It should have felt strange, kissing Molly. Sure, they hugged a lot, but kissing was always the kind of transaction that was only exchanged at holidays or on birthdays.

Give a present -- get a dry, awkward kiss on the cheek. 

Get a present -- give an equally awkward kiss that was always carefully a good inch away from the lips.

Avoiding the lips had been like some unspoken rule and, right now, it felt like it was made to be broken because this... this... this felt like something they'd been missing out on all this time. 

If Jake had known this was in store, he might have given better presents.

Molly's lips felt nice, all soft and slightly parted, just a little wet on the inside as he let his tongue slide along the seam.

Molly gasped, then, clutching his shoulders, her lips opening under his. It was even softer and wetter inside. Her hands gripped his shoulders as her lips moved against his. He hummed in the back of his throat, trying to feel a little more... but, suddenly, there was only air.

"Jake, what's gotten into you?!" Molly wasn't clutching at his shoulders now. She was pushing at his chest.

He opened his eyes, meeting her wide, green ones. Damn it, it had felt so right, so crystal clear. Why did it have to end? 

He leaned in again, but the only thing his lips met was muddy water. He spat and pushed himself up. She'd slipped away pretty fast. He vaguely wondered if his reflexes could be transmitted orally before turning his head to her.

She was next to him, kneeling up and gasping. "What are you doing?" 

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" She gaped at him mutely.

He didn't see what the big deal was. He was only doing a little... kissing. 

Reality was starting to poke holes in his nipple-induced haze now. His eyes widened as he realized he'd done more than a little kissing. There'd been groping, too. Had he done that or had he just wanted to? 

What the hell, Jake?

"What the hell, Jake?" Molly demanded, as if she could read his mind. 

He'd never been sure she couldn't, so on the off chance that was a thing, he kind of hoped she hadn't been pin-point accurate today. Because he was pretty sure he'd spent the last three minutes, at least, speculating about bras or bikinis and perving all over his best friend.

He started to get up, but fell onto his back. "Ow," he choked out.

Molly's furrowed brow appeared above him. "What's wrong with you?"

It seemed to be the question of the day. "I don't know."

Molly's eyes softened a little. "Are you hurt?"

"Something's digging into me." He dug underneath him and quickly realized what that something was.

He pulled the crystal from his pocket and stared at it, caught between horror and amazement. 

"What is that thing?" Molly sighed.

"I don't even know!" He glanced at Molly, at the crystal, at Molly again, avoiding her blouse this time. "I think it's possessed. Or maybe I am." It all came crashing down and he suddenly felt heavy and wet and absolutely disgusting and horribly ashamed. He met her eyes reluctantly. "Mol, I can't even begin to... I mean, that was..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I am so, so sorry."

He heard her sigh above him. "Jake, get up. I think I have some towels in the trunk."

He opened his eyes and pushed himself up, following her to the car like a shamed Labrador. "I don't think towels are going to do me any good at this point."

"They're not for you," she said stiffly, popping the hood. "They're for my seats." She pulled out a giant beach towel and tossed it at him. "I had them in here because I thought we might go swimming after this. But I think today has ruined water forever, so screw that."

Swimming. So it was a bikini. If her blouse wasn't so muddy, he could tell what color. 

He shook himself. 

This was his best friend! What the hell was wrong with him today? He hissed at the pain in his hand and realized he'd been squeezing that demonic crystal. He opened his hand and stared at it again.

"Okay. What's with you and that rock?" he heard her say.

"It's a crystal," he said, dazed, still gawking at it. "I got it from our old lady. She said..." He dragged his eyes to hers. "Molly, this is going to sound crazy."

She gave him a wary look. "I'm not surprised. Today seems to be your day for that."

"Well, our old lady—"

"Patience."

"What?"

"That's her name. Patience," Molly said tiredly, folding her arms over her towel. "Did you steal that rock by accident? Is that what has you looking at it all funny?"

"No, she gave it to me. She said it was like Viagra."

Molly looked at him like he had grown an extra eye. "Viagra?"

"She basically said it was some kind of powerful magic energy thing. That the pink part would make everyone fall in love with me, and the gray part would make me... you know... the whole Viagra thing."

Molly shook her head. "You can't possibly believe that."

"I'm not saying I do," he said, feeling stupid now, having said it out loud. "But it's weird, how things happened around it. I had it for two seconds, and suddenly Juliet was calling me over and saying all that stuff about lunch, how it didn't have to be the three of us. Maybe even just..."

Molly stared at him, waiting. "What?"

"Huh?"

"'Maybe even just' what?" Molly prodded.

"That was it. She started blushing and saying that it's not like it was in high school, that we can do what we want now."

Molly's brows drew together. "So she meant 'maybe just you two' as in not me." She let out a sudden laugh. "I guess I'm disinvited to lunch, not that I care, but—"

"Lunch isn't the point. The point is that Juliet has never bothered with me before today." He pursed his lips. "In fact, Juliet hardly bothered with me, even today, not until I was holding this." He held the crystal up, somewhere between awed and horrified.

Molly stared at it, too. "What are you saying? You think this crystal is magic?"

"Well, I'm not saying magic. But there has to be something, like maybe even science can explain it, or otherwise why would... " He glanced back to the muddy puddle they'd previously rolled around in... or was that just him? He drew his eyes back to Molly and her angry face and her muddy blouse that was definitely covering a very flimsy bikini top, then just as quickly pulled his eyes away, staring over her head, gesturing vaguely behind him. "Why would that have happened?"

"Don't be ridiculous. If this crystal is supposed to make everyone fall in love with you, then... then..." His eyes met hers as she stopped sputtering and took a deep breath. "Then why didn't it work on me?"

He hadn't thought about that part. It's not like he'd had a lot of time between being possessed by a crystal and realizing he was possessed by a crystal to apply logic so far. "I don't know. What if the whole drawing love part was used up on Juliet and that left the... Viagra part?" he finished on a whisper.

"Jake, are you hearing yourself?"

"Look, I know you don't believe in any of this stuff." Hell, Molly didn't believe in horoscopes or psychics or even ghosts. "I know how insane this sounds to you, but you weren't in my head back there! I wasn't even thinking. I was a man possessed!"

Molly narrowed her eyes. "You're saying you pulling me into the mud and kissing me was some kind of magic crystal possession?"

"I'm not saying it's a fact." He held the crystal up. "But maybe we should think about it. Because I would never, ever do that to you... Except for how I did."

"Yes, it's unthinkable," she said dully, then pointed at the crystal. "Can I see that?"

He held it out. "I know it doesn't look like much, but— Hey!"

Molly took it, then shoved her towel at him and ran across the street.

"Molly!" He took off after her. When he reached her, she was at the edge of the woods, her fist balled, moving outwards, then dropping. He stopped, panting. "Molly, what are you doing?"

She turned to him, panting as well. "There! All gone!"

"What?"

"At least I hope I threw it far enough." She turned back to him, looking pleased with herself.

He wasn't! "Why would you do that?"

"Look, there are two possibilities here. First, let's say it's magical. If it is, then it's messing with the natural order of things. Even if it is making Juliet fall madly in love with you, would you want her like this? Wouldn't it feel like a cheat if she was under some kind of crystal blue persuasion?"

The crystal was actually mostly pink, but she did have a point.

"And if you think it made you do," she gestured behind them to the deep puddle in the mud, "things you said you'd 'never, ever' do to me, then it's obviously forcing you do things you don't want to do and that's creepy."

He wondered if he should point out that what he did back there didn't feel like he was forced into it. Then again, if she thought it was creepy, then maybe he should forget about it.

"Yes, creepy," he found himself saying.

"If it's not magical," Molly went on, "which is my personal theory, then it's obvious Patience put some kind of idea in your head that is making you act out like Don Juan on steroids. If that's the case, then she scammed you and her snake oil crystal belongs," she gestured to the woods, "wherever the hell it is now."

"That does make sense, but—"

"Either way, you don't want it, so it's gone," she said over him

"Okay, but—"

"No 'buts.' We can forget this ever happened," Molly continued over him.

"But you forgot one thing," he finally got out.

"What?"

"I'm going to have to pay for that rock."

She blinked up at him. "I didn't forget that. You didn't tell me that."

"The old lady said she trusted me to pay her for it after it worked."

Molly rolled her eyes so far upward, he was afraid they wouldn't roll back. "Did she show you some magic beans, too?"

"It wasn't like I thought it would actually work."

"It didn't work," she said with a glower.

"It felt weird saying 'no thanks, crazy hippie' when she was trying to be nice."

Molly frowned heavily. "Well, I'm not going hunting through the forest primeval over there." She sighed long and hard. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

"I never said you had to."

"I'm the one who threw it. Can we go home now? I'm starving!"

He was, too. Jake had forgotten with all that happened, but there was a perfect sandwich waiting for him. He nodded mutely and followed her back to the car, his eyes on her back... Well, not her back. She really did have the roundest little... No! He was not looking at that. Starting now.

Molly was right. Whether that crystal was for real or not, it had him doing things he'd never do. What if she hadn't pulled away? That would have been... Awesome? No, wrong. It would have been horribly, pervertedly wrong. This wasn't just any girl. This was Molly, for Christ's sake! Molly was a part of his history, a part of his day, a very necessary part of his life. He wasn't about to mess that up because of a wet blouse.

Still, as she drove, he found himself stealing glances, arrested by details he'd seen a couple thousand times over the years that suddenly seemed brand new. Her green eyes had thick lashes that were lighter at the tip. The freckles on her nose were so tiny; it was like someone shook a light dusting of cinnamon over her face. Her lips weren't the supersized Kylie Jenner type but tiny and heart-shaped like one of those old-timey dolls scary little girls carried around in horror movies... in a good way, really. Her legs, even splattered with mud, looked soft and smooth and kind of long for being on such a short girl. Then there was that still-wet blouse that had been his undoing.

Sure, he'd seen all this, but never in this kind of detail and never after having his lips and hands all over her. Sure, Molly was pretty enough, but never in a way that affected him, or so he told himself. It was more like a passing thought, as in "Molly's eyes look super green when she wears yellow" or "Molly should wear red lipstick more" or "Molly's boobs are... Damn it, look somewhere else!"

He never said these things out loud. He'd heard enough of Molly's rants about douchebags who objectified women. Besides, it wasn't the kind of thing you talked about around girls. Then again, Molly was not the kind of thing he talked about around other guys, even. There had been times when the odd guy said something about Molly, but it wasn't a mistake they made again. Jake always kept the odd perv and loser away either with threats of violence, that or the real thing if they went too far.

He kind of felt obligated to punch himself in the face really hard right about now.

He stared resolutely ahead, trying to keep his wandering eyes on the road with such determination, he didn't even notice the road had stopped moving till she called his name.

"Jake? Jake!"

"Yeah?"

"We're home."

They were. Right in front of her house and across from his. When did that happen? He turned to her but kept his eyes on her forehead. That seemed respectful enough. "Great. Thanks for the ride." He put his hand on the door behind him, blindly groping before he realized his eyes might help out there. He turned away.

Molly's hand grazed his back as he gripped the handle. "You've been so quiet. Are you sure you're okay? I'm starting to think you hit your head back there."

"I'm fine," he said, finally getting the door open. "I need a shower." A cold shower. And a sandwich.

"Hey, wait!" She got out and leaned on the roof, talking over it. "Look, I'm sorry I laughed at you so much. It was nice of you to help out with the bazaar. You don't owe me a shirt. I'm sure my mom can get the mud out. Your sneakers are probably worse off anyway." She smiled. "And thanks for George."

He tried for a light-hearted smile. "It's cool," he said as he moved to the house.

But it wasn't cool. It was wrong, it had to be. He was a terrible friend, a gropey, creepy deviant. Jake avoided his mother when he crept in, not only because of the mud, but because he swore she had psychic powers when it came to him misbehaving, something he'd definitely done today.

After he'd washed up, Jake could hardly taste his perfect sandwich. Because the kitchen window faced the front, he found himself staring at Molly's house between mental flashes of her blouse, her lips, her gold-tipped lashes. This time, he didn't even have a crystal to blame. 

TBC

********

Well, there is only one way to see it:

A. The crystal is obviously malfunctioning and just pointing Jake at all the girls... who are named Molly... for some reason.

B. Potato chips give a delicious crunch to ham sandwiches

C. George is the king of all sock monkeys

D. All of the above