The Gravity of Love (12 page)

Whatever Harrison had been expecting this
new guy to say, it surely wasn't any of that. "Hmm...I see. Well
uh..." He dug in to his pockets and pulled something out. "I'll give
you this nice, shiny new quarter to make you go away."

Ephram just shook his head like he was
dealing with a little child. That ticked off Harrison even more.

"Look, I doubt we'll ever come to stop
not hating each other. Personally, it's in my nature. I've been with Molly
forever. I won't drop her now. And the other part of my nature? I pretty much
hate everybody. You seem to be the next on my list."

Ephram nodded. "Fine. See, I don't
care for myself. You could let me know all night that you hate my guts, but it
won't be you that's keeping me up at night. Because when it's all over, I'll
sleep good and well tonight, whether you hate me or not. I just couldn't get
myself to care if I wanted to. Not about someone like you. But I do care a lot
about Molly.

And I don't want to see her upset over some
idiot like you. And I won't let her see us clashing, whether we hate each other
or get along. So you keep that in mind."

Harrison yawned, blinking a few times and
looking over at Ephram. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you think I looked interested?
Because I'm really not." He said carelessly, then tried to walk away, but
Ephram grabbed his upper arm.

Harrison's eyes widened. No one grabbed his
arm when he was making an exit. Well, maybe Molly, but she was the exception
for near every rule he had. "What the hell, man?" He said angrily. It
seemed he was spending a lot of time dwelling with that emotion lately.

"I know you, you know. I know your
damn sarcastic attitude. I know your bad ass thing you got going your cold
exterior you show off and your walls that you keep up. Yeah, it's easy to see
you've had some pretty bad problems in your past, whatever they might be. But
man, those problems won't be anything compared to what you'll be dealing with
if you don't listen up to my rules. I'm the one with Molly now. I'm the one she
wants. So stop your whining about it and let us be for a while until she feels
like coming around to you. And you better not keep this up with me. And no,
none of this is a plea. It's a demand."

Harrison ripped his arm away from the grip
of the little spit ball named Ephram. Harrison was never one to let someone try
to humiliate and lower him and actually let them get away with it. So instead,
he looked right in to those green eyes under blond curls and laughed at him.
Laughed straight out. "Ha, that's great. Really rich. You actually think
you can threaten me." Harrison shook his head. "How wrong you are.
Now, if you would be so kind as to excuse me." He said with a mocking bow.
"Oh, and that great sarcasm you hear? It's only one of the many services I
offer. I got lots more like acting like the best Hollywood body guard to the
most richest actress if I need to be. Oh yeah, I'm damn good at that. I can
dress up as a body guard each Halloween and people think it's the real thing
after seeing a single punch to a guy that just really ticked me off. So hey,
stay the hell away from me. And no, that was not a plea. I don't do pleas. That
was a demand. Got it?" He said in all his sarcasm glory, trying to walk
away but wincing when his mind shot another good comeback that just had to slip
out of his mouth or he would have to wait for another opportunity to speak it
and he was never a patient man. Looking over his shoulder, he grinned. "By
the way you mentioned the whole mistrust thing with me? Good job there bro
proving that I shouldn't. Because you just completely validated my inherited
mistrust of strangers, stranger." There, it was out. He then took a breath
and walked calmly back to the table, each step painful from his insides all
twisted up tightly.

This was going to be one hell of a long
night for everyone.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison reclined in his hard chair with a
hard drink in his hand. He was trying to think of why he was so tired today. It
only took him about fifteen minutes to remember it was because he only had two
hours of shut eye last night just more proof that Molly's little secret life
was affecting him in too many bad ways. Already he had managed to tick her off,
fall asleep in a restaurant, make enemies with her boyfriend, get Marty very
suspicious of him and Josiah to flash him weird and strange looks whenever he could.
That list seemed way too long for tired ol' Harrison, who cared little about
the food they had come here to eat. But at least now, he'd remember to say no
instead of yes when Molly went around asking him with the sweetest of smiles on
if he'd kindly like to join her for dinner. She was a deceiver, alright. And
had learned every one of her tricks from him. At the moment, he wasn't sure if
he should be proud of her or curse himself, so he did both at the same time.

Finally, a team of waiters, being led by
Ephram, came out of the kitchen with trays balanced at the sides of their
heads.

Each server held one person's meal. The
four waiters behind Ephram made a half circle behind him as he bent down on one
knee and served Molly her food like she was royalty or something.

He went around to the others, serving them
differently, but just as equally special.

When it got to Harrison, the plate was
practically dropped in front of him like a dog.

"Uh, excuse me waiter." Harrison
said, holding up his index finger. "I don't want to be treated any less
than you would to the Queen of bloody England over there. I'm a paying
customer, after all. Serve me right."

He glowed in his work as he stared at
Ephram's reddening face. He wasn't sure which had done it the best that the
Head Chef was just called a lowly waiter, that he had mocked and publicly
embarrassed himself in front of his other customers, his own volume that made
his words heard to the other tables surrounding him, or perhaps calling him on
trying to show off to Molly. It didn't matter which, really just the fact
that the mission was accomplished.

Harrison looked around to see others
looking at him and noticed that Ephram saw them too.

Ephram's jaw went stiff as he clamped his
teeth together with a glare in to Harrison's eyes. He picked up the plate, then
set it down again a little more nicely.

Harrison played with the idea of making him
bow like he had to the girls, but decided against it, having good suspicion
that Ephram would forget all about his restaurant and attack like some savage
animal. No, he'd just save that for his imagination.

He offered a sly smirk to the Head Chef,
then turned to his meal. A big steak with a side of grilled mushrooms. In all
truth, it looked damn good. So without surveying the girls' faces to see their
disapproval of him, he dug in.

The dinner was going nice, very casual.
Harrison kept to his food and only listened, his ears tuning in like a fox's.

But he could only go so long without making
trouble. Dessert of hot fudge sundaes came and Harrison sloshed his spoon back
and forth in it until clearing his throat. "So uh, I was promised a proper
introduction to your boyfriend, Molly." He said.

Molly met his gaze in surprise. "Oh, I
thought that's what you were doing on your little walk."

He winked at Ephram. "Nope, not
quite."

"Well, okay. Harrison, this is my
boyfriend Ephram Vinick. Ephram, this is my best friend, Harrison Redford. He's
the principal at the school Marty and I work at. Ephram is the Head Chef here,
as you already know."

"How'd you meet this winner?"
Harrison asked, avoiding the gaze of the curly blond.

"Why, he's Marty's cousin. She was
good enough to introduce us."

Harrison looked sharply at Marty, his eyes
ablaze. "So, you don't know anything about Molly's new boyfriend except
his name is Ephram Vinick?" He snapped.

She shrugged. "I don't believe I
actually said that. I think I said that's all I could tell you."

"Why did you ask Marty?" Molly
asked and Harrison realized his mistake.

"There was a stranger that was holding
you at the party. I wanted to make sure he wasn't a freak or something, so I
asked her. Not that she was of any help at all..."

"Well, now you can be rest assured.
And thank you for caring I know it takes a lot to go do research on
someone."

It was a bit of a dig on his part, but he
excused it, not caring much. At least he had gotten away with what he was
protecting.

Ephram reached over and offered his hand.
"I hope we can become good friends, Harrison."

Molly glowed in approval, so Harrison had
to do it. He clasped hands with Ephram and grinned with a nod. "Me
too."

_______________________________________________________________________

"You should have heard him! He was
actually threatening me. Me! And he expected me to follow along with whatever
he wanted me to, despite the fact that he was a stranger to me yet and no one
threatens me to do anything."

"Except Molly." Josiah grinned.

It was after dinner and Josiah had been
forced to tag along with Harrison. He hadn't wanted to, knowing what he was in
for, but even though no one threatened Harrison, it didn't mean Harrison didn't
threaten anyone else.

"Well yeah, except her. She's allowed
to. But she's also the only person I allow it from. I don't tolerate this
boyfriend looking at her and thinking automatically, just because he's her
date, that he can do what she does. It's only Molly's privilege because she had
to put up with me for over twenty years."

"Yeah, and after all that, Molly at
least deserves that." Josiah hid a grin.

"Yeah, exactly hey! But it doesn't
matter that does not transfer to this stuck up new guy that I really don't
approve of. I mean, if he was trying to win my good graces, he missed by a
whole lot."

"Are you going to tell Molly about
this?"

"Oh, hell no. I can't. She can't know
that I care about this guy."

"And yet, I still don't understand
that stuff."

"Just...trust me. When we are involved
in each other's love lives, it gets very scary. And bad. Things turn very very bad.
Well, let's just say...the last time it happened, Molly and I didn't talk for
over a month."

"Wow...what happened?"

Harrison shrugged. "No idea. It
just...didn't go well. Too much disapproving and furious glares...a broken date
and a broken heart. It just went down very badly."

"Huh. You two are so weird
sometimes."

Harrison wondered if he'd have to say 'us
three' now that Ephram thought he was firmly on the inside.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly rubbed her sleepy eyes as her
slippered feet clappered on the floor as she made her way in to the main room.
Leaning over the back of the sofa, she swung her arm over and shook Ephram's
shoulder.

"Hey you." He said sleepy with a
grin. "Good morning."

"Oh no, it's way too early to be good
morning."

"You're right, it is. This time of day
is stupid. "

Molly laughed as her senses slowly started
to wake up. "Good Stupid."

He nodded. "Good stupid!" He
greeted, then rolled over and put his face in to the pillow again.

"Oh no you don't good morning or
good stupid, you're going to be awake for it." She said, walking to the
other side of the sofa.

"Oh really now?"

"That was our deal."

He thought back with a lazy grin as he
slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her down to give her an early
morning kiss. "I don't remember anything of the sort, babe."

Her brow knitted together, looking down at
him just inches away. "You don't remember how good I looked last night
then?"

"Oh hell no I remember that! Nothing
could get me to forget that."

"Oh good. Then you must remember the
plan about you going to school with me, yes?" She asked before kissing him
again.

"Mmm...yep. Yes, now I'm beginning to
remember..."

She laughed, slapping his shoulder.
"Get up, you silly boy. I can't be late for class."

She got off the sofa and walked in to the
kitchen, grabbing two cans of tomato juice and putting waffles in the toaster.
No time for fancy meals this morning.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison whistled as he walked down the
hall, ever grateful for lunch break that made the halls clear of students.

He turned in to Molly's classroom when he
stopped short in his step.

The classroom was overly full, students
standing against walls just to cram in, many not even Molly's students.

And speaking of Molly, she was not the one
teaching this overly full class. She was sitting beside her desk, looking up at
the one who was.

Ephram Vinick. Of course it would be him
he was going to be haunting Harrison's every footsteps from now on, he just
knew it.

His presence had disrupted the class focus,
something he felt strangely satisfied with. He inwardly groaned what was
wrong with him? He wondered if he was any better than the kids that were in
front of him.

"Did you want something, Red?"
Molly asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do."
He replied, staring at Ephram. "Would you join me in the hallway,
Radcliffe?"

Molly looked up at Ephram and nodded for
him to keep going with his speech, then she walked out, following Harrison's
footsteps.

"Do I want to know why you had to pull
me out of there?" She said in annoyance.

"All I asked was for you to come out
here you're already mad at me?"

She shrugged. "Sorry, it's starting to
become a habit...again."

Harrison inwardly cringed. The last time it
had become a habit was right before they stopped talking for those hellish two
months.

He stared at her for a moment, trying to
remain calm. "What's he doing here?"

"Ephram? He's teaching a class."

"Okay, he's teaching. Uh...great. So
if he's teaching in one of my classrooms with a bunch of my students...why was
I not informed beforehand?"

"I didn't think you'd care." She
said with an edge.

"Whether I care or not that he's
teaching a class is something all together different. I'm the principal, Molly.
I'm supposed to know what these students are learning so when an angry parent
calls up for some reason, as they have before, I can be prepared in response.
But it sure as hell don't look good when I have no idea what they're talking
about. This is my school. I'm supposed to know of any special changes before
they actually happen. I should not be walking in to your classroom to get such
a surprise."

"It's during lunch it's not
interrupting any of the normal classes." She countered.

"Yet, lunch is during school hours.
This class is during school hours. Which means it's part of school, Molly. And anything
apart of school is of my concern. Even after school, if there's students
gathered, I'm supposed to know and have approved it. That's what all the other
teachers do."

"But you know my judgment you don't
trust me now?" She asked, her temper flaring as the tips of her ears
turned bright red another one of her trademarks.

"It's not about trust, Molls! It's
about you taking advantage of our relationship! If you were at any other school
with a normal principal would you have pulled this?"

She straightened her body frame, a sign
that she was about to have to be embarrassed or relent. "No, I suppose I
wouldn't."

"Then don't do it here. Just because
we're friends doesn't mean the rules are able to bend for you. You know this. I
need to know what's going on in my school or I can't be in charge as
principal."

"And we all know how much you have to
be in charge at all times." She growled under her breath.

"Dammit Molls, it's not about that!
This is about our profession! I've always treated you like the amazing teacher
that you are. Now treat me like the principal I am."

She swallowed her temper that raged with
many inappropriate words and nodded instead. "Fine. I understand. Next
time I'll tell you beforehand. If you want to know, Ephram is telling about the
years he spent over in England and France, studying art and literature. I
thought it would be nice for the students to hear about it and maybe encourage
them to not only get really in to this, but to do something great with the
knowledge like Ephram did. I never did that kind of stuff, so I know I was
impressed. I suppose I just didn't think about telling you we only made the
plans very late last night."

Harrison masked his surprised look about
her last few words with a look of acceptance. "Okay, well now I
know."

"Can I go back to my class room
now?" She asked, her arms crossing.

He nodded. "Yeah, go on."

She curtsied in mockery. "Gee, thanks
so much, Principal Redford."

"It's not like I'm asking you to treat
me like a damn king, Molly"

"No, you just want Ephram to treat you
like that." She retorted as she started losing grip on her temper. Before
she could lose any more, she hurried back in to her room and sat in the chair
she had been before she left.

_______________________________________________________________________

There was a knock on the door. Harrison
looked up from his misery and anger to see Candice standing there. "Howdy,
stranger." She greeted, walking over and sitting on the edge of her dress,
the slit in her mid thigh length gray skirt sliding up.

She leaned in and kissed him softly, but
Harrison couldn't gather himself enough to kiss her back.

Unsettled suddenly, Candice surveyed him.
"What's wrong, hunny?" She asked.

He shook his head, running a hand through
his hair. "It's...nothing."

She hopped of his desk and walked behind
him, placing soft, warm hands on his shoulders and started to massage his
muscles. "It must be something, you're very stressed out.

And you look quite upset. Come, let me
help." She said, then placed a small kiss at the base of his ear while her
hands still worked.

"I just...Molly and I are fighting
again and I don't know how to make it stop. Or maybe I do know how, but I just
can't get myself to subject to that kind of torture. I want this thing between
her and I to stop but I just can't..." He shrugged against her healing
hands. "I don't know. I don't want to burden you with my stupid
problems."

"I don't think they're stupid. I think
they're hurting you and therefore, I'm concerned. Is there anything I could do
to help?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Well, if you do happen to think of
anything, I'm always right here." She laughed. "Well, maybe not right
here, but I'm always just a call away.

Keep me in mind, Harrison."

He nodded. "I surely will."

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly's temper festered. She had promised
Ephram that they could go out to eat together after school for his hard work,
but instead she ended up calling it off, her heart not in to it anymore.
Really, her heart ached as if it was on the verge of breaking. Or perhaps it
had already started to crack.

Instead of going out to eat, she headed
home. Dropping the sack full of tests on the sofa that were in need of grading,
she ignored her duties once again to go fall on to her bed. She had kept her
hurt all bottled up inside, but now, as she laid staring at the ceiling, she
allowed her tears to slowly start pouring out, on to her cheeks and in through
her hair. It was too much. Too much stress and too much hurt. It wasn't the
same as it used to and that was dangerous. She was scared. Scared that this
time, she'd lose her very best friend for good.

Last time, she had tried to help him with
his girlfriend and ended up becoming close friends with her the best. Marty
had gone away for the summer to spend time in France with her brother, so
having a new best friend was a godsend or at least she thought.

Nearing the end of August, Harrison broke
up with Katherine and shattered her heart. In retaliation, she had broken off
all contacts with Harrison including his best friend Molly.

She rid of it all, leaving Harrison to go
find a new date that was he perfectly happy with, and Molly with a broken heart
as well. They had a big fall out and didn't talk to each other for two months.
But at least there had been only one fight never had they had such a series
of arguments, disputes and constant hurt and anger. Especially when she didn't
know what was causing it. Harrison seemed like he was slipping away and that
made her lose her breath just at the thought; made her heart feel like it
was being slowly pried out of her chest. And oh God, it hurt. It hurt so badly
yet there was nothing she could do if she didn't understand why he was doing
this. He was closed up emotionally to her now another thing he had never done
to her before. Even if she begged him to talk to her like they used to, she
doubted he's allow her access to his thoughts.

She wondered what she had done to hurt him
so and to make him distrust her. He had said he thought she was living two
lives and one was completely secret to him. Dinner was supposed to help ease
him on that, but it hadn't, she knew. His thoroughly disapproved of her choice
of a date and found it hard to hide it.

Her stomach flipped, feeling nauseous from
her deep wounds.

She wanted her old Harrison back. They had
sworn they'd be the best of friends for life, but everyone knew that promises
of the such were easily broken all the time. Yet she thought, from the great
bond that they shared, they would be able to make it. Had she been so wrong?
Perhaps these types of misconceptions were why she stayed away from dating. But
what was she to do when her misconceptions were about the most important person
she had in her life? The one person she couldn't imagine living without?

She bit her lip, forcing herself to think
with her mind and not her heart. Maybe she could live without Harrison. Really,
why not? Wasn't he the one who inspired her to change her life? To turn it
around and make it something? Instead, she was laying in bed sobbing over some
one that acted like lately, he hardly cared.

Maybe they just needed a break from each
other. Everyone, at some point, needs a break from their loved ones. Maybe this
was just what they were going through something as simple as that.

So she'd go away. Maybe she'd take Ephram
with her and that way, Harrison wouldn't have to think about either of them.

She nodded, her tears slowing down. Maybe
this could be the answer. Maybe when she came back, they'd be all back together
and everything would be set right. That maybe
Harrison would miss her too much to keep her away.

That was a whole lot of maybes, yet it was
the only thing she had going for her. It was her last effort to make things
right. After that, she'd get on with her life and leave it up to
Harrison to start working on their problem.

Drying her cheeks, she sat up and took out
her shoe boz of places she wanted to go and started sorting through them,
dialing Ephram's number.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly felt better. She knew that Harrison
would be coming up to her and yelling about how she filed for vacation without
telling him in person as a friend, but she didn't care. It was the right thing
to do it was what she needed to do. And no matter what he said, she'd be
going. He would be too blind with his anger to see that it would be the best
for both of them if she left.