***
FORTUNATELY, HADLEY DOESN'T crash to his death. One can of beer isn't enough to slow down his mental processing to the point where his motor skills don't function the way he'd like them to, but it certainly is enough to make him a little tipsy. He's sober enough to drive, but not sober enough to think of anything beyond finding a parking spot.
Which isn't that hard, either. There are very few people around. Weird.
It doesn't take him long to find curse club again. The cold doesn't even bother him. He finds the door, by himself. No David. Just him.
"Wow," he says, under his breath. "Thanks, Molly."
The door creaks. It opens by itself.
"Thank you, Molly." He pets the handle of the door affectionately. "You're the only one I trust. I hope you know that."
Molly creaks in response.
Hadley lets himself in. He's a little surprised to see that there's nobody inside. Molly feels much more intimidating when there's no one else around. The room is empty, just as normal as the last time he'd seen it. Normal being books and papers all strewn about, pizza boxes littering the floor and the coffee table overflowing with all of the above.
He hears voices from the ceiling. Voices that are arguing. He doesn't recall Molly having the ability to mimic human speech, but he does recall Molly having a second floor.
He goes upstairs. Sure enough, there are people inside. Three people, to be precise. And if he's being more precise, three people being Shani, Francis and Vic.
He doesn't waste a moment, and ushers himself inside.
Francis and Shani are in earnest argument about something, looking like the only thing that's stopping them from throttling each other's throats is the table that separates them. They don't even bother greeting Hadley. Vic, on the other hand, manages a weak 'hi' and goes back to massaging her temples. Hadley takes a seat next to her. On the table are folders and papers that Hadley's not bothered to get a good look at when he can be looking at Vic.
"I don't get it," Francis is saying, "David can bring James-whatsit-Hadley over here, but the moment I mention bringing a friend—"
"He's not your friend, he's your crush, and you just want to show off this dump of a place," Shani says. She adds, as an afterthought, "No hard feelings, Molly."
"First of all, he has a name," says Francis. "It's Ryan. Second of all, I just want to show him the where I hang out all the time. What's the problem with that?"
"The problem is that he has no reason to be here!"
"You're being homophobic!"
"I'm a lesbian!"
"Can you guys please not yell so early in the morning?" Vic says, massaging her temples. "How long's David going to take?"
"I was going to ask the same question," Hadley says. "But I guess you read my mind, huh?"
Vic squints at Hadley. "Are you drunk?"
"What makes you think that? I'm as sober as a saint." Hadley crosses his heart. "See, I crossed my heart and everything."
