Deerstalker - a Sherlolly story

A Walk in the Park

As soon as the final bell rang, announcing the end of another dreary school day, Molly left the classroom to see if Sherlock was already standing outside. It went like this almost every day. At exactly 3 o’clock he would be outside the classroom where she had her last lesson of that day. Most of the time he would pretend as if he just had to walk by it on his way to some other important destination, but Molly knew that was never the case. So when there was no one waiting in the hall for her after Biology, Molly couldn’t help but feel disappointed and slightly confused. Yet, deep down she had been afraid this would happen. Sherlock had been acting distant and off all day.

Deciding that waiting would be useless – if Sherlock wanted to be on time, he was – Molly started to exit the school building on her own. When she reached the side of the school where she had  parked her bike, she was met with a great surprise. She had to blink twice to be certain if her vision wasn’t betraying her. Sherlock was talking to Meena. Even more surprisingly, there seemed to be very little awkwardness between them. And what little there was, was overshadowed by their serious and captivated expressions. They were so engrossed in their conversation, they didn’t seem to notice Molly walking towards them.

“Hi, Meena. Sherlock.” Molly greeted her friend who she hadn’t spoken to in weeks and her boyfriend who had tried to ignore her all day. Fantastic.

“Molly!” Meena exclaimed excitedly, without letting a second of silence fall. Suddenly Molly was wrapped up in a too tight embrace by her distant friend. “We haven’t spoken in, like, ages!”

“I missed you too, Meena.” Molly replied with a small smile, while slowly peeling her friend off her.

“Molly, my parents and I are going to London next weekend and I was wondering if you wanted to come along. Maybe you could go see some old friends or something. And we could go shopping together. If it’s alright with your parents, off course.” Meena let the words quickly flow from her mouth, wearing a smile that could have covered her whole face. Molly was very glad she and Meena were on speaking terms again, but a proposal like this came quite unexpected. Also, the question of what Sherlock and she had been discussing still nagged at her.

“Uuh…That sounds fun Meena. I’ll think about it,” Molly replied, forcing a sweet smile. Meena deserved at least that much. While she had at first followed Sally in her anti-Molly campaign. Sally had eventually let her fall just as hard. Secretly, Molly hoped it was because Meena had finally stood up to her.

“Okay, great! Just let me know. I have to go now, though. Phil is waiting for me. We’ll talk soon, Molly,” She announced as she looked over the school fence. Phil – who had almost fully recovered by now – was leaning against it.  Just before she turned to leave, she added; “Bye Sherlock!”

This left Molly and Sherlock standing alone on the same spot they had shared their first serious kiss. Only now was she looking at him with a confused expression and he made a point out of ignoring it.

“I didn’t know you and Meena knew each other,” Molly began, breaking the silence. She tried not to sound accusing, because she knew that would make Sherlock only throw up more walls.

“We don’t. She imposed herself on me,” he replied, avoiding eye-contact.

Molly decided not to tell him it didn’t seem like that. Instead she let out a sigh and asked; “Want to walk through the park today?”

Walking through the park on their way home had become one of their little things. If the 10 minute walk to Molly’s house wasn’t enough, if they needed just a little bit more of each other on a day, they would go to the park. At first they would just spend half an hour in there, but soon minutes became hours. Their walks turned into conversations on uncomfortable benches, while they fed the ducks in the pond. Molly had even started to carry old bread in her backpack. When they were in the park, they were in their own universe. Laughing, talking, dreaming in a place where they had decided the sun would always shine. Unfortunately, it was cloudy today.