Strip

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

I waited, longer than I needed to, to make sure she was gone, trying to make sense of what had just happened, like a puzzle with pieces that didn't fit together. I felt like I was going to throw up. I would have cried, but I was out of tears, my eyes painfully dry. 

I stood up taller, and headed for the door. I barrelled down the flight of stairs to Mrs. Coppers apartment. I knocked on the door much louder than I needed too, trying to drown out my thoughts.

The door flew open, and James stood there, smiling up at me. The sight of his face made me choke, almost gasping for air.

"Molly look!" James said, stuffing his fingers into his mouth. "I have a loose tooth!" 

"Wow!" I said, crouching down so we were eye to eye. "That's awesome James!"

Mrs. Copper appeared in the door. "50 dollars."

"That's more than we agreed on Mrs. Copper."

"50 dollars." 

I sighed, and reached into my bag. I pulled together 2 twenties and held it up to her. "That's all you're getting."

"Humph," She said, and slammed the door.

"Let's go up," I said, leading James to the stairs.

James didn't move. "Are you ok Molly?"

"Of course," I said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seem kinda sad."

I struggled to keep my smile. "I'm fine James. Let's go home."

James ran for the tv as soon as I opened the door. I reached into the fridge, pulled out as many McDonald's containers as I could, and followed James to the living room.

James was flipping through channels, as I sat down on the couch besides him, and pulled out a big mac, shovelling it into my face. 

"Slow down Molly," He said, laughing.

I didn't. I shoved as much food as I could into me, staring glassy eyed at the tv, words floating around in my head, aimlessly, trying to grab onto something to ground them.

...sweetheart...miss...terrible...stop...why...understand...done...leave...

I was actually happy when 9:00 came. I jumped up off the couch. "I have to go James."

"You don't seem ok Molly."

"James, I'm fine. Don't worry."

James didn't look convinced.

"I'll be back in a couple hours, ok. Go to bed."

"Ok."

"I love you James."

"I love you too Molly."

---

Stripping wasn't great, but at least it was a distraction. Changing into frilly underwear and dancing for boys kept mom off my mind... that was all I really needed.

"Are you ok, Molly?" Janice asked, as she helped my strap into my bra.

"I'm fine!" I said, a little more aggressively than I had meant to.

"Whoa. Ok, just checking."

"Sorry. I'm fine."

"Alright. If you want to talk, I'm here."

"I don't need to talk," I said, but she had already waltzed onstage.

I sighed, and checked my boobs in the mirror. "Ok," I whispered to myself. "Everything's ok."

I slapped on my sexy face, and headed out.

Everything's ok.

Everything's ok.

Everything's ok.

"Hey Jasmine!"

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck.

I whipped around.

"Hey boys," I said, walking up to Jared... with Max sitting besides him.

"We made sure to get here early so we have you all to ourselves."

"I'm flattered."

"Well, as you know, Max here is quite fond of you." He wrapped his arm around Max. "So, you can start with him."

"Would you like to go to the back room?"

Max nodded. "Uh, yes."

The others whooped. I ignored them, leading Max to the back room.

"Hey," He said, as we sat down.

"Hey."

He looked down at his hands.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah, just, bad day."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

Silence.

Fuck. What was I supposed to say? I was supposed to listen about it, right? But I had been there. I was sure listening to him talk about it wouldn't help me...

"Wanna talk about it?" 

What's wrong with me.

"Uh, it's nothing. I just... I tried to ask out this girl."

"Oh..."

"I don't know why, I mean, she was clearly going to turn me down."

"I'm sure she likes you."

"No, she so clearly doesn't. I'm so stupid."

"Not that I don't want to hear this or anything, but, why can't you talk to your friends about this?"

"They don't care. They'd just tell me to stop being a girl, and bring me here."

"Oh."

"She's a great girl though."

"I bet she is."

"I was being so stupid." He put his head in his hands, looking down at the ground.

"Hey," I said, reaching forward and resting my hand on his knee. "I bet she feels stupid too. I mean, she must have wanted to say yes, but they're are probably a bunch of fucked up reasons why she couldn't. She has to like you, I mean, you're great. I bet she hates that she said no, I bet she wishes she could have said yes, so much that-"

I stopped. Max had raised his head, his deep eyes looking at me. Something shifted in his mind, something clicked. His jaw dropped slightly. He looked at me through his mop of blond curls, like he was looking into the face of god.

"Oh my god..." He whispered.

I pulled my hand away from him. "I-I have to go-"

I jumped up, and fumbled my way to the door. "I'm sorry, I just-"

"Wait."

I turned. I looked at him. I felt everything around us slow down until it stopped, froze, waiting for one of us to speak.

"Molly?"

---

Why do I keep ending chapters like this?

Hi! Thank you so so so so so so so much for reading! This story is way bigger than I every expected it to be, and it's still small compaired to most stuff on wattpad.

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