Chapter 5
Salem Kirkpatrick
Molly didn't even go home before they went out for the night. The two of them left Salem's new house and went to a Greek restaurant to get something to eat before the wrestling match. Salem had intended to eat there with his brother, so he and Molly stuck to the plan.
She was hilarious. She was so sweet and innocent in some ways, but also rebellious and up for anything. Salem felt drawn to her as a big brother. He had regrets about his own family. His little sister, Sadie, had gotten into her share of trouble over the years. She was doing great now, but he still had regrets from when they were younger.
Sadie was married to Molly's big brother. John-Michael was her only brother, and now he had his own family to concentrate on. Salem felt some undeniable urge to take Molly under his wing and be a big brother to her—protect her where he might have failed Sadie. He loved Molly as a sister and he was happy about making the furniture for her. She was going to love it. Maybe, in some way, all this was selfish. Maybe it would give him a little relief of guilt he felt from missed opportunities with Sadie .
He knew Molly wanted the chocolate business to take off, and it had been within his power to help her with a counter, so he did it. He made time for the work, and he designed a beautiful piece of portable cabinetry. He was thankful for the opportunity to help her out in that way. It was a bonus that he liked her taste and wanted to take her advice about his house. She was the most whimsical and colorful of all the females he knew, and he wanted the influence of her preferences in his home.
Salem knew he wouldn't accept any payment from her for the counter. In addition to helping him with advice about his house, she was willing to pay him, but he wouldn't take it. He never gave away free work, but Molly needed the money for her business, and doing this for her made Salem feel good.
Plus, Molly was a pleasure to be around. He didn't know a single person who would have gone to a chaotic wrestling match with no warning or preparation. When he asked her to go with him, he honestly thought she would laugh.
Neither of them had watched wrestling in a long time. She didn't know any of the current wrestlers and was glad that several of the older ones were on the lineup.
Molly may not have known them before she went there, but that certainly did not curb her enthusiasm. She was adorable during that show. If she didn't know a wrestler, she reacted with the crowd around them. She made friends with the people sitting next to them, high-fiving them and celebrating when one of their favorites won or when one of them received attention from one of the superstars.
Molly celebrated with winners, she booed the villains. She hollered and got into the show. Salem knew that the WWE wasn't a part of her life at all, and it cracked him up to see how easily she became such a natural at blending in with the real fans. It was an absolute pleasure for him to take her there and enjoy the show with her.
He and his brother would have gone there for nostalgia. They were both stoic, and they would have sat back and taken in the show without pushing their way to the rail or getting into the hollering. As it stood, Salem still didn't do any yelling, but he was right up there, on the rail, helping her reach and watching out for her amidst all the action.
And then, when the show was about two-thirds finished, the lights went down, and there were suddenly sparks and flames, accompanied by the screens lighting up with a new image. It was all to dramatically announce the arrival of another wrestler, and this one was Rey Mysterio.
His entrance song was the same as it was when they were kids, and Salem smiled at the sight of Molly reacting to the sudden boom of fireworks followed by all the noise and chaos of his entrance.
" Six-one-nine! " Molly yelled out loud, pumping her fist and leaning over the rail as Rey Mysterio strutted triumphantly onto the first landing and began waving to fans.
She turned to Salem with a furrowed-eyebrow look of confusion and disappointment.
"Why are there boos?"
Salem shrugged, feeling like he knew less about all this than she did.
"Everyone's going for AJ Styles!" the guy next to us said. "He'll be out next. Boooooooo!" He put his thumb down and held it out at Rey.
But that didn't deter Molly. She knew Salem was there to see Rey. He and his brother had been huge fans when they were kids. They had masks and everything. On more than a few occasions, they had gathered pillows and couch cushions from all over the house and made a wrestling ring in the den. There had been a few injuries. Salem had told Molly a few of the stories over dinner, and it seemed she took to heart his desire to high-five the man.
"Reeeeyyyy!" Molly cupped her hand to her mouth and leaned over the rail, yelling directly at him as he began to walk their way. "We loooooove youuuuu Reeeeyyyyy!" she yelled as he began to walk, moving toward the ring. "Whooooo! Reeeyyyy! Yessss! Over here!" She waved and yelled loudly, and then she celebrated when Rey Mysterio heard her and started coming their way. " Look!" she said. "Here!" She took Salem's hand, bringing it up and waving it for him.
Rey came to her call. He had been on the other side of the aisle, touching hands on his left, but he heard Molly yelling and he headed their way. Somehow, over all the noise, (and there was a lot of noise) Rey heard her.
He came right over and stood in front of them. Salem made eye contact with Rey Mysterio under that mask and fist-bumped him. It was a surreal moment. Rey Mysterio, the man in the mask, gave Salem a split-second conspiratorial glance. It was only for a second, but they shared a glance.
"We love you Rey!" she yelled after he turned.
"I love you too," Rey said, glancing at them and smiling.
He kept walking, and Salem stared at his back, covered in those familiar tattoos. Rey hadn't stopped in front of them for any length of time. He had kept his momentum going. But he had come over there, and they encountered him. He had fist-bumped Salem and they shared a glance. It was Rey Mysterio—the man, the myth, the legend.
Salem had played with figures of the guy and worn his mask during actual wrestling matches with his brother. Maybe it was silly, but Salem could appreciate how much that moment would have meant to his ten-year-old self. And since he was still that same person he was when he was ten, the moment meant something to him now. Molly patted his back excitedly, and everyone around them reacted to the fact that she had called him over to them.
Just then, the lights flashed and there was a crashing boom, announcing that AJ Styles was coming to the ring to fight Rey. The crowd began reacting to that, but Salem took a step back, watching Molly's back and letting someone else get next to the rail.
The arena was loud and chaotic, and Salem did his best to appreciate what had just happened.
He shared a glance with Rey Mysterio.
Phillip would never believe this. Salem and his brother had been acting like men for a long time. Their dad was hard on the boys, and Salem and Phillip had both become stoic men as a result of their father's example and guidance. Normally, he didn't have to suppress the urge to tear out and go whooping and hollering like a little boy, but this time, he was close. He felt like an excited kid again. He imagined himself letting it all hang out. He could see himself growling and flexing his muscles. He stifled a smile, amused with himself for being so pumped about it.
He had shared a glance with a total legend.
They sat in their seats and watched the match, and Molly cheered from her seat, never wavering from cheering for Rey despite the hostile crowd .
The match went back and forth with some exciting twists and turns, but Rey fell to AJ Styles in the end, and he was carted off by some medics.
You would think that Molly watched the show every week with how she got into it. She continued to react until Rey left the arena.
The show went on, and the following matches were considered the main events. Salem and Molly cheered for whoever the crowd was with, and they high-fived and celebrated with those around them when something exciting happened.
It was a world of difference from the experience he would've had with Phillip. He would've had fun with his brother, and he was sorry Phillip couldn't make it, but Molly was a total blast. If he had been there with Phillip, they would have had a more jaded approach to the whole thing, but Molly had embraced it, and gotten into it. Salem had a wonderful time. She was a kid sister to him in the best way possible. He took pleasure in seeing her happy.
"Can I help you with that order for tomorrow?" he asked a while later as they were leaving the arena.
"What order, oh, my chocolate?"
"Yes."
"Uh, no, but th-that's so sweet, Salem. You have work tomorrow, anyway."
"I know, but so do you. You have that chocolate order, and I kept you out late. What about school?"
"It' s fine, really. Thank you, though. The stuff I have to do tonight… it's just putting everything together and packaging it, so I'm probably able to do it faster myself than even explaining to you how to do it."
"You have two hours of packaging to do? That must be some fancy packaging. Or a big order."
"Both. It's my rent, actually. My landlord, Darren, his law firm, they place an order with me once a month. All of their employees have an order that I fill individually. There's twenty-two of them."
"Whoa, how much chocolate is that?"
"It only costs about two-hundred dollars in supplies and my time, and my rent is made for the month."
"He gives you free rent for chocolate ? Is this the guy with the BMW?"
Salem had met her landlord before. He knew it was the guy with the BMW, but he wanted her to confirm.
She nodded. "Darren. He and Michelle, they're amazing. I mean, you see how nice my apartment is. I know they could get a lot more money if someone else was living in there. I can't believe they're willing to let me trade them. First, it was cleaning, now chocolate."
"You were cleaning for them?"
"Yeah, I was still trading them as my rental agreement. I've been living there for a year, and at first, the deal was that I would clean their house for them. That was their idea—sort of the deal that came with that apartment. They know our parents through the church. Michelle travels with her work, so they needed someone to do housekeeping and cooking for them in exchange for rent. In the last few months, with how my following took off, I was getting to the point where I didn't have time for the cleaning aspect of it. I was going to move out and get a normal apartment because of that, but Darren said I could do the monthly chocolate order for his firm instead. They have a cleaning service that comes to the house, now."
"Oh, well, I'm glad that worked out," Salem commented, not knowing what else to say.
"It's a bonus for his employees, and I got to stay in my apartment. It's amazing. Darren and Michelle are the best. They let me and my friends use the pool anytime. Even when I went to them about scheduling pickups… they don't mind if I run my shop out of the apartment."
Salem smiled on the outside. He listened to those good things about her landlord, and they didn't ring true to him. Salem knew almost nothing about this guy, and he was already skeptical.