Better Than The Movies

Chapter Sixteen

Church on Sunday morning was the same as always. I listened to the Pastor drone on and on for three hours straight before hiding out in the bathroom after service to wait for my parents who decided that they need to speak to every member of the congregation.

I've been waiting for Ashley for the past fifteen minutes so we can leave together. She wanted me to hang out with her and Darrell today. My immediate response was no, but she begged, very annoyingly I might add for me to say yes. If you ask me, I'm not exactly looking forward to third-wheeling between the happy couple.

She said I could invite a friend, but all three friends that I texted were busy with their own lives. Erika was babysitting, Dylan was helping his mom since she was due soon, and Destiny was busy having sex with Jasper. Why she couldn't skip it for a day was beyond me, but I wasn't going to interfere.
"What about the Instagram boy?" Ashley had asked me on the phone Thursday night when we made the plan.

"Hell no," I answered, scribbling down answers for my Physics homework. "He's probably busy, anyway."

"Why haven't I met him?" She asks like we're dating. He's just some guy that I'm friends with. "And you never talk about him!"

"There's nothing to talk about," I say to her as I've said to Destiny many times before. "I'm not introducing him to you because that's a short jump to my parents."

"What's wrong with your friends meeting your parents?" I close my eyes, trying to decide whether I should tell her about Jace's stance on how we spend our Sundays.

"He's an... atheist." She gasps and I immediately regret telling her.

"Okay..." She pretends to act cool with people who think differently than her, but she was raised traditionally. Her parents ingrained in her brain that God was the only person she should be listening to. "Does he know that you're Christian?"

"Yes," I lied easily. "We don't talk about religion often, but he respects my decision." My voice strained, trying to spit out the words. It's never been my decision.

This thing has been shoved down my throat since I was a child, they would've sent me to a Christian school if we could afford it. I was constantly running from my belief trying to learn, see what everybody around me was seeing. But when they talked about Evolution in Biology. The Big Bang Theory in Chemistry. I listened and hung onto their every word. It didn't matter that I had a cross choking me around the neck since the minute I was born. Jace was the only person who knew and I only told him because he could never reach my outside world. My secret would be safe with him because he had no one to tell. But I never imagined, telling him would lead to finding another person who knew what it felt like to be different. Who god forbid had a different idea than the people around them.

"As long as he's not trying to force you into--" Her voice tightened before she trailed off, but I already knew what she was going to say. Converting.

"That could never happen," I assured her and she changed the topic.

I don't think she wants to meet Jace after that. Ashley came into the bathroom a few minutes later with her box braids in a tight bun that weighed at least 50 pounds with the amount of hair she had added. She quickly undid the bun and let it fall down past her waist. I was thinking of getting braids like hers but decided against it. I loved my natural hair too much to hide it.

"Are we changing before meeting Darrell?" I said, walking out the front door and the warm spring air greets me. She just nods her head with a wide smile at the prospects of seeing her boo. Even though they go to the same school and just saw each other two days ago.