Gill's POV
My palms were sweating. They were sweating quite a lot, in fact. I couldn't believe what I was about to do. The golden necklace felt unusually heavy in my pocket. I reached timidly for the door before me, knocking twice.
Molly opened the door, yawning. "Hello?" She asked groggily.
"Hello Molly." I said coolly. Why did I sound so snobbish?
"Gill?" she asked, surprise pushing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Congrats, Sherlock. Yes, it's me." Rude, rude, rude! Why am I so obnoxious?
Molly made a face. "What do you want, Gill?" she asked sharply.
This was going well. "Polite," I snorted. Rudely. "I have something for you, actually."
"What, do I owe more surprise fees for my 'free' land?" She snapped. Ouch.
"Don't worry, we don't expect you to pay bills or anything, Princess. Grow up."
Molly sighed. "Again, what do you want Gill? I actually have a ranch to run, if you don't mind."
"Oh, how difficult for you. I wouldn't know what that's like. Oh wait, that's right, I have a city to run," Crap. Can't give the gift to her now.
"And yet you took the time out of your busy schedule to come bug me at six in the morning. I'm touched, really."
I rolled my eyes. "There's always time for you, precious." Although my voice dripped with sarcasm, I still blushed internally at the words. Precious!
Molly smiled. "All right, are we done fighting? This is a really depressing way to start my morning. Do you want to come in?"
Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes… "I'll pass." I said snottily. I hate myself.
Molly's newfound calm demeanor was not shaken. "So, something to give me…?"
Hell. I almost forgot. What am I going to say?
"Julius got this for you!" I said quickly, grabbing a package from my pocket and thrusting it into her hands.
"Julius?" She asked, eyebrows raised as she unwrapped the gift. Her eyes widened at what she saw and an unconscious grin spread across her face. Inside the package was a golden necklace with a graceful maple leaf pendant hanging off the end. I could tell she loved it.
The smile faded as quickly as it had come. Damn. "Why are you bringing me a gift from Julius, Gill?"
Um… "He designed it just for you, but he's too shy to bring it himself."
She rolled her eyes. "Right, because Julius's main setback in life is his shyness. I don't want this." She dropped the necklace into my hands.
"Why?" I asked. Stupid woman, just keep it!
"Candace is a friend of mine! I don't want anything from her boyfriend, and," She glanced warily at the pendant, "that looks waaay too expensive."
"Just take it and stop whining!" I snapped, shoving it into her hands.
"No!" she shouted, chucking it right back at me. Unfortunately, she missed. By a lot. The necklace went flying into the stream.
We both stared in horror. "You idiot, do you know how much trouble I went to for that…!" Oops. I covered my mouth. A mix of emotions passed over Molly's face. Confusion. Understanding. Shock. A hint of what I assumed was disgust. Then, most surprising, something I could only name as determination.
"Move." Molly pushed past me, rolling up her sleeves. She waded right into the creek and got on her hands and knees, fishing around for the necklace. "Aha!" She held up the necklace happily.
She was less happy as she got up to face me. She looked slightly dizzy.
She's about to break up with me! No, that's stupid, we were never going out. But she did know the necklace was from me, right? I am NOT getting rejected. Not yet.
"Great aim," I said, snatching it from her. "Be careful. Like I was saying, I went out of my way to do this favor for a friend." That's a convincing lie. You suck, Gill.
Molly looked a little bit… relieved. "Mm-hmm," she drawled, quickly regaining her composure, "a favor for shy little Julius, right? Who is this really from, Gill?"
"I can't say, okay? That would be betraying a confidence from your secret admirer."
Molly's eyes lit up. "Secret… Admirer?" She blushed. Damn it, is she interested in someone?
"Yes," I said harshly, "but he'll come to eventually. Don't get used to it"
Molly's happy expression died immediately. She looked purely crestfallen. I felt awful for saying that. "Goodbye Gill," she said coldly. "I don't want the present, so just keep it." She shut the door right in my face. Super.
~*~
"So I'm in love with Molly. And I got her a necklace. And for some reason, six in the morning had felt like the ideal time to give it to her. It obviously was not. I even blatantly lied about who it was from after all that trouble. Aren't I a coward?" This is what I wanted to say as I sat and talked to Luna, but god only knows how hellishly she'd react.
I spent all morning trying to forget Molly. I was avoiding her, actually. Every day at two she brings me a cup of tomato juice. And every damn day, right at two, I just sit in my house and wait for her to come. But not today! My plan was to hide at the tailor's all day. Luna could be an effective shield. We flirted back and forth for a bit, with her dropping obvious about going on an 'official date' every other sentence. Uh, no. But whatever, Luna wasn't too bad to hang around with, considering.
Just when I was starting to feel comfortably Molly-free, guess who should come waltzing in? I forgot that Molly delivers gifts to everyone in Harmonica Town.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me. Luna was clinging to my hand seductively, and I was midway through a rant about healthcare in the city. I stopped just as immediately as Molly had.
"Oh… Hey Luna, hey Gill." she said. "Um, here…" She pulled out a gift for Luna first, then her trademark tomato juice for me. This seemed to be an extra large serving of juice. A peace-making gift, perhaps?
"Thanks," I muttered. Luna pulled Molly into a hug.
"Molly, you're so sweet," she beamed, "Right, Gill?"
Uh… "Whatever, I don't think that—" I was talking too quickly- panicking, and moving my arms in an awkward gesture. Tomato juice spilled everywhere.
"Gill!" Luna squealed, looking in horror at her tomato-stained dress. Molly shot me a look before immediately tending to Luna, as if I had spilled it on purpose. Please.
Once Luna was safely escorted to her room to change dresses, Molly whirled around so that she and I stood face to face. I tried to turn away, but the frightening expression in her eyes stopped me in my tracks.
"Hey, Gill," Molly said, her voice dripping icicles.
"Hey yourself," I said coolly, pushing back my hair as I often do when nervous.
Molly held out her hands. "I want it."
"Um, what?"
"The necklace. I want it." She barked, blushing slightly. I reluctantly dug it from my back pocket, where I had shoved it only hours earlier. Molly snatched it from my hands with a sigh.
"I should have taken it," she said, looking down at her feet now. Where had the imposing Molly gone? "Since someone went to so much trouble. But can you tell your friend that I'm not interested, whoever it is?"
I frowned. What was she going on about? "I suppose," I said, playing along, "but how do you know it's not from the one you like?" My cheeks reddened, remembering how she had blushed earlier at the idea of a secret admirer. That lucky bastard.
Molly smiled sadly. "It's obviously not from the one I like," she said, "although I wish you would tell me who it is from."
I was puzzled. "If you don't know who it's from, how do you know it's not from your crush?" I asked her before I could stop myself. I sounded way too interested.
Molly looked mad again. "Really, Gill? Do you need it spelled out for you?" I looked at her blankly, and she groaned. "You're the one I like, stupid!" Molly blushed fiercely, turning away. I reached out a hand to stop her.
"… Really?" I asked, eyes wide.
"Really," she snarled, glaring at me, "but obviously you don't feel the same!"
I released her arm, laughing my mean-sounding laugh. She looked about ready to haul off and hit me. "You really are an idiot, Molly," I said, leaning my head onto her shoulder in defeat.
Molly gasped, realizing what I meant. "Get off me, Gill," she said sweetly, crying a little. I wrapped my arms around her. After a second of surprise, she draped her arms over my shoulder, and we just stood and hugged until Luna came out and yelled at us. But we didn't care- we could always explain later.
~*~
Well, that was… fun? I really wanted to write about Gill, my favorite AP bachelor, so I whipped this little one-shot up just for Valentine's Day. I hope you enjoyed, Thanks for reading and please review!