Free Arousing Love, a teen novel by M.H. Strom

their
congratulations, and Joanna thanked each of them.
    “Wasn’t this a great night!” Her father
enthused. “I got it all on video. You were so good. You deserved to
win.”
    “It was wonderful.” Her mother still had
tears in her eyes. “I knew you’d win. You were good too, Zach.”
    I grinned and looked at Joanna, who gave me a
happy, relieved smile.
    When we reached their campsite, I said my
goodnights and walked home with my guitar, whistling the tune to
Joanna’s song.
    I was proud of Joanna. The more I knew her
the more there was to love about her. I guess that’s what love
is like, you fall in love with someone you hardly know, and then
you get to know them and your love deepens, or you begin to fall
out of love. I never knew love happened so fast, I thought you had
to know everything about a person first to truly love them. But
love doesn’t wait for that. Love is blind.
     
     
     
     
    Four
     
    I awoke to a knock at the door and looked at
the clock—8:22am. I eased out of bed, rubbing my eyes as I went and
opened the door. All annoyance evaporated at the sight of Joanna
standing there.
    “Good morning.” Her smile was like a
sunrise.
    “Hi!” I opened the door wider for her to come
in, and she looked me over admiringly—I was wearing only boxer
shorts. I closed the door behind her, and she wrapped me in her
arms, smiling up at me so lovingly.
    “Am I still dreaming?” I laughed. “What are
you doing here?”
    She laughed too. “My dad sent me to ask if
you’d like to come to church with us this morning.”
    “Oh . . . ”
My smile froze. “Which church?” Not my parent’s church.
    “I don’t know, we haven’t decided yet.”
    “I have to take a shower first. Can you wait
for me?”
    “Sure.” She smiled up at me, and I kissed her
petal-soft lips. She returned my kiss with passion, her hands
caressing my body. I was growing increasingly aware my boxer shorts
weren’t hiding the way she was making me feel.
    “You better go take your shower.” She
giggled.
    “Yeah.” I sighed.
    I went into the bathroom and turned on the
water. She was still watching me through the open doorway. When it
was hot enough, I slipped off my shorts and stepped into its warm
stream.
    After a quick shower, I wrapped a towel
around my waist, and she openly admired me as I came back into the
room. It felt so sexy being admired like that.
    I stood there, looking at her looking at me.
“Hmm, maybe I should go,” I said in a falsetto voice. I made to
walk past her, then suddenly veered and kissed her on the lips.
    She laughed and ripped my towel away. I
gasped and she fell into a fit of giggles.
     
    After I’d dressed, we walked out into the
warm sunshine. It was another beautiful day with Joanna, and I felt
happy. We held hands and walked slowly.
    When we got to her campsite, her parents were
already waiting for us in their car.
    “There you are! We were just about to come
and find you.” Her dad leaned out the car window. “Come on, we’re
gonna be late.”
    Her mom smiled at me as we climbed in the
back seat. “Nice to see you again this morning, Zach.”
    We drove into town and parked in the parking
lot of a large church. It wasn’t my parent’s church, but it still
made me nervous.
    It was pretty grand inside, with plush
seating facing a stage with a large stained glass window behind it.
We sat near the back. I looked around and I recognized some people.
The meeting started with some singing. I didn’t know any of the
songs, but I liked listening to Joanna sing them.
    The pastor then got up and started speaking
about the blessings of God. He mostly talked about financial
blessing and stressed that giving to the church would bring God’s
blessing on their finances so they could continue to be a blessing
to others. I couldn’t help but compare his message to what I’d read
the other night. This isn’t what Jesus taught. He said don’t
seek after the things of this world, and you can’t