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raindrop-on-a-spiderweb · 5 years

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God's in his Heaven

Still waiting for my laptop to get here... starting to get afraid it might be lost in the mail 😬 I tried to upload this a couple times before and the connection has been bad today so it destroyed my drafts. Crossed fingers!

Anyway, here is the next Young!Patience chapter. Warnings for major creepiness.

***

A neatly manicured finger ran down her homework, which was smudged and stained and scribbled over. The only sound in the room was the tick-tock of the clock.

Patience stood still, hands joined behind her back. She shifted from one foot to the other, waiting for the time to be over. He studied the paper, his porcelain face blank and passive, before he smiled and his dark blue eyes lit up.

He said, "Very good. Your fractions are improving."

She heard him stand up and move over, and flinched as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "You can go play outside for a while."

***

When she had arrived in Mr. Borghese's mansion, she had not been cooperative. She still wasn't. But she was better.

At first he had taken away her belongings and locked her in a bedroom downstairs. He only entered in order to rape her, and after a while the timeless sun setting and rising blurred in her mind, and her loneliness got to her, and she promised to be good if he let her out. He smiled and did so, and she tread lightly around him.

She learned to be afraid of him, and fast.

When he took her out, he expected her to be his perfect little girl. She could growl and grouch as much as she wanted, but she had to smile for the cameras and lie down with him when he wanted to. The lying down was the worst part. It didn't hurt as much as it did the first time, but it still made her sick and uncomfortable. She could barely sleep when he was breathing beside her. To make it better on herself, sometimes she pretended he was her father and cuddled close to him.

St. Joseph's was better than high school, but that wasn't saying much. The students ignored her, and the teachers treated her nicely because of her adopted father, but at least people left her alone. If she wanted to cry by herself in the gym room because Mr. Borghese had wanted to sleep with her early in the morning and she could feel his wet spend sleeping through her skirt during her classes, then people would leave her alone.

Church was worse. He kept her close to his side the entire time, monitoring her interactions with others. She hated being in the Church of the Holy Virgin--her old churches had been small, cozy, made of balsam wood and slowly burning candles, and she had known everyone there. Here, everyone seemed to speak a different language, and the congregation changed each week, although what didn't change was that everyone seemed to know Mr. Borghese.

The first time she had been in confession, she was perplexed that Mr. Borghese didn't give her any instructions, nor accompany her into the booth. But she spilled herself anyway. She told the priest that he forced her whenever he pleased, that he told her she would have his baby and that she was destined to be his housewife whether she wanted it or not. She even told the priest that she had seen him kill her parents--and her voice had broken and she had peered out of the shade at him, leaning against the church dome in his black suit, his hands behind his back.

She held an impossible hope that the Father had called the police, even through the long limousine ride back, and it was only when Leonardo turned the key to the lock of the front door did she realize what she had done wrong.

"There is not a single person you have met who does not answer to me," he said softly. "And every word you told that priest enters my ears."

The priest had seemed so nice. So sympathetic. His voice had even broken a few times.

"He..."

"He will tell me everything." He sat down on his armchair and spread his arms. "Give your daddy a kiss."

She looked at him, rooted to the spot and fists clenched, and eventually, out of fear, climbed onto his lap.

He was warm and smelled flowery, a scent she had become to despise. He shifted her on his lap, settling in until her crotch snugged deeply into his own. He always liked her in this position. Right above his cock.

"How long has it been since you had your monthly?"

There was that typical question. She lied and said, "I'm having it right now."

"Bugiarda. You had it almost a week ago. Still trying to lie to me."

He began to pull her skirt up. He liked it when she wore her uniform. It was neat--he ironed it every night--with a white blouse and a shirt skirt that reached just past her knees.

Patience wanted to cry. Big, wet, sobbing tears. But instead she pressed her face into his shoulder and let him do what he wanted.

When he finally let her go, she ached and throbbed. "Go to your room. I'll come up later and bring you some cocoa."

She did so without complaining.

***

The next day was a Monday. She was watching cartoons on the TV after school, her favorite, Rocky and Bullwinkle.

A man came in. Tall, stubble on his chin. He stated at her with a mixture of suspicion and sympathy. She recognized him. "Goose Eppy?"

"Giuseppe." He sat down beside her, tan trench coat and all. He watched Rocky and Bullwinkle for a while, laughing at jokes he couldn't understand. "So you live with him now?" He said. "Where are you from?"

"Massachusetts," she muttered.

After an uncomfortable silence, he said, "Ah, Massachusetts. My family is Neapolitan."

"That's bullshit."

"Pardon?"

"Neopolitan is made-up. It's an ice cream, not a place."

Giuseppe stared blankly at her, but was saved from answering by Leonardo entering the room. They spoke briefly in Italian, then he stood up and left her, leaving her to watch Rocky and Bullwinkle by herself, but with her ears pricked.

Patience ran to the locked door, then pressed her ears against it. Their voices were fading as they left down the stairs.

She went around the vast wooden mansion. It was far too big for her to explore, even if she had wanted to. But she he found a grate to the cellar hidden beneath a tall tuft of grass, and it was so rusted she pried it open and wriggled in.

The edges of the grates dug into her breasts, but she wriggled on, until she came to a wire air conditioning unit, which she peered through.

She saw a clean metal room. Like a veterinarian's room. Giuseppe and Leonardo were talking to each other in Italian beside a metal wheeling cart. Something covered with a black bag was on it.

Patience narrowed her eyes. It smelled like disenfectant in there.

Kneeling was beginning to hurt. She had to sit with her knees together, or else she would hurt between her legs. He never gave her any time to heal.

Giuseppe pulled the black bag off with a flourish, and what Patience saw made her heartrate skyrocket. It was a human--naked, his face battered beyond recognition. It didn't even look like a face. It was a mass of black and blue.

Patience pressed her hands over her mouth. She wiggled backwards until her knees reached the grass.

The face of the man kept flashing in her mind. She hugged her knees and looked back at the air conditioning grate. What had she gotten herself into?

***

Patience twisted her hands in her skirt. The waiting was making her nerves heighten. "Why does it have to kill the bunny?"

"Do you want a pet bunny?"

"No! I just don't want the bunny to die!"

"Don't you want to find out if you're having a baby?"

"I do, but..." she hated the thought of living with the fear of having to drop out of school, but she liked bunnies.

The doctor, a man with a thick Santa Claus beard, came out. "The tests were negative."

She wilted in relief. One cautious glance at Leonardo, and his mouth had tightened somewhat. "Very well. Thank you for running the tests, Heinrich."

He had to meet a friend at a restaurant downtown. She wasn't hungry, so he let her wander around the shops ("stay where I can see you").

Patience wandered around, peering through a toy shop. Stuffed animals and train sets, little kid stuff. Leonardo kept her room well-stocked with those, like she was an eight-year-old or something. She was more interested in fashion magazines and singers like Frank Sinatra, to his trepadation.

The minutes ticked by, to her annoyance. How long was he taking? Stupid jerk was probably having one of his long-winded boring conversations that he had with his friends.

Patience turned a corner and something caught her eye.

Like a golden altar, it sat there. Blue painted eyes and pink quirked lips. An hourglass waist and a blue shoulderless dress. Fresh and vibrant and fashionable and so cool.

She couldn't stop staring. When Leonardo came to look for her she was still staring.

"Can I get this?" She said. She never asked for anything, but she REALLY wanted this.

When Leonardo saw, his lips curled. "Don't you want a baby doll instead? I'll get you any baby doll you want."

"No. I want this."

"It's too expensive," said Leonardo, who was a millionaire. "Come on. We need to get home in time for dinner. I'll take you here some other time."

Leonardo towed her out, her still protesting, and she was sullen as she got in the car and headed home. He put on her favorite station and tried to sweet-talk her, but she ignored him.

Halfway home he slammed on the breaks and pulled into an alley.

Leonardo closed his hand around her jaw and yanked her face to look at him.

"You will never," he said to her quietly, "Be like that Barbie doll. You will never be blonde. You will never have a boyfriend. You will never "hit the sunset strip" or whatever nonsense that is. Your destiny is to be a housewife and mother. My housewife and mother."

Her eyes were watering at his iron-hard grip on her jaw. He put his mouth next to her head until his warm breath washed over her ear.

"You will never go to college. You will never be a police officer or lawyer like you keep whining about wanting to be. You will have a baby after you finish at St. Joseph's, and you will be my wife like you were meant to be, as is the best you could have hoped for in your useless life. And you will be satisfied with it."

He let her go, and she rubbed her jaw, tears starting in her eyes.

His voice turned soft. "You can have some ice cream when we get back, how does that sound?" He said. She started ahead, tears blurring her eyes like rain on a windshield.

She thought about Barbie, but the painted face seemed so far away now. Blond and smiling and happy, not the pale, freckled, trembling little girl in the passenger's seat.

I guess he is right, some part of her whispered. I'll never be Barbie. I'll never ride in a convertible or flirt or go to college.

All I can do is dream.

***

The phone sat there, black and shiny.

She had the napkin hidden under her mattress. She had memorized the numbers. She agonized and agonized, aware of the time ticking away, before she picked it up.

Leonardo was becoming discontented. She was not conceiving, and was due to graduate St. Joseph's with honors. She had already had several scholarship offers. He had made her stay home from school several times during exams, to sleep with him and force his seed deep down. She could see her life closing in on her, and so she strove in school, aching to attend a university, any university, as long as she could get away from him.

The cords to all the other telephones were disconnected. She knew this was the only chance she had.

Patience dialed the numbers, heart thumping. She was praying desperately for that rough, growly voice to answer, but a different voice spoke from the other end.

"Pronto?"

"Uh," she said, startled at the unfamiliar voice.

"Chi parla?"

"I..."

"Who is this?" Growled the voice.

"I want to talk to Salvatore Mallozzi."

"Who do you think you are, to talk to the boss?"

"I--"

The dial tone rang dully in her ear.

"Salvatore Mallozzi?" said a gentle voice beside her. "Just who do you think you're talking to?"

#bonus chapter

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islareeveswriting · 6 years

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INSTAS

Christmas is the most wonderful time of year.

Molly had always believed that, always. As a child the thrill, like with all children, had come from what might be waiting under the tree on Christmas morning, leaving a mince pie and a carrot on the doorstep Christmas Eve, stuffing herself silly with chocolate and sweets without stern words from her parents. Of course by the age of twenty, Molly had discovered the joy of selecting the perfect gift, perfectly hung fairy lights and a glass of eggnog by the fire with her family.

This year was no different, and Molly was relieved. There had been a small, and seemingly insignificant part of her that had worried Christmas at home would have been ruined. Home was her’s and Ryan’s place, it was the place they existed together, started together. At home they were Molly and Ryan, Molly hadn’t been just Molly at home for four years and there’d been a sickening anticipation in the bottom of her stomach at how home might feel now that wasn’t the case.

As so often seemed to be the case though, the worst case scenario in Molly’s head wasn’t anywhere near the reality. Within seconds of stepping inside her parents house she felt the familiar warmth and cosiness that she associated with Christmas time in her family home. The garland hung from the bannister the way it always did, glittering with golden fairy lights, the large tree, fetched from the small local garden centre, was in the corner of the room, decorated perfectly, and mistletoe hung over her head as she lugged her bags back over the threshold. Nothing had really changed.

Something inside Molly had shifted, and maybe she was a different person for having ended a long term relationship, but she was struggling to see that as a bad thing when she felt so normal, so easily. The build up in her head had been far worse than the reality, and whatever small part of her had been feeding on the doubts she was having about being in her hometown without Ryan, was brushed away with the scent of homemade mince pies. The conversation about what had happened with Ryan was over and done with her parents within ten minutes. Strengthening words of having to do what was best for her, and following her heart, made her feel warmer. The slight look of disappointment on her mother’s face ignored.

Of course her sister needed all the details. Jeanie had crawled in beside Molly in her double bed, the pink bedspread smothering them both as Love Actually played in the background. If it hadn’t come up, Molly hadn’t been planning on telling her sister that Harry had driven to Bath to take her home, but Jeanie could see straight through Molly, and there was no way she was buying that Ryan had taken it well. Jeanie had clutched at her heart, and softened like a puppy when Molly had told her about what Harry had done for her. Molly couldn’t really believe it either when she heard it explained out loud for the first time, if the roles had been reversed she’d have probably been welling up to. Because her sister would have found someone willing to do all that for her at the drop of a hat.

In fact Molly could remember having the exact same reaction when Jeanie had told her how Matt had decided to move all the way from New Zealand to be with her. Of course there was no comparison. Apart from anything, Matt and Jeanie were head over heels in love with one another and couldn’t be more made for one another if they tried. Harry was a friend, and even though driving to Bath was more than Molly could have asked, moving across the world held a slightly different gravity.

It felt nice to tell someone about Harry though, and Molly was so glad her and Jeanie were so close, and more like best friends. Especially when Jeanie so easily understood that Molly and Harry really were just very good friends. There was the tickle of acknowledgement that if Molly had dared to tell Jeanie how Harry gave her butterflies, and made her skin tingle when he touched her, and how she went soft at the knees when their eyes caught one another, she wouldn’t have been quite so easily convinced. Molly was struggling herself.

It played on her mind how she hard she was finding it to stop thinking about him, which in turn only made the not thinking about him thing more difficult. Even as she sat in her chair, near the fire, with a nearly empty glass of Baileys on ice in her hand and the sound of her mother’s favourite Christmas Carols CD playing, Molly was thinking about Harry. Wondering what he was doing, wondering if he’d like it where she was, by the fire, with a glass of whiskey to match her father’s, Mosby curled up by his feet, because she was sure their pet Retriever would love Harry. Wondering if she could skip the pub trip and give him a call.

Wondering when was it not too soon to admit how she couldn’t stop herself from feeling for him when she’d just called it a day on a four year relationship. Even if just to herself.

“Well Thomsons, are we all ready for the pub?” Molly was pulled from her daydream as her dad clapped loudly, jumping from his chair, and rubbing his hands together with excitement. There was a bottle of premium brand whiskey waiting for him at the local pub, along with at least three good friends to share it with. It was possibly Terry Thomson’s favourite Christmas tradition, and his girls just rolled their eyes and followed suit, the way they’d done since they were old enough to be able to walk to the pub.

“Yes let me just grab my coat.” Molly said, placing her now empty glass on the table beside her and hopping up too.

“Oh Cece, can you get my red one out the wardrobe?” Jeanie asked as Molly passed her seat, tapping away on her phone, presumably to Matt currently stuck in traffic coming from London. Obviously. Molly couldn’t quite believe that they had decided travelling on Christmas Eve was a good idea. Now the rest of the family were suffering for their poor planning. Jeanie was yet to say more than two sharp words to anyone, or manage to lift a smile.

“Why, so all the kids think you’re Mrs Claus?” Molly jested sarcastically taking the first step up the stairs, but looking back to catch Jeanie’s response. There hardly was one, her sister’s face still deadpan as she tapped away. Molly’s face fell, before the remark shot out of Jeanie’s mouth.

“Well you can be rudolph with that spot on your nose.” Jeanie snarked. Molly gasped covering her nose quickly with her hand. She knew it was there. It didn’t take long for her mother to let her know that morning when Molly had come down for breakfast, and ever since Molly had been doing her utmost to get rid of it. Clearly nothing had worked.

“Girls.” Their mother snapped. The look on Penny Thomsons face was displeased to say the least as she flicked her eyes from daughter to daughter, the age difference more and more indistinguishable as they got older. “It’s Christmas Eve, Cecelia, go and get your sisters coat please.” Molly grumbled something incomprehensible as she stomped up the stairs. The name didn’t grate on her when it was her family using it, she’d never convince them to call her Molly and besides, she thought it might be weird if they did now. The look her mother fired at her, one of ‘stop winding your sister up or else’ did grate though.

Once Molly was coated, and concealed, lest anyone else notice the growth on the end of her nose, she hotfooted back down the stairs to join her family. Much to Molly’s annoyance her sister was now dressed in Molly’s dark, long line coat, the one she’d saved long and hard for. Molly went to say something, refuse to let her out of the house in it, but before a single sound could pass by her hanging mouth her mother just raised her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly. Molly knew to pick her battles, and Christmas Eve, against her mother, was not a safe enough bet to chance it. Instead Molly just flared her nostrils, smiled sarcastically at her sister as she viciously placed the red coat over the bannister, and made sure she was first out of the house with her father.

It often happened that it was Molly and Terry and Penny and Jeanie paired up. It kept bickering sisters at bay easier, and Molly always found her father much easier to stomach when her mother was in a ‘Jeanie can do no wrong’ sort of mood. It switched, there wasn’t a clear favourite like there often is, and Molly could be on top at any minute. But to save Christmas Eve ending in snide words across a glass of wine, Molly decided to just walk beside her father.

They travelled in virtual silence. The pub was only a two minute walk, if that, and the sound of Christmas Eve mass was ringing from the church. Home never felt so much like home as it did at Christmas. Molly loved growing up in her village, but it came to life at Christmas, it felt like it was there to be lived in at Christmas. It was made for huge decorated trees, chestnuts roasting in the village square, and Christmas markets.

As with every Christmas Eve, the pub was incredibly busy. It was like everyone was out, and they probably were. It was toasty inside, warm from bodies and the fires lit at either end of the large room. Molly was glad all she had on under her thick wool coat was a silky cami and a pair of jeans. The roll neck jumper she’d ummed and ahhed about would have definitely been too hot to stomach. Through the crowds Molly could see friends she hadn’t seen since the last break from university. She had to admit though that her stomach lifted, along with the apprehensive look on her face, when she realised neither Ryan nor any of his school friends were in sight.

“Molly.” The voice was recognisable as ever. It seemed no matter how long Molly and Suki Langford went without talking, they fell straight back into childhood best friends like it was the only thing they knew how to do. With her glass of white wine in hand, Molly turned to Suki with a smile on her face.

“Hey Sooks, how are you? Merry Christmas? How’s uni?” Molly rambled off the list of usual suspects, questions that were common place now they didn’t practically live in one anothers bedrooms. They give each other a quick hug before moving away from the bar to let others into the spaces they left behind as Suki began to talk.

“Oh you know, law, stressful, never ending, same old, same old, you?” Suki smiled, waving her hand through the air as if shewing the conversation away. Suki had always been bright and intelligent, with her bright blonde hair, and even brighter blue eyes it was almost like she’d walked straight off the set of Legally Blonde when she announced she was going to go to Oxford to study law. If Molly hadn’t known Suki as well as she did she’d have fallen of her chair, but it made so much sense. What Molly lacked in academic intuition Suki more than made up for, and vice versa with artistic license. They were a double act that fitted together like Laurel and Hardy, and no one could deny it. Even when they were running on a phone call a month if they could fit it in and only seeing each other in the holidays, nothing changed.

“Yeah not bad.” Molly shrugged, looking as light as she felt as she took another sip of her wine.

“I heard you and Ry split up?” Suki almost asked, wincing a little as she did so. Suki had been there through it all, Ryan’s incessant texting to try and get Molly to go to prom with him, the internal battle Molly had faced over saying yes or no, and virtually every up, and even every down of the four year rigmarole that had followed after she finally said yes. Much against Suki’s advice that had consisted mostly of ‘do people ever change?’ Turns out the answer is mostly no.

“Heard?” Molly sort of laughed, one eyebrow cocking as Suki shrugged and took a sip of the bubbly pink liquid from the crystal champagne flute wrapped up in her perfectly manicured fingers. “From who?” Molly asked.

“Ryan.” Molly rolled her eyes, because of course he’d told her best friend before she’d had a chance to get to her. It didn’t seem like Suki was too bothered, and she wasn’t looking for any sort of explanation. It didn’t stop Molly feeling guilty though, and she wished she’d been brave enough to at least send a text even if she couldn’t manage a call. No one at home had been told though, apart from her family. None of her friends from school knew, or at least she thought they didn’t, but as she glanced around the pub Molly wondered how many of the people she’d shared school corridors and classrooms with knew about the end of her relationship. Perhaps telling people as and when she wanted was a right she’d given up by being the one to call it a day. Just another thing she didn’t know, no one had told her, no one had prepared her for.

“Oh right, yeah, few weeks ago now.” Molly shrugged.

“How you doing?” Suki asked, mouth down turning at the corners and her head tipping to one shoulder a little.

“Yeah I’m fine, it was my decision.” Molly explained with a weak smile. Apparently that was all Suki needed, the light in her eyes flicking on and a playfulness making itself known that Molly knew well. At the age of six it had come to light as they stole plumbs from the tree in Mrs Wilson’s front garden, at sixteen it was topping up an empty bottle with her dads vodka and skipping through the fields no idea what hell laid ahead of them.

“Cause of that cutie on insta.” At twenty it was toying with Molly that bought out that sparkle. Clearly. Molly just frowned at Suki like she had no idea what the blonde girl was talking about. “The one that tagged you in that photo on your birthday.” Molly shook her head and lifted her glass, hiding the things that gave her away. “Come on Mol, the fit one, opposites attract.”

“Oh, Harry, no he’s just a friend.” Molly smiled like it had only just clicked who Molly was talking about and what photo. As if the photo hadn’t been sent to her at her request so she could print it with all the others from the night.

“Ryan said-”

“Ryan’s talking shit, I ended it because I was fed up and wasn’t feeling it anymore, distance and not seeing each other, and being bailed on everytime you make arrangements with your boyfriend can do that.” Molly practically spat. Suki nodded but Molly could see on her face how taken back she was by Molly’s tone. It still grated on her how nasty Ryan had been since she’d ended things, when all she’d been was nice and understanding. It ran against how much she wanted to salvage some sort of friendship with him. Though the more time that passed, the more she heard about him, the more he ignored her replies, the more she thought there was nothing to salvage apart from civility. “There’s no one else.” Molly sighed looking down at her booted feet.

“Always was a prick.” Suki hissed with a sneer reaching out and rubbing Molly’s arm gently.

“Stupid me to think he’d change.” Molly shrugged wondering how she’d managed to convince herself he was so different when they were together when he clearly hadn’t changed at all.

“To be fair, it looked like he had for a bit.” Suki pointed out, and Molly nodded supposing that was semi true at least. Ryan did do a very good job of convincing everyone that he wasn’t the spoiled, vindictive, nasty boy he could be during his school years. “Oh well, things that don’t end the way you want you give you an experience.” Molly had to laugh, Suki completely serious in yet another attempt at some sort of idiom.

“Who on earth gave you that one?” Molly laughed and Suki shrugged.

“Read it somewhere once.” Suki told Molly who was still giggling at the turn of phrase. It did make some sort of sense somehow, and Molly guessed if there was a positive to have she’d learned a lot from her time with Ryan. How to be completely and honestly herself without compromise for anyone. How not to lower her frequency to meet someone on their level. How no one ever really changes, how they just get good at wearing disguises.

With just over half a glass of wine, Molly took up Suki's invitation to join her with the group of their school friends Suki had been talking to before Molly walked in. Most of them Molly hadn’t really seen since going off to university, but they all exchanged polite hugs and fell into routine conversations about how things had been going. At some point Suki slunk off into conversation with Jed Brooks, leaving Molly with Sophie and Hayden, two people she’d sort of known at school, but not enough to feel really included in the conversation about Sophie’s sisters recent accidental pregnancy.

Out of the corner of her eye, Molly caught a glimpse of Jeanie sitting at the bar, alone, still glued to her phone. She didn’t really need an excuse to walk away from the conversation she wasn’t really in anyway, but the empty glass in her hand served as a good one. The pub was crowded, it had only got busier through as the evening rolled into night, and Molly had to fight her way through to get to Jeanie. There was an empty bar stool next to her though and Molly hopped up onto it and asked Tim for another glass of wine before turning to her sister.

“You ok?” Molly asked, and Jeanie nodded, though didn’t look at Molly as she did so. “What’s going on Jean?”

“Nothing, just hoped Matt would have been here by now.” Jeanie lamented, mouth downturned finally locking her phone and looking at Molly. “Doesn’t look like he’ll be here much before midnight now.” Molly just sighed and gave Jeanie a sympathetic look reaching out to rub her back gently. Jeanie just shrugged, but Molly didn’t really notice it as eyes wandered off to the door opening yet again. Her heart sunk instantly at the sight of Ryan, followed by a small group of his friends. At first she’d hoped Ryan would never turn up, and as the hours rolled on, she thought her wishes had been answered. Of course they hadn’t, and of course Ryan bowled into the pub laughing loudly and boisterously enough for nearly every head to turn his way. Just another reminder that Molly had been completely fooled into think Ryan had actually changed from the arrogant school boy she’d been sat next to in GCSE History.

“What’s up?” Jeanie asked as Molly’s eyes followed Ryan through the pub, though he never so much as glanced her way, he didn’t even seem to realise Molly was there, though he must have known she would be. It was a family tradition to drink in The Barn on Christmas Eve, Ryan knew that, he’d joined them for the last three Christmases.

“He’s been telling people I ended it because there was someone else.” Molly grumbled, slowly drawing her eyes off Ryan back to the bar and the refreshed glass of wine that had been placed down in front of her, the cost added to the tab her father undoubtedly would have set up at the beginning of the night.

“He is such a jerk.” Jeanie sneered, looking past Molly to where Ryan and his friends were stood at the bar. Each one Molly knew and had learned to tolerate, though now their RP accents, and deep chuckles wound her up as much as they had in classrooms.

“Try telling mum that.” Molly huffed.

“She’s really not as upset as you seem to think.” Jeanie assured. Though Molly couldn’t find it in her to believe that. It had always seemed like Ryan could do no wrong when it came to Penny. If they’d argued, she took Ryan’s side, if Molly was making an unfavourable decision she’d want to know Ryan’s view, and Molly didn’t miss the slightest glimmer of disappointment in her mother’s voice when she told them she’d ended things with Ryan. She’d ignored it, because it didn’t matter. Her father told her it was her choice, and she had to do what was best for her and her happiness. Her mother tried, Molly could give her that, to be as supportive, but Molly just didn’t buy into it as much. “She’s not, she was just always looking on the bright side, trust me she used to bitch about him behind your back something rotten.” Jeanie went on at the despondent look on Molly’s face.

“Really?” Molly quizzed in disbelief, because if that was true where did the disappointment come from.

“Yeah we all did.” Jeanie announced like it was obvious, like she couldn’t believe Molly didn’t know. “Cece the boy is obnoxious and big headed.” Jeanie pointed out, to which Molly shook her head, looking away from her sister and taking a sip of her wine.

“Yet you let me carry on with him for four years.” Molly pointed out dully.

“You loved him, we’d get over most issues if you love someone.” Jeanie tutted, shaking her head a little and taking a small sip from what Molly was assuming was a spirit and coke based on the colour. Out of character for Jeanie who’s normal poison was an expensive red wine, but perhaps the stress she was feeling needed a little more than fermented grapes to ease it.

“I just can’t believe he’d tell people there was someone else, he’s making me look like a complete dick.” Molly fumed quietly, glancing over her shoulder. Ryan was still at the bar but they all had pint glasses in their hands now, and didn’t show signs of moving for other people waiting in line to get served.

“Nah, just himself.” Jeanie promised. “People who know you won’t believe that for a second.”

“Guarantee every single one of them does.” Molly grumbled nodding at the gaggle of boys Ryan was encircled with.

“You really care what Miles, and Josh and whatever that prize with blonde hair is called, think?” Jeanie sneered, looking straight at them and clearly not caring if they saw the almost disgusted-esque look on her face as she did so. “They’re not worth your energy, and neither is Ryan if he’s going to be like that.” Jeanie finished reaching for Molly’s chin and turning her face away from her ex-boyfriend and the other boys.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Molly sighed.

“Of course I am, I’m the big sister.” Jeanie shrugged making Molly giggle. Molly took one last glance Ryan’s way, catching the back of his head as he wandered over to the table she’d been at earlier, the one surrounded by their school friends. She couldn’t help the sad feeling that rose in her, the one that made her fold her lips into one another as she turned back to Jeanie and picked up her glass again.

It got to her that he hadn’t thought to look for her when he walked in, or had seen her and ignored her. Neither was favourable, and neither leant themselves to Molly’s belief that he’d want to move forward as friends as much as she did. Yes that made her sad, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit that. She wasn’t ashamed she wanted more than just civility with someone she’d shared so much with over four years of her life, four important years of her life. Through that time, for all his flaws that maybe she’d ignored, or that maybe he’d concealed, it didn’t matter, Ryan was there. When she got her place at university, when she moved, when she had a breakdown on the third day of freshers when she thought she couldn’t do it. He meant a lot, and that didn’t go away because the romantic side of their relationship stopped working. They’d shared too much to throw it all in the bin, Molly couldn’t see how Ryan would be thinking any different. But perhaps he was, and she supposed she’d just have to learn to be ok with that, even if it wasn’t what she wanted, or what she had in her head and was struggling to let go of.

Jeanie and Molly sat in silence, both of them too absorbed by their minds to spark conversation that didn’t lead back to what they were thinking about anyway. The noise around them carried on as they sipped at their drinks and stared into space like two people who had been placed next to one another and had nothing in common. It didn’t stop Molly clocking Ryan getting closer though, hands dug deep into the pockets of the dark wash jeans he was wearing, ones she hadn’t seen before, and ones she knew were as new as the black t-shirt with embroidered rose on the chest he was also wearing.

“Hey Mol,” Ryan started once he was close enough. Molly just offered a kind smile, seemingly lost for words, even a simple Hello eluded her. “Can we talk?” He asked, admittedly seeming a little nervous.

“Sure.” Molly nodded, looking to Jeanie who slunk off the stool, giving it up for Ryan and slipped off towards the bathroom. Ryan took her place and turned to face the bar, Molly following suit and pulling her stool in closer.

“I just figured, considering it’s Christmas and all, maybe we should just try and put everything behind us.” Ryan explained quietly, though Molly didn’t know why. The pub was loud enough that no one could decipher any conversations apart from the one they were in. Words jumbled together in the air so the room was just a mess of sounds.

“Yeah that would be nice.” Molly smiled with a nod.

“I’m really sorry for how I spoke to you, that was unfair.” Ryan admitted, which Molly appreciated, especially when she knew, and could see on his face, how hard it was for him to admit he was in the wrong. “You were right, I knew things weren’t right between us, I just was sto stuck on it being me and you that I was refusing to admit it.”

“I was the same.” Molly told him, suddenly realising Ryan’s quiet tone wasn’t out of choice. It felt like her voice faded out for the conversations, playing into the sensitivity of it, like if they said the words too loudly they might just hurt one another all over again, before old wounds had even properly healed. “I’m sorry I kissed someone else.” Molly whispered, letting her eyes close for a second longer that was necessary for a blink, but still not quite believing she’d done it.

“Was it really not Harry?” Ryan asked, clearly not convinced by her insistence that it wasn’t him. Molly couldn’t help but wonder if it would be better if it had been. At least it wouldn’t have been a random, meaningless kiss that only seemed to serve the purpose of proving to her that she didn’t love Ryan anymore. At least not in the way she should have done. As if she’d needed to kiss Niall to prove that. As if the way she’d been more worried about what Harry thought than Ryan didn’t prove it. As if the butterflies she didn’t get for Ryan ever, that made themselves known at the sight of Harry’s name on her screen didn’t prove it. As if the fact she knew she was falling for Harry, head over heels, harder and faster everyday, but was too scared to own up to it, didn’t prove it.

“No, it was his mate, I was very, very drunk.” Molly insisted a little emphatically.

“His mate?” Ryan gawped. Molly didn’t say anything to answer it, she didn’t need to. “Molly that’s savage.”

“Alright, thanks.” Molly groaned regretfully. “How have you been though?” She asked, changing the subject quickly.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Ryan nodded with half a smile, and Molly smiled back waiting for him to ask about her, though he never did. “I’m erm, you should know, I’m seeing someone else.” Ryan blurted quickly, swallowing hard on nothing as Molly’s eyes went wide.

“Sorry?” Molly spluttered. “Are you joking?” She laughed sarcastically not quite believing what she was hearing, and visibly taken back by it. “Is that why you’ve been telling everyone I ended it with you for someone else, makes you feel better?” She interrogated without apology. “Were you with her before we ended?” She asked finally, trying not to fume before she had an answer.

“No, no, no, definitely not, god no.” Ryan promised quickly and forcefully, reaching out but stopping himself as Molly recoiled from his hands. “We knew each other, mutual friends-”

“Wow.” Molly cut in, huffing and shaking her head, not sure how to take it in, but feeling a little duped. “So you went off at me about Harry, who is literally just a friend, who I am not even nearly seeing, and you’re now dating a girl you have ‘mutual friends’ with, after everything you put me through over Harry.” Yes there were feelings brewing, but Molly had no intentions of acting on them. She’d been so adamant they were just friends to everyone including Harry, that it seemed unfair to change her mind. If Harry had ever liked her in that way, he surely didn’t anymore after she’d insisted so vehemently they were good friends. If Harry had liked her in that way, he’d learned to put those feelings into being good friends, Molly would learn to do the same.

“Molly, it’s not like that.” Ryan sighed. “We were just passing acquaintances, I was cut up after you ended things so the footie lads suggested a big night, and she was there and we got to talking and it just sort of happened.” He explained calmly. “This was going to happen at some point Mol, we’re both going to move on.” Ryan told her.

“Yeah I thought it might take longer than a month is all.” Molly told him honestly. It played into everything for her. Even a couple of glasses of wine in Harry’s flat couldn’t bring her barriers down enough to allow her to do anything other than play with the idea of flirting. It was too soon, it could look like a rebound, it could look like she’d played Ryan, it could look like she was leading someone on. “I knew you’d fallen out of love with me, but I thought you still cared for my feelings and had some respect for me.”

“Molly don’t, of course I still care for you, I always will.” Ryan promised, not caring for how she pulled away anymore and reaching for her hand, holding it tight. “I have every right to find someone who makes me happy.”

“I know, of course you do.” Molly admitted, looking down at their hands and remembering how it had felt when he’d taken her hand as they’d walked up the red carpet to prom and she’d admitted she was nervous. How it had felt like all the support she needed. They weren’t even together properly then. They weren’t together now, but it didn’t feel like support. She didn’t know what it felt like, apart from that it didn’t feel right.

“You do too, and you will.” Molly ignored how condescending it sounded, deciding it wasn’t worth the hassle of pulling him up on it. Instead she just pulled her hand from out of his and lifted her eyes to look at him again, ready for the conversation to be over. “I just wanted to be the person to tell you.” Ryan sighed.

“Thank you.” Molly half smiled as something began to switch. It wasn’t that she suddenly didn’t want to find common ground for a friendship with Ryan, it was just that she’d lost the fight to find it. If it happened it happened, but she wasn’t sure she was willing to continue pushing so hard for it. Jumping to his texts, asking questions she never got answers to, trying to remember all the things they had in common. She’d spent the last year forcing herself to find the good in a failed romantic relationship, she didn’t have the energy to carry on forcing a friendship that might not even have the ground to take off.

“I mean it’s been like two dates, it might be nothing.” Ryan shrugged, appearing to try and backtrack.

“No, I hope it works for you, it was just a bit of a shock.” Molly told him honestly, because it was a shock, especially after how he’d reacted when she ended things. “Well have a good Christmas.” Molly finished with a sigh and a falsely bright smile, that if Ryan really knew her as well as he’d once professed to, he’d have seen straight through. Instead he just smiled back.

“Yeah you too, maybe see you before we go back to uni.” Ryan suggested standing from his stool.

“Yeah maybe.” Molly nodded knowing she wouldn’t. If she didn’t see him again until the same time the following year, she wasn’t entirely sure she’d mind. Ryan just turned away and stalked back off to where he’d come from. Molly deflated, not realising she’d pushed herself taller until she fell down a little, and scanned the room for Jeanie. She spotted her sat in a window seat with a girl Molly half recognised from school, a few years above, presumably Jeanie’s year. Molly got up off her own stool, finished the wine and headed for Jeanie and her friend.

“Jeanie, I’m gonna head home, feeling pretty tired.” Molly told her, not entirely lying.

“Ok, see you later.” Jeanie smiled, seeming cheerier than she had earlier. Perhaps talking with someone else had taken her mind off Matt’s absence. It gave Molly an idea.

Outside it was even colder than it had been a few hours earlier. There was frost in the air that could be promising snow, though Molly doubted. The light sea breeze that was whipping at her hair and biting the end of her nose, suggested it wouldn’t let flakes actually settle even if they fell. The large winter coat Molly had chosen from her cupboard kept her arms and body warm, though as she tapped away at the screen of her phone, her fingers felt like ice and they began to get numb. As soon as the phone was tucked under her hair, against her ear, ringing, she shoved her free hand into her pocket to get warm.

“Hello you.” Four rings and Harry’s voice rustled down the phone, sleepy and slow, rough around the edges. The line was slightly crackly and Molly didn’t doubt it was due to poor village signal on her end.

“Hey, where are you?” Molly asked lightly, quietly, just in case there was anyone in the village actually asleep.

“Nans.” Harry answered simply but with a little drag in his voice, almost a struggle, the sound of movement vibrating down the line.

“Oh say hi.”

“She’s gone to bed love, it’s nearly midnight.” Harry chuckled, and Molly quickly checked her watch in complete disbelief it was that late. But it was, eleven thirty seven to be exact. The seconds seemed to tick past quicker as they crept closer to Christmas Day. It always seemed to go so slowly as a child, the twenty four hours of Christmas Eve, but as Molly got older, the day only slipped by quicker in another blur of laughter and food and alcohol.

“Oh sorry, I’ll let you sleep.” Molly whispered as if that made a difference.

“No, it’s fine, I’m not going to sleep yet.” Harry told her, another shuffle echoing his voice.

“What you doing?” Molly asked dipping her head and watching her feet scuff along the pavement, as if trying to hide the smile gracing her face.

“Just watching a movie, you?”

“Just walking home from the pub.” Molly told him, glancing up, the gates of her family’s house in sight.

“Lolly.” There was a tinge of disappointment in Harry’s voice and the gruffness only intensified with it.

“Harry.” Molly replied, with the same tone, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Even with the sweet nickname that she’d begun to adore when it rolled of his tongue in that relaxed way it so often did, the almost warning in his voice hadn’t been missed, and it wasn’t exactly appreciated.

“You gotta stop doing this to me, you’re gonna send me into cardiac arrest, you on your own again?” Harry clucked, just like he had when she’d called on her way home from Alesandros nearly two months ago, as Molly crunched across the gravel driveway. The outlook to the lane behind her was dark, street lights had long since been extinguished for the night. The only glow was the porch light that had been left of before leaving the house that night. Even the moon and the stars were hiding behind a thick coat of clouds.

“Yes, but I am letting myself into the house now aaannnddd, I’m in, door closed, I’m safe.” Molly assured as she locked the front door behind her again and flicked on the hallway light. She scanned the parts of the house she could see. Somehow Harry’s fretting had put nerves in her that she wasn’t familiar with when she was safe inside the walls of that house. Moseby trotted out of the kitchen and she felt fine just as quickly as she hadn’t, her fingers finding the dogs long hair over it’s head and ruffling it gently as she headed for the kitchen.

“How long have you been walking?” Harry asked, and Molly could almost see that small crease between his eyebrows that he wore when something didn’t make sense.

“Like two minutes.” Molly shrugged at a guess, quickly filling a glass of water and taking it upstairs, Moseby following at her heels, and leaving her coat on. The house had a chill, the heating had clocked off for the night, she flicked it back on, but it would take a minute for the old pipes to shudder back to life and begin warming the house again.

“Oh, you live near the pub, then.”

“Harry everyone lives near the pub, it’s a village, it’s tiny.” Molly told him, not quite able to emphasise just how tiny it was with words alone. The thought of Harry visiting came to her yet again, and just like it had everytime it sent of a few little butterflies from the bottom of her tummy. The image in her head made sense. Harry looked at home in her home, as she’d felt in his. “So how was your Christmas Eve?” Molly asked quickly, before the image in her mind could convince her to ask anything more ludicrous.

“It’s been good.” Harry told her, the smile in his voice traceable through his words. “I went and saw L-my Nan, well obviously that’s why I’m here, stupid me.” Harry laughed, seemingly nervously. Molly chuckled along but more out of confusion than anything else, her brow furrowing as she did so and patted her bed for Moseby to hop up and warm the covers while she got changed into something more comfortable. Her parents were out so no one would have to know apart from her and the dog that wasn’t allowed on the beds.

“You been drinking?” Molly asked with a laugh in attempt to not offend Harry.

“Only a couple with the family.” Harry mused, Molly’s mind spinning through images of him sat in the large leather armchair she’d seen in Nancy’s living room, one of the crystal tumblers in his hand, sipping and laughing with his family through Christmas Eve as carols played in the background. “Why?”

“You’re being weird.” Molly told him with a slight smirk as she did so, sure Harry would see the funny side.

“Am I? Sorry.” Harry bleeted and Molly felt immediately guilty for pointing out how strangely he seemed to be acting over the phone.

“It’s ok, as long as everything’s ok?” Molly assured quickly, turning to sit on the edge of her bed in one swift movement.

“Yeah, yeah everything’s fine.” Harry promised just as quickly. It felt a little like they were both afraid of upsetting one another. It wasn’t quite eggshells, it didn’t feel that tense or stunted, but they were both definitely treading with caution as they maneuvered into new territory with bitten breath. “So you’re home now, wanna facetime?” Harry suggested, almost from nowhere, Molly freezing mid coat removal.

“Erm, sure ok, if you want.” Molly buzzed, her voice lifting a semi-tone with each word. There was no denying the idea thrilled her a little, there was something a little more intimate, and a little easier, about seeing Harry’s face as they spoke. It just threw her off track a little, but only because she’d assumed the conversation would be coming to an end soon. “Can I just get changed first then and I’ll call you back from my laptop?” Molly told him, her coat half shrugged off and her waist dying for something more elasticated than denim jeans.

“Ok sure, speak in a sec.” Harry finished, the smile in his voice again, the one Molly now couldn’t wait to see, before they ended the phone call.

It took Molly less than two minutes to shed her clothes and pull on some clean black joggers and a hoodie to match. It felt cosy, and even more so as she slipped her feet into a pair of red fluffy socks, patterned with snowflakes, perfect for the time of year. There wasn’t a lot of makeup left on her face, but she removed it with a cotton pad and some lotion nonetheless, rubbing a light layer of night cream over her skin and calling it a job done, her normal, five step routine forgotten as she grabbed her laptop from the dressing table and crawled onto her bed with it, pulling a blanket with her and calling Moseby closer.

Thanks to the wonders of ‘the cloud’ Harry’s number was stored on her laptop. Within moments, after checking her makeup free face, and unbrushed hair were adequate, her laptop was ringing out to Harry.

“Hey.” Molly’s heart fluttered as he grinned through the screen back to her. It was ridiculous how she was letting him affect her now. It was as if because she’d been pushing it down so hard, it was now coming up stronger. Like telling a child not to touch the biscuits, only to discover they’d eaten the whole jar half an hour later.

“Hey.” Molly smiled back. “Sorry I wanted to take my makeup off, I look a bit rough.” She excused motioning to her bare face.

“I was gonna say you look pretty actually.” Harry offered with a slightly dipped brow and straight mouth.

“Oh, thank you.” Molly blushed, dropping her eyes for a second. Harry just smiled at her coyness, whatever light he had on where he was flattering every one of his features. Even through the low quality webcam his eyes seemed to sparkle with the grin that dimpled his cheeks, one more heavily than the other. His hair was tied back away from his face, but Molly could see a few ringlets curling down his neck, probably tickling the soft skin she could see for the neckline of his hoodie that had been cut slightly to save his throat being rubbed by the fabric. There was no one Molly had felt so attracted to. Ryan looked good, she’d always thought he was attractive, but with Harry it was something other than just his glittery eyes, or pretty smile, or the way his hair fell or any of those things. There was something else about him that toppled her over an edge.

“So did you see Ryan?” Harry asked, drawing Molly’s eyes away from the tight, firm line, of his jaw.

“I did.” Molly told him quickly, clearing her throat and finding his eyes again. It was clear he was waiting for more, his plump bottom lip sticking forward a little. Molly cleared her throat again, though she didn’t need to, but her voice felt stuck, words lodged together in a mess of noise in her throat. “It was fine,” She started, her voice light as a summer breeze. It didn’t match anything, but it especially didn’t match the heavy look in her eyes. “It was civil, we spoke, just to clear the air kind of thing.” Molly shrugged with an attempt at a smile.

“That’s good.” Harry smiled back, tilting his head to one side and narrowing his eyes just a touch, for only half a second. “Do you feel better?” He asked, straightening his head again. Molly nodded quickly, the smile rising up her face, until her eyes creased and Harry could see her teeth. It was too big for what they were discussing, so falsely bright, it gave her away instantly. “Why are you lying to me?” Harry asked softly.

“I’m not lying.” Molly insisted with wide doey eyes.

“Lolly.” Harry sighed, shrinking into the velvet headboard behind him. “What’s up?” He asked.

“Nothing I’m fine, it was just a little sad, but I’m good now, I feel better now, you’re right, you were right, it’s for the best.” Molly insisted, this time only lifting one side of her mouth. It was sad, Molly had felt sad. It felt like a real ending, and she’d never liked those, but who really did? Eventually she was sure she’d feel the wound closing up and healing, eventually the conversation would feel like closure, Molly was sure. But it still felt a little bruising and a little sore, and at the back of her mind was the nagging point of what Ryan moving on so quickly said about the back end of their relationship. She supposed it didn’t matter when she was so unabashedly entranced by the way Harry’s bottom lip bounced as he talked.

“You sure?” Harry checked sitting up again.

“I’m sure.” Molly nodded with a tiny, but definitely genuine, smile.

“You’d tell me if something was up wouldn’t you?” Harry asked and Molly nodded with a small giggle. “Promise.”

“I promise, you big goof.” Molly chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“Big goof? That’s mean.” Harry mocked offence, sticking his bottom lip out like a petulant child and creasing his brow just a touch. Molly only giggled more at the sight of it, forcing Harry to smile and his lip to roll back up to meet the top one again, his dimple dipping into his right cheek. Molly had never known someone's smile to take over, and change a face the way Harry’s did. Every intricate detail of his face responded to his smile, the joy oozed out of him like liquid gold and it was hard not to be infected by it.

“Well stop being so soft.” Molly giggled, pulling the blanket over her legs and tucking Moseby in as she did so.

“You love it.”

“You’re right I do.” Molly agreed with a nod of her head, pressing her lips together. The smile on Harry’s face was different then. It made Molly stop and think, which was always dangerous, but especially when she already had thoughts she wished she didn’t swimming somewhere in her head. “I don’t want people to think I’m stringing you along or something.” Molly admitted a little quieter, but hardly a whisper.

“Why would they think that? And wait I thought we weren’t worrying what other people thought.” Harry backtracked, shaking his head side to side and frowning back at Molly.

“I know, but, it looks like I’m saying jump and you’re saying how high.” Molly admitted.

“That’s not how it is though is it?” Harry told her even though it sounded like a question.

“Isn’t it? You do a lot for me, for no reason, just because, and what do you get out of it, you see how it looks.” Molly was ranting, words spilling out of her with ease, only proving how sure she was of the point she was making.

“I don’t get it, why do you do this to yourself?” Harry questioned rhetorically. Molly just lowered her eyes, her cheeks sucking in a little. She didn’t really know either, why she continued to hit the self destruct button, why she continued to worry about things that didn’t need an ounce of her concern, let alone the kilos she was giving them. It was just a part of her design, the way she was made. “We’re good Lol, we’re good, I’m happy, I don’t feel like I’m being shortchanged, I do what I do for you because I want to and because I can.”

“Why though?” Molly asked quietly, her lips barely moving as she began to scratch away skin at the edge of her thumb nail.

“Why not?” Harry shrugged, cocking one eyebrow. “Look, you’re more often than not the first one to text about doing something, you call me more than I call you, we’re pretty even.” Harry reminded her, but that didn’t feel like enough after everything he’d already done for her.

“I don’t drive halfway across the country for you.” Molly pointed out, looking at Harry again. One hand lifted to scrape through the hair he’d tied back, his fingers left lines through it as the tips dragged along his scalp.

“You don’t have a car, and I didn’t end a four year relationship.” Harry told her, his words a little sharp. Molly nodded, her shoulders rising with the sigh she let out quietly through her nose. “Can we please just be without you worrying about what other people may or may not be thinking.” Again Molly nodded, promising herself silently that she’d stop getting wrapped up in the potential thoughts of anyone other than herself. All that mattered, all she had to worry about, or concern herself with what she was feeling and thinking, and when she let go of the needless fretting, what she was feeling and thinking was that she was beginning to really feel something for Harry and she thought she quite liked that. Especially when he looked at her like the same was happening for him.

“Sorry.” Molly whispered.

“Stop saying sorry.” Harry chuckled darkly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Seriously Lolly.” Harry chuckled louder, a deep rumble of thunder that came from his tummy and made his shoulders shake a little.

“Oh shit, I’m…” Molly hesitated for a second as she shook her head in disbelief at herself, trying to decide what she was most of all. What am I? “I’m happy.” Molly settle on finally, opening her eyes to look at Harry as she told him how she was truly feeling.

“Yeah?” Harry checked and Molly nodded, a tiny, glimmer of a smile on her face, the corners only just upturned. “Good, that makes me happy.” Harry told her, just one corner of his own mouth lifting in response to Molly’s quietly content smile. For a second Harry’s eyes flicked off to the near distance, but they quickly came back. “Hey, Lolly, it’s midnight.” Harry announced. Molly frowned, not believing that much time had passed, but the clock on her laptop told her it was in fact one minute past midnight. Christmas Day.

“So it is.” Molly grinned brightly, the childlike excitement instant, and readable from the gleam in her eyes.

“Merry Christmas Cecelia Molly Thomson.” Harry almost whispered.

“Merry Christmas Harry Edward Styles.” Molly replied in the same soft tone, her voice sleek like silk over Harry.

“We could do presents.” Harry suggested, cocking one eyebrow a little.

“I suppose we could.” Molly agreed, though admittedly she was nervous about the idea. Generally speaking Molly thought she was quite good at buying presents, she liked to step outside the box a little and they always seemed to go down well, and she enjoyed buying gifts for others. However, Harry was a bit of a enigma to her, although she felt like she knew him well, finding him the right gift was surprisingly tricky. He had the air of a person who didn’t want for lot, but bought the things he wanted for himself. Molly knew she really needed to step out of the box to find a gift he’d love. Or she thought she did. But then she got a burst of inspiration and his crowded book shelves came back to her. “Shall we?” Molly asked, excited nerves tickling her tummy and making her voice higher than normal.

“Yeah, I think so.” Harry smiled with a nod.

“Ok give me a sec.” Molly pulled her legs from under the blanket, so as not to disturb the sleeping Moseby curled up beside her, and got up from the bed, heading for her wardrobe and the large tote bag she’d travelled home with, sat on the train seat behind her. The gift from Harry, the one he’d given her before driving her home from his apartment, was tucked inside neatly and safely. It was wrapped tidily in red paper, tied with a red and white ribbon that Molly planned on putting around Moseby’s neck once the present was opened. It looked too good to open, and Molly wondered if he’d wrapped it himself. Somehow she just couldn’t imagine his long, strong fingers, being delicate enough to crease the paper so perfectly.

“You first.” Molly groaned as she crawled back onto the bed and sat cross legged before her laptop, matching Harry.

“Oh there’s a dog.” Harry beamed, “The famous Moseby.” Harry’s eyes were glued on the golden retriever, sleeping peacefully still despite the commotion around him. Molly just giggled and nodded, stroking Moseby’s head gently. “Anyway, I insist you go first.” Harry pushed, the tone in his voice ensuring Molly knew there was no room for argument.

“Fine.” Molly sighed, picking the present up and beginning to peel the tape from the paper gently. People laughed at her for how careful she was about unwrapping presents, but she didn’t feel the need to tear away at paper to find what was underneath in seconds. It built up the tension more her way. Molly took the paper away from the rectangular gift and flipped over to look at the front. ‘Coyote Ugly’ on DVD. “Ah, yes, thank you.” Molly grinned and nodded.

“Now you have no excuse.” Harry smiled.

“No I do not, thank you.” Molly giggled placing the DVD case beside her laptop. “Your turn.” Molly gleamed looking to Harry again. Molly knew what was underneath the brown paper dotted with silver stars, but as Harry pulled the red and white striped string to untie the bow she’d tied it in, she felt nervous like she didn’t know a copy of Disturbing the Peace laid beneath it.

“The only book you’ve ever liked.” Harry beamed, eyes flicking over the back cover as he read the blurb, a quick summary of the story of a salesman turned alcoholic and adulterer, designed to make someone buy and read the book. “Thank you, I’m gonna start it tomorrow.” Harry grinned, looking back up at Molly.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Molly told him blushing a little.

“Of course I want to, if this is the only book you’ve ever liked it must be good.” Harry told her, looking down at the book again for a second before reaching across and placing it on the bedside table that Molly could just see in frame. As he stretched his hoodie rose up over his hip a little, revealing the smooth skin and plump flesh underneath. “Thank you.” Harry grinned one more time.

“Do you wanna watch this with me?” Molly asked without really thinking about the question before doing so.

“You gonna wait that long?” Harry asked, seeming a little put out.

“Or I could put it on now and we could watch it together now.” Molly mulled, detailing how she’d seen it in her head. Turning her laptop a little the TV hung on the wall so Harry could watch the screen with her, like they were there together watching the movie he couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen already, but not really. Harry laughed, really laughed, like she’d told the funniest joke. Molly felt her cheeks redden, realising how ridiculous the idea was and how mad it sounded. How much of a joke it sounded.

“Oh wait you’re being serious.” Harry realised a little too late, the laugh falling away as he winced, noticing how put out Molly seemed.

“No it’s ok, it was a stupid idea.” Molly brushed it off, waving her hand through the air and offering a reassuring smile.

“No, no it’s not that, I just..” Harry hesitated for a second, looking over Molly visibly as she waited for him to finish what he was saying. “Thought you’d want to get to sleep, but yeah, put it on.” Harry told her nodding as he did so.

“Sure?” Molly asked with wide eyes.

“Sure.” Harry confirmed nodding again. Molly smiled and once again got up from the bed to put the DVD on.

The movie started and Molly got comfortable, angling the laptop a little so Harry could see too. The logistics didn’t work out quite as perfectly as they had in her head, and she was sure Harry could hardly see, but he never complained, just got comfortable himself, relaxing back against the headboard. As the movie carried on, Molly glanced to Harry every now and again, his bottom lip between his fingers as he pulled at it. It couldn’t be helped how sleepy Molly felt. It was gone midnight, she was warm and comfortable, curled up with Moseby and her blanket in the softest clothes she owned. Of course her eyes were heavy, and of course she gave into that easily. It couldn’t be helped.

She woke up the next morning, dazed and alarmed at the sound of her sisters voice and her bedroom door opening. By the time Molly realised it was Christmas morning Jeanie had disappeared again, leaving the door open behind her. Molly had no memory of falling asleep, or where she’d gotten to in the movie that was now just a black screen with the words DVD across it. In fact the last thing she could remember was pressing ‘play movie’ and settling back with Harry.

Harry.

Molly jumped at the memory and grabbed her laptop that had gone into sleep mode. Molly wondered when. As the screen came back to life, the facetime call screen that remained showed her the call had ended at 1.15am. Harry must have ended the call after she fell asleep. Molly reached for her phone, plugged in on her bedside table. A message was waiting for her.

Goodnight Lolly, sweet dreams, Merry Christmas x

Eeeee hope you like this one. Are they heading in the right direction? What are we all thinking?

Thank you SO SO much for all the love on this so far. We’ve got a long way to go but I’m so glad so many of you seem to be loving it so far. Would love it if you send over your thoughts and theories and always and if you wanna give it a like or reblog feel free!

All the love, I x

#dive #harry styles au #Harry Styles fan fic #harry styles #harry fluff #harry angst #harry and molly #holly?#is that a thing?#ask box open #ASK ME ANYTHING

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 19/12/2020

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” spends a second week at #1. It’s #1 in the States as well. We’ve got a week of Christmas music and a Taylor Swift album bomb so... God, let’s just get this over with. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

So let’s start as always with the drop-outs from the UK Top 75, which we have a few of but not as notable as the last few weeks, as the less interesting 2020 hits that just can’t leave the chart are slowly dropping off. We have some of the bigger hits like “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woodford and Kareen Lomax (Good song, by the way), “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, as well as some more recent and more moderate successes like “Princess Cuts” by Headie One featuring Young T & Bugsey, “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra and “SO DONE” by The Kid LAROI. I can see this all rebounding after Christmas though, especially those last few. What I can’t see rebounding are the three Christmas songs that ironically dropped off from last week, particularly “Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia which I do not remember being a top 20 hit. We do, of course, have some more fallers as well, like “34+35” by Ariana Grande at #14 and “Santa Tell Me” also by Ariana at #17 – not a good week for her, I suppose. I also find it funny that we have a couple Christmas songs that actually dropped places this week, not many of which are notable, but to give an example, due to three separate songs entering the top 10 this week, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé dropped five spots to #12. On the course of fallers, we also have “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus at #22, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #28, “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Michael Bublé at #36, “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber at #44, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #48, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #50, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #51, “you broke me first” by TateMcRae at #57 (the biggest fall this week), “Golden” by Harry Styles at #58, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco at #60, “Wonder” by Shawn Mendes at #63, “What You Know Bout Love” by the late Pop Smoke at #65, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #69, “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” by Post Malone and Swae Lee at #70 and “A Little Love” by Celeste at #74. Of course, we also have some notable returning entries and gains, those returning entries being “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by the Jackson 5 at #75 and “Baby it’s Cold Outside” by Adele Dazeem and Michael Bublé at #61. The most notable gains aren’t as plentiful this week because I feel like most songs, Christmas or not, are relatively stable if they’re not falling dramatically off the chart, so I’m not going to separate it into festive and non-festive tracks this time. We start off with “No Time for Tears” – the biggest climber this week – by Nathan Dawe and Little Mix up to #64, “Christmas Lights” by Coldplay at #43, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #32, and whilst that’s it for notably large gains, we do see “Whoopty” by CJ and “This Christmas” by Jess Glynne enter the top 10 at #10 and #9 respectively. Delightful. Well, we’re already done with the rundown – oddly quickly – so let’s get on with these new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#72 – “The Business” – Tiesto

Produced by Anton Rundberg and Tiesto

I have no time for umlauts. They’re simply not productive. Dutch DJ Tiesto has been at it for a while now and “The Business” is his new house-pop track with vocals from James Bell, probably propped up the chart by a remix with English DJ 220 KID. The original song charted though, so we’ll talk about that one and I do like the cold, bizarrely eerie strings for a song like this, even if the pitched-down vocals make it more comical than anything. The deep house groove here is cool but mostly cheap, especially whatever the hell those claps are. The bridge is aimless and James Bell gives a performance really not worthy of note. At least this has some essence of personality and artistic intent, unlike 220 KID’s usual output, who actually improves on the song by giving it more of a 90s Eurodance tinge, in my opinion at least. The 220 KID remix is a remix of a song that already felt like a remix though, so everything about this is unnatural and awkward, even for EDM.

#71 – “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” – Dolly Parton and Michael Bublé

Produced by Kent Wells

The only time country music charts on the UK Singles Chart is when it’s barely country or Dolly Parton. Whilst a lot of country music is rarely appreciated out of the States, I feel like Dolly Parton is one of those singers that’s just universally loved. Michael Bublé on the other hand I have no patience for and I was dreading the time I’d have to review his songs again. The man made a career of off offensively inoffensive Christmas standards and his original music is painfully bad, so honestly, I’ll take it, but the man is clearly not interesting and whilst I understand why Dolly had him on her A Holly Dolly Christmas TV special in the vein of Mariah Carey’s this same year, I’m not excited to hear it. I’m not excited to talk about it either, because this is only vaguely country and is mostly just a jazz-adjacent traditional pop standard, except this is an original song. Neither Parton and Bublé have any chemistry, there’s a lot of empty space, and Bublé’s awkward attempts to add personality to what is and will always be a dull, painful slog of a track are just cringe worthy if anything. This song is barely about Christmas either or anything warm and intimate about cuddling up with family as I expected. It’s just the image of Dolly Parton banging Michael Bublé by the fireplace, and it goes on for about three minutes and 39 seconds too long. Next.

#66 – “Baby it’s Cold Outside” – Brett Eldredge featuring Meghan Trainor

Produced by Ron Mousey and Jay Newland

“Baby it’s Cold Outside” spews controversy nowadays, and whilst I never found a reason to be mad at what is clearly a dated but to me pretty innocuous and satirical Christmas standard, I never found a reason to like the song. Even the classic Dean Martin version is pretty much a slog, but that doesn’t mean I can stomach John Legend’s “politically correct” version either, which is probably the worst rendition I’ve heard, although Bublé’s is close. I don’t mind Tom Jones’ attempt, I guess. Regardless, this version from 2016 is by another country singer, but it did just chart because Meghan Trainor’s here. These two might have even less chemistry than Dolly and Bublé; at least they tried, whilst here despite the song being a back-and-forth, they seem to be on completely different ideas on how to tackle the song. Admittedly, I like this flat, jazzy rendition of the track fine but if anything Trainor is an inconvenience to my enjoyment of this lounge track. She shows off her vocal strength a bit too much for it to work until that awkward burst of energy at the end. Also, Brett Eldredge exists. How unfortunate. It may also be insensitive in retrospect, and maybe ironic, that the song ends with Eldredge warning her she might catch pneumonia if she went outside. Huh.

#55 – “Forever Young” – Becky Hill

Produced by Charlie Hugall

“Forever Young” by Alphaville is one of those classic 1980s synth-pop tracks that sounds so obviously 1980s but is far from dated, with the lyrics being a take on contemporaneous political issues covered in optimistic calls for action and gorgeous strings that undercut Marian Gold’s longing, belting delivery and of course, that horn section at the end that sadly fades out instead of coming to a genuine climax but would be brilliant either way. The song has a legacy indeed, and is continuously topical, being covered by One Direction, Kim Wilde and Imagine Dragons, and being sampled or interpolated by Dorian Electra, JAY-Z, Maroon 5 and even Tangerine Dream. The song has had so many reimaginings that it’s hard to imagine what new can be done with a classic track that didn’t really need much reworking in the first place... so naturally, Becky Hill made an acoustic cover for a McDonald’s commercial. It’s just her singing it vaguely competently over an unimaginative piano rendition of the original, but it does offend me in how it strips everything out of the original song to replace it with a vague orchestral swell and exhaustingly boring delivery from Becky Hill. Sure, the original song sounds cheaper now but if anything, this sounds even cheaper, with mixing drenched in reverb that makes everything sound a lot uglier than it’s supposed to. JAY-Z screwed “Forever Young” up to hell and back on his track with Mr Hudson but at least he rapped over it and had a bit of a sample flip, instead of just reciting the lyrics and chord structure without realising what made the song so biting and anthemic in the first place. This isn’t REVIEWING THE ADVERTS though, even though most of the time it ends up being, so I won’t bore you much longer with this.

#37 – “Show Out” – Kid Cudi, Skepta and Pop Smoke

Produced by Dot da Genius, Plain Pat, Heavy Mellow and Gravez

I knew this would be the highest-charting track from the Cudi album as soon as I saw the feature credit, but I didn’t expect it to be the only one charting. Regardless, I should probably talk about the album because I have listened to Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, Cudi’s highly-anticipated follow-up to his last two Man on the Moon records, both of which are pretty damn great, and this one isn’t far from it either. I liked it a fair bit and even if its derivative first few tracks means it gets off to a slow start, there are absolutely moments on this album where we see a classic Cudi matured and aged, and able to talk about mental health in shallow detail as always but from a perspective where we see a Scott Mescudi that has settled down and is happy with life. While it’s far from a perfect album, I won’t lie and say it wasn’t heart-warming to hear Cudi like this considering how much he’s struggled in his decade-long career, and it’s backed by great, psychedelic production as always. “Show Out” is a complete abandonment of all of that, acting as a shallow turn-up drill track with a massive posthumous hook from the late Pop Smoke’s booming voice, accompanied by an Auto-Tuned Cudi mumbling over gorgeous string samples, which don’t feel like they’re watered-down by the overwhelming drill beat and instead accentuated, which I think is missing from a lot of UK drill. It helps that Skepta is here to slide effortlessly in his verse. He’s selling out shows and shooting guns “the same size as Kevin Hart”, and whilst the verse feels a little short, he absolutely steals the show when he’s there. That’s not to say Cudi doesn’t spit endlessly on his verse, which is also fire, before an atmospheric bridge where, in the midst of the gang violence and hedonism, he calls out to God to ask what the cost of it is. It’s the one part of the song that makes it make any lick of sense in the context of the album, but it’s also the one part I’m never so sure on. It sounds pretty jarring between Cudi’s verse and the hook, and it’s not cathartic when Pop Smoke comes back in so I think it could have been better used as an outro if anything. Other than that, the song is still really hard-hitting and one of my favourites from Man on the Moon III. Songs like “The Void” and “Rockstar Knights” with Trippie Redd blow it out of the water though.

#19 – “no body, no crime” – Taylor Swift featuring HAIM

Produced by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

As you probably know, Taylor Swift dropped a new album last week called Evermore, which is basically a much weaker collection of B-sides from the Folklore sessions. I’ll discuss my gripes with the album more as we get onto “willow”, so I’ll give some short individual reviews here. This is one of my favourite tracks on the record, mostly because of how it takes Taylor back to her country roots but in sharp contrast to the original bubblegum country-pop style she had on her first few albums, she and HAIM of all people perform a pretty convincing true crime story about a missing persons case that might just end up being a murder. With a catchy chorus, oddly eerie and menacing delivery from Taylor Swift that sounds determined and honestly kind of badass with those electric guitars in the post-chorus, as well as some descending melodies in the verses I admittedly love, this is one of the best tracks on the album without hesitation for me. It’s one of the few tracks on Evermore that feels like Swift’s storytelling, knacks for infectious choruses, and the more serious, rootsy acoustic guitar-based instrumentation, are in perfect harmony, even if it is a bit short and much like the rest of the album, it falls victim to the meandering nature of these songs and their aimless bridges or outros. Either way, it’s good. Check it out if you haven’t already. It’s cool to see HAIM back on the chart too, by the way.

#15 – “champagne problems” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

When I was listening to Kid Cudi, Avalanches and Taylor last Friday all in one session, I was constantly engaged even through the duller parts of the second half of We Will Always Love You or the most rote, derivative Travis Scott rip-offs present on Man on the Moon III. I was only awake for about three and a half hours when I first went through Evermore, but you know that feeling you get in your eyes when you start feeling tired or exhausted? Maybe that’s just a me thing, but “champagne problems” is that feeling when your eyes start to sore a bit and you start blinking a bit more. The storytelling isn’t as engaging as it usually is on this track, and although I do like the main narrative, it takes a detour and doesn’t decide whether it wants to focus on that or a vaguer metaphor about mental illness and how it’s affected Taylor as a celebrity. I care about that on Reputation but I do not give a damn when it’s presented with this uninteresting chasm of piano melodies and a really awkward, pointless outro, once again, that’s out-of-place if anything. I wish anything on Evermore was as good as “seven” but that’s wishful thinking. Anyway, let’s start rambling, because it’s the big-boy debut time now.

#3 – “willow” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Aaron Dessner

I have nothing to go off when judging Aaron Dessner’s production. He’s the frontman behind The National and he does contribute to the album vocally on one of the worst tracks but usually takes a backseat in production. On Folklore, although Dessner was still greatly involved, it felt a lot more varied and interesting from Taylor particularly, who went on unexpected songwriting angles and some melodies I genuinely love. I’m not a fan of the indie-folk direction for her – I think her style of writing and vocals actually fits better on pop tunes, which might be a hot take but I mean, my favourite album from her is Reputation so I’m full of those when it comes to Taylor. I can appreciate when it’s done well, though, and I like her storytelling abilities most of the time, unless of course the song itself is nothing to be interested in... and, I’m sorry, but half of Folklore was aggressively dull, particularly the back half, and I can barely make it through songs like “exile”. Maybe I just don’t “get” it, maybe I’m just not “listening hard enough”, or maybe, perhaps, I’m just not a fan of Taylor doing exactly what she usually doesn’t do on her albums, which is bore me. Say what you want about Red, 1989 or even Reputation, and ESPECIALLY Lover, but they take risks, intriguing ones at that and whether they’re successful or not is obviously up to listener’s interpretation, but regardless, it makes for a listen that is unpredictable and often fascinating. Lover is an absolute mess full of pretty mediocre attempts to do... well, anything, but it’s a better listen than Evermore out of sheer intrigue alone. It’s interesting to hear Taylor try all of these different musical ideas, whether it’s her trying obnoxious bubblegum-pop on “ME!”, ballads with the Dixie Chicks, 1980s-style synth-pop on “Getaway Car” and the majority of 1989, or even industrial-pop rapping on “...Ready for It?”. It’s not interesting to hear her make 16 quite similar songs and less than half of them have a unique flavour to them that makes the hour-long listen feel like you gained anything from it. It’s not just the album experience either that Folklore and Evermore lack, but it’s also the songs themselves, particularly in Evermore. Let’s look at “cardigan”, one of the best songs on Folklore, with Swift’s pretty low-key but emotive delivery, a noticeable and profound refrain, songwriting that evokes a pretty sweet metaphor and tells the start of a story that runs throughout the record in a way that can detach itself from the rest of the record, infectious choruses (even if they are cribbed somewhat from “Wildest Dreams”) and that subtle drum machine with pretty intricate percussion patterns covered by gorgeous string compositions, and a four-minute runtime that feels worth it, especially for that last chorus and verse, an effortless switch-up. Now let’s compare it to its equivalent lead single “willow”, a track with a checked-out Taylor singing pretty janky, awkward melodies over a cluttered mess of guitar strumming, with absolutely none of the very few ideas Taylor has musically actually succeeding. The song has to drop out entirely because Taylor and Dessner apparently can’t handle the three over-lapping ideas just in the first two verses and choruses, and whilst it still has that switch-up for the third verse/bridge, it does not feel worth it because there is another, over-long chorus with no lyrical adjustments to the hook that made the subtleties in “cardigan” so special. The song is 20 seconds or so shorter than “cardigan” but feels a lot longer because of how directionless the outro is, and none of it feels like anything other than a pretty folk-pop tune (which is barely qualifies as anyway because of how ugly these acoustics are, and how meandering Taylor’s cadence is throughout). She tries out the chorus with and without the falsetto for no reason other than to extend the song by the end and it makes effectively no change to how the chorus feels like it’s delivered. I’ll give “willow” credit that it’s listenable and a lot less boring than other tracks on Evermore but I can’t see this as anything more than a failed attempt that should be met with a “game over, try again” screen. I’d accept the musical chaos of misshapen ideas if I ever felt it was genuinely warranted. On Evermore, nothing Taylor does is what the audience deserves accompanying – or maybe even improving on – Folklore. Sorry.

Conclusion

Yeah, “no body, no crime” by Taylor Swift featuring HAIM takes the Best of the Week, but it was a toss-up between her and Kid Cudi, who gets the Honourable Mention for “Show Out” with Skepta and Pop Smoke. For the Worst of the Week, it’s really picking your poison between sickly Christmas duets, but I’ll ignore them and give it to Becky Hill for absolutely butchering “Forever Young”, with a Dishonourable Mention also going to Taylor Swift and “willow”. Here’s the top 10 for this week:

You can follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more ramblings and Taylor Swift hot takes, if you’d want to see that. I won’t post another episode before the 25th so, if you’re reading this, merry Christmas, everyone, and I’ll see you on Boxing Day!

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transboygenius · 5 years

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SE4SON: Chapter 22

"Butterscotch?"

The mysterious white horse, or might we say "unicorn," strangely resembled the horse that died off of the bridge. And this horse seemingly came to their rescue, as if it actually knew them. To make sure this was the same stallion, Diana decided to play a test that only the real Butterscotch could pass. She took out a piece of unwrapped candy, literal butterscotch, and thrusted her hand in the majestic horse's direction. Nick and Jimmy were quite mesmerized, seeing a live unicorn in the flesh. Curious, the horse walked towards the candy, with its body illuminating the darkness. The horse sniffed at the candy, then scooped it up with its tongue. It began chewing, only to then realize it hated the taste. The horse spat the butterscotch right out.

"BUTTERSCOTCH! IT'S REALLY YOU, OLD FRIEND!"

Diana ran towards the stallion to hug him.

"You named him Butterscotch, because he hates butterscotch?" Asked Jimmy. "He had to be known for something." Replied Diana. "(And I still hate it to this day!!)” Butterscotch groaned. "Okay, this raises a lot of questions. I can't believe my eyes. I'm seeing it right now, and I still can't believe it. It's, it's a scientific miracle! But how?" "Would you believe... ...magic?" Asked Nick. "*Annoyed* Yes... I believe. I believe alright. As if I wasn't there to witness Jason conjure up some hocus-pocus. The question is where did he get the magic?"

Earlier, what everyone didn't know, as Butterscotch fell into the dark pit, he had a rough landing in a giant cauldron, full of this glittery, pink, liquid substance. The horse was barely alive. But, after a few seconds, he came out a whole new stallion! At the bottom of the pit was none other than the Wise Wizard's original laboratory, and what he just fell in was a potion the wizard himself had forgotten he'd finish. Well, the results turned out great. Since no one could speak horse, the cause of Butterscotch's revival, along with the artificial changes, remains to be unknown to the squad. Jimmy and Nick were both astonished by this enchanted discovery. The boy genius isn't one to believe in magic unless it is there in front of his eyes. King Jason was his exposure.

"What happened?! Did you really die?!" Diana questioned Butterscotch. "Have you met God? If yes, what she like?" Also, asked Rodent Girl. "Where did you get that pointy horn?" "And that glitter?" "And that eyeliner?" "And that tattoo?" "Whinnyyyyy! (Don't look at my butt!)" Whinned Butterscotch. "Wait a minute. He died? Ohhhhh, what else did I miss?!" Quote Mitzi.

Meanwhile, while everyone is gawking over Butterscotch's revival and change, Jimmy was having a little existential crisis.

"This is improbable! First Santa Claus, then magic, now UNICORNS? If these state of affairs authentically subsist, could that mean there's an afterlife to carry our demise? Is God real, and so is Satan? Am I going to heaven, or hell? OH, MURPHY'S LAW, I'M GOING TO HELL, AREN'T I?"

Nick grabbed Jimmy and shook him up and down, telling him to snap out of it.

"Thanks. I needed that." "No prob, Bob."

Mitzi then suggested they leave the dungeon immediately before anyone begins to notice the prisoners are missing. Taking her words in account, everyone took the exit out. When they reached the upper floor, there was no one in sight. The squad started to explore further, careless to consider that someone might be present in the king's domain. As they got to the main dining room, they witnessed something that will forever haunt their dreams. Everyone, who served in the king's community, were all hung from the ceiling, with their lifeless corpses dangling from nooses. Their necks even leaked blood. The squad couldn't help but stare in horror.

"Dead bodies! Swell!" Said Benson. "This is the first time I've seen corpses. ...of adults." Quote Mitzi.

The sight was a little hard on Jimmy, Nick, and Sally's innocence. Jimmy has watched explicit, graphic autopsies, but he never got exposed to a real dead body up close before. Everyone, except Rodent Girl, soon took their eyes off the corpses when they heard whimpering. Somebody, who's alive, was cowering under the table. Diana tossed a chair away and grabbed whoever's hiding under there. It was Richard. The chancellor was paralyzed being held in the arm of a 6'3 buff lady, and glared at by her unhappy friends. He could do nothing but stutter and greet "Welcome back." Rodent Girl still had her eyes glued on the hanging corpses.

"That's the king's chancellor!" Shouted Jimmy. "I was looking forward to punching Jason in his ugly mug! This tiny little man is about the closest I'll have!" Said Diana. "WAIT! Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait! Please, show mercy! I'm just a poor, scared gent doing his job! I had no involvement in... *Points to the dead bodies* ...this!" Richard begged. "Involvement? What are you talking about?" Asked Mitzi.

Instead of answering, Richard handed them the global map. Jimmy took it from him. As the boy genius opened it, everyone got their eyes caught in the moving pictures. Jason carried out his entire plan in this map. They could tell this had been the work of Jason, due to the multiple castles, including gallows, popping up in every place, and who else could make the pictures on a map move like that? Jimmy showed the map to Rodent Girl, which helped take her eyes off the hanging bodies.

"Wooooooooow! Pretty!" Rodent Girl cooed. "No, it's not!" Exclaimed Jimmy. "Still! It looks so cool! So this is the TV you guys were talking about!" "Believe me, RG! This is not something you should get excited over!" "Huh? Why?"

Jimmy then clarified on why the whole process is wrong. With King Jason meddling with meteorology; tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, not to mention the multiple kingdom territories marked on the map, these natural disasters could put the whole Earth at risk. He is damaging the planet worse than polluters could succeed. The king has a good chance of destroying the Earth, or at least cause extinction for the human race. (Author's note: I'm not smart and I don't know sh*t about science. Sorry!) The boy genius's explanation brought Rodent Girl into a panic attack.

"You mean, it's the end of the world as we know it? No, no no! We just broke out of prison, awaiting for a death sentence! I didn't escape from living my last day only to face living my last day! There are so many places I haven't been! So many cheeses I haven't tasted! I was looking forward to getting my horse riding license, and oh my god there's the dead bodies again!"

As soon as Rodent Girl looked at the hanging bodies, she was once again glued to them.

"Care to tell us where 'your greatness' might be?" Asked Jimmy.

Richard, while shivering in fear, pointed to the giant hole in the wall. And out that hole they saw hell themselves. The sky was violet with black spiral clouds, also inhabitant with odd, bony looking fanged birds and demonic snakes with wings. On the ground, there were huge monsters, that looked like clashes between bears, gorillas, and leopards, claiming their territories and scaring the peasants. None of that was bad compared to the king himself. He was a 400 feet tall monster, with shiny red skin, golden eyes that were blank, crooked teeth, a dinosaur's tail, and was all naked (with no visible genitals btw). The only thing he was wearing was his crown, and the amulet around his neck. He was wrecking havoc on the peasants' village.

"Oh, this is ghastly! A huge, big, giant HOLE right there in the room, and we didn't even notice it?" Said Benson. "This is worse than I thought." Quote Jimmy. "And what are we gonna do now?" Asked Diana.

Jimmy took a moment to think, while the others hovered over him, except Rodent Girl and Nick. Diana realized she was still holding Richard, then tossed him over her shoulder. Nick was shaking and shivering. He looked over to the hanging bodies, then over to the hellish outside world, with the 400 feet tall Kingzilla wrecking havoc. Let's not forget that the king is also capable of manipulating phenomenal sorcery. Nick watched as the king stomp on a house, then turned a random peasant into a giant turkey leg (which tasted like chicken).

"Well, when the going gets tough, I guess we have no choice but to... ...rebel against the king!" Shouted Jimmy. "We can't do that! Otherwise you'd be hanged!" Replied Diana. "Look around you! Jason pretty much killed all his authorities, so the law is no longer in order here! Besides, there's a lot more you ought to worry about than hanging!" "*Sigh* Whatever you say, Mr. Know It All." "At last! This is what I've been waiting for!" Said Mitzi, holding up a harpoon. "Diana, you think you could fight off that thing?" Jimmy asked. "I've never fought a real monster before, but there's a first time for everything!" Replied Diana. "Mitzi; you, Benson, and Butterscotch try to evacuate the whole town, and get the citizens somewhere safe!" "You mean I'm not gonna fight the king?" Spoke Mitzi. "Rodent Girl-"

Rodent Girl was still staring at the hanged corpses. Benson picked up Rodent Girl and gave her a good shake, to help her snap out of it. Then he brought her over to Jimmy.

"Diana is gonna need some backup, so, how many rats can you summon at will? If you actually can do that." Said Jimmy.

Rodent Girl's eyes grew in excitement.

"'How many rats' you say? Oh brother, just wait till you see what I can really do!" Exclaimed Rodent Girl. "Meanwhile, me, Sally and Nick will-- Where's Nick?"

Nick was suddenly missing from the bunch. Jimmy tried calling for his name, but no response.

"Maybe he went ahead of the plan?" Benson thought. "That's probably our cue. Faithful Five! Assemble!" Diana commanded.

Jimmy tried to stop them, but it was too late. Meanwhile, the operation was already in act. Benson, Mitzi, and Butterscotch gathered as much citizens they could rally, helping them out of their homes, even the snobby higher class ones. Diana tried to keep Jason from doing anymore harm by attempting to fight him. Unfortunately, he was too big, so the best Diana could do was distract him by pulling some punches, and avoiding his attacks. Rodent Girl took care of those ugly fusion creatures by welcoming her new one billion furry friends to a feast. Jimmy felt useless at the moment, since Nick is gone. He had a very important task for both of them, involving the amulet.

Elsewhere, Nick was hiding in a wine barrel, which he emptied out first, locking himself in the alcohol cellar. Of all the risks he had to take, this is the last straw. We're talking about a 400 feet tyrant with magical powers. The same powers that landed him and his friends in jail without struggle, and the same powers that got the entire kingdom's community hanged. Nick is just too scared to face a problem like that, no matter how strong his love for Jimmy might be. He wants to live until 13, despite that the world may possibly end. Besides, Jimmy has done fine without him. He's a genius. He could probably slay that beast himself. Nick wouldn't be any help. To breaking into the king's castle, to finding the rare amulet, all Nick did was stand besides him.

..........................

"Taking out that vile beast will be a piece of cake! All you have to do is think hard, and maybe your memory will come back!" Said Sally. "What? Sally, we're not going over this again! Nick is not The Silver Knight! I'm not the Wise Wizard! I don't even believe in magic, until now, just science! You were there in the room when King Jason sniffed out the phony!" Replied Jimmy. "Nobody's nose could work good as a bloodhound's!" "As much as I hate to say this, but he does possess his own magical capacity!" "That could've been merely youth scent! Everyone smells different at a certain age! Like how old people smell like detergent and dead weeds!" "We're from the 21st century, not here! We have our own memories! I once led a whole fast food chain into the sun! One time, I celebrated my birthday eight times in a row! I have swapped heads with a hamster! How do you explain that?!" "Th-those memories could've been implanted, another side effect from your de-aging spell! What you're saying makes no sense!" "UGHHHHHH! I guess there's not much I can prove to you anymore! Why do you want to believe we are them so badly?!" "You're the only ones who can help us! You're our saviors!" "I know you're holding out for a hero, but we're not sure if the REAL Wise Wizard and Silver Knight is coming back! The whole problem is up to us to solve now!" "We need your magic! More than you think! If my words can't restore your memory, neither can my father's diary, I think I know a sure-fire way that will!"

Sally then ran out to the town. Jimmy chased after her.

"SALLY! NOT THERE! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!"

Elsewhere, Mitzi and Benson ran along with all the people they rounded up, bringing them to the castle. The castle would be the safest place to stay, since Jason only had interest targeting the town.

"Do you think that's everyone?" Asked Mitzi. "Everyone, but the rest of the squad." Replied Benson. “I think I left my arm back at the poultry stand.” Said Albert. "Diana looks like she has her hands full out there. Are you sure we shouldn't help, Benson?" "What are you talking about? That's the great Diana! She can handle anything!" "I see, I see. *Deep sigh* Hey, where's Butterscotch?" "That silly old horse! Never could keep up with the program! He probably caught his eyes on some tenderoni mare, or is stuffing his chubby face at an apple tree! What do you think, Mitzi? Mitzi? Mitzi?"

Mitzi was suddenly gone.

"For heaven sakes! Where has that woman gone?" Benson asked himself. "Oh, she left with her harpoon after she asked where Butterscotch was!" Replied one of the young citizens. "Bloody hell. I'm really that gullible, aren't I?" "YES!" The people replied. "Excuse me! I didn't ask for your answer!"

Mitzi was running over to aid her best friend, Diana. Speaking of Diana, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't tire out this monster. She tried pulling him down to his stomach, and stomping hard on his back. Unfortunately, she treated him to a massage instead. She tried climbing up to his head, and covering his eyes, but blinding him resulted in more disaster. Such as flinging giant daggers, and turning the border walls into a barricade made out of moving arms and hands. Lastly, she tried gripping his tail tightly, spun him around like he were in a twister, and tossed him far out over the barricade. He just teleported back in the spot of their battle.

"(I can't keep this up much longer! My strength has never failed me before!)" Diana panted. "Still up for another round? *Tsk, tsk, tsk* Foolish, woman. You should know better than to take on a man's job!" Said Jason, then flicked the heroine away.

"JASON! THIS IS THE PAY-OFF!" Shouted a high pitched, nasally voice. "Huh?! Another one?! VERMIN?!"

Rodent Girl has made a monster of her own. One made entirely out of rats, reaching up to the same height as Jason's demon form. The teen piloted all her furry friends from the inside, while facing Jason through the eye holes. In anger, Jason puffed smoke out of his nostrils. When will these misfits ever learn? And how did they escape, anyways?! The king, and the giant rat monster, went into a one-on-one wrestling match to the death.

.................................

Nick continued to hide in the cellar. It has already been 15 minutes. He thought to himself, I'm not a big help anyways. Jimmy has done more generous deeds to the Faithful Five than he has. Nick could've been hanged trespassing in the king's castle like that. He was almost near death crossing that bridge. Jimmy did most of the work. Nick only stood next to him. Well, he did help collect that quartz, build that time machine with Jimmy, and lend him some confidence. That was probably just Lady Luck. He doesn't have the courage to move out there. That's some serious business. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and found himself in another place. ...with his dad.

"Again? You climb your way up to the top, only to plummet again? Pa-the-tic."

Nick had nothing to say. He just cornered himself against the wall, looking up at Daniel as he talks down to him. He was already afraid of his father. Nick dreamed of facing him in person, but whenever he imagines his dream becoming a reality, his heart just falls to his feet. His dad was bigger. Stronger. And scarier. Through those six years of his life, Nick was too afraid to say anything to Daniel. He always let him say what he wants about him. The tween was a pushover when it came to his father.

"You were doing such a good job, son! You could've had made me proud, son! Oh wait, I forgot. You can't! Cuz you ruined my f*cking life! And now you're bound to ruin everyone else's! This is why you don't try! Once a loser, always a loser! A small, f*ggy, loser! Kids like you deserve to die alone! As a matter of fact, maybe that's the only way you'll make me proud!"

Nick is letting his father's insults get to him. He's hiding right here while his friends are in danger. Him and Jimmy grew so close together. Once distant associates, now the bestest friends. Each day Nick spent with Jimmy on that ranch, he began to love him more and more. He even understood his problem. Nick didn't wanna tell Jimmy about his problem not because he was worried he wouldn't believe him, but because he was worried that he wouldn't care at all. Back in the twenty first century, Nick desperately tried to seek mental help anonymously. And the answers he got were "Get over it! That's in the past," "You're just sensitive. Grow up," and "It's called tough love. It is a healthy method for growing children." Jimmy didn't tell him any of those. Instead, he convinced him that he was valid, and how it isn't his fault.

Other than Jimmy, the Faithful Five were a great bunch to be around with. If only Nick has shown them a little more courtesy, but he's been hanging with the "cool guys" for too long. Nick has experienced true fun without having to compete. He was greatly insecure about his cooking talent, since it's not viewed as a macho hobby, but he was blessed to see the Faithful Five, including Jimmy, enjoy the food he prepares. Every single one of the Five are all weird in their own ways. Wacky, loony, and nuts. But you know what, they don't care how other people think of them. They are proud of who they are, and they show it! Diana likes being strong and buff, despite it "ruining" her womanly image. Benson refuses to fall victim under toxic masculinity. Rodent Girl has self-respect, even if she may look like a freak of nature. Mitzi, although harsh at first, cares about her adopted family very much. Nick wishes he could love himself like that.

All those happy times have been wasted because he's just hiding while leaving the others to die. And they have done so much for him. Jimmy may have implied that he loves him back, something Nick has always wanted. And the Faithful Five have shown him hospitality. Being trapped in the middle ages was the time of his life. He has never felt so happy in years.

"You still sitting there, f*g-boy? Why don't you just run to your room, like you usually do?"

Nick began to stand up. A sword appeared in his hands. With it, he struck the old man in the chest. Daniel fell to his knees, choking and gurgling in pain. Nick finally spoke up to him, even though it were all in his head.

"Your words don't validate your opinion. I'm so tired of you weighing me down. It's not my fault I exist. It's your fault for making me exist. Whether I may be a winner or a loser, you know what, I don't care anymore. I deserve to live life the way I want. I deserve to be happy."

Nick withdrew the sword and let the blood fly. After that, he snapped back into reality. That felt very good. It wasn't real, but it felt very good.

...............................

Rodent Girl was still fighting off the King in her giant rat suit. So far, their strengths were evenly matched. Whenever Jason tried to strike at her with punches, the rats would separate and dodge his attacks. She can hurt him, but he can't hurt her. Each time Rodent Girl would knock him to the ground, she'd always mock and taunt him. This was becoming unbearable to Jason. He is getting his clock cleaned by a teenager and her pet rats. Then, he realized... Wait a damn minute! He forgot about his magic powers. Jason pointed both fingers at the rat suit, and turned those little critters into windup toy mice. After that, Rodent Girl has met with defeat.

"Aw, rats!" Said Rodent Girl.

Jason was about to finish her off, till he got shot in the eye by a harpoon. Wailing in pain, he removed the harpoon and tossed it away. Mitzi found that her shot was ineffective, so she hid behind a house.

"WHO THREW THAT?! WHO DARES TRY TO TAKE ON KING OF THE WORLD?! SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!"

King Jason got shot again, but this time by a cannon ball. Followed by another, and another, then a full on assault came. That was a deed done by Benson, leading an army of peasants. By each shot, the peasants would reload the cannons and fire away again. Every time a cannon ball hit Jason, he would instantly heal himself. Just as Jason was about to zap them, he got zapped himself, from magic rays fired from a unicorn's horn.

“Neighhhhh! (You don’t scare me! I’m horny!)”

It was Butterscotch, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. He decided to join in on the party as well.

"(And Diana thinks I'm a pacifist.)"

Elsewhere, Jimmy was chasing Sally down the village path, while a dangerous fight is taking place. Architecture would topple, and slow the boy genius down. Sally eventually found what she was looking for: The spot where her old home used to be. Everything was now debris, except for a single chest. Praying "thank you" to the heavens, she rushed towards it to take the item out.

Meanwhile, the king grew tired of fending off both the army and the darn unicorn. To make the task easier, he zapped at the cannons and caused them to explode. When he was about to dispose of the unicorn, something grabbed his attention. He saw Sally, holding up a painted picture frame of the Wise Wizard, Silver Knight, and her dad as a child. Something about this made Jason angry. He smacked away Butterscotch and marched towards the little girl. Jimmy, who got his cloak caught in debris, cried for Sally to run. The little girl looked up at the monster, then froze. Jason lifted up his foot over Sally, ready to stomp.

"SALLY! MOVE! MOVE!"

Nick dashed in and rescued Sally. Nick? After that, he went to help Jimmy by tearing his cloak from the debris. Huh?! Jason was about to grab the two, until Diana had returned, ready to take on the beast once more. Three of the Faithful Five cheered her on.

"Where the heck were you?!" Asked Jimmy. "I was doing a little mauling over, and I thought..." Nick replied.

Nick then grabbed Jimmy's wrist, and handcuffed them both together.

"What, Nick-" "Whatever happens, we're in this together. I promised I would be at your side at all cost. I want you to make sure I keep that promise, and not run away."

Jimmy was quite moved by Nick's sentence. He handcuffed them for a reason, and that's to make sure they stay together. Sally then interrupted the moment by showing them the painted frame. The two boys looked at it for a moment. The Silver Knight was tall, and possibly brawny under that armor. The Wise Wizard, just like as they pictured, had the same features as Jimmy. Fair skin, blue eyes, and brown hair. The little boy in the picture looked just like Sally, only with a different haircut.

"That reminds me. I have a plan!" Said Jimmy. "YOU REMEMBER!" Cheered Sally. "Uh, no. That's not it. *Turns to Nick* Nick, both of us have to touch that amulet!" "Huh?" Replied Nick. "Don't you remember what the wizard's entry said?" "Yes, but how are you sure it's gonna work? What if our relationship is just... ...average?" "Trust me. I have a hunch."

Jimmy whistled for Butterscotch, which then he arrived by response. The boy genius requested he take him and Nick close enough to Jason's chest. As a yes, the unicorn stood on his hind legs and neighed at the top of his lungs. The two boys climbed up to his back. Butterscotch moved at great speed, and leaped higher than he has before. Diana stopped to look at the majestic sight. Whenever Butterscotch galloped or jumped, a rainbow would trail behind him. The ride was a little bumpy, so the boys held onto Butterscotch tight.

"What if this doesn't work?" Asked Nick. "Well... There won't be time for a second try." Replied Jimmy, worried.

Preparing himself for the worst, Nick put his visor down. As planned, they made it close to the king's chest, and jumped off. Luckily, they had chest hair to grip onto.

"Not in my kingdom!!"

The king did not approve, and attempted to scratch at them. He missed the first time, since the boys ducked from his claws. Jason went for another go, but then, a giant noose got caught around his neck. At the end of the rope was Diana, Mitzi, Benson, Rodent Girl, Butterscotch, and Sally, trying to hold the noose down, and put King Jason in a choke. How do you like having a noose around your neck for a change?! While distracted, Jimmy and Nick started to climb their way up. It was a bit of a challenge with their handcuffs on. Nick is heavier than Jimmy, so if he falls, Jimmy goes down with him. They found themselves getting closer to the heart shaped gem on the amulet. But just as they were about to touch it, Jason tore free of the noose.

"IS THAT ANY WAY TO TREAT YOUR KING?! ALL OF YOU INFERIORS HAVE CALLED A DEATH WISH UPON YOURSELVES! I AM POWER! I AM ALMIGHTY! I AM GREATN- Ow!!!"

Rodent Girl insisted on continuing the diversion by biting Jason in the leg. Not wanting to delay any more actions, Jimmy and Nick quickly set their hands on the amulet, at the same time. As they did, a bright shiny glow occurred. That probably meant it was working. If it works, that could mean one thing.

"Jimmy?" "Yeah, Nick?" "There's something I have to tell you-"

After that glow, came a groundbreaking explosion, but none of the people below were harm by it. The king was put in sharp pain as his body began to break apart. The Faithful Five could barely catch what was going on, due to all that brightness.

#Jimmy Neutron #Boy Genius #Nick Dean #Cindy Vortex #Libby Folfax #Sheen Estevez #Carl Wheezer #Season 4 #fanfic #romance #adventure #TVverse #TVEE #Don't worry. I hasn't end yet

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