Hollywood and Vines (A One Direction Fanfic)

Chapter 29 - Christmas Eve Eve

"Holly!  Guess what?"  Allie cried as she bounced on her bed.

"What?"

"We're almost done!"

"Yay."

Allie sprung off her bed and retrieved the final stencil that would complete her project.  She turned the five to me.  "Would you like to do the honors?"

I waved my hand, shook my head.  "No, no that's alright.  You do it."

"You sure?"  she frowned.

"Positive."

Shrugging, Allie dipped her sponge in the pink paint, leaped to her bed and pressed the five to the wall beside the colon.  I watched her sponge the wall, and once she'd stepped back, I read back the Bible verse we had been constructing on the wall the past couple days.

I AM THE VINE; YOU ARE THE BRANCHES.  IF YOU REMAIN IN ME AND I IN YOU, YOU WILL BARE MUCH FRUIT . . . JOHN 15:5

"I love it," Allie decided.  "What do you think?  Holly?"

"Huh?  Sorry . . . yeah, it looks great."

When Allie giggled, I glanced to her.  "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"This verse.  I mean, it's alright.  You just look really confused."

"I've been confused about it this whole time, to be honest."

"I figured you were.  You see, God is the vine, and the Vine is life.  The Vine gives life to the branches that would otherwise be dead without it.  The Vine holds the branches in place and lets the branches bare fruit.  Does that make sense?"

I continued to scrutinize the verse on the wall.  "I don't get the fruit thing."

"Fruit is like . . . hmm . . . it's like . . . well, a different part of the Bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  These are godly characteristics that God wants us to show others.  Basically, we can't produce these fruits if we aren't in Christ -- If we don't let him be the Vine and give us life."

I nodded slowly.  "I guess that kinda makes sense . . . sorry . . . I don't know much about religion . . .."

"That's okay!  I just know this from reading the Bible and stuff."

I plopped on my bed and fiddled with the hem of my blanket.  "You seem to know what you're talking about."

"Not all the time.  They're just things I need to think about."

"I could never figure out all that Bible stuff even if I tried.  It's pretty hopeless."  I laughed, or more so coughed.

"That's what I used to think.  Aunt Christina told me about all this God stuff, and I thought it was way too hard to understand, but the Bible . . . it's actually pretty straightforward and simple."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah.  I was really surprised, but also relieved.  Like, anyone could understand the Bible if they tried to read it.  I mean, some of its complicated, people interpret some of it in different ways, but, just reading it . . . is really cool.  There's lots of cool stuff in the Bible, and I never knew it before I read it."

I nodded, crossed my legs.  "I've never been much of a reader, but . . . I'll keep that in mind."

I couldn't help but smirk when Allie's face brightened.  "You should totally read it!"