Churches

Churches

I've never been so frustrated in my life. This whole process was like giving a cat a bath. Even driving away from the last church we had visited, it seemed like the building itself was mocking us. In fact, if it wasn't for Jonah, I think I might've exploded.

"Hey Alex,"

Jonah said gently putting his hand on my knee,

"It's ok, We'll get through this. I know how important this is to you, and I want you to be happy. These people don't know what they're giving up. I promise you, the next place we visit will say yes."

I sighed, knowing that he was right. It was just hard, especially after the reaction we got from the last church. I bitterly thought back on it.

We were standing in front of the big oak doors, they were so monstrously large that they made us look like midgets. They were carved with the image of Jesus Christ holding his hands out to his disciples on the day of the Last Supper. Somehow, I was nervous to enter the place that has given me refuge for my entire life. I looked over at Jonah, his chocolatey brown eyes glinted with determination as his golden hair blew in the wind like wheat in a field at sunset. Jonah stood fast in front of the doors with a quiet resolve that showed on his face. He seemed to be glowing from deep within, or maybe that was just me.
“It’s now or never,” I remarked, my voice shaking. “The worst thing they can say is no, right?”

I continued running my hand through my short hair, still not used to the feel of it. Apparently, my new haircut made me look more “respectable”. Jonah looked at me and smiled.

“You worry too much ‘Lex, they wouldn’t dare turn us away. It’s the twenty first century, we’re totally legal now. They can’t refuse us. This is New York!”

 His words did nothing to placate my concerns.

“That’s not true!” I cried, stumbling back from the doors as if magnetically repelled. “They can still say no!” I shouted, tears dripping down my face. “It can be for a different reason like if they don’t have a time that works for us, or if they only let certain types of couples get married there, or what if they don’t do weddings at all!”

I rambled and blubbered, tripping over my  own feet and falling onto my bottom. We had garnered all sorts of attention by now, people had stopped to watch us on the streets, cars slowed as they passed by and people had started to come out of the church, pushing open the large oak doors and emerging from the creamy white facade. I could feel my face burning as I hyperventilated on the church step. Jonah knelt down beside me, ever calm, ever caring. he bent his head down and kissed away my tears. He whispered encouragements into my ear and helped me up so that we could walk to the car, away from this mess.

    “They better say yes,” I grumbled. “I’ve been through enough today,” I remarked and glared at the road. Jonah gave me a small half smile and looked at me through the corner of his eye.

“It doesn’t matter what they say ‘Lex, there are alway more places to go,” he suggested. “Who says we have to stay in Rochester, maybe we could go to Buffalo or even Albany. That’s where they signed the bill, right? We could get the governor of New York to marry us!”  He added with a sly grin playing on his lips.

“You know Jonah, this is why I love you,” I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

By now we had pulled into the parking lot of the next church. I took a deep breath and pushed open my car door, I was shaking.

“Y-You know, maybe we don’t have to get married in a church,” I quavered, “I know this really nice state park that has some pretty nice scen-”

That was as far as I got before Jonah cut me off with only a look. That same fierce determination shone in his eyes. At that moment, I knew he wasn’t going to rest until we had a church to get married in gosh darn it!

“You know,” he whispered, his lips brushing my ear and his hot breath tickling my skin, “I could go in and ask while you stay in the car, ‘Lex. If this makes you uncomfortable, then you don’t need to do this. I just know how important it is to you to get married in a church. I want to make you happy.”

“But will you tell them?” I asked.

“Tell them what?” was my answer, paired with a curious stare from brown eyes, glowing with love.

“That we’re gay,” I replied.

“Naw,” he said, kissing me softly of the lips. “That’s none of their business.”