"Hey."
Molly opened her eyes. "I'm still here?"
"You fell asleep, so I just kind of let you sleep. But it's 8:00. Want to go to the club?"
Molly stared into Liam's face.
"Sure," she yawned. "Lets go."
Approximately three minutes later, they were inside a small room with dim lighting. A rather unattractive axolotl was standing by the entrance with a grin.
"K.K. Slider is playing tonight," he said happily. "Go request a song! He has over ninety of em!"
As Molly walked over to the stage, she noted the sleek chairs. Suddenly she remembered Jacques and winced when she remembered his invitation from earlier that morning. Oops.
"Hey, kittens," the musician said smoothly. He looked at Liam and his stare lingered a bit. "You're the mayor of this joint?" His eyes seemed so full of sorrow, but that didn't make sense.
"Yup," Liam said. "How'd you know?"
K.K. looked down at his guitar. "Heard a lot about this town in general. Sounds real special." he cleared his throat and strummed his guitar strings. "This your first time here? I pick a song of my choice for new ears."
"Cool," Liam replied. Molly smirked as she noticed him subconsciously adopting the dog's calm, smooth posture and attitude.
"Cool, kitten, cool. My girl's ready to jam, so cop a chair, Clare," K.K. said, facing Molly with a small smile.
Liam and Molly hopped onto the chairs. For a second K.K. was silent, looking down at his guitar again.
"This one goes out to you two. I call it K.K. Bossa."
His eyes closed and he slowly began strumming. The lights dimmed.
"…A wave, a splash, a ripple, oh, oh, oh…"
"At the flow's end, what shall be?"
"A present found on the seashore,"
"That is when a door will open..."
"Maybe it was the key, the door's other side…lies excitement."
"Not just a faint breeze, in the same way…"
"A switch of happiness..."
"That way…you'll have…somehow have made it become."
"A wave, a splash, a ripple, oh, oh, oh…"
"At the flow's end, what shall be?"
"A present found on the seashore is calling out to you, it seems to be."
Suddenly, without warning, Liam grabbed Molly and held her to him. She squeaked in surprise. She caught a glance of the pink axolotl, dancing horribly off the beat.
"A wave, a splash, a ripple, oh, oh, oh…"
"Please," he breathed. "Don't give up, Molly. Please don't try to stay what you are now. Just keep trying to become human again, it will be worth it, just…please…"
"At the flow's end, what shall be?"
Molly realized he wasn't hugging her, he was grabbing her by the shoulders and insisting she absolutely had to be human once more.
"I know it seems random," Liam said with a shaky voice, "but-but I just need to see your face again. Promise me."
"A present found on the seashore…"
"I promise, Liam," Molly rasped. "I promise."
"That is when the door will open. Maybe it was the key."
"Good. Thank you."
"The door's other side lies excitement. Not just a faint breeze."
Liam released her, and slowly sat back up. Molly fluffed out her feathers and wondered what it would be like to have none of them. Just peach skin and opposable thumbs.
"In the same way a switch of happiness-that way you'll have somehow made it become; a wave, a splash, a ripple, oh, oh, oh, at the flow's end…what shall be?"
He seemed so into the music.
"A present found on the seashore is calling out to you, it seems to be."
The lights flickered back on, and K.K. looked up. He looked significantly more calm.
"Cool, kitten, cool. Check out your pockets! I slipped you a boot of this song."
"Thats not possible," Liam protested. "You didn't move an inch the entire song."
K.K. grinned and Molly checked her pockets; sure enough, there was a record there. Molly gawked at it.
"Thank you," Liam said. "That sounded great."
"No problem, my pleasure," K.K. replied.
He watched them all the way out of the club.
Liam doodled across the homework set that Purrl had given him. First, what a terrible gift. Two, how does she even know what homework is?
Liam sighed and listened to the K.K. Bossa disc. He thought about how he forced Molly to promise to follow through in the human plan. He could see her reluctance. What had he done? He'd ripped away her sweet oblivion, her cheery life as a simple resident in Solaris. And for what? To be a human? Humans were terrible creatures. Why destroy the entire race before actually trying to come up with a cure? If he could pick, he'd choose to be an animal. Molly seemed so blissful when she flew that one time in the tunnel. Liam had always wanted to fly. He wanted to grow up and be a pilot. He was taking that all away from her. Liam forced himself to dig deep into himself and find out why he so desperately wanted Molly back. The truth was to pathetic for him to admit.
I just want to see her face again.
Tears welled in his eyes and he scribbled all over the paper in front of him in frustration.
I'm selfish; thats all I want from this whole thing. I just…want to see her face. I want to ride my bike with her, play tag, and…and…I want everything to be normal again. Liam put his head into his hands.
Oh, my god, they're all dead…mom, dad, even Mr. Walter down the street, they're all dead.
Liam released a sob into his hands.
I want her back because I'm so alone, I'm the only one left! I can't handle being so alone!
Liam took in ragged breaths. Tears splashed onto his doodles.
He counted to three, then pulled out some paperwork from the desk he was near. It was a sheet he was supposed to complete earlier today, filling out the work for the new Wisteria Trellis. There. The mind-numbing boringness of paperwork ought to snap him out of it. I miss everyone so much…
"Ey!"
Molly turned. Oh, gosh darnit.
Jacques was standing behind her, leaning against a tree, wings crossed.
"Where were you?"
"Uh-"
"The club? With that scrawny mayor kid?"
"You know, you're in no place to call him scrawny," she shot back. Jacques narrowed his eyes.
"Did you not get my letter? Zut alors! I knew you were a little flaky, but-"
"Flaky?" I demanded. "I just forgot, okay?"
"Yeah, right," he snapped. His cool demeanor had vanished in a fit of hurt.
Molly sighed a gust of frustration. "I'm sorry, okay? Next week. I promise."
Wasn't today just full of promises, huh?
"Jacq-uueeeesss!"
Jacques rolled his eyes, then turned.
"Jacques!" Pippy raced up to the navy-blue bird. "The club is open! Want to go? Oh, hey, Molly! Do you want to come, too?"
"No, thank you," she answered. "I just went. K.K. is an amazing guitarist. You two should go."
"Oh, great!" Pippy squealed. She grabbed Jacques' wing. "Come on!"
"…Oh, of course, Pippy," Jacques sighed. His lazy eyes were replaced by a tight, angry expression. "Fine."
"Yay!" Pippy didn't notice his glare and dragged him off. Molly turned away.
I wrote in Liam's POV for once, just to show whats going on in that guy's head. Woop!