Page 12 of October (New Orleans #10)

“B urger and potato skins,” the waitress announced as she practically dropped their plates in front of them and rushed off to the new table of six that had just walked in, likely sensing that that many guys in their twenties would mean a lot of booze and therefore, a much larger tip than the two women who had ordered a Coke, an appetizer, a burger, and one beer.

“So,” Finley said. “Do you want a French fry?”

Molly laughed and seemed a little nervous.

“I thought you said I couldn’t have any.”

“Well, we just ran into the woman you’re dating on a date with someone else.”

“I told you, Ava and I aren’t technically dating. Also, that woman then hit on you in front of me.” Molly looked away. “Her. I mean, in front of Ava. Then, well, us . I mean, that’s awkward.”

“I think she wants to dance and get laid tonight. Maybe even do more drugs. I don’t know. Not my thing.”

“The dancing or the drugs?”

“Both, technically. You think this body actually looks any good on a dance floor? I have no hips,” she said and wanted to take it back immediately.

She’d been planning on asking Molly out, which meant that there was a possibility that they would have sex one day in the future, should Molly say yes, but Finley had just stupidly told her potential date that she had no hips and couldn’t dance.

That didn’t exactly bode well for her abilities in the bedroom.

“I think anyone can dance,” Molly replied. “It doesn’t mean you’re a professional dancer or something, but it’s just music, and you move to it however makes you happy.”

“You like to dance?”

“Rarely in public,” Molly said. “I do most of my dancing at home when I’m cleaning. Not when I’m cooking because that’s dangerous. I’m klutzy, and if you add a hot burner or a knife in the mix, I’d probably burn myself or lose a toe.”

Finley laughed and was happy to see them getting back to their newfound banter.

She’d worried that with Ava’s appearance, they’d lost it, and she liked this version of Molly.

At work, up until recently, Molly usually seemed distracted and almost a little bothered by Finley’s arrival.

She often turned away from Finley entirely and sometimes, only talked to Juliet when they were all there together.

When Finley realized that she liked Molly, and not in spite of all those things, she knew where she wanted her desk to be, and she had made the right choice.

Now, she got to see this version of Molly, who wasn’t at work and who didn’t seem bothered by Finley at all.

In fact, Molly had seemed bothered by Ava’s presence, not Finley’s.

“You dance when you clean?”

“A little.”

“Any particular song?”

“Just my cleaning playlist.”

“And what songs are on that playlist?”

“I’ll share it with you. There’s a mix of everything. Upbeat stuff, mostly, some movie soundtrack stuff, and some 90s music thrown in there.”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Finley replied.

She looked down at the burger and fries she had yet to touch and the cup of sour cream at the side of Molly’s plate, which made her laugh a little.

She took a bite of the burger, and it was really good, which really shouldn’t have surprised her at this point.

Finley had lived here long enough to know that the best food in this city was in the local bars and pubs or in the dive restaurants where Mom or Grandma was in the back, cooking up their old family recipes that had been passed down through the generations.

Her burger had been seasoned to perfection and cooked for just the right amount of time.

The fries were crispy on the outside and also seasoned perfectly.

She wished she were a little hungrier because there was no way she could eat this whole thing.

She’d expected maybe a decent burger that she’d take a few bites of, but this thing, she wanted to devour.

That wouldn’t exactly look sexy, though, and after the lack of hips comment she had made earlier, she needed to try to build herself back up as good date potential.

“You have mayo and whatever else on your chin,” Molly said.

‘Damn it ,’ Finley thought to herself.

She wiped her chin with a napkin and smiled awkwardly. Molly smiled back at her, and then, Finley watched her dip one of her potato skins halfway into the cup of sour cream. She decided that if Molly could do that and take a giant bite, she could certainly get a little mayo on her chin.

“Soph, come on.”

Finley looked up at two women who walked into the bar.

“What? You just dropped this bomb on me, and now you’re upset?”

“Hey, you two,” a woman said as she walked out from the back. “I saw your name on the to-go order, Bryce. I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“For a week, yeah,” the woman who, Finley now knew, was named Bryce replied.

The other woman looked over at Finley and Molly then, squinted, and approached their booth.

“You’re Logan and Rory’s friend, right?” she asked.

“Sort of,” Molly said. “New friend.”

“I’m Candace. I own the bar. I think we met before.”

“Yeah, briefly,” Molly replied. “You made me a drink and asked if I’d have it at my wedding. Nice to see you again.”

“That’s right! You too. Can I get you anything else?”

Molly checked with Finley before shaking her head.

“I’m okay,” Finley replied.

“I said I was sorry, Sophie,” the woman named Bryce said as she stood facing the woman named Sophie.

“You’ve wanted to move here since we started dating, and now, you’re looking at houses in LA? You said you didn’t want to move to California. You can write from anywhere; that’s what you told me.”

“I know. And that’s still true; I like New Orleans. I just feel like I have an opportunity in LA. With the movie getting delayed until next year, they have two more scripts they want me to work on. One, they want me to fix, and the other, they want me to write, Soph. That’s a huge deal.”

“It is, babe, but you said you wanted to be here.”

“I want to be with you,” Bryce replied.

“What’s going on there?” Molly asked Candace.

“Bryce lives in Tennessee, and she was supposed to be moving here because she’s with Sophie over there,” Candace explained quietly. “But now, she wants to move to LA. It’s a whole thing.”

“LA?”

“She and Sophie had this whole viral relationship thing. Basically, the two met, and it was all perfect and amazing, but they got separated. Bryce was a popular food blogger, so she started a blog about Sophie to find her, and it got very popular. Someone we know saw it and told Sophie. They’ve been together since, like, March, I think. ”

“March? And they’re already moving in together?” Finley asked.

“One of those things.” Candace shrugged a shoulder in response. “A production company for queer movies reached out to Bryce to work on a script.” She sat down next to Molly. “They’re making a movie about how they found each other again.”

“Really?” Molly asked. “A movie about them?”

“Yeah, it’s a big deal. They were scheduled to film here, in New Orleans, this December.

Low budget, but not a no -budget kind of thing.

Pre-production has been going on, but Soph told me last week that they’ve postponed filming it until next year.

I guess they ran into some issues; no clue.

Anyway, Bryce had been planning on moving here with Sophie, but they’ve offered her more work between now and next year.

I overheard her talking on the phone once last month about moving there instead. ”

“Shit,” Finley said.

“Yeah, shit,” Sophie stated, walking over. “Thanks for giving them the download on my life, Candace.”

“You weren’t supposed to hear me. I was talking quietly for a reason.”

“She has good ears,” Bryce said, joining her. “And yes, all of that is true, and Soph is upset with me.”

“Which I have every right to be.”

“Yes, you do,” Bryce agreed with a nod. “And yes, I can write wherever, but it’s not just writing.

They’ve really liked working with me these past few months and want to see if there’s potential for me to come on staff full-time in another role, Soph.

It’s not a lot of money, but it’s enough, and I do think I’d really like that.

They produce a few TV shows, too. It could be regular work. I’d have an office and everything.”

“We should talk about this at home,” Sophie suggested. “You looked at houses, Bryce.”

“Not intentionally, Soph. I just saw a bungalow that I thought we’d love. It’s not like I put down an offer without talking to you. I’d never do that.”

“I know, but we made plans.”

Molly met Finley’s eyes, and it was clear that they were both feeling a little awkward about being involved in the conversation with three people they didn’t know and the topic being relationship issues.

Neither of them said anything because they didn’t want to be rude, and Finley really wanted to keep eating her food before it got cold, but she thought that might be rude, too.

“Plans do change,” Candace offered with another shoulder shrug.

“Your family was the reason you couldn’t move to Tennessee with me. I know I wanted to live here more than you wanted to live there , but the family thing is…”

“No longer an issue,” Sophie finished.

Finley ate a fry and hoped no one noticed.

“Well, yeah,” Bryce said. “And I wanted you to come to LA with me to spend time there when I’m not working to see if we like it.”

“Do you two maybe want a drink?” Candace said more than asked. “Seems like you could both use one.”

“No, we’re just picking up the food we ordered ahead,” Sophie replied. “We have a lot of talking to do at home. This came up in the car, so I wasn’t exactly prepared.”

Bryce nodded in agreement and said, “I got a text from the production company about the possible job on the way here, and I should’ve waited until Sophie wasn’t behind the wheel. I think she parked the car half in two different spots in the lot down the street.”

“We’ll get out of your hair now,” Sophie said. “Sorry for bringing our drama to your table. I hope we didn’t mess up your date.”

“Oh, it’s–” Finley began.

“No problem,” Molly interrupted. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Was it?” Bryce replied with a laugh.

Sophie laughed, too, shaking her head at her girlfriend, and took Bryce’s hand.

“Come on,” she said.

Then, the two women walked off toward the bar, where the waitress gave them their food containers.

“They’ll be fine,” Candace said. “Honestly, I think they will just move there. Sophie works from home and can live anywhere in the US, and she loves Bryce. I don’t think she cares where they live as long as they’re together.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just the owner of this friendly neighborhood watering hole.

” Candace stood up. “Sure I can’t get you anything else? ”

“Maybe a to-go box?” Finley asked. “I can’t eat all this.”

“What happened to being hungry?” Molly teased.

“I am, but this is huge. It’s delicious, though, so I want to eat half and save the other half for lunch tomorrow.”

Molly smiled at her and asked, “Can I get one, too? I can’t eat all of these, either.”

“Do you need a to-go bowl for your sour cream?” Finley teased back.

“Maybe,” Molly said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Candace brought them their to-go containers, and they ate a few more bites before packing everything up.

“So, should we head out?” Molly asked.

“Oh. Yeah, we can, if you want.”

“It’s getting late, and we have work tomorrow,” Molly said.

“Let me get the check, and we can go.”

“Let’s split it.”

“I’ve got it,” Finley said. “I asked you here, so it’s only fair.”

After she paid, they walked out with their bags in hand, and Molly drove Finley home. It was relatively quiet in the car again, and Finley didn’t want to say anything, but she also had to know, so she cleared her throat and decided to risk it.

“So, the Ava thing… You’re really okay?”

“Ava thing? What thing?”

“Your date was on a date with–”

“It was one date, Finley,” Molly told her through light laughter. “And maybe a second one.”

“Maybe?” she asked, grasping onto that word.

“Well, I don’t think she’s going out with Michelle again, but she’s on an app for however much longer, so it’s not like she’s just sitting at home waiting for us to have date number two.”

“Were you doing that?” Finley asked.

“No, I was at a football game with my friends.”

Finley smiled over at her and replied, “The jersey looks good on you. Did I tell you that?”

“I’ll give it back to you when we park, unless you want me to wash it first and give it to you at work.”

“I told you to keep it,” Finley replied.

“It’s India’s. I don’t really want to keep it,” Molly said.

“It’s not India’s, Molls.” She sighed. “Not sure if there’s any bad energy attached to it or anything, but I didn’t want to give you hers. It’s still at home in the back of a drawer. This is a new one.”

Molly smirked as if she’d known that all along.

“You saw me yank the tag off, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Very smooth.” Molly laughed.

“Yeah, I forgot.”

“Why did you buy it for me?” Molly asked as she pulled into the parking lot for Finley’s apartment building after listening to the GPS on her phone tell her where to turn.

“I wanted you to have it,” she said.

“But I told you I’m not even a football fan.”

“Maybe so, but you sat there with me and paid attention. You also, apparently, got Juliet to teach you some stuff for today. Hell, you showed up at all. It’s not like India ever did any of those things.”

Molly pulled up to the door and said, “This was expensive. I should pay you for it.”

“It’s a gift, Molls. That’s not how gifts work.” Finley turned to her. “I want you to have it, okay? If we ever go to another game together, you’ll have something to wear.”

“Fine, but let’s make a deal.”

“Deal?”

“If we go to another game together, I’m buying us the tickets. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you collected money from everyone but me today. I know Jules paid you for her and Gwen’s tickets, and I saw Rusty handing you cash for his and Emily’s.”

“Deal,” Finley said, avoiding the topic of her not asking Molly to pay for her own ticket. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow?”

“You know where I sit,” Molly replied.