I sauntered deliberately into the Brass Bar; trusty cigarette nestled in its signature position between the joints of my index and middle fingers. In a darkened corner, I spotted Kathy, who was flirting for all she was worth with an extremely smashed Owen. She threw a wink in my direction, making a subtle motion towards the drunken mess in front of her, indicating her intentions for the night. I nodded knowingly, smiling as a symbol of my approval. I guessed I wouldn't be drinking with her tonight.

"Hey, Molly! How's it going?" A chirpy voice sang into my ear. I curved my head around to be met with light auburn pigtails and a ridiculously balloon-shaped cotton candy dress. Before I could begin to say anything, Maya started her usual hopeless ramble. "I had a great day! I went to meet Calvin at the mine today! He said he was going to be busy in future so he won't be able to hang out as much anymore, but that's fine. I guess I knew what I was getting into when I decided to ask an adventurer out! But still…"

How pathetic. We both knew Calvin was blatantly cheating on her with Phoebe. I didn't bother replying her empty conversation; I didn't bother myself with people who were out to waste my time with fake-faced chatter. Every moment I sacrificed on them was a moment I wasted not really living. I did, however, offer her a knowing consolatory smile; the image of Calvin and Phoebe probably fucking in the mine as we spoke conjuring itself in my mind.

I continued my leisurely stroll towards my destination. I had an agenda for tonight.

Everybody wants to change the world. To leave his or her mark on the world. I'm no exception. But people try to achieve this in different ways. Julius wants to create the most beautiful jewelry the world has ever seen. Jin wants to save some lives. Anissa wants to be the best daughter she can be for Craig and Ruth, and the best older sister she can be to Taylor. That's how they're going to leave their marks.

I leave my mark by way of people.

People are this world's biggest commodity. Take them away and it wouldn't matter if the earth continued to exist – no one would know, after all. That's why the best and brightest way to leave your mark on this earth is to make an impact on someone. The deeper the better, I figure. Any form of interaction with someone is a mark made on them.

I'm selective about who I want to make my mark on.

Leaning myself against the doorframe of the entrance to the Brass Bar kitchen, I caught sight of my objective for the night. I slowly exhaled a lungful of translucent silvery smoke.

"You just going to stand there and admire my dashing good looks all night long?" Mysterious violet eyes darted to meet my widened amber ones.

Chase smirked at his prowess in sensing my presence.

I smiled faintly. "What good looks?" I retaliated, taking a long inhalation of the white stick that lay in between my fingers.

"I could smell you from a mile away. You leave a trail of smoke wherever you go," Chase explained, deciding to selectively ignore my poor comeback.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" I semi-joked, playing the role of an overly aggressive man trying to get invited into a woman's house at the end of a night.

He shook his head. "No smoke near the food," he said, beckoning his head towards the pot of tomato soup boiling on the stove in front of him.

I strolled into the kitchen anyway, purposefully blowing more smoke out next to Chase's face. He rolled his eyes at the ignorance of his order, but proceeded to withdraw the cigarette from my lips, promptly placing it between his own and deeply inhaling a lungful of smoke. His whole demeanor visibly relaxed.

I dipped a finger into the steaming pot of soup, taking a quick taste at the price of getting slightly burned in the process.

Chase's eyes widened. "Hey, that's for a customer. Quit polluting it with your filthy hands."

"It's really good," I smiled genuinely, indignantly glossing over his filthy hands comment. "You're cooking for me sometime."

"You've got no shame, huh?"

"I prefer to think of it as I'm not afraid."

Too many people live their lives in fear. Some are afraid to die, some are afraid to live, and some both. It's not our fault – from young, we're taught to be cautious. We've been instilled with the belief that we have to listen to orders and live life slowly and carefully. Our parents never told us how smoking makes you feel alive. No, they only told us that it was bad for us and that we shouldn't do it. From young, we are taught how to love but not how to stop, and that makes rejection all the more painful when we finally come across it. We try to harden ourselves, and we refuse to act on any feelings we dare have – out of fear that we won't be loved back.

We are humans, and we are scared little beings.

I took a step forward so that Chase and I were only centimeters apart. His intense violet eyes widened as I lifted my hand to retract my cigarette from its nestling place between his soft pink lips, my fingers slightly brushing them in the process. He made no move to increase the distance between us.

"You're so strange," he stated, a soft but audible quiver of fear in his voice.

Fear.

Fear is the enemy of life. I believe that if you want to do something, you should just fucking do it. Forget anyone who tells you it's bad for you or it's not right – they're the ones who live their lives paralyzed by fear. Too many people lead unhappy lives because they're afraid to do something about it. Far too many possible romances of a lifetime are passed on because people were too afraid of rejection. I've seen it all before: when two people love each other but are too afraid to say it. They end up unhappily married twenty years later, only to see each other one day and confess that they'd loved one other all along. It's too late by then, and so they live the rest of their lives mourning what could have been. How ridiculous.

"Like I said," I whispered to Chase, "I'm just not afraid."

I felt my heart threaten to leap out of my chest. We were so close that I could feel his heartbeat mimic the galloping rhythm of mine.

It's a lie when I said I'm not afraid. Of course I am – everyone is. It's a human condition to be afraid. I realized long ago that it was ludicrous to tell myself not to be afraid. It's impossible to not be afraid.

It is possible to beat the fear. What I realized was that if you're scared to death of doing something, all the more you should do it. I realized that I shouldn't be telling myself not to be afraid. What's the use? I could tell myself that all day, but I'd still end up being afraid in the end. What I should be telling myself is to be afraid, but to do it anyway.

Live anyway.

I lifted my head to stare into the violet ones that faced me.

Live anyway.

My lips fell onto his with a determined but gentle voracity. I could feel his heart skip a beat, before he proceeded to feverishly kiss me back, enveloping my waist in one arm while frantically running a hand through my hair. My hands wrapped around his neck while dangling my cigarette dangerously by my last two fingers. His lips were like heat against mine, pressing against mine so intensely that I had to fight back with force in order not to be pushed back. His arms wrapped around my waist, hoisting me up onto the kitchen counter, where we continued to kiss with a hungry avidness. His hands went to gently but firmly hold onto my arms.

When we finally broke apart, we were both panting, gasping for air. Chase stared into my eyes – his violet ones were flecked with confusion and satisfaction.

Neither of us spoke.

I leave my mark by way of people.

"What was that for?" He finally managed to ask, his breathing still short and tired.

"And here I thought," I wheezed, having to pause to take a breath, losing any semblance of pride I still had, "that you were clever."

He smiled despite himself. "Smart mouth."

It was my turn to smile despite my own labored breathing. "Because," I finally said after a long pause, "I like you, idiot."

He didn't reply, but he let his fingers trace themselves gently over mine. It was a small, almost insignificant, gesture, but somehow it rang of how my feelings were reciprocated.

I brought the hand that still held my cigarette back up to my lips. The taste of smoke fused with the taste of Chase's lips to form a syrupy saccharine cocktail.

The pot of soup bubbled over, covering the stove and counter with the orange liquid contained in the pot. Chase looked over at the mess and sighed.

"I'm going to have to start all over again," he sighed, a look of resignation on his face. He made no move to clean up the mess, but kept his fingers softly tracing mine; he brought his other hand to tuck a stray strand of hair back behind my ear. His svelte, rough fingers brushed against my cheek. I plucked my cigarette out from between my lips and placed it in between his, lending him my hands to hold the cigarette, allowing him to take a deep drag while staying in this same position.

I finally hopped off the kitchen counter, resuming the dangling of my cigarette from its signature position between my fingers. Smoke wafted from its burning tip.

I made my mark for tonight.

"See you," I nodded to Chase, who seemed completely bewildered by my sudden leaving.

I'm selective about who I want to make my mark on. But I sure as hell want to make my mark on Chase.

I left a trail of smoke in my wake.

Author's Note: I actually wrote this chapter before the 'Beauty', the previous chapter concerning Chase. I'm only publishing this now because I felt the other chapter was necessary to add depth to their relationship (friendship?) before anything could happen! Hint: knowing Molly, just because they kissed doesn't mean things are going to officially take off from there. I've been excited to upload this chapter for a while now, although I feel like the dialogue between Chase and Molly is slightly short at the beginning. I didn't want to prolong it too much though, just like how I didn't want to prolong the 'getting to know one another' process too much as well. That'll still happen though! (Am I even making sense? Haha, I've got some plans so don't worry.) Also, I'll elaborate on how Molly feels about Chase in his next chapter!

Hope you enjoyed, please review/follow/like if you please!