Deliverance (Fem x Stem)

9

Lilliana Morst

"Has anyone seen my granddaughter?"

Teyanne and I ducked over by the men's bathrooms, trying to hide from the wraith of her family. Let's just say, the church was talking. A lot.

"C'mon," Tey whispered, grabbing me and pulling us into a handicap restroom. "God forgive me," Tey whispered, and locked the door. We were alone and the bathroom was cold and smelled like a hospital. "Well, how the hell do we get out of here? She's gonna know we're still here because of your car, Tey," I huffed, finally catching my breath.

"This is like playing a game of hide and go seek," she frowned. The door handled twisted and I was grateful that we were in a semi darkness. "It's locked," a man stated with a gruffly voice. "I'll ask Sister Sully to open it up." Someone else talked but I couldn't hear what they were saying. "Oh...yea, Paster Sully then."

Tey squeezed my hand, unsureness coming over her face. "When they walk away, we're gonna come out and we're gonna go to the kid's Bible study room. Then, we're gonna leave out the back door, walk around, and then go to my Jag through the trees."

"Tey, I'm not gonna get bitten by no snake," I hissed. Tey grabbed me and we bolted out of the room. It made a silent click behind us. Nobody was down this hall, all the kids collected by probably sleepy parents. Tey and I snuck out a side door and nearly ran into Ms. Burk. Thankfully her back was turned as she bent down to pick something off of the pavement.

Tey grabbed me and we sprinted towards the woods. "So do you know your way?" I asked, crossing my arms as we walked through tall trees. "It's just a circle we have to make then we'll be at my Jag."

"Did you stop to think that maybe they're waiting at your Jag?" I asked her. "Or that maybe the church members are inquisitive about your car."

Tey looked defeated. "I tried, Lilliana."

"I'm sorry, I'm just tryna stay reasonable wit you. I was never the type of person to just lie to someone or give them the sweet side of things. I'm sorry." I touched her shoulder gently, trying to get her to turn her face towards me. "Tey, at least look at me." She turned her head, tears in her eyes. "I've ruined everything for my family. They won't love me anymore. I was a pawn- something to represent us before when Karlyn was too snobby to do it, but now I'll be nothing to them. I screwed up."

I rubbed the tears off of her face from under each eye. "Tey. You're your own person. You're yourself. Don't worry about them accepting you. I can still tell you haven't accepted yourself. Don't let this break you down. Church is meant to be somewhat of an authority figure, but humans are made to have opinions and disagreements. Don't bite your tongue," I advised her. "Not anymore, not ever."

I held her wet cheek as she bent down her face. Were we really doing this right now? Here, on church grounds? Where word around Christiano spread like a wildfire? Something I had no plans on seeing in real life. Her lips brushed mine but she held herself back. Something inside of me thrummed, making my skin feel super aware of our closeness.

"I can't disrespect Him like this."

"You've been with other...people before, Tey. You weren't thinking about that then?" I asked her, pulling back. "You're different," she told me, wiping at her eyes. "Different as in you're not willing to risk it with me or different as in-

"Different as in, I don't want you hurt, Lilliana," she told me strongly. "I've already embarrassed my family, you don't know the lengths they'll go to...to retain a good name in Christiano."

"What? Like kill somebody?" I laughed harshly. "You're acting like their puppet," I told her, trying to stop my own tears. I swatted at a bug flying near my face.