"Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future." – Proverbs 19:20

Alana's heart was overflowing with happiness when she came home Sunday afternoon. Not only had Nikki spontaneously showed up to church that morning, but the gang had just finished their weekly study of the book of James. Despite suggestions from Blaine and Koa, everyone decided to postpone further meetings until they could agree on the next book to study together.

But the best part of the day was when Alana and Cole snuck in a quick conversation in the parking lot. The rest of the gang lingered inside the restaurant while Cole headed outside to his Volkswagen, swinging the keys around his finger. Alana followed, trying to make her disappearance as inconspicuous as possible.

"Hey," she said once the door to Scottie's had closed behind her.

Cole turned around and smiled. "Hey yourself."

She hastened over to him and said, "We really need to talk."

"Now?" he asked, looking around and seeing a few people milling about.

"Everyone else is still inside. This is important," Alana stressed.

Cole understood immediately. The faint flush that crept up his cheeks let her know that the memory of their Disneyland rockets ride was still fresh in his mind.

"Look," she added, pausing to glance back at the restaurant to make sure no one was watching, "I've thought about our conversation at Disneyland."

"I have too," he said.

"And..." She took a deep breath. "I want to let you know that I do feel like we're ready to take the next step in our relationship."

Before she realized what was going on, Cole had grabbed her hands and whisked her to the opposite side of the Volkswagen. Now they were out of sight of the restaurant, but in full view of the busy street.

"Alana, I haven't stopped thinking about it either," he said, his words running together in his excitement. "This is going to sound so cheesy, but it's been worth waiting for a girl like you."

She laughed. "I know this might seem like bad timing, but..."

He cocked his head, listening.

"Do you think you could wait one more day?"

Cole grinned and pulled her closer. Now his hands were touching her elbows, and their faces were only inches apart. Alana immediately smiled. Despite the apprehension she felt about asking Cole this important question, she wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

"I've waited this long," he said, "so one more day won't matter."

"Good." After taking a deep breath, she said, "Before we officially announce our relationship, I think it's only fair that we tell our families first."

To her surprise, Cole nodded. "Of course. I mean, Blaine already knows, though I'm not sure if my dad has any suspicions. I'll make sure to tell him tonight."

"And I'll have a talk with Dylan," Alana promised.

Cole lightly traced his thumb against her arm, glancing through the windows of the Volkswagen towards the restaurant. "The rest of the gang is coming," he said quietly. Then, turning back to face Alana, he said, "I want to tell you something."

"What is it?"

He suddenly fell silent, the words numb in his mouth. "I—I just want to make sure that you know where I'm coming from."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm used to quick relationships, quick flings...but this is different. You're different." He glanced away. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I really do care about you, and I don't want you to feel pressured into anything, ever."

Alana felt emotions bubbling within her but swiftly held them back. So much for their quick conversation! After glancing over at the restaurant and seeing Blaine heading their way, she said, "If I had any doubts, Cole, you just wiped them all away."

"Good," he said, smiling.

"I don't feel pressured at all. As long as we keep our relationship with God first and our relationship as a couple second, I know we're doing the right thing."

"Exactly," Cole said. He squeezed her hand before taking a step back, leaving a few feet of room between them. "I guess we'll keep things professional until school tomorrow, right?"

She laughed and backed away. "Right."

Just then, Blaine came around the corner, whistling a tune. "There you guys are," he said. "Ready to go?"

They nodded and climbed into the Volkswagen. Before Alana took her seat, however, Cole glanced over and gave her a nearly imperceptible wink. She hoped Blaine couldn't see the dark blush creeping up her cheeks.

Not fifteen minutes later, the trio arrived at Alana's apartment. She opened the van door and had just set foot on the lawn when her phone rang. After waving goodbye to the twins, she fished it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID. With a grin, she held it up to her ear and exclaimed, "Trevor!"

"Hey Alana, how've you been?"

They exchanged formalities while she crossed the lawn to the front door. But one thing Trevor said made her stop in her tracks. She paused and listened carefully at the plan he proposed. She was concentrating deeply on every word when the front door suddenly jerked open.

Startled, Alana took a deep back, nearly dropping her phone in the process. She smiled in relief when she saw it was Dylan.

"Sorry," he said, looking just as startled as she was. "I was just going out for a run."

Alana nodded, but because of the distraction she had missed the last few seconds' of Trevor's speech. "Say that again?" she asked, turning away from her brother to concentrate.

"Who's on the phone?" Dylan asked loudly.

Alana ignored him. Fortunately, Trevor was a quick talker, and he repeated himself word-for-word in a matter of seconds.

"Listen," Alana said apologetically, "I'll have to call you back later. I need to get some feedback from Dylan first."

"Of course," Trevor said automatically. "Let me know within 24 hours, though. Alvarez is leaving soon."

"24 hours. Got it." She said goodbye and then shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"Well?" Dylan asked.

"Thank you for interrupting my phone call," she said impatiently. "For your information, that was Trevor, and he had something very important to say."

"Oh, come on." Dylan held open the front door and gestured for her to come inside. "I barely interrupted you at all."

Alana rolled her eyes. "Admit it—you were trying to annoy me."

"And I succeeded!"

She shook her head, grinning in spite of herself.

"So what's this all about?" Dylan asked curiously, taking a seat on the couch in the living room.

Alana followed him and crossed her arms over her chest, realizing she actually had a lot she needed to talk to him about.

"Well, it's more than one thing," she said slowly.

"Well, I have time."

"What about your run?"

He shrugged. "It won't hurt to wait."

Alana nodded and took a seat. She hadn't been expecting to rush into this heavy conversation so suddenly. She needed to collect her thoughts.

"What did Trevor ask you?"

It looked like Dylan was going to do the thinking for her. With a wry smile, Alana said, "He knows this coach from San Clemente who's heading up to Santa Barbara. His name is Alvarez—Nate Alvarez, or something like that—and he's in Santa Barbara to train a few surfers. Thanks to Trevor's input, he's also willing to see me twice a week."

Dylan whistled. "That's great! Your surfing is top-notch as it is, but a professional coach like that can do a lot of fine-tuning. This guy is a professional, right?"

Alana nodded.

"So what does his training look like?"

"In the water training, gym training, and fitness stuff, obviously. Trevor says he also works out a nutrition plan for each surfer as well. I guess he's trained some of the guys in the qualifying series," she added, referring to the round of competition that fed directly into the pro circuit.

Dylan folded his arms across his chest, satisfied. "I'll take a look at his background info," he said. "How much does he charge?"

Alana said she would double-check with Trevor, and then she knew it was time to move on to their next point: the photoshoot.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Dylan was one step ahead of her. "So I forgot to ask," he said. "Are you still doing that modeling thing with Roxy?"

Alana winced. She was still a little embarrassed about the whole thing, especially since her older brother was bound to be so overprotective about it. "Yeah, I am," she confirmed. "It's...ah...tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?" Dylan leaned forward. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I didn't want to talk about it, she thought, but kept her mouth shut.

"Look, Alana, I know this is something you want to do, but you need to keep me in the loop. Before I let you model anything, I need to know what you'll be wearing."

"Don't worry, I found out," she said hastily. "I'll be wearing everything from shorts and T-shirts to jackets and jeans. It's for one of their clothing lines."

"Does 'everything' entail swimsuits?"

She groaned and put a hand over her face. "No, Dylan."

He leaned back, satisfied. "Well, then do you need a ride?"

She quickly shook her head. The last thing she wanted was her older brother sticking around to watch the photoshoot, distracting her from the sidelines. "One of the ladies from Roxy will be picking me up," she said.

"Alright." After letting this information sink in for a few moments, he got to his feet and headed to the front door. "Sounds good—I'll be back soon."

But Alana knew their conversation wasn't over yet. "Wait!" she called reluctantly. "Uh...there's one more thing I need to tell you."

Dylan looked at her curiously. "What about?"

"It's actually pretty serious."

"Whoa, more serious than a professional coach and a Roxy modeling gig?"

Alana rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dyl."

He sat back down and propped his elbows up on his knees. Leaning forward, he cued her to go on.

"So, I don't know if you've noticed..." She let her voice trail off.

Dylan met her gaze with a blank stare. She sucked in a deep breath. Apparently she had nothing to work with here, and she was going to have to explain this from scratch. "Well, it's about Cole..."

The way she dragged out the name made Dylan give her a strange look. "Is he in trouble? I thought he's been doing great since becoming a believer."

"Oh, no, he's totally fine! He's great. He's actually one of the godliest guys I know." Alana stopped mid-sentence and forced herself to calm down. But her insides were churning and she didn't know how to squeeze out the rest of this awkward conversation. If only Mom was still here...

Dylan suddenly relaxed and leaned back in his seat. The slight smile on his face told Alana that he'd seen the blush on her cheeks. "Is something going on between you two?" he asked curiously.

Alana frowned, blushing even harder. "Maybe."

"Which is...?" He smiled mischievously.

"Oh, come on, Dylan! I think you know."

"No, I don't."

She groaned. He was making her do this the hard way. "Fine," she said. Then, taking a deep breath, she spit out, "Coleaskedmetobehisgirlfriend."

Dylan narrowed his eyes. "Did I just hear the word girlfriend?"

"Um...yes?"

His eyes widened. "I thought you were going to admit you liked him, but...but this? I wasn't expecting this!"

"Yeah, I know, that was why I wanted to tell you before we made anything official."

"Official?" He slumped against the back of the couch.

Now that her explanation was out in the open, the anxiety that had been swimming in Alana's stomach was long gone. She laughed and smiled at her brother's surprise. "Dylan, what's so bad about this? I'm eighteen years old and this is my first boyfriend. You've been lucky."

"I never thought I would see the day," he said sadly. "My little sister..."

"Hello, I just said I'm eighteen."

"That's not the point!" He jabbed his finger at Alana. "Before you and Cole do anything, I need to be filled in on all the details. That means why you want to date him, when he asked you, and—"

"He hasn't asked me yet."

Dylan paused mid-rant. "Wait, what?"

"Cole and I both want to date, but he technically hasn't asked me yet," Alana explained quietly. "We promised to talk to our parents first—or, in my case, you."

This cast the whole situation in a different light. Dylan stood up and placed his hands on his hips, thinking. "Well," he said finally. "Cole talked to me last month, you know."

"He did?"

"He told me how he felt about you, and I said that was fine. I just never really expected you to return those feelings," Dylan admitted.

"It's...a long story," Alana stammered.

"I want to know why you're interested in dating him, Alana."

She covered her face with her hands. "Are you serious?"

"As your older brother, it's my responsibility to question every single one of your love interests," he teased.

She groaned. "Cole is not my love interest, Dylan! He's my boyfriend."

"Just start talking, Alana."

With her face burning, she reluctantly opened her mouth and started from the beginning—from the moment Cole had first approached her on their surfing safari.