The Gravity of Love (3 page)

"If not, then it's a nastier word for
what you feel towards her. And you should she treats you like dirt. And that
woman who tries to walk all over you because she thinks she can, is now dating your
best friend and you can't help but blame yourself because hey, you're the one
who told him to solve it instead of stepping up and doing it yourself."
Molly glanced up at her friend with a look of horror. "Is that what you
think?" She asked in a whisper.

"Oh hell no. But I know that's what
you're thinking. And I know you're convincing yourself of those fine points. I
know that for a fact just as much as I can tell that there's a volcano building
up inside of you, bound to explode probably...quite soon."

Molly shook her head. "Nope. Nope, I'm
fine. No fuming for me. No explosions. No yelling at Harrison. I'm fine. Just
fine."

Marty's eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"O...kay. So what's up?"

Molly shrugged a shoulder. "I'm just
done with him. Let him do what he wants why should I hound him about
everything? I'm laid back. I'm cool. I get it. I have my own life to live
it's not fair to either of us to keep trying to help him. So I'm letting him
go. I hope he has fun with Candy Grey." She said.

Marty smirked at the name. Candy Grey had
been Candice's modeling name. "Sounds good to me." She said, handing
her friend a glass of red wine. "A toast?"

Molly grinned. "A toast. To new
outlooks and a new way of living."

Their glass flutes clinked together, then
the tv was clicked on, starting their laid back style immediately.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Seeing that Marty had forgotten to lock the door behind her, Harrison came
walking in. Marty laughed at the coincidence while Molly growled with a roll of
her eyes. Standing from the couch, she walked back to her bedroom without a
word.

"Uh...what's with her?" Harrison
asked Marty, who shook her head in pity.

"The blind will never be able to see
what's right in front of them." She noted, then fell back on to the sofa
and sprawled out her body, clicking the tv remote to a channel she wanted to
watch. Harrison shrugged, pacing back to the bedroom and knocking on the door.
"Hey Radcliffe, Joe and I are heading to the Cali boarder to go try out an
experiment and I was wondering if you wanted to go." He said through the
wood. He was getting used to talking through her doors.

"What kind of experiment are you to
nutheads trying out now?" He heard her ask.

"Well, Joe read somewhere that the
only thing you call throw out of the window on a Californian highway in a
moving car is chicken feathers and water. We called up his brother, who is
going through law school now, and he verified the fact, so we're going to see
if it works."

Molly rolled her eyes as she played with
the lamp switch that sat on her desk. "I've heard that one already. 'Of
course it's legal I've read every law book in Dad's library. It's totally
legal." She quoted.

Harrison squinted, trying to think back.
"...Wasn't that you?"

Molly laughed. "We both said it. Only
difference was, when I said it, I was right. When you said it, you were always
wrong. Just because you read all the laws doesn't mean they'll bow down and
bend for you. But no thanks, Harry. Just let me know when you go so I can get
the bail money from your drawer and so I don't make an fancy plans for that
night."

Harrison smirked. It was true he had
called Molly on occasion to do just that. It wasn't very good for his reputation,
true but all work and no fun led to a very boring life, which he was
determined to never partake in.

"Not this time, my friend. This time
it's legal. But alright then, more water and chicken feathers for me
then."

_______________________________________________________________________

"So she wouldn't come, huh?"
Josiah Jeffers asked, holding two sacks of chicken feathers with a few jugs of
water resting on the tops of his boots.

Harrison shook his head, his hands gripping
the steering wheel tighter. "She acts fine...but I think she's mad at me.
How am I to know though? She always gets difficult."

"Didn't you say that your dating that
Candy chick?" When Harrison confirmed this with a nod, he continued.
"Isn't that the same Candy Grey that we hear Molls and Marty talk about
sometimes? You know, that woman they can't stand?"

Harrison shrugged. "I don't know. I
can't keep up with all their chatter. And if she don't want me to date Candice,
why don't she just say so? Why did she ask me to fix the problem if she
wouldn't like the way I'd handle it? I mean really, would she have liked it
better if I went on the intercom and announced to the school that we weren't?
I'm sure she would have been oh so delighted!"

"You know how complicated women are.
Can't understand a single one of them. You must know that more than
anyone."

"Why? Because of my horribly infamous
dating habits?"

Josiah looked at his close friend in
amusement. "I was going to say because you've had to deal with Molly since
a year before you started kindergarten, but hey, that works too."

Harrison slowed his speed until he was at
thirty miles per hour. He had chosen a highway that had very little activity to
guarantee no one getting hurt while driving behind them. And then, they started
to pour out the jugs of water. At the same time, Josiah threw fistfuls of
feathers out the window, watching as they hit the road, wet with their water,
and stick fast to it under the baking sun.

"Shame we aren't allowed to let glue
out the window that might make it in to a comedic situation." Josiah
commented.

Harrison shook his head. "No way man
the idea here is to get away with throwing things out the window, not to get
glue all over my truck in the process. Contrary to popular belief, this is a
damn fine truck. And I like this truck of mine."

"It don't even make it up a steep hill
anymore. It's chicken enough to wear these feathers."

"Only if you're brave enough to risk
the fist in your face."

Josiah stopped after that, knowing fully what
it felt like to be on the receiving end of Harrison Redford's anger. Instead,
he threw the rest of the water out the window and started pouring out the
feather stack. It was almost empty when they saw the familiar glare of red and
blue lights, siren blaring in fury, directed at them.

_______________________________________________________________________

If Harrison was one to blush, he would be
doing so at this moment, watching in humiliation as Molly counted out the bills
and signed the release forms for her two stupid friends that couldn't seem to
stay out of trouble. And once she was through and the guard slid the cell door
open for the two to walk out, Molly simply turned her back and started walking
to her car without a word. Starting up the engine, she waited until they were
seated, Harrison in the passenger side and Josiah in the back, and then took
off.

At first, Harrison tried to enjoy her
silence. He ran his fingers along the window's edge, liking the feeling of the
blue material under his fingers. He remembered the day she had dragged him to
the car dealer to help her sign off for the car. A three year old Volkswagen
Jetta wasn't much, certainly not to his tastes at all, but she was in love with
it, that much was obvious. Her whole face was lit bright with her ecstatic
excitement. He gave her a bit of grief about it as they drove away in it, but
it all stopped with her explanation. "It's the exact same color as your
eyes." She had glowed. It made him grin the fact that she could love
such a car, just for its unique shade of darkened blue that happened to match
his eyes. But now it was years later and she was riding him home in that old
blue Jetta, and fuming at him. Most likely she had regretted buying a car of
this color and probably thought about changing it to something, anything, other
than this blue. But she never did. She hadn't given up on him quite yet.

"I didn't know that the chicken
feathers had to be limited and because there were actual chickens on your
truck. And that you weren't supposed to dump gallons of water only a little
to get you by..." He said weakly, not daring to look over at her.

Molly didn't reply.

"So what, now you have to be farmers
to follow the law? That's just not right." Josiah commented.

Molly said nothing, and Harrison glared him
a warning glance. Josiah had a tendency to take a bad situation and blow it to
all hell.

A cell phone rang then, Harrison realizing
it was coming from Molly's pocket. She stopped at a red light so she could cram
her hand in to her tight pocket and get out the slick phone. "Yeah?"
She asked, not in the mood for generous greetings.

"Oh hey. Yeah, I'm just about to cross
the border now. Of Nevada, of course. Don't' you remember Harrison's lovely
phone call that was on the other end when we two were talking?" Molly
cringed. "I didn't realize I hung up on you. I'm sorry! I guess having to
pick up Harrison and Joe got me rattled enough to make me forget. I'll be at
the house in about twenty minutes, if the traffic lets up. Uh...yeah, I'll tell
them. Bye."

Harrison and Josiah stared at her
expectantly, until Molly let out a low groan. "She said the two of you are
complete idiots and you owe her fifty bucks for the bet." She finally
said. But before either could say a word, she turned on the radio and let it
blast.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly tried to keep her calm. She should be
used to this by now, but that only made her angrier. She loved Harrison, she
did. He was her oldest, dearest and all around best friend. But he had a lot of
growing to do, and she wished he'd do it sooner than later. She wished he would
shape up and become the man she knew he could be, instead of landing his arse
in jail once a month.

Harrison really was a great guy though,
despite his immaturity. Just like she was there for them when they ended up
behind bars, he was there for her for everything. Anything. He was the only one
who knew every one of her deepest secrets. He was the only one she could ever
trust with them. And he never told a soul about even one. For really, as
childish as he could be some times, he could be trusted. Trusted to stay by her
side, on her side. To be the holder of all her secrets. And to support her in
everything. He was a great guy, with a steady job and is a hard worker. But he
wasn't challenged enough. Which was why he turned in to a daredevil when he met
Josiah Jeffers. Because he had an adventurous soul and feet that only wished to
be on the move. He had bonds when his heart whined to him to be set free. She
knew from their rare past midnight talks when he let it slip, that it hurt him
to stay here. To hold such a job that he found, to say the least, boring. To
live in an apartment that he wasn't fond of and felt like it's walls were
closing in on him, bound to crush him sometime. And she, because it had
happened to her already, had to pity him there.

She took a quick glance over at him. He sat
there, solemn and quiet, staring at the base of the window as he kept running
the tip of his finger over the blue fluff interior. It was obvious in his
posture and in his little actions that he was upset and disappointed in
himself. If she could see his eyes, she'd read sincerity in them. She also knew
that he wasn't upset in himself because of what he had done, but because he had
known that he had upset her.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she
lowered the volume of the radio until it could be just barely heard. "I
thought perhaps we could all have dinner at my place tonight. I'm cooking and
Marty is already there. She has a stack of videos from the rental store and is
bringing over the movie essentials the coziest blankets, fluffiest pillows
and the best energy drinks to keep awake. If the two of you want to come over,
you're welcome to."

Harrison looked over at her in confusion.
"But...you're supposed to be angry and furious. Where did this come
from?"

She shrugged. "I know you. And I know
the reason for your actions. And I know that no matter how long I stay angry at
you, you'll just do it again so it's basically pointless to waste my anger on
you."

He shook his head. "No, I won't do it
anymore, Molls. This was it. Last time."

"Don't tell me that, Harry., I might
just foolishly believe you and then get my hopes up again. You'll do it again.
Don't tell me you won't because you will. That restless spirit of yours rules
you and as long as you sit idly by and don't do anything to calm it, you're
going to get in to plenty of trouble."

His eyebrow quirked in curiosity of her
words as he looked at her, at a loss for words on how to follow that bit up.

Instead, he returned his gaze to out the
window and remained silent for the rest of the trip home.

_______________________________________________________________________

The next day, Harrison, Molly and Marty all
shuffled in to the high school with dark circles under their eyes and barely
awake.

As it was apparent, the energy drinks they
had consumed at midnight had worked better than they had expected, and it was
only about two hours ago when they finally passed out. Unfortunately, it was an
hour ago when they had to wake.