Hear You Me

Delilah looked up from the piano and looked out at everyone in the congregation. Her father was currently giving his sermon but Delilah was zoning out. This was the fifth time she’d heard this sermon at the very least; her father practiced his sermons all week long and whenever she walked by his office she’d hear it. Instead Delilah passed her time by picking out different people and thinking of what Holland would say. She could just imagine Holland saying, “Mrs. Gomez does know that this is church and not the Kentucky Derby, right? Her hat is so darn big,” or “Mr. Clarke snores so loud during the service I swear we’re in the middle of an earthquake.”

While Delilah was people watching she made eye contact with Joel. She was glad he was finally back in church; this was the first time he’d been to service since Holland’s funeral nearly three months ago.

When Joel saw Delilah looking at him he began making stupid faces. Holland and Joel used to always have a contest during church to see who could make Delilah laugh first. They thought it was funny to see Delilah lose control because she was always expected to be on her best behavior during service. There were many times when Delilah was lectured for laughing during church thanks to Holland and Joel.

Delilah quickly looked away before she could start laughing. She knew the consequences of laughing during church would be even greater now since she was old enough to know better and since she was up front at the piano where everyone could see her.

Delilah was so focused on not laughing she didn’t realize that her father had finished his sermon and it was time for her to play the final song. There were a few seconds of silence before Delilah snapped back to attention and quickly began playing the song. She looked up to see her father giving her a stern look and then looked back at Joel to see that he was trying to contain his laughter.

After Delilah finished playing everyone stood up and began leaving the church. Leaving always took at least a half hour though because many people stayed and talked.

Joel walked up to Delilah and pretended to be mad. “Delilah Magdalene, I am very disappointed in you. You should pay better attention during church.”

Delilah rolled her eyes. “Shut up. It was your fault anyway. Seriously, do you want me to get in trouble or something? I can just hear my father now, ‘Delilah, you are twenty-one years old and should know how to behave in church by now.”

“Please Lila, you won’t get in trouble since you’re such a daddy’s girl.”

“I am not a daddy’s girl,” Delilah said as Joel just gave her a look. “Ok, fine, maybe I’m a little bit of a daddy’s girl. I’m sure he’ll still say something about my lapse in attention during the service though.”

“If you’d pay attention then you wouldn’t have this problem.”

“You know what? If I have to get in trouble for this then you will too,” Delilah said before walking over to Joel’s mother. “Sarah, I just wanted to let you know that Joel was making faces at me during church and it was very distracting.”

Sarah turned to Joel and began to scold him, “Joel David, Lila has a very important job during church and doesn’t need you distracting her.”

“You’re such a tattletale,” Joel pouted.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Stop it you two, you sound like a couple of five year olds,” Sarah said, laughing at Joel and Delilah before walking over to some of the other women to talk to them.

“I can’t believe you told on me,” Joel shook his head.

“You should know by now to not mess with me,” Delilah smirked.

“Believe me, I know. I learned that many times over the years,” Joel laughed. “Gosh, being back here brings back so many memories.”

“I know. Who would have thought one place could hold so many memories, good and bad? It’s the place where we said goodbye to Holland for the last time.”

“It’s also the place where I met the two of you for the first time.”

Delilah laughed. “I remember that day perfectly. Holland said so many embarrassing things.”

“And you tried to make whatever she said sound more socially acceptable.”

“That was one thing that never changed. Holl would say something embarrassing and I tried to fix it.”

“Delilah that’s so gross. It’s like incest,” Holland said as she mimed gagging.

“Holland, he’s your brother, not mine. That means it’s okay for me to like him.”

“It’s still gross. He’s annoying, and stupid, and…he’s…he’s Hunter. Plus he’s a freshman in high school. We’re just seventh graders.”

“I just said your brother was cute. I know he’ll never like me though so you can stop complaining about me liking him,” Delilah said irritably.

“Girls,” Delilah’s mother said as she walked up to them with a boy they’d never seen before. “I want to introduce you to someone. This is Joel. His family is new to this church. Make him feel welcome.”

“Hi, I’m Delilah Reed, you can call me Lila though,” Delilah smiled at Joel.

“Her father is Pastor Reed so she’s a total goody-goody and never has any fun. I still love her though,” Holland said while Delilah glared at her. “My name’s Holland Vanderson. Don’t call me Holly or else I’ll have to punch you.”

“Hi, I’m Joel Kanitz,” The blonde haired boy nervously said.

“So did you just move to Phoenix, Joel?” Holland asked.

“No, my family has lived here since before I was born. We used to go to a different church but my parents wanted to switch.”

“What school do you go to?”

“I go to Mountain East Middle School. I’m in eighth grade.”

“That’s why you look familiar,” Delilah spoke up. “I go there too but I’m in seventh grade. Holland goes to Mountain West Middle School.”

“You’re practically stuck hanging out with us when you’re here,” Holland said. “Delilah and I are the only two in middle school. Everyone else is either in elementary or in high school. We don’t hang out with the elementary school kids because they’re so young and the high schoolers won’t hang out with us since we’re so young to them.”

“Well my older brother, Mark, is a high schooler and he already told me I couldn’t hang out with him anyway,” Joel said.

“So you have an older brother? Do you have an older sister?” Holland asked.

“No.”

“Oh, well if you did have an older sister how would you feel if your best friend had a crush on her?”

“Holl, drop it,” Delilah snapped.

“I’m asking a simple question,” Holland said to her best friend before once again turning to Joel. “Lila has a crush on my brother, Hunter, and I find it really weird because he’s practically like her brother but whatever. I guess in some countries they let some people marry their cousins.”

“They do?” Joel asked.

“Yep, they do. I know lots of random stuff about people in other countries. My parents are missionaries and I traveled around the world with them until I was about ten or so. Did you know that in some countries in Africa people don’t use words? Instead they use clicking noises with their tongue and mouth like this…” Holland went on to demonstrate what those noises sounded like.

“Holland!” Delilah gasped.

“What?”

Delilah turned to Joel. “Please excuse Holland over here. She sometimes forgets what is socially acceptable and what isn’t. I would blame it on the fact that she’s moved around the world so much but in all honesty it’s just how Holland is.”

Joel stood there staring at the two girls in front of him unsure of whether he should stay and befriend them or run away as fast as possible. In the end he chose to stay. His decision to stay changed all three of their lives forever…they just didn’t know what all life had in store for them and would have never expected what was going to take place in the upcoming years.