"Jen, I'm fixin' to go round Beth's to help her with homework, ye'll be okay right?" Molly called as she reached for the door handle. The day had been spent consoling Jennifer, running her a bath and making dinner. But now she had to go see Jake to tell him what had happened, that Friday night would no longer be possible.
"Yeah… sure," sounded listlessly from the sofa. Jennifer had taken refuge there again after eating maybe five bites of her dinner and she hadn't moved all night. It was still too soon after what had happened for Molly to take the tough love approach and get her off her ass to find another job, so she'd let her be for now.
"I'll try not to be too late, but I don't know how much Beth's got to do," the younger sister lied through gritted teeth.
"Yeah… Whatever."
At this Molly yanked the door open and stepped out into the fresh evening air, taking a deep breath as she closed the door behind her. She was trying her best not to lose patience with her sister, it had only been a day after all, but she was struggling with the negativity after how positive her day had started. Making an effort to still make it appear like Beth lived a couple of ranches over, she went through the faff of unlocking her bike and cycling over to the ranch next door, just in case Jennifer did end up lucid enough to notice something wasn't right. The dogs announced her arrival to the occupants of the house, seeing the surprised looks on their faces when she knocked and opened the door.
"Back so soon huh?" Duncan said with a chuckle, quickly turning it into a cough when his son shot him a warning look. Beth was still in the room, so Jake didn't want his father making any innuendos about last night.
"Hey Molly, ye alright? Ye don't look so good," the young girl noted as she looked her friend over. She looked rushed and didn't give her her usual smile. The comment made her brother look up at his girlfriend with a concerned look, wondering what could've happened.
"Eh yeah, fine. I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but Jake, I need to talk to ye," Molly said now, well aware of how that sounded and trying to make it clear without words that she wasn't here to break up with him after what had been a magical night.
"Eh…" Jake made a little confused, turning to his father, as if asking for permission to be excused. Duncan simply nodded, hoping it would snap his son out of it. "Yeah, let's go to my room," he continued now as he got up, holding his hand out towards her. She took his hand in a bid to calm his nerves as she followed him out of the room and upstairs. "Everythin' alright? I'm sorry if I did summit wrong," Jake said as they entered his bedroom and turned to face her. He really hoped that she wasn't breaking up with him; he thought last night had been amazing and he didn't want what they had to end.
"Ye didn't do anythin' wrong," Molly quickly reassured him as she closed the door behind her and walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down. He sank down onto the foot of the bed next to her in a moment's relief, quickly wondering what else could've happened. "Jen was home when I got back earlier," she started, getting an almost horrified look in response. He was imagining her getting grilled by her sister and having to admit that they were still seeing each other, inevitably resulting in world war three between the two sisters. He took her hand to comfort her as he awaited details of what happened, trying not to think up ever worse scenarios in his head. "She was fired today, with immediate effect coz she's still in her probation period," she said now.
"Wait, what?" It was obvious that had been the last thing he was expecting.
"She was fired. So now, unless she finds a job soon, she'll be home all the time 'n I won't even be able to use work as an excuse to come see ye coz she'll be expectin' me to be earnin' more than I am," Molly finally let it all out as she rambled.
"Molly, Molly, Molly, slow down," Jake rushed to say as he took hold of her shoulders, to get her to stop rambling and make more sense. She stopped and took a deep breath, focusing on his brown eyes to keep herself calm. She was feeling so many different things that she was struggling to get a grip on herself. "Why was Jennifer fired?" he asked first.
"Does it matter?" she responded, getting a look. "One of the other assistant managers has been a lazy bitch but blamed Jen when the bosses queried things 'n Jen's easier to get rid of at the moment," she paraphrased her sister's story.
He looked at her for a minute to process that, in relation to the other things she'd rambled. "So…. For us, that means…" he started to talk it through for himself.
"We're fucked," Molly summarized, getting a surprised chuckle out of him before he realized none of this was anywhere near being funny.
"No we're not… We'll sort summit," Jake said firmly as he pulled her in for a hug, having to believe they would. He couldn't see how just yet, but they would think of something together.