Chapter Six
It was confirmed.
Rebecca came home with the news that her family and group of friends had been dreading for the longest time. The news that had her mother making her a delicious meal, probably three-course, and her sister Ruth making her favorite dessert recipe.
The news that had her sister hugging her as she came in the door, an embrace that lasted several minutes. And when Rebecca started to cry, Ruth knew it. The bond between them, in the past few years, through all the difficulty, had done nothing but grow, and as if the pain was telegraphed through that bond, she felt it.
And she knew.
Three months. Three months! Aaron rubbed his forehead, a headache growing within. The time was going by faster and faster.
The longer he put it off, the more quickly the sand ran out. He could hear the clocks ticking in his head, the soft pshhhhhhhhhhhh of the sand falling from the top of the hourglass to the bottom.
He had three months, twelve weeks—it always seemed shorter when he thought of it as twelve weeks—to either complete the Dare or let the youth group know he couldn't do it. The days were ticking away, and he still needed to talk to Rebecca. She had been in church but had been spending an awful lot of time with her family, only coming to youth group every other week.
It was a Sunday again, and he'd spent the last twenty minutes talking with God. I haven't even talked with her, Lord, and my uneasiness is growing. Does that mean that I am supposed to talk to her? To befriend her?
Aaron knew that if he just became her friend, it would be all right. It would be okay just to lose a friend when it came time to admit to everybody it had been the Dare. But God, if Chris is right, like he can be—however rarely—then I am also at risk of her coming to have feelings for me. And vice versa. And I can't have that happen; no, it would be far too painful to stand up in front of the entire youth group and her, Rebecca who has either come to like me or vice versa, and tell them that the entire friendship had been a fraud.
But if you really come to like her, it will not be a 'fraud' relationship.
Rebecca, entering the sanctuary for her now weekly quiet times, she froze when she saw Aaron sitting in the front pew, leaning forward, elbows on knees and chin on fist. Her first thoughts was to give up her alone time and go back home to do it in her room like she did on weekdays, but suddenly her legs wouldn't move.
She'd grown up with him her entire life, whether he knew it or not. He probably didn't remember the girl she was before she went away to her grandparents, for she was a different person when she came back. She had grown up in the church, and only the older adults remembered.
Aaron was a nice person, had always been a nice kid, and she'd even had a crush on him before she went away. But when she went away everything changed for her. If anyone to show her attentions, she would have wanted Aaron to show them to her, but she would never wish for him to have any feelings for her. It would be too painful, for both him and for her.
Aaron felt the presence of somebody behind him, had heard the door close softly as the person entered the sanctuary. He took his time in straightening and turning around.
He was surprised at who he found there. Rebecca was staring at him, but this time there was calmness to the way her gaze held his. For the first time since she'd first come to the church, she looked him straight in the eye without looking scared to death.
That was what gave him courage for his next sentence. "Come sit with me." He didn't expect her to actually sit beside him, but she did. Slowly, coming down the isle between the chairs, she walked with poise toward him and gently sat down in the chair next to him.
Rebecca looked over at him expectantly, and he said, "I don't understand why you won't talk to me."
He hadn't known that he'd had any frustration for her, but as he spoke this sentence, it practically oozed with impatience. His statement was a question he'd wanted to ask for years, and in the last three months his unknown irritation had only grown. He'd ascribed his aggravation to the Dare, believing it himself until today.
And to his complete astonishment, she spoke in reply.
Rebecca knew the minute the sentence was out of Aaron's mouth that she would end up having to tell him the entire story. "Aaron, I can't talk to you or anyone else because I can't risk having friends."
His initial look of surprise changed to amazement and then to confusion in the space of only a few seconds. Before he could say anything more, she began her story.