...sure, I suppose."

"Great." Her smile dimmed. "Will
it just be you or will you be bringing Candice?"

The question quickly bounced back and forth
in his head. Should he or shouldn't he?

If he did, he could give her a dose of her
own medicine. To let her know that he didn't care about her relationships because
he had a very healthy one right in front of her eyes. Maybe he could send her
thoughts wild like she did with him.

Or he could leave Candice home and just go
himself. He could get Molly all alone. Talk to her about any particular recent
events. After all, why would she purposely keep her boyfriend secret, now that
she had him at her party and knew that he was aware of a situation going on?

His curiosity, his frustration and his
brooding could all end. "I don't think I'll bring Candice. It'll probably
just be me."

Her eyes seemed a little brighter with that
news. "Okay, so you're coming. Great. I'll see you then." Flashing
him another smile, she turned and walked away, her midback length curls
bouncing as she went.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison went to drop by Molly's class room
to ask about where the dinner would be, but he found the room dark and empty.
Looking in to Marty's room, he saw she was still there.

"Where's Radcliffe?" He asked,
swinging his head in.

Marty looked up from her papers that she
had been going through. Quickly, she grabbed a pencil and started to chew on
the end. Harrison wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"That's nasty, Marty."

But she wasn't caring. She was giving
herself time to think of something. "Uh, I don't know, Harrison. Perhaps
her boyfriend picked her up?"

"And she didn't tell you? Just
disappeared suddenly?"

"I'm a very busy person! And I don't
require, unlike you, that she tell me everything that she's doing. If you're so
interested...find out yourself."

He squinted at her, as if trying to read
her mind. "I know there's something you're not telling me. Something you
know."

"The truth? I know a hell of a lot. I
just don't go around broadcasting it, especially if I'm told not to."

"So what you're saying," Harrison
said, his eyes glaring angry once again. "Is that Molly is asking you to
keep secrets from me now is that it?"

Marty crunched on the pencil a bit more.
"I think you two really need to talk to each other and not have me be your
middle man."

"Well ya know, I think I would do just
that if I could find the damn woman!" He shouted as he lost control of
his temper, slamming her door and stalking down the hallway.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison returned to his office, only to
see a stack of books on there that he had forgotten about.

Candice had to leave early today for some
excuse or another, but she had library books that were late and asked him if he
could drop them off.

Not exactly what he wanted to be doing at
the moment, but there was little to be done about that right now. After all,
Molly did live in the same apartment building as he they were bound to bump
in to each other at some point soon.

Grabbing the stack of books, he hurried to
the library, anxious to get out of here.

"These are from Candice
Greybill." He said, placing the books on the checkout counter. He turned
to walk out when he turned back around, doing a double take at the woman behind
the desk.

"Oh no. No." He said, shaking his
head. "This is not who you're cheating me with! If you're going to cheat
on me...God, at least make it human!"

She looked up at him in misery.
"Please, don't make anything of this."

"Well what the hell are you doing here?
What, I don't pay you enough?"

She shook her head. "No, actually.
Teaching isn't enough."

"It never looked like you were hurting
before. You have an apartment, a car..." He stopped.

"Yeah? An apartment that's the size of
most people's master bedrooms. A car that's eight years old. And no, I don't go
anywhere. Do you know why? I can't afford it. My idea of spring break and
summer break is basically...well, it's Marty and I staying at my place and
watching movie marathons. I'm twenty-nine years old, Harrison!"

"So am I!"

"But you have a girlfriend that you
can afford to take out."

"So? You have a boyfriend that takes
you out!"

She shook her head, laying her face in the
darkness of her hands.

"You just don't get it, alright? I
don't even understand why you care. Just let me have the damn job it has
nothing to do with you!"

Harrison felt awkward. Through the years,
he usually was the main cause of her temper and almost always on the receiving
end of it. But now there was a different feel about it.

She was being closed. She was being all
private like. And most of all, she was being one hell of a lot like him.

"I don't care about the job, Molly.
But I do care about you. And I care about our relationship. I want to know when
you started keeping secrets from me and why you felt compelled that you had
to."

"What all do you think I've been
keeping from you? You act like I have a whole different life on the side that
you know nothing about. Really Harrison, I promise I'm not a superhero with a
secret identity or something."

He met her glare, burning her irises with
his anger. "Oh, you don't have a life on the side, huh? So why did I have
to attend a surprise party just to find out that you're dating and looking very
much in love? Why did I have to return Candice's books just to find out that
you're working two jobs and that you look very tired? Molly, I felt like you're
slipping away from me!"

That was all she could take. She slammed
the book she had been browsing through while he was talking. Licking her
cracked lips, she growled low in her throat. "Well you know what,
Harrison? Now you know how I feel every time you ditch me so you can go fool a
woman in to loving you just long enough for you to get your use out of her.
Maybe you'll start to see my side of things now. Or would that be asking too
much? Hoping too much?"

Grabbing her jacket, she got up and went to
the door. "Get out the library is closing early today."

"You can't do that." he said,
standing his ground.

"The hell I freaking can't!" She
yelled, stomping over to him and grabbing his ear hard, leading him out the
door. Instead of leaving, she gave him a hard shove to make him stumble out,
then shut and locked the door, remaining in the library herself. Steaming from
their conversation and breathing heavy, she returned to her desk.

_______________________________________________________________________

She would be considered strange indeed if
anyone found out that when Molly Radcliffe was upset, she blasted the radio to
eighties music and tended to sing along to any sad song. "Oh mother, say a
prayer for me. Jesse's back in town and it won't be easy." Molly whispered
as the tune came on, turning on the warm water to fill up the sink. " near
me, don't let him touch me, don't let him please me."

Her voice started to follow the tune as she
swallowed hard to keep down her tears, plopping her dirty dishes in to the
sink.

"Jesse, I won't cut fresh flowers for
you. Jesse, I won't make the wine cold for you. Jesse, I won't change the
sheets for you. I won't put on cologne, I won't sit by the phone for you."

With a sigh and a sniffle of her nose, she
looked out of the window above the sink with daffadills on the sill. The sun
was sinking in the sky, making beautiful colors of her favorite scarlet,
orange, deep reds and purples. A romancer's sky, as she normally would have put
it. But now it was just depressing.

"Annie, keep reminding me that he cut
out my heart like a paper doll."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Sally, tell
me once again how he set me up just to watch him fall."

She grabbed tissues and put them to good
use while the chorus repeated itself. Throwing the tissues away, she went back
to her work of the dishes. "Jesse, come here quick. I won't tell a soul,
not even myself. Jesse, that you've come back to me."

An unexpected stab shot through her heart
that took her by surprise. Her tone went in to a whisper again, physical pain
suddenly washing in to her chest. "Mmy fffriends will all say 'She's
gone again'. But how can anyone know what you are to me? That I'm in heaven
again because you..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes glazing over in
paralyzing thought.

"Jesse, I'll always cut fresh flowers
for you and Jesse, I'll always make the wine cold for you. Jesse, I'll easily
change my mind about you and put on cologne and sit by the phone for
you..."