The World vs. Us: A Love Story (In Progress)
written by ☆kiola-the-iola☆
Kenosha "Kensie" Black has a normal teenage life. She goes to school, goes to youth group, and deals with her rollercoaster emotions like a pro. It's pretty easy, being Kenosha Black. Her life isn't confusing. Until it is. Until she realizes she has feelings for a boy in her youth group named Jeff Halladay. Who's two years younger than her. All of a sudden, she is on a stormy sea that she doesn't know how to navigate. Even if he likes her back, how is she supposed to tell her friends that she likes him? And what will they think?
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
5
Reads
714
Chapter Four
Chapter 4
At youth group that night, everyone was gathered inside. We started to play nine square when Leyla came up to me.
"Good job getting Mary, Kenosha." I smiled as much as I could without cracking my healing lip,
"Thanks, Leyla. And you're going to do great!" She looked surprised that I would be nice. The truth was, there were parts of being a PK that came easily to me. Like always having a smile on my face. They weren't always genuine, though.
"Okay!" Johnny called. "Time for our actual game. Put the nine square ball away. We're going to play sardines in the main building."
We all walked across the parking lot, our breath making puffs in the frosty air. Once we were near the entrance, Johnny told Jeff, who apparently was now it in every game we played, to go hide. He ran into the darkened church.
After five minutes, Johnny gave us the signal and the game started. I was immediately on my guard for the smallest places I could find. As a petite person myself, I always looked for places that no one else would think of. I knew that was how Jeff's brain worked, too.
I immediately thought of one place he might be that nobody else would think about because almost nobody knew it existed. I quietly went down to the kitchen. There were people in the fellowship hall, but nobody had ventured into the kitchen, as far as I could tell. I slid on my stomach to the far cabinets. Opening the largest, I crawled inside. Then, sliding away the floor of the side I wasn't sitting on, I worked my way down the wooden steps into the crawl space below. It wasn't completely pitch black, because of a dim emergency light that flickered on and off.
I could see Jeff's outline leaning against the opposite wall, which meant his face was about six inches from my face (it was a pretty skimpy crawl space).
"Wow, Kensie. That was fast." I shrugged, as much as I could while lying on my side in the dark.
"This is my go to hiding spot, to." He laughed. We laid in silence for a moment before he said,
"So, how is your face?"
"It's mending." He chuckled and then grew serious,
"I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to kiss me. I wasn't trying to force that on you." I fumbled for his hand in the dark, somehow wanting to tell him the truth.
"Jeff, kissing you wasn't a chore."
"It wasn't?" he whispered.
"No," I said, continuing. "To tell you the truth, I was shaking my head because it should be a chore. I- I shouldn't like you."
"You like me?" he whispered, this time with a slight rasp.
"I-yeah," I forged on, "but I shouldn't like you."
"Why not?" Jeff asked, a little bit of nervousness in his voice.
"Because you're two years younger than me, and that will not sit well with the church. The pastor's daughter dating a middle schooler? You'd be constantly told that you weren't good enough; if not through words, then actions."
Jeff sighed, and I could feel his breath on my face, warm and pleasant. I shivered slightly as the cold of the rest of my body came to light.
"Are you cold, Kensie?" Jeff asked. Against my better judgement, I nodded,
"Y-yeah." He slowly, almost uncertainly, reached between us and slid a hand under me and around my waist, pulling me into him. His arms slowly encircled me, one coming to rest under my head and one holding me against him. I stared into his eyes (or at least what I thought were his eyes), trying to stop my rollercoaster emotions.
Oh my gosh, he's holding you!
What would your parents say?
You should always listen to your heart!
Put the mask back on, put the mask back on!
My breathing started to come heavier, senses heightened by our closeness.
"Jeff, I-I-" He cut me off, pressing his lips to mine fiercely. My hands, which were folded between us, trembled, wanting to hold him, pull him closer. I tried to fight the pull of his kiss and my crush and everything else, but I couldn't. I slid my cold hands onto his cheeks, kissing him back with a passion I hadn't known I had possessed, my injured lip forgotten.
But then my common sense came back, and I pulled away, scrambling away from Jeff, trying to find the stairs.
"Jeff, I can't- I can't do this." Jeff got up too, reaching out and encircling my wrist with his hand. He pulled me back towards him.
"Kensie, I like you, too. Please just give us a shot. Please. Even if it's just when it's the two of us. Please." I looked into those pleading eyes, trying to resist…
"Okay." Jeff kissed me one more time before we emerged from the crawl space, hearing the call that they had given up.
I was already freaking out.
"Good job getting Mary, Kenosha." I smiled as much as I could without cracking my healing lip,
"Thanks, Leyla. And you're going to do great!" She looked surprised that I would be nice. The truth was, there were parts of being a PK that came easily to me. Like always having a smile on my face. They weren't always genuine, though.
"Okay!" Johnny called. "Time for our actual game. Put the nine square ball away. We're going to play sardines in the main building."
We all walked across the parking lot, our breath making puffs in the frosty air. Once we were near the entrance, Johnny told Jeff, who apparently was now it in every game we played, to go hide. He ran into the darkened church.
After five minutes, Johnny gave us the signal and the game started. I was immediately on my guard for the smallest places I could find. As a petite person myself, I always looked for places that no one else would think of. I knew that was how Jeff's brain worked, too.
I immediately thought of one place he might be that nobody else would think about because almost nobody knew it existed. I quietly went down to the kitchen. There were people in the fellowship hall, but nobody had ventured into the kitchen, as far as I could tell. I slid on my stomach to the far cabinets. Opening the largest, I crawled inside. Then, sliding away the floor of the side I wasn't sitting on, I worked my way down the wooden steps into the crawl space below. It wasn't completely pitch black, because of a dim emergency light that flickered on and off.
I could see Jeff's outline leaning against the opposite wall, which meant his face was about six inches from my face (it was a pretty skimpy crawl space).
"Wow, Kensie. That was fast." I shrugged, as much as I could while lying on my side in the dark.
"This is my go to hiding spot, to." He laughed. We laid in silence for a moment before he said,
"So, how is your face?"
"It's mending." He chuckled and then grew serious,
"I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to kiss me. I wasn't trying to force that on you." I fumbled for his hand in the dark, somehow wanting to tell him the truth.
"Jeff, kissing you wasn't a chore."
"It wasn't?" he whispered.
"No," I said, continuing. "To tell you the truth, I was shaking my head because it should be a chore. I- I shouldn't like you."
"You like me?" he whispered, this time with a slight rasp.
"I-yeah," I forged on, "but I shouldn't like you."
"Why not?" Jeff asked, a little bit of nervousness in his voice.
"Because you're two years younger than me, and that will not sit well with the church. The pastor's daughter dating a middle schooler? You'd be constantly told that you weren't good enough; if not through words, then actions."
Jeff sighed, and I could feel his breath on my face, warm and pleasant. I shivered slightly as the cold of the rest of my body came to light.
"Are you cold, Kensie?" Jeff asked. Against my better judgement, I nodded,
"Y-yeah." He slowly, almost uncertainly, reached between us and slid a hand under me and around my waist, pulling me into him. His arms slowly encircled me, one coming to rest under my head and one holding me against him. I stared into his eyes (or at least what I thought were his eyes), trying to stop my rollercoaster emotions.
Oh my gosh, he's holding you!
What would your parents say?
You should always listen to your heart!
Put the mask back on, put the mask back on!
My breathing started to come heavier, senses heightened by our closeness.
"Jeff, I-I-" He cut me off, pressing his lips to mine fiercely. My hands, which were folded between us, trembled, wanting to hold him, pull him closer. I tried to fight the pull of his kiss and my crush and everything else, but I couldn't. I slid my cold hands onto his cheeks, kissing him back with a passion I hadn't known I had possessed, my injured lip forgotten.
But then my common sense came back, and I pulled away, scrambling away from Jeff, trying to find the stairs.
"Jeff, I can't- I can't do this." Jeff got up too, reaching out and encircling my wrist with his hand. He pulled me back towards him.
"Kensie, I like you, too. Please just give us a shot. Please. Even if it's just when it's the two of us. Please." I looked into those pleading eyes, trying to resist…
"Okay." Jeff kissed me one more time before we emerged from the crawl space, hearing the call that they had given up.
I was already freaking out.
