Finding Faith (5 page)

He was a big guy, much bigger than
my dad, and in the darkness, I couldn’t tell if he was kind of
chunky or really muscled. It wasn’t until Kevin pulled up to a red
light in the middle of town that I was able to get a good look. His
dark hair was buzzed short and his eyes were so dark they blended
in with the car around him, which made him look somewhat ghostly. I
was only mildly freaked out by his total silence.

He lifted his arm to roll down the
window, allowing me to see the bulge in his bicep—most definitely
not fat, definitely muscles. Knowing he could go all caveman on me
and throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes didn’t make
me feel any better about sneaking out with strangers.

He noticed me staring and turned
his attention back to me.

“
I’m Tony, but all my friends call
me Tiny.” His voice was deep, like an older man, even though his
baby face said differently.

I was thinking he was no more than
eighteen. It was funny that his friends called him Tiny since there
was nothing on the boy that was even remotely small. I blushed at
that thought and looked down at my hands.

“
My name’s Faith. It’s nice to
meet you.” I sounded as small as I felt next him.

He laughed a little to himself and
turned his head to look back out the window.

“
Don’t worry about him. He’s big
and scary, but he’s just a big ol’ teddy bear. Aren’t you, Tiny?
Can you believe he’s only a sophomore? He just joined Kevin’s band.
He’s plays the bass and you know he’s got to be damn good for Finn
and Kevin to let him join so young,” Amanda called from the front
seat.

I was in total shock. One, Amanda
had never said anything about Kevin being in a band, and two, I
couldn’t believe someone so big and full of muscles like Tony was
so young. Looks were deceiving.

“
I guess he plays okay.” Kevin
joked from the front seat as he looked through the rearview
mirror.

Amanda and Kevin laughed when Tony,
or Tiny, flipped them off. They looked nice together. Both were
blond and pretty. As a matter of fact, Kevin looked nothing like
how I’d picture a guy in a band. His clothes were too clean, his
face shaved, with no piercings or tattoos that I could see. That
being said, I could see what Amanda saw in him. He had a cocky
attitude that reminded me of the new boy at church. It was more
appealing than I’d admit.

Tiny shook his head at their
laughter and tossed something out the window. I wanted to scream
“litterbug” at him, but something told me he wouldn’t appreciate me
preaching at him. I didn’t want to do anything to upset the
giant.

I turned my attention away from
Tiny.

“
Who’s Finn?” I asked.

Amanda turned in her seat again.
“He’s the singer in Kevin’s band, Ordinary Malice. Kevin and him
have been friends since middle school. He’s sexy as
hell.”

“
Hey!” Kevin said loudly. “What
the hell?”

“
He’s nowhere near as sexy as you
are, baby.” She leaned over and kissed him.

He took his eyes off of the road
and kissed her back. From my vantage point, I could see their
tongues mingling together, and my stomach rolled again. A passing
car honked at us when we veered out of our lane. I was on the verge
of a mini heart attack when she released him and he focused on
driving again.

I didn’t ask any more questions. I
didn’t need to. I’d already had enough of being out and was
silently praying they’d take me home already.

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled
into the driveway of a brick house. It wasn’t in the best
neighborhood either. The yard was nice, but the house itself was
old. It stood out against all the other houses that had junk in
their yards and dogs hooked to chains, barking their heads
off.

All three opened their doors and
started to get out.

“
Wait, where are we?” I asked in a
panic.

Amanda turned back toward me and
smiled.

“
Come on, it’ll be fun. I promise.
This is Finn’s house. They’re going to play some tonight. They’re
good. Sometimes they even play at local bars that’ll let them
in.”

She jumped out the car and shut the
door behind her. I wanted to scream for her to come back right that
second and take me home, but she was already disappearing into the
garage. I’d thought we’d just drive around a bit, enjoy being free,
and then they’d take me straight back home—an hour tops. I had no
idea they had plans. Amanda didn’t tell me on purpose because she
knew I would’ve backed out.

I had two choices. I could go
inside and fade into a corner until I could persuade Amanda to get
the boys to take me home. I was already regretting this and all I
wanted was to be safe in my bed. Or I could sit in the car and wait
for them to come back, but in a neighborhood like this one, I was
probably safer inside the garage with the sex-crazed teenagers and
their wild rock instruments.

Deciding that either way I didn’t
want to be alone, I got out of the car and slowly made my way to
the garage. The dogs in the yards around me were going nuts trying
to get loose and eat me alive. I stopped beside an older sports car
with a tire missing. There was a concrete block in its place and
oil leaked from underneath it and ran down the driveway.

I stepped away from the car and
closer to the garage. That’s when music started playing inside. It
was loud; the sharp guitar cut at my ears and bass vibrated my
knees. The garage door rumbled with the drums, and the sounds of
female laughter was drowned out once the singer started to sing in
his deep voice.

A strange smell floated out of the
garage and all around me. I coughed a little and used my hand to
wave it away as I stepped into the deafening, smoke-filled space.
People were piled up on an old leather couch, watching the band
play. I spotted Amanda from across the room, sitting on the couch,
staring at Kevin with stars in her eyes.

The group she sat with passed
around what looked like a small unfiltered cigarette. The smoke
that flowed from it smelled awful. They were obviously doing drugs.
I felt a little sick to my stomach when I saw Amanda take a drag.
She was a childhood friend—my only friend. How could I not know
that she was so involved in this kind of lifestyle?

I took in the room around me at
people I’d never seen before—people that didn’t see me. And then my
eyes collided with someone familiar. It was the new boy at church,
the troublemaker who’d painted the side of the building. He stared
back at me as he sang into the microphone. His dark, raspy voice
filled the garage, and since he was looking at me, it was as if he
was singing to me.

His soft blue eyes took me in and
his brows pulled down in confusion. Obviously I didn’t belong
there—I knew and he knew it. A thick piece of caramel hair fell
into his eyes and he ran his fingers through it, pushing it out of
his face.

Seeing him made me panic. What if
he told my dad I was there? I didn’t want to be surrounded by so
many things I didn’t understand. I wasn’t okay with anything that
was going on, and I wanted to leave, but more than anything, I
didn’t want my church family to find out I was involved with that
kind of people. What would my dad do? If I got the belt for
practically nothing, what would sneaking out get me?

Quickly, I backed away from the
garage door and disappeared outside again. As soon as the night air
hit me, I could breathe better and the music wasn’t so loud. The
dogs around me went crazy barking again. I didn’t know where to go
or what to do. I only knew I needed to get out of there before
anyone else saw me or something bad happened. There could be a
drive-by or a drug bust any minute. I didn’t need my father finding
out I was anywhere near this side of town.

I figured I’d brave the
ghetto and turned to walk back the way we came. It was crazy, the
craziest thing I’d ever done. It trumped sneaking out on a whole
other level, but I had to do it. I’d be sure to let Amanda know how
unhappy I was with her at school the following day. Maybe my dad
was right. Maybe Amanda
was
a bad influence.

I was down the street a ways when I
heard someone call my name. When I turned around, the new boy at
church, who I now knew was Finn, the lead singer of Kevin’s band,
was taking long strides my way.

“
Hey. Wait up,” he
said.

I stopped. When he reached my side,
he was out of breath. Leaning over, he rested his palm against his
thigh and held up a finger, telling me to give him a
minute.

“
You know, if you didn’t smoke,
you wouldn’t be so out of breath right now,” I said.

He looked up at me with a grin. A
set of dimples dug into his flushed cheeks. “Are you going to
preach to me, too, sweet girl?” He stood tall again after catching
his breath. “Like I haven’t heard enough preaching at church. I
don’t know how you can take that shit day after day.”

I didn’t confess that I was sick of
being preached to. I couldn’t tell him that, especially since I was
kind of preaching at him.

“
Sorry.” I sighed.

“
Don’t worry about it. What are
you doing here?” he asked roughly.

He sounded upset. Not that I could
blame him. I was pretty upset about being there, too. We both knew
I didn’t belong.

I tried to think of a good excuse,
but there wasn’t one. And as badly as I wanted to come up with some
really great lie to get myself out of the trouble I knew was going
to come, I couldn’t lie. I had to spill the truth and hope he
didn’t rush to church on Wednesday and tell my dad all about
it.

“
I came with my friend Amanda.
She’s dating your friend Kevin. I didn’t know we were coming here.
I’m not even supposed to be gone. My parents think I’m asleep at
home. Please don’t tell them you saw me. Please,” I blurted
out.

He was obviously getting in trouble
a lot. Not just anyone got community service, and he seemed
comfortable in his situation. Really, he had no room to tell on a
person, but knowing my luck, he would. Some people would love to
tell the pastor at a very prestigious church that his daughter was
being sinful and sneaking out past dark. Maybe he was one of those
people.

His eyes filled with humor and he
started to laugh. It was a hearty laugh that sounded from his
insides. It didn’t help that it also made his adorable dimples pop.
I hadn’t really thought about boys all that much, but Finn was
making me notice things I never had before.

Like his arms—the way his muscles
moved under his skin when he did something with his hands. My eyes
had also strayed to his stomach, which I could see clearly through
his snug T-shirt. The thin white shirt left nothing to the
imagination since it stuck to the indentions of his abdominal
muscles.

He bent over and wrapped his arm
around his stomach as he continued to laugh. I’m not sure what
annoyed me more—the fact that my thought processes had gone into
sinful territory, or the fact that he was laughing at me in my
face.

“
What’s so funny?” I
asked.

“
You think I’d tell on you.” He
ended his laughter with a deep chuckle.

“
Well, I don’t really know you.
Who’s to say what you’d do?” I said, offended.

He sobered, but his cocky smirk
stayed in place.

“
Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well,
don’t worry about it. I’d never tell on someone. I’m no nark. I do
think it’s kind of funny that a person like you would sneak out,
though. I had no idea you were such a bad girl, Faith. I bet you
even have some sexy sneak-out clothes hidden under that ugly skirt,
don’t you?” He reached out and pulled at my shirt.

I swatted at his hand, stepped back
swiftly, and covered my blush with my palm. One, because the plain
cotton bra and panties I wore could never be called sexy, and two,
because I’d specifically picked out my skirt because it was my
prettiest. At least I thought it was. It was obvious it was just as
boring and prudish as the rest. It stung my feelings just a little
that he called it ugly, though.

“
Damn, I didn’t mean it’s, like,
ugly. It’s just too long.” He attempted to apologize and failed
miserably. He sighed. “Okay, let’s try this again. Look, I’m Finn.
That’s my place.” He pointed back at the garage. “And I don’t think
it’s a good idea for you to be walking around out here by yourself.
This isn’t the best neighborhood. How about you come on back inside
and I’ll tell everyone to chill with the smoke.”

Honestly, at that point, all I
wanted was to go home, but the idea of going back inside and
getting Amanda to take me home did appeal to me. However, there was
no way I was going to be the prissy pastor’s daughter crashing
their party.

“
No, don’t do that. I don’t want
those people in there thinking I’m a brat. I’ll be fine. I’m just
going to walk home. “

He lifted both his arms, then ran
his hands across his face roughly. His shirt came up and I got a
small peek of the skin just above his jeans. I turned my head
quickly and looked away.

“
Look, come back with me. I’ll
grab my mom’s keys and take you home real quick. Deal?”