A/N: This only exists, because CH made me do it.
I thought I've already written drunken Sherlock ("Forwards or Backwards"), therefore Molly should get her fill as well ;-)
The title is taken from the song below.
English is not my native tongue, so please bear with me.
Disclaimer: When Sherlock is bored he shoots the wall, when I'm bored I write a FF. Sherlock doesn't own the wall and I don't own Sherlock. We're even… I guess…
Maybe tonight I'll call ya,
after my blood turns into alcohol. – Give me love by Ed Sheeran
Molly Hooper liked to have a drink – occasionally. She was not a drunk – not in the least. And she seldom drank more than she should, because it never ended well when Molly Hooper drank too much. (And she did not refer to the incident about urinating in the wardrobe.) No, it was that the alcohol lowered her inhibition, and she felt free to speak her mind and act on her feelings. And since Molly Hooper was a person who mostly kept her feelings and her opinions about others to herself, letting all this pent-up emotions free was often not only embarrassing for herself, but for other people involved as well. Therefore she preferred to only have one or two glasses of wine or beer and not more.
But this night she did not have any saying in how many glasses she could have, because her friend Carol had taken her out and insisted she needed to have at least the same amount of alcohol as her – and Carol could take a lot!
They were in a pub with live music, and Carol just raised her third glass for a toast, when Molly asked, "Why did I have to go out with you tonight? Is Phil out of town?"
Phil was Carol's fiancé. And every time he went out of town for work, Carol called Molly to have a "girl's night out".
Carol put her glass down, forgetting about the toast.
"No. He's at home." She was talking quite loud to drown out the music when she went on to explain, "We need to celebrate."
A smile formed on Molly's face, but was dropped more or less in the moment the conclusion what they were probably celebrating dawned on her. She reached across the small round table and snatched the glass of beer away from Carol. "You shouldn't drink when you're pregnant!"
Her friend gave her a puzzled look which transformed into a laugh. She reached across the table as well and pulled back the beer towards her.
"No sweetie, I'm not pregnant." She shook her head and continued to laugh as if that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. Molly pouted and took a sip of her beer. From her point of view it had been a logical assumption. Sherlock would have been proud of her. The second his name entered her mind, Molly scolded herself. She was not going to think about him tonight!
Carol had managed to stop laughing and reached a hand across the table to touch Molly's.
"Sorry. I'm back on track again."
Molly drew up her eyebrows. "You sure?"
"Yes." Carol nodded and drew her hand back. She held up her glass again and announced solemnly, "We're celebrating the end of your engagement."
"What?!" Molly's shocked expression made Carol's glass sink again.
"We're celebrating the end of your engagement with Tom," Carol repeated, not sure if her friend had heard her over the loud music.
Molly knew what Carol was thinking and elaborated, "I've heard you. I just don't know what there's to celebrate? I thought you liked Tom?"
"I did." Carol shrugged. "He was... nice."
Molly's eyes narrowed and Carol hastened to add, "Don't get me wrong, he was a really sweet guy, it was just... he was... too nice."
"I didn't know there was such a thing as 'too nice'."
"Well there is, and you know it, because otherwise you wouldn't have ended it," Carol said with triumph in her voice. She was having a point, and she knew it.
In order not to have to say anything to that, Molly took a sip. Carol eyed her curiously. Molly put the glass back down.
"Yes, Tom was nice, and I hurt him by breaking up with him, so there is nothing to celebrate."
Carol would have none of that. "Of course there is."
"Ta, and what exactly?" Molly's tone was challenging.
"That you were strong enough to face the truth and admitted that Tom was not the right one for you and despite the social normative you've decided to be a woman in your 30s and single again."
"I repeat myself: What is there to celebrate?" Molly took a large gulp of her beer. Carol was right: She was not getting younger, and if she ever wanted to have a husband and children, she should probably hurry. All of a sudden getting drunk felt like a real alternative...
Carol rolled her eyes, "Ok, now that may have come out a little different than what I meant."
Molly tried to play it down, "No, it's ok. I know what you mean. My inner clock is ticking."
Carol reached a hand across the table again. "That's exactly not what I mean! I mean we should celebrate that you were brave enough to do the right thing."
"And accept my fate to become an old spinster." Molly couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Carol groaned. "Now don't be a drama queen. You just haven't found your prince charming yet."
For an instant Molly wanted to contradict Carol that she had already found him, although he was far away from being a prince, yet alone charming. He was more or less the antithesis to prince charming. But that was exactly what she wanted. And that was exactly what she could never have. Therefore she would not contradict her friend.
Molly did not need to do it, because Carol knew her well enough to know her train of thoughts. "You're thinking about him, aren't you?" She was not accusing her. Her tone was more curious.
Molly did not see the need to lie to her best friend. And let's be honest, she was a pretty bad liar. "Yes. I was just... never mind." She sighed deeply and looked into her half empty glass (she was definitely not in the mood to describe it as "half full").
Carol's eyes spoke of empathy. "And you're sure there's no chance? You told me he has been different since he has been back."
"At first I thought he was, and then... I mean... He let Mary's maid of honour believe that she was in a relationship with him. John told me he acted like a real boyfriend. When in reality he had only used her, just like that." She snapped her fingers. "What kind of person does that?"
Carol shrugged. "Sherlock Holmes."
Molly looked at her friend with so many questions in her eyes, and Carol knew that she could answer none of them. She did not know why Molly was in love with a self-diagnosed high functioning sociopath (Carol suspected he just liked the term better than having to say he had some form of Asperger's syndrome) or how she could get over him. She had hoped finding a decent man like Tom would help, but it had not – not in the long run.
Before Carol was starting to get frustrated with herself for not knowing what to say, two guys came over to their table.
"Hello ladies!" said the brown haired one of them and stood next to Molly. He eyed her from head to toe and continued, "May I tell you that you look really... pretty." From the way he was staring at her, it was clear that he had wanted to say "sexy", but probably had thought the woman would find it too straight forward.
Molly turned to look at him and then looked down at herself. She had to admit it was true: She was dressed rather sexy tonight. She wore a tight petrol top, a denim skirt and high heels. Molly may have been a small woman and she may not have long legs, but in this outfit she had nice legs – very nice legs indeed.
She looked back up at the brown haired man. His eyes were the same colour as hers, and he looked expectantly at her. His friend (he had blond hair and blue eyes) stood beside him and was looking at Carol. Before Molly could say anything he went on, "My name is Mark and this is Fred." He pointed towards his friend, who nodded towards Carol and ignored Molly completely.
"I'm Carol and this is Molly," Carol took over and smiled. Molly shot her a look that said, "Don't encourage them!" but her friend just smiled at her innocently.
"Well, nice to meet you," Mark said and smiled as well.
For the first time Fred spoke, "Can we get you something to drink?"
Before Molly could decline, her friend spoke up again, "Two beers would be lovely, thank you." Molly's eyes narrowed when she looked at Carol who chose to ignore her and smiled sweetly at the young gentlemen.
"We'll be back in a sec. Don't run away," Mark said and winked.
"As if I could in those heels." Molly was only half joking. Mark smiled again, and then the two men went to the bar to get their drinks. Molly sighed deeply. She had the feeling that this was going to be a long night.
Give me love: © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network
