The Aspen Experiments

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Bathroom

"So - tell, tell, tell!" Katie exclaimed. "You and John? Seriously??"

She was sitting at the foot of my bed, and I was trapped against the headboard. Our normal seating arrangement.

"Kind of," I said. "We haven't said anything about, uh, going out, but I like him. I don't think the thing with Emily was what everyone thought."

 "Sure, okay! I'll take your word for it, but how did this happen?" Katie asked.

"Well, we got to talking and we have some, um, you know, common experiences and we sort of hit it off..."  I couldn't exactly say, "We can both time travel and we're going to keep an eye on Dr. Shammas, who's trying to destroy everything, while I also finish high school." Yikes.

Katie was giving me a look. "Common experiences?" she said, the same way she might have said, "Intestinal blockage?"

 "Who talks like that?" Katie asked. "You are so weird - of course, John is a little weird too, so maybe that's a good thing. I have to say though... I mean, I'm totally impressed that he's into you. That's awesome. But," Katie looked serious now, it was odd for her, "Are you sure this is a good idea? Do you even know if he's a Christian? I haven't seen him going to church. Not that you can't be friends with him, but if you're going to get serious..."

 I was taken aback by Katie's line of thought. I was also a little defensive. Who was she to question me about a cute guy? She was a huge flirt. "You don't need to lecture me -"

 "Look Dara," she said, still serious, "I know you think I'm shallow, and mostly I am. But you're not, and this is about you. Things go deep with you. I'm not sure what things, because you don't share that with me, which I totally understand. But I know that you're not the kind of person to have a casual boyfriend. And even though you haven't gone to church with me yet, judging by how often you still read your Bible, I'm guessing that's important to you too. So you need to find out sooner or later whether it's important to him."

I just looked at Katie. She had no way of knowing how complicated my interactions with John were, but in a lot of ways, she was right. I did like John, and I hadn't even wondered if he was a Christian. I'd assumed he wasn't, and hadn't given it any more thought.

 "I appreciate your concern," I told her, "I do. I'm surprised you gave it this much thought, too. But, uh, I don't think you need to worry. I know that John and I will be going different ways when we leave school, so I know this is temporary. Casual." I smiled.

 She didn't look like she believed me, but wasn't too comfortable with this level of honesty either, so she let it drop. We talked a little more about spring break, and our plans, and then she trotted back to her room. I'd asked to go to church with her the next day.   

Katie's church was Nazarene, which I'd never been to before. It was definitely too small to blend in.  Clearly everyone knew the people around them, and realized I was new. During the 'meet and greet' time I tried to look engrossed in the church newsletter. That didn't work. I guess they knew that trick. Several people tried to talk to me. They already guessed I was a new student at Rosemary Choate, so there wasn't much for me to say. They should have left me to my newsletter.

Katie was distracted, talking to her other friends who attended the church but went to the local public high school. She didn't see them during the week and obviously had a lot of catching up to do. Ava was with us too, but she wasn't much help. She had a surprising number of friends here. Several of them had eyebrow piercings too.