It was 8:30 to be precise
The service was starting by 9:00
"Shit" Jasmine swore under her breath
She left the house this morning with the hopes of getting all the work done by 6:00, but today of all days, things weren't going as planned. Mom is going to be so mad at me
She shifted her makeup box into her other hand, it seemed heavier than usual. Or she was just tired.
Her phone kept buzzing with notifications and calls from her bandmates and her mom the last time she checked, but she chose to ignore them as she didn't want to yelled at and scolded over the phone
Her phone buzzed again to an incoming call she got it from her pant pocket and saw it was a number she didn't recognize, tired of the constant buzzing she swiped the answer button
"Hello?"
"Hi Jasmine, it's Joel," The caller said but she couldn't remember
"I'm sorry I don't recall"
"Oh? Well I got your number from Katherine" He clarified
She groaned internally, Joel the guy Katie set her up with but now was not the time
"I can't talk right now Joel
I'll call you back"
She said and hung up without waiting for his response and was sliding her phone back into her front pocket when she bumped into someone.
Well a hard wall of muscle, a tall hard wall of muscle that seemed in no hurry at all as they didn't move out of her way.
Irritated, she was about to tell the person off.
She looked up and an audible gasp left her lips at hard muscle's face, he wasn't overly handsome to the point he could be referred to as cute. A strong jaw and intense eyes that seemed to draw her in and leave her lost for words
"Fuck he's gorgeous," was the first thing that came to her mind, all the curse words she was about to spit at him seemed to have deserted her
She realized she said it out loud when his lips lifted in a lazy smirk, the type that told you he was used to such reactions from women.
The snappy Jasmine surfaced again, she was angry at herself for going slack-jawed on a guy, no, a man...but a stranger nonetheless
"you're in my way" she snapped and visibly tried to shake herself from the haze she'd been in
He stared down at her with a confused look now, the earlier smirk no longer on his face like he was surprised at her reaction
"well excuse me" she stepped aside and hurried off without so much as a glance back, she had a church service to get to.
Khaleed had no idea why he stood there staring at her like an artifact in a museum, sure he didn't have staring issues before now
He had moved states, 6 months ago back home...his father's wishes.
Right after he graduated, he had gotten a job away from his family drama and his father's company, hell he wanted a new start and had gotten it
His father had threatened to cut him off his Will, and to be honest he'd told him to go ahead with it. Until his half-sister, Cassandra pleaded and eventually persuaded him to come back home.
He and his father were never close, to begin with, but after his mother had died tragically due to a car accident, he became more distant.
Khaleed understood at first he was grieving, his parents loved each other so much, and the death of his mother changed him.
With time, they both got used to pretty much ignoring each other, and stuck to syllabic greetings, he became more controlling about his life and choice of study and he came to resent his father. He lost his wife but he too had lost his mother, he didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of his grief and anger.
Years later, before he finished college, his father met Sophia, Cassandra's mother.
They got married and she brought warmth into their home, Khaleed got a break from his shitty moods, so if he found happiness in someone new, whatever!
His father had later tried to fix their relationship, how hypocritical!
He has a new wife and is happy now, so what? He wasn't bitter or anything but he just didn't care anymore.
Sophia made his father happy but Cassandra was the best thing that happened to him since his father's second marriage to her mother she's the only person that seemed to genuinely care about him, and he would do anything for her.
He was on his way to get groceries from the store when he saw her, she looked so young and...tiny, well until he saw her up close, she wasn't little alright, she was all woman, dressed in a white crop top and ripped, dark skinny jeans
She seemed to be in a hurry to get to wherever she was going.
Then she got on a call and paused distracted she was going to walk into him, he could have stepped aside to avoid it but he let it happen anyway...
She looked up at him, and he saw the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen
For a second she had the look he'd gotten used to seeing on the faces of most of the women he has met. He heard her curse, then call him gorgeous and his lips curved into a smirk.
she doesn't seem immune to my looks either, he mused.
He wasn't immune to her too and the swearing, he could only watch her lips, another feature his eyes seemed fixated on. The said lips were moving
When his brain finally processed what she had said, her face had morphed into a look of irritation, she stepped around him and walked away.
Now that was something, he thought.
He looked back at her retreating form and groaned internally at her shapely form that complimented her pretty face and hoped they'd meet again.
Jasmine got home, took a quick shower, and rushed to church.
She had to sit among the congregation at first, it was gonna be embarrassing to walk to the front row where her bandmates were when the service had started
It was better to join them during the opening prayer when every head would be bent in prayer, well except for hers, she said a quick prayer for forgiveness.
The church had pews facing the podium, which had a pulpit which the pastor stood in front of whilst preaching, and the choristers and instrumentalists sat to the left, the ministers to the right
She felt eyes on her, then looked to the far end of the row she was sitting in, her mom stared back...no, she glared
The idea of the ground opening up to swallow her whole at that moment seemed awesome
She didn't need to be close to her to know she was pissed
Her mom had predicted and warned her about coming home late, she had assured her she would get home early, but didn't, just like her mom said.
She was in the band's bad graces too, of course, she had gotten several texts from them, and 10 missed calls from Katie, her best friend. Trust her to go overboard with calls, she almost rolled her eyes.
As planned, she was in the front row at the end of the opening prayer, sitting there like she'd been there since the beginning of the service.
Who was she trying to fool anyway? Her subconscious snickered at her
Her band was to minister right after a group that called themselves THE CELESTIALS...
A catchy name if you asked her, if only they didn't see her and her bandmates as rivals even in church.
Well, she had gotten used to it, and so had her friends.
They came up with the name, RARE GEMS, a team of 5, who attended the same church, and loved to sing, so it was only normal that they became a group, she wanted a name they could assume anywhere, anytime ...
She called her group out for a brief rehearsal, apologized then told them she wasn't going to be able to be the main vocalist for the song they'd rehearsed, hoping any one of them could, but no one wanted to.
The blame was gonna fall on her if they didn't do better than the rival group
"There's a reason why we meet for rehearsals weeks before singing, Jasmine" Luke quipped
"I suggest we forget the songs we rehearsed previously, let's just go there and worship God, just like we do at rehearsals" she suggested
Daniel gave her a heated look
"you mean we should go up there and sing songs the whole congregation dances to every Sunday?" he looked like he was gonna cry
"I'm sorry, but I'm stressed out, I don't want to make a mistake when we get out there and embarrass you guys," Jasmine said in a pleading tone
Katie humphed for the first time since they got outside, obviously, she had something to say to her, now's not the time, she thought, giving her a look that conveyed it.
Pauline shook her head subtly, ever the cool one
"Does anyone have a better idea? "she asked, and when no one spoke up, she went on
"you should believe in yourselves, believe in each other, believe in what God can do. It'll be fine, I promise"
At that, they all agreed, that they didn't need to specify who went first or how, it was like second nature to them
Jasmine had to take a deep breath, in her heart she hoped she was right about what she said earlier
"Tonight we just want to sing, we want to praise, we want worship... Please sing along and be sure to dance" she gestured at the congregation smiling.
She led the first song when she looked back at her group, she was relieved to see they understood what they had to do.
It wasn't about singing better than the other groups, it was about doing what they did best, it was about singing because they enjoyed it, and they did enjoy it.