Free The Beast of Beauty by Valerie Johnston Page B

else on the outside is
just a matter of perception. Everyone will find different people attractive.”
    “No they don’t, they all like the
same types of girls!” she said.
    I decided to play along, “Okay,
and what is that type?”
    “Skinny and big-chested, of
course. And do you know how hard that it is to be both? It’s almost impossible,
because the skinnier you get, the smaller your chest gets. It’s a cruel trap.”
    I laughed, “That’s not all that
guys worry about.”
    She squinted her eyes, “I don’t
believe you.”
    “Okay, maybe that is all that
some guys worry about. But that’s not what Christian men should worry about,
and that’s what a lot of guys are trying to be. It’s not always easy, though.”
    “Why not?” she asked.
    “Well, if a skinny and
big-chested girl walks by, there’s sort of this unwritten rule that you need to
acknowledge it to your friends. If you’re in a group and someone mentions how
attractive a girl is, if you don’t validate that, they’ll make fun of you.”
    “They don’t sound like good
friends then,” she said.
    “Sometimes they aren’t, but
sometimes that just how guys are. They make fun of each other,” I explained.
    “So… if men are trying to be
Christians, then what type are they looking for?” she asked.
    “Women who are trying to be
Christians too,” I stated. “That’s the simplest way to put it. Yeah, some guys
like darker hair better than blonde hair, and some guys think height is
important, but at the end of the day, if he’s trying to be a Christian, he’ll
look for a girl who shares in that journey.”
    “That’s deep,” she said, smiling.
“I’m not sure how much that you believe that though, because I saw who you
dated before.”
    “Oh,” I said, “Zoey?”
    She nodded.
    “Yeah, that was just one of those
things where everyone else told me that she was attractive, so I went for that
and hoped that I would find the goodness deep within her and I’d just have the
whole package. But it didn’t work like that. She actually broke up with me
because I didn’t make the basketball team. How shallow is that?”
    “Almost as shallow as dating her
for her looks,” she said.
    I just stared at her. She was
absolutely right. I knew the path that I wanted to walk on, I had just told her
exactly the advice that I needed to take, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
    “You’re right,” I admitted. “I
wanted to impress a friend of mine, who’s not exactly my friend. He’s actually
pretty much a jerk, but I wanted him to think that I was part of his group
again. Oh my gosh, I sound like one of those idiotic peer-pressure commercials
where the kid does drugs just because other people do!”
    “Yes, you do,” she agreed. “But
you said it—the guy is a jerk. Why does it matter what he thinks? Would your
life really be missing anything if he wasn’t your friend at all?”
    “No,” I said. “But he would do
everything that he could to make my life miserable.”
    “You’re life seems pretty
miserable either way,” she said. “No offense.”
    I laughed, “No, you’re right. I’m
either living a life I don’t want or I’m being socially outcast. Now I just
have to figure out which one is worse.”
    She shrugged, “If you happen to
get exiled from the town, you can always come out here and live in the wild
with me. Just bring better food, okay?”
    I smiled, “Deal. Now, let’s see
if I can walk.”
     
     

Chapter
Twenty: Adeline
     
    I got up and walked over to him.
I felt like we had really opened up to each other, and I wasn’t as worried
about touching him or startling him.
    “How about I lift you up and then
you can lean on me while you try to put weight on each foot?” I suggested.
    He nodded, looking a little
embarrassed. I hooked my arm around his back and hoisted him off the mattress.
    He was much heavier today than
yesterday.
    “Ahhhh!” he yelled, “I can’t do
it!”
    I quickly put my other