Take Me To Church

Written in response to: Write a story about a someone who's in denial.... view prompt

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Coming of Age LGBTQ+ Romance

Oh my god.


First, Clementine was committing sinful acts in a church, and now she was using God's name in vain. This day was strange and messed up, yet somehow also perfect.


Clementine stepped back, pressing a hand to her lips and looking at the girl before her. Clementine glanced around the empty church room before speaking.


"Are you trying to convert me?" she hissed. She wasn't sure why that was the first thing that came to mind.


Deborah laughed, the blue streaks in her hair falling into her face.

"I'm not converting you. If you like it when I kiss you, then it's because you're queer."


Clementine flinched at the word. In elementary school, that word was thrown around as an insult, especially towards Clementine when she wouldn't tell the other girls on the playground which boy she had a 'crush' on.


But she had just kissed a girl. Debbie, the new girl in Clementine's extremely conservative town. Ever since Debbie had started showing up at the same church and school as Clementine, she'd been watching her, infatuated with the way other people looked at her with her blue streaked hair, her winged eyeliner, and her painted nails, black like a devil worshipper. Clementine noticed that the paint was always chipped because Deborah liked to pick at it when she was nervous.


Clementine had wanted to be her friend so badly- that's all it had been, hadn't it?


But her mind arrived back at the situation unfolding before her, the one where she'd just kissed Deborah, and it felt so right.


It had all started that morning at church. Because they'd been running late, Clementine's family ended up sitting next to Debbie's family, the two girls next to each other at the end of the pew. Clementine was very nervous to sit next to the girl she'd been obsessing over since she'd first seen her last week, but she ignored the nerves and tried to focus on the pastor's words, not the thigh connecting with her own.


Debbie pulled out a small notebook and a pen, which they passed back and forth throughout the service, chatting inside. Clementine couldn't tell if the pen was warm or her palms were sweating.


Near the end of the service, Debbie asked Clementine if she wanted to hang out that night in the church. Clementine was hesitant to agree, but she wanted to impress Deborah so badly that she wrote back alright.


That evening, Clementine got dressed quietly and stuffed her bed with pillows, forming the illusion that Clementine was deep asleep in her dark room, meanwhile, the ginger silently snuck out the window instead.


It felt like a scene from a movie, sneaking out at night to hang out with the cool kid.


When she arrived at the church, Debbie was waiting by the door. Clementine realized it was already cracked open behind her and she didn't want to know how.


"Come on!" she whispered. Clementine followed her inside.


The church was different at night. It seemed so much colder and haunting. She'd been going there since she was baptized as a baby but she'd never seen it like this.


Maybe it was the danger of it all that gave her the courage to make her next move, but as they talked and laughed together on the pews, knees touching, she grabbed Debbie's hand and stood up.


"Follow me, I want to show you something."


She and Debbie ran down the aisle to the dark hallway of the church, lit only by emergency exit signs. Debbie seemed hesitant but kept going, hand warm in Clementine's.


Up some stairs and through a doorway, the two girls found a room with a skylight, the full moon peeking through.


Clementine watched Debbie's surprised face with awe. Her rosy lips were parted and her blue eyes shone with moonlight as she stared up at the glass ceiling.


Clementine didn't know what came over her when she walked towards Debbie and stood before her, staring into her hazel eyes until Debbie looked back at her.


You might even say Clementine insinuated the kiss with how her eyes flickered between Debbie's eyes and her lips.


The next thing she knew, Debbie was kissing her. At first, Clementine felt awkward, but then she kissed back, lifting her hands to rest in Debbie's soft hair.


It lasted for years but also seconds. It felt like heaven, but after pulling away, Clementine knew they were both going to hell.


Now, the two girls were sitting on a pew against the wall in the moonlit room in a comfortable silence. Clementine wished she knew the time, but at 14, she had no phone and doubted Debbie, at 15, had one on her either.


"I should maybe-" Clementine started.


"Do you know if-" Debbie began at the same time.


They both paused before laughing. Debbie had such a carefree laugh, throwing her head back and giggling with her whole body.


Clementine didn't know where her life was going, but she knew she wanted to spend it with Debbie.


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Author's Note:


Hey! Thanks for reading until the end!! I wrote this for fun and also in like 1-2 hours because I thought the prompt was cool, but if you have any constructive criticism or something you don't like about it, feel free to leave a comment! Also, let me know if you want to see any more of Clementine and Debbie, because I could turn it into a whole thing if anyone was interested.


Also, full disclaimer, I don't know very much about Christianity and I wasn't willing to do research just for a silly story, so don't come for me.


Oh, also, I wrote this by hand and then typed it up and edited it because it's more fun that way tehe.


Love you <3



[Oh my goodness, there are five minutes until I have to submit this and I do not have enough words. Send help. In the future I need to write longer stories I guess haha. I can't believe I'm incapable of writing 1k words.]

[Okay, thanks for reading, bye.]

June 22, 2024 03:58

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