Between Two Eternities || Travis Hamonic

(23) Locked Up Tight Like Iron Melting

"Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can't escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other."

-Veronica Roth

"I didn't go out with Travis."

I stand on the other side of the kitchen, hands braced on the top of a chair and moving my right foot nervously around the other. Molly doesn't get angry often, so I don't know what to expect. How is she going to treat me? Is she going to act like nothing happened? Or ignore me? Yell at me like a child?

Molly glances at me for a second but turns back to the stove. She is making breakfast, a rarity in this house due to simple lack of time and early work hours. The smell of sizzling bacon wafts through the air and toast pops up from the toaster. I think that means she's ignoring me, and showing me what I'm missing by making a nice breakfast.

I nod to myself and pull out the chair. It screeches against the tile floor, and I stop. I hate to be making so much noise when I know that I'm not in the best of positions. Whenever someone is angry with me, I would rather try to just stay out of their way. I don't want to go trying to fix it and instead making things worse.

Suddenly Molly sighs, her shoulders drop dramatically. As she turns around, her pencil skirt remains stuck to her curves but her hair flips measurably. I keep my eyes on the table, so as not to look to hopeful. "I'm sorry, Arden. I shouldn't have reacted like that. You are an adult after all."

This sounds more like Molly.

She never was disciplinarian material.

"That's okay."

I mean to say more, but I don't know what else I can say to a woman who doesn't know what to do next? She catches herself sometimes trying to do things she thinks parents should do. But I don't need a parent anymore. I didn't need a new parent when both of mine died, and I think that she is just realizing that now.

"Besides, who am I to keep a girl away from a hot man?" she questions with a smirk. I blush, knowing what that means.

"Aunt Molly..."

The eggs start burning and Molly rushes back over to the stove. I look down at the table again.

I'm seeing Travis soon. Just a few minutes actually. We are going to breakfast. He texted me last night while I could still see his car in the driveway.

Breakfast at 8?

I had looked out the window with my phone in hand. We made eye contact quite easily, despite the window of the house and his car window having quite the glares to them. Travis then winked from the drivers seat of his car. I nodded and grinned, then texted him just to confirm. Of course!

It was only five hours until I would see him again, but I could barely sleep. I woke up at five in the morning. I've been up, staring at the clock since then. My coat and shoes are already on and I'm completely ready to walk out the door.

The only noise is the cracking sound that comes from the combination of grease and a stove. "Molly?" I ask warily. She turns around, spatula in hand and hair flying again. "Yeah, hun?"

"Matt still needs a parent. I need you to be a friend, but you're a wonderful person to raise Matt," I say. She may be afraid of committing and lack home economic skills of a typical mother, but she makes up for it with her advice and hands off style that translates well to a thirteen year old boy.

"Well," she starts, her eyes tearing up. She looks embarrassed, which is odd because Molly loves attention, and seems like she's about to just stop at that one word to blow the conversation dead. But then I remember that she always was one for dramatic pauses. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," she finishes. She bursts into tears the minute her nude colored lips utter the last word.