The Gravity of Love (15 page)

But that could be changed. It could stop.
She knew the reasons she knew their lives were crashing down and their
relationship was hurting because of it. She knew it was fixable they'd find
other outlets they could help each other. They could stop being so stubborn
and start sharing their thoughts like they always used to.

But nothing was being done while she sat up
here. All she would do is fester on her anger and rethink about getting back
with Harrison and make her stubborn walls to reach sky high.

So she had to leave.

But just as she started to pack up, she
remembered what was missing here where was Ephram? In all of her lists and
day dreamings, she had forgotten about him meeting up with her.

Worried, she tried to call him, but it went
right to his voice mail. So she went to Marty. "Do you know where Ephram
is? He never showed."

Marty cleared her throat, hesitating.
"Yeah, uh he had some kind of problem and wasn't able to make it today.
Partly my fault I didn't know he was supposed to meet you today until it was
too late. I'm sure he'd like to explain his...his...difficulties himself. You
want me to drive up and get you?"

"No, I'll just take a bus there's a
station about a mile away and my suitcases are light. I'll be home by nightfall
make sure Harrison is still awake when I get there."

"Will do. Have a safe trip,
Molls."

Molly looked around the cabin, then started
to hurry and pack, wanting to make home before midnight.

_______________________________________________________________________

Josiah looked over the two men, shaking his
head in distaste. "That's all you could do for yourselves? You still look
horrid. Well Harrison, you always do, but"

Harrison's hand gathered in to a fist in
teasing warning, then looked at his face in the mirror. His cheekbone was
painted a variety of colors in bruised flesh. His lip was split, his earlobe
sporting three stitches. An array of little cuts and bruises took care of the
rest. And Ephram had a look very similar. Molly would have to be worse than
blind to not notice. Even Josiah had a black eye and a bruised cheek opposite
of his darkened eye.

"You could say you were in a car
accident. Then she's sympathize instead of giving you another pounding."

Harrison shook his head, looking skyward.
"No genius, then we'd need a wrecked car."

"A friend's car then?"

"We're the only real friends that we
got. Sad, but it's quite the truth."

"Not to mention," Ephram chimed
in, "that we were all together we'd need a story of why Harrison and I
would ever hang out."

"Well, that's an impossible. You two
hate each other." Joe said.

Harrison shook his head. "You know, if
everyone would just learn to simply worship me, we wouldn't have these types of
problems."

"God, you're full of yourself."
Ephram rolled his eyes.

"And you're point is?"

Marty walked out in to the apartment
building hallway, looking ashamed of them all. "Moll's on her way home and
you three are what...arguing instead of cleaning up?"

"We did clean up." Ephram
groaned.

"That's what you look like afterwards?
Good thing I didn't see you at the bar."

Josiah cringed at the memory of flying blood.
"Yeah, that was just nasty."

"Pansy." Harrison whispered under
his breath.

"Ass." Ephram whispered back.

"Best friend stealer."

"Jerk."

Harrison was working up another name when
Marty stopped them. "I suggest you get your act together and pretend that the
two of you are the best of friends and you'd never do anything like this to
each other ever again. Because Molly is in a good mood, and obviously, she's
ready to hand out forgiveness. But if you keep adding to her bad list, that
forgiveness will get backed up and move somewhere else."

A shudder ran through Harrison's body. What
she had just said was his greatest fear. Turning to Molly's boyfriend, he
grasped his hand and slapped Ephram's back. "We're good, bestest
buddy."

"Yep, real good." Ephram agreed.

Marty rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I
thought so." She said, then walked back in to her apartment.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly paid the taxi, then lugged her
suitcases loudly up the stairs. She was completely wiped out, tired to the bone
and dreaming only of her bed.

But when she saw Harrison at the end of her
hallway, she dropped her bags and ran to him, throwing her arms around him neck
and kissing his cheek. "I'm so sorry for being so difficult! I was being
stupid and I don't want to lose you."

Harrison pulled her away to look in her
eyes. "I'm sorry too. Does this mean you're going to stop screaming at
me?"

"Only if you promise to stop being a jerk.
If you're having problems, you talk to me. If you're going to yell, you're
going to get a slapping." She said, placing her palm lightly on his cheek
with a wink.

He rolled his eyes and hugged her.
"Whatever."

Molly looked confused suddenly, stepping back
and surveying her boyfriend at her left and Josiah at her right. "What
the...I leave for two days! What the hell happened to all of you?"

Ephram cleared his throat, looking at the
other two. "Uh...it's a long story."

"Does it have something to do with why
you didn't meet me at the cabin today..." She checked her watch and saw
that her hope to return before midnight had failed miserably. "I mean,
yesterday?"

Ephram grinned, wrapping his arm around
her. "As a matter of fact, it does."

_______________________________________________________________________

"Will you tell me what happened with
Harrison?"

It was just before the start of class, and
instead of hearing the chattering of children, Molly heard Candice Greybill's
voice fill her classroom.

Never one to come at a good time, Candice
was currently interfering in Molly's joyous relief on still having a job.
"Excuse me?"

"His face is all messed up, but every
time I ask him about it, he just gives me that charming smile with his eyes glittering
and he says nothing at all. So I come to you out of concern what
happened?"

Molly turned towards the backboard to hide
her smile and the roll of her eyes. Last night had been quite a night after Joe
had reencountered the past thirty or so hours. A little red mark right above
Harrison's mark hadn't come from Ephram, but after she had heard how the two
made up, a smear of lipstick had been left behind on his forehead as well. He
hadn't noticed it last night, just hoped he had before coming to school today.
If not, well...that might lead to an interesting story.

"He just got in to a little scuffle
again. It happens."

"With who?" Candice cried.

"Uh..." Molly hadn't quite
thought that far and therefore, she had no excuse to offer. She was forced to choke
up the truth. "My boyfriend while I was away. They just had a bit of a
disagreement and Harrison let out a swung...you know men."

She shook her head. "I don't know men
like that. Why did they fight? What made Harrison upset?"

"Oh God, Candice...everything makes
Harrison upset if it doesn't have to do with bowing down to him."

"But...but why did he lose it on this
occasion?"

Molly bit her lip it was getting harder
and harder to protect Harrison's reputation when she was suffering from severe
lack of sleep. "Candice, I really don't know. You'll have to ask
Harrison."

"You don't know? You didn't even ask
him?"

"You didn't."

"Because he won't tell me! But he'd
tell you. You're his closest friend he said so."

Molly grinned. "I was tired last
night. I made sure all three men were okay, then I went to bed. I'll find out
later if I'm still interested." She lied, then started writing the class
assignment on the board.

Candice sighed. "Thanks anyway."
She said softly, then walked out. Molly listened to the clicking of heels going
down the hallway before looking over at her adjoining door to see Marty's face
in the small window, smiling with pleasure of Candice's curiosity.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Ah, what I wouldn't give to have
heaven like this." Molly said with a smile, looking at Harrison, who was
relaxing with his feet propped up on his desk.

"Oh, but don't be fooled, my dear.
This isn't really an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting." He
replied with a smirk.

She laughed, sitting on the corner of his
desk and looking him over. "Well, you've had those nasty wounds for five
days...most seem to be healing well. When do you go back to the hospital for
them to check your stitches?"

"Tomorrow morning. Why?"

She stared at his injured ear to see it
healing nicely as she shrugged at his question. "As it so seems, Ephram
needs a little help with his lawn. His house sits on three acres all of that
three which haven't been mowed in a good deal of time. So I was just
wondering..."

"You were wondering if I would like to
spend my lazy Saturday doing something productive?"

She smiled brightly. "Hey, you got it!
Think you could spread the word to Joe too?"

Harrison flashed a look skywards.
"Yeah, he'll do it. What time do you want us to be there?"

"When do you get done from the
hospital?"

"Eleven o'clock, with any luck."

"Then get your sorry butts over to
Eph's around noontime. I think we'll add some fun."

"Now you've perked my interest, sweet
cheeks. What fun is being added to this?"

"Well, I thought we could have a race.
Who can finish their plot first, for starters. And then a real one still on
lawn mowers though. You bring your mowers and I'll bring the lemonade and lunch
and we'll just make a nice little day out of it without any physical
violence."

"As long as there's no rule against
verbal violence and word lashing before, during and after those races, it's a
deal."

She grabbed his hand and shook it with a
happy grin. "Deal."

_______________________________________________________________________

Ephram came from behind Molly, wrapping his
arms around her bended waist and kissed the back of her neck, avoiding the few
auburn curls that kept escaping from her pent up bun.

She looked up at him with a bright grin as
she laid out the lemonade and chips, which was what they were starting out
with.

"Do you think we have enough for six?
I mean, with your Harrison eating the way he does..."

Molly counted the people in her head,
looking confused at him. "There's only five of us." She corrected.

"No...oh, didn't Marty tell you? Her
oldest brother Dan is coming too. She was talking to him about what she was
doing today and he decided to come too."

"Oh wonderful! I've never met any of
Marty's family before!"

Ephram released his hold on her suddenly,
stepping back with playfulness in his eyes. With his hands on his waist, he
cocked an eyebrow. "And what am I? Chopped liver?"

Molly laughed, putting her arms lazily
around his middle and holding him tight to her while still gazing in to his
green eyes. "No, you certainly aren't. I don't date my food. Well, usually
not. There was this onetime..."

He gave her a quick kiss, ceasing her talk.
"In truth Molly, you're stories about you and Harrison when you were young
scare me enough. I don't need to hear about how you dated any kind of
food." He teased.

She wrinkled her nose, knowing she looked
cute doing it, as she thought up a reply. But she was too late, for a rusty old
truck pulled up in to the drive way. Her eyes lit upon seeing the new arrival.
"Harrison and Joe are here!" She squealed in delight, letting go of
her boyfriend to run to the parked truck.

She grabbed hold of Harrison's hands,
swinging them back and forth with hers between them. "I'm so glad you're
here." She said happily.

"Well, I'm glad to be here...for
now." He replied, looking over at Ephram.

She rolled her eyes with a shake of her
head, leaning her face closer to his. "No, you're going to behave today
Marty's brother is coming."

Harrison let out a deep groan. "Another
chef?"

She couldn't help but release a giggle.
"Yeah, another one of those."

"Well, as long as you promise not to
date this one too..."

"Hey now I've only dated one
chef!"

"But it's good dating, isn't it? It's
working." He pointed out.

"I don't fall for that, Harrison
Redford you're not tricking me in to telling you how things are going. If you
can't tell by looks, you don't need to know."