FicWad

The rest of the semester after Thanksgiving break flew by in a blur of three weeks, papers, and final exams. Molly avoided Professor Robinson except in the classroom where she made a point to be the last in and first out of the lecture hall during that time period. Finally, on a blustery Friday in December Molly finished her last final exam and headed back to her dorm.
"Hi Honey! I'm home." Molly called out to Kyle as she walked into their apartment.
"I'm packing." the disembodied voice floated out to Molly from Kyle's bedroom.
"Cool. You still leaving tomorrow morning?" Molly yelled back as she walked into her own room to set her things down.
"Yup. You?"
"I fly back on Sunday morning."
"That's cutting it a little close don't you think?" Molly looked up to see Kyle standing in her doorway holding a sweater, "Oh and this is your's." Molly just pointed at the bed for the sweater before answering her roomate.
"Yea, I mean technically it is cutting it close, but we can stay here til Sunday morning anyway, and my flight leaves at 1 from LaGuardia, with a three hour check in time and a forty minute train ride there, I'll be out of here right before the deadline."
"True. I'm gonna miss you."
"We're back here in just over a month. You know you need a break from me."
"Never!" the two girls disolved into giggles as they both set about doing some last minute packing before they had to leave for semester break.

Sunday afternoon Molly stepped off the plane and walked down the gangway into the terminal of O'Hare Airport. Stopping to look around and find someone she knew Molly grew more and more perplexed. Figuring they were just running late Molly went to the luggage carosel and grabbed her suitcase before heading back towards the waiting area. When twenty minutes passed without anyone arrived Molly shrugged to herself and sat down in the waiting room by her terminal to wait for someone. Two hours later Molly was shaken awake by a flight attendant.
"Miss...?"
"Huh?"
"Miss do you need me to call your parents?"
"What? What time is it?" Molly glanced at her watch and groaned. "No I'll call them."
"I'll do it. I can't leave minors unattended alone in an airport."
"Minors? Lady I'm eighteen." Molly grabbed her backpack and threw it on before stalking off towards the main terminal of the Airport. When she reached a Starbucks Molly pulled out her cellphone and debated on who to call before finally pressing speed dial five.
"Hey, you home yet?"
"That's kind of the problem. I need a ride."
"Sure I'll be by your house in like twenty minutes."
"No I need a ride from O'Hare."
"Molly your plane got in three hours ago almost."
"Exactly."
"I'll be there in an hour at the most if traffic is bad."
"Thanks Joe. I'm by the main terminal Starbucks."
Forty minutes and two mochas later Joe walked in and sat down with Molly.
"Hey girl. I gunned it."
"Thanks so much Joe." Molly said standing back up to hug her friend. "I missed you."
"Missed you too. Now let's get you home ok?"
"Yea." Joe grabbed Molly's suitcase and the two headed towards the main enterance of the building.
"So why didn't you call Pete?" Joe asked Molly a few minutes later as they got into his car and started it up.
"Cause you will be able to resist the urge to go and give my father a piece of your mind."
"You'd be surprised what I'm willing to do right now."

When Joe's car pulled up in front of Molly's house about an hour later they were both surprised to see no cars in the driveway and the lights all off.
"Do you think they went to the airport?" Joe asked as they got out of the car. Walking up to the front of the house Molly pulled out her keys and cell phone. Handing her keys to Joe she dialed Sean's number. A few rings later she heard,
"Yo whatsup? When you coming home?"
"Welllllllll I'm standing in the living room. Where are you?"
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me."
"We're at the lake house until Wednesday. School got cancelled for some crazy teacher's union meeting thing."
"Oh. Well I flew in today. I've been scheduled to fly in today since last month."
"Mom and Dad said next Sunday. Do you want to talk to them?"
"No. I'll see you Wednesday. Good bye." Molly hung up the phone and seething set it down on the table carefully. "Thanks Joe. I'm just gonna lock up and try and get some sleep. I'll talk to you soon ok?"
"Absolutly Mol." Joe pulled her in for a hug before walking out to his car. Once the door was closed behind him and Molly saw that he had pulled away she slid to the floor and sat in the middle of her front hallway just listening to the entirely empty house.

Three days later and Molly still hadn't left her house except to do some basic grocery shopping. She basically sat in her room watching Pete's stupid movies and looking at pictures from highschool.
"Oh this is healthy."
Molly looked up from the tv and smiled, "Hey girl."
"Heyyyy" Elyse walked the rest of the way up the stairs and stretched out on Molly's bed next to her. "So how was your first semester?"
"I cheated on you."
"Yea Pete told me."
"We cool?"
"Eh, I'll live. So shopping tomorrow?"
"As if there was anything else to do."
"You know it. Now put on the one from the tour, you and Joe pretending either of you has an iota of talent is always amusing. oohhff. No hitting missy."

About an hour after Elyse left Molly was in the kitchen making a sandwich when the back door opened. Half a minute later her waist was being hugged by her eight year old little brother.
"Oh my god. You got HUGE." Jamie had grown at least five inches in the four months since Molly had seen him. "I guess I really am going to be the only short O'Conell. Hey Sean." Molly nodded to her other brother as he trudged in with bags.
"Hey, you look good. Pale as hell but good."
"I've been surrounded by concrete and steel for four months what do you expect?"
"I dunno, don't all you college girls get fake tans all the time."
"Sean, seriously. This is me we're talking about."
"True. Oh just so you know, Mom and Dad aren't talking again."
"Why this time?" Molly hissed while covering up Jamie's ears just in case it was something he didn't need to know about.
"Apparently, Mom told Dad you were coming home next week. He's pissed that we stayed at the lake house even though you were gonna be home."
"MOLLY!" Molly's head whipped around to see her father standing in the kitchen doorway.
"Hey Daddy." A second later she was swept up in a huge hug and spun around by her father. Smiling and clinging to him Molly allowed herself some form of affection from the normally strict man.
"I missed you darling."
"Missed you too Daddy."
"So how about you and I go into my office with some coffee and you tell me all about your first semester?"
"Uhh...I guess? Sure. That sounds nice."
"Good. I'm just gonna run upstairs and change and I'll see you down there." Molly gave Sean a funny look to which he responded with a confused shrug. Accepting that her parents were weird was always easy for Molly, accepting that they ever wanted anything to do with her was nearly impossible. So instead of questioning it Molly set about fixing a coffee tray to take into her father's office.

Ten minutes later and Molly was sitting on the couch in her father's office sipping a cup of coffee and examining the chess game he had insisted they begin. Moving her pawn forward she opened the game.
"Generic my dear daughter, very generic."
"Sometimes the simplest moves can be the most dangerous battle strategies Dad. You told me that."
"Well, at least you listen to some of what I say." Molly rolled her eyes at his statement once she was sure he wasn't watching her.
"So how was your first semester?"
"It was great. I had a lot of work but I loved it."
"That's good. Feel like going into any detail?"
"Not particularly."
"That wasn't a request young lady." Molly glanced at her father when she heard his tone and instead of seeing his office and him sitting in a chair, Molly was back in their old house and she was fourteen again.
"That wasn't a request young lady."
"Daddy I'm sorry. It's just a glass of milk."
"Clean it up NOW."
"I am."
"Not fast enough. Are you really that stupid that you can't clean up a glass of spilled milk..or keep from spilling it in the first place. Move! I'll do it." Jack O'Conell grabbed his daughter by the arm and threw her a good five feet out the kitchen door and into the dining room.
"Molly Anne! Are you listening to me?"
"Huh? Wha? Oh sorry Dad. I kind of spaced. Thinking about my next move." Molly recovered quickly and gestured at the game board.
"Good, thinking ahead. Now tell me about school."
"Yes Dad..."

Molly spent the next week hanging out with Elyse, Matt and her little brothers. She avoided her parents as much as she possibly could, even on Christmas. To her that first week of break became a constant stress inducer. She spent half that week plastered and just stayed at Elyse's. On the thirtieth of December she was hanging out in Elyse's room when her friend broached the topic.
"You're drinking a lot lately."
"Actually I haven't been to be perfectly honest. Just since I've been home."
"you promise?"
"Yes dude, I promise. Would you relax." Molly snapped.
"Alright, I'm sorry. I just worry about you. So what are you wearing to Pete's tomorrow night?"
"Wow, first off way to change the subject. Secondly, I'm not going." Molly said looking up from the Rolling Stone she had been flipping through.
"What? Why not?"
"Do I really need to answer that?"
"No answering a question with a question. And you should come. The guys want to see you."
"Patrick doesn't."
"Patrick doesn't know what he wants half the time. I've been telling him for far too long. I'll just tell him he wants you there and poof problem solved."
"It's really not that simple. This isn't like trying to convince Patrick to wear a pink shirt so you can giggle Lyse."
"Molly! It's New Year's Eve. You HAVE to come. Pete's parents are going to be out of town and we have that WHOLE house to party in."
"I don't know...."
"You have to go. It's going to be THE party of the year."
"I don't feel like hanging out with highschool scene kids."
"We aren't letting any highschool kids in."
"Yea right. But I suppose I should put in an appearance."
"Sweet. Now let's figure out what you should wear."
The girls spent the rest of the night giggling over boys and clothes and music and generally being best friends. The next morning when Molly woke up she headed home to sleep for the rest of the day until it was time to get ready for as Elyse put it "The Party of the Year."


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A/N: Title is from "Snow" by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
not much else to say. Gonna try and work out another one tonight but I have to sleep early as I have to be in the office at 8.