Aggressive shouting wakes Molly up abruptly. She doesn't know how long she's been asleep for or where she even is. Charlie is still beside her; he's looking out at the street and although he knows that she's awake he doesn't say anything.

"They caught him," Molly says. "The man that killed my. . . he's in custody."

"What?" Charlie says as he turns his head.

"I'm free."

"That must have been a big relief," he says.

"He's controlled me for long enough!" Molly says as she slides up the wall. "Now I just want to live. And forget. And drink."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not sure yet," Molly mumbles, stumbling sideways as she tries to walk. "Somewhere North."

"North of where?" Charlie laughs.

"The pole." Molly makes it to the curb of the road and then sees a group of men staring at her from across the street. She backs up to Charlie's side and puts her hand on his arm. "Why are they staring at you?"

"They're staring at you. You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?"

Even while drunk, Molly can feel her cheeks flushing. "No one's ever said that to me before. Except my mother. But she doesn't count."

"Well, it's the truth." Charlie glances away, suddenly becoming shy. "Unfortunately, it does tend to attract the wrong kind of attention."

Molly glares up at him, her eyes softening. "You make my pulse do weird things."

"What?"

"There you are!" a voice calls from behind them. "I've been looking everywhere for you! She's not interested, pal, beat it." Lauren positions herself between Molly and Charlie, crossing her arms as she scowls at him.

"You must be the friend," Charlie says. "I'm Charlie."

"I don't care who you are," Lauren says. "You think just because a girl is out here alone and drunk that you can worm your way into her underwear? Not going to happen."

"Woah," Charlie says. "We know each other."

"We do, we know each other," Molly says. "He helped me."

"I did a little more than help you."

Molly rolls her eyes. "He saved me. Twice."

Charlie holds out three fingers and grins. "Not that I'm counting or anything."

"Oh," Lauren says. "Wait! I know you! Aren't you the guy from that high school video that beat up that football player?"

"I didn't beat him up," Charlie hisses resentfully. "Is there anyone that hasn't seen that video?"

Molly raises her hand slowly. Charlie smiles at her.

"You're viral," Lauren says. "What's most impressive to people is that you humiliated him with a cast on your arm. I bet he left you alone after that."

"Yeah," Charlie says. "You okay? Need some more water?"

It takes Molly several seconds until she realizes he's talking to her. She's drifting further away from them, it's like her feet can't stay still. "I'm okay," she mutters.

"She's never been drunk before," Lauren says.

"I know."

Molly collapses to her bottom and closes her eyes, repeating that she's okay. When she looks back up there's a new addition to the group. A man with mixed race skin and black hair is throwing his arm around Charlie's shoulder as he looks between Molly and Lauren.

"Trust Charlie to be talking to the extremely pretty ladies," the man says. "Hi, I'm Perry."

"Lauren. Nice to meet you."

"And who's your friend?"

"Molly," Lauren says.

"She okay down there? You okay down there, sweetheart?" Perry shouts.

Molly scowls at him.

"Death stare. Awesome. Listen, man, Michael bailed and if I don't eat soon then I'm going to start rooting through garbage."

"There's a place open down the road," Lauren says. "It's a late-night diner. It serves really nice food."

Perry grins. "Lead the way."

Molly is still on the floor and she doesn't have a clue what's happening. Charlie approaches her and takes her hand, gently pulling her up. She folds her arms as she shivers and Charlie covers her shoulders with his jacket. They stay by each other's side as Perry and Lauren walk together up ahead. They seem to be getting on well, really well, and Molly can hear Lauren's laughter bounce around the walls. The air and the walk are starting to sober Molly up and it brings a strong sense of dread. As they turn the corner of the street, Molly stops still as she sees the bridge. She stares at it, remembering that fateful night and how much it changed her life.

"It was exactly one week ago," Charlie says. "Crazy, isn't it? It feels like a year ago."

"It suddenly feels like a minute ago," Molly whispers.

"You were in a dark place then but you're not anymore. You have a family now, a home, don't let it haunt you."

"They can never be replaced, Charlie." Molly starts scratching at the inside of her wrists while her heart races with a familiar panic.

"Hey, look at me." Charlie cups Molly's face and turns her head gently. "That bridge doesn't control you, okay? It's just a bridge. It's nothing special. We can choose to just walk on by." Charlie takes her hand and leads her away, Molly smiles as she follows his lead. "See how easy that is?"

"You make everything look easy," Molly says.

"Because everything is easy. Sometimes. The key is to pretend like you never see the difference."

Their hands are still entwined and Molly wonders why he hasn't taken it back yet. She wonders many things when it comes to Charlie. They enter the diner a few minutes later and take seats at the booth with Perry and Lauren. Molly reaches for the menu as Charlie smiles and reads it with her. The waitress arrives with a notepad and pen.

"Coffee?" Charlie asks her.

"Oh yes," Molly says. "A large one."

"I'm gonna get a hamburger and fries," Lauren says. "With a coffee too."

"Me too," Perry says. "Exactly what she ordered."

"Any food for you?" the waitress asks Molly.

"I'll have the same please."

"Four hamburgers with fries, and four large coffees," Charlie tells her. "Thanks."

The waitress writes it down and disappears. Perry and Lauren scoot over to the window to finish a conversation they were having outside, leaving Molly to rub her temples.

"Headache?" Charlie says.

"I can hear ringing in my ears," Molly says. "It's like I'm still in the club."

Charlie laughs. "It'll fade in a while. Just remember to take some painkillers when you wake up because that's when it'll be really bad."

"Great," Molly groans. "Thanks for the warning."

"I just remembered something," Charlie says. Molly stops rubbing her head and slowly looks up. "You never told me what your most embarrassing memory is."

"There's a few as of recently," she mutters.

"Ones that include me don't count."

Molly smiles, glancing to her left to make sure Lauren and Perry aren't listening. They couldn't be more disinterested and she wonders how long it'll take before they start kissing.

"I really don't want to say." Molly covers her face as she laughs shyly. "It's so bad."

"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than mine."

Molly uncovers her hands and leans back in the seat. "When I was little-"

"How old?"

"Little."

"Cheat," Charlie mutters.

"When I was seven," Molly says resentfully. "My mother took my sister and I to a public swimming pool. There were these inflatable things in the water, you know the things you sit on to make yourself look cooler than everyone else?"

"Of course."

"Well, I really wanted to get on one but my mother and sister were too far away and I ran out of patience. So I tried to pull myself up on one and I could see this girl smirking at me from high above. Anyway, I was getting angry and I wasn't quite tall enough or strong enough to pull myself up."

"If you're going to tell me that you wacked out a knife and stabbed the inflatable then I'm going to be impressed," Charlie says.

Molly narrows her eyes and laughs. "No. I wish. There was this boy, a teenage boy, that was stood next to me in the water and he grabbed onto it no problem. So, as he pulled himself halfway, I grabbed onto his swimming trunks and used it as a sort of. . . helping hand. I pulled his trunks right down to his knees and I climbed onto that inflatable thing with pride."

Charlie stares at her for a moment before breaking out into laughter. "Woah."

"I fell off it after ten seconds," Molly says, remembering it vividly. "My sister thought it was hilarious but my mother was so mad. I was seven, I didn't know what I'd done wrong."

"And the boy?"

"It's probably his most embarrassing memory too," Molly laughs, covering her face again. "I've always wanted to apologise to him. Poor guy."

"I guess we can't really be to blame for what our child-selves did," Charlie says.

"That's a nice way to look at it."

They're interrupted by the waitress who places the coffees onto the table and then disappears quickly. Molly removes the lid and smells it first, it's so divine that she wants to saviour it. She takes a small sip and then puts the lid back on. Half of her still feels drunk and confident, while the other half is beginning to crave her bed.

"Who's Riley?" Charlie asks her.

Molly stares at him. "What?"

"You uh. . . said the name in your sleep. A lot."

"I did?" she whispers.

Charlie nods. Molly's body begins to stiffen as she looks down at her fingers. "Never mind," Charlie says. "Forget I asked."

"Riley is my nephew," Molly says. Saying that, admitting that, is the biggest relief. "He was a year old when my sister died."

"What happened to him?"

"My grandparents didn't know how to care for him and my sister's ex didn't want anything to do with him so he was placed with a family. He was adopted a couple of years ago."

"I don't understand, was he in the house when...?"

Molly shakes her head. "No, he was with his father, a couple of nights a week were good enough but he wouldn't step up to having him full time. He has parents and a family; he doesn't know any different."

"But you're his aunt," Charlie says. "You have rights to see him."

"After they died, I kind of broke," Molly whispers. "I couldn't bear seeing him because I was terrified that they'd take him away anyway. So I just stopped talking about him, and thinking about him, and I just hoped that wherever he was he was happy and having the life she wanted for him."

"What if he wants to meet you one day?"

"Then I'd be there to answer any question he has," she says. "But adoption is messy, especially closed adoptions, they don't have to tell him anything."

"That really sucks," Charlie mutters. "You'd make a great aunt to any kid."

Molly smiles. "I was the one that refused to see him, that allowed them to take him. And now, I'm not sure anymore. I haven't seen him in years, he'll have no idea who I am and he'll have forgotten Savannah. She loved him more than anything and he'll never know."

Molly realizes that the entire table has fallen quiet and she looks over to see Lauren and Perry staring at her. It's suddenly very awkward and is made even more awkward by the waitress returning with their meals. Lauren and Perry continue their conversation, acting as though it never happened, probably to make Molly feel better. Her life is like a movie and she's aware of how tragic it sounds.

Charlie clears his throat as he picks up his hamburger. "This looked bigger on my plate."

"That's because your hands are huge," Molly says, grinning.

"Ah, optical illusion. That explains why it looks even bigger in your hands."

"Just eat it," Molly says. "We can compare hand sizes later."

Charlie winks. "It's a date."

Molly tenses at the word, but warms to it. As much as she loved the feeling of losing control, she loves this feeling more. She loves that she doesn't have to go to New York tomorrow, she loves that this new chapter of her recovery is exciting and explosive, but most of all she loves the flutter in her stomach whenever Charlie looks at her and the heat in her chest whenever his leg brushes against hers.

"What are you guys doing for Halloween?" Perry asks the whole table. "Because I'm having a party and you're very much invited."

"I don't have any plans," Lauren says. "Molly?"

"Party?" Molly whispers, swallowing down her food with her nerves. "Like a house party?"

"Well yeah," Perry laughs. "That's the idea."

"I'll go if you will," Charlie says.

"That's such a line." Lauren rolls her eyes.

"Okay," Molly says. "Don't we have to dress up for that?"

"You can wear a costume if you want but I won't be," Charlie says.

"Yes you will be." Perry nudges his shoulder. "No costume no entry."

"It's okay, I'll help you," Lauren assures her. "Dressing people up is my job."

"Really?" Perry says slyly. "You want to dress me up?"

"There's not much to work with," Lauren says. "Sorry."

Molly and Charlie laugh. Despite trying her best to experience new things, the idea of a house party is making her nervous. It's not like a club, there are no rules at a party and there are no limits to how much people can drink. Molly takes a bite out of her burger and chews it slowly. Maybe this one night is enough, maybe she's proved all she needs to prove.

After eating the rest of her meal in silence Molly quietly announces that she's going to use the bathroom and she spends a while in there trying to talk herself into something that hasn't happened yet. When she walks back into the diner everyone is on their feet and is waiting for her by the door. Charlie passes over her coffee and her bag and she smiles at him before slipping past and following Lauren out onto the dark street.

"Did you pay again?" Molly mumbles.

"How do I answer this without you being mad at me?" Charlie scratches his chin. "Yes, I did."

"Thanks. But you don't need to do that. You've already done enough for me."

"Then you're really going to hate this next part."

"Why?" Molly asks, she looks ahead to see Perry and Lauren turning to walk into an alleyway. "Where are we going?"

"Perry's house. He doesn't live far. My car's there and I'm giving you and Lauren a lift. Don't worry, I'm sober, a lot more sober than you."

"You don't have to protect me all the time you know," Molly says. "We're perfectly capable of getting a cab."

"On a Friday night? Good luck with that," Charlie says. "This is pervert central; I'm not leaving you."

"Don't really have a choice, do I?"

They walk through the alleyway that smells like mixed vomit and pee, forcing Molly to hold her breath. They pass homeless people that are wrapped inside blankets and sleeping bags, most of them are staring into space, not even aware that they're there. At the other end of the alley a group of whistling, drunken men stumble towards them. Molly counts three of them but it's too dark to be sure.

"Keep your eyes down," Charlie tells her. His hand tightens around her wrist as he pulls her close to his side.

"You're hurting me," Molly hisses. "Bruises remember?" Her wrist stings so badly that she gasps out. "Charlie, let me go!"

Charlie ignores her. His eyes are low and threatening, he watches every move they make until they stumble right past them. When he's satisfied that they're at the other side of the alley he releases Molly's wrist and she rubs it angrily as she storms onto the lit street.

"What is wrong with you?" Molly demands.

"I'm not going to apologize for protecting you," Charlie says.

"Protecting me from what?" she says. "Not everyone is like your father, okay? You aren't. You don't have to be paranoid of every man that comes near me."

"You won't understand until it happens to you," Charlie says as he walks past her. She catches up to him quickly. "It almost did tonight. At the bar? That guy was drugging you for a reason."

"Okay, but that's one guy. It doesn't give you the right to restrain me."

Charlie laughs. "I wasn't restraining you." His face falls serious when he realizes how serious she is. "Did I hurt you that badly? I didn't mean-"

"Just forget it," she says. "I'm used to you ignoring me when it comes to pain." She pushes onward towards Lauren and Perry who are so invested in their conversation that they haven't even checked if Molly and Charlie are still behind them.

"That's not fair," Charlie says as he jogs to her. "I'm sorry that I hurt you but when three big drunk guys are coming towards you in an alley it's kind of a given not to trust them."

"Is this about them or is it about your father?" Molly asks.

"Both. I know what those guys are thinking, okay? Even when they seem nice, even when they seem normal. Just because you had the perfect father doesn't mean the rest of us did and I'm sure if he was still alive he'd be telling you the same thing I am!"

Molly folds her arms as she blinks back tears. "Maybe," she whispers. "But I'll never know, will I?"

"You're naïve," Charlie says. "You haven't experienced much of the real world like the rest of us. And now suddenly you want to run head first at it like you have a clue what you're doing but it doesn't work like that."

"Don't patronize me," Molly says as her jaw clenches. "You don't know the first thing about me, Charlie." She takes off again and even though she wants to put space between them he won't give her it.

"One week ago you were up on that bridge ready to kill yourself!" Charlie yells at her back. "And now you're suddenly healed? You're going out getting drunk and partying like none of that even happened!"

"I'm not healed!" she yells back. "I'm in recovery and if I want to go out and drink then I will because it's my life."

"What changed?"

"You!" she cries, turning back around. He stops jogging and he slowly walks towards her. "You changed everything and I don't know how to cope with it! I don't know who I am without you because you're the only reason that I'm here." Her voice drops to a careless whisper that she disguises with a hidden tremble. "You're the only reason that I'm alive."

"Molly," he says, placing a hand on her face.

"I have to live for me," she says. "Not for you. And I can't do that if you're always there."

"I never wanted you to rely on me," Charlie admits. "Especially not to live. I care about you, a lot, as much as I try not to."

"I care about you too," Molly says. "When I'm near you I feel like I can do anything. But I have to try this on my own for a while. You understand that, right? That I need space."

Charlie nods. "I understand. Can I still give you a lift? Please?"

"Okay."

They don't speak another word to each other. Lauren and Perry are kissing on his porch when they arrive at the house and Molly's stomach twists as she tries her best not to look at them. Charlie starts his car and Molly sits in the back. Lauren joins them, waving enthusiastically to Perry as the car moves.

"Did you have fun?" Lauren asks her.

"Tons," Molly mutters. "I'm really tired though."

"Same. I feel like I'm gonna sleep for a week. He's taking me out tomorrow night on an official date."

"Great," Molly says. "I hope it goes well."

"Where abouts is it?" Charlie says.

"Right here," Lauren says. "Then anywhere on the left."

The car stops and Lauren thanks Charlie before quickly exiting. Charlie meets Molly's eyes in the mirror and a lump forms in her throat.

"Thanks for the lift," Molly says. "Tell Jaz happy birthday from me."

"I will," he says. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she mumbles.

Her heart stings as she walks away from the car. She knows she has to do this for her own sanity. It's not goodbye, she just needs space, she needs time. She needs to figure out where she goes from here on her own. There's nothing wrong with that, so why does it feel wrong?

"What happened with you two?" Lauren says. "I've never seen two people so miserable."

"Nothing," Molly says. "It's just been a really long day."

Molly turns at the door to wave, but Charlie is already leaving. She watches as his car vanishes down the road and she sighs.

"Hm," Lauren murmurs. "Hot chocolate and blankets?"

Molly smiles and follows her through the doorway. "Sounds good to me."