Chapter Text
“Don’t know why you talked me into the kissing booth, Mary,” Molly said with a sigh, stapling yet another glittery red heart that the students at the local primary school had decorated for their favourite volunteer. She should have known Mary would rope her wee ones into doing the decorating for the booth, because she had a way with them. When uni was over, she was going to make a great teacher, Molly knew it.
Of course, for her, she just wanted uni to be over. As soon as possible. Now would be rather nice. Anything to avoid him.
“Oh, come on,” Mary said, looking between a pink heart with multiple hearts drawn in glue and covered in different colored glitter and a white heart with “XOXO” written on it in Mary’s own perfect penmanship. In the end, she went with the glittery one and stapled it on her side. “You can’t avoid every living person on campus because the bastard said you--”
“Are as cold as a halibut on ice?” she muttered. She knew it was utter tripe, of course; she and the bastard had some rather heated moments. He’d even managed to get his hand up her skirt at one point. The last point. She wasn’t that kind of girl. A bit of kissing was fine and all, but a shag with someone who she had the feeling was seeing other girls on the side?
It wasn’t like she was waiting for marriage, just...commitment. That was what she wanted most. Trust and commitment.
“I still say you should have let me shoot him,” Mary said.
“And the archery team would have had my arse for having their star kicked off for attempted homicide,” Molly said, though it brought a smile to her face. She knew her roommate cared. That made her feel better. She’d blown off her own boyfriend the last few weeks to be there with her as she moped, and she knew John was fine with that. In fact, she knew John had had words with the bastard, too. Him and his best mate, some bloke she hadn’t had the chance to meet. Old friend from primary, just transferred. Had a bit of trouble at his other university. Something about deducing an affair between the university president and the treasurer and an embezzlement? John said in an effort to keep the lid on the scandal there were quiet retirements and Holmes was sent to a more prestigious university.
Theirs.
But whatever was said, she was at least spared rumours flying around campus. She was thankful for that. She wasn’t sure who had said what, but it had made things easier.
“Hello, love.”
She dropped the stapler as the familiar brogue sent ice through her veins.
“You! Get the bloody hell away from the booth!” she heard Mary shout at the bastard.
“Can’t drive paying customers away,” James said, and Molly didn’t even need to look at him to know he was smirking. “Maybe if I pay for a kiss it’ll be...lukewarm. Room temperature, if I’m lucky.”
“I’ll take your money when Hell freezes over, pigs fly and elect a bloody git like...like...” Molly turned to see that Mary was nearly red in the face with anger. “That upstart Magnussen Prime Minister!”
“Oh, you’ll take my money,” James said. “You’ll see.” He gave them a wave and sauntered off.
Molly collapsed on the stool they’d be sharing later. “Oh, bloody hell,” she said. “He’s got a plan. And I bet that plan involves my reputation in tatters by the end of the day and me having to snog him just to earn enough to...”
“No,” Mary said adamantly. She slammed her stapler down on the wooden part of the booth separating kisser from kissee. “You’ll see. The bastard may think he has a plan but he’s met his match. Keep decorating, love. I’ll be back.”
Molly nodded and watched Mary walk off in the opposite direction of her ex, and after a moment pulled herself up off the stool with even less enthusiasm before. She didn’t know what she had ever seen in the bastard. He had been charming, said all the right things, treated her to nice dinners for a university student...all to get in her knickers. And she hadn’t fallen for it and his vicious nature had shown through and now it was all a mess.
The booth was nearly completely decorated when Mary came back, her boyfriend and someone she didn’t know in tow. She looked up at the new bloke and saw he had a very serious demeanor, curly near black hair and the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. The colour seemed to shift as he moved, from blue to green to grey and she was so mesmerized she missed what Mary was saying.
“...so you and Holmes are going to go off and John and I are going to man the booth. Holmes is paying a thousand pounds for the privilege of your company and I don’t give two shits how much the bastard was planning to spend to get all your kisses, we’ll raise more money for charity with you have a day away from the kissing booth then we will dealing with his shite.”
“Umm...what?” Molly asked, pulling her gaze away and flushing slightly.
Mary smirked. “Go enjoy the village faire, love. We’ve got it covered here.” She made a shooing motion with her hands and then physically turned both Holmes and Molly away from the booth and towards the rest of the festivities.
“I fear it’s all a bit early,” he said when they began to move away. “Nothing to pique our interest yet.”
“No, I suppose not,” she replied. It finally registered what Mary had said about how much this day at the faire was costing her companion. “You’re paying a thousand pounds to spend the day with me?”
“It’s for a good cause,” he said with a slight shrug. “And it’s hush money anyway. Better spent on something worthwhile than keeping a dirty secret.”
“I heard bits of it all,” she said. “From John. Are you really…?” She wasn’t sure how to ask.
He was quiet for a moment and then gave her a small smile. “Perhaps we could see if there is someplace with coffee and a decent breakfast available while we wait for the festivities to begin? And then we could begin to know each other a little better.”
She nodded, smiling back. “I would like that very much,” she said, smiling back. This could be interesting, she thought to herself. This could be interesting indeed...