contrasting colors || p. lahote

chapter two

August 17th, 2005: 11:45 AM

Molly's head rested on the table that she sat at, her friends had decided to sit outside for lunch today, since it was warmer than usual and they wanted to enjoy it while they could, but Molly was too tired to be happy about the weather.

In not even a week, things with Paul had gone from "things are changing" to "all hell is breaking loose."

He had become so paranoid about Sam Uley and Jared Cameron following him that he insisted that he called Molly every night to update her on how he had been escaping them.

Between that and his physical changes, she knew he was scared, but however long he kept Molly up talking about it all, he would never actually admit it.

A light snore escaped from Molly as her head drooped. "You okay Molly? Maybe you should go home." She snapped out of her dreamland and looked across the table at Noah Marks.

"Huh? Yeah I just haven't slept very much lately. Paul has been keeping me up."

Lara Cheney and Amanda Yorkie giggled next to her. "Not like that you pervs." She pushed Lara away from her jokingly.

"He's going through some stuff and he's been talking about it all night over the phone since Sunday. I haven't got much sleep because of it."

"Then go home and sleep until he calls you again." Amanda looked towards her as if it was obvious. Skipping classes was not something entirely unheard of for Molly or her friends to do. "Yeah, I think I will." Molly gathered her things and stood up. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Molly had gone home and immediately fell asleep on the couch, and had expected to be awoken by the phone ringing, but instead woke up to her father shaking her. Dr. Beich was clearly up and getting ready for his nightshift at the hospital.

"Sweetheart, I didn't want to wake you, but I thought I'd tell you that mom got home and went to sleep, but she left some Chinese food in the fridge for you." Her eyes struggled to stay open.

"What time is it?"

"I'm running late, it's almost six thirty." He kissed her forehead as she sat up, and was out the door with a quick 'I love you.'

Molly rubbed her eyes. She hadn't seen much of her parents in weeks, her dad was a doctor at the hospital, and worked twenty-four hour shifts so he was either sleeping or busy when he was home, and her mother was a nurse at the hospital and worked twelve hour shifts, so she was asleep before Molly was usually home and gone by the time she usually woke up.

It worked for them because it was her parent's way of avoiding divorce, for Molly's sake. The less they saw of each other, the more they could tolerate each other. Molly just always ended up on either side of their loneliness.

This was a big reason why she was with Paul so much, not only because she had so much freedom, but because she was very lonely.

Molly realized that Paul had not yet called her, so she went to the kitchen to call him first. She picked up the phone and instinctively pressed the set of numbers she had come to know so well.

Never in the history of their relationship had it taken Paul more than two rings to answer the phone. Granted, he had always been expecting her call, but it still disappointed Molly that he didn't answer her immediately, or at all when she tried a second time.

The small framed girl looked at the clock as she twirled the telephone chord with her index fingers. She had perched herself on the kitchen counter and was holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder.

It was now close to ten thirty and neither Paul or his dad had answered any of her numerous calls. But, finally, the ringing stopped and someone on the other side picked up. "What Molly?" It was Paul's dad.

"Hi, is Paul okay? Can I talk to him?" There was a moment of silence that lasted just a little too long for Molly's liking.

"He's actually really sick Molly."

"Please. Just for a minute. I just want to hear his voice." There was another silence. "Make it quick okay." More silence.

"Mo?" A weak voice, almost unfamiliar answered. "Paul? Are you okay?"

"No, Mo I'm not, and I need you to stop calling me. I'll talk to you when I'm better." The line went dead before she could respond.

Molly sighed, her mind immediately thinking the worst.