Lina’s POV

            I woke up to my alarm going off the next morning and after a quick shower I headed downstairs for breakfast with my parents; I was surprised when Jon wasn’t at the table when I got down there, it was almost 7:00 and if he didn’t show up soon then my mother would send him right back out the door when he walked in. One thing about my mother was that she did not accept tardiness; in her book if you couldn’t be on time then you didn’t deserve to eat. Breakfast came and went with no sign of Jon and I ran back upstairs to get a belt to go with my sun dress after decided during breakfast that my outfit just wasn’t complete; I was searching through my collection of belts when my father called up to me.

“Kit-Kat if you’re not down here in thirty seconds we’re leavin’ without you!” My father was a stickler for being on time just like my mother and although it only took fifteen minutes to get to the church he insisted on leaving by 7:30 every Sunday.

“I’m not ready yet daddy, you and momma go ahead; I’ll stop by and pick up Jon and we will meet you there.” I called back down to him still searching for the perfect belt.

“You two better not be late!” He warned and I rolled my eyes; I knew better than to be late for church not only would my parents have my head but Pastor Jim would too.

“We won’t be.” I assured him and moments later I heard the front door closing behind them as they left.

            It took me a few more moments before I found a wide brown belt and fastened it around my waist; looking in the mirror it matched the brown floral pattern on my dress perfectly. I had on a white sundress that hung past my knees, long enough to be acceptable for church; it had yellow, green and brown tropical looking flowers scattered throughout and the yellow feather earrings I grabbed on the way out of the room completed the look. I left the house and took the side-by-side down to the barn to pick up Jon; after climbing the stairs to the apartment I knocked on the door and waited, after about a minute with no answer I knocked again.

            Jon opened the door a moment later rubbing the sleep out of his eyes; my mouth dropped open as I looked over him, he was shirtless and only wearing boxer shorts. He had toned abs with muscles that looked like they belonged on body builder; the tops of his arms and shoulders were covered in tribal tattoos while his chest was bare with only a thing line of hair running through the middle traveling down to his boxer shorts. It took me a few moments to compose myself before I realized that I was just staring at him; he raised his eyebrows looking back at me as if he was waiting for me to say something. Shit, what was I here for again? Oh, right church. Speaking of which why wasn’t he ready; did he just wake up?

“Why aren’t you ready yet?” I said glancing down at my watch to see if was 7:35; that only gave us ten minutes to get him ready or we would be late and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Ready for what?” He asked while yawning.

“Church!” I blurted out pushing him back so that I could enter the apartment.

“I told you I don’t go to church.” He replied shutting the door once I was fully in.

“And I told ya’ that you do now! You have ten minutes so you better get your butt in that shower now!” I said pointing toward the bathroom.

“So pushy.” He complained as he slowly made his way toward the room; not liking his slow process I walked up behind him pushing on his back to make him move faster.

“My daddy is goin’ to have my neck and yours if I don’t get us there on time so move it!” I ordered still pushing him until we reached the bathroom door; at that point I let him go in on his own while I went to the dresser to find his clothes.

“Hurry up in there!” I said banging on the door five minutes later while impatiently tapping my foot on the floor.

“I’m trying.” He replied sounding irritated at my persistence.

“Is the curtain closed?” I asked reaching for the door handle.

“Yeah… Why?” He sounded slightly nervous at my question.

“I’m comin’ in with your clothes.” I said opening the door and dropping his clothes on the counter for him before closing it again and sitting on the bed staring at my watch as the seconds ticked by. Less than a minute later the water turned off and I heard him stumbling around as he got dressed; it only took me two more minutes before I got impatient again.

“Are you decent?” I asked reaching for the handle again.

“Yeah, calm down.” He said as the handle turned in my hand and I took a step back; he came out with still trying to do the top buttons of his shirt that was still wasn’t tucked into his pants.

“Agh, could ya’ be any slower? Are ya’ sure you’re not from the south?” I asked as he sat on the bed and started to put on his shoes; he chuckled at the comment but didn’t respond.

“Alright let’s go.” He said standing from the bed; I shock my head at him and placed my hands on my hips. He still didn’t have his shirt tucked in, his hair was a mess and he wasn’t wearing a tie.

“What?” He asked when he seen that I wasn’t moving; I walked in the bathroom grabbing his tie that was still laying on the counter and a comb out of a drawer, I handed him the comb as I wrapped the tie around his neck and fastened it for him.

“Tuck in your shirt.” I demanded as I rushed out of the room and headed for the door; he stood still in the room trying to tuck in his shirt.

“I meant while walkin’!” I called behind me still focused on getting out the door; he started to follow and I was already down the stairs by the time he closed the door.

            Looking down at my watch it was 7:50; the drive to the church normally took fifteen minutes so I was going to have to hall ass to get there on time. I yelled back at him to get moving as I headed out to the truck and he picked up speed to catch up with me. I had the truck started and in gear by the time he got in and as soon as his door was closed I floored the gas; his hand shot over to hold onto the handle by the door as I drove like a bat out of hell down the drive and onto the street. I’m sure I broke at least five traffic laws on the short drive to the church but when we pulled up we still had a minute to spare; we jumped out of the truck and I grabbed his arm dragging him to the doors as fast as our feet would move us.

            We walked in the doors and took a set in the last row in the back; I wanted to stay off the radar as we walked in and sitting in the back was the best way to do that. Looking over Jon’s shirt collar as still flipped up from when I put on his tie and I quickly reached over to fold it down; he smirked at my action then turned his attention back to the front of the room as Pastor Jim started speaking. I seen my parents in their normal seats and when the pastor started speaking my dad turned his head looking around the room; when he stopped us he smiled before looking down at his watch, I smiled back and offered him a little wave. We made it on time so he couldn’t be mad at us, he just didn’t need to know just how close we cut it, or the fact that Jon was still sleeping when I went to pick him up.

            Pastor Jim started his sermon and the room went silent as everyone listened to the words he spoke; Jon looked bored out of his mind next to me as did half of the other people in the room. We were asked to bow our heads in prayer and looking over Jon was looking around the room like he wasn’t sure what to do; I reached over and placed a finger on his forehead pressing it down so that his head was bowed. He looked over at me with a sly smile on his face and I winked at him; he wasn’t lying about never going to church, he didn’t even know the proper thing to do when you’re asked to pray.

“You were supposed to close your eyes.” I whispered to him after the prayer was over and we offered our ‘Amens’.

“I’ll have to remember that next time.” He whispered back offering me a wink.

            Half an hour later it was time to leave; I tried to sneak us out in the crowd but my dad was quick to catch us and asked us to stay back. He introduced Jon to Pastor Jim and after ten minutes of awkward conversation and Jon rubbing the back of his neck like there was a kink that he couldn’t get out I thought it was best to step in and save the day; after a quick excuse about how I had plans and wanted to get going Pastor Jim bid us farewell and we made our exit.

“Hungry?” I asked knowing that he had missed breakfast.

“Starved.” He replied as we reached my truck and climbed in.

“Well maybe you will learn your lesson about being late; if ya’ would have been up on time you could have had breakfast.” He raised his eyebrows and his mouth opened and closed a few times like he wanted to say something but no words came out; I grinned back at him before putting the truck in drive.

“I will stop and get ya’ somethin’ but you better be on time from now on because I’m not going to save your ass again.” I lectured him.

“Yes ma’am!” He replied giving me a salute.

“Did you just salute me?” I asked in disbelief.

“Well you have been acting like a drill sergeant all morning so I only thought it appropriate.” He countered.

“Well I’m sorry but tryin’ to get ya’ to move was like tryin’ to get fly shit off a pinhead with boxin’ gloves on.” I said turning into the parking lot of the local diner.

“What?” He asked looking over at me with his eyebrows creased together in confusion.

“It was next to impossible.” I replied hoping out of the truck.

“I cannot believe you just said that.” Jon shook his head while rubbing his forehead while we walked up to the diner.

“Boy you were movin’ slower than molasses going uphill in January. What did you expect me to do just sit around and wait for ya’ to get your ass in gear?” I asked stopping at the door with my hands on my hips; Jon started busting out laughing to the point where he was hunched over and had tears running out of his eyes.

            I had no idea what he was even laughing at; I didn’t find anything funny about the slow speed he was moving at that morning almost causing us to be late to church. My daddy would’ve had us hung up to dry if we would have walked into that building a minute later than we did, did he not understand that? I stood there not moving waiting for Jon to get himself together; my fingers tapped on my hip impatiently as I waited. It was a good two minutes before he composed himself enough to speak but after he took in the look I was giving him I think he changed his mind on what he was about to say.

“Are you mad?” He asked wiping a few tears he shed from laughing so hard off his cheek.

“What the hell are you laughin’ at; do you have any idea how pissed my daddy would’ve been if we were late? Maybe they didn’t hand out ass whoopin’s where you come from but they sure as hell do here.” He obviously still had some learning to do about the way things work in the south; lesson one would be time management, lesson two would be retribution, what might have been just a good talkin’ to where he came from was translated into a good ass whoopin’ here.

“I’m not laughing at that Lina; I’m laughing at what you said.” He replied with a smile before patting me on the back to get me moving.

“What did I say?” I asked trying to think back on the conversation to see what he found so funny.

“Something about fly shit and boxing gloves and moving molasses up a hill.” He laughed again as he walked into the dinner; I blushed slightly thinking back on what I said. Jen was really starting to wear off on me; I usually didn’t use stupid sayings like that but it was something she did almost every time she opened her mouth.

“It’s a southern thing.” I replied brushing it off as we took a seat across from each other in a booth.

“Well it was interesting to say the least and by far some of the funniest things I have ever heard.” He laughed again before picking up a menu; our waitress took our drink orders and left to give us time to look over the menus.

“If ya’ thought that was good wait till you meet my friend Jen.” I replied twirling a packet of sugar around on the table.

“If she talks like that I can’t wait.”

“Where do ya’ think I got it from? And you should be careful what ya’ wish for.” I warned thinking about Jen; he was in for a big surprise when he met that woman.

“Why do you say that, is there something wrong with her?” He asked after giving the waitress his order; I wasn’t hungry so I just settled with me drink.

“You could say that, she’s just a little off her rockers some times.”

“Off her rockers?” He questioned.

“Crazy.” I elaborated.

“Sometimes crazy is good.”

“Not always.” I chuckled thinking about how nuts Jen could be sometimes.

“I think I can handle it. So when do I get to meet this fanatical Jen you speak of?” He asked before digging into the plate of food the waitress brought from him; I didn’t miss the seductive smile she offered him as she left and couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the action.

“She will probably stop by the farm on Monday.”

“Good, I can’t wait.” He said giving me a quick wink; we fell into easy conversation for the rest of the meal.