Chapter 5
Wes
Iwoke up with the memories of last night replaying over in my head, my conversation with Luke at the forefront.
Luke is waiting for me to unlock the car, eyebrows raised in suspicion as I approach. He looks at me expectantly as we get in, like we’re about to trade notes on how our dates went. I give him my best “what do you want?” face and he just chuckles and shakes his head.
We last approximately five minutes in silence before he says what he wants to say. “You like her.”
“No I don’t.”
“Then why were you staring at her all night?”
“D’know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout.” I mumble.
“Right.” He drags out the word, clearly being sarcastic.
“I’m going to be honest, Wes. She’s not exactly your speed.
Mormons have very high dating standards and expectations.
Not even just about the person they’re dating- about relationships in general.
Izzy’s considered rebellious because of our relationship.
From what she’s told me about Elli, Elli is a stickler for the rules. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
I know he’s just looking out for me, and he has the best intentions.
But damn it if that didn’t hurt a little bit.
Of course the first girl I’ve been vaguely attracted to in almost two years has to be super religious and have high standards and expectations.
Standards and expectations I most definitely couldn’t meet.
It’ll be fine. After tomorrow, I probably won’t see her again and the feeling of wanting to be near her and learn everything about her will go away.
Right?
Then, I went down a deep rabbit hole of information about Mormons as soon as I got home, and didn’t fall asleep until around 2 AM.
I found out that they have their own religious texts-The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price- that they read along with The King James version of The Bible.
The leaders, “prophets” are these old men who stay as the leader until they die-their current one is ninety-nine years old!
Their founder was fourteen when he started the church, and I pictured Luke, Ethan, Jack, or Dallin coming and telling me they saw God and they’re starting a religion.
I would smack them upside the head and tell them they were out of their minds!
That information alone was enough to make me shut my laptop before I got sucked in deeper.
So this morning, I’m standing at Luke’s door to ask him to give me the basics. When Luke answers, I don’t give him a chance to ask why I’m there. “I need you to tell me everything you know about Mormons.”
“Woah, okay. What do you want to know?” He holds up his hands in surrender.
“Everything you know.” I shrug.
“Okay… From what Izzy’s told me, they have a lot of rules they have to follow like no swearing, no smoking, no drugs, no drinking, no coffee, no tea, no tattoos, no piercings other than two in the ears, no dating until they’re sixteen-Izzy’s parents are more lenient on this with her because we’re long distance.
They have to always wear long shorts, crew neck t-shirts, and no tank tops because of ‘modesty’ or whatever-they can’t even wear bikinis!
Anything that has to do with sex-masturbating included-is considered really, really bad, unless you’re married.
They aren’t even supposed to make out. When you’re eight, or if you join later, you get baptized, and then you get what they call ‘The Holy Ghost’ but I don’t really understand that.
“When boys turn eighteen they go on mandatory service missions for two years. Girls can go for eighteen months when they turn nineteen, but it’s not mandatory for them.
They usually only date and marry other Mormons because they believe in order to get into Heaven you have to marry in their temple and you can only go in the temple if you’re a member.
When you go to the temple you get this special underwear you have to wear all the time, which is another reason they dress the way they do.
They get married super young, and super-fast usually.
Like, less than six months from meeting to marriage fast. They used to have to go to church for three hours every Sunday, but they switched it to two hours in 2020, and every six months they have this big conference thing. That’s all I know.”
“That is… A lot. And Elli’s a stickler for these rules?”
Luke shrugs, “According to Izzy. Elli’s ex is the grandson of one of their leaders. Trust Fund kid, lots of power. He didn’t propose after six months of dating, so they broke up. According to Izzy, he got married two months after he and Elli broke up.”
Well that doesn’t make any sense. Why would they break up if he wanted to get married so badly? Did Elli break up with him? Or did he break up with her? He’d be an idiot if he was the one who broke up with her.
“I’ve got to go meet Robs for coffee. I’ll see you at Matts.” I say as I clap him on the shoulder and make my way to the door.
He yells out, “I knew you liked her!” But I’m gone before I can reply.
Robin is already there with our drinks when I come sulking into the Toasted Bean. I get there just in time to see her almost knock over her own latte, spilling a bit on the table and mumbling under her breath. She perks up when she sees me.
“Date didn’t go well?” She gives me a curious look.
“It was fine.” I know that answer isn’t enough for her, she’s just going to keep asking me questions until she’s satisfied, so I figure I might as well save us both the time.
“I told her about my mom and grandma. She asked about my tattoo, so I told her the meaning. I just didn’t mention how Mom died. ”
“No shit. What did she say?” Robin’s cup stops halfway to her mouth in surprise.
“She just said that she’s sure my mom and grandma would have thought it was beautiful.”
Robin’s eyebrows raise as if to say “and?”
“And…” I sigh. “That’s it. That’s all she said about it.
She tried to apologize, thinking she overstepped, but I told her it was okay.
She didn’t give me the usual ‘oh poor broken Wes’ pitying look people have when I tell them.
She just looked…understanding? I don’t know.
I told her about wanting to be a musician, write songs, ya know?
And she didn’t judge me at all for it. I thought she was going to be this uptight, prissy snob, but she’s so selfless and kind, and actually funny when she lets herself go a little bit… ”
“But?” Robin prompts, and I hate and love that she knows me so well sometimes.
“But Mormons have a lot of fucking rules that don’t make any goddamn sense. I could never meet the stupid standards that they have, that she has. I don’t even-”
“Pause. Did she actually tell you that?”
“Well, no, but-”
“Then you don’t know if you can’t meet them. It sounds like you might be trying to self-sabotage because you’re scared of getting hurt. You’re also making snap judgments about her, like people do to you.” Robin chides, giving me a smug look.
“I don’t like you.” I don’t like that she’s making sense. I don’t like that she’s probably right.
“You love me. Matt gave everyone the heads up that she would be there today. Maybe I can see where she stands?”
“No, just…” I run my hand over my face in exasperation. “Just get to know her. I think you and her could be really good friends. Sav too. If you don’t like her, fine, you don’t have to be friends with her, but don’t try to pry information out of her for my sake.”
Robin grabs my hand from across the table. “Okay. I’ll get to know her. But you shouldn’t count yourself out before you’ve even tried.”
I don’t know if I have it in me to try again, though.