stop bringing her famous lemon squares to those card games. And that is unthinkable to Carol and Gloria. I swear they are no less addicted to those damned squares than a junkie is to heroin.”
“You do know that Mrs. Slovacek puts cognac and Amaretto in those lemon squares, right?” Axom asked.
Pastor James smiled at Axom and raised an eyebrow.
“I’ m just sayin’ …”
“My point is that all I ever needed to do to get people out of their seats and into the communion lines was to ask you to help serve. From that very first Sunday, everyone was scampering to be in your line.”
“That’s not true,” Axom said, and felt his face blush as he picked up his iPod and draped the earphones around his neck.
“It is, and you know it. And it’s not just the twittering teenage girls, either. It’s their flustered moms and their envious dads and even their jealous boyfriends. Everyone wants to be in your communion line.”
“Well, I don’t know why,” Axom said, and looked out the window distractedly.
“Because you are you, Axom,” Pastor James said affectionately. “And I don’t think I tell you often enough how much I appreciate you and all that you bring to the church.”
“Thank you. But really, I’m not bringing or doing anything special.”
“That’s a very Jesus-like attitude, son.”
“Oh, I’m pretty certain Jesus knew he was special.”
Pastor James smiled, and draped his arm around Axom’s shoulder. “Yes, I suppose he did. But he didn’t hold that over anyone or let it get in the way of his good work. Just like someone else I know. I’m very proud of you, Axom, and I want to say thank you for just being you.”
“Thank you, sir. You’re welcome.”
“Now,” his minister said as they reached the door, “Scott wanted to see you before you leave this afternoon.”
“Oh, no. You didn’t tell him I’d …”
“I didn’t promise him anything,” Pastor James said slyly, and gently led him through the door. “But you know he needs your help right now. He’s in his office waiting for you.”
Scott Williams was less than four years older than Axom. At twenty years old, he was the youngest pastoral staff ever to serve at Riverdale. He’d come from an abusive home, and had sought and found refuge and comfort at the church. Pastor James counseled him for two years as he finished high school, and at his graduation presented Scott with a certificate informing him of a full scholarship being given him complements of the church. Now in his third year at UCLA, he was coming upon his first full year as Youth Pastor at Riverdale Community Christian, and facing his first real challenge.
“Come on, Axom, pleeeease,” he pleaded.
Axom tried his best to keep from smiling but felt the corners of his mouth betray him. His Youth Pastor sounded like such a kid himself, begging for a cookie that his mother was refusing him. And he looked so damned cute. Scott had what seemed like, at first glance, unruly, curly dark hair that fell carelessly across his face and halfway down the back of his neck, but upon closer inspection was meticulously coiffed. Each curl was perfectly placed on his head, and the blond highlights that ran through it were strategically spaced and accentuated. His tanned skin was the result of many hours at the beach, and not in a tanning booth, and made his steel blue eyes sparkle even more than they did naturally. His teeth were toothpaste-commercial white, and perfectly aligned, and they centered the most adorable smile that Axom had ever seen. His full lips were pink and soft and perpetually moistened, and they begged Axom to lean in and kiss them.
“I really can’t, Scott. Not this year, I just don’t have the …”
“Axom.” Scott leaned in and looked at him with a dire expectation he wasn’t expecting. “This is important. This is the final test of my leadership abilities, and could mean life or death for me. If I can’t prove to the Board that I can effectively lead the youth of this church, then I will probably be fired.”
“Scott, Pastor James is not going to fire you.”
“I could lose my scholarship.”
“You’re so dramatic. You’re not going to lose …”
“I could wind up on the streets, homeless.”
Axom laughed out loud, spraying spittle in front of him. “All right, all right. I’ll do it.” “Thank you!” Scott yelled, and jumped out of his chair and hugged him tightly.
Axom hugged him back, inhaling the sweet smell of his cologne on the nape of his neck. His cock began to harden as he felt Scott’s muscled body press against his own, and he pushed his Youth Pastor away from him gently.
“But you owe me big-time,” Axom said as he pulled his shirttail out from his jeans and let it fall across the front of his jeans. “So what do I have to do?”
“Nothing. That’s the great part about this. You don’t have to do anything. Just show up. When people hear that you’re coming, the other kids will start signing up in droves. All I need you to do is say you’re gonna be there, and then … well … be there. This retreat is gonna be the best one ever! We’ll play games, we’ll eat, we’ll bond and get to know each other better. It’ll be great.”
“Yeah, sounds like a real blast.”
“Come on, Bayh, you know you wanna come to the retreat. You can’t wait for it, can you? You’re gonna tell everyone you know that you’re coming and you’re gonna invite them to come along, too, right?”
Axom laughed. “I’ll see you next Friday. What time you want me here?”
“Five o’clock sharp. Be here or be square,” Scott said, then looked at the ceiling as if he wondered why the phrase didn’t sound right.
“Dork,” Axom said, and walked out the door.
Scott had been right. When word got around that Axom was coming, the sign-up list grew from three youth attending to over thirty in less than two days. By Wednesday evening, they’d had to stop accepting people at the retreat, because they only had room for forty. The church owned six cabins at Big Bear Lake, and they quickly were at full capacity. Though Axom knew almost everyone there, there were a few new faces in the crowd, and he enjoyed getting to know them.
The food was incredible, since one of the members of the church was a chef and owned three high-end restaurants in the city, and volunteered his services for the youth group retreat. The structured activities during the day were tolerable. They were very transparent in their goal of inspiring trust, confidence, and camaraderie among team members, but Scott was trying hard and did everything he could to make them fun and interesting, and he succeeded, for the most part. The games in the evenings were the best part, and a lot of fun, actually. Axom enjoyed the healthy competition, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed as much as he did while playing Taboo, Guesstures, and Scene It.
He couldn’t take his eyes off of Scott, though. The Youth Pastor seemed even cuter and more endearing that weekend than he ever had before, and Axom found himself staring across
