A Passion Play Ch. 03

"What happened to your forehead?" she asked as we got into her car.

"I slipped in the snow and landed in a nasty rosebush or something. I'm lucky I didn't lose an eye."

She didn't comment back, just gazed at me with an uncertain look in her eye.

We mainly drove the hour in silence. Eve had both hands on the wheel at the ten-two position, glasses on, watching the road. She, the perfect driver. Me, with my head pounding and everything else, the perfect asshole.

She was kind enough to stop on the way so I could grab a cup of java. Oddly, she didn't ask or talk about my plans or what happened with Christa. It was the proverbial elephant in the room. In that case though, it was a white two year old or so, Honda Civic. She seemed happy, or at least on the verge of it. Maybe she was just happy to see me, even though I must have looked like hell. I was certainly happy to see her. All in all it was a pleasant drive, hangover and scars notwithstanding.

"Are your parents going to be at Church?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Great." I lied. I just wanted to take my coffee and go back to bed. With Eve.

Church was one thing but lunch with the parents was something else. I couldn't do it. This was it I thought, I was about to stifle the real reason she wants me to go to Church this morning. It was going to be that whole hands on top of each other relationship crap again...I couldn't face that scene. Did the parents know about what happened to me? When they find out it'll be over anyway. Maybe I should just tell them, 'Hi, did Eve mention I've just been charged with Public Indecency...oh and I'll have a fish taco.'? I could well imagine how the rest of the conversation would go. Larry would ask, 'so what happened?' 'Oh it was nothing to do with your daughter, I just chased one of the other girls at the house for about six miles at five in the morning before I caught her and threw her down into the snow and mud. Then I fucked her ass hard. The cops caught us, they thought it was rape...but hey, it's all a silly mistake, she owed me her ass. But not your daughter though, she owed me her ass too, but I traded it so she could be my personal sex slave, but don't worry her virginity will be intact.'

Oh that would be just perfect.

"Eve, I really don't want to do lunch with your parents after Church." Briefly she took her eyes off the road and fixed her eyes on at me as she replied, "Okay, we don't have to."

Thank you God.

As we walked from the car to the church, the wind picked up sending shivers through my bones. Eve clearly was cold too. She was also wearing those high heeled shoes again. I hugged her tight as we approached the front door. As I was about to open it I asked Eve, "Do you have Ben-Wha balls inside you right now?"

She threw my hands off of her and with an incredulous look said, "No I don't Joey...let's just go inside."

Clearly I wasn't thinking straight. She grabbed my hand and dragged my inside. The organ was playing. It was the same as before, my head twisted from side to side trying to take it all in. Again, it was a beautiful, yet strange environment for me to be in. She led me down the center aisle, then left into a pew. Her parents we're right there.

"Hi," little wave and smile.

"Hi," little wave and smile back.

How cute I thought. Mr. Near Rapist and Miss Not Wearing Ben-Wah Balls Right Now, just sat down next to Eve's mom and dad...in a church. For some reason I felt guilty.

As the service started, I became aware of the fact that I felt invisible, naked, not in my body, but in my soul. Eve squeezed my hand.

How far had I fallen since I last entered this church? I was a hollow man, forsaken. I was stuffed...with straw, slouching. Ready for a single spark to ignite me, consume me fully in a bonfire of vanities. Father Eliot's voice was like wind in dry grass, it all seemed meaningless to me. I never did the hand-cross thing properly, maybe I was doing it backwards, and I could never quite figure out when to stand-up, kneel, or just sit there. Sitting in that church, in all my awkwardness, the enormity of what had transpired over the last few days overwhelmed me. My whole life was closing down on me again. I was going out, not with a bang, but a whimper.

But yet, through the whole service Eve held my hand. She wasn't letting me go. I loved that girl. She was so strong. I contemplated her fingers intertwined with mine. They were beautiful fingers, graceful. I lifted her hand and kissed her fingers.

She turned and looked at me. A single tear bubbled out and ran down her cheek from under her dark framed glasses.

It was the most precious thing I'd ever seen. That one tear.

I reached over and caught the tear with my finger and touched it to my lips. "I love you," I mouthed silently.

She squeezed my hand tight. Her sweet face was still turned to me as more tears silently rolled down her cheeks.

She tried to force a smile as she mouthed back, "I love you too."

Eventually the service ended and we all streamed out. We met Eve's parents outside and they wanted to take us to Applebee's again. Graciously, Eve bagged us out of it explaining that I've a 'big head' today after too much revelry the night before. Certainly I was playing the part. Eve excused herself and stepped away with her dad as I attempted to make small talk with Suzanne, her mom. I saw Eve receive a large brown envelope from her dad, which she slipped into her purse then kissed her dad on the cheek, clearly happy.

We stopped for lunch, I was starving. Shaky starving. I asked Eve what the envelope was all about and she said dismissively that it was some documents that her dad had to get to her. I bit into my burger and let the thought escape me. After a burger and fries, a pair of Cokes, I was nearly ready to face the world again.

Eve and I jumped into her little car and took off. "Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"For stopping for lunch...and for getting me out of the whole parent's thing...I really wasn't up to it."

"That's okay...I understand," she said, taking her right hand off the two o'clock position of the steering wheel for just a moment and giving my hand a squeeze. Can there be a safer driver on the planet?

"Joey," she asked tentatively, "we've have a stop to make on the way home."

Home? Where the hell is home?

"Sure, fine, whatever." I was feeling better after having eaten something, but only marginally. We drove on. At one point she pulled over, stopped and pulled out the brown envelope from her purse and consulted the document within.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see." She was being all evasive. Although she had kind of an apprehensive looked on her face, but still sexy, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep, or just crawl under a rock. I was appreciative of the fact that she dragged me out of bed and took me to church and especially avoided the whole Applebee's thing with her parent's I really needed to get back to St. Angel's, recuperate and then try to get my life back together again.

I was especially grateful...grateful wasn't a strong enough notion...I thanked God that Eve hadn't abandoned me. Maybe she didn't understand the whole import of what was happening to me.

We pulled up to a nice condominium building. Oh shit, who is she dragging me to see? She pulled out a set of keys and pressed a key fob button gaining us access into the underground garage.

Whoever it was...I really didn't want to do this.

We parked in space two seventeen, got out and proceeded up a swanky elevator to the nineteenth floor.

As the elevator stopped and the doors opened I couldn't lift my eyes off the floor. I wasn't in a social mood. "Eve, I'm not ready for this," I said. She held my hand as we walked down the hallway to unit nineteen-oh-one at the end of the hall. Instead of knocking on the door she pulled out the key chain and opened the door.

"Eve what are we doing here?"

Without answering she dragged me inside. The place was empty. Big. No furniture, just a deep off-white carpet on the floor. Two or three bedrooms for sure. Nice condo unit.

Eve just stood there gazing at me with a smile on her face as I said, "This is great, what are we doing here?"

She didn't answer, she grabbed a hold of each of my hands and dragged the two of us down onto the carpet, sitting with our legs crossed facing each other.

"Joey, I love you."

She was the picture of loveliness. Sultry, sexy, loveliness. Long and slender. She pulled her glasses off and kissed me. Whatever we were doing here was so much better than going to Applebee's with her parents. I was becoming a religious convert.

"Eve (kiss)...you doll (kiss)...I love you too (kiss)...but what are we doing here? (kiss)."

She looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Will you live with me...here?"

"What?" My eyes must have popped out, "how can I possibly live here? I have no money."

"I do" she stated flatly.

What?

"Joey, I love you," she said with tears streaming down her eyes again, "You're the only one that I feel safe with, the only one that won't try to violate my virginity. As strong as you are, as smart as you are, I know I'm secure in your arms. You are a beautiful, sexy, intelligent man that is going to go far in life," tears were really pouring down now, "and I don't want to lose you, I want to be a part of your life. And I want you to be a part of mine. A big part."

I hugged her, kissing up her tears and said, "I want you to be in my life too."

We hugged. I teared up.

I tried to explain to her, through sobs, that I couldn't afford to pay for another room, let alone live in a condo like this one. My reality was that I was homeless if I wanted to stay and continue studies.

Between sobs, she put it in plain words. The condo had been empty for the better part of a year. It belonged to a friend of her dad's who took off along with his wife to work on a three year contract in Dubai. All of their stuff was in storage. The unit had been left for Eve's dad to rent out, but he had so far been unsuccessful. Eve had been given the opportunity to rent the unit and to have a couple of others share the place, but it was just a little too far from campus and a bit too much money. So she opted to live near campus instead, mainly so she could have some of that 'campus experience'. But she was done with that she claimed. She wanted to live with me. From her parent's perspective, so it seemed, I had already been living under the same roof with her, so that this was simply a progression from that. They were cool with the whole idea of us living together at the condo -- if that's what Eve wanted -- and paid for herself.

"Eve, I can't live here. I can't pay my way, my fair share."

She stared right into my eyes for a moment then said, "Joey, when my Gramma died, she left me some money. Not a huge amount. But if I wanted to buy this place I probably could. But I don't want to. I'd rather rent it, with you. I know you can't contribute today, but that's okay...I'll cover for you 'till you can.'"

My eyes were like saucers.

"But we'd have to sign a lease," she continued with that little mole enticing me and the cleft on the chin smirking at me in the most delicious way. I could see her nipples stiffening under her blouse.

"Does that mean that the promises apply?" I asked carefully.

"Absolutely," she said with a massive grin, her brown eyes sparkling.

I felt my cock stiffened up.

"I'm in."

I'd felt as if I just died and gone to heaven.