Arousing Love, a teen novel (24 page)

“Sure.”

The doorbell rang, and Joanna ran to answer
it. She squealed and hugged whoever it was at the door, and I heard
their excited chatter. It sounded like there was more than one, and
sure enough, two girls were invited in. “Zach, these are my best
friends, Emma, and Crystal.”

“Hi.” I smiled at them.

“We’ve heard sooo much about you.”

“So when are you guys getting married?” The
girls giggled.

I looked at Joanna, and she blushed.

“Come and look what Zach gave me for my
birthday.” Joanna redirected.

The three girls were soon hovering over the
photo album. They talked so fast, punctuated only by giggles. Every
now and again, Joanna would look at me and smile
apologetically.

More people arrived, and soon there was a
small group of young people mingling in the living room. The music
was cranked up, and party food was put out on the table. Joanna
flitted around talking to everyone. I moved my bags out of the way,
and stayed out of the way myself, content just to look on.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to
see Joanna’s father. “Hey Zach, it’s really good to see you again.”
He grinned.

“Hi, yeah, it’s good to see you too.”

Joanna’s father looked around at the party
goers. I followed his gaze. Joanna was surrounded by giggling
girls. I could hear her voice above all the hubbub even from across
the room, “I know, I’m so lucky.” She was bubbling with excitement,
enjoying all the attention.

“She seems so different when she’s with her
friends.”

He laughed. “I know, but she’s still the same
Joanna we know and love.” He looked at me and smiled. “Come on,
let’s go into the kitchen so we can talk.”

I followed him down the hallway and through a
door. The kitchen was large and had a small table and chairs, where
we sat down.

“I just got home. I was surprised to see you
here.”

“I had an interview today. I’ve been offered
a scholarship to the art school down the road.”

“Really? That’s excellent. I’m glad for you,
Zach. I’m really glad you made it.” He grinned and gave my shoulder
a slap.

“Did Joanna tell you what happened with
getting into college and everything?”

“Yeah, she told us you hadn’t got in.”

“I made getting into college a sign from God.
I wanted God to show me clearly if it was his will that I come to
Colorado, and everything. So I applied to four colleges but I
didn’t get in to any of them, and that was the hardest time of my
life, but somehow I still found the faith to trust in God. And then
I got this scholarship—out of all the thousands of people who
applied to that college, they chose me for a full scholarship. I
know it was God that did it. He didn’t do it the way I thought he
would, he did it his way, and his way is so much better. It’s so
amazing, and it just happened today.”

“It is amazing. It sounds like God really
tested your faith, and you learnt to trust in him despite the
circumstances. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses in
Proverbs, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on
your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he
shall direct your paths.’”

“Yeah, he did direct my paths. He made a way
for me.”

“So it has confirmed to you that you and
Joanna are meant to be together?”

“Yeah, definitely.” I looked at him, “Don’t
you think?”

He nodded. “So I take it you still want to be
betrothed then?”

“Yeah.” I smiled.

He smiled too. “We can discuss that later,
when we’re all together.”

Just then, Joanna’s mother came through the
back door carrying some bags of groceries. She saw us sitting at
the table. “Could you two help me bring some things in from the
car?”

“Sure.” We both jumped up.

The back door from the kitchen led to a
garage, where their car was parked with its trunk open.

“I haven’t seen this car for a while.”

“Yeah, she’s a good car for long road trips.
It’s amazing how much stuff you can fit in there. That’s the one I
drive.” He pointed to a battered old sports car parked off the
driveway, and I laughed.

We each grabbed a load of grocery bags, and
he closed the trunk.

“When are you moving here then, Zach?”

“I don’t know. School starts in September, so
I have to get a place before then. It doesn’t leave me much time,
but Joanna said she’d get her friends to help me find an
apartment.”

“You’re welcome to stay with us until you
find a place.”

“Really? Thanks.”

We came back to the kitchen and unloaded our
bags on the counter.

“Enjoying the party, Zach?” Joanna’s mother
smiled at me before turning her attention back to the cup of coffee
she was making.

“Parties aren’t really my thing.”

“No, nor mine. This is the first one she’s
been allowed to have here. She’s invited mostly people from church
and a few of her friends from school, so I’m not too worried about
it.” She sipped her coffee.

Joanna’s father sat down at the table again.
“Zach has been telling me about his scholarship. He’s going to be
starting school here in September.”

“Yes I know. It’s good news isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

She gave me a serious look. “You’re gonna
have to earn our trust though, Zach, before we let you date again.
But I know you love each other, and I’m happy that you’re
here.”

Joanna burst through the door. “There you
are! They all wanna meet you.” She grabbed my arm, pulling me up
and out the door.

“Here’s Zach,” she yelled to the room. All
eyes turned towards me. There were even more people there now.

“Hi.” I smiled awkwardly.

“Hi Zach!” Some girls greeting me,
giggling.

“So you’re the infamous Zach.” Some guy shook
my hand.

“Yeah, hi.”

He continued to hold my hand in a strong
grip. “You’re a lucky guy, Zach. Joanna’s a very special person.” I
escaped his clutches and moved away through the crowd.

I saw some stairs, and decided to make my
escape. Upstairs, I recognized the hallway from Joanna’s video, and
opened a door, immediately recognizing her bedroom. There was my
painting on the wall. I felt a little intrusive being in her room,
but I walked over to the window and looked out at the distant
mountains.

“Hey,” a voice said behind me. I swung around
to see Joanna standing in the doorway. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just needed to get away
from all those people for a while.”

She smiled sympathetically and came and put
her arms around me, and I pulled her close.

“I missed you.” She looked up at me with
those big, beautiful eyes, and we kissed. I felt that old familiar
feeling of desire rising up in me, as our bodies pressed against
each other.

I pulled away. “We have to be careful. What
if your parents saw us in here? I don’t wanna wreck everything
now.”

She gently pulled me back into her embrace.
“I know, but we need this. We haven’t held each other like this for
so long.”

We held each other close without kissing,
just enjoying the feeling of being in each other’s arms again.

“Why have you got teddy bears on your
bed?”

She laughed. “I like them, they’re cute and
soft and cuddly. You think they’re too girly?”

“No, they suit you. You’re cute and soft and
very cuddly.”

She giggled, and I kissed her again on her
cute, soft, lovely lips.

“You should go enjoy your party. I’ll be
fine.”

“I wanna stay here with you. It’s my party, I
can do what I want.” She grinned at me.

“We can’t do everything you want, but maybe
on your next birthday.” I raised my eyebrows suggestively, and she
laughed.

“You better go downstairs before you’re
missed.”

“Come with me, then.”

“Alright.” I sighed.

She beamed. “Good, ‘cause I was just about to
play some of my songs for everyone.” She let go of me and pulled
out a guitar case from under her bed. We went downstairs into the
living room, and she went and turned the music off.

“Who’d like to hear me play some of my
songs?”

Everyone thought it was a great idea. Joanna
sat down on the sofa and gave her guitar a quick tune. When she
started to play, everyone became very quiet. It was a simple, sweet
melody, then she added her voice to it, and it was so beautiful. I
saw her parents come in and stand at the back listening to their
daughter sing. It was a song I’d never heard before, and her guitar
playing was so good. I think she was wowing everyone, they all
seemed stunned by her performance. When she finished, no one moved
or even clapped. We just stood there. Joanna wasn’t fazed by that,
she started in on her next song, one beautiful song after another.
It felt so intimate. She closed her eyes and worshipped God like
no-one else was there watching her. It was fantastic.

When she finished, she opened her eyes and
looked around at us in surprise as if she’d forgotten about us, or
maybe because we were all so quiet. Then everyone started talking
at once.

“That was amazing.”

“Never heard anything so beautiful.”

I smiled at Joanna and she smiled back at
me.

“I think this would be a good time to give
you your birthday present from us.” Joanna’s father stepped through
the crowd, pulling an envelope from his pocket, and handed it to
Joanna. The people near her huddled around to see as she opened it.
She read it silently and everyone started asking what it was.

“What is this Dad? I don’t understand
it.”

“It’s time at a recording studio. We’ve paid
for you to record an album, with a professional producer and
everything. We’ll get your songs recorded and see if we can get a
music label interested in you.”

Joanna placed her hand over her mouth to
stifle an excited squeal. “I can’t believe this! Thank you Mom and
Dad.” She blinked as tears formed in her eyes. She looked at me.
“This is the best day of my life!”

Thirteen

The party gradually wound down, and I helped
Joanna and her parents clean up the mess. I asked if I could call
my parents to let them know what was happening, and they, of
course, said yes.

“Hello?” My dad answered.

“Hi.”

“Is that you Zach?”

“Yeah. I got offered the scholarship.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I thought they’d take a while to
decide, but they said I was the last person they had to interview,
so they made their decision right then while I waited outside. They
said I was their first choice, they really loved my art, they were
raving about it.”

“That’s good. When are you coming home?”

“Well, school starts in the fall, so I don’t
have a lot of time to get settled here. I need to find an apartment
and get some furniture and stuff. So I was thinking I should
probably stay here and get myself situated.”

“What about all your things?”

“I can just buy some more clothes and
stuff.”

“So you’re not coming back?”

“I’ll be back for Christmas or
something.”

“Oh, well
. . .
I’ll let your mother know. You take
care.” My dad’s voice cracked a little like he was getting
emotional. I hadn’t expected that from him.

“Hey Dad, thanks for the money and
everything. This is a real turning point in my life.”

“Yep, alright.”

“Tell Mom I love her. I’ll ring again soon
and let you know how I’m settling in.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks Dad. I love you. Bye.”

“Bye Son.”

It felt weird saying I love you to my dad. I
hadn’t expected this phone call to be so emotionally heavy. I was
just glad I didn’t get hold of my mom instead, that would’ve been
even worse.

I went back into the living room. Joanna and
her parents were sitting on the sofa watching TV.

“Come and join us, Zach. We’re watching some
old home videos of Joanna when she was little.”

I sat down next to Joanna, and we cuddled up
together. We watched the cute little toddler on the screen,
wobbling along on unsteady legs.

“It doesn’t even feel like it was that long
ago. It’s amazing how fast it goes.” Joanna’s father spoke
wistfully.

Her parents started reminiscing about the
funny things Joanna did as a child. We watched as Joanna grew up on
the TV screen—a cute little three year old, then a precocious five
year old. She was adorable. When the video was over, her father got
up.

“Who wants to see the video of Joanna and
accompanist performing at the campground talent contest?”

We all laughed.

“It’s too late for that tonight,” Joanna’s
mother protested. “We should all be going to bed.”

“Can I take Zach out and show him around the
city tomorrow?”

“Is that a sneaky way of asking to go on a
date?” Joanna’s father raised his eyebrows at his daughter.

Joanna gave him a cute smile, and he
laughed.

“Well, since it’s Saturday tomorrow, I guess
I could drive you around.”

Joanna looked at me, her eyes sparkling. “And
you’ll be here for our home group meeting on Monday night. We have
it here, usually about eight people come to it, and we have Bible
study and a time of prayer and worship.”

“Sounds good.” I smiled.

“Yeah, they’re a great group of people, Zach.
They all love the Lord and wanna live for him. It’ll be good for
you to be part of that.” Joanna’s father pulled the tape out of the
machine and switched off the TV. “We better go to bed and let Zach
get some sleep. I’ll help you pull out the sofa bed.”

I kissed Joanna goodnight, and she gave me a
hug. Her mom looked on with a concerned frown.

“I don’t want either of you going near each
other during the night, okay? Joanna that means you too. Don’t come
down here for any reason.”