Yours Not Mine

Chapter 2

After class one day, Faith walked to Starbucks. She saw Matt working behind the counter as soon as she walked in.

"Ah! The Christian," Matt said with a charming grin.

"Matt," Faith greeted him, wanting to stick to names instead of titles. "I didn't know you worked here. You just had to be the typical college freshman with the coffee shop job, huh?" she joked.

"Gotta pay the bills somehow," Matt shrugged. "And by that I mean trying to prevent myself from crippling debt. I also auction off my organs online and sell drugs on the side,"

"So, you wanna take my order or something? Less talk, more Frap,"

"Heck no," Matt said, untying his green apron before leaping over the counter. "My shift's over," he smirked.

"There's no one else here! Who's gonna take my order?"

Matt let out a sigh as if he would have hated doing a favor for Faith. "Fine, you owe me!"

"I owe you for doing your job?"

"After my shift? Yes."

Matt made Faith a frappiccino and they took a seat at a table.

"So, what have you been up to?" Faith asked, starting the conversation.

"Working, sleeping - "

"Not going to class," she interrupted.

"How would you know that?" Matt asked as he took off his hat and ran his hand through his curls.

"We're in the same philosophy class, I would notice when you're gone,"

"You've been looking for me," he had a smile on his face as if he saw strait through his female companion. "That's it, you've been looking out to see if I show up. How cute, but I don't know if the church would approve of you being romantically interested in a heathen like myself," he commented sarcastically.

"How much do you think you actually know about Christianity?"

"Hmm...where are you from?"

"Texas," Faith replied, not knowing where he was going with that piece of information.

Matt thought for a second before saying, "Got it. You're a nice little southern Baptist. You said you were raised in a Christian home, that leads me to believe you basically lived in the church and spent all your time in youth groups and church camps. Every supper, you and the family sit at the dinner table thanking the Lord for the bountiful meal. Um, you're a virgin, so in high school if you had a boyfriend, it probably didn't go far because, well, come on. Now, tell me everything I said was not true. I at least got some right,"

"Well, first of all, I am not a Baptist. I'm Catholic. I've never been to church camp and if my church has a youth group, I've never attended. I never knew my mom, she just left right after I was born. And my dad is an alcoholic and prescription drug abuser, so he's spent half my life in and out of rehab. Last time I talked to him was a month before school. The whole family at the dinner table thing was close; for the past year, I've been living in a convent since my dad couldn't take care of me. I am a virgin, you're right about that, but I've never had a boyfriend."

Matt was speechless, he honestly felt bad. "Well, I definitely got it all wrong. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know - "

"It's okay, really. I'm used to people judging me, I have a lot to judge. I've learned to ignore whatever people assume of me, so it doesn't bother me. I know who I am,"

"Honestly, you've had it pretty rough and I can only imagine. Now I feel like a jerk,"

"Don't. I get it, I'm a proud Christian girl from Texas, so you'd assume I'm a spoiled hypocrite. I really don't blame you, there's a lot of people out there who claim to be good, but I'm letting you know I'm not one of them. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda judged you a little. You seem like some guy who doesn't care about much other than partying, but that's just what I've observed from you skipping class and stuff,"

"Well, that's the difference between me and you, that's exactly right. I flowed through high school and spent all my time partying, now I'm doing the same thing here,"

"I won't judge you," Faith assured Matt after a brief pause. She wanted him to know she was a friend, not an enemy.

"Good to know," he said with a nod. "I didn't grow up in a Christian home like you. I had never ever heard about God, I never went to church. I guess I thought I didn't need any of that growing up. There were these stupid kids at school who would tell me I'm an ignorant sinner and my parents should have brought me up the 'right way'. I even had a gay uncle who they were convinced was poisoning me and that God hated him for it. It was messed up."

Faith rested her hand on top of Matt's. "Those weren't real Christians," she said in a soft tone. "We were taught to love God and our neighbors. God doesn't hate anybody. People like that disgust me and they give the rest of us a bad name. That was a prime example of unfair judgment and even though Christians need to speak up in this world, the wrong ones are being heard. It's just not the way you go about things," she said, shaking her head.

"Good to know. Hey, how do you feel about gay people? I know you don't support it,"

"I don't, but that doesn't mean I'm disgusted with people who are homosexual. Every moral I have is because of my faith. I should love everyone, so I will. You know people wanted Pope Francis to no longer be Pope because he said we should stop judging gay people? He said we should be more loving and accepting - as we should regardless - and people didn't want him to be the Pope. There's a billion arguments about this and they are all endless. Bottom line, I believe we're all God's children, so we're all equally loved. And I actually think gay people go to heaven, I'm no more deserving than any other being. I hope that answers your question,"

"Ha, yeah. Yeah, it does. Well, that was unexpected,"

"Yeah, well there's not too many Christians who actually pay attention to what they're saying. We were put here to worship God and spread His Word, it's not our place to determine someone's fate. I'm really sorry your childhood was like that. I just really wish you would have seen God's love growing up. You're a great person, you know. You may be an atheist, but I have no idea if you're going to Heaven or Hell. You never know if something dramatic will change your life," she said with a smile as if she was hinting at something.

Matt chuckled, "Right...can I have your number?" He tried pretty hard to force that question out.

"Oh, sure!" After they swapped numbers, Faith reluctantly asked a question of her own. "Can I pray for you?"

Matt didn't want her to think he was going to automatically think like her because of a prayer. Every bone in his body wanted to refuse, but he couldn't figure out how to say no to the beautiful smile on Faith's face. "Sure."

Faith held out her hands, then Matt slapped them as if giving her a high five, not knowing what to do.

She giggled, "No, hold my hands."

Matt slowly gripped Faith's soft, delicate hands and watched her close her eyes and bow her head.

"Lord God," she started quietly. "I pray that You open Matt's eyes and his heart. I pray that You guide him towards the right path and help him feel Your glorious Fatherly love. God, I thank You for Matt and everything he's accomplished and I hope he has happily productive days. Amen."

As Faith's hands slipped away from Matt's, he couldn't shake a feeling of...happiness? She barely knew him and she was hoping and wishing a happy life for him. He had no idea what she was doing to maintain such a positive demeanor.

"I'm gonna go," she said. "I don't wanna keep you too late after your shift's over with,"

"Yeah," Matt said, standing up. He really didn't want to say bye. "I'll call you, or text you, or whatever. I got your number," he continued with a smile. He realized he might have come off as creepy.

"I'll be waiting," Faith replied with a giggle and she started to leave.

"Wait," Matt said, stopping her. "Why didn't you go off on me after I said all that stuff? I mean, I would be pissed, you didn't have to be that nice about it."

Faith thought for a moment before nonchalantly asking, "What good would it do to repay evil for evil?"