If Only...

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

~Taylor~

"Hey man" Carson, my best friend, said from beside me. I snapped out of my thoughts about Cathy and gave Carson a handshake. We had been best friends since high school, and we were as close as brothers. Carson just married his high school sweetheart Jessica, and they were happy. I was happy for them, but I couldn't help but wish that I had what they did.

I stole another glance at Cathy to find her watching me with a curious look on her face. I scanned the rest of the lobby and found people looking at her and whispering to each other. It made me angry. She was different than she used to be, and people just couldn't accept that.

"Taylor, come on man, stop staring and just go up and talk to her already." Carson waved his hand in my face and I looked back to him with a small smile. I hadn't exactly spoken my feelings for Cathy, but he saw them anyway.

"I know. I want to. I just don't know how to go about it. People already look at her funny and i wouldn't help the situation. People in my class might stop coming. You know how it goes. Since I'm a bible teacher I'm held more accountable than other people. I just wish I knew what to do to get people to stop talking about her. She's different, everyone who spends one second with her knows that. I just wish I could make them see that." I admitted quietly.

"Then do it." Carson encouraged.

"Do what?" I asked, not sure what he was talking about.

"You just said that you wanted to make people see her differently. Maybe if you talked to her, others would follow your example. I'm not telling you to go up and ask her out. Just say hi. Not that hard man." Carson said with a smile. The last part of what he had said was exactly the same thing I had said when he was too shy to talk to Jessica. My own words were coming back to bite me.

"Okay, I guess I can say good morning and ask her about how she likes the church, or something like that." I shrugged my shoulders and looked at Cathy again. She was looking like she needs an escape hatch. I took a deep breath and headed in her direction wondering why I was acting like such a high school girl.

~Cathy~

He started making his way in my direction and I wondered who he was going to talk to. I never imagined that it would be me.

"Good morning Cathy. How are you this morning?"He asked with a small smile. Why is he talking to me?

"I- I'm f-fine." I stuttered. Wow, I am truly pathetic.

"How are you?" My voice came out stronger this time.

"I am doing great. Did you enjoy services this morning?" He asked moving us toward the door, and I was silently grateful.

"I did. How was your worship time?"

"It was good. I enjoy sharing what I know in class then learning new things in worship." He said as he opened the door for me. We were now in the parking lot and standing awkwardly. The people staring brought me back to reality. I'm not sure why he was talking to me, but it wasn't going to help either of our reputations. I had not realized I had spoken this loud until he replied.

"Well people will talk, not matter what, if they want to. Try not to let it bother you too much. And as for your other question, it's a simple answer. I felt you looked lonely and you needed someone to talk to. I want to get to know you better. Well thanks for talking. I will see you around Cathy." With a nod of his head, he was gone.

I walked back to my car wondering what had happened when I suddenly realized that I didn't know his name.