Finding Faith (7 page)

Reynolds, who could play the hell
out of a pair of drums, was hitting the beats hard. He hated to
practice, but he always showed up on time and played his heart out
even if he was all geeked out half the time. We all had our vices,
but I think he was developing a serious problem. His sudden
appearance of nosebleeds made it hard to look away from his cocaine
addiction. I was no saint. I sold the stuff and on occasion I’d
down a line, but nothing as extreme as Reynolds.

Then there was the newbie, Tony.
I’d given him the name Tiny, mainly because for a kid his age, he
was fucking huge. The kid could play some bass, though, and he kept
to himself. I could appreciate that. He seemed genuine and had yet
to fuck me over in any way. In my world, that was enough for
me.

I was confident that Ordinary
Malice was going to go far. We’d already started attracting
attention from the locals and playing bars even though none of us
were twenty-one. Singing and writing music was my passion. I loved
it and I’d give anything to be able to walk away from all the
bullshit and make an honest living doing it.

The next day, I got a phone call
from Faith. My house phone never rang so it was a shock when it
did. The only reason we still had one was just in case of an
emergency. Mom and I shared her cell, although I had it more than
she did.

“
I saw the flowers,” Faith
said.

She was whispering into the phone.
The poor girl had probably never let go in her entire life. It was
no way to live. It made me wonder how wild she’d be in the sack. As
quickly as the thought came, I pushed it to the back of my mind.
She wasn’t like the rest of the girls and had already somehow
managed to earn a certain amount of respect from me.

“
And?” It sounded rude, but I was
curious where the conversation was going.

“
And I wanted to say thank you. My
dad can be a bit strict, and while I did get in trouble for being
out, it would’ve been even worse if he’d caught me in a
lie.”

“
Don’t worry about it. I would’ve
had to do it come Wednesday anyway. At least this way maybe I won’t
be out in the heat all day.”

It really had sucked that I’d
missed hanging out with my friends that night. Not to mention, my
ex, Jenny, had been there and there was a good chance I was going
to get laid, but it was worth it in the end, I guess. Faith already
had it bad from what I could see. The least I could do was help the
girl out.

“
Do you always sneak out like
that?” I couldn’t help but ask.

I thought I was seeing things when
she’d stepped into my garage that night. She obviously didn’t
belong there, and I wasn’t all that thrilled to have her there. A
girl like her could be a liability. The last thing I needed was my
boys getting accused of some crazy shit because an inexperienced
girl got herself all caught up in our craziness.

She was a nice girl and I felt bad
for her. The contrast between her and the rest of the girls in the
room was pretty hilarious, though. They were all covered in makeup
with painted-on clothes that left nothing to the imagination, and
Faith was clean and covered.

I hadn’t meant to call her skirt
ugly, but it was a crime for such a pretty girl to be so uptight.
Not that she should walk around with her ass hanging out, but damn,
she must burn up in all those clothes.

“
That was my first time. I won’t
be doing that again,” she said adamantly.

It was kind of cute. She was so
childlike since her father had obviously sheltered her for her
entire life. When I thought of all the things she was missing out
on, it was kind of depressing. She was a teenager. It was her job
to experience all the crazy shit possible. It’s how you become a
good adult. You live and you learn. She was going to be thirty and
still clueless to what life had to offer.

“
That’s a shame,” I said with a
grin as I rested the phone between my shoulder and my
face.

Flirting was in my nature and I
never suppressed what came naturally to me.

“
Why’s that?” she
asked.

“
Well, I was going to see if you
wanted to hang out one night.”

It was a last-minute decision, a
kill-two-birds-with-one-stone kind of thing. I could get her out
with me and show her a good time while pissing off her dad so much
that he’d want me nowhere near his daughter. Win-win.

“
Why?” she asked,
confused.

She had no idea how pretty she was.
I’d seen that when I called her pretty in the car on the way to her
house. Confidence was sexy, but so was a beautiful girl who had no
idea how beautiful she was.

“
Because you seem like a nice
girl, and I already told you I thought you were pretty.”

I didn’t mention the fact that I
was also trying to get under her dad’s skin. I somehow didn’t think
that would fly over well with her.

“
But we’re so different,” she
said.

She couldn’t have been more
right.

“
Opposites attract. Don’t you find
me attractive?” I asked.

I’d seen the way she looked at me
when she didn’t think I noticed. I’d seen girls look at me that way
before and all of them had tried to get a piece of me at some
point. Not that I was complaining or holding out, but still, I knew
a girl who was attracted to me when I saw one.

She didn’t answer. I’d bet money
that she was all huddled up in those restricting clothes, hiding
from her parents like a five-year-old. And I’d also bet that she
was ten shades of red since all she seemed to do was
blush.

“
I’m going to take that as a yes.
Besides, it would just be a friend thing. Listen, don’t think about
it. I’ll see you at the church on Wednesday, and don’t worry about
the flowers. I’m just glad you didn’t get into any more
trouble.”

I hung up the phone with a big
goofy smile on my face and plans to make the preacher man
crazy.

The following Wednesday, there
wasn’t any outside work that needed to be done around the church.
Sister Francis loved her flower garden and a few ladies around the
church had praised me for my gardening skills that I had no idea I
possessed.

I got stuck in a back room, filing
papers. It didn’t sound like much of a job, but after thirty
minutes of that crap, I was dying to get outside to work in the
sun. The room was too small and smelled like old lady’s perfume.
Every couple of minutes, I’d feel like I couldn’t breathe and my
eyes would water from the sickly sweet smell.

An hour later, I was done filing
and headed over to Sister Francis to see if there was anything she
needed. I stepped into the kids’ room and was caught off guard by
Faith dancing around.

I stood in the doorway and watched
from afar as she laughed and shook her hips with the kids to some
kiddie music about Jesus. Her smile was real, her happiness
genuine. It was beautiful to watch.

She raised her hands above her head
and shook them around. Her skirt lifted, revealing tiny feet and
ankles. It was about that time that my mind shifted and I started
imagining what her knees looked like, her thighs, her flat stomach,
and from that point, the thoughts only got worse. I was so caught
up daydreaming about Faith naked that I hadn’t even realized she’d
stopped dancing and was talking to me.

“
Finn? Is there anything I can do
for you?” She had her hands on her hips and looked at me like I was
nuts.

Maybe I was. I’d just caught myself
fantasizing about the pastor’s daughter. That could never end
well.

“
Finn?” she asked again
loudly.

Little snickers sounded from the
kids around us.

“
Yeah. I was curious if Sister
Francis needed me to do anything. I’m all done filing.”

“
Actually, I could use your help
in here if you need something to do.” She smiled.

She seemed to smile at me a lot
more than she did before the whole flower incident.

“
Okay. What can I do?” I
asked.

I spent the rest of the time
playing with the kids. I hadn’t been around kids since my last
foster home. Those foster parents had entirely too many kids, so me
and four others who were younger than me slept in one room. It was
obviously those people just wanted the state checks that came with
us.

I kind of liked spending time with
the kids. They were funny and asked a lot of questions. I found
myself laughing with them quite a bit. And every now and again,
when she didn’t think I was looking, I’d see Faith smiling over at
me. She really was beautiful, inside and out. I was pretty good at
seeing through people, and when I looked at her, all I saw was
goodness. She was selfless. I could tell by the way she treated the
kids. There wasn’t a bad bone in her body.

The next week was a blur of smoking
bowls, making deals, singing, and hanging out at church with Faith.
It got to a point where I’d get excited about going to church. I
loved hanging out with her and the more she was around me, the more
I got to see who she really was.

She was more than just the pastor’s
daughter. She was funny. She made me laugh so much most days that
I’d go home with a sore stomach. She was sweet. Some days I’d sit
to the side and watch as she took her time showing the kids how to
spell a word or how to do something correctly. My initial
assumption about Faith was right. She really was an
angel.

Being around her was good. I barely
smoked cigarettes anymore, since she said she hated the smell, and
the only time I really hung out with my friends was when we had
practice or a show. I’d make plans with them and then Faith would
ask me to help her do something and I’d cancel with my
friends.

I had a hard time telling her no
about anything. So when the church had a bake sale coming and she
asked me to help her bake some stuff, I was on board. I really
wasn’t much of a cook, but anything was better than filing or
working in the churchyard.

“
Do you have a girlfriend?” she
asked as she mixed a bowl of cookie dough.

“
Nah. I don’t think dating is for
me,” I said as I buttered the baking pan.

“
No girls? Seriously?” She looked
at me like I had two heads.