All Because of Faith (Ch. 3)

1

CHAPTER THREE2

Friday night came all too fast for me. I think looking back on that period when I first fell for John, I was merely scared. I knew how fast things were going and not fully over my last serious relationship, I just Didn’t want to get hurt. I was scared of this night, in particular, for a number of reasons. I knew that on the third date most couples started to have sex and I just wasn’t ready for something so... important with him.  I also knew that before too long I would have to come clean about Matthew. I would have to tell Jonathan the whole story and that would also imply that I wanted more then just a summer fling with him. I knew that before too long my family would want to meet this ‘mystery man’ as well. My grandmother was still irked at me but everyone else was very curious. The worst part of all, though, was what I felt. I was getting feelings for Jonathan that Matthew had never come close to giving me. That thought petrified me. 3

As I thought all of this, I got ready for our date. He Had said to dress casual, jeans and a shirt. I never wore just jeans and a shirt, but I did the best I could. I wore my hair in a ponytail that draped down to my shoulders in loose curls. I wore a simple pink cotton V-neck over a white spaghetti-strap tee that accented my bust just slightly. I did wear simple Jeans with a cloth belt in white and several shades of pink. I had on a pair of black stilettoes and a matching black hand bag. I thought I looked too casual.4

“Jen, what happened to tennis shoes”? Erin asked as I walked out of the bedroom.5

“I don’t have but one pair and they wouldn’t match,” I replied.6

Erin walked into her bedroom and came back with a pair of the cutest flats I had ever seen. I put them on and grabbed a new purse. Jonathan was there before I was really ready once again.7

“I feel like a slob next to you.” John replied handing me a dozen roses. Erin took them from me and I knew that she would be awake when I got home.8

“Thank you for the roses and the compliment,” I said closing the door and following him down to his truck, “Now where are we going”?9

“You’ll see, “He said handing me a set of sleeping goggles. “You just have to trust me. Is that something you’re willing to do”? 10

I put the mask on and said, “Do I have a choice”?11

“Not really.”12

We rode for what seemed like forever and I honestly thought I would never be able to see again. Then finally after at least an hour and a half the truck stopped. He took my hand and led me out into what felt a little like sand. He lifted my blind fold and I really became speechless. We were in a cove. There was a small waterfall  to my left and flowers everywhere. Jonathan was walking ahead of me setting up a picnic on the edge of the water. I leaned down and gave him a light kiss. 13

“Oh my goodness, This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.” I said taking a seat on the blanket. Jonathan handed me a glass of what looked like champagne. “I don’t drink, sorry.” 14

Before I could hand it back he held up the bottle it had been poured from. I looked a little closer to the label and saw it was nothing more then a very expensive brand of apple cider. “Neither do I, remember?15

“I was thinking a little while ago of you when you were ten or eleven. How even then, although I didn’t have any desire for you, I knew that I would always remember you. I would always love you.”16

“I remember once when you came to see us and momma told you I was at Aunt Lisa’s and you came all the way down there to see me. You could have went so many other places but you came there.”17

“I always enjoyed your company and when I left for basic, believe it or not, I missed you.”18

“How could you miss me? I was a kid,” I asked.19

“I missed how opinionated you were, and how You loved to make Clint mad. It didn’t matter what it was, you were gonna do something just to piss him off. I also missed how you could pop off at me and be horrible at times, but when you found out I was getting shipped off, you were really upset.” he ran his fingers lightly down one of my cheeks. “Even when you were juts twelve years old I loved to talk to you, play basketball with you, and tease you. You were a friend to me. One I’ve never forgotten.”20

I wiped away a tear and looked closely at him. He was probably the sweetest man I had ever met. We ate strawberries with chocolate and whipped cream. Grapes, cherries, and other little things. It wasn’t dinner, it was a buffet of aphrodisiacs. I knew it was time to let him know about Matthew.21

I guess he sensed it because about half past eight he asked, “So, tell me about the skeletons in your closet.”22

“Alright. Well, about six months ago I was supposed to get married. The wedding was set for December the third, my grandmother’s birthday. The problem was that in early November I realized that Matthew, my fiancé, wasn’t who I was meant to be with. I loved him dearly, he was a wonderful man. Came from the right family, was going to have a great career in medicine, handsome. He was a winner, all around.23

The problem was, he was too good. He became my best friend. And I started to lose all those attached sparks. I called of the wedding on November the third. One month prior to the set date. I can still see the look in his eyes that he had when I told him we were through. He was heart broken. I cried about it for days and on the third of December I couldn’t even get out of bed. He called me that night and said he was sorry , but he understood what I had meant. That he was glad we hadn’t gotten married because it wouldn’t have been real. 24

Now he’s engaged again to this saucy red-head about three years older then me. He seems to be really taken by her and I genuinely hope it works out for them. I-”25

He leaned in for a kiss and I wasn’t scared anymore. His lips touched down on mine and he laid his hands on my shoulders. I was swept away and when he backed out the world just swam in front of my eyes. Seeing my dazed reaction, he leaned forward again. I felt his soft lips come toward me and tasted them as his tongue slipped gently into the heat of my own mouth. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I fell gently onto my back in the dirt. The emotions that came then shot me to the end of the earth and back in that moment when he held me close. He took one calloused hand and ran it lightly down my side. When he reached my thigh he slipped the tips of his fingers into my pants just enough to touch the silky flesh that was there. I repressed a moan.26

“John-”27

He placed two fingers over my lips and said, “let me take care of you.”28

I groaned as he made a trail of kisses down my neck, straight between my breasts and to my navel. Chills raced up and down my arms and legs as he lifted my shirt over my head and unfastened my bra. He sat me up and made another trail down the back of my neck.29

If he thought I was gonna be a boring lover, he was sadly mistaken. I lifted his shirt over his head as I felt my hair come out of the rubber band and fall around my face. I kissed his collarbone and lightly bit his earlobe. He buried his head on my shoulder and gave me three butterfly kisses. “Please don’t tease me, Jen.” He said as I unbuttoned his jeans. 30

I laid back down on the blanket as he stripped me of my jeans and cheekie-panties. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lay over me. I closed my eyes as he entered me and started to lightly thrust his weight against my own. I started to become delirious and was floating somewhere above my body when he brought me to climax and every fiber of my being shot from one end then the other screaming like I wouldn’t last much longer. I couldn’t handle it, It was too much. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to go on he came and we fell back from the heavens onto that blanket and lay there holding each other as sweat mingled on our bodies.31

We lay there for what seemed like forever without saying a word. Finally I heard Jonathan clear his throat.32

“Did you ever, all those years ago, see us ending up like this?” I turned to face him and saw a look in his eyes I had never seen before. He was looking at me with a face of pure joy and love. Oh God, I remember thinking. But I knew that it wouldn’t be long and I would let my defenses down to be with him, as well.33

“No, I never thought this is where we would be.” I laid my head on him muscular chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart for a minute more before I began to round up my clothes.34

When I walked through the door Erin was awake, but not waiting for me. As I flip the light switch in the hallway, there was Erin wrapped in the arms of this broad shouldered guy with tanned skin and honey colored hair. I supposed this was Griff. 35

“Oh! Jen, I didn’t know you would be home tonight.” Erin said pulling herself out from under her sexy couch mate.36

“I told you I would. Well I can see I am clearly in the way, so goodnight Rin. Goodnight..Griff?” I asked. I got a nod and walked on into my bedroom. 37

I got ready for bed and sat down in a lounge chair by my window and listened to the sounds of the night. I picked up a notebook I had kept since ninth grade and started to write.38

Five then ten,                                                         39

I want to go through it again.40

He was just a friend,41

A fantasy to be true42

Never knew what that would lead to.43

Passion, shame, love, lust44

I still have trouble comprehending what was45

What now?46

Where from here?47

I put the notebook on the floor and climbed into bed. 48

The next morning I got up and walked into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Erin was saying goodbye to Griff as I walked into the living room.49

“Hey! No PDA, please. I can get that on my own time, Thank you.” I continued my groggy search for coffee as Erin closed the door and walked into the kitchen in her P.J.s. 50

“I know you didn’t sleep in those.” I said sitting at the table and buttering a scone.51

“You are a grade A bitch in the morning sometimes,” Erin popped at me. She sat down opposite me and nursed a cup of peppermint tea. “So how was your evening?”52

“Probably not as interesting as yours.”53

“I doubt that. We didn’t have sex, we talked all night,” Erin replied.54

I almost choked on my coffee. “You liar. I know what I saw last night.”55

“I know what you saw, too. Griff came over for a drink and we got kinda heavy. We would’ve slept together if my roommate hadn’t barged in at the absolute worst time possible. After that awful scene we got ourselves together and started to talk. I guess we fell asleep around four in the morning, though because next thing I know he’s putting his shoes on.”56

“Well, I’m very proud of you, Rin, I must say.”57

“How did the date with Jonathan go? God, he gets sexier by the week, I swear it,” She said.58

I didn’t answer at first, but sat and thought about the activities of the previous evening. The emotions Jonathan had brought into me were of the sort that I had never experienced, and that scared me..A lot. 59

“We had a lot of fun. He took me to this beautiful cove and we had a picnic and talked and had a really good time together.” I didn’t know if she believed me or doubted any of what I was saying, but if this was true, she didn’t let it be known. Instead, she reached across the table for the box of breakfast scones and a section from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.      60

“I just hope you come out in one piece, and learn that Matthew Hart is not the end of the world, Contrary to popular belief.” 61

I smiled and finished breakfast. I had plans with John that night, and a family picnic in the morning. I could only hope the two didn’t meet at some point or another. I changed my clothes and headed for the gym in the center of the complex. No one ever went there, so I would be able to sort out my thoughts with no interruption.  62

I was right in my belief that my family would have gotten wind of my new man-friend. I was out of the car ten minutes before my sister and aunts and cousins were hounding me about Jonathan Barron. My stepmother tiptoed around me about the first hour if the picnic, she was the only one who knew anything about B. 63

It really hit home during the dessert course of lunch, though. I was sitting on the porch with a bowl of home made ice cream and some lemonade when my little sister, Lacy Jae, crawled into my lap.64

“Sissy, why won’t you let me meet your new husband?” She asked laying her blonde curls on my chest.65

“Lacy-Bee, I don’t have a husband. Where on earth did you get that idea?” I knew the answer before she had time to think.66

“I heard mommy on the phone with Maw, Thursday.”67

“And what did mommy say to Maw?”68

“That some man had sent you these really pretty flowers at work and that maybe he would be your new husband.”69

My stepmother was by my side in a flash, “Now, Lacy, don’t go telling Sissy everything you hear. That’s called gossip and Jesus doesn’t like his children to gossip.” Lacy hopped off my lap and ran into the yard to play with our nephews, Ben and Brandon. 70

Lisa sat down beside me in the swing, “So what did she say to you?”71

“She wants to meet my new husband,” I replied having to stifle a laugh. “Why on earth would she think I had a husband, mommy-dearest?” Anytime I was slightly irked over some gag Lisa pulled I called her that.72

“Because I told momma about those flowers and she asked if I thought you’ll might get married.”73

“Why, every time I have a date, does my family get ready to plan a wedding?” 74

“It’s not that bad now, none of us made it a year out of high school without at least living with a guy and you are about to graduate college with a psychology degree and haven’t gotten married.”75

“And this is a bad thing?” I asked. 76

No, it’s just not a concept any of us are used to. I hope you do get a career first, maybe with such a positive roll model as her sissy, Lacy won’t make the mess of her life that all of us have.”77

I can do my best,” I said. I looked at my watch and decided to get home. This conversation was making me uncomfortable. 78

I still didn’t know what I wanted from Jonathan and I didn’t need my family pressuring me into something as permanent as marriage.79