Destined

Chapter eight: Can God hear me?

It was six in the morning and Joshua was awaken by his phone. "Yes?" he opened his eyes. "Joshua, your dad is at my house" she heard Erina say. "What!" Joshua jumped up from his bed. "Come here right now," she sighed and hanged up. Joshua panicked. Had his dad already found out who Erina was? How? Rachel, that was how. Joshua had rejected Rachel's marriage proposal. "She's insane" Joshua mumbled and threw on a shirt.

"Hello Miss Erina" Pastor Smith looked at her. "Hello, do you want to come in Pastor Smith?" Erina asked him. "Yes," Pastor Smith smiled a fake smile. "Do you want some coffee or tea?" she looked at him. "Water is fine," he answered. Erina pulled a jar of water from the fridge and poured some in a cup. Where is Joshua, she asked herself. "Here you go," she set the cup in front of him. "Do you know why I'm here?" Pastor Smith asked her. "I'm guessing Joshua didn't tell you he fired me," Erina looked down. "He didn't tell me but I found out. And no, that's not why I'm here," he looked around the kitchen. "Dad" Joshua burst through the door. "What are you doing here," he walked near him. "I would like to ask you the same thing Joshua," Pastor Smith laughed. "She's my girlfriend, why wouldn't I be here?" Joshua blurted out. Erina froze and her eyes widened. What did this idiot just say, Erina thought. Pastor Smith looked at Joshua "So the kid is yours," "What kid?" Joshua looked at his father confused. "The kid you were taking care of in the park," Pastor Smith said. "Oh him, no he's not mine," Joshua whispered. "So she has a kid from another guy," Pastor Smith croaked. "No he's not mine," Erina finally spoke "he's my little brother," Joshua looked at her. Timmy wasn't her friend's kid, but her mother's. "Yeah" Joshua looked at his dad "please leave, we can talk about this later," Pastor Smith looked at both of them before turning his back and walking away. "Crap" Joshua sat down on the couch. "Why did you do that?" Erina sat down next to Joshua. "I don't want you to get in trouble when none of this is your fault," Joshua smiled. "Why did you tell your dad that I'm your girlfriend?" Erina hit his shoulder. "Ow that hurt" Joshua laughed "What? Don't tell me you felt butterflies?"

"You're crazy" Erina hit him again. "Aren't you happy I stopped by? I bet you missed me?" Joshua patted her head. "We can't date and you know it" Erina told him. "What? Joshua looked at her. "I don't know what I said when I was drunk, and I'm sorry if it was disrespectful. I just know we can't date because I'm not- well something about being equally-" Erina stopped. "yoked" he got closer to her. "If I want to get close to God and Jesus and all that, I don't want to do it just to be with you" Erina backed up from his face. "Yeah. You're right" Joshua felt tears in his eyes "I hope you find Him" he got up from the couch and left.

"Will you be okay" Andrew looked at his best friend. "I will be. I have to be" Joshua sighed "I just don't get her, and I don't get what God is trying to do with me. I'm just really confused." Andrew looked at him. "Yeah life is like that. Sometimes God does things that we just don't get. We can choose to be discouraged or we can choose to trust in Him," Andrew took a sip from his soda can. "Part of me is glad she's been thinking about God and Jesus and just everything, the other part of me is scared she could just be doing it for me, and another part of me is thinking that she won't become Christian ever and that I like someone who I probably shouldn't be with," Joshua began to cry. "Don't cry, everything will work out in the end," Andrew comforted his friend. RING RING! "Who is that?" Andrew looks at Joshua's ringing phone. "It's Rachel" Joshua sighed. "Hey Joshy" Rachel piped. "Are you happy now? This is what you wanted right?" Joshua asked. "No. I wanted you but you fell for a unbeliever, right?" Rachel began to laugh. "You think that I feel threatened by you and your tricks? The only one I fear is God. We all want things we can't have and then hate our lives because we can't have them. Maybe we should want what God wants for us. I'm sure He will give us those things," Joshua finished and hanged up. "Woah Joshua that was deep," Andrew stared at him. "Yeah" Joshua smiled.

Erina layed in her bed. "I don't know what to do? He's nice and cute but he's also different. Really different" she looked at her mom. "Look, something I know about love is that it doesn't bring you fear. If you really like this guy you won't stop at anything to be with him. I mean, you can just choose to deny your feelings," her mom told her. "Yeah I can. But I don't want to" Erina smiled. "I'm going to take Timmy to the ice cream place, want something?" her mom asked, "No I'm fine," Erina replied and waved her mother and Timmy goodbye. "Okay God" Erina whispered "I've never once thought about You. I always thought that religion has done more harm than good. Maybe the people who do bad don't actually follow you, I don't know. Now I won't sit here and say that it's not weird how I came back to the church I refused to go to three years ago. Maybe I just want to know what I'm supposed to do, you know? I don't know if I should try something with Joshua or just try to find You first," Erina sighed. RING RING! Erina looked at her phone. "Joshua is calling me" she grabbed the phone and answered. "Erina, I think you should stop searching. Maybe what you're looking for is right in front of you and you just -" Erina felt chills everywhere. "How did you know I was-" Erina interupted him.