Silver Clouds [COMPLETE]

°•° 19 °•°

My stomach was doing summersaults. Mostly from excitement. Maybe a little bit of nerves. But definitely a lot of excitement.

"So..." Jordan said slowly as he peered up at the two story building of New West Church. I could tell by the sticky sweat on his hand I was holding that he was way more nervous than I was. "Is there a plan?"

"A plan?"

"Yeah. Like do I have to do anything special since this is my first time? At my old church, they made new people fill out this form and get announced in front of the congregation."

I tried not to cringe at how embarrassing that sounded. "Not that I know of. When I started coming a few weeks ago, they just gave me a pamphlet and introduced me to some of the staff."

Jordan nodded, looking a little soothed by this. But his brown eyes were still close to panic.

"Hey," I said gently, pulling on his hand before he could enter the main door. His eyes snapped to mine and I smiled. "This is going to go great, okay? These people are really nice and won't judge you for anything and I'll be right next to you the whole time."

He breathed in sharply before slowly exhaling. "You're right. It'll be fine." And while he said this, I knew he still doubted it.

I squeezed his hand with both of mine and pecked a quick kiss on his cheek. The corner of his mouth twitched up as his shoulders untensed a bit.

"You can do this." And I pulled him through the door.

The lobby of the church was as bright and festive as it had been last week, but I tried to remember what it was like taking it in with new eyes, like Jordan was. The ceiling vaulted up through the second floor and a modern looking chandelier was hanging from the center. Extending from the sides of the lobby, was a cafe that smelled strongly of coffee and baking pastries and a lounge area with tables and TVs that were going through this week's coming events. And in front of us were the two double doors to the auditorium.

"What do you think?" I asked Jordan as he stared at the expansive rooms and the dozens of people walking about, laughing and talking with friends.

He blinked a few times before nodding slowly. "It's... impressive."

It wasn't exactly what I thought he was going to say, but it was positive enough for me.

"Ella!" someone called. I looked toward the lounge area to see Mrs. McKenny running up to me with a sweet smile. Her shy daughter was running after her, wanting to hide behind her mom's skirt so she wouldn't have to talk to people, and her baby was babbling from where he perched on her hip.

"Hey, Jennifer," I replied as she gave me a side hug.

Her crooked smile was on full display around her soft pink lipstick as she pulled away. "Anna is having her sixth birthday party next Saturday and she wanted me to ask you to come."

I looked down at the dark haired girl as she peeked around her mom's leg. I gave her a sweet smile and she smiled back as she buried her nose in her mom's skirt.

Bending down into a crouch so I could look at her, I replied, "That sounds really fun. Of course I will come to your birthday party."

She looked at me again, her face a bright pink. Before she could change her mind, she threw her small arms around my neck. I laughed and hugged her back before she ran back to her mom.

Standing up, I faced Mrs. McKenny again. She was grinning even wider. "Thank you," she mouthed so Anna couldn't hear.

I gave her a sweet nod.