The Gravity of Love (16 page)

"I was teasing, Molls. Trust me, I
rather not know or be able to see it. Speaking of which,"

She decided to cut him off before he could
go in to his speech about public displays of affection. "How is your ear?
What did the doctor say?"

"He said it's healing just fine
without any signs of affection."

Molly threw her head back and laughed hard.
"That's infection, dummy!"

Harrison shook his head. "That's what
I said!"

"No, no you said affection. I didn't
think you're stitches would be giving you that, because I thought that's what
Candice was here for...but hey, whatever works for you, right?"

Harrison sighed grumpily, shaking off her
swinging hands and going to the truck of the truck, taking out a large water
cooler. "Filled with lots of liquids one trip to the hospital in a day
is plenty enough for me." He commented, walking it towards the table that Molly
had set up already. "So, when is Dave coming?"

"Dan. His name is Dan. Harry, are you
sure you're alright?"

He offered a wry grin. "I haven't
slept in four days, leave me be."

"Well why the hell haven't you?"
Her eyes grew wide. "Wait, do I want to know?"

He shook his head. "No, but not for
any of the reasons that you might have in mind."

"Then what?"

He shrugged. "Like I said, you don't
really want to know."

She was curious, but left it at that and
allowed his privacy. It didn't matter much anyway he told her everything
sooner or later.

Just as she helped him set down the heavy
water cooler, another car pulled up this time, it was Marty and Molly's
Marty and her brother had arrived.

"Okay, it looks like we got everyone
here." Ephram grinned, rubbing his hands together with eagerness.

Marty got out of the car and ran to Molly.
"This is going to be so much fun!" She squealed in excitement, then
waited until her brother came out of the car.

"Holy hell." Molly heard Harrison
say under his breath when Dan Lewison came in to view. Molly was surprised
herself.

Dan had long curly blonde hair and a strong
jaw line, resembling Ephram eerily. Their heights matched almost to perfection.
But Dan had dark, brooding brown eyes and a scruffy beard, resulted from a week
of no shaving. Dan was also bigger in width his shoulders were wide, as was
his chest, showing muscular from the tight shirt he wore.

"I don't know Molls...I think Marty
set you up with the wrong relative." Harrison teased.

She hid her laugh, slapping his shoulder
but still looking on to the new comer.

Marty stood off to the side of them,
looking very proud. "You should meet the others my whole family is full
of curly blonde top cuties."

"Cuties? No Marty, that's not cute.
That's...a whole different field." Molly said, struggling to remain a
straight face for the sake of Ephram, if he saw her.

Josiah came walking up to them from behind,
placing a hand on Molly's shoulder and Harrison's. "I don't know Molly, I
think Marty set you up"

"Hey!" Molly silenced him, her
eyes going wide in surprise while Harrison burst out in laughter, eyeing Molly.

"See? What did I tell you?"

"I'm not leaving Ephram from Dan,
Harry!" She said, but it was a little too loud, seeing that the two men just
mentioned had stopped in their reunion to look at her with great interest.

Her ears flamed red, as did her cheeks.
Turning to Harrison, she glared at him.

"The death glare just isn't the same
if you're trying to stop yourself from laughing, Badger." Harrison
remarked with that charming grin he had on all too much.

Badger another one of the too many
nicknames that he used to call her. Badgers had horrible short tempers and
usually fussed and made strange straggling noises to show it, and somehow, Harrison
always thought that this was in relation to his best friend. Well, Molly
thought the opposite Harrison, with all his grumbling he did when he was
ticked off, should be the badger.

But none of this mattered at such a time.

Redeeming herself, she walked up to Ephram
and offered a kiss, then laid her head upon his shoulder, holding him tight and
glaring at Harry.

"Don't push her anymore you never
know what lengths she'll go to just to prove you wrong." Josiah commented,
never one for public displays of affection either.

Marty shook her head, finished with all of
this and eager to get on with the show. "Hey Dan, over here. These two
knuckleheads are Joe and Harrison. That's Molls with Eph.

Everyone, that's my brother Dan, the man
Molly won't be dumping Ephram for. Every one good now? Good let's move
on."

_______________________________________________________________________

The four men surveyed the different
tractors, looking at them closely with a cup of lemonade in their hands.

After he was done, Ephram turned to
Harrison and offered his hand. "Before this starts, I'd just like to thank
you for taking this time out of your very important lazy day to be humiliated.
It's means a lot, thank you."

Harrison smirked with a nod. "We'll
just see who gets humiliated."

"Yes, yes I suppose we will."

Dan leaned over to Josiah as he stared at
the other two men. "So what's going on between them that has them
competing?" He asked.

Josiah pointed to the auburn haired woman,
smiling at something her friend was saying. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes,
he said, "Over her."

"Uh...Molly's her name, right? What's
so special to them with her?"

"Ephram is dating her, Harrison's her
best friend that used to really disapprove of Ephram. But they sorted things
out in a jail cell and lately, they've just been pretty much like this. It's a
great improvement to my ears, at least."

Dan smirked, taking a seat on his tractor
and putting the key in to the ignition. "Well, are we going to start this
or what?" He said to everyone, then looked back to Josiah. "Don't
those two know that it's not good to delay trying to win the girl? You do it
and get it over with so the winner can brag for that much longer."

"You think that's what they're doing?
Competing over Molly?"

"What other twenty nine year old men
do you know who take a Saturday out of their laid back routines so they can
drag race lawnmowers? I just talked to Ephram two weeks ago and he said this
plot of land wasn't a concern to him in the near future. I do believe he meant
more than two weeks when he said near future. It's my judgment that this grass
could be let along for a while longer without the council coming after him
and I know I'm on the city council."

Josiah grinned wickedly. "Well then,
in that case, this indeed should be quite interesting..."

_______________________________________________________________________

Dan was the first to finish his land plot,
but neither Harrison or Ephram seemed to notice. Not much for a race that really
didn't involve him much, Dan got off the tractor and pulled out the grill,
starting to make steaks for the girls, who were sitting in lawn chairs and
watching the progress.

Half way through, Josiah grew tired and
gave up, abandoning his tractor somewhere in the middle of his slightly over
half an acre plot. His nose led him to Dan's side with a plate in his hand and
eyeing up the cold lemonade.

"It's not freaking worth it, man. I
don't do this kind of work on Saturday mornings unless I'm getting heftily
paid, let alone not doing it means free steaks."

Marty laughed, pushing him out of line with
her hip and showing her brother the empty plate in her hands. "Danny boy,
serve me up one first like the good ol' days?" She asked in such a sweet
tone, neither Molly or Josiah had ever heard it before. All for the price of
great feeling that you got the first steak of the grill.

Her batting eyelashes won her the goal and
she was soon seated and feasting before everyone else.

"Don't shove it down to fast, sis by
the looks of it, those two will be at some kind of competition all day and I
only have so many steaks."

And hell if it wasn't true. They were
sitting and eating, watching, reading magazines and they still weren't done. After
they had both mowed their plots at equal speed, they went to see who could
finish their half first of Josiah's plot.

It took longer than one would imagine a
race to take, and soon learned how boring this could be.

In the meantime though, Dan told them
stories of his childhood with Marty, as well as what's been happening lately to
ease their boredom of watching two green tractors circle land plots.

But at last, it did end, and the real race
of going full tractor speed from one point to another was to begin. Originally,
this was supposed to be for all four men, but Dan and Josiah had grown so lazy
from being filled with good food and cold beer that they rather continue
sitting in their chairs and comparing lifestyles.

Luckily, Harrison and Ephram hardly cared.
Molly got up to set up the start and ending lines while Marty inspected how
exact their start points were to each other.

And then the four moved their lawn chairs
to the ending line a full acre away from the starting point and their beloved
drink cooler that they had been getting so fondly attached to.

But the race started, and despite their
earlier boredom, this forced them to catch and hold their attention.

It was close, nose to nose, all the way.
But, it wasn't Harrison who was the winner, though he had been so sure. Molly
grimaced, knowing this would not end friendly.

Ephram grinned proudly over to his opponent
with satisfactory and pride. "Again, I say thank you for putting time out
of your day to humiliate yourself in public." Was his first congratulatory
words.

Harrison pointed a stiff finger in Ephram's
direction. "Do not start a hype war with me you will not win!"

Ephram acted as if he was surprised, like
he just realized he reigned victory over the tractor race. "And yet...I
just won on the last thing you promised I wouldn't. No Harry, I don't think
your worded threats have such impact upon anyone anymore."

Harrison growled and Molly was surprised
that he had let Ephram live with the nickname calling. In all the twenty five
years Molly had known Harrison, only she and his mother have ever been
permitted to call him Harry on occasion. Of course, there had been those pesky
school kids that just liked to tease him, but she hadn't seen one that wasn't
pummeled in to the cement.

Molly sighed as she saw Harrison's temper
start to bubble under his surface. "Come on guys, get off those and grab
the last two remaining steaks and a few cold drinks to cool your competitive
attitudes that boil under the hot sun."

Harrison and Ephram looked at each other
sheepishly for a moment before Ephram looked down at his girl friend, looking
quite embarrassed and a faint blush. "Uh...I'm not sure if we can get off,
let alone walk."

The four did little to stop their laughter
at the confession and instead of helping the sweaty, eager men, they walked
away and talked about how they should decide who among them gets to eat the
last two steaks.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison and Molly sat in the stiff rocking
chairs on the porch of their apartment building. It was a calm, cool night to
end their long warm day and things, for once, were quite peaceful between the
two friends.

Silence was allowed to slip easily between
them in a calming sensation as they stared up at the black sky. For a while, it
was that silence that sufficed nicely, but it didn't last forever.

Harrison switched his gaze from the diamond
stars and over to his friend, with conflicting emotions mixing in his eyes.

It took a moment to feel his intense,
focused gaze, but once she had noticed it, Molly looked over and met his eyes.

He swallowed with difficulty, searching her
whole face as worry welled in his inner eyes. "Hey...we're...we're okay,
right? I mean..." His voice trailed off. He meant that after all

they had been through lately, he still
wasn't sure but hoped to hell that he was right in his assessment.

She smiled sweetly at him, the warmth
spreading in to her eyes as she nodded to confirm his thoughts. "Yeah,
we're okay, Red."

He moved his chair closer to hers until he
could comfortably wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Good." He said
softly, returning his eyes to the full moon that illuminated all beneath it.

Molly laid her head on his shoulder with a
contented sigh.

_______________________________________________________________________

"When did Molly say she and Marty
would be home?" Josiah asked.

Harrison unlocked the door and they both filed
inside Marty's home, changing the location from meeting always at Molly's
place. "She wasn't sure. They're going grocery shopping and then to the
movie rental store, so there's no telling when they'll return."

Josiah shrugged and slid in to a seat on
the hot pink sofa, feeling just fine relaxing here in the meanwhile.

Harrison wasn't so easily able to just sit
while waiting for two girls for an unknown amount of time, let alone daring
something of his body to be caught on something of that extreme color. Instead,
he paced around, looking at pictures on side tables and gazing through books.

All was quiet and fine until Josiah
disappeared in the bathroom, then a few minutes later came back out with
dripping wet hands and calling his friend's name.

"What? Any trouble you go in to while
in there, I don't want to know." Harrison said, putting up his hands and
looking away.

"I'm not the one in trouble...but
Marty may be."

Harrison squinted an eye, debating upon the
idea of indulging on this fact or running away from it. But Josiah looked
genuinely alarmed, and anything that could have Marty, or Molly in relation, in
danger was worth at least a glance.

Once the two were gathered in the bathroom,
Josiah led them towards the sink and pointed down at the waste basket that was
right beside it. Instantly, Harrison knew what had riled Josiah's senses on
top of tissues and such, laid a pregnancy test.

He was instantly sent in to a temporary
shock at just the fact that Marty might need one. He was sent somewhere along
the lines of wrinkling his nose in disgust at the thought and worried that no
one has told him of any boyfriend's of Marty's lately another part of the
girl's lives set apart from him? Usually they allowed him to be introduced to
their guy before committing, comforted by his great ability to judge character.
But then again..Molly hadn't let him meet Ephram for too long and was
definitely dating him for a while before Harrison even set sights on the man.

"Since when have we been pushed so out
of the loop?"

Josiah knew exactly what Harrison had been
thinking and nodded in agreement.

Just then the door opened and Marty came
walking in, Molly not there with her.

Harrison quickly grabbed the lip of the trash
can and carried the whole thing out, shoving it under Marty's nose just as she
had been heading towards the kitchen with two bags of groceries in her arms.
Josiah immediately took the bags, worried if they were too heavy for her in her
current condition.

"What the hell is this?" Harrison
snapped angrily.

Marty looked in, apparently shocked.
"Depends what the hell are you doing with my bathroom trash can?"

"Apparently discovering the fact that
you had to take a pregnancy test for reasons that are quite beyond us, seeing
that we didn't even know you were seeing anyone!"

Marty looked at them with a palate of
emotions, ranging from horror, disgust, and fury that, up until this moment,
Harrison had only ever seen in the eyes of Molly. "You have no right to be
digging in my trash!" She yelled grabbing the waste basket away from him.

"We weren't Joe went to the bathroom
and happened to see it."

"And now you expect me to
explain?" She kept her tone curt.

"Yes, actually. Does Molly know?"

"Know what? There is nothing to know!
I don't have a boyfriend and that pregnancy test is not mine! God, it's just
like the two of you to start jumping to conclusions and creating insane
theories before having even the slightest proof that anything you say might be
true."

"So it's not yours? Then...who's is
it?"

Marty's eyes started to flash, searching
around her for an answer before throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm
sorry guys, but I don't have permission to tell you. In fact, I've been forbad
to say a word to anyone but especially you, Harrison."

Josiah and Harrison looked at each other,
eyes as wide as saucers as they both reached the same conclusion at the same
time. "Oh damn." Harrison mouthed, a tremble going down his spine.

Joe put his hand on Harrison's shoulder.
"You know what, Marty...you're right. It was wrong of us to assume. I
think we'll just walk around the block until Molly arrives. Where is she, by
the way?"

"Oh...she's a little upset right now
over...uh...random...things. Yeah. She's going to the video store herself, but
she may be a while. I'd say...an hour maybe? Probably an hour at the
most." Marty's words and thoughts were scattered from knowing of Harrison
and Josiah's discovery and they all knew it, which only put Harrison in a worse
position.

"Okay good. Come on, Red."

The two quickly shuffled out of the
apartment and down to a back alley where the two saw it safe to talk.

"Oh my God." Harrison breathed,
for a moment it was the only thing he could get out. Swallowing hard, he tried
again. "Molly. Molly took the test. Molly's..." He closed his eyes,
his breathing shallow. "My Molly...she's...God, she's supposed to be my
little Molly. She's not supposed to have this happen to me. To her. No..."

"You kind of sound like her dad,
Harrison you better watch it. I mean, you're little Molly?"

"I've known her since she was
four!" Harrison shouted, his temper very short. "She's not an adult
in my eyes, she never has been. But she has always been mine. Mine."

Josiah looked at him in unmasked interest. "Harrison...what
are you saying?"

Harrison made a strangled noise from his
throat, looking skyward and throwing his hands in the air. "No!"
Harrison roared. "My God, Joe no! Not anything like that! Molly's my
best friend I've known her for life. But if she has a baby? Oh...Joe, I can
only imagine the most conceivable thing that would happen. We'd lose each
other. She'd be gone to me.

I wouldn't know her anymore. Already she's
been trying to move out of the apartment. If Ephram takes responsibility of Molly
which I will have to make him, no matter the consequences, he'll take her
from the apartment and move her somewhere else."

"Well, he'd take her only to his
place, most likely."

"Which is still across town a big
difference to being one floor below me. Not to mention, if I know anything
about Molly, she'd want to go far. She'd want to explore and settle somewhere
where she feels she could begin a new life. Which could also cause great
problems for Ephram because of his restaurant...Joe, it'll be hell. And further
more...I'll...I'll die. Molly needs so much more than to get pregnant by a man
who won't stay with her. She deserves more than just a stupid job at a high
school that she's never liked anyway.

She should be showcasing her talents in the
greatest courts in America, being claimed to be one of the greatest lawyers
there has ever been. She should have a resume of a mile long and Yale should
definitely be near the top. Or Harvard she should have gotten my place in
Harvard Lord knows she deserved it." Harrison shook his head in
grieving.

Josiah couldn't help but look at his friend
in surprise. He had never seen him lose it before, especially over Molly. Never
had his emotions been so raw or exposed.

Harrison stared at him, slowly his emotions
went back to retreating behind their tall walls. "I'm sorry, man. I don't
mean to flip out on you. It's just...I don't know. I really hate that this
happened like this."

"Yeah, I get it. Totally. But...how
are you planning to confront her? I mean, if she is pregnant now...well she'll
have to tell you sooner or later. It's inevitable and it's only a matter of
time before she starts to show her pregnancy."

Harrison shook his head, walking up to the
brick walling of the next house. He placed his palms on either side of his
head, resting his forehead against the rough texture.

He stayed that way, slowly breathing deep
breaths, until all was back in check. With a straight yet solemn face, he
nodded curtly at Josiah, then led the way in to a silent walk, needing to get
out all the extra energy that he now possessed in him.

_______________________________________________________________________

"I don't know...it's been over two
weeks now and she hasn't said a word." Josiah said, pacing Harrison's
apartment.

Harrison let out a low growl and flashed
his friend an angry glare. "I don't think she's planning on telling me
until she absolutely has to. That would be a very Molly thing for her to do.
Especially to me."

"Why especially to you?"

"Because...because she thinks I hold
her up on a pedestal, even though I don't usually treat her as someone her
age."

"...Do you?"

Harrison rolled his eyes. "Of course!
I've always have. It's one of those...those subconscious things, you know? She
picked up on it a very long time ago. But she also does the same for me. Point
is, when we make mistakes, unless we can't get out of them or deal with them
ourselves, we keep those mistakes from each other. You know, so the other
doesn't start to think that they're holding up their friend too high and
perhaps, they're friends with only a mere mortal who really shouldn't be up on
a pedestal to begin with."

"...Okay." Josiah said blankly.
"Is that true? Do you think less of her now and have taken her off the
pedestal in your eyes because of this?"

Harrison shook his head. "Of course
not. But she wouldn't tell me when she got a fender bender. Or when she broke
her favorite lamp that I gave her. Or when her pet cat that I hate with a
passion had escaped one night because she left the door open. Anything she does
wrong, she hides, even when she knows I'll eventually find out. And in the
past, all those things have been minor. But having a baby? Good Lord..."

"Well...what are you going to
do?"

Harrison shrugged. "I think I'm going
to ignore it."

Josiah looked surprised. "You're going
to let her just not tell you?"

"Well, like you said. It's not quite
something you can really hide forever."

"True. But what if she decides to
leave before she shows? What will you do then?"

"That would be going to the extremes.
If she tried to leave, I'd confront her."

"But for now...?"

"For now we don't speak of it."

"And you think you can handle not
having this confirmed or the fact that she's hiding something so big from
you?"

Harrison shook his head. "No, I won't be
able to handle it. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to for
Molls."

"Okay, so we don't ask Molly. Neither
of us. Pact."

Harrison and Josiah both solemnly shook on
this, entering them in to silence for a few minutes until Harrison side glanced
over to Joe.

"Uh...hey, what about questioning
Ephram?"

It was clear that Josiah had been thinking
the same thing. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he nodded. "Nothing
wrong with that."

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison tapped his fingertip in the table
with a mature of impatience and nervousness, a steak menu in his other hand.

Josiah simply stared at Harrison, aware of
how rare it was to see Harrison totally on edge and his insides so exposed. If
it hadn't been about such a serious subject, he might have enjoyed the display.

"I think I'll get the steak with a
side of grilled mushrooms." Josiah muttered to himself. "And a hefty
beer."

Harrison grunted. "I doubt we'll be
staying long enough to order that, let alone eat it."

Josiah's empty stomach groaned in protest
but he said nothing, trying to be, for once in his life, the smart one and go
along with the flow.

"Sorry it took so long, sirs, we are
quite packed. What can I get you for starters?" An attractive waitress
dressed in mostly tight black asked them, a pen already poised over her
notepad.

"Actually, we were hoping we could see
Ephram Vinick immediately. It's quite an emergency, so as soon as he can get
away...can you send him over?"

"Oh...uh..." The waitress looked
momentarily flustered, wondering if she was allowed to do such. "I...I
suppose I could do that. Who may I say wants him?"

There was just enough interest in her eyes
to make Josiah wonder if this woman wanted his name for Ephram's sake...or for hers.

"Harrison Redford." Red replied
with a flash of a grin.

The waitress looked like she was going to
melt from that gesture, so she quickly turned and walked back to the kitchen.

"Well, if everything falls apart with
Ephram, you at least have a chance to walk out of here with a new
girlfriend...quite nice looking one too." Joe said with a sly look.