she's leaving home 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 [𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐰𝐨]

I

𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐈.

-𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒. 𝐌𝐀𝐘. 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟐.-

the breeze brushed against molly's face. she sighed, tugging her beanie over bright red ears. paris was treating her nicely.

after receiving the call from her father, he proposed that she should move away to paris, where he already lived. at first, she declined. she slammed the phone back the receiver and broke out into tears. for eleven years, she'd been living a lie. her father wasn't really dead. he faked his suicide in order to escape from his fast-moving life. he felt too pressured to keep up with the family. when he learned molly's mother had become pregnant again, he decided it was his time to go.

her mother ended up having a miscarriage anyways. it was more traumatic than it should've been. her mother was heartbroken for years. molly decided against telling her-for her father's sake. it would be tragic enough for her to know her husband wasn't dead after all, let alone knowing why he left.

after a while, molly raised up enough money to emigrate to paris where her father was.

when she told the boys, they didn't seem all too upset about it. surely, they would miss her, but she was already gone to them. they were going to return to hamburg the next year, and their lives were drastically changing. they played at the cavern often and had girls hanging over them like flies on horseshit.

paul was surprisingly the most upset about molly's moving. he was angrier about the father situation than the fact that she was moving. they had one last conversation before she moved.

"you sure about this, molly?" he asked her one final time while on the phone. "don't you think he's an asshole for lying?"

"well, yeah-"

"yet you're still moving?"

molly let out a frustrated sigh. she put her hands above her head. "if you suddenly learned your mother was alive out of nowhere, wouldn't you want to see her as soon as possible, too?"

"this is different," he argued. "i saw my mother's dead body in the casket. you never really saw your father again."

molly felt a bit ashamed for a second she compared their parent's deaths but pushed past it after her stubbornness went away. "i apologize, paul... you're right," she admitted. "i just want to see my father. i loved him so much when he was with us." as she was packing, she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder.

"i know," paul said. "but, you've said it, he's an asshole. why are you still going to see him?"

"because i want to! no one can stop me!" molly yelled. "my life is completely starting over."

paul was sat at his dinner table. it was a quarter to three am. he was trying to be as quiet as possible, but he was beginning to get frustrated with her. "aren't you bringing any of your belongings?"

"just my clothes and essentials. nothing else." molly laughed.

paul nervously chuckled along. "i'm beginning to think you're going mad, molls."

she shook her head and packed a small pink dress, some more stockings and her hairbrush into a crammed bag full of dresses. "should i bring jeans, too?"

"for what? you won't be doing any labour, will you?" paul replied. molly gave a hearty laugh. she took the jeans anyway.

*

stepping outside of her new house, she took in a fresh breath of fresh air. her father usually worked from nine to five, and it was only seven am.

it was her second year in paris. she still hadn't gotten used to life there. it was only an hour ahead there, so not entirely different. molly got herself a job, a car, a house and a cat. she was a hard-working woman. she worked at the front desk of a nearby hotel, answering phone calls and booking rooms for guests. she normally worked days, but sometimes she'd have to fill in for her co-workers at night.

molly was good friends with the hotel manager and owner, so she had an instant in with them. of course, she never took advantage of them. but, she naturally had to learn french, becoming fluent in the first year. it was difficult. she spent most of all of her time in the first few months just studying french and going to classes as she worked as a housekeeper in the same hotel. when she finally became one-hundred per cent fluent, the manager allowed her to work at the front. she very much appreciated the raise in pay.

"bonjour, aimé!" molly greeted her boss in french as she stepped into the fancy hotel.

"bonjour, molly," he replied, giving the bell boy a bag to take up to the guest's room. "taches normales, d'accord?"

"d'accord," she answered, putting her jacket on a hanger behind her.

the hotel was quite fancy. it was a five star in paris. only the best could afford to stay there. usually, it would be foreigners or rich men.

the floors were marble, the glass was stained and the stairs were carpeted in red. there was a giant chandelier right dead centre in the middle of the huge lobby. diamonds, gold, silver, probably worth millions. the hotel almost looked like a cathedral. it was called the ange bisou, meaning, the angel kiss.

"bienvenue, monsieur," molly welcomed the man who came up to the front desk with a friendly smile. "que puis-je faire pour vous?"

"je voudrais réserver une chambre pour l'un, merci." the man in the fur coat answered.

"une salle, à venir jusq'à, monsieur!" she wrote his information down and gave him his key. this was her normal day in the life. "bonne journée!"

the man wished her the same and walked up the stairs with the bell boy. once they were out of sight, molly relaxed her shoulders and back into a sort of slump from how tired she was.

almost all night, she was staying up talking on the phone with george, paul and pete. stuart and john weren't there, though. stuart passed away in april. it was horrible. when she received the news, she was deeply saddened, but she didn't feel much of any loss. she didn't know him well enough to cry, but just enough to feel sad about it. he was a good friend, but nothing more.

the foursome didn't really talk about any particular one thing. they were all over the place in subjects. one second it would be about paris, the other cars, than flowers or coffee. that's why molly loved her long talks with them.