Tangled Up in Daydreams (30 page)

“I think so. I have to. It's where I live. I'll be fine.”

“What about Liam?” Alex asked and everyone glared. “What? It's not like all of you weren't thinking it.”

“I don't know.” Lying because she already knew she was going to give him another chance, she just wasn't ready to tell. “All I know is that I can't hide out forever.”

“Are you going back? Are you going to get back together?”

“Alex.” Renee raised her voice. “Chill out with the third degree.”

“Let's just enjoy our breakfast.” Molly tried to change the subject.

“Look, we are all just looking out for you. You show up here out of the blue, all freaked out and upset because your boyfriend is a drug addict and almost dies, and then you tell us you are going home just like that.” Alex, raising his voice. “You should also know that Mom talked to Elizabeth this morning and we know everything.”

“What does that mean?”

Molly wished she had gotten up earlier and intercepted that call. It seemed she had missed by mere minutes. Elizabeth probably chatted with her parents right before she went to the bathroom and left her phone in Liam's grasp.

“Stop avoiding. The accident, does that ring a bell?” Yelling at her.

“Alex, come on,” Renee pleaded.

“No, someone has to say something!” Yelling louder. “All of you are walking on eggshells, but I just can't. You all have been the whole time she has been home. She's not going to break! Molly, what the fuck are you doing?!”

“Stop screaming at me!” Molly cried. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“My problem is that my sister forgot to mention to any of us that she almost died in a fucking car accident!”

Molly's face paled and all the air got sucked from the room. She felt like she was in one of those infomercials demonstrating vacuum packaging, only she wasn't holding the gadget but being sucked into the bag choking on latex.

“It wasn't that bad.” Bursting into tears.

“Molly.” Helen came over and put her arms around her daughter. “Alex, please, you aren't helping.”

“Mom, and coddling her is? Hello, Earth to Mother. He almost killed her. Don't just let this go. Molly, how can you forgive all that!? You are such an idiot!”

“It wasn't like that,” Molly stuttered. “And you should not be lecturing me on forgiveness seeing how you yourself have been the recipient of someone else's.”

“Molly, please don't,” Renee pleaded.

“What are you talking about, Molly? This is not about me,” Alex yelled.

“What this is about is loving people who fuck up and hurt others and fuck around on them and are forgiven because no one is perfect and maybe together is better even if it is flawed. You, my dear brother, fit into that little equation rather perfectly.”

Alex's face blanched and he looked at his wife.

“Yes, I know.” Molly, continuing. “And you should not be so high-and-mighty judging someone else's relationship.”

“What is all this about?” Helen asked. “Alex?”

“It's nothing, Mom, she's just trying to deflect.”

“Fine, play it that way.” Molly shook her head. “I don't care.”

“Alex, let's go for a walk.” Renee grabbed her husband by the shoulder.

“No.” Refusing to budge and knocking her hand away.

“Now!” Glaring at him.

Reluctantly, Alex got up and left Molly with her parents in the kitchen. Henry came to the other side of Molly and sat down. Molly was trying to calm down.

“The accident wasn't really like that.”

“Why don't you tell us what happened then,” Henry told his daughter.

Molly wiped her face with her hand and steadied herself. It had been four months since the accident. Long enough to forget, but then again, not long enough to really pretend like it never happened. It had been a Wednesday night like any other. Molly had made them an early dinner because Liam had a special show later and she knew that if he didn't eat he would be hungry. They had steak and a salad with this new miso dressing Molly had found at Whole Foods. It was a good meal, and Liam left to go set up. He took her car—bigger trunk space—and Molly was getting a ride from Jay. He wasn't playing until eleven so she took a leisurely bath, had a glass of wine, and got dressed. Jeans, a Harley-Davidson belt Liam had bought her at the flea market, and a green, striped chiffon, off-the-shoulder top. Jay picked her up around ten and they went to Small's, a tiny, very hip, very cool new bar that Elliot opened near his restaurant. Liam was doing the unannounced gig as a favor to his friend, and it was a good way to test out some new songs for the second album.

It was already crowded when they got there. Word spread fast in LA. Elliot had saved them a table by the small stage. The place could maybe hold a hundred people max and it was full. Familiar faces abounded, including Zander and Elena. Both smiled meekly when they caught her eye and flew quickly to the opposite side of the bar. They all had reached a silent agreement to just ignore each other and back off. Liam barely saw them anymore so Molly felt like she had won. Childish, but it still made her smile inside. Jay grabbed them some drinks and the night wore on. Liam played, it was great, Elliot was happy, and soon it was time to go.

“You want me to give you a ride home?” Jay asked.

“Let me check and see how long Liam is going to be.” She hopped off her seat and walked over to her boyfriend. “Baby, what's your ETA?”

“Soon, I think—stay. Let's go home together.”

“Okay.”

Molly walked back to Jay.

“I'm going to wait.”

“Cool. Goodnight, my dear.” Kissing Molly on the cheek and making her way out of the bar.

About a half hour later, Molly and Liam finished packing up the car and were ready to go. Molly was a little tipsy, so maybe she wasn't paying as close attention as she should have to Liam. He pulled the keys from his pocket and started the car up. He leaned over and kissed Molly hard on the mouth. He banged her teeth with his.

“Ow.” Pulling her hand up to her mouth. “Easy, Tiger.” Tasting a little blood.

“Oh, baby, I'm sorry.” Clenching his teeth slightly. “Didn't mean to.” The words sort of jumped out of his mouth like hot popped corn.

“Are you okay?” Looking at him, wiping her mouth.

“Yeah, fine. Why?”

“You're a little jumpy.”

“Just pumped from tonight. It was cool playing some new stuff. I had a really good time.”

“Me too. It was a good show and it was great for Elliot.”

“The place is going to do real well.” Overenthusiastically. “Did I cut you?”

“Yeah, just a little. I'm fine.”

“I'm really sorry.” Grabbing her hand and squeezing hard. “Can't wait to get you home.”

“Liam.” Prying off his fingers. “You may break me.”

“Let's just go.”

If Molly had been totally with it and not in her own little fuzzy bubble of a few drinks, she would have seen his eyes twitching, dancing, and his fingers tapping out the cha-cha on the steering wheel. Instead, she turned on the radio and sat back in her seat. About halfway home, in the middle of her favorite Ja Rule song, everything jerked left, then right, and it suddenly felt like the car was slipping. Molly looked up and thought she was cruising the length of a Slip 'n Slide or maybe lying flat in the middle of a spin art machine. She turned her head toward Liam and then there was the crash. The next thing she remembered was hearing her name.

“Molly! Molly!” Liam yelled.

“I'm okay.” Opening her eyes and mentally cataloguing her body. Her back felt funny, like something had untied. Pain slowly spread out and wrapped around her like a sarong. Her wrist felt limp, something had snapped. “Oh, shit.” She looked at Liam, who had a cut on the side of his forehead. Blood was running down his face. “Liam, you're bleeding!” Momentarily ignoring her back and hand.

“I'm okay. Are you okay?”

“I don't know.” Undoing her seat belt slowly with her good arm. “But, baby, you're bleeding.” Grabbing her sweater off the floor and holding it to his face. “What happened?”

“I fucked up.”

“What?”

“I'm fucked up. I fucked up,” he kept repeating to himself. “I fucked up.”

“Calm down. Take a deep breath.”

Molly gingerly got out of the car and tried to stretch her back. No amount of yoga forward bends were going to fix this right now. The pain was starting to swallow her, and she had to catch her breath. Her wrist was definitely broken. She wiped the tears from her eyes, then looked around, fearing what she was going to see. Another car, more blood, major damage; instead, the front passenger side of the car was up on the curb with two large metal garbage cans crushed under the wheel and the front bumper smashed deeply into the base of a cement light. They had hit the curb, the cans, and finally plowed into the light. No one else was around: it was just them with a majorly dented car—her car, no less—on a small street near their home. Thank God they only had contacted inanimate objects; someone was on their side. Even though Molly felt like storm-preventing burlap bags were layered on top of her entire body, she knew they were lucky. Molly carefully walked around the car and opened Liam's door. Somehow, she was in caretaking mode, only able to focus on Liam. Visible blood took precedence over invisible broken bones. She took the sweater off his head to see if he was still bleeding. It had almost stopped, but it looked like it needed stitches. His brow was also beginning to swell a little and a bump had formed under the cut. Tomorrow, it would be a first-class shiner.

“I fucked up.” Repeating.

“It's just an accident. Just some cans. It'll be fine, but Liam, we need to go to the hospital.”

“No, we can't!”

“We have to. They should check your head. You could have a concussion. You might need stitches.” Trying to calm him down. “And I think I'm really screwed up.”

“No! Molly, you don't understand. I'm fucked up. I took a bunch of E.” Casting his eyes down.

“Excuse me?” His words hitting her like firecrackers.

“I took some E at the bar, two hits. I thought I could get us home before I started rolling. I've driven on it before. I've been fine. But I thought I saw something and I turned the wheel too hard, and lost control.”

“You fucking asshole!” Molly, igniting. “Why didn't you tell me? Jay could have driven us both home!”

“I'm telling you now.”

“Oh, fuck. I can't even believe this.” Walking away from him. “Okay, deep breath, Molly.” Talking to herself as she ran her good hand over her back.

Her wrist was starting to throb. Memories of second grade and her pretending to be Olivia Newton-John in perfect
Xanadu
mode skating around the driveway and wiping out flashed. What the fuck! She brought her fingers to her face and held them there for a while hoping the cool pressure of her palm would transport her up and away from this disaster. When she brought them back down to her side and opened her eyes, she had not pulled the Dorothy she had wished for. She walked back.

“Can you get out, please?” Calmly.

“Yeah.” Undoing his seat belt and getting out. “I feel fine. My head just hurts a bit.”

“To be honest, I really don't give a fuck how you feel. Just get out and get in the other side, so I can get us out of here before people come out and start poking around.” Completely sobering up.

Liam fully exited the car and walked to the other side of the curb while Molly got into the car and reversed slowly. She felt the cans loosen and she called out the window to Liam.

“Dislodge the trash cans and get in.”

It took him a minute or so, since the cans were still somewhat caught under the bumper. Soon he got in, buckled, and Molly put the car into drive. Luckily, it ran fine, and Molly eased them off the curb and drove them home very slowly. She parked and without saying another word, nor looking at the full damage done to her car, walked into their apartment. Liam quickly grabbed his guitar from the back and followed after her with his tail wedged firmly between his legs.

“Look, Molly, I'm sorry.” Trying to get her attention. “I'll pay for whatever it costs.”

“Save it. I can't even listen to the sound of your voice.” She carefully walked into the bathroom, gritting her teeth in pain, and returned with some bandages, antiseptic, a bottle of Advil, and some ice. “Sit down.”

Liam sat and Molly tended to his wound as best she could with one hand. She was a picture-perfect Florence Nightingale. The cut was still bleeding a little. Part of her wanted to make it deeper with her nail, but not being violent person she instead placed the bandage on tightly enough to slow the flow a bit. Too bad her wound wasn't so skin-deep. Molly knew it would be months before she felt better. Her injuries would linger long after a simple scratch had healed.