So…many…chapters…..in one day!
Chapter Seven: More Sarcasm
Molly hated lying. Lying only made things worse. She was lying to Wizard, lying to Luke, and lying to herself. This was all one big mess, but she couldn't let it stop now, not when everyone in town was beginning to buy into this huge lie!
"So, I see you're still together with Luke," Julius said, smiling his usual sly smile as he walked beside Molly on her way into Harmonica town. "I guess you really like the guy, huh?" Molly forced a smile and shrugged.
"What can I say…he's somehow really appealing." The words felt and sounded completely phony, but Julius didn't seem to pick up on the fact that Molly was basically singing Luke's praised through gritted teeth, and so, the lye grew.
Things got especially bad when she and Luke were seen together. The older folk were always saying things like 'aw, puppy-love' and 'aren't they precious?' and it was making Molly absolutely sick to her stomach. Of course Luke was eating it up; he was such an attention hog. And he was always all over Molly! It was uncomfortable enough to be seen holding his hand, it was downright mortifying to be seen with her lips all over hers, or worse. And Luke picked the WORST spots to try and 'make a move', as he put it; they'd received a rather disapproving look from Perry when they'd been caught kissing under the cherry trees in the church courtyard. This was all spiraling out of control, and Molly was downright miserable.
The only thing that made all of this even close to worth-while, were the few times she'd seen Wizard glaring at her out his window, all of which she'd been with Luke. Luke was oblivious to everything around him, but Wizard no doubt knew what was going on, and she loved the fact that it was upsetting him. She didn't know if he knew she was faking it, but even if it did, she didn't care. If he was unhappy, then she was perfectly fine.
And yet, even that was a lie. She didn't want to make him happy, not really. She just wanted what she'd wanted from the beginning; to be friends. She didn't know why she had such a fierce desire to befriend that unsociable little shut-in, but she did, and the guilt from the whole situation was just eating away at her.
"Hey, something's wrong, isn't it?" It was perhaps the only time Luke had ever noticed anything wasn't as perfect as he'd thought. He and Molly were sitting near the gate that separated the lighter bit of forest from the denser, more dangerous bit of jungle, just sitting as Luke talked to Molly about carpentry, or trees or wood or something (Molly didn't know, nor did she care). The carpenter's shop had been rather busy that morning, and her house had been too dirty to invite Luke to, so he'd decided (with no input from Molly) that they'd hang out by the entrance to Fugue Forest; close enough to the meadows beyond to be safe from any danger in the forest, but far enough from the path that they couldn't be seen.
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing." Molly said, resting her head on her knees as she hugged her legs up to her chest. Luke's arm snaked around her waist, and a shiver ran up her spine.
"No, really, you can tell me," he said, and when Molly looked up, she was almost positive she could see genuine concern in his amber eyes. Was that even possible? Could Luke have a brain big enough to understand that other people had feelings also?
"I'm fine, alright?" she said, too weary to put up much of a defense. "Just…tired of…people." It was a vague answer, but Luke didn't seem to notice.
"Well, there's no people here," he said, looking around. "Just us." He leaned over and kissed her cheek, sending more shivers up her spine. It was moments like this, when Luke actually showed some genuine concern for other people, that Molly felt especially bad about lying to him. But what was she supposed to say? 'I'm sorry Luke, every time I've kissed you, it was all a big lie to try and make someone else jealous?' How was that fair to Luke? He may have been stupid, but he didn't deserve that.
"Yeah, I know." She was pretty monotone when she spoke, and close her eyes for a few minutes, just to rest them, and she felt Luke's arm pull away from her. 'Finally!' she thought, but when she opened her eyes again, the boy was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, Luke?" she called, "Where'd you go?" When she didn't hear an answer, she stood and looked around. Luke's footprints led away from her, but cut off, and she had no idea where that boy could have gone. She walked around a bit, looking behind trees to try and find him, but she couldn't, and just when she was beginning to wonder if he'd just gone home, he leapt out at her from behind an old oak tree and tackled her to the ground, roaring with laughter as he did so.
"I scared you!" he laughed, pinning her to the snow-covered ground and grinning down at her. Molly was not amused in the least, and struggled to get up.
"You big jerk!" she yelled, trying to stand, but finding that Luke was far stronger than he looked. She hadn't been hurt, but she had been scared pretty badly, and now her clothes were soaking wet. "Get off of me! Get off right now!"
"What's the rush?" he said, eye narrowing. "We're all alone…doesn't this give you any ideas?" Molly scrunched her eyes closed and struggled even harder, barely listening to him.
"Get up! I mean it! Get up or I'll kick you where NO ONE wants to be kicked!" She was serious, but Luke wasn't listening. He laughed, thinking Molly was joking or something, and bent down to kiss her.
"C'mon, now, Molly; you seriously aren't getting any ideas? None at all?" Molly stopped her struggling momentarily to really let Luke's words sink in, and when they did, all she could do was try and struggle against him that much harder.
"Let me up, Luke! This isn't funny! I'm serious!" Her voice cracked on the last syllable of 'serious', and she was dismayed to see amusement in Luke's eyes. "Alright, please! Please let me up! I said the magic word, now let me go!" Luke just chuckled, and held a finger to her lips.
"You really don't have to be nervous," he said, "I know what I'm doing. I can take care of you." The tone he was taking, and the way the words seemed to slither off his tongue did nothing but freak Molly out more, and her eyes grew wider, not with anger, but with panic.
"You don't understand," she said, "I can't…I don't want to! Please let me go! I'm not joking, Luke! Please!"
"You're so cute," he whispered and kissed her again, cutting off her voice. She squeezed her eyes shut, and thought to herself, there wasn't anything that could make this worse. But as life often did to poor Molly, it proved her wrong. Things could get worse. And they were about to.
"I may only be a student in magic," Wizard said, his boots crunching the snow as he approached, startling both Luke and Molly, "but I believe the point of magic words is to make something happen. She said 'please', which is supposed to compel you to do whatever it is she's asking. So why hasn't it?"
"Hey, scram, buddy!" Luke said, sitting up and inadvertently letting Molly scramble away. "This is between me and Molly!"
"I believe that is where you are wrong," Wizard said, his voice even and calm. "You, the poor pawn in this chess game, have been dooped into playing for the wrong team. You were never the object of Miss Molly's misguided affections, but rather the vice she used to attain the revenge she sought against me. A valiant attempt on her part, though it seems things have gone awry, and the tables are now turned against her." Of course, this tirade went right over Luke's head, and he continued to glare at Wizard.
"Whatever," he said, frowning as he stood. "C'mon, Molly, we can continue this somewhere else." He grabbed Molly's wrist and yanked her to her feet, but she pulled out of his grasp and stumbled back, away from him.
"No!" she said, bracing herself to run if he gave chase. "I told you to back off; I don't want this!" Luke just stared at her, eye brows knitted together, and then took a few steps toward her.
"We're GOING," he said, but Molly shook her head no. "What is WRONG with you? You're not acting like yourself!"
"Niether are you!" she said, hands trembling, from fear and from the fact that her clothes were soaked and she was colder than a penguin at the South Pole. "Just go home! We'll talk about this later!" Luke looked from Wizard to Molly for a few minutes, before turning and stomping off, leaving the two alone in the woods. Molly looked at her shoes, unable to meet Wizard's gaze, but he didn't move, and when she finally did build up enough of her courage to look up, she found him staring at her.
"So, you knew, huh?" she said, her voice small. The Wizard nodded, his face blank. Molly looked at her gloves, and then shook her head. "I must seem like a fool," she said.
"No. You seem like a human." Wizard's voice seemed somewhat bigger, out here where it could echo against the trees. Molly looked up again, and Wizard didn' t break his gaze.
"So, you could see everything…is that why you came here?"
"No, actually, I came today to search for a Fugue mushroom; I need one for a spell I'm working on."
"Oh."
"But yes, I saw everything." Molly's face flushed red, and she started walking off towards the road; she wanted to get as far away from Wizard as she could. "Molly," he called, and she paused for a moment, though she didn't look back. "I was being sarcastic. About the star sign. You're the perfect Taurus. You humans just have no idea what sarcasm is." When Molly looked back to where the Wizard had been standing, she found that he'd already left.
