Until You Met Me

Tugging a t-shirt over his head, Gerard grumbled to himself, padding reluctantly towards the front door in an attempt to stop the knocking that had disturbed him and Molly. They didn’t have anywhere to be, and after the night that Molly had had the night before, Gerard knew that she wouldn’t be in a hurry to get up, but it was clearly not a message that had transmitted to whoever was on the other side of the door. He knew who it was likely to be. When Molly had stirred and reached for her phone on the bedside table, the screen had been full of messages and missed calls from Ava and Sofia, but Molly had made no move to answer them, insisting that she would talk to them when she was ready to. She was hurt. Although Gerard had been quick to curtail the conversation the previous night, one look at her face had told him that she was upset, and it wasn’t something that was going to be healed in a matter of hours. Molly needed time to get her head around things, and no amount of calls, or visits, from her friends was going to change it.

Running a tired hand over his face, he moved to pull the front door open, his eyes settling on Sofia who was stood outside. “Sofia” he greeted.

Sofia, who’d been staring back at her car, startled at the sound of Gerard's voice before she turned, greeting him with a pained smile. “Gerard” she said “I’m sorry that it’s so early. I didn’t even think about the time. I just...I was hoping that I could see Molly. Ava wanted to come, too, but she had to go to work. She told you about last night?” she asked.

“Which part?” Gerard asked “The part where Tiago told her that you and Ava talk about us behind Molly’s back, or the part where you told her that you think our relationship is destined to burn out?” he prodded, his voice obnoxiously teasing.

Sofia’s already shaky expression fell, something which caused Gerard to exhale a quiet sigh. Shifting his grip on the door, he spared a quick look over his shoulder in search of Molly, before he looked back at Sofia. “I don’t think that Molly is ready to talk” he admitted gently.

Sofia nodded her head slowly, taking a step back away from the door. “It was a long shot anyway” she replied “I didn’t really know what I was going to say” she added.

Gerard watched her back another step backwards before he shook his head, stepping out onto the stoop and pulling the door to behind himself. “Why didn’t you just say something to Molly?” he asked.

Sofia blinked, surprised by the question. “What?” she asked.

“About us” Gerard clarified “About your worries. Don’t get me wrong, she doesn’t love that you’re not as on board with me and her as she thought you were, but I think that the thing that’s really bothered her is that you and Ava told Tiago, and not her. So, why didn’t you just say something to her?” he asked.

Sofia was quiet for a moment, so long that Gerard was pretty sure that she wasn't going to answer, before she shook her head, smoothing her hair behind her ear. “You were here first” she said “Before Ava, before me, there was you, and we were worried that, if we tried to tell her that we didn’t quite see how this...this works out between you two, then she’d just tell us that we didn’t get it. You aren’t obvious friends, and...”

“Do you think I make her happy?” Gerard interrupted bluntly.

“Do I think that you…?”

“Do you think that Molly is happy with me?” Gerard repeated.

“Of course, I do” Sofia replied “She’s happier than I have seen her in a long time” she added.

“Then why does it matter how much we have in common?” Gerard asked, his voice softening.

Sofia opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but she didn’t say anything, affording Gerard the chance to keep talking. “I understand that you’re just trying to look out for her” he said “And honestly, I can’t say that I haven’t had similar conversations with her in the past about her ex-boyfriends, but this is working, Sofia” he added, offering her a slightly shy smile.

“Gerard...”

“I worry, too” Gerard interrupted, cutting off Sofia’s reply “Why do you think that we went through that breakup? I worry that I am not going to be enough for her, or that I am going to get something wrong, and ruin not only our relationship, but over twenty years of friendship, too, but I realised that I can’t just...just run away from it. I love her, and I would rather run the risk of losing her than just quitting. I know I am probably biased, but there’s something to be said for just letting things happen, and if it goes wrong, then be there for her. Don’t just right it off because it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes things just don’t make sense, but they’re still pretty great” he explained.

Sofia’s stare searched his face for a moment. “You...”

“Gerard?” Molly’s voice reached Gerard and Sofia before she appeared, pulling the door open behind him.

“What are you doing up?” Gerard asked “I told you I would be right back” he added.

“That was fifteen minutes ago” Molly replied “I thought something had happened” she added.

Gerard huffed out a playful sigh. “I am two steps from the door” he replied.

Molly shrugged, smiling at him. “Something could have happened” she retorted.

Sofia watched the two of them quietly, marvelling at how at ease, and happy, they looked as they talked to one another, before she cleared her throat, finally drawing Molly’s stare towards her.

“What are you doing here?” Molly’s voice had hardened, losing the brightness that she had had when she had been talking to Gerard.

“I wanted to talk about last night” Sofia replied.

“Sofi...”

“I know that you’re not ready to talk” Sofia interrupted “I don’t blame you. I just wanted to say sorry, and to say that...that if you’re happy, and I know that you are, then we should just take that for what it is. If you are happy, then we are, too” she added, her lips quirking upwards into a shy smile.

Molly’s expression was dubious, but she eventually nodded her head. “That means a lot to me” she said.

“I...I should go” Sofia stumbled out “You’ll call me and Ava, right? So we can talk more?” she added.

Molly nodded, her expression softening. “Of course I will” she replied.

Sofia smiled, glancing over at Gerard. “Thanks for the talk” she quipped “You’ve...You’ve cleared some stuff up for me” she added before she turned and moved back towards her car.

Molly turned to look up at Gerard, a slight frown on her face. “What’d you do?” she asked.

Gerard smiled down at her. “Is it that hard to believe that I could have been insightful and given your friend something to think about?” he asked.

Molly scoffed out a laugh. “Honestly?” she prodded.

Gerard huffed, but he couldn’t stifle his smile as he took her hand and led her back into the house, hoping that what he had said to Sofia had helped in some way.