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Six
Soundgarden was on again, 'The Day I Tried to Live', Molly figured he was a big Sublime and Soundgarden fan. She liked them too and all that grunge music from back in the day. That was why she had satellite radio in that old Jag so she could listen to it while she was working. It made the work day go by quicker to have her tunes.
Sometimes she needed it, to cheer her up. Not all of her patients recovered, that was a fact of life and Molly felt it intensely. She had the heart of a nurse, and it got broken on a daily basis sometimes. Life was not always fair, sometimes all your best efforts did not yield a good outcome for people.
Molly knew that all she could do is her best for the people in her care. Some days it wasn't enough and on those days she needed her music the most.
The station was called Lithium and she had it on 24/7, there was even a dock in her house. Pretty Boy went berserk whenever Tool came on, he flapped his wings and would crawl up the cage. But he wouldn't talk, she even sang '46 and 2' to him and nothing, the little bastard.
She loved that bird though, even if he was a dick about talking. Maybe one day he would.
Music was her happy place. Claudia wrote poetry and sang in a band and many nights Molly was front row to watch her sister sing. They were a popular local band for a few years in Atlanta, on the club scene.
They were good and very close to getting a contract with a record label, but then Claudia died and the band broke up. Molly hadn't heard from Claudia's band mates in a long time.
Both of them loved music and even though Claudia was gone, music would always make Molly happy. But it would also always remind her of finding Claudia dead from a drug overdose.
It was a double edged sward for her. Claudia sang folk music and Molly still couldn't listen to that genre.
The tattoos on her told the whole story of her life and her sister's life practically and she knew he was curious about them. He'd had his lips and fingers on them and she knew he wanted to know.
But it made her think of her sister, the tattoos, and that was the point of them. She wanted to remember always, but it was bittersweet.
Molly pushed thoughts of Claudia away for now. She wanted to stay in this day and enjoy this new thing in her life.
She wasn't going to overthink it, not this time.
Molly was content sitting there listening to the music and she was kind of blown away by that. She was blown away by this whole thing. Normally she would be pacing and trying to figure out how to get out. But he suited her somehow, like no one else before him.
They were musically well suited and sexually well suited, which was a fucking miracle for her. He said he hadn't been with a lot of women but he knew his way around a woman's body, and he knew his way around her body. They also both really loved pizza, warm or cold.
The had finished the pizza and she was laying on the bed on her stomach watching him. This was usually when things got awkward for her. More than once she had snuck out of a guy's apartment rather than face them the next day or in this case the same night. She might have made a few guys doubt their talent in the sack, but some was well deserved anyway. Sex was always a big fat zero for her, but not this time.
No one was like him.
She laid there watching him move the TV and now he was moving his DVD player into his room so that they could watch 'Shawshank' in bed and there was nowhere to run. She didn't even know if she would run if she had the chance.
She reminded herself that she wanted this. But it had happened so fast and now her stomach was doing flip flops and it wasn't from the pizza.
For all the confidence she exuded at work, it was different one on one, in these kinds of situations. She dated infrequently and had sex even more infrequently, which was why her heart was pounding out of her chest now.
Tara had not been kidding with her cobweb comment, Molly hadn't slept with anyone since she lived in Atlanta, two years ago.
She already forgave herself because she practically attacked him. From the day before when they were having ice cream and until this moment he had consumed her thoughts. She never lusted after another person before in her life like this, at almost 36 she was baffled by her feelings and her behavior.
She never tore her clothes off in front of someone or tore their clothes off either.
Molly wanted to stay with him if he wanted her to, she had told Tara that was what she hoped for. She had said that before she slept with him and now that she had? Well, she hadn't changed her mind, that was for sure.
She had been with three men her entire life and none of them could curl her toes with just one look.
Was this what love was?
"My roommate knows you." She said and watched him stop what he was doing. When he moved the two demon tattoos on his back moved too, it was eerie. It was sexy and scary all at the same time to watch those tattoos.
He seemed reserved all of the sudden, as if there was a reason he would worry about someone knowing him.
There had to be a reason for those tattoos, people that got ink most of the time got it for a reason. The choice of demons intrigued her. He had a demon on his back, probably two, she had them too, these days everyone had something on their back real or imagined.
The tattoos were perfect for him because he was a demon too, he made her totally loose her shit in bed with him. That hadn't ever happened before, not like that.
"Who's your roommate." He asked and she noticed his shoulders tense and wondered if he was worried about who it might be.
"Tara Chambler." And she watched as his shoulders relaxed, he wasn't worried about Tara. But he was worried about someone or something.
"She's good people." He said turning around to her.
"She says the same about you, also she's a big fan of your brother. It was like she was fangirling over him."
Daryl turned around smiling and she laughed at her words about Tara but it had been true, Tara went on and on about what great guys they both were. So Molly was even more intrigued by the demons. There was something there.
"Yeah, he helped her out a time or two, how is she I haven't seen her much." He said.
"Well, she and her girlfriend work nights at Grady and we all live together with Pretty Boy."
'Lucky fucking bird." He said walking over to her and hopping on the bed next to her.
He took hold of her arm and looked at her butterflies and read the quote on her ribs "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies."
"That's beautiful." He said quietly while running his fingers over the words. "I remember it from the story."
"It's for Claudia." She said. "All my quotes are from 'Shawshank' I've read it so many times and it's one of those movies you always watch if it's on TV. Every time it was on we watched it. It was our favorite. I love it and I hope you do too."
"The one on your back, the hummingbird, can I see?" He said. "If you want, I don't want to upset you, I know they're special to you."
"Special and a memorial to my sister." She saw his eyes grow soft and she knew what he was thinking, his brother was still alive. "Of course you can see, that's what tattoos are for, to show people right?"
Daryl nodded and he could tell she missed her sister desperately, but her wanted to know everything there was to know about her. She was so different than any other woman he had met before.
She decided to just open up for once and let another person know her if he wanted to. There was some kind of connection. She would tell him everything.
"Claudia had the butterflies on her right arm and I had them on my left, like mirror images."
"You were identical?"
Molly nodded and pulled her shirt up to show him her back, the hummingbird sat on her scapula and the quote next to it at its beak.
"Some birds aren't meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the parts of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone."
He pulled her back against him gently so that she was sitting between his legs and wrapped his arms around her.
"Can you stay?" He said kissing the back of her head. "After the movie is over?"
Molly nodded her head and looked up at him. "I want to."
"Good." He said pulling her closer his lips in her hair and she heard him inhale and breathe her scent in. "I want you to."
They sat together and listened to the music not moving or talking, just getting used to being together.
The next song that came on was "Molly's Lips" by Nirvana and they both laughed.
"I swear I didn't plan that, but it's a great song." He said. "I'm a huge Nirvana fan.
"Me too." She said. "Claudia and her band used to sing this song, she played acoustic."
"I'm sorry, I'll turn it off." He reached for the remote to the stereo.
"No, no, its fine." She grabbed his hand. "I like it still."
/
They watched the whole movie with her sitting in his arms like that, he played with her hair and handed her iced tea when she asked for it. But he held her to his chest, between his legs with her back to him the whole time like he didn't want to let her go.
It felt good to be with her like this, it was comfortable and shocking to him. His last relationship ended before it even started and he supposed it was his fault.
He closed himself off to people, he knew that. His mother leaving him as a child did something to him and his ability to form bonds with people. He was only four and he needed his mother.
So he never let people get close, not emotionally anyway and not very often physically outside of fucking.
But he sat here playing with Molly's hair for two hours and twenty-two minutes during the movie. He wanted to, ever since he first met her he thought about her hair.
That was when he thought she was married. Now that he knew she wasn't, well, he was thrilled about that.
She didn't object and he thought she liked it. Somehow it was more intimate then fucking, to sit and hold someone.
This was what he never did and why girls and then women always cut him loose. He was not a cuddler and he definitely didn't twirl women's hair around his fingers.
Except for tonight and it felt natural. He remembered his father telling him that he shouldn't give up and that one day he would meet someone and it would feel right. This felt right.
He played with her hair, liked the same music as her and totally rocked her socks in every way. Almost too good to be true.
It was nice and scary and exciting all wrapped up into one. She could feel his heart beating against her and she knew he was feeling the same things.
It was almost eleven by the time the movie was over. It was her weekend off so she had nowhere to be early in the morning and Tara and Alisha were off too, so they could take care of Pretty Boy.
"That was one of the best movies I have ever seen." He said. 'Great adaption from the story."
"Told ya." She said grinning and looking back at him. He pulled her up to him for a sweet kiss but she didn't turn all the way around.
His hand was on her neck and he let it slide down under her shirt.
"This ok?" He asked her, but he didn't move his hand.
"Sure its ok." She spinned around to sit on his lap and face him. "I just have to say this."
She was smiling so he knew it wasn't anything to worry about. Usually when women said they had to say something to him it was 'We're done.'
She wasn't going to say that; he could tell by the sparkle in her eyes. They were green like emeralds and clear and beautiful.
"I regret not coming to the store, I really just forgot, work was busy and I guess I made excuses because I didn't know how to approach you because of the ring thing. But I would have been there two months ago." She said. "If I knew."
"Knew what?" He asked.
"If I knew." She grinned that grin again, the devilish one. "That you really, really know how to throw it down."
He wrapped his arms around her and maneuvered her so that she was under him and he was between her legs. She laughed and he realized that that was the most beautiful music he would ever hear.
"Sweetheart." He kissed her. "You have no idea."
A/N: Thank you for reading, Let me know what you think. I love you all xoxoxoxox.