Arousing Love, a teen novel (5 page)

She pulled away breathlessly. “I really have
to go.” She hesitated a moment longer, before quickly walking
away.

I watched until I’d lost sight of her, then
retreated back to the shack.

Alone in my room, I tried to understand what
I was feeling. I liked her so much it was actually painful, I ached
to be with her.
If this is infatuation it sure feels like
love.

There was a knock at the door, and I rushed
to open it thinking Joanna had come back to me.

“Hey.” It was just my friend Josh.

“Hey.” I tried to hide my disappointment. I
went over and covered the painting with a dust cloth. I didn’t want
him to see Joanna like that.

“So what’s up with you?” He flopped onto my
bed.

“You don’t wanna know.”

“Come on man, spill.”

I sighed. “I think I’m falling in love.”

Josh looked amused.

“Yeah, and she’s not even sixteen yet, and
she’s only here for two weeks then goes back to Colorado. I know
it’s stupid, but when I’m with her it’s like the happiest I’ve ever
been.”

“You gotta stay away from the young ones.
Toss her back and keep fishing.”

“She thinks we’re meant to be together, like
it’s fate or something.”

He shook his head. “You’ve gotta end it, man.
Tell her you’re not meant to be. How ‘bout I set you up with
someone who’ll make you forget all about her. I know this girl,
she’s a real babe, and you’ll soon know the difference between a
sixteen and an eighteen-year-old.”

“You’re not helping, man. I don’t know if
I’ll ever meet a girl like this again. She’s something
special.”

“All girls are special. You just haven’t had
enough of them to know that. You should come out with me. I’ll
introduce you—”

“Nah
. . .
thanks man, I just wanna be left alone.”

“Alright.” He got up. “You watch yourself
with that girl though, dude. She’s too young to handle.”

He pushed open the door and looked back at
me. “Hey, I’ve been there. It sucks but you’ll get over it. See ya
in the surf.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

The door closed behind him, leaving me alone
again with my thoughts. I closed my eyes and immediately pictured
Joanna’s smiling face. I liked her so much. “What should I do?” I
said aloud to the empty room, or perhaps it was to God.

I removed the dust-cover and looked again at
her portrait. She was truly beautiful, a perfection of symmetry and
proportion. It was definitely the best thing I’d ever painted.

I saw my parent’s Bible still lying there by
my bed, and in a flash of inspiration, I knew how I was going to
finish Joanna’s portrait.

It was late when I finally put down my
brushes. I stood back and admired my work. Her figure was floating,
her hair spread about her, her eyes closed like she was asleep. A
flowing ribbon curled loosely around her with the inscription: ‘Do
not arouse or awaken love until it so desires’. She was a sleeping
beauty awaiting love’s first kiss.

I was really pleased with it. I couldn’t wait
to show Joanna.

After a quick cleanup, I crawled into bed and
drifted off to sleep with Joanna’s beautiful image still lingering
in my mind.

Three

Five p.m., but no sign of Joanna. I waited
for her outside the store, and eventually she turned up, her face
flushed, her eyes red.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to talk to you.” She glanced towards
the store. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

We followed the rough dirt path that led down
to the beach. For some time she didn’t speak, then she stopped and
faced me. “My parents know about us. Lizzie told them I wasn’t with
her last night. They wanted to know where I was
. . .
they yelled at me.”

She started to cry. I put my arms around her,
and she buried her face against my chest. When she looked up at me
again, her eyes full of tears, I gently asked, “So what did you
tell them?”

“That you’re just a friend, but they freaked
out when they asked how old you are.”

I hugged her tight. “It’s okay. We’ll just
keep a low profile for a while.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble because
of me.”

“Don’t worry about me.” I gently wiped a tear
from her cheek. “I don’t mind getting in trouble for you.”

“I don’t want my parents to be mad at me,
either. I don’t wanna sneak around behind their backs and have to
lie to them.”

“So
. . .
what then?”

She didn’t say anything.

“You think we should stop seeing each other?”
A small part of me felt relieved at the thought of it ending, it
was already so emotionally intense. But the rest of me couldn’t
stand the thought of losing her. I started to feel angry.
What
happened to true love making a way? She just gives up at the first
sign of trouble. And I was worried about breaking
her
heart.

“Zach, do you think you could talk to my
parents? I know if they met you they wouldn’t be so freaked about
it.”

“You think they’ll let us keep seeing each
other?”

“I don’t know,” she lowered her eyes, “I hope
so.”

“But if they don’t
. . .
will you keep seeing me anyway?”

“I don’t wanna disobey my parents, but I
don’t wanna lose you either. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Alright, let’s go see them then.”

We started walking back up the path. Joanna
took my hand, giving it a little squeeze of appreciation.

I was nervous about meeting her parents—I
could just imagine some big confrontation.

“What are your parents like?”

“They’re Christians—but don’t worry, they’re
not scary or anything. Just don’t mention the times we’ve been
alone in your bedroom together.”

“What should we say then?”

“I don’t know
. . .
just say we were hanging out and
talking.”

I sighed.
Is this really worth it—getting
a grilling from her parents so I can spend some more time with a
girl I’ll probably never see again?
But even one minute with
Joanna was worth it. I had no choice.

We entered the campground, and she led me
through the woods, past several campsites. She squeezed my hand
again as we neared a campsite with two tents. I could see a
middle-aged couple sitting at a table, but they had their backs to
us and hadn’t seen us yet.

Joanna released my hand. “Mom, Dad, this is
Zach.”

They both turned in surprise. Her father
stood up and looked me over as he offered me his hand.

“Hello, Zach.”

“Hi.” I shook his hand. He had a firm
grip.

“Take a seat.” He motioned to the chair
across from him, and I sat down. Joanna sat next to me.

Her parents didn’t look too scary. I could
see the resemblance between mother and daughter—her mom was still
good looking even at her age. Her father was tall and distinguished
looking, but he had a friendly face.

“Zach wanted to come and meet you to clear up
some things.” Joanna’s voice sounded a little higher pitched than
usual. She smiled at me, and it gave me some courage.

“It was good of you to come and see us,
Zach.” Joanna’s father spoke with a calm seriousness. “We were very
concerned when we heard Joanna was spending time alone with a boy
we didn’t even know about.”

Her mother fixed me with a piercing look.

“You’re eighteen, Zach?” Her father looked at
me with a serious intensity.
Okay, so they were a little
scary.

“Yes, sir. I know it might seem strange for
me to be hanging around with your daughter, but
. . .
uh
. . .
she’s just really nice to talk to. I
like hanging out with her. I didn’t mean to cause you to
worry.”

Her parents stared at me like I was from
another planet. I glanced at Joanna, and she smiled
encouragingly.

“Zach, we don’t allow our daughter to date.
If she goes out with a boy it’s always with a group of her
friends—never alone.” Joanna’s mother was trying to sound calm and
controlled like her husband, but there was an emotional edge to her
voice. “You’re much older than she is. We want to keep our daughter
from situations she’s not ready to handle yet.” She gave Joanna a
disapproving look. “Joanna knew she was breaking our rules.”

This wasn’t going too well. Joanna had slunk
down in her chair. She seemed so much younger all of a sudden. I
wanted to tell her parents to stop treating her like a little
child, but I knew if I said that I’d never be allowed to see her
again.

“Zach,” Her Father spoke again, “we’d rather
you didn’t see Joanna anymore. We prefer her to be around others of
her own age, that we know.”

Yeah like Matt. He’s a great influence.

Silent tears rolled down Joanna’s cheeks. I
tried desperately to think of something I could say to change their
minds.

“I
. . 
.
I understand
you want to protect your daughter, but we’ve already become such
good friends, and I’d really like to continue our friendship if
that’s possible. Would it be okay if we stayed in a group with her
other friends?”

Her mother shook her head. “She hasn’t been
very trustworthy with you so far, Zach.”

My mind raced. “Well, that was my fault. I’m
sure she wouldn’t have left her friends if I hadn’t asked her to.
She was talking to me about her faith, and I didn’t feel
comfortable talking about it in front of her friends. What we’ve
been discussing has really opened up some things for me.”

I watched their stern faces begin to thaw.
Wow! Using their religion, how did I come up with that?

I looked at Joanna. She was looking at me
with a strange expression.
She probably doesn’t like me lying to
her parents, but it’s not really a lie—she did talk about her
faith, and it did touch me to see her sincerity.

“Is this true, Joanna?” Her father looked at
her, and I held my breath.

“Yes.” She said meekly.

“Well, perhaps we have been a little hasty.”
He turned to his wife, “What do you think?”

She nodded. “Would you like to stay and have
some dinner with us, Zach? We could have a little chat and get to
know you better.”

“Sure.”

Her mother’s attitude changed to all smiles
and sweetness as she went to work cooking up something on their
camp stove. Both parents started peppering me with questions, and I
felt uncomfortable under their scrutiny. I tried to get them to
talk about Joanna instead.

When dinner was ready, we sat around their
small table, and Joanna’s father said grace before we all started
eating.

“I notice you don’t like talking about
yourself much.” Joanna’s father looked knowingly at me across the
table.

“There’s not much to tell.”

“And you’d rather talk about Joanna.” He
raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m getting the impression your interest
is something more than just friendship.”

I looked at Joanna, she was blushing, and her
father had noticed that too. I didn’t say anything, I just focused
on what I was eating.

Joanna’s father leaned back in his chair and
looked at us. “There’s a good reason why we set these rules about
dating. I know what it’s like to be a teenager, and how easy it is
to be swept up by your emotions and lose all common sense. You
know, the Bible teaches, when two people have sex, they become one
flesh. Today we have a marriage ceremony and legal papers that make
people married, but it’s the union of flesh that makes someone
married in God’s eyes. I’m telling you this because the world
treats sex like a thrill ride at an amusement park, but sex is
something special. Jesus said, ‘What God has joined together, let
no man separate’. There’s never anything casual about it.”

Why is he telling us this? Does he think
we’ve had sex?

I looked at Joanna. She was looking at me and
I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I hadn’t heard any of this
stuff before.
No wonder Christians make such a big deal about
sex. But it kind of makes sense that God would give us a natural
way of marriage. We always add our own stupid rituals to
everything.

Joanna was still looking at me.
Is she
thinking how close we came to being married in God’s eyes? What if
we’d actually done it?
I realized, with surprise, that the
thought didn’t scare me. In fact I liked the idea of being married
to her.
Maybe I really am in love.

Her father continued. “If you’re not ready
for the whole deal of marriage, and babies, and everything else,
then don’t even get started with the sexual stuff. And you’re not
ready yet, even if your bodies think you are. When you have
feelings for each other, your bodies go crazy with hormones.
Nature’s job is to make us procreate. That’s what attraction and
sex is for on a basic level, to make babies. Nature battles against
us sometimes, and it can be hard. Our souls seek a soul mate and
our bodies seek to procreate. You need to be wise and self
controlled, and not put yourself in a place where nature might
overcome your commonsense.”

Joanna was blushing again, and her father
sighed. “I don’t mean to embarrass you, but I know the world
doesn’t teach these things. The world says sex is just a fun thing
to play with, but sex is more than just an exciting game to play,
and who you have sex with really does matter.”

“What you’re saying makes sense,” I said
cautiously. “The world always lies about everything.”

Joanna was looking at me strangely again.
She probably thinks I’m just saying it to look good to her
parents.

“There’s only one truth, Zach. Jesus said, ‘I
am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father
except through me.’ And only his truth can set you free.”