Yo yo yo, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy! :)


Chapter 19

His alarm clock woke him up the next morning at 7:45 .He had to be at Allison's house at nine to start fixing her parent's car. He smiled, still thinking about his night with her. He finally got up and ate a quick breakfast before jogging around the neighborhood for about twenty minutes; he was pressed for time and needed to leave by 8:40. He came home and jumped in the shower and put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He grabbed another shirt, just in case he got grease from the car on it. He went out to the shed and grabbed his tool set before grabbing his keys and heading to Allison's house.

It took him longer than he thought it would to get to her house. There was a traffic accident that had occurred and, though it was cleared off of the road, traffic was backed up for miles. He was glad he left five minutes early and he got to her house in just over thirty minutes. He was excited to see her and to be able to spend the day with her. He had to fix the car, of course, but he figured she would be out there with him. Her audition was also this afternoon at 3:30 and she wanted him to come with her.

He approached her house and started slowing his truck before pulling into the driveway. He parked and got out as Allison walked out onto the porch. She smiled and waved as she jogged across the yard. When she was close to him, she stood up on her tiptoes and reached up to kiss him. He smiled and kissed her back, knowing that it was going to be a good day.

They spent most of the day working on the car. Before they got to work, she invited him inside where her mom had just finished cooking breakfast. He ended up meeting her father and sitting down to eat breakfast with them. When they were done, she gave him a tour of her house. After showing him her house, they decided to go ahead and start working on the car. They headed outside and Ben grabbed his toolbox out of the back seat. They started working at about 10:00. He rolled underneath the car and he heard Allison ask what she could do.

"Do you see my toolbox on the top of the car?"

"Yep."

"You can hand me the tools I need, if you want to."

"Okay."

He stayed underneath the car for about ten minutes before rolling out. He stood up and she looked at him. He shook his head,

"I don't know; I don't see anything wrong with it."

"What? I thought you could 'fix any car or truck?'" He laughed,

"Alright, here, let me check underneath the hood. You want to pop it for me?"'

"Sure, let me go get the keys."


She ran inside for a minute and he wiped the sweat from his brow. The sun was high in the sky and it was another warm day. Tomorrow was the first day of March and he knew Wilmington was in for a hot summer. He wouldn't be here for it, of course; he was usually gone for about nine months at a time, and it might be a little longer because of the emergency leave he was on. He suddenly felt a surge of sadness. He didn't have to leave until Thursday afternoon but he still had to leave.

He was sure Allison was aware of this, but she hadn't shown any signs of sadness. He didn't know what was going to happen but he knew he didn't want to lose her. He started running through a million scenarios when he heard a door slam behind him. He turned around and all was forgotten when he saw Allison walking down the porch steps with the keys and two glasses of sweet tea in her hands. He smiled and when she got closer, she held out a glass and she smiled and leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. She kissed him back and said,

"Okay, let's get to work."

He took a sip of his drink while she got in and popped the hood for him. She got out and he put the glass down beside him and opened the hood. He looked and poked around for a minute before seeing what was wrong. He saw that the fan belt was loose. He grabbed a tool out of the toolbox and tightened it. He closed the hood and wiped his hands,

"All right, that should do it." She looked at him with a surprised expression,

"What?"

"Yeah, the fan belt was loose so I tightened it up. It should be good now."

"Wow, that didn't take long." He smiled,

"Yep. But we might want to take it for a test drive to make sure nothing else is wrong."

They rode to the end of her street, since it was a long road. While they were riding, the car jerked into second gear. She looked at him,

"Uh-oh, that can't be good." He shook his head,

"No, that's not good." She turned the car and headed back to her house.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know; it could be a number of things. I'll crawl back under it when we get to your house."

She parked the car in the same spot it was in and they got out. She went over and grabbed her glass of tea off of the porch and took a sip as he crawled back under the car.

"Allison, can you hand me the flashlight?"

He waited a minute and didn't hear a response. He turned his head both ways, trying to see if he could see her feet. He didn't see them, so he crawled out from under the car and stood up. He didn't see her anywhere; he looked to both of his sides and walked out to the road and looked down it. He didn't see her and he started to panic. Suddenly, he felt two hands squeeze his sides He jumped and turned around to see Allison busting out laughing. He smiled,

"What are you doing?"

"Did I scare you?" He smiled and nodded,

"Yeah, you did. I thought you got abducted or something. Where were you?"

"I was on the porch; I was waiting for you to turn around and see me, but you didn't. It was all I could do to not start laughing." He laughed,

"I wasn't scared."

"Oh, please, you jumped nearly a foot in the air."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did." He shook his head and walked closer to her,

"No, I didn't." She smiled and, when he got close, she slipped her arms around his neck and looked up at him,

"Yeah you did."

He shook his head and leaned in to kiss her. She smiled and kissed him back. He took a couple of steps forward, with her still in his arms. They moved toward the car and he brought his hand up to her cheek, still kissing her. She pulled away and laughed; her face still close to his.

"Ben." He smiled and she kissed him again. He took a couple of more steps forward when he heard a clanking. They pulled away at the same time and looked down. Allison hopped to the side and exclaimed,

"Ben, your glass!"

He leaned down quickly and grabbed the glass, but it was too late; his tea and ice had spilled everywhere. He looked at Allison and she started laughing,

"Do you want another glass?"

"No, it's okay. This is what you get when you fool around, Allison."

"What? That was definitely your fault."

"No it wasn't, you knocked it over."

"Yeah because you were leading me backwards; I couldn't see anything." He smiled,

"I couldn't see anything either; you were all over me." She scoffed and punched his arm, playfully,

"Oh, whatever, you can just go thirsty while you finish fixing the car, then."

"Who said I was going to finish fixing it?" She smiled and shook her head,

"Oh no, buddy, you promised." He laughed and moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist,

"I did promise, didn't I? I guess I have to finish it, then. I never break my promises, you know."

"Never?"

"Nope, never." She smiled,

"Good. We better get back to work, then."

They finally finished fixing the car, forty- five minutes later. The transmission filter needed to be replaced and, luckily, her father had one in their garage. He closed the hood and wiped his hands on a rag as Allison said,

"I think you fixed it."

"Me too. Finally; we've been working on it for hours." She, instinctively, looked at her watch. It was 2:00.

"Wow, we have, haven't we?"

"Yeah, but it's okay; I had fun." She smiled,

"Me, too."

"So, what time is your audition?

"3:30, but I want to get there fifteen minutes early to rehearse and get ready."

"Have you picked what song you're going to sing?" She shrugged her shoulder,

"Yeah, I'm going to sing Lead Me to the Cross." He nodded,

"Good, I like that one." She smiled,

"I know you do."

"What time do you want to leave?"

"Probably three; it takes about fifteen to twenty minutes to get there."

"Okay. I have to go home and change really fast."

"Okay, I have to change, too; I'm looking rough." He laughed,

"No you don't, you look beautiful." She smiled and gave him a quick kiss,

"Thank you."

He gave her a kiss goodbye and got in his truck. She smiled and waved goodbye and he waved back to her.


When he got home, he went inside and changed into a pair of jeans and a gray collared shirt. He kept his sandals on and walked into the bathroom and sprayed a couple of sprays of cologne on his neck. He grabbed his keys out of his pocket and headed back out the door.

He went back and picked up Allison and they headed to the church. The parking lot looked completely different than it did on Sunday; there were about twenty to thirty cars in the parking lot when they pulled in. He parked a couple of feet away from the door and they got out and walked into the lobby. There were groups of people scattered everywhere; Ben guessed they had the same idea as him and Allison and were rehearsing before the auditions started. Allison went and got her number and then came back and sat beside him.

"Okay, I'm number fifty-eight."

"You're going to do great." She smiled,

"Thank you, now do you want to help me rehearse?"

They rehearsed for about fifteen minutes; until 3:30. A voice came over the intercom and instructed that everyone auditioning as a singer were to move into the sanctuary. When the intercom turned off, Ben looked hat her,

"Well, are you ready?"

"Yeah, as I'll ever be." He smiled,

"Don't worry, you're going to be great, I know it."

They followed about a hundred people into the sanctuary. Ben and Allison found a seat in one of the middle rows and, when everyone was settled in, two young guys walked across the stage and greeted everyone. Ben recognized one of the guys as the one who announced that the auditions were being held today. Ben didn't recognize the other one and he introduced himself as the Director of Music. They seemed like nice guys and the auditions soon got underway.

The first ten or fifteen people were, to put it nicely, not very good. But the auditions soon got better and, by the 40th person, they had accepted sixteen people; eight guys and eight girls. The girls they had accepted so far were good, but not as good as Allison, he thought.

Allison was getting more and more nervous as they approached her number and, by the time they had reached fifty, they had gotten ten guys and nine girls. Ben kept assuring her that she would be fine. The next couple of people were not very good, but then a young girl, maybe 18 or 19, walked across the stage. She announced that she was number fifty-five and would be singing a song called Hosanna.

Ben had to admit, she was pretty good; everyone else seemed to think so, too. Everyone clapped or her and the 'judges' told her that they wanted her to become a part of the church family. She thanked them over and over, getting tears in her eyes, and walked off of the stage. Then, the two men got up and walked on the stage. 'What are they doing?' someone asked.

"Thank you everyone for coming and trying out. We have found our ten men and women and are not holding anymore auditions. Again, thank you all for coming."

There were immediate whispers and protests. Everyone was asking the same question; 'What?' 'What about the rest of us?'

"Whoa, wait, they can't do this." Ben said. Everyone started to accept that they weren't taking anymore auditions and began to file out of the sanctuary. Allison sighed,

"But I rehearsed for days. Come on, Ben, let's go. This was a waste of time."

Ben looked around and saw that the two guys were sitting in their chairs in front of the stage, talking to the people that had been accepted. He turned back to her and shook his head,

"No, hold on a minute, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"Just hold on a minute,"

He stood up and scooted past everyone who was still sitting on their row and made his way up to the stage. Allison called his name, but he didn't turn around. He walked up onto the stage and said,

"Excuse me."

The two men looked up at him and everyone who was still in the sanctuary stopped and looked at him.

"I just wanted to ask you if you could take a minute and listen to my girlfriend sing."

"No, I'm sorry; we've already got everyone we need."

"Wait a minute." He saw them take a deep breath and turn back towards him, obviously getting impatient. Ben tried again,

"What about everyone else here that took time out of their schedule to come down here and volunteer so that you could have enough singers for your music team? It's not fair to them and you know it. I know you think you have found everyone you needed but please, I'm asking you to reconsider and listen to my girlfriend sing."

"I'm sorry, but we're not taking any more auditions at this time. Now, please, get off of the stage or we'll be forced to call security."

When Ben didn't move, they motioned to the security guard at the entrance to come and escort him out. They went back to what they were doing, but Ben wouldn't give up,

"Listen to me! My girlfriend has practiced for this audition for days. She's been worrying herself to death and has been rehearsing her tail off to come down here and sing for you, and I'm sure everyone else in this sanctuary has, too. I know you guys are probably tired of auditioning people and I understand that. But don't you think it's unfair to these people that have come down here to support you and this church to have you turn them away without even giving them a chance? I can't speak for these people, but I know that there's one girl in this sanctuary that loves this church with all of her heart and has been practicing and practicing so you would have a singer. Please, just give her a chance. Just give her one minute and I promise you, you'll change your mind."

They looked at him for a minute as the security guard came on stage and grabbed Ben by the collar. They held out their hands to stop him and they turned to talk to each other for a minute. The security guard let go of him and walked off of the stage. While they were talking, he looked out and found Allison in the crowd. She looked at him before she smiled and mouthed 'I love you.' He smiled and mouthed, 'I love you, too.' She smiled again as the two guys turned back to look at him,

"What's your girlfriend's name, son?" He smiled again, knowing he had gotten through to them. He looked out at Allison and saw her grinning at him. He told them her name and they looked down at their charts and, finally, asked,

"Where's Allison Johnson?" He looked out at her and she smiled and stood up,

"I'm right here!"

"Okay, Ms. Johnson, you have the floor." She smiled and made her way up to the stage. While she walked up to the stage, he turned to the two men,

"Thank you so much, you won't regret it." Surprisingly, they smiled and said,

"Let's hope not, now let your girlfriend have the stage." He smiled and nodded and, when she came up on the stage, he gave her a quick kiss and whispered,

"Good luck, you'll do great."

"Thank you so much, Ben." They both smiled at each other and walked off of the stage and sat down in the front row.

"What song re you going to be singing, Mrs. Johnson?"

"Lead Me to the Cross by Hillsong."

"Wow, we're actually going to be singing that song this week. Whenever you're ready." She took a deep breath and began to sing.

Though she was nervous at the beginning, her nerves quickly went away. She was on tune the entire song and, when she reached the middle of the song, she closed her eyes and sung the rest of the song better than he had ever heard her sing before. When she was done, the entire sanctuary clapped for her and gave her a standing ovation. Ben smiled and clapped for her. She smiled and couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

"Well, Ms. Johnson, you're boyfriend wasn't lying; you can definitely sing. We would be honored to have you join the church family." She smiled and put her hands over her mouth,

"Thank you so much."

"In fact, how would you like to be the lead singer this Sunday, singing that song?" Her mouth dropped open and Ben smiled

"I would love to."

"All right, it's yours. The practices start tomorrow night at 6; they're every night until Sunday. Can you do that?

"I sure can."

"Okay, we'll see you then."

She smiled again and Ben went up on the stage to join her. She saw him coming and ran and threw her arms around his neck. He picked her up and kissed her,

"I knew you could do it!"

She grinned and kissed him again. A woman then came into the sanctuary and announced that all of the guitar and drum players that were going to audition had left. The Director of Music turned to look at her,

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, I guess people were saying that we weren't going to hold anymore auditions and they all left." He turned to the other guy,

"Well, what are we going to do now? All of our regular guitar players can't do it Sunday and now we don't have anybody to audition."

Allison looked at Ben and he looked at her, knowing what she was thinking. He yelled out to them,

"Do you guys need a guitar player?"


:) Isn't Ben just so sweet? Hope you guys liked it! please review!