Grace Alive: a Christian Romance by Natasha House

went up to the counter and grabbed them for us. He set it
down in front of me, and my eyes lit up with pleasure.
    “It looks like you got the ring of power.” He
laughed at my expression.
    “My prrrreeeecioussss….” I hissed.
    “God, we’re dorks,” he said with a laugh.
    “Hey, I like Lord of the Rings. From
what you told me last night you’re a big geek at heart too.” I took
a drawn out sip of my mocha with lots of yummy, yum noises.
    “You’re not supposed to say that out loud,
Zoe, someone might hear you.” He looked around the room in mock
horror.
    “You told me you have Batman underwear, I
mean seriously; you can’t get any geeker than that!” I brushed his
hand with mine. I felt tingles go up and down my arm. We’d talked
about more than just geeky stuff last night too. Why was it so much
easier to say something when chatting than in person?
    “Did you listen to that song I posted on my
wall last night?” he asked me. He drank some of his coffee. He was
so good looking. It kept distracting me from what he was actually
talking about. Song? What song?
    “Um…no…what song was that?” I asked.
    “I wrote it,” he said and raised his eyebrows
at me.
    “You wrote a song? You mean you sing other
stuff other than Old McDonald had a farm?”
    “I’m branching out,” he said with a
laugh.
    “No, I didn’t hear it.” I’d have to look on
Facebook later.
    “Tell me what you think, okay?” he said
rather shyly.
    “I will,” I said and sipped at my coffee.
    “If it sucks just tell me.”
    “I’m sure it doesn’t suck,” I said with a
laugh. We talked for a bit longer before I glanced at my watch.
Crap I had to go to work in two hours!
    “Listen, Branson, I gotta run! I have to get
ready for work in a couple hours. This was fun,” I said. He stood
to his feet and came around toward me. He pulled me into an
embrace.
    “I’ll text you after work. You get out at
ten?” he asked me as he tossed our coffee cups away. I was still
thinking about his hug. It made me tingle all the way down to my
toes.
    “What? Yeah, ten.”
    “I’ll walk you to your car,” he said. We
headed outside, and he opened up my car door for me like an old
fashioned gentleman. He leaned on my door and peered over top of
it.
    “Did I tell you that you looked nice?”
    “Girls can always use more compliments,” I
said with a teasing smile. He smiled at me.
    “See you later, Zoe.”
    “Bye,” I said, and he closed the door. I
watched him walk to his car. Stop staring at his butt, Zoe, I thought to myself as I giggled. I started up my car.
    ***
    When I got home, my dad was out busy in the
yard, and my mom was at her ladies meeting. The moment I saw my
dad, my mind went back to the mess I was in. My dad said Jacob was
the one, but there was no way. Why was I thinking about that right
now? I had a little bit of time, so I grabbed a muffin, poured
myself another huge cup of coffee, and plopped myself in front of
my computer. My story stared at me. I put my fingers to the
keyboard and began to type out my frustration at my life. When I
was done I sat back. Was that really how I wanted my character’s
life to go? One big whopping mess? I went to go hit the back key
but paused. Why shouldn’t her life be as big of a mess as mine was?
Why should she get a happy ending and not me? I closed Microsoft
Word down and went to go sit on my bed. I grabbed a book off my
bookshelf and lost myself in another person’s perfect story.
    My phone alarm beeped, and I climbed off my
bed to get myself ready for work. I brushed my hair, touched up my
makeup, and got dressed. Another day, another dollar. I passed my
dad on the way to my car.
    “Work?”
    “Yeah,” I mumbled and climbed into my
car.
    “See you tonight, Zoe. We need to talk
later.”
    Great. Just great. I pulled out of the
driveway and headed toward my work. I got there and smiled at my
familiar customers as I relieved a girl named Amanda, who