"Bye, mom! I'll be back soon!" Austin calls from the door.
"Bye, bud! Have fun!"
He locks the door behind him, heads down the driveway and into the waiting car of his girlfriend's mom.
"Hey!" Christine cheers, leaning over the back of the front seat to kiss him quickly.
"Hey, yourself!" Austin smiles. "Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Renner."
"Oh, no problem, sweetie! Thank you for coming!"
"Yeah, always," Austin says. "Am I dressed okay? I wasn't really sure, but my sister said it was alright?" Wearing a dark green flannel shirt, tan slacks, and crisp white sneakers, he looked both comfortable and festive.
"You look perfect. Honestly, my church is so casual, you could have come in jeans and been fine," Christine says, using her sunvisor mirror to finish her makeup.
The drive doesn't take long and soon they are pulling into a spot and walking up to the large church building. Christmas Eve brought out a lot more of the congregation than a usual Sunday
"Oh! What! The prince himself, Austin Castle, has arrived!" The shouted comment has them all turning to the voice and Austin laughs.
"Hey, man. What's up?" The two teens slap hands, laughing in the casual way schoolmates would.
"Eh, you know. Church with the family. You?"
"I'm here for Christine."
"Oh, shit! Yes, I forgot you're performing. Good luck."
"Thanks, Lucas," Christine says, rolling her eyes with a smile. Introductions are made, and a moment later the two families walk in together.
They find Christine's dad and older brother, who as members of the worship band and the narrator for the nativity production, had been there since early that morning setting up. Her eldest brother, Ben, was sick at home.
There's a themed backdrop set up for photos, and reluctantly, Mrs. Renner makes her children get in line for pictures.
"Christine Emily! Stand up straight. Grant Thomas, please no faces. I want one good one to send to your grandmother." Satisfied, Mrs. Renner puts down her camera, and her boys wander off.
"Hold on." Austin stops his Christine and stands next to her in front of the background, holds up his own cell phone, and snaps a few selfies of them. She kisses him on the cheek, wiping off the lipstick mark she makes, and takes his hand. The large auditorium faces an equally large stage and is full of long rows of padded pews. "Wow, this is big," Austin exclaims.
"I've been to bigger," Christine shrugs. "Don't be nervous. It's all good," she says, picking up on the change in her boyfriend's mood. "I promise! We're gonna sing some songs and tell the Nativity story and maybe Paster Eriq will give a sermon. It's chill."
"Right, I know that," Austin says, trying to come off cool and collected. He had very little experience going to church. His parents weren't really church people, and he was little the last time he went with this grandfather. This was all new to him, and kind of a culture shock.
"Okay, I gotta get up there. Stay with my mom and you'll be okay," Christine tells him, kissing him quickly before heading down the aisle and going up on stage with the other choir, band, and play performers.
"Austin, don't worry!" Mrs. Renner laughs. "I promise you'll be okay." She hugs him quickly and just then the lights go out and a hush falls over the crowd.
As the candlelight processional continues its slow journey onto the stage, Austin searches for his girlfriend, finding her up on the risers with the choir. They're all singing the song in a beautifully haunting way that sends chills up his spine.
Through more songs and the start of the Nativity play, Austin keeps looking back to Christine. Even from up there, she gives him comfort when another song starts or he thinks he's said something wrong. And she was right: nearly every song he knows, and the ones he doesn't he's grateful the lyrics are projected on the large screen at the front.
They all stand to herald the arrival of the Baby Jesus, and when one of the three young boys playing the magi loses his costume coming on stage, Austin laughs with everyone else as the embarrassed child scrambles to fix himself while the play continues.
With one final harmonious note, the show ends with thunderous applause.
"Oh! You guys were so good up there!" Mrs. Renner greets her family with a cheer. She hugs them all in turn and accepts congratulations from others nearby.
"Hey!" Christine shouts, throwing her arms around Austin's neck. "Did you like it?"
"You were great!" Austin says, hugging her again and kissing her quickly. "I liked it. Those little kids were pretty cute."
"Oh, I know! And when Ashton's costume fell off! We died!" she laughs.
"I think I get the whole Christmas story now," Austin confesses privately as they walk out into the December night. "It's really beautiful."
"Yeah, it really is," Christine nods. Church was something really important to her and she was glad she could now share it with her boyfriend. "So, do you want to come get dinner with or do you have to get home?" She knew Austin's family also had traditions that night and wanted to be respectful of that.
"Let me text my mom, but it shouldn't be a problem," he smiles at her.
