Let's Make Up

Princess

The next morning John woke up to the sound of something going on in his home, on the floor below him. The noise seemed to be coming from the kitchen and he was struggling to actually wake up and react.

Go ahead, take anything, he thought, imagining there were maybe some reckless teens or burglars in the house. Then he remembered Molly was by herself in the downstairs guest room and he found the motivation to get up. As he reached the bottom step, he could see into the kitchen and found that it was just Molly going through cupboards and drawers. She was in the same oversized t-shirt as the night before, but her sweatpants were missing, having been replaced with shorts, and he had a clear view of her legs from the mid-thigh and downward. Like the rest of her, she had permanent black intricate lines and drawings on them. He watched her for a bit as she kept looking around, singing a tune that he recognized from a Disney movie. She sang very well and while his first choice wouldn't have been children's music, he figured he'd like to hear her sing anything.

"Trying to attract woodland creatures to help you find what you're looking for?" John asked, letting his presence be known and making Molly jump and squeak in shock.

She put a hand on her chest to exaggerate getting frightened.

John laughed, revelling in causing her to react.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." She replied, laughing at herself as well, "You scared the living daylights out of me though."

"Imagine waking up to crashes, thinking your house is getting broken into, and finding some half-naked woman in your kitchen who thinks she's a Disney princess." He explained, mocking her with a slightly flirty tone.

"I'm impressed you knew what I was singing." She said, ignoring the 'half-naked' comment. "Have a soft spot for cartoons?"

He had a gentle expression that made her smile instinctively.

"And I'm impressed by your singing voice." He said genuinely and added, "My daughter makes me watch all of those movies. I'm a princess expert now."

Molly was more shocked than before when John had surprised her.

"I didn't realize you have a daughter!"

"Well, we don't really know each other. How could you have known that?" He replied with raised eyebrows and a shrug.

She looked at his left hand to see that there was no ring on it.

"And a wife...?" She asked.

"Divorced. For many years."

"I'm sorry." Molly said, "I won't press you about it."

John leaned on the wall, and Molly looked him up and down having realized he was also 'half-naked' in just boxers and an undershirt.

"It's alright," He began, "It's no secret. News travels fast in this town. She cheated, a lot, but because I left her, I came out looking bad. We coparent and people come up with rumors about me all the time. Truth is, I just didn't want her to grow up without a dad, or with the idea that I didn't care about her, but I couldn't stay with her mother."

Molly nodded, taking in what he was saying. She felt bad for him and wondered if the rumors were part of the reason why Fred called him 'Creepy John'.

"I can relate a bit." She told him, "My ex also slept around and our relationship was pretty known. We don't have any kids though. I can only imagine how hard that would make things."

John couldn't understand why or how anyone could cheat on Molly when her body alone was enough reason for anyone to want her, he thought, looking down at her legs again, then tracing all the way up to her big hazel eyes. They were full of emotion and gave her such a soft feminine look.

Not wanting to make things awkward, John pried his gaze away and looked around the kitchen.

"So, what were you looking for?"

"Oh! Breakfast and cooking stuff. I wanted to thank you by making you something to eat, but you had things stacked a little precariously which is why there was crashing. I won't take any of the blame for your messy cupboards!" Her eyes became full of child-like determination.

John massaged the back of his neck in slight embarrassment and admitted to not having a lot of supplies, or cleaning up properly the way he should, as he didn't make breakfast very often with his bachelor lifestyle. She recalled him eating a breakfast sandwich the morning before and felt a rumble in her stomach.

"Well, could we go to that farmer's market and pick up some fresh ingredients? It's held every Saturday, right? I promise I'm a pretty good cook!"

"We?" John asked with apparent shock.

Molly didn't mean for her suggestion to sound so obviously like a date and felt silly for even saying anything. He saw her face fall and immediately felt bad. He wasn't used to this attention or this much interaction but he hated seeing her bottom lip become a pout.

"Okay. We'll go, as long you put some pants on though."

"Of course!" She said, spritely walking past him, toward her room. "You too though!"

He went to his own room as well to wash up and dress while feeling a bit ashamed at how badly and quickly he was starting to like Molly. He was thinking about her last comment to him, that he should also put pants on, and he wondered if she had been looking at his body as well. He started fantasizing, wishing he had kissed the pout from her mouth instead of giving in to her request of going out. He imagined pressing her against the counter that she'd been standing in front of and putting his hands in her hair, pulling her face close to his and watching her eyes flutter and shut as his mouth crashed against hers.

"Ugh what am I thinking? I don't have time for this." He said aloud to himself as he finished dressing and went to meet her downstairs.

Molly exited her room not too long after John got downstairs. She was wearing a button up shirt under a large pull over sweater with tight black jeans. The sweater hid her hourglass shape but accentuated her small frame and somehow still made her chest look perky. Her hair was up in a tossed together bun and she had put on a bit of makeup, making her long lashes even darker. She looked sultry to him, despite still being in fairly casual clothes, and he wondered if there was anything she wouldn't look good in.

"I tried to get ready quickly. I hope you weren't waiting long." Molly said to him.

"I just got down here as well." He said, rubbing his neck again. "I've never seen one of those princesses wear any black the way you do, but you'd probably make a pretty good one."

Molly blushed and swiped a stray hair behind her ear. She was thinking that for a guy who was known to be very aloof, who people thought was a creep, he had quite a lot of charm.

"Thanks Johnny." She smiled coyly at him.

He looked her in the eye and said,

"Johnny? Getting a little familiar?"

She just continued to smile, slipped her shoes on and went out the door.

While they were out, John started to feel like a fool for being so forward with his compliment and having lustful thoughts about Molly. There were people at the market who recognized him and he could feel them staring. He knew he would have more rumors circulate. The last thing he wanted was to get Molly involved with small town drama and have her reputation ruined as well. After his divorce, his ex wife had spun stories about him being the cheater as well as abusive. Girls he went out with and even young interns at the office made up stories about him being lecherous and about him supposedly trying to assault them despite him never actually showing too much interest. There were times he thought maybe he should concede and live up to this made up reputation, since he could at least have some fun, but the thought of disappointing his daughter always stopped him. Being seen with Molly made him worry that he looked like a dirty old man and he wished he could take back the comments he'd made earlier in the morning.

He was about to tell her that maybe he would go back and wait for her in the car, when a woman with hair that had been dyed blonde to blend and hide her natural greys, walked over to him. She had a fake looking smile and annoying voice.

"John! How nice to see you out and about." She said, flashing her teeth that looked just a little too perfect and were probably veneers.

"Hello, Helen." John said with an audible distaste.

"Who is this young girl you have on your arm?" She asked without looking at Molly, who was not on his arm at all.

"This is Molly. My new associate." He told her.

"Hmm, how wonderful. Dating a coworker though, is that allowed?" She smiled again. "You know our arrangement, John."

John grimaced noticeably without restraint.

"We're coworkers, Helen."

"I can't recall you ever going out with any other female coworker though." She said, pretending to sound innocent while putting her finger to her chin.

"Remember what we agreed on if anything changes and little Miss.Cutie here decides that she needs to sleep with her boss for her job."

With that, she walked away, and Molly felt like her blood pressure must've been off the charts.

"I'm guessing this Helen lady is your ex wife?"

"Yes." John replied shortly and stayed silent for the rest of the outing.

Molly made her way to the kitchen after the trip to the market and an uncomfortably quiet car ride. John said he wasn't hungry anymore but that she could do whatever she wanted and that he'd be upstairs. He felt the need to put distance between them, so she made herself a snack and went to the living room to distract herself by watching TV. Eventually she got bored, but was so comfortable on the couch, that she fell asleep there, curling up tightly with her arms tucked in so that her legs could keep the rest of her body warm.

At some point John felt both the pang of hunger and guilt. Going downstairs to fix up something to eat, and maybe make some coffee to fix his headache, he saw Molly in her crunched up sleeping position and wondered how she could be comfortable. Not just with the way she was laying, but with herself in general. He looked at the areas of skin that had a bit of ink poking out from under her clothing and knew she must've been nearly completely exposed while at some of her tattoo appointments and he wasn't sure what that meant about her.

Does she like showing her body to strangers? Does she enjoy the pain of the needles? He thought to himself and figured that maybe like those poisonous tropical frogs that present themselves with bright colours to trick their predators, she was also sending a warning about herself.

As if she knew in her dreams that she was being watched, she began to stir and looked around, realizing she had fallen asleep in the living room.

"Hi, Johnny." She said to him while unfurling her body from its contortioned state.

"Hey. Just came to see if you wanted to eat, it's a little late but I've got a headache from not having any caffeine." He replied.

"Sure, you want to cook something together?" She asked, "I got some nice stuff from the market."

"About the market... I'm sorry about Helen." He said, looking uncomfortable.

Molly gave a half smile.

"She's an ex for a reason. Sorry I took over your house and turned into Snow White, falling asleep here."

John's smile started to come back, stretching his face sweetly to reveal two dimples on either cheek. Seeing them made Molly's eyes twinkle and watch his face intently as he spoke.

"See? I told you; Disney material right here." He said.

She laughed and sauntered over to him, then fell into his arms theatrically with him instinctively catching her unexpected actions.

"Johnny! Kiss me quickly!" She playfully urged him while putting the back of her hand to her forehead and collapsing backwards in dramatic display. "I may never wake up without true love's kiss!" She closed her eyes and pretended to pass out.

John searched her youthful and trusting disposition as he still held her tightly, thinking she might fall. He slid his hand to her cheek, looking at her like he was imagining things, and soon lost his modesty. Leaning in, and doing what he was told, he put his lips to hers in a kiss. At first it was gentle and it took Molly by surprise, but she didn't break apart from him. He kept his grip firm on her as well and kissed her harder after. Soon she was reciprocal in her actions and stood up straight to get out of her silly pose from before. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against him so he moved his free hand down to the small of her back and realization of his actions finally made him start to snap out of his trance. He half heartedly brought himself back to reality and pulled away in shame.

"Molly... I..."

She wiped her bottom lip and let her fingers stay there while she wondered if she really just had that intense moment with her new boss.

"You know," She interrupted as he was still trying to find his words, "I'm not really a princess."