prom night?” He chuckled.
She joined in. “I know, right?”
She followed him down the back staircase that led to her family’s kitchen. The slight smile forming on her face was almost unnoticeable. During a sudden moment of realization, it had also become unwelcome in her mind. But it did not disrupt her mysterious comfort being held by his grip. Stepping down into the kitchen, Joseph never took notice of Natalie’s conflicting transition.
“Where’s your mom?” He asked her as he led her to her own kitchen table.
“She walked across the back to yall’s house. Probably chatting with your mama. Didn’t you notice her?”
“I haven’t really noticed a whole lot tonight besides you,” he revealed in a tone, so mellow that she could only respond with a silent look into his eyes. He pulled a chair out for her as if they were back at the fine restaurant, where they had dined before the prom dance. “You never looked so pretty the whole time I’ve known you.”
Natalie giggled and gave him one of her cornered-eye looks, with which he was fondly familiar. “You’ve seen me dressed up plenty of times. And you never noticed?”
A sense of bashfulness seemed to overwhelm him, she noticed. Joseph blurted a quick, final chuckle with a shrug before turning his attention to the layout of food that covered the kitchen counters. “Man, I sure am hungry.”
“Still?” She expressed slight surprise as she noticed him make his way toward the buffet which her mother and Angelica Reyes had lain out for the company of teen girls.
Homemade fried chicken strips, fried catfish fish cuts, small corn-on-cobs, melon slices, and mini chicken salad sandwiches filled dishes that were surrounded by smaller finger foods. The best iced tea always expected in the countryside was accompanied by fresh slushes of fruit drinks that remained in the chill of three different blenders – from three different fruit blends. Joseph had developed an appetite just from the view of the food.
“I hope you don’t eat all that,” Natalie playfully confronted her friend. “You know, that’s primarily for the girls’ sleepover tonight. I heard the guys have all the barbeque at your house.”
“It’s going to be kind of hard eating with a bunch of guys I just barely met tonight. Not to mention, they’re all sleeping at my house. I’ll bet some of them might have plans to sneak over here with your friends.”
“And for that reason, my mama has some coffee brewing for the entire night. She ain’t going to sleep.”
They laughed. Although they had shared humor numerous times during previous moments for years, their mutual delight was unfamiliar. Standing over the food, Joseph connected his gaze to hers once again.
The boisterous laughter outside forced them both to refocus their attention on their existing friendship, which seemed to persistently defy any possible development that entire night. To distract herself from any possible disappointing hopes, Natalie cleared her throat to continue their amiable conversation.
“Anyway, Vivian told me she and Chad wanted to spend the night together,” she informed him. “I hope they don’t try anything. Vivian needs to go to church with me some time.”
Joseph placed an entire small square of chicken sandwich into his mouth before returning to the table. With a full mouth, he said to her, “Nat, going to church won’t change her if she doesn’t know the reason for going to church.”
“Well, church changed me. You should know that more than anybody. You’re the only person I confided in about my past relationship and…you know, what I did with him that I’ll always regret.”
“Yeah, I have my own regrets, too. All the trouble I’ve been in. But church didn’t save me from it. Jesus Christ did.”
“Oh, I know all that now. I mean, I’m more involved in Sunday School and other activities at church than I’ve ever been.”
Joseph chuckled and took his seat. “You don’t want to hear what I’m saying, Nat. Nothing good you’re doing can make you saved. Do you know you can do every thing right in your own eyes and still won’t be prepared to stand before God? Your good deeds and all your commitment to church can’t save you from the wrath He has reserved against sin on the day of Judgment.”
“Well, I know we’re all just human, Joseph.”
“And human nature is going to lead to eternal damnation for everybody who does not surrender to the One Who saves us from human nature. Human nature eventually leads to sin. The bad in human nature is offensive and the good in it is self-righteous. It’s all offensive to God. So, He sent His only begotten Son to die as the Ultimate Sacrifice for our sins. Only in Jesus Christ do we have eternal life. We don’t have any eternal life in the good deeds that we could boast about.”
“So, then, what?” She shrugged. “What I do at church doesn’t matter?”
“Not now. No. You’re able to boast about what you do and find reasons within yourself why you are a believer in Jesus Christ. Surrendering your life and your proud self-view to Him is what He wants you to do. Then, when you do your good deeds with Him as your sole Reason through faith in Him alone as Savior, without seeing reason to pat yourself on the back, you’re showing the fruit – meaning the proof – that you’re truly a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.”
“And this isn’t just jailhouse religion that you’re giving me?” Natalie blurted before realizing there was resentment brewing within her heart. She looked away to avoid his eyes. She knew that she could have hit a nerve within him. A chill sprang through her body at the thought of Joseph possibly retaliating against her comment with silent distance from that point.
But the warm heat from his hands taking hers reassured her otherwise. “I guess you’d think so since I told you that’s where I learned about God. I had a whole lot of time to just read my Bible, Natalie. So, I’m just sharing with you what I learned from reading. Jesus got into it with the Pharisees all the time for their self-righteousness. He wanted them to see their sinfulness and their pitiful need for salvation. And they wouldn’t do it.”
“So, you’re comparing me to the Pharisees?” Natalie snapped as she snatched her hands from his.
Joseph paused and landed his sincere brown eyes one her. Finally, he swallowed hard before replying, “Yes.”
“Why would you tell me something like this?
“Because I care.”
Natalie scoffed. What she had long ago suspected in her annoyance was painfully confirmed, she realized. “I could never give my heart to Joe Junior,” she told herself.
* * *
1991
The breath-taking musical melody through her headphones could capture the moment as a long-lasting memory. It promised a lifetime of sweet nostalgia. The thought of marrying the guy of her dreams was almost too good to be true. A few soft self-inflicted pinches convinced her that her dream was reality.
In the course of her tender thoughts, a strange one also occurred in the back of her mind. Her wonderful ride on cloud nine couldn’t prevent her from scolding herself – just slightly. Just a hint of resentment tempted her. But it couldn’t possibly be directed at him. She shook the feeling – seemingly for the second time within the twenty-something hours of their arrival across the border.
Ranked as the top academic junior-class student in the business college at Bayou City Tech University, she knew she had far more sense than she had chosen to use since agreeing to the trip. But since high school, she had a wild streak – one that entertained her college beau.
And all her friends, including her sisterly roommate back on campus…They would surely call her a fool for crossing the border with the campus goof ball, whom she had dated for only five months.