Page 1 of Falling for my Best Friend

O N E

- Lucy-

Something told me this guy wasn’t going to be up for a quick fuck, and my suspicions were confirmed when he asked me the question that was burning the tip of his tongue.

“So have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “Wouldn’t I have had to fill out some paperwork or something? I think I’d remember that.”

He nodded. “Yeah, you would remember. Like for me it was really profound.” He leaned back so he’d have room to talk with his hands. “Like there was my life before I was born again and then after.”

Cory wasn’t the first religious guy I’d met on Tinder, but it didn’t happen that often. Still, I thought religious people were supposed to find love in Bible study or something so it always caught me off guard.

“But there’s no paperwork,” he added, as if that was the only thing stopping me from joining the club.

“Interesting,” I said, picking up my panini with both hands. “So you can just, like, hand your life over to Jesus anytime then?”

“Pretty much.”

“What made you want to do that?” I asked, deciding it was too early to pass judgment on whether Cory was harmless or crazy.

He fingered the wooden cross around his neck. “I was going through a dark time and-”

Let me guess. “As a teenager?”

“Yeah.”

“Go on,” I said, taking a big bite.

“Anyway, I started self-harming-”

Maybe we had more in common than I thought.

“And I knew I needed help.”

I covered my half full mouth with my hand. “And who better to help you than Jesus, right?”

Cory furrowed his brows. “It’s not a joke, Lucy. I could’ve died.”

I swallowed. “I didn’t mean- sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood.” Since this is supposed to be a first date and all. “Please finish your story.”

He looked down at his salad like he was trying to decide if I’d offended him too much for him to continue. “I almost died of an overdose one night.”

“Can I ask what you-”

“Cough syrup.”

“Cough syrup,” I repeated, trying to keep a straight face.

“Yeah. And when I was in the hospital, Jesus came to me and told me that my life was worth fighting for.”

“Are you sure it was Jesus?”

He craned his neck towards me. “I think I would know Jesus if I saw him.”

That makes one of us. “So he saved you?”

“Basically.”

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