What's this? The introduction of a possible love interest? Oh ho ho, interesting, veery interesting!

Chapter Five: Sarcasm doesn't win you Friends

Molly didn't know why she was doing it. She could not tell you why she'd bought the coffee tree seedling from Taylor, and could not pin down a reason as to why she tirelessly tended the tempermental little seedling. And she couldn't say why she was currently standing over the big orange cooking pot she'd purchased from Barbara, stirring the thick, black coffee as it cooked. Perhaps she was doing it as thanks to the Wizard for creating the potion that allowed her to ring the green bell. Perhaps it was an apology for always barging into his house without being invited. Either way, all she knew was that the coffee she was stirring was finally done, and as she attempted to pour it into the thermos without it spilling all over her hands like last time, she shook her head and let out a humorless laugh.

"You're such a nice person," Finn said, looking down into the thermos and smiling his tiny sprite smile. "Wizard loves coffee, I'm sure he really appreciates this!"

"Yeah, well, he'd better," Molly said, though not as bitterly as one would think. She'd been seeing Wizard more often now that the whole nasty potion business was over, and while he was just as cynical and sarcastic as ever, he was not as rude as he'd initially come off as, and seemed like he was trying to be at least somewhat social when Molly came to visit.

The walk into Harmonica town was still rather time consuming, but Molly was getting used to it by now, and it was barely noon as she crossed the bridge and walked along the familiar cobblestone path up to the white house she knew to be Wizard's. Knocking once, just as a formality, she walked in and looked around.

"Hello," Wizard called from upstairs, not looking up from the books he was studying as Molly climbed the stairs.

"I brought you some coffee," she said, as she did every day, and was secretly delighted as the Wizard's eyes darted to the thermos in her hand. "What are you studying about today?" Wizard took the thermos and poured the still-warm coffee into one of the many hugs he had scattered around the upstairs landing. He took a sip of the black liquid before actually looking at Molly for the first time that day.

"The movement of stars," he said, holding a rather large book out for her to see. The pages were littered with words written in a language Molly couldn't read, but the pictures were obvious enough; they depicted several well-known constellations and how they moved across the night-sky.

"Oh, hey, it's Taurus," she said, pointing to the faint outline of a bull in one depiction. Wizard glanced at the page and shrugged. "That's my star-sign, you know."

"Is it? I would have never guessed." Now, Molly couldn't really tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but she got the feeling his words hadn't been meant politely.

"Um…why wouldn't you have guessed?" she asked, not exactly in a rude fashion, though there was a slight edge to her voice. The Wizard was silent, as he usually was, and she took another look at the book. Scribbled in the margins next to the pictures of the star signs were words written in English; next to Cancer was 'sensitive, caring, creative', next to Virgo was 'neat, organized, patient' and next to Taurus was 'stubborn, grounded, intelligent'.

"Intelligent?" Finn said, also reading the page. "It says intelligent. If Wizard didn't think you could be a Taurus, that means…"

"You think I'm not intelligent enough to be a Taurus?" Molly asked, her brows knitting together. Again, silence. "Or is it that you think I'm not 'grounded' enough?"

"I said neither of those things." Wizard murmured, taking another sip of coffee, his eyes scanning the pages of another volume of constellations. Molly frowned, and, snatching the thermos out of his hands, trumped her way down the stairs.

"And to think, I've been going through all the work of making coffee for you!" she shouted as she made her way towards the door. "To think, I was beginning to like you!" Wizard said nothing as she left, slamming the door behind her. Molly ignored the strange looks she was getting as she made her way towards her ranch, fists balled at her sides. When she reached her house, she grabbed her hammer, and then began the climb uphill towards the mine district.

"Where are you going?" Finn asked, almost fearful. Molly just pouted.

"I need to smash something," she said, her grip tightening around the handle of the hammer. "Ug! That Wizard makes me crazy! The nerve of some people!"

"Uh, you have to remember," Finn said, "Wizard doesn't get out much. He doesn't really know how to talk to people…" he trailed off as Molly shot him a death glare. "Or, uh, at least, that's what Alan told me."

"Sociable or not, that was just downright rude!" Ironically, the sun was starting to peek out of the clouds as she passed the carpenter's on her way to the mines, and the chirp of birds did nothing to brighten her mood.

"You don't look too happy," Molly nearly jumped out of her boots as Luke spoke up; she hadn't noticed him lounging in the mine cart that sat on the left side of the mine entrance. He sat up, a long stalk of wheat in his mouth, his usual smile plastered on his face.

"Jeez!" Molly wheezed, clutching her chest, "you nearly gave me a heart attack! Didn't your Dad ever tell you not to sneak up on someone wielding a huge hammer?"

"I'm sure he did, at some point," he hopped out of the cart and sauntered over to Molly. "Not like I was listening."

"Wow, intelligent, as well as modest." The level of sarcasm in her voice rose, and for some reason, that seemed to calm her down a bit. Smoothing her hair down, she rolled her eyes at Luke. "What is it you want this time, Luke?"

"Why do I always have to have a reason to talk to you. Can't friends just talk?"

"Is that what we are? Friends?" Again with the sarcasm, but she realized then, even though Luke was almost insufferably cocky, he was still more tolerable than the Wizard. Sure, he said the wrong thing most of the time, but it was different then when the Wizard said the wrong thing. The Wizard was smart enough to realize when he was hurting Molly's feelings; Luke was not. Probably. He didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Why not? Why couldn't we be friends? I know I'm not the smartest of guys," Molly snickered at this, "but hey; I'm funny and talented and good looking; what girl wouldn't want to be friends with me?"

"And don't forget that good old fashioned charm," Molly put in, a small smile creeping its way onto her lips. "Well, why not? Looks like I'm down one friend recently. I suppose you'll have to do as a replacement." Luke beamed, but Molly wasn't about to let it go to his head. "But I'm still rather cross, so, I suggest, if you don't fancy getting your shins smashed in, you let me through to the mine." At this Luke jumped aside, but caught her elbow as she passed.

"Alright, but we've got to do something fun this weekend. The Harvest Festival is coming up; do you wanna hang out there?" Looking up at Luke and his amber eyes, how could Molly say no? Sighing and nodding, Luke let go of her arm and smirked.

"Awesome! I'll see you there!"