Arousing Love, a teen novel (complete)

by M. H. Strom

  “It is amazing. It sounds like God really tested your faith, and you learned 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?”

  “Yes.” 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.”

  “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.

  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’ll have to find a place and move in before then.”

  “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 returning her attention to the cup of coffee she was making.

  “Parties aren’t really my thing.”

  “Nor mine. This is the first one she’s been allowed to have. She 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 going to have to earn our trust though, Zach, before we can let you date again.”

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

  “Here’s Zach,” she yelled to the room. All eyes turned towards me.

  “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 an 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 bedroom, but I walked over to the window and looked out at the distant mountains.

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

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

  She came and put her arms around me and I held her close.

  “I missed you.” She looked up at me with those big, beautiful eyes, and I kissed her perfect lips. 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 ruin everything.”

  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.”

  I sighed. “Alright.”

  She beamed. “Good, ‘cause I wanted to play some of my songs for everybody.” She let go of me and pulled out a guitar case from under her bed. We went downstairs 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 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 something 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 all 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 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 has been the best day of my life!”

  Thirteen

  The party gradually wound down and I helped Joanna and her parents clean up. I asked if I could use their phone to call my parents, and they said I could.

  “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 September and I need to find an apartment and get some furniture and stuff, so I was thinking I should stay here and get myself situated.”

  “What about your things?”

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

  “So you’re not coming back?”

&n
bsp; “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.”

  “Yep, alright.”

  “Tell Mom I love her. I’ll call again soon and let you know how I’m doin’.”

  “Okay.”

  “Thanks Dad, love you, bye.”

  “Bye Son.”

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

  I went back into the living room where Joanna and her parents were watching TV.

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

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

  “It doesn’t even feel 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 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 can come to church with us on Sunday, and we have our home group meeting too. We have a 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 kissed Joanna goodnight and she gave me a big 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.”

  “I won’t.”

  I lay in bed thinking about Joanna in her room right above me. Was she awake and thinking about me too? I wish I could go up and see her and be with her. We wouldn’t do anything, we’d just hold each other. That would be so nice cuddling up with her in her bed. We could fall asleep in each other’s arms. I sighed. I rolled over and tried not to think about her.

  I was woken by Joanna coming into the room. “Good morning,” she whispered. “What time is it?” I whispered back.

  She sat down on the edge of my bed. “It’s seven o’clock. Did you need more sleep?”

  “Nah. I didn’t get much sleep though.”

  “Same. I was too excited.”

  I rubbed my eyes and looked her over. She was wearing a white robe.

  “Are your parents up yet?”

  “No.”

  “What are you wearing under that robe?”

  She stifled a laugh. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  I put my arms around her and suddenly started tickling her. She squealed and tried to push my hands away.

  “Stop, you’ll wake my parents up.”

  I stopped ticking her and she grinned back at me. She glanced towards the doorway.

  “If you wanna see what I’ve got under here. . .” She stood up and untied her robe flashing it open. I got a glimpse of a cute matching pink t-shirt and shorts with little love hearts on them.

  “Nothing too exciting.” She giggled, retying her robe.

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night. I was tempted to sneak up to your room.”

  “I was kinda hoping you would, but I probably shouldn’t say that. We’ve got to be really careful now, Zach. We’re going to be tempted more than ever.”

  “I know. I don’t wanna do anything to lose your parents’ trust.”

  Joanna crouched down next to the bed and gave me a little kiss on my lips. “Did you want me to make you some breakfast? I could make some pancakes.”

  “Sure. I’m gonna take a quick shower first. Is that okay?”

  “Yep, I’ll have your pancakes ready for you when you get out.” She smiled and went off to the kitchen.

  After my shower, I got changed and went into the kitchen. Joanna’s parents were up now, her mom was making coffee and her father was reading a newspaper at the table. Joanna was cooking pancakes for everyone.

  “Good morning,” her mom greeted me with a smile. “I hope you slept alright on that old sofa bed. Was it comfortable enough for you?”

  “Yeah, it was fine, thanks.”

  “Joanna’s showing off her cooking skills this morning.” Her dad teased.

  Joanna laughed. “Watch out dad or yours might end up a little crispy.” She grinned at me and I grinned back. She served up the pancakes and we all ate.

  “We’ve been discussing things,” Joanna’s father indicated his wife and himself, “and we need to sit down and talk about your future . . . and since we’re all here we may as well do it now.” He looked around at each of us and there was an immediate feeling of expectation in the air.

  “Joanna, how do you feel about being betrothed to Zach?”

  “It’s what I want more than anything. We love each other, and God has shown us we’re meant to be together.”

  “So you feel you’re ready for this kind of commitment?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “What about you, Zach? Do you want to be betrothed to Joanna or do you want to wait a while first?”

  “I don’t want to wait. We’re both sure.” I was feeling all tense and nervous. I knew this was one of those big moments in my life.

  “Well, we discussed this last night.” He looked at his wife prompting her to speak.

  “I’m not exactly keen on the idea of you getting married at seventeen.” Her mother’s voice was full of strained tension. “I think it’s far too young, I think it should be eighteen at least, and I’d prefer it if you waited until Zach has a job and you’re in a better position to support each other.”

  I glanced at her father and he smiled reassuringly.

  “But mom, my age doesn’t—”

  “Wait, I’m not finished.” Joanna’s mother held up a hand. “I know what you’re going to say and you don’t need to say it. I’ve talked about this with your father and he thinks this is what’s best for you, so I’m going along with it. But I have a few conditions of my own. After you get married I’d like it if both of you lived here in this house until Joanna is at least eighteen, and preferably until Zach has a job.”

  “You mean after I finish college? That’s four years from now.” I was a little shocked. I didn’t mind living here for a while but four years was a long time.

  “Yes.” Her mother continued. “There’s a lot of responsibility in getting married, and there’s the very real possibility of you having a baby in that time too.” Joanna’s mother looked at her husband, then her daughter. “I’d feel a lot happier about it if you were living here rather than out there on your own without any support.”

  “The thing is, Mom, the whole idea of marriage is about leaving your parents and going out on your own. If we aren’t responsible enough to live on our own and take care of ourselves then we aren’t responsible enough to get married in the first place. You can’t get married and still be taken
care of by your parents like children. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and each other. You’re saying you’ll let us get married but not let us have all the responsibilities of adulthood until you think we’re ready.”

  “Well yes, that is what I’m saying because I don’t believe you’ll be ready for marriage when you’re seventeen. Zach won’t have a job or an income. You’ll still be in high school. You’re just not ready for marriage. This is a compromise to let you marry before I think you’re ready.”

  “Joanna is right though.” Her father cut in. “Getting married is about leaving your parents and taking responsibility for yourselves and each other. I don’t think we should put that kind of condition on them after they’re married. It reminds me of Jacob when he tried to leave his father-in-law’s house. He had to take them and escape in the night because his father-in-law didn’t want to give up his daughters.”

  “Yes, but part of his bride price was agreeing to stay and work another seven years for Rachel after they were married. A betrothal can have all sorts of conditions to it.”

  “His father-in-law tricked him into that.”

  “What exactly do you mean by being able to support ourselves?” I brought the conversation back from its theological sidetrack. “While I’m a student my apartment and some living expenses will be paid for through my scholarship, and a student loan will pay for the rest. I can get a part time job too. Joanna and I could live there and we’d be able to support ourselves.”

  “And I can work part time as well. Zach isn’t the only one that has to support us.”

  “I’d still prefer it if you lived here with us until you’re at least eighteen. You’ll still be very young, and I feel it would be better for both of you if you lived here. We could help you and support you in your relationship. We’d respect your privacy, we’d treat you like adults.”

  Joanna almost snorted. “You’d treat me like an adult?”

  I spoke up again. “It’s not really treating us like adults to say we have to live with you until she’s old enough. It’s still treating her like a child. I think if you’re willing to give your daughter to me you shouldn’t be trying to keep hold of her like this, you need to let go. It’s like you’re giving her to me but wanting to keep her at the same time.”