The Gravity of Love (11 page)

Molly dried her hands from the wash water
and took a deep breath, wondering why it felt like the walls of her chest were
caving in and her mind going numb, as if the only thing she could do was to
sing the song and work on her breathing, like it wouldn't happen on its own.
"Jesse, lets open the wine and drink to a heart that has a will of its
own. My friends, lets comfort them, they think I sunk so low..."

"Who's Jesse and should I be
concerned?"

Molly gasped, spinning around quickly to
see Ephram leaning in the door jam with a good natured smile on his lips.

She breathed in from her surprise, then
wiped her cheeks dry with the backs of her hands. Turning her back to him, she
grabbed another tissue to drain her current sorrows in to and be rid of them.

"Are you all right, Molls?"
Ephram asked, his voice suddenly full of concern.

She laughed lightly. She had meant for
something more convincing, but it was asking too much of her lungs. "No,
I'm fine. It's just...I don't know. That song always seems to get me."

He raised an eyebrow in interest but didn't
pursue the subject any further, seeing the impact it had on her.

"Are you ready to go or would you like
to skip it?" He asked instead.

"Oh God, time seems to have slipped
right by me. How about you sit on the sofa and I'll go get dressed?" She
said, pointing to her sofa as she hurried off to her bedroom in the back,
feeling guilty that she felt relief in having a distraction to get away from
him for a moment.

Throwing open the doors of her closet, she
gave it a quick glance before reaching for her silky black dress that fell just
above the knee and the neckline just low enough to showcase a pretty necklace
on a delicate but sore throat.

She grabbed some nylons from her drawer and
laid it all out on the bed. "Breath. In, out. Breath." She whispered,
clearing her mind from previous thoughts, then undressing and dressing back up
in what she had picked out. She slipped on a pair of four inch black high heels
on her way to her dresser top, taking two simple gold hoop earrings and putting
them in to her ears. Searching through necklaces, her hands stopped and hovered
over her heart shaped jewelry box. She stared at the circular shaped diamond
that hung beautifully from a glistening silver chain. A smile came to her lips
in sub consciousness as her mind traveled back to her nineteenth birthday. It
was the day that Harrison left for the military. She had left her amazing party
to go sit on the curb of the sidewalk, tears falling like her body thought the
world was in desperate need of another river at that very moment.

Her heart had never ached so. She had only
tried to imagine life without Harrison for the first time since she could
recite her alphabet and it had set her whole body in flames of pain.

But Harrison had walked up behind her
without a word. Stood there for a moment surveying the situation as he often
did, then sat beside her. Engulfed her in the biggest bear hug he had given her
since she broke her arm in three different places when they were fourteen and
the doctor wasn't sure if she'd regain all her arm motion back again. It was
her writing hand and she would need that to go through all the years in college
it would take to be a lawyer. She had cried all in to the night in the lonely
hospital and Harrison had sat on her bed with her, kept her in his embrace and
soothed her worries.

But this time, he hadn't had all night to
sooth any worries. He had to leave, with no guarantee he'd be coming home with
his life. Instead, he took a black box out of his pocket and placed it in her
tender, trembling hands. But she had been shaking so badly, she couldn't get
the snap lid open. He helped her, let her see it, then attached it around her
neck and kissed her cheek for a moment. After that, she hadn't taken the
necklace off for anything not for shower or sleep. Because of this, she had
sobbed for hours when her chain snapped one day after three weeks of turning
her skin a strange color. It had been during the whole five days where they had
lost track of Harrison's team and counted them missing in action. Hell on
earth, surely.

But when Harrison did come back, he must
have known that she would take the necklace with her everywhere until it broke
because in his military uniform pocket, was a new silver chain, even better
than the first.

She hadn't seen it in so long, but now it
was right underneath her hands.

"You okay, Molly?" She heard
Ephram yell in from his sofa spot.

It was no time for more memories, but she
couldn't seem to get her eyes off of it. Instead, she took it out of its box
and clasped it around her neck. With a swipe of pale red lipstick on her lips,
she was ready and walking out the door. Picking up her black leather jacket
from by the door, she stood in front of Ephram. "Ready." She
announced proudly.

He nodded in approval. "So I see! You
look very beautiful, Molly Radcliffe." He stood and offered his arm. After
wrapping her arm around his securely, they headed down to his car and drove to
the restaurant.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly and Ephram walked in to the
restaurant, just to see Marty, Joe and Harrison already sitting there with
drinks and patiently waiting.

"Oh, here they are!" Marty said
happily, waving them over. Harrison looked over his shoulder, just to be met
with an unpleasant surprise Molly hanging off the arm of that damn boyfriend
of hers with the stupid, girlie name. Ephram Vinick...what kind of name was
that anyway? It was a stupid one. Yeah, maybe that was it. The first time Molly
goes to date and she picks a guy with a name that sounded idiotic. That's why
he was mad, of course!

Yet something inside still bothered him,
sending off signals that in all realization, that was far from being 'it'.

Molly sat straight across from him, Ephram
sitting diagonally to his left. Marty's eyes lit at the beauty beside her,
wearing the black dress that always flattered her body. Harrison tried to look
away, but when he went to, something caught his eye. She was wearing his
necklace. The important necklace that she had so loved. Had she even worn it
since the he had come back over four years ago? Why would she be wearing it now
on a date with another man? It hardly made sense, but lately, most things
dealing with that complicated woman didn't make much sense in his mind. Not
that anyone could help out with that Josiah usually remained pretty damn
clueless on anything that went on with the girls, and

Marty was a closed book when it came to
Molly's secrets.

But as much as his best friend was a
mystery to him at the moment, the man in front of him resembled more of a giant
question mark instead of a human man or even as Molly's date. A question mark.
It didn't exactly put a man like Harrison at ease with the situation.

And it certainly didn't put the situation
at easy when, instead of receiving menus after another round of drinks, Ephram
Vinick got up from his chair, bending down to kiss Molly's cheek. "Come
back in five minutes I got to get things heated up first." He mumbled to
her in a soothing, smooth voice, then walked away.

"What the hell was that?"
Harrison had to say.

When Molly's eyes met his, he saw she was still
burning in her fury for him. He also saw her eyes were a bit puffy and blood
shot. Had she been crying? His heart cracked a little just at the idea.

"I'm sorry, did you want a proper
introduction? I'm sure it can be arranged as soon as he gets back."

Harrison looked around at his surroundings.
"What the hell is this place? I mean...where the hell did you bring me,
Marty?"

Molly rolled her eyes in impatience.
"Would you stop with all your swearing? It gets a little old when you say
the same thing over and over again, Harrison. You're at the Roll and

Barrel Restaurant. No, you've never been
here before. Only Marty has. But it's a great restaurant and your food will be
amazing, I know that for a fact."

"How do you know if you've never been
here before?" He questioned.

She sighed, running her fingers through her
mane of auburn, shiny curls. "Because Harry, Ephram is the Head Chef here.
This is his place. And I know how good the food is because he cooked me food in
his house already. And he's personally making all of our food. I gave him tips
on what we all like, so you'll get something in your taste range don't be
scared, no fish eggs for you. We all know caviar and nice things aren't your
style."

He looked at her with a bizarre face.
"What is wrong with you? What do you mean caviar and nice things aren't my
style?"

"They aren't. You only like what you
have had for all your life no change. You live like you are still eighteen,
with a little hole in a building for a home and hardly anything in it, driving in
a truck that's been eaten alive by rust. You can afford things and yet you
don't because that just wouldn't be your style. You'll remain a bachelor
forever and you just don't damn care."

With the end of that outburst and without
giving him time to remark upon that, she threw down her cloth napkin that had
been resting on her lap and stood up, shoving in her seat and stomping away,
the heels of her shoes clicking on the tile floor.

Harrison looked dumbstruck for a moment,
his eyes locked on her retreating form until in disappeared through the doors
of the kitchen. Then he stared at Marty and Joe.

"You two, start helping me out here.
What the hell was that about?"

But Josiah had a similar look on his face
as Harrison had. He didn't understand a word and he wasn't sure if he dared to
even try. So Harrison skipped him and looked onwards to Marty.

"You?"

She shook her head with blank eyes.
"Molly's just going through a lot right now. Things are really messed up
for her and it's all a big rough patch. Give her time to cool down and she
will. And dammit, Harrison give her a little space. You're smothering her and
her temper is like a firecracker on ADHD it spirts like hell for a bit, then
forgets what it's doing and fizzes out. That doesn't mean that the fire didn't
just get closer to the explosion and that you won't have to deal with the real
temper later."

Harrison blinked. "I just wanted to
know the root of what she was talking about. Because there's something going on
with her that I have no clue about and that never happened before. I don't
need a speech on firecrackers on any kind of ADD."

He said, then leaned back in his chair with
his head tipped back, resting his eyes until this Ephram got back for Molly to
give them a 'proper introduction'. With her mood, he just couldn't jolly wait.

A smirk had to appear on his lips at that,
though. Even in his thoughts he was getting overly sarcastic.

_______________________________________________________________________

When Harrison opened his eyes, he saw a mop
of curly blonde hair belonging to a familiar looking man, looking directly down
to him. "What the...?"

"You fell asleep in my restaurant.
That doesn't make a good impression for me." Ephram said.

Harrison blinked a few times, groggy from
the wonderful sleep he wanted to go back to. "Like I give a damn? I'm
tired."

Instead of answering, Molly claimed her
boyfriend's lips, then slanted a look over to Harrison. The look was sharp and
direct, letting him know that she wanted no trouble from him.

He gritted his teeth and fire sputtered out
of his struggling to be calm eyes, but he said nothing, just went along
with it.

"The food will be out momentarily,
everyone. The other cooks are just putting on the finishing touches."
Ephram announced to the table as he took his seat, then locked eyes with
Harrison. "Hello Harrison. I don't think we've had the pleasure to have
you here before. Come, I'll show you around."

"Yeah thanks, but no thanks. I'm good
sitting right here." But just one angry glance from Molly sent him
standing from his chair. "On the other hand..." Ephram grinned.
"Good, good. Come along, then."

Harrison kept in step with this new guy,
figuring he might as well survey and check out who his best friend was dating
while he had the close opportunity.

"So, Molls has quite the way of
getting you to do something, doesn't she?" Ephram asked with a proud
smile. It infuriated Harrison more. He really did not like this guy.

"Yeah, I guess. It's either do it or
hear about it for the rest of your life. I usually opt for whatever is the most
quiet." He replied.

Ephram looked back at the table to see it
over half a room away. They had walked in to a corner, near a big screen tv by
a bar. "Look, I know what's going on with you." He started. "I know
you hate me. I know you don't like Molly dating and you think I'm little more
than scum. Maybe less. I know you're really judgmental about anyone when it
comes to Molly and you know, I understand that. I get it. I actually respect
it, in fact. But you can stop it now, because it gets old and it gets
offensive. So stop. Leave her alone. I'm a good guy. I won't hurt her. Molly
and I can take it from here."