And His Heart Melted

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* * * * *

And His Heart Melted

Part I

1 — The Idea

"John?"

"Yes, Angie?"

"You're a virgin, aren't you?"

"Yes–yes I am."

They were sitting in the break room of the supermarket where they worked.

"How can you stand it? You're what–23?" John Morris nodded yes. "I'm only 19, and guys are on me all the time–I'm so sick of it! I want to stay a virgin till I marry, but sometimes I really want to just go ahead and give in to them."

"No," John said. "Don't do that. You'll meet the right guy someday."

"But I've just started college!" Angie Potter explained. "I don't plan on marrying till after graduate school!"

"I know it's tough, Angie. I went through it–am going through it–myself. I don't go out much, but I still have the same pressures." He paused. "I . . . I sometime wish I could get married temporarily, so I could have sex morally for a few years, then get divorced if one of us met someone we really loved." He stopped to read her expression. Unsure, he said, "Uh, I guess you probably didn't want to hear that."

"Well," Angie said, "I know it's hard for you–us–being Christians and wanting to stay pure till we marry. It's an interesting idea, but I doubt anyone would ever go along with it."

"Oops!" John exclaimed, looking at his watch. "Break's over! I'm five minutes late! Got to go!"

With that he fled the room.

I've just blown it, he thought. Now she thinks I'm some kind a pervert! I'll never have a chance to ask her out now!

He had known her for about a year, but, being shy, had never had the courage to ask her out. Besides, she always seems to be dating some dumb jock! he thought.

2 — Acceptance

About eight months later, in April, John was sitting alone in that same break room.

Angie stormed in, crying.

"What's wrong?"

"Guys! They're all a bunch of jerks!"

"I agree."

"Oh, I don't mean you, John," she said with a smile, the one that always melted his heart.

He swallowed. "Well, most guys are."

She smiled again. "Could you call me tonight?"

"Sure." This time, he smiled.

* * *

Later that night, after they both got home from work, John called Angie.

They talked about what had happened to Angie, how she had reluctantly slept with her boyfriend, who promptly dumped her for another girl.

"John, do you remember what we talked about last year?"

"We talked about a lot of things last year," he said jokingly.

"I mean about getting married just to have sex morally."

"Oh that crazy thing!"

"Well, I found someone who thinks that might be a good idea."

"Who?" he asked cautiously.

"Me," she said softly.

He was stunned for a moment, then he responded. "Are you serious?"

"Very serious. I'm sick of waiting for jerks to grow up."

3 — The Agreement

In May, John graduated from the local community college with a degree in computer science. The next week, Angie and John went to a nearby town and were married. Then they drove to the nearest coast (six hours away) for their "honeymoon." Their respective parents thought they were going with friends, and in a sense they were.

John insisted on making the week as romantic as possible for Angie. On their first night together, he only flirted with her, with a little heavy petting before going to sleep in separate beds.

John woke up in the middle of the night to find Angie cuddled up next to him, and he went back to sleep.

In the morning, they woke up together. She smiled at him, and his heart melted. Then he lost his virginity. They spent the rest of the day in bed.

* * *

They visited the beach several times during their stay, and toured the area.

But for the most part, they toured each other in bed.

* * *

The Agreement called for them to remain secretly married until such time as either of them decided to marry someone else, at which point they would get a divorce.

They agreed not to express romantic emotions or feelings toward each other, accepting that due to the physical nature of their relationship, feelings would be inevitable at some point. This policy would actually help their growing friendship.

4 — Weekly "Encounters" and a Growing Friendship

Upon their return home, John began work at a local computer consulting firm where he had done his internship. Angie continued working at the supermarket. She also continued to live with her parents, while John moved into his own apartment.

For the first few weeks, Angie came to John's apartment at least twice a week for sex. As their work loads increased, especially when Angie returned to school, they usually met about once a week.

Often, if their schedules permitted, they went out on the nights they met. At other times, they remained in John's apartment. Some "encounters" were long; some were short.

On several occasions while Angie was still living at home, she ended up staying the entire night with John. These incidents caused some tension in her home with her parents.

After about six months, Angie was able to get an apartment in John's building, which solved the problem with her parents. She shared her apartment with a friend from college.

Over time, John and Angie began to develop their friendship, and often talked over the phone at other times during the week. On several occasions, they even met and just talked, but didn't have sex! Their friendship increased the year that Angie got her apartment.

5 — Darren

During the second semester of her junior year, she dated a football player named Darren. As the year progressed, they grew closer. Darren pressed to move their relationship to a more physical level, but Angie resisted. Inside, she felt guilty–she had told him she was not a virgin, but kept her "marriage" a secret. They talked of marriage more.

6 — Separation

In May, Angie told John that it was time to dissolve their agreement.

John had been thinking about taking a position in a town about 45 minutes from the city in which they lived. Although he really didn't want to end their relationship, he honored their agreement.

Two weeks later, John moved to the new town. Angie moved into John's apartment, taking over his lease. This solved the problems she had been having with her roommate.

John wrestled with many ideas and feelings, and finally determined that no matter what happened, he would love Angie–he would treat her as he treated himself, and cherish her. He would put her needs first.

If Angie wished to marry Darren, John would not stand in her way, but he decided that if it didn't happen, he would pursue a "real" relationship with her.

* * *

One Thursday in the middle of June, John almost lost his job. He had "borrowed" some computer program disks from the company, and had neglected/forgotten to return them. Now they were needed for a client's system, and they weren't in the office. John admitted he had taken them, and had to go home to retrieve them.

A written warning was placed in John's file by his boss; a second warning on the same offence, or one more serious, would result in John's termination.

John was very upset. He came home after work, sat on his sofa, and sulked. He didn't know what to do. Finally, he bowed his head and asked God for strength to get through this. He also asked Him for forgiveness for taking the disks.

John continued to sit still, and had almost dozed off when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi John. It's just me, Angie."

John's heart skipped a beat. "Hi," he replied half-heartedly.

"What's wrong?" Angie asked.

"I had a very bad day at work."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not at the moment, but thanks for asking. I hope your day was better than mine."

"Not by much, I'm afraid. I was supposed to go out with Darren tonight, but some of his football buddies are in town, so he went out with them instead. He asked me to go too, but I don't like them. So I'm here tonight alone."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Hey, would you like to come over tonight and watch a video? Sounds like we both could use a friend."

"Sure. When do you want me there?"

"As soon as you can would be fine. Could you pick us up something for dinner?"

"Sure. I'll be there in about an hour or so."

"See ya soon."

7 — Unplanned

John arrived with some dinner, and they sat on her couch to eat and watch the movie. He told her what had happened at work.

Angie put her arm around John and hugged him. "It's Okay, John. At least you still have the job."

They watched the movie for awhile; it was a romantic comedy that had been released the previous year.

* * *

Angie's alarm went off at six the next morning. She woke up, and realized that John was still with her, in her bed. She shook him, and said, "John, it's time to get up. You have to go to your place first to get a change of clothes before you go to work."

"Um," he said groggily, "I haven't been waking up like this in a long time."

Angie glanced at John, and saw that he had a generous view of her slight (in her opinion) cleavage through the top of her low-cut night shirt. "No more of that, John. Last night was just an accident."

"I know, I know," John conceded. "I enjoyed it anyway."

"So did I," Angie replied with a sheepish smile.

And John's heart melted.

"I think we both needed the release, after the kind of day–weeks?–each of us had," Angie added.

"I think I'm going to have to find a wife soon. The past month has been very hard," John said.

"I guess I'm going to have to help you find one, then. I know a few nice girls at work."

"You mean those cows in your office?" John joked.

"John! Be nice!" Angie scolded. "No, really, there are one or two girls there I think you'd like."

But they'll always be second best to you, John thought.