RECKLESS — Bad Boy Criminal Romance (16 page)

“I think she’s hot.  You think we’d get along personality-wise?”

“Yeah, she’s cool.  Y’all would be good together.”  Ariel seemed excited by the idea.  She finished a cheeseburger.  “Stay here.  I’ll have her come talk to you real quick.”

Ariel returned to work and soon Cassie joined me at the table.  “Hey,” she said with a nervous smile.  “This is kind of embarrassing, but I told your sister I thought you were cute.  Don’t feel like you have to go out with me.  Sorry if she made you feel that way.”

“No, not at all.  I thought the same about you.”

Cassie smiled again more easily.  Then out of the blue she asked, “Is it true you’re part black?”

“My mom is partly.  So from her I am.”

She nodded.

I stared back at her.  “Does that matter to you?”

“No,” she said.  “I mean, I think a lot of black guys are good-looking.”

“I don’t really look black though, so doesn’t that defeat the point?”

“No, I like the way you look.  It’ll be a secret.  My parents and friends won’t even know you’re black.”

Confused, I changed the subject.  “Do you want to go out next week?”

“How about tomorrow?” Cassie asked.

“What do you want to do?”

“Just come over to my house around noon and we’ll think of something,” she said.  “What’s your cell number?”

“I don’t have one,” I said.  “I haven’t had much extra money in the past to afford one.  I might get one soon.”

“You should have your parents pay for it like I do.”  She wrote her address on a napkin and handed it to me.

The next day I drove over.  I knocked on the front door and expected an uncomfortable first meeting with either her mother or father.  Luckily Cassie opened the door herself, wearing a pink tank top and pajama shorts.

I looked her over.  “I guess you’re not ready to go anywhere.”

She giggled.  “Yeah, I slept in a little.  Go ahead and come in.”

I followed her through a hallway into a living room.  A MTV reality show played on television.  Otherwise the house was quiet.  “Your parents aren’t here?” I asked.

              “No, on Sundays they go to church and visit my grandma at the nursing home.”

              “They let you skip out on that?”

              “Sometimes I go.  But I didn’t feel like it today.”

              We sat together on the couch.  An awkward silence ensued as we both pretended to watch TV.

“You played football, didn’t you?” Cassie asked, struggling for something to say.  “Your sister said you did.”

“Yeah.”

“I can tell.  You look like you’re in really good shape.”

“Thanks.”

She thought a moment, then asked, “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She smiled and leaned toward me and stuck her tongue in my mouth.  We made out before stripping each other’s clothes off and having sex on the couch.  Us being young, it was clumsy but satisfying.  Afterward we put our clothes on and Cassie asked, “So what do you want to do now?”

“I was going to take you out to lunch.”

“Why don’t we just order in?  I have my parents’ credit card.”

I nodded.  “Okay, cool.”

I’m about to call Britney Boyd.  Angela and I sit together on the sofa in my mother’s living room.  “Hey.”  I look at Angela.  “While we’re here in Fayetteville, what should our names be?”

Angela stares forward into space, concentrating hard, then blurts out, “Billy and Samantha.”

“Okay then … Now I just need to figure out where to take Britney for our first date.”

“What do you normally like to do?”

“Something that won’t cost any money.”

“So you’re a cheap date?”

“At the same time I want to make it clear that this is a date.  That I’m romantically interested in her.  I don’t want to let it become some situation where I become another anonymous person she’s trying to convert.  Maybe I should just go old-fashioned.  Dinner?  That we can talk yet my intent is clear.  I just need to find a place where I don’t have to spend too much on her.”

“McDonalds?” Angela suggests.  “But be sure to make it clear that she’s only allowed to pick something off the value menu.”

“Hold on.”  I grab the yellow pages, then sit back on the couch and flip through the restaurants.  “How about Red Lobster?”

“All you can eat shrimp?  I thought my McDonald’s idea was better,” she muses.  “Or take her to Chick-Fil-A.  They’re closed on Sundays; that’ll impress her.”

I dial Britney.

“Hello?” she answers.

“Britney, hey, this is Bill.  I asked you for your number in the student union.”

“Yeah, I remember you.”

“I’d like to see you.  Would you like to have dinner tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be free then.  This is a date, right?” she asks.

“Yeah.  Is that okay?”

“Oh, yeah.  I was just making sure.”

“Tell me where you live.  I’ll pick you up around seven.”

On a Wednesday night Britney and I sit at a booth at the Red Lobster.

“I’ll have a Diet Coke,” Britney tells the waiter.

I order a water.

“Are you allowed to ever drink alcohol?” I ask her.

“Well, different Christians have different opinions on whether it’s a sin or not.  But I don’t drink.”

“Never?”

“Well … there was one time when I had a glass of champagne at my cousin’s wedding.”

“Right.”

“But that’s about it.  I want to keep my head clear to keep up with my work and pursue my goals.  Plus, God says your body is a temple.  So it’s good to maintain it and keep it pure, you know?”

“Right on.”

“Do you ever drink?”

“On occasion.  Not that often, just every once in a while.  But not to excess.  Like you said, it’s good to keep healthy, stay clear-headed and whatever.”

The waiter brings us our drinks.

“I have to tell you something,” she says. 

“What?”

“I don’t go on dates that often.”

“I wouldn’t have known.  You’re pretty and, even though we just met, you seem like you have a lot going for you.”

“I’ve only ever had one boyfriend.”

“You’re only how old?  Eighteen?  Just started college.  It was probably your high school sweetheart, right?”

“Sort of.  It was a guy I knew from youth group.  But he always felt more like a friend than a boyfriend.  I just never felt that way towards him, you know?”

I nod.

“Sometimes I feel so different than everyone else my age.  I used to always think that I’d like to meet a man who was just like me, really involved in the church and everything.  But all the guys I’ve met like that I’m not really attracted to.”  She shakes her head.  “I don’t know why God has done that to me.”

“Maybe you don’t have to be with a guy who’s just like you.”

“That’s what I just started thinking recently.  I thought maybe God wants me to find a guy who’s not that religious but has an open heart.  And by being with me he could see my example and start to grow and develop his relationship with Jesus.”

“Is that why you agreed to see me?”

“Well, partly.”

“What else?”

“When we first met you told me you thought I was cute.  I felt the same about you.”

I smile.

“And I liked how you were so confident to approach me.  I never would have the guts to do something like that.  If it was the other way around and I had seen you sitting there, I never would have been brave enough to just walk up and ask you out.”

“You’re brave.  You were sitting there trying to convince strangers to go to church.”

              “That’s different,” she says.  “When I do stuff like that, God gives me the strength and courage to talk to people and do good work for Him.  I’m not always like that though.”

              Our waiter returns.  For my entrée I order Cajun chicken pasta.  Britney orders crab linguini alfredo.

              “I have to tell you,” Britney says.  “I can’t have sex until I’m married.”

              “Okay.”

              “Sorry to bring it up out of the blue.  But I thought I’d tell you in case we start to really like each other.  I’m not against sex or anything.  I think it’s great if it’s between a married man and woman who love each other.”

              “Alright.”

              “Is that a big deal to you?”

              “No.  I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

              “It just seems like society is so permeated with sex these days.  In movies, TV … It seems like everyone is so obsessed with it nowadays.”

              “Maybe they always have been.”

              Britney thinks a moment and then says, “Do you ever pray?”

              “Not really, no.”

“What do you do when you really want something to happen in your life?”

              “I usually think about it, come up with a plan, and then go for it.”

              “Oh, I do that too.  But I also ask for God’s help.”

              “How do you know that God hears you?”

“He’s never too busy to listen.  He blesses me all the time with what I ask for.”

              “How about when he doesn’t?”

              “Then I know whatever I asked wasn’t best for me and He has other plans.”

              “That makes sense.”

              We’re both quiet a moment.

“I’m sorry I bring up God so much.  He’s just a big part of my life,” Britney says.  “I know I’ve lost some friends over it though, the way he’s always on my mind.  Does it bother you?”

“No, I know it’s important to you,” I tell her.  “But how about we make sure to talk about stuff that has nothing to do with religion too?  We could split it up so the conversation doesn’t get too stuck on one topic.”

              “Okay.  What should we talk about?”

              “What’s one of your favorite things to do that doesn’t involve church?”

              “I like to drive go-karts … but I usually do that on youth group trips.  Could that count?”

              “Yeah, let’s just focus on the driving part.  What do you like about it?”

“I like the adrenaline rush.  The feeling I get from driving real fast and trying to win.  I’m kind of competitive by nature, so …”

For the remainder of dinner I steer our conversation away from God-related topics in an attempt to learn more about Britney, the normal eighteen year-old girl.  I also speak of my own likes and dislikes and she remains absorbed in the conversation.  We finish dinner and I pay the bill.

              In the parking afterward, walking to my car, she has a bright smile.  We’re close together and I put my arm around her waist and pull her into me slightly as we walk.  I open the car door for her and we get in.

              “I need to bring up God again for just a second,” she says inside my Toyota.  “Have you ever been to church?”

              “I need to bring up God again for just a second,” she says inside my Toyota.  “Have you ever been to church?”

              “Once when I was younger.”  I drive out of the lot.

              “Would you like to go with me this Sunday?”

              “Is it a date?”

              “I don’t know if church can be a date,” she ponders.

              “Why not?  The two of us sitting there together, Jesus chaperoning.  Sounds like good, clean fun to me.”

              She giggles and says, “Yeah, I guess so.  It’s a date then.  Is that okay?”

“Yeah.”  I smile.  “I was just making sure.”

Britney lives in apartment community called The Cliffs.  I drive to her complex and park in front of her apartment.  I walk her to the door.

“I had fun,” she says.  “Do your dates normally go like that?”

“No, most girls after talking to them a few minutes I realize I could never be with them.  I just don’t feel that connection, but I don’t know … I feel like there’s a spark with you.”

She smiles and says, “Yeah, me too.  Most people just wait for their turn to talk, but you really listen.”

We’re standing face-to-face near her door.  I lean in to kiss her but she pulls away slightly.  “I … I can’t kiss you on the first date,” she stammers.

I stare at her, blink twice, then grab her by the hips, pull her into me and kiss her anyway.

She doesn’t resist, though she doesn’t participate either, just letting me kiss her.  “Oh, wow … okay,” she says after I let her go.

“It’s just a kiss,” I say.  “I like you.”

“Okay.  It’s fine.  It was good.”