The Gravity of Love (9 page)

"So you're going to be doing this from
now on?"

"Well...for a while, yes."

Marty nodded, absentmindedly playing with
her keys. "Just...just promise me that you'll tell me before moving at
least, all right?"

Molly rolled her eyes with a laugh.
"I'm going anywhere. My life is just... it's in drastic need for
improvement and I'm working on that."

"Okay. Well...I 'll probably see you
when you get home then. Stop by, alright?"

Molly nodded in agreement. "Sounds
good. But uh...don't tell Harrison about this, okay?"

An eyebrow quirked, but Marty said nothing
to question it, only agreed and turned to leave.

_______________________________________________________________________

As Candice kindly informed her one day,
Molly knew that Harrison was very busy wooing and romancing. Therefore, Molly
got away with her own absence around him quite easily for the rest of the week.

Marty had kept her promise to not tell
Harrison, but seemingly, that wasn't enough. She wanted to help Molly along in
her new life, so she had done a little planning and a little persuading during
that week and on Friday, she was ready to introduce her idea to her best
friend.

"Just meet him, I think you two will
really hit it off." Marty pleaded.

Molly threw her a distressed look.
"Date? Marty, I never date! It's not me way too stressing and..."

"And you need to try it at least! Come
on Molls, you'll never know unless you try. Try it out. Better yet, try him
out. I promise, he's good looking. He's like...like a Harrison...but nicer. And
better. And more romantic. You know, all the up sides to Harrison but without
all the horrid down points."

Molly bit her lip, thinking it over.
"What is his name again?"

"Ephram Vinick he's on my mother's
side. The greatest cousin a girl could hope for. I grew up near him he's like
another brother to me. And now, I can pass him along to you. He's a chef too
took Matt's position when he went flying off to France to persue his artistic
abilities. And hey, you could have totally been a chef if you wanted to
everyone agrees that you're a great cook. And so you'll have lots in common.
And"

"Okay, okay." Molly laughed,
holding up a hand. "You don't have to stand here and sing his praises to persuade
me to date the poor fellow. I...well, I guess I'll try dating him. But Marts,
if I don't like him after a date or two...I'm not going to pretend that I do.
I'm going to drop him if I don't because I don't play the pretending game.
Maybe you should warn him of that." Marty borrowed Molly's expression and
rolled her eyes. "He's a big boy, he can handle it. But I won't have to
worry about it you won't dump him after a date or two you'll like him. I
know you, I know him...I have faith in this."

"Great, my best friend just turned in
to a matchmaker. Wasn't the kind of life change I had in mind, but
okay...whatever works."

Marty squealed in delight with a quick clap
of her hands. "I'll go call him. How's Sunday night for you?"

"Fine. Sunday is just fine."

And with that, Marty ran out of the room
and in to her own apartment to make an excited phone call to her cousin.

_______________________________________________________________________

Ephram Vinick stood at five foot eleven,
with thick, unruly curly blond hair framing his face. With gorgeous grey green
eyes and a sturdy jaw and broad shoulders, the man sure was handsome and quite
the sight.

"Rammy, I'd like you to meet Molly
Radcliffe. Molls, Ephram Vinick." Marty said proudly in Molly's apartment
doorway.

Ephram held out a hand. "Good to
finally meet you, Molly."

"Likewise." She replied, engaging
in his firm handshake.

Marty looked between the two for a moment
in her great excitement, then snapped out of it. "Well? What are you guys waiting
for? Get on going! The restaurant reservations waits for no one!"

And with that, the dating couple were
pushed out the door, leaving Marty in the apartment. With a grin, she shut the
door, clicked on the tv, and went to raid Molly's refrigerator.

_______________________________________________________________________

"So...uh...you'll have to forgive me.
I'm really not used to dating. I haven't dated since I was a teenager."
Molly was shocked to hear those words come out of Ephram's mouth as they drove
away.

"Really? I...I never dated, so you
really don't have to worry. In fact, perhaps we'll have more in common this
way." She said with a sweet smile. Why, did it seem, that a weight of
dread was already lifted from her chest?

Ephram grinned. "Well...good
then." A few moments passed in silence, and he let out a low chuckle that
came from uncomfortableness. "We need conversation. So uh...let's start

out with something simple." He pointed
to the radio. "What do you like?"

Molly bit her lip. "I'm a strange one
living in two thousand and six , but my musical tastes are rooted firmly in the
eighties."

He smirked. "I can go with that. Some
of the greats were from that era. And I mean, who doesn't like Rolling Stones
and Bon Jovi?"

She shrugged. "I don't know...is it
possible?"

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, making
them both laugh.

The radio tuned in to a station that fitted
both their tastes, then the conversation pursued.

"So, how long have you known
Marty?" He asked.

"Oh...two years now? She's great I
adore her."

"Yeah, me too. We grew up on the same
street and we're the same age, so we hung out a lot. But it was when her
brother Matt left when we started hanging out more. She really misses
him."

"I can imagine. So you two lived on
the same street? My best friend lived next door to me until we were nineteen.
Then he went in to the military for four years."

"A man in uniform, huh? So why didn't
you snatch him up? You related in some way?"

She shook her head. "It
just...wouldn't work out."

"Do you wish that it did?"

She laughed, meeting his gaze. "I'm on
a date with you why would we discuss me wanting to go with another man?"

He shook his head with a smile.
"Mmhmm."

"Hey, what does that mean?"

He gave her a sneaky look. "It means I
think we're going to be good friends."

"I like having good friends." She
replied, sitting a little more comfortably in her seat.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Well? Well? Come on, come on tell
me! Don't keep me in such suspense! Molly!" Marty whined, following around
her friend.

"Marty, all I did was walk in the door
and take of my coat! Calm yourself!" Molly laughed.

"Please? Please please please tell
me!"

Molly looked at Marty's begging mismatched
eyes and sighed.

"Alright, fine. It went good."

"That's it? Good?"

"Was there fireworks? Is that what
you're asking? No, no fireworks. But I think we're going to get along real
well. He really is a great guy."

"Amazing looks, huh? The guy is real
easy on the eyes."

She nodded. "Definitely."

Marty squealed in excitement. "I'm so
glad you had a good time! This is going to be great!"

Molly caught her lip between her teeth,
putting her hands on Marty's upper arms. "Marts, I need you to promise me
something."

"...uh oh."

"No, no nothing bad. Just... don't
uh..don't tell Harrison about me dating, all right?"

"But why not?" She asked, tilting
her head.

"Because I just...don't want him to
know everything about me. He doesn't have to know all my business. Besides,
he'd want me to tell him about Ephram and that would be breaking our pact. But
you see...it's me dating now. I don't know how he'll react."

"Who cares?"

"No one. But you know...I rather not
talk to him about my first date and having him hammer me about it. Wait, didn't
we have this discussion already?"

Marty grinned. "Fine, I won't mention
this to anyone. But I want to know all the details from you. Like...when is
your next date?"

"Friday night." Molly smiled,
then allowed herself a squeal of her own, her eyes glowing in excitement.

_______________________________________________________________________

Marty sat back in her chair, chewing on the
end of her pen as she stared at the paper in front of her. "Silver. Silver
and Royal Blue that would go together nice." She finally said to break
the silence.

But Harrison, who's feet were kicked up on
the glass table and half asleep, simply shook his head. "Keep the shiny
silver, ditch the Blue. Blue is over rated. Besides, her favorite color is
Scarlet. Scarlet and Silver would go together best."

"Scarlet, huh?"

"For romance and passion."
Harrison commented. "It's been her favorite color since she was seventeen.
I know, I had to buy all her wrapping paper, clothes, and anything I was to
give her for holidays in that color. It's her birthday if you're going to
do a color scheme, make it Scarlet."

Marty blinked a few times as she stared at
him, not sure how to take his little speech. "Uh...okay. Scarlet it is.
Joe, you have anything to add to this?"

Josiah shrugged, his baseball cap pulled
down to cover his face.

Marty rolled her eyes. "Okay Harrison,
it looks like this surprise party is up to us. Anything else we should plan
out?"

He shook his head, looking at the list.
"We're doing it at her apartment, we have color scheme and music, home
movies to play on the tv, food to order out, invitations to send out...it looks
pretty much planned."

She nodded in agreement. "Okay then,
meeting adjourned. I'll see you all on Saturday to help me decorate."

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly fumbled with her keys, giggling as
Ephram kissed her neck as he tickled her sides. They've been seeing each other
for three weeks and on their eighth date, and things were going well. They
weren't very serious on the romantic side mostly they went to hang out places
and did fun stuff ice skating, rock climbing, country dancing even though
neither were very capable at it. They had fun, but an element was missing the
romantic click. And yet, that was just fine to them.

"Ephram, stop! I'll never get the key
in the door!" She squealed when he didn't relent. Instead, he put his hand
over hers to steady it and shoved the key in the lock just as he pressed his
lips down towards hers. Her hand escaped his so her arms could wrap around his
neck as he turned the door knob and pushed it open.

"Surprise!" Came the shouts of
dozens of voices, which scared Molly, unexpecting anything of the sort. She
pulled away from Ephram's mouth but kept her arms around him as she laughed at
the excited crowd. That was, until her eyes met Harrison's...

"Who the hell is that?" Harrison
whispered to Josiah, who didn't know and shrugged in reply.

"Don't know dude, but it looks like
she's replaced you." He teased, but Harrison didn't take it lightly.

His jaw tightened, staring hard in to
Molly's shocked green eyes. He watched as her arms fell slack to her sides, a
chill running down her spine, trying desperately to look away from him and
grasp hold of the situation.

Plastering on the sweetest smile, she
scanned the crowd again. "Thank you all so much! I'm so surprised I hardly
know what to say! Thank you!"

Marty let out a loud squeal as she ran up
to her best friend and hugged her tight. "Happy birthday, Molls!"

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison gulped down the scarlet red fruit
juice, spiking his cup with the help of Josiah's flask that he brought in case
he needed to break out the practical jokes that he loved so much.

His jaw was tense and stiff despite the
muscle relacer he was chugging. He tried to swallow his anger and frustration
along with it, but it didn't work.

He was angry, furious as Molly. And he
hadn't a clue on why. He's been harassing her for years to get out and date. So
she finally took his advice or, rather, most likely Marty's.

Either way, he had wanted her too. So why
was he so ticked off now that she had?

And that's where the frustration came in.
His mind was seemingly boggled by the idea of his anger. He hated being angry
at Molly and avoided it at any time he could. It was one thing to have Molly
mad at him he could always sweet talk her in to his good graces whenever he
felt like it. But he mad at her? That anger always tended to stick hard to his
mind and not let go.

As he drained his glass, he felt something
fall lightly upon his head. He saw it was one of those scarlet streamers.
Impulsively, he ripped it down from the ceiling and threw it on the floor.

"Now this is very weird." Josiah
said, coming up from behind him. "You actually look...upset? And hey, look
at that we're at a party! And you have a flask in your hand to make it happy
hour and yet you still look upset. Hmm...what could it be I wonder?" He
said, tapping his chin with his finger in his sarcasm.

Harrison groaned, turning away from his
friend. "Just go away for now I'm not feeling too good, is all."

"Could it be from all the spiked punch
you've been inhaling? I've been watching you from across the room. What's your
problem, Red? So Molly's dating and she's happy you wanted her to do
that."

"I know!" Harrison shouted
suddenly, his face red.

The party conversation stopped momentarily
to turn and look at him from his outburst. When they saw nothing particularly
interesting, they returned to how they were.

He glared at Joe. "I don't want to
talk about it right now."

Josiah shrugged. "Fine, I don't care.
I don't care about Molly having an interest in some guy that even a man like me
would have to say is looking pretty damn good. See, I'm at a party and I
usually like to be festive instead on festering on things I shouldn't even care
about. No, that you shouldn't even care about. Have you been informed lately
that you yourself is dating? And not even just any woman with a woman that
Molly absolutely hates and who teases and annoys the hell out of Molls."

Harrison's eyebrow raised in sudden
interest. "Wait...what?"

"You don't know about Molly and Candy
Grey?"

He groaned. "Please, I already have
Radcliffe and Marty calling her that to make fun of her don't you call her
that."

"Fine you don't know about how
Candice Greybill is always on Molly's case? That she teases her all the time and
Molly absolutely hates her and you're going out with her? Which only makes
things worse? Yet she's not angry at you. She don't mind you dating her. What's
with you and this unknown guy? If you can date the entire woman population
can't

Molly date this one guy?"

Something inside Harrison screamed the
answer 'No!', which only infuriated him more. "What the hell is wrong with
me?" He asked.

Josiah shrugged. "Hell if I know! You
got some messed up issues going on there. You better get rid of them before
Molly sees you or you're going to have quite a lot of explaining to do. And no
more ripping down streamers I had to go to over a dozen stores to find those
damn things."

Harrison made a strangled noise that came
from deep in his throat as a reply. Josiah hardly bothered to lift an eyebrow
as he shook his head and walked away.

Harrison Redford slammed down the clear
plastic cup that was now empty. "This was supposed to be a surprise for
Molly. Looks like the surprise is on damned me." He muttered in his twisted
misery.

_______________________________________________________________________

Because the party went late in to the
night, Josiah felt too tired to go out of his way to drive the ten miles away
to where he lived. Instead, he followed Harrison to his apartment one floor
above Molly's to crash there. But just because he didn't have to drive away
didn't mean he'd get to sleep any sooner. And as he found out, it was quite the
opposite.

"So you never heard Molly or Marty say
anything about this guy she was kissing tonight?"

"My God Harrison for the last time,
no, I don't know anything about the guy Molly was kissing!" Josiah
groaned, molding a pillow over his face in hope to block out Harrison's
annoying voice. "You know, Molly is your friend why don't you just ask
her?"

"I can't." Harrison said softly.
"We have this deal...we don't ask each other about who we're dating. she
never asks about any of my girlfriends I can't turn around and ask her the
first time she has a boyfriend. It's supposed to go both ways."

"Then ask Marty."

"I can't!"

"What, another pact?" Josiah
teased.

"No...then Marty would tell Molly I
was asking. Besides the pact...well then Molly would think I'm actually
interested and wondering who this guy is."

"But you are interested and
wondering."

Harrison shook his head. "Besides the
point the girls can't know that."

"And yet, I don't see why. Is this
still about your pride and suffocating big ego?"

He groaned. "You are of little help,
you know that?"

"Why? Because I think you should lower
your pride and find out yourself? I'm sure Molly's interested in knowing about
your affairs with Candy Grey...I mean Candice Greybill. So you tell her, she
tell you problem solved and I can go to sleep."

"It still don't work like that."

"Then I just can't get myself to keep
caring because personally, I don't see why you care so much! Molly's a big
girl she can handle her dates herself she don't need you. And you have a
life and a girlfriend of your own why do you care about hers?"

Harrison shrugged. "Because I care.
Because she's my best friend. Because..."

"Because?"

"I don't know. I don't want her
hurt."

Josiah made a disbelieving noise.
"Yeah sure like anyone buys that one. You think about it. If you do, I
think you'll start to realize why you might be this green about Molly dating.
And then you can get back to me. But for now let me sleep!" And with
that, Josiah rolled over to face the back of the sofa and closed his eyes,
trying to fall asleep as he was forced to listen to Harrison's curious and
inconsiderate pacing.

_______________________________________________________________________

Marty's eyes went wide when she saw Josiah
the next day.

"What the hell happened to you?"
She asked.

"Harrison." He growled, rubbing at
the dark circles under his eyes and shaking out his bed head hair.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with
Harrison?"

Josiah shrugged, knowing that he'd get beat
to a pulp if he told Marty about Harrison's freak out. "He was a
bit...uh...tipsy last night, that's all. Annoying as hell."

"Huh. Well, Molly sure was happy last
night. She loved the surprise party which is good, seeing that she usually
hates surprises."

Josiah was tempted to ask about the man
that had stayed by Molly's side with his arm around her waist all night, but
knew he'd only be playing with fire and Joe was never one to risk getting
burned over something superficial.

"Good, I'm glad. But I'm also tired
I'm going to take off to my own home and get some sleep. I'll see you
later."

And with that, he jingled his key ring and
walked away, leaving Marty to go about her original business.

_______________________________________________________________________

Harrison wiped his sweaty palms against the
dry of his jeans, chewing on his bottom lip a habit he had learned from
Molly.

After spending the night pacing, he knew he
might as well make it count for something. Therefore, he was heading over to
Marty's apartment. Not an easy task, however.

With a low groan, he knocked on her door.
He was rewarded in a few moment's time with her presence.

"Hey, I was...well, that's to say, I
was..." He fumbled.

Marty sighed, looking at her watch. "I
have eleven minutes make this quick." She said, pushing him in and
shutting the door.

"Now, spit it out or I'm leaving I
have a bunch of errands to run today."

He nodded. "Okay, but you can't you
cannot tell Molly I came to you about this, okay?"

"Sure, whatever. What do you
want?"

"I was just wondering...who was that
guy she was with last night?"

Molly looked at him in shock for a moment,
then burst out laughing. "That's why you're here? Why you're so nervous?
Because you want to know that?" She mocked in her delight.

He growled. "Just tell me."

She crossed her arms. "No, I don't
think I will."

"What do you mean?" He outburst.

"I mean, I don't tell Molly's business
to other people. If you want to know about Ephram, you ask her."

An eyebrow perked. "Ephram? What kind
of stupid girlie name is that?"