Chapter 3 : The Truth About Teenage Boys

"Was none of that real?" Jonah's voice shook a little with excitement and anxiety.

"Oh no, it was all real. It's just when getting to know someone none of that matters. There are more important things to know." Nick crossed the room in two easy steps and unzipped the duffle bag still sitting on his bed.

Jonah shut the door to their room and then shoved his hands in his pockets. "Like what?"

Nick pulled out a speaker from his bag, along with two rolled up posters. He set the speaker on the joint nightstand, pushing the Bible aside a little bit.

"Like music. What kind of music do you listen to?" Nick looked truly intrigued and interested while Jonah's face flushed.

"Um, my parents don't really like a lot of music that wasn't approved by our minister. I haven't heard a lot that wasn't just songs about Jesus." The hot flush of embarrassment spread deeper through Jonah's body as he moved to sit down across from Nick.

"Yeah, your parents are really something. I can't believe you made it to 18 and didn't suffocate to death with them on you like that." Nick shook his head in disbelief. "Tell me, are you a true believer?"

Jonah froze in his embarrassed panic and thought about all he had been taught: all the Sunday school lessons, memorizing Bible verses and volunteering at church events. No one had ever asked him that before.

"I don't think so. If God is real the way my church tells it, then He's got to be kind of a cruel God. There is just so much that doesn't make sense."

The smile on Nick's face looked almost smug.

"You didn't grow up going to church?" Jonah questioned.

"I grew up honoring a different type of 'god'. My father was an abusive asshole, I ran away from him when I was 13 and have been on my own ever since. I traveled a lot but kept going to high school and discovered my passion."

"Teaching?" Jonah asked with a raised eyebrow. Nick smiled and shook his head. He stood up and grabbed the cross and Bible off the nightstand. He then yanked the map and chapel papers out of Jonah's hand.

"No, liberation. The most important thing a teenager like us can learn is how to think for ourselves." Nick walked towards the door, and Jonah quickly got up and followed him out into the hall.

"Wait! Where are you going? What are you doing with that stuff?" Jonah scurried along after Nick who walked effortlessly down the hall covering a lot of ground with each step. Nick pushed open the doors that led back onto the court yard outside their dorm and threw all the things he had taken from Jonah in the trash. Jonah walked outside after Nick just in time to hear the loud thud of his baptismal Bible hitting the bottom of the semi empty trash can.

"What are you doing?" Jonah questioned, more out of stunned curiosity than anger.

"I am liberating you!" Nick sort of screamed holding his arms out wide. Jonah instinctively shrunk into himself and looked to see if anyone was watching them. Nick sighed. "I am also going to educate you."

Nick grabbed Jonah by the wrist and started to march him off campus. Jonah brushed his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes and followed hesitantly behind Nick.

"Now where are we going?" Jonah asked but Nick just smiled and marched them both forward.

"You and I are going to be roommates for at least the rest of this year, I want to know who you are. That's hard to do when you don't even really know who you are. I meant it when I said I was hoping for a friend that could last longer than one semester so I'm going to help you."

"You're going to help me learn who I really am?" Jonah questioned. Seeing that Jonah was following willingly, Nick let go of his wrist and walked beside him.

"No, I'm going to help you create who you really are. People don't 'discover' themselves, they create themselves."

The sun was sitting heavy in the sky, and the colors were starting their lazy fade into twilight. Nick turned the corner off of campus onto a brightly lit street full of shops and bars.

"Welcome to the drawing board," Nick said, holding his arm out to show off all the contents on the street. Jonah's eyes widened. "Here you can try all sorts of new things, discover what you like or don't like and begin to create. But first things first."

Nick started off quickly again down the street. Jonah kept his eyes wide trying to soak in all there was to see: drunk college students laughing on the porch outside a bar, a delicious looking Mexican restaurant highlighting their margarita special, a tattoo parlor decorated in beautiful artwork that looked as if it was all based on horror movies. Jonah turned back to Nick when he heard the chime of a door opening. Jonah turned to see a huge music store. There were CDs, records, posters and merchandise of a thousand bands Jonah didn't know. The boys slowly moved and looked around in awe.

"If you really want church. This is a church," Nick stated profoundly, narrowing his intense gaze on Jonah's astonished face.