Hello, so this is a new story. It will have 4 parts and they are already all-written so there will be no waiting nor hiatus (yes, I'm talking about my two long WIPs that are kind of stuck in limbo right now, but I still hope to be able to complete them). This story has been betaed by the lovely MrsMCrieff and I'd like to thank her again for her help.
Again, I don't own anything but the fury of Meena defending Molly. :)
xxxxxx
The girls were giggling and everyone was chatting feverishly as yet another photograph was taken. Molly smiled broadly, secretly trying to brush aside the thought of how ridiculous she might look. As this was her hen night, her friends had obviously felt the need to dress her in an outfit which was way too revealing. As another round of fruity shots were brought to their table, Molly looked down at herself. The skimpy leopard print dress – too tight, too short, the only concession to modesty being the long sleeves – hugged her figure and she had spent the night trying to breathe in her stomach so it didn't show. I have to stop letting Sherlock bribe me with crisps, she thought absent-mindedly as she glanced at the slight bulge. One of her friends clasped her shoulder and all of them started to encourage her to down her shot in one. She complied, making a show of jerking her head back as she gulped the alcohol, almost dislodging the cat's ears headband (also leopard printed) from the top of her head. She had to admit as she came back to her previous thoughts that at least this costume was not as bad it could have been. Her friends had decided to disguise her as a "sex kitten", saying that that was not the worse cat lady jokes they could have done. And of course, they were right. The pathologist shot a look at her girlfriends and smiled as Meena demanded that yet another besties selfie should be taken. Molly snorted ungracefully and gave her best impression of a duck face with Meena. The party was great and she finally started to relax. That was until Meena called her over to come to the centre of the bar.
There was a karaoke machine, at which she was terrible, unable on her life to sing something that wasn't out of tune. But she bloody loved to sing nonetheless, so it was both with a self-conscious dread and an inner delight that she got up to take the mic and go sing some idiotic girly pop song that she should hate but couldn't help but adore. As she took a breath in anticipation of the horrid sound that would soon come out of the speakers, she started on the first verse of the song. Yet, astonishingly, the voice that she heard was melodious and hit the notes perfectly. Molly startled and turned to Meena, who only smirked back at her and gestured to her to keep singing. While knowing perfectly that the voice coming out of the speakers wasn't hers, she resumed her singing and found herself having more fun than ever before. Of course, she finally caught sight of a woman discreetly tucked up into a corner with a mic. She smiled and sung even louder, knowing that she didn't have to worry about her awful voice and she could just enjoy it. When she finished the song, there was a roll of applause and she curtsied before going to Meena and hugging her.
Meena smirked once again and whispered in her ear: "So my little surprise didn't upset you, I guess?"
"Are you kidding me? That's the first time I could pretend that I'm actually able to string two notes together! That's the best present ever!" replied Molly, knowing that by now, her vocabulary had regressed to the prepubescent stage, she didn't care though. She was at her hen party, with her best girlfriends and she was having the best night ever. It couldn't be more perfect.
There were more drinks, more jokes, more singing and finally, the girls decided to dance off their alcohol intake before it took its toll on them. After all, none of them wanted to go back to their husbands and partners pissed beyond their limits and be the butt of the joke for days on end. Molly giggled once more as yet another photo was taken and she thought back to Tom. Well, he had no right to be angry with her if she was less than sober given the state he was in when he came back from his stag night. She hadn't commented on the glitter – no doubt from a common stripper – nor on the greenest skin tone that she'd ever seen on someone that hadn't been fished back out after days spent in the Thames. So, yes, she'd have her fun too, she decided. And maybe as he had, she'd call him in the middle of the night to say the silliest things. At the memory of Tom drunkenly telling her that she was perfect over the phone at 4am, she couldn't help but feel fondness for her fiancé and all the little resentment and irritation faded. He'd been so cute.
She almost thought that her wishful thinking and alcohol had got the better of her when she noticed a tall man at the corner of her eyes. She shook her head in disbelief and at the slight ache it generated and she groaned. Time to go and ask for a glass of water. She'd have to start to rehydrate now and stop all alcohol if she didn't want to have the mother of all hangovers in the morning. She waved at the friends she was dancing with and made for the bar. There she got a glass of water but was jostled by an impatient man, drenching her dress in water..She looked up in anger at the git but almost immediately, her attention was grabbed by another scene. In the corner, near the loos, was Tom.
It hadn't been a figment of imagination after all. He was in some tense conversation with Sophie, Meena's sister-in-law. Molly made a face at that. Truth be told, she disliked Sophie. She was posh, elegant and it seemed that she had made it her mission in life to make Molly feel awkward. Of course, no one ever noticed it and as she was Tom's best friend's wife (this was how Molly and Tom had met, at a family barbecue at Meena's family), she was somewhat obliged to pretend to like her. Molly took a breath and prepared herself for some more awkward moments as she started to make her way over to Sophie and Tom. However, she was almost immediately stopped in her tracks as something happened that she'd have never guessed at. The tense discussion that Tom was having with Sophie – she had foolishly hoped that it was some knight-in-a-shining-armour intervention of Tom to make Sophie be nicer to her – had completely flipped about. Right now, Tom had gripped Sophie in his arms and they both started to kiss each other. That was the kind of kiss that one saw in romantic comedies, she thought distractedly. She knew her eyes had to look owl-like in shock and she just stared at the cheating couple stupidly for a few second. Then, just as abruptly as they had started, they disengaged, but only to go hand in hand to the loo, stopping every few steps to kiss again and again.
Reality that had seemed to freeze started back up in some kind of fast forward and Molly felt herself starting to shake. In a somewhat dazed walk, she went back at the bar and put her glass of water down. All thoughts of avoiding a hangover had now fled and she could only think about drinking more to settle her nerves. But more than anything else, like a siren blaring at the back of her head, her mind felt caught in a loop: "Tom is cheating on me. With Sophie. That everyone says doesn't hate me. Tom is cheating. With Sophie…" And that's when she remembered her bridal party, knowing they were probably waiting for her with another round of shots.
She came back to the table and took three straight shots in a row, winning cheers from the girls who weren't singing and dancing. She then, gestured for them to follow her. Her friends were slightly inebriated but followed along behind Molly as she made her way to the women's loo. As they entered they heard a couple noisily having sex in one of the cubicles. Molly could hear the whispers behind her. "Was it someone Molly knew? Maybe from the hospital?" the girls giggled at the collective thought.
"Tom, once you're finished, I'd like to talk with you." The pathologist said with the calmest voice she could manage. Surprisingly, she did a good job of it. It seemed that channelling her inner Sherlock worked well.
The girls gasped as they turned to each other with huge eyes, their happy drunkenness finally gone from their faces. Their goofy smiles turned to murderous frowns as the moans and grunts stopped abruptly and a low muttering of curses started. Finally, Tom came out of the stall but his mistress stayed carefully behind. Oh, so he actually was going to be the knight in a shining armour, protecting the fair princess from the shrew. Was he? Said the sarcastic voice in her head. Would he even try for the most inane and ridiculous line of all time? She asked herself as she raised a brow to survey his mussed hair and half-dressed figure.
"Molly, this is not what you think." he said in a low voice, his hands palms up in front of him, as if trying to soothe a wild animal.
She should have known he would; he truly was an idiot. She had been conscious that he wasn't as bright as he'd like to think ever since John's wedding but really, did he think that she would believe that? Her party stood in deathly silence, stunned to see such a dramatic scene playing out in front of them. However, Molly didn't spare them a glance, she kept her focus on her cheating fiancé.
"Really? And what are you going to try and sell me? Because from where I stand it definitely looks like you're fucking your best-friend's whore –oh, my bad, wife - in the bogs at my hen party!" she managed to keep her voice low, almost disinterested as she uttered the words, even managing a mocking apology as she insulted Sophie.
Finally, a movement was heard from behind the door of the stall and Sophie exited.
"Oh my God, Molly! No need to be crude about it!" said the snobbish voice of the long-legged, glossy and wavy haired Sophie, all togged up in her designer clothes.
Molly just smirked but a voice screeched behind her.
"You unfaithful cunt!" Meena's face was distorted by hate and anger, but one could guess that was to be expected when one caught your sister-in-law banging your brother's best friend.
Sophie blanched as she turned and saw that all of Molly's friends were there to witness her moral faux-pas. Molly was glad to see that her perfect posh little act had now been seen through by all her friends. Sophie didn't say anything but tried to pat her hair back into a semblance of a stylish do as if it would save her from social awkwardness. Molly couldn't help but feel a rueful, sadistic pleasure at seeing the woman so discomfited. Miss Prim and Proper had always made sure that she felt uneasy in her presence, being judgemental and dismissive about her job, her clothes, her habits, everything really. But Molly had to imagine that now she knew the reason why the woman despised her so much. She huffed when she thought that yes, she hadn't been paranoid after all. Sophie at the sound, sent her a look of pure loathing and focused on her as if by ignoring the other girls she could make them disappear.
"You, spiteful little bitch!" she said pointing her fingers et Molly and swaying slightly from side to side. Tom, taken in by the apparent weakness, fell over himself to support her and Molly felt something akin to a twinge near her heart at his solicitous gesture.
"Now, who is crude?" she taunted back at Sophie, reigning back her sudden desire to slap the woman. Instead, she concentrated on Tom who looked like a deer caught between headlights. "Tom. Let's go back to what you were saying, I don't think there's much to discuss. But it would have hardly been fair for me to just leave the ring here on the washstand. After all you paid a hefty sum for it." She said as she took off the ring from her finger. She then laid it carefully on the washstand and as Tom's eyes darted to the piece of jewellery with relief, she pettily pitched the ring into the sink. Tom's mouth gaped open as he saw the diamonds glint one last time before disappearing.
"Whoops! I'm so clumsy. Very sorry Tom, the emotional shock you see…" she said snidely before departing, aiming for a regal Grace Kelly.
The girls looked at the two remaining treacherous bastards and Meena soon started to hurl insults at Sophie. Everybody stayed in to assist in the fight, and Molly left the club alone, catching a taxi to take her back home. She managed not to cry in the cab, feeling somewhat numb at everything that had happened.
Strangely enough, she'd felt guilty those last few days. Comparing, in her head, Sherlock's brilliance with Tom's lack thereof. She heard a ping from her phone and when she took it out, startled to see her hand was shaking; she recognised that she was in shock.
The message was from Meena, wanting to know where she was and if she was alright. She texted back, letting her friend know that she was going home. After a few back-and-forth texts, she finally managed to convince her best friend not to come over and stay with her. If she was honest with herself, it was as much because she just wanted to sleep and avoid thinking about her engagement disaster for as long as possible as because she wasn't in the mood for Meena's well-meant but tiring rants. She sighed deeply when her phone stopped beeping and curled herself up in the back seat. Soon, she'd be home.
