We wouldn’t want anyone to get pregnant.
I bite my lip to stop the thought from vocalizing.
“So,” I manage, awkwardly as my friends stand around me, “who’s up for some Old Testament?”
Maggie accompanies us to the edge of campus before she veers off to her own class. It’s then that I realize that while she is supportive of me, she likely joined my friends to Roland’s house to keep up with the chaperone/odd numbers of boys and girls rule. She tells me to come by her room sometime this week to prepare for my meeting with Dean Baker on Friday, and I simply nod. My brain is on overload.
“What are the odds everyone in our class will just ignore me?” I say, somewhat nervously when we reach the double-doors of Loveland Hall.
Everyone shrugs nearly simultaneously, causing me to sigh. “Great,” I mumble.
Matt wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side. “Just sit in the back with me, K. Sawyer, then if they’re staring at you, it’ll be obvious and they’ll get in trouble.
I don’t want him to let go, but I know he’s about to. Before he does, I lift my chin, peering up at him with wide eyes. Matt’s staring straight back at me, and the intensity of our eye contact causes me to let out a sharp exhale. He tightens his arm around me for what I’m sure is only a second, but it feels like a thousand before he drops his arm and I’m left flailing emotionally. Wondering what it is, exactly, about this boy that I can’t seem to shake.
Matt’s idea seems to be working. We got to class just before it started, sparing me from most of the gawking that would have been done had I been the first in the room and everyone else had to file past me. Instead, we just slipped into the back row—Matt on one side of me and Eden on the other. Jonah, of course, is on her other side.
Titling my head forward slightly, I catch a glimpse of the young lovebirds holding hands. They’ll do so until the bell rings, and then it’s strictly down to business. No hanky-panky while discussing the Book of Daniel. I think Jesus said that.
Despite my personal jokes, I can’t wait to get back to being CU-normal again. I’m dying to know what, if anything, is new in the land of Jonah and Eden. It’s doubtful, though, because the heavily restricted physical contact makes for less to giggle about after date night. That’s actually kind of a lie. If there’s one not-so-obvious benefit to the lag-time in reaching second base and beyond, it’s that couples here learn things about each other. Like about each other. They’re favorite prayers, and how they handle stress and anger. Not the birthmark on the hip just inside the panty line. Not the ticklish spot on the upper, inner thigh. None of that.
Before my exile to the New Life estate last week, Eden regaled Bridgette and me with tales of deep discussions she and Jonah have been having over lunch, phone calls as they walk to class on the opposite ends of campus, and texts long after lights have been turned out for the night. While they certainly spent some time discussing Bible stuff, most of their discussions revolved around mission work they each wanted to do this year or in the coming years. Stories from their childhoods that they didn’t already know after spending years together at summer camp and issues they’re having with their families at home fill the spaces where Trent and I were busy making out and the minutes I spent slapping his hands away from my panties.
Admittedly, the bit about family issues piqued my interest, as I sensed a strong discomfort between Jonah and his dad during Parents’ Weekend. I didn’t ask any follow-up questions at the time, because I was still pretending I was only “pretty good acquaintances” with my roommates, rather than the true friends I need.
It’s time for follow-up. Not just to satisfy my curiosity, but to get to know them. The way they know each other, in ways I only know a few people. Especially boys.
“Dreams,” the professor’s bellowing, melodramatic voice commands my attention. “The Bible is drenched in dreams, and their interpretations. From the Old Testament through the Book of Revelation, God makes it clear that he often seeks people out in slumber. When their conscious mind might otherwise ignore or rationalize the voice of God as something else, God sneaks in the back door sometimes. When you can’t ignore him. Not only did God give people the gift of prophetic dreams, but he has given others the gift of interpretation. Sometimes they go hand-in-hand, but not always. That’s why, like in the Book of Daniel here, we see someone dreaming, and someone interpreting. And of course, the consequences of both.”