no savior.

no guilt

She drops her hands from me, continuing to frown, "Fine."I start to walk away from her, but I risk a glance back at the door. She's still noticeably upset. God she's such a baby... I turn back to her, "I'm not going to leave until you're smiling again," I jump back into the bed, pinning and kissing her, "I'm serious."

"If you want me to smile then you're kissing the wrong place," she smiles at me through her lashes and I glance down, suddenly extremely aware of how naked she is. I glance back up and she smirks at me. Not today satan. I resist her power over me. "Nice try."

I go to move off of her and she grabs my arm, "Just love me!"

"Laaaaaaaaayne," I try to move away, but her grip on me is tight.

"KJJJJJJJJ," she mimics me. I free myself from her, "Why do you wanna go so bad?" I sigh.

"Because you wanna go!" she exasperates, "And if it's important to you, it's important to me."I clench my jaw. There's nothing I can say to argue with that. I let out a deep exhale, "Get dressed."Her eyes light up, "Really?"

"Yes really," I repeat, "Go! Before we're late."

Layne jumps out of bed excitedly and kisses my cheek before getting dressed. I wait for her in the kitchen, my leg bouncing anxiously. Feeling my angst, Max runs over to me and places his head on my knee, calming my leg.

Layne emerges from her room in a modest dress, "Is this okay?"

"Yeah," I nod, not really paying attention, and stand, "Let's go."

I'm nervous as I drive to my old church. Layne senses that, and grabs my hand from across the dash, interlacing our fingers.

"I love you," she kisses my hand, and I smile at her.

Every time I look at her, she calms me. "I love you," I reply.

As I pull into the lot I can tell that we're fashionably late.I slip into the back, taking the stairs to the balcony. The choir takes a seat and my pastor approaches the alter, beginning her sermon. It's actually a pretty upbeat one, compared to some of the ones I remember from my adolescences. She goes on about overcoming and I untense, realizing how much tension I've been holding in my body up to this point. As her sermon nears closer, I find her gaze meeting mine more than once.

"Some of you refuse to overcome!" her preacher voice projects as she scans the crowd, "Some of you have things, or people or situations you want to hold onto!"

"There's a sinner here today!" my pastor makes uncomfortable eye contact with me, and I immediately look away.

"There's sinners here with sins they don't want to overcome!" she continues, "I ask that y'all bow and pray with me right now."

"Father God, we come to you now asking that you deliver us from our sins. Our sins of sexual nature such as lust and homosexuality. Out of mental illness like anxiety and depression. Sins of lying... Sins of disobedience..."She goes on for about ten minutes, but I'm still caught on the second line. "....sins of homosexuality..."

As the prayer continues, I feel as if the entire congregation has their eyes on me. I will myself to sink into the floor, and descend to hell where I probably deserve to be. I don't however. I just keep my head bowed, resisting the urge to risk a glance at Layne.

After what feels like an eternity the prayer ends and the concluding, "Amen," echoes the church.

***

Layne's POV

After church we finish packing my things and then head to our new place. Because we'd moved around time and time again, I was an efficient packer and unpacker. So after I'm finished filling my closet I head back into the living room, setting up the TV.