i believe in yesterday ☽ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 [𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞]

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

by five am, they fixed her hair. george sat for almost an hour, making sure it was to both her and his likings. admittedly, it didn't look the best, but for two exhausted teenagers, it looked pretty good. as molly sat in the small stool in front of the dimly lit mirror, she thought about telling george about getting accepted into college.

he was helping blow-dry her hair on the quietest setting as to not wake her mom. her hair was almost dry. she knew she'd have to do it soon enough.

"george," she said so he could hear her. "the thing i wanted to tell you about..." she started.

"yeah?" george shouted. "what is it?"

"i... um... i got accepted into london university," she hummed quietly.

george stopped because he didn't hear her. she dreaded telling him twice. "what was that? you were quiet as a mouse," he joked.

"i got... i got accepted into the university," molly sniffed, waiting for his answer. she could barely see him in the mirror from the tears welling in her eyes. she almost didn't want it to be true. "i got the letter. it's on my bed."

george said nothing as he set the blow-dryer down on the sink and calmly walked to her sheetless, empty bed. he brought it back to the bathroom wordlessly. slowly opening it, molly saw the realization in his eyes.

"congratulations." was the only thing he said for a while.

*

"who are we in this vast universe?" molly pondered. "life is so... strange," she said to george as they lied together on her bed.

they often did this; lay together to help the other sleep during sleepovers. nothing ever came of it. george was too scared to do anything anyways, and molly always figured he wouldn't.

"i agree." george quickly nodded. "we're just a tiny speck of nothing as of now," he adjusted the blanket so he was covered more.

"i wish i knew the meaning of life," she adjusted along with him so she faced him. "george, do you believe in heaven?"

george cocked an eyebrow and thought. did he? it was an almost obvious question because he'd always been raised to believe there was one. but what if there wasn't?

"there's probably one," he quipped so it wasn't so quiet. "i mean, if there isn't, what happens when we die?"

"that's what i'm saying," molly propped up on her elbow and sighed. "in church, i heard when you go to heaven, you see all your relatives. i hope- well if there is a heaven- that i can see my father..."

george nodded again and smiled. "for your sake, i hope there's a heaven. do you remember your father?"

"not very much, but i know he was very kind." molly uttered just above a whisper. she was afraid her mother would have heard her, even though she wasn't likely to be awake at this ungodly hour.

"just like you," he replied with a sad smile.

she sniffed and said, "well, i try to be as kind as i would want someone to be to me,"

"is that why you're always so kind to john?"

"george, you know why i'm kind to john," molly retorted with hooded eyelids. they began to feel very heavy by then.

he pursed his lips and kept quiet, waiting for her to ask something else or to talk about her father. anything but john. he was afraid she'd confess her love for john to him for the hundredth time.

"anyway, about my father..."

george closed his eyes and listened to molly go on and on about her father and their lives before liverpool when they lived in london. he enjoyed hearing her speak. her voice was very soothing and calm. he'd almost never heard her talk above her monotoned voice unless she was excited.