That Kind of Thing

I laughed at the Jesus freak from afar, clapping a hand to my mouth to keep it in. One of them glared at me for a moment, before turning his attention back to the little circle they all made around the bible. I thought at first it was some kind of satanic blood ritual, but then they started singing, and I knew that it had to be something far, far scarier.

"Don't let them hear you," Erin snickered, pushing me away. "If they do, they might ambush us when we're in an alley and tell us how abstinence is fun." Her eyes grew wide. "Oh, God, the horror."

I immediately shushed her, grabbing her on each shoulder. "Hey, don't use God's name in vain, he might smite you."

"Cheese and crackers." Erin whispered fearfully.

We watched them from across the lawn, occasionally giggling when their singing crescendoed. We were trying to focus on studying, yet the soft Christian rock that was playing made it fairly distracting.

"I can't concentrate," I said bitterly. "Can you?"

"Hell no." Erin slammed her book shut. "I'm all for playing stupid guitar music on the lawn, but the least they can do is belt out their beliefs at a reasonable volume."

I nodded, looking at their circle again. They didn't even seem happy as they sang, and with every pause they looked shiftily about them, making sure people were watching them. I felt my skin prickle when they continued to glance at Erin and I. At the same time, though, I felt laughter rising up in my throat like bile.

"We should show them it's not nice to stare." I said cynically, grinning at Erin. She looked at me a moment, then to the circle, then to her book, back to me, and smiled widely.

"Oh, definately."

We walked slowly and deliberately towards the circle, hand in hand. They continued their song, but their eyes fell solely on us. My adrenaline started to tunnel my vision, but I was more giddy than scared about what was about to happen.

We stopped several yards away from the circle, and Erin placed her arms around my shoulders, and I put my arms on her waist. The circle instantly stopped singing and just glared at us.

"I'm so happy with you, Raini," Erin said softly, too softly for the group to hear. These were words for me. "I want you to know that."

"I know." I smiled and replied just as softly. "We should teach them a little lesson."

Erin leaned towards me and the two of us kissed, and no longer were we standing on the lawn, a group of angry Jesus freaks sitting a bible's throw away. It was just us, enjoying a moment together, away from the unfairness of the world we lived in. As we held each other in our arms, we could not hear the group shouting at us, reciting Leviticus blindly, unknowing. We were deaf to their screaming of "homos" and "queers" and "sinners" and "dykes". As I pulled back gently and smiled at her, and she smiled back, the world came back to us slowly, surreal. We faced the circle hand in hand, grinning at their insults.

It was when one of them threw a bible that we ran like hell away, laughing at the top of our lungs.