Molly continued, all while holding her smile. "It's okay, Kane. I expected you to do something like this. And now I'm glad you did. But, I want to make it clear that I'm not interested in getting a new boyfriend. Let alone move in with another man a few hours after the break up. Got it?" I nodded, innocently. "I completely understand. I'm not inviting you to stay with me because I like you. I'm just offering as a friend. We got along well on that island, so I thought we would make good roommates." Her suspicion returned. "So, after everything you've done, including setting up my breakup, you expect me to believe you only want to be friends now?"
I burst out with a laugh. "Hell no! I'm still going to do whatever it takes to make you mine. What I'm saying is that I'm going to put my obsession on pause so you can have some recovery time from your break up." She raised an eyebrow at me. "And this is supposed to convince me to live with you?" I paused at my stupidity. "I, uh... Yes?" She laughed a little. "I do admit that having a whole house, as opposed to one bedroom is tempting... I could also use some time out of the same location as James. And Hank has already done so much for me, I don't want to burden him by moving in."
Her statement got me curious. "Right. I've been meaning to ask, what is your relationship with Hank? You two seem closer than I previously guessed." She shrugged one shoulder. "He's a father figure to me, I guess. I was seventeen when the settlement first found me and still pretty irresponsible. Hank took it upon himself to finish raising me and always looked out for me." It was then I was suddenly brought back to our last topic. "Wait. Are you considering moving in with me?" Her face shifted to unease. "No! Maybe? I don't know yet. It's a stupid idea and I don't know why I haven't shut it down immediatley. You realize that if I move in, you will constantly have to protect me from zombies, right?"
I nodded. "Yep. Not a problem. I love being your hero." She hesitated and her cheeks turned pink. "It was a little flattering how you defended me today..." I looked at her with surprise. I hadn't expected her to have a positive reaction to how I almost killed James. Maybe she didn't know I was about to kill him. She then quickly stopped herself. "Ugh! What am I doing?! We're not moving in together!" I gave her a smirk. "Why not? If you're so determined to ensure nothing happens between us, why are you worried something will?" She thought about it for a moment. "I'm not worried! I'm just, I don't want to lead you on. I wouldn't want to take advantage of you."
I turned to stand in front of her so we halted our walk. "Hey, now. I want you to take advantage of me. Baby, I'm yours. Let that be anything from a lover to a servant. Take your pick." She raised an eyebrow. "Why?" I shrugged. "No idea." She blinked a few times before answering. "You're telling me you're obsessed with me and don't even know why?" I nodded with a smile. "I'm a schizo. What do you expect?" She let a small laugh escape her lips as if she was surprised by my ridiculousness. "You need to work on your convincing skills." I sighed and let the humor in my tone go. "I just, I want to be around you. You make me so happy and we have a lot of fun together. I want to feel that way all the time."
It took a moment for her to answer. "That's a little better," She said as her gaze fell to the ground. After another minute of hesitation, she said, "If, by some miracle, I say yes, it would be as friends. NOT just until I recover from the breakup. Permanently. The chances of my moving in are zero, and they will stay that way until I know that you can respect that." Damn. She was running a hard bargain. There was no way in hell I would just be friends with her past her break-up recovery period, but I wasn't going to let this opportunity slide. "If it's important to you, then I will."
I could feel Erin's evil laugh coming on again. 'Little does she know, you are going to steal her heart without her knowing while she's recovering. She won't know what hit her. Oh! What if we get rebound sex, too? That'd be a plus.' Mary sighed. 'Don't get your hopes up, you creep. She doesn't seem like the type.' Molly looked at me suspiciously for a moment before it faded. "I'll test it out, then." I had to stop myself from bursting with joy and keep my cool. I smiled a reasonable amount and took her suitcase from her. "This way, Milady."
I used my free hand to take hers and pulled her into my back with a swoop. She seemed surprised but didn't say anything as I began running to the exit of the settlement. All I wanted to do was get the fuck out of here and start our next adventure together. Once we were out in the apocalypse night air, I jumped from building to building, sometimes looking back to see Molly's dark eyes sparkle as she looked at all the stars in the sky. "I guess one good thing came out of the end of the world." She said, softly. She was right. Now that there wasn't any light pollution anymore, you could see half the galaxy from just looking up. I took a moment to look up as well, but my attention went back to the matter at hand.
It was as if I felt like not getting there as fast as I could would somehow change Molly's mind about moving in with me. The voices kept talking over one another, just as excited as I was. I could barely understand them but didn't try to. I was too focused on getting home. Soon enough, I jumped down onto the street in front of my house. The faint growling of the undead seemed to be getting closer from around the corner so I didn't give Molly a chance to get off my back until we were inside.
She set her feet on the hardwood floor as I closed the door behind us and looked around, curiously. I kept an eye out for any zombies that might've gotten in while I was gone, but the place looked untouched. That was a good sign. Molly looked back at me with surprise. "None of the windows are boarded up." I laughed, nervously. "Yeah... I've been meaning to do that..." She turned around again and walked toward the kitchen. "Nice place you got here. I expected it to be a mess, honestly." I shrugged as I followed her, my protectiveness already kicking in. "Well, when you're trapped in a cell with nothing but your own shit for seven years, you develop a craving for cleanliness."
She turned to me with a look of empathy. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." Her statement got me thinking about why Penelope thought she was suffering. "And what did you have to go through?" I asked. She then crossed her arms at me. "I'm sorry, but you don't have access to that information. We may be girlfriends, but we're not besties." I cringed in playful offense. "Ouch."