Beginnings, Episode 3: Promise

"Your boyfriend is weird." Brit threw Savvi a sour look in the mirror as she twisted her wild, wiry mess of hair into a clip on her head.

Savvi tugged her own straight coif into a slick ponytail. "He's just intense. He's seriously sappy and sweet to me."

"To you, maybe. Did you see what he did to that guy who was visiting the church Sunday night?"

"The guy was kind of ridiculous," Savvi defended. "And Wes had just found out his parents were leaving him to live with his sister to move to Thailand, so he was really upset."

"Oh, wow. That kind of sucks." Brit smiled her huge grin. "But it's also kind of awesome. Will he get to go visit? Maybe you can tag along - bring a friend."

A roll of Savvi's eyes incidentally caught the clock on the wall. "Shoot! We're going to be late!"

Their imagined vacation forgotten, the pair rushed out the door to Brit's Jeep. Instead of talking, they lowered the top and blasted Brit's country music to God and the sky and anyone else who happened by them, singing at the tops of their lungs.

For the first year that Savvi had known Brit, she had begged the girl to tone down the craziness, especially as they entered the church parking lot, but Brit always ignored Savvi's tendency to ovoid drawing attention to herself. Eventually, Savvi caught the fearlessness, and she didn't regret it.

When a car full of boys pulled up next them and rolled the windows down, Savvi ducked her eyes as Brit whooped, and as often happened with the pair, one of the boys caught Savvi's eye, and just as the boys started singing along, Brit cut the music entirely. Savvi's voice rang out into the sky, and though she cut her tone off quickly, the boy who had connected with her barked a shocked laugh.

"Shit! You're good!" he bellowed, and the corners of Savvi's mouth flexed skyward for a moment in acknowledgment, though internally, she dismissed the boy in disgust. Not a Christian, with that mouth. Of course, she realized that her flirtation was dating infidelity, but she never would have done anything - not unless she broke up with Wes.

Later she would wonder if he sensed that about her, that dissatisfaction. If that was why he subdued her so completely, kept her reeling between his infatuation, risky behaviors, and anger so that she could never settle into comfort. Maybe she would have gotten bored with someone less intense and brilliant.

"Savvi!" rang Wes's voice before the girls could climb out of the car.

"Hey, Wes."

"Wes..." Brit murmured without enthusiasm.

Wes pressed between the girls and slipped his arm around Savvi.

"What are you doing up here?" Savvi wondered - he had no real reason to be at a church on a Tuesday night.

"Meeting with Artie. Mentoring and all that."

Savvi never ceased to be amazed at the people who latched onto Wes. He was seventeen years old, and yet his personal mentor was worth well over a hundred million dollars. Then there was the single lady who had played surrogate mom to him even before he found out his parents were moving,. The assistant youth pastor. The church secretary. The restaurant manager who always sponsored church events. There were ten thousand members of the church, and even though he - unlike Savvi - wasn't friends with any of the pastors' kids, it seemed like half the church workers or donors had adopted him.

Savvi couldn't even find one adult to invest in her outside of a single teacher in the high school - not the church. There was just something about Wes, especially in the church, but outside in a different way: he knew every important person in the places he frequented - made a point to meet them. He made himself useful or helpful to them, so they thought he was special. At seventeen, he already knew more people than Savvi's father, who was thirty years older than he was.

With so many people slavering after Wes, Savvi knew there must be something special about him beyond his brilliance. She knew plenty of brilliant people, including her own parents and most of her family - and Brit. No one like him, though. There were people who didn't like him, who had ended up at the blunt end of his irritation, but he knew how to impress the important people - important adults, that is.

Half the reason Savvi stayed with him, beyond that fact that he wanted to be with her, was because she liked the security he provided in any given social situation. He wasn't afraid of anything, and Savvi had to work hard not to run panicking from social situations. The only time she didn't like having him around in public was when he was mean - to her or someone else. Usually, though, he wanted to be liked enough that he managed significant affability.

"What are you doing after the game?" he wondered, tugging her into a stairwell as soon as Brit was distracted by their volleyball teammates.

"I don't really have any plans," she admitted as he lowered himself to a stair and pulled her down to his lap.

"Good. I don't want to go home. I don't want to have to look at my mom right now."

"I mean, I would want to spend as much time with her as I could, since she's leaving."

"That's because you're emotional," he countered.

Savvi didn't say that he was obviously emotional, too, or he wouldn't be so mad at his mom for what was obviously a difficult decision.

"You're coming to my game tomorrow, right?" he continued. "I'm supposed to start."

"Of course!" She brightened up. "Will you be at my game?"

"Wouldn't miss it. Let me pray for you..."

He pulled her back to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her middle, leaning his face toward her ear - so he could speak softly, she imagined. The way his breath tickled her neck, his lips occasionally brushing against the skin behind her ear, his arms kept creeping upward: Savvi had trouble focusing on God, or even the words of the prayer.

Finally, he raised his voice. "Amen."

"Amen," she echoed, and she pried his arms apart so she could stand up. "See you inside."

As soon as she left the stairwell, her coach assailed her. "Come on, Savannah. You should be dressed by now. Where were you?"

"Sorry! I was praying in the stairwell."

"Is that what you call it?" mumbled Brit, loud enough for everyone to hear, and Savvi blushed.

"Yes!" She contradicted the implication. "We were actually praying, Brit. That wasn't necessary."

"Maybe you were praying, but his eyes weren't closed when I peeked in there and saw him whispering in your ear."

Savvi blushed again, and she wondered if Brit were right. Certainly, Savvi herself realized she hadn't been too focused on God at that moment. Her chest constricted. She would have to have a talk with Wes.

"Forget it, Sav..." Brit comforted, taking her hand and pulling her toward the locker room. "It's just because I don't like Wes. If he were any other guy, I'd probably cheer you on. You need to loosen up a little."

Savvi loved Brit, but Brit had some interesting ideas about what the Bible allowed Christians to do. At least in theory, but Savvi had never noticed her actually doing anything particularly heinous.

She's all talk.

++++++++++

Wes made a beeline for her once the game was over as she headed out of the locker room.

"Can I take you home? I want to talk."

She glanced over at Brit, who eyed them with a judgmental glare. "Um, sure. Let me go tell Brit."

"Am I your boyfriend or not?"

"Yes, but we had plans! I have to go tell her."

"Fine," he allowed, but when she started across the court, he stuck by her side. She rolled her eyes but didn't protest, and after a fake - bitter - smile from Brit, Savvi turned and made her way outside to Wes's car. "Where are we going?"

"Nice that I had to maneuver an obstacle course just to be alone with my girlfriend.," he sulked. "I just need to drive."

Savvi drew in a slow breath, knowing that for Wes, driving while emotional was a little like driving while intoxicated - or tripping. Still, he was her boyfriend, and he was going through a hard time.

Once behind the wheel, Wes meandered down several of the nearby roads, sticking to the darker ones that he knew well because he had grown up in the area. To Savvi, even though she went to school at the church, she didn't know much outside of the building. He could have been taking her to a clandestine lodge, and she would never have known.

Instead, he pulled into an empty cul-de-sac, one poured but not yet built, and that was pitch black.

"What are we doing here?" she wondered.

"I just needed to be alone with you. Everything makes me crazy right now. I can't believe my parents are leaving me."

She reached for her hand, and she saw him visibly relax. "Your mom is staying for a little longer, though, right? To get the house sold?"

"Does it matter?" he complained. "I get to live with my whore of a sister, and I don't want to think about what she's gonna bring home."

Savvi lifted the center console and scooted closer so she could rub her hands on his arm in comfort. "You can hang out at my sister's condo sometimes - she even closer than your apartment."

"Yeah, and Harriet has already told me I can stay over there some, so I know it will be fine if it gets too bad, but I hate it so much."

Savvi shivered. There was something seriously creepy and pathetic about Harriet, but Wes seemed to believe he had her in hand.

"Come here," he interrupted her thoughts by leaning over and gripping her waist, tugging her closer so that she basically sat with him in his seat. "We need to pray, because I'm miserable."

Moved, Savvi wrapped her arms around him, hugging him in comfort as she began to talk to God on his behalf.

"Dear Jesus, please comfort Wes. Help him know that even when those who love him are far away, that You are with him, and you love him more than anyone else does. Give him strength to be calm while he goes through this change, and give him peace. In Jesus name, Amen."

There was no answering "Amen," and Wes did not let go of her. Instead, he laid his head on her shoulder and held her tight against him. After a few minutes, something changed, and Savvi didn't know exactly what she sensed. A moment later, her breath hitched when Wes's lips trailed over the skin on her bare shoulder."

She couldn't move - wasn't sure she wanted to - as he raised a hand to the back of her neck. His lips teased up her throat, and her breath sped. This was not okay, but she didn't stop him.

Desperate, he tugged her mouth down to his, and she lit on fire. What was going on with him? It was like some magnet had turned on inside him, and it was gripping her like a planet to a sun.

Both of his hands were in her hair, and once she had stopped pulling away, he lowered his hand to her waist. His mouth tasted like hunger, and when he slid his hand under the back of her shirt, her mind insisted she ignore it. Breaking off the kiss, he slid his lips down over her face, down her throat, to the slightest hint of swelling above her neckline. His free hand followed his lips, sliding up under her shirt to the underside of her bra, and she panicked, shoving him away from her with all her strength.

Scooting back to her seat, all the way until her back pressed against the door, she panted until she could find her voice. He didn't speak either, and when she finally gathered enough strength to speak, she forced herself not to yell at him.

"We need to go home, and we need to repent."

Wes didn't respond. He just placed both hands on the steering wheel and whipped the car around the little circle until they were heading back to a main street.

Heartbroken, Savvi turned to stare out the window at the dark and the passing lights, wishing for the first time in over a year that she could hide from God.