Ten Things

Ch.7-Love Sees With the Heart

Cole

We hadn’t been to church in weeks. Maybe even months. But the pastor’s wife was sick bad and so my parents were basically guilted into attending the service. I thought it all very sad, really.

“Cole, are you ready to go?”

“In a second, “I mumbled, sneering at myself in the mirror. I was in a suit, something I didn’t wear very often. I wasn’t a formal or tailored kind of guy. I didn’t pull off corporal perfection like my parents could. That wasn’t me. It would never be me. I just wished I could convince them of that.

“We have to go or we’ll be late,” my mother persisted, applying lipstick why she struggled to pull her sandal over her heel.

“I don’t see why you’re making such a big fuss,” I muttered. “We aren’t exactly regulars.”

“I heard that,” she quipped, popping her lips in the mirror and sticking her makeup in her purse. “Where’s your father?”

“Right here.” He gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. He was dressed in a suit as well, but it didn’t bother him as much seeing as he owned a professional and casual suit set.

“Good, good, excellent.” She smoothed her hands down her solid red dress. It seemed a little bright and bold for an old, traditional chapel. “Let’s head out.”

It wasn’t that I had anything against church. Or religion. Or God. My grandparents, when they were alive, were extremely religious people and raised me to be the same way. Unfortunately, they passed when I was around twelve years old and I was left in the hands of my apathetic parents who would rather seal business deals than learn about the New Testament. It wasn’t like I ever had much say in my life, so I didn’t complain or speak out or do anything. I simply went with the flow, like I was always expected to do.

Heart was a small town, so most of the kids at the high school attended church out of obligatory routine to their parents. We had gone to Sunday School together as children, done our time at Vacation Bible School camps over the summer. My parents simply drifted away while others remained steadfast to the church. Different circumstances resulted in different things. That was uncontrollable. Like life. And who you were born to. And the traits you were born with.

The church was about a five minute drive. It was a grand stone building with stained glass windows and a bell at the top. An immaculate garden with a huge cross was situated off to the side. My mother adjusted her ridiculous floppy hat on her head, pretending to fit in. She greeted people as she passed them, like she attended every Sunday. It was painful to watch. I wondered if my parents even knew how to be themselves, since they were always so busy acting like other people.

We entered through the large oak doors. I immediately spotted Jayden sitting with his parents. Church was probably the one and only place I’d see any of the people I knew sitting with their parents. He spotted me and looked completely shocked to see me. I shrugged. My parents continued down the aisle, no doubt headed for the front seats nobody occupied. Even from the few times I remembered attending, I recalled that the front rows were always the last to fill up. I always assumed it was because sitting in the back meant you were out first for the snacks and coffee.

We filed into three seats in the front row. I glanced to my side, simply a casual action, and paused. I had to fight off a smirk. I should have known she would be at church, and in the front row no less. I was beginning to think she never took her hair out of that braid. Her eyes were fixated on the bible in her hands, quietly reading scriptures until the service started. Her parents were on either side of her, not talking. I noticed each had a hand resting on her arm.