The Quiet One

Ten

After fifteen minutes of driving, Noah finally said what was on his mind. "How was hanging out with Jared?"

"Oh, you know," began Kimberly not wanting to tell him of her repeated mistake. "So-so."

"Well, I certainly hope you prefer a date with me," he winked.

"Of course!" Giggled Kimberly, although she had a deep yearning to feed into her addiction.

He smiled and kept driving. She honestly couldn't believe he didn't ask her about drinking. He must really trust her. Part of her felt that she should come clean and quit leading him on, but another was pushing the thought away. Oh, well. She thought. I'll enjoy this while it lasts.

After fifteen more minutes of small talk, they arrived at LaDiza, a fancy Italian restaurant.

"Noah," said Kimberly, "this place looks expensive. I can't make you spend this much money being out with me."

"No, it's fine. I have enough," he smiled warmly and generously.

"Well, I'll just get an appetizer," she suggested. "I can pay for myself then."

"No, seriously. I can handle it. I want to do this for you. Get whatever you'd like," he said.

Guilt washed over her like a tsunami knowing that she let him down twice yet was letting him spend a fortune on her. "You sure?"

He nodded. It was settled. He would take the bill.

After a ten minute wait, they were seated, despite arriving on time for their reservation. "What looks good?" Asked Noah while scanning over the menu.

"This pizza looks pretty good, but it's too much for one person," said Kimberly, dismissing the idea.

"I'm kind of in the mood for pizza, too. What kind were you thinking?" He asked.

"Either the chicken Parmesan or the meat lover's," answered Kim.

"How about the chicken Parmesan?" Suggested Noah. "We could share that and get an appetizer. What about this bread-and-cheese dip with unlimited breadsticks?"

"Sounds good to me!" Smiled Kimberly, putting her menu away.

Their sever, Karli, came and brought their drink orders- lemonade for Kim and Mt. Dew for Noah. She then took their food orders, menus, and brought out their appetizer. While munching on bread and cheese, Noah initiated a conversation.

"So do you go to church anywhere?" He asked.

"Nah," Kim responded. "I'm not really into that stuff. Only use it when I need it."

"Do you believe in God?" He asked, genuinely interested in her worldview.

"I don't know, kind of, kind of not. Sometimes I pray to Him, when I'm desperate and out of options, but I don't really feel like anything happens," she shrugged. "I don't really think a whole lot of that type of stuff. I just want to live my life, you know?"

"Well, you can live and know Jesus," he said. "Life is actually fuller that way."

"Mine is good enough with me and my mom," said Kimberly, being grateful for her mother.

"It's something you don't realize until you've found the Lord, but my life was totally empty before He saved me. My parent's riches just weren't enough, but Jesus' salvation, love, grace, and forgiveness is," he testified. "Even the deepest of guilt fades away." It was like he knew what she needed to hear. Somehow, her guard was up, though.

"Why are you telling me about this?" She asked.

"I care about you," he said. "I want you to be able to experience the fullness of Jesus like I have. It's like walking after being crippled."

"So am I your charity case? Did you actually want to date me or am I just a part of some quota to reach?" She offendedly asked.

"I want to date you," he said. "Remember how I told you that I see beauty in you that isn't always quickly recognized? How that's why I like you? You're not some 'quota' to me, you're the girl I really care about, so I really care about how you're doing spiritually, too. Plus, God is just so important to me that I have to know where you stand."

"Well, I guess I don't stand where you do. Is that a problem?" She asked, sure he would dump her. I guess it wouldn't be terrible, as she could just go to Jared knowing she didn't just completely reject a great guy.

"I think it could become one," he said, concerned.

"And why's that?" She crossed her arms.

"Well, the Bible says for Believers not to be unequally yoked. Not with good friends, not with lovers. It doesn't mean I can't be friends or go out with certain people, it just means that the people I'm closest with need to share the same faith with me," he explained.

"I know the Bible is what you go by, but why should that matter?" She asked. "Why does the faith of those you're close to matter?"

"When you're with other Believers, you all tend to grow together in faith and can share your walk with Christ. For all Christians, Christ is the foundation. If I were to get close with a non-Christian, we wouldn't have that same foundation. Our relationship would plane off eventually with nothing deeper to dive into. It would run out, but Christ never runs out," he said.

"Okay, well, I think you're great, but I'm definitely not in a place right now to just hand my life over to the God that I'm not sure even exists," shrugged Kimberly. "I'm not trying to knock you or anything, I guess I just don't think like you do. Maybe when I'm older and ready to settle down, it'll be okay, but life is just now getting exciting and I don't want to bind myself to religion."

"It's not binding," he said. "There's freedom in Christ. So much freedom. Freedom to laugh, freedom to love. Freedom to praise, freedom from this habit of sin," he explained.

Habit of sin? Thought Kimberly. Like my drinking? God could squash that addiction?

"...Freedom from the deepest of addictions," he went on to say.

It was like this God was speaking directly to her. She shook off the feeling. "Thanks, but maybe some other time. Can we change the subject?"

He looked a little deflated that she didn't want to talk about God anymore, yet seemed to understand. Maybe he was in her shoes once. They went on to talk about others things for the rest of the night, although absentmindedly for Kimberly. She couldn't help but to think about getting a drink again, but then she would again think about this freedom from addiction Noah spoke of.

Eventually they left the restaurant and Noah brought her home. "Could we do this again?" He asked.

After all of the God talk, she wasn't sure she wanted to. She couldn't give up a respectful guy like him, though. She'd have to wait from him to give up on her. "If you're willing to again."

"Of course," he said. "I still really like you. Have a good night, sleep well." He walked off of her porch and went back to his car. Kimberly watched him intently, wondering what made him so different. Could it really be this God he spoke of?