The Perfect Gift

“What’s wrong?”

Molly blushed. “Nothing,” she said. “It’s just…” She trailed off, anxiously biting her lip in a way that made me want to kiss her.

“Spit it out,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “We’ve fucked, you can talk to me.”

Molly’s blush deepened and spread to the roots of her brown hair. “Nothing, really, it’s stupid,” she said. “It’s just…I don’t know. Can we go on a date?”

“What?”

“A date,” Molly repeated. She sounded miserable and embarrassed. “Like, out in public?”

I smirked. “Why, you want me to get arrested for indecent exposure?”

Molly’s face fell. “Forget it, it was stupid, I told you,” she said, obviously flustered. “I’m gonna go.”

I grabbed her hand. For a moment, she pulled against me but after a second, she slowly turned back to face me.

“No, don’t leave,” I said. “I was just giving you a hard time. What do you want to do?”

Molly shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only been on one date…and he was gay,” she added, eyeing me. “We got coffee. But I don’t really like coffee.”

I grinned. “Okay,” I said. “I think I know where we should go.”

Molly gave me a skeptical look. “Where are you taking me?”

I winked at her and she blushed. “It’s a surprise,” I said. “Come on, get your purse.”

Molly obediently followed me outside into the hallway of my apartment complex. Just as I was locking the door from the outside, Hannah turned the corner. She was wearing a pink bikini, and when she saw me, she stopped dead in her tracks. Then she burst out laughing.

“Oh my god,” Hannah said. “I can’t believe this.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever,” I said. “We’re leaving. Come on, Molly.”

Hannah’s eyes went wide. “Alex, you can’t be serious. Her? Really?”

Molly gave me a confused look. “Alex, what’s going on?”

“Molly, come on. Let’s go,” I said firmly.

“It all makes sense now!” Hannah yelled, still laughing. “I can’t believe it, you only like fat girls!”

“Alex,” Molly said sharply. She was crimson red in the face and she looked close to crying. “Who is that?”

“A dumb bitch,” I said. Reaching for Molly’s hand, I pulled her towards the parking lot. As soon as we got into my car, Molly looked at me and lowered her eyes.

“Alex, who was that? Really?”

“Like I said, a dumb bitch,” I said. “I met her the other day when I was getting my mail. She tried to come onto me.” Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell Molly that I’d asked her out.

“She’s gorgeous,” Molly said. She frowned. “Why didn’t you want to go out with her?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I said irritably. “I just didn’t. What’s your problem? Why are you freaking out over this?”

“I don’t know,” Molly said softly. She sniffled and looked out the window.

“Look, don’t be upset, she was rude,” I said. “I should’ve bragged about how good you blew me.”

Molly gasped, looking mortified. “Oh my god, Alex! You can’t do that!”