Chapter 3- Parties and Prayers
1234 Words
Morning sunlight broke through the dorm blinds in soft gold stripes, warming Ami’s Bible where it lay open on the desk. The pages fluttered in the fan’s breeze like they were breathing, as if reminding her who she was supposed to be.
She groaned and pulled a pillow over her face.
Her phone buzzed again.
Kayla: Rise and shine! We’re going shopping.
Kayla: Party tonight. Midnight Bloom. Mandatory.
Kayla: Ryan. Will. Be. There.
Ami sat up slowly, heart tight in her chest. She had promised herself she wouldn’t get sucked into Edenvale’s glamorous chaos again—not after the brunch, not after the looks, the whispers, the dizzying reminder that she didn’t belong.
But Kayla didn’t take no for an answer, and every invitation felt like she was being dragged deeper into a world she didn’t understand.
“Just one night,” Ami muttered. “Just this once.”
---
By late afternoon, their dorm looked like a fashion tornado had touched down. Dresses, shoes, lip gloss, perfume—it was overwhelming and strangely exciting.
Kayla stood in front of the mirror applying lip gloss like she was preparing for a photo shoot.
“The theme is Midnight Bloom,” she announced. “Think mysterious. Sexy. A little dangerous.”
“I don’t do dangerous,” Ami said flatly.
Kayla snorted. “Honey, you are dangerous. You just hide it behind sweaters and scriptures.”
Ami rolled her eyes, slipping into her simple blue dress. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was hers. And she needed to feel like herself.
“That’s the dress?” Kayla asked.
“Yes…”
Kayla grinned. “It’s perfect. Effortless pretty. Guys love that.”
Ami flushed. “I don’t want guys to love anything.”
“Speak for yourself,” Kayla said, grabbing her makeup brushes. “Sit. I’m doing your face.”
Ten minutes later, Ami could barely recognize the girl in the mirror—soft lashes, gentle curls, a glimmer of confidence she didn’t remember putting on.
She whispered internally,
Lord… keep me steady.
---
The Davenport estate glowed like a dream dipped in gold.
Fairy lights twinkled in the trees. A champagne fountain sparkled at the center of the garden. Music pulsed like a heartbeat through the crowd of students dressed as if walking a red carpet.
The Midnight Bloom Party was not a party.
It was a declaration of power.
And at the center of it all stood Lia Davenport—silver dress, perfect smile, dangerous eyes.
Her smile froze the moment she saw Ami beside Kayla.
“Kayla, gorgeous as always,” she purred, then turned to Ami. “And you brought your… project.”
Ami stiffened. “I didn’t ask to be anyone’s project.”
Lia’s smile sharpened. “Relax, scholarship. It was a joke.”
But the way she looked at Ami—like she’d spotted a threat—was anything but joking.
Kayla whispered, “Ignore her. She’s just threatened.”
Ami didn’t believe it.
Not until she saw why Lia was staring.
Across the garden, Ryan Stone looked up.
And his eyes went straight to her.
Not to Kayla.
Not to the glittering girls.
Her.
Ami’s breath caught.
---
Ryan’s friends teased him, but he barely heard them. His attention was locked on the girl in the blue dress, standing by the fountain like she didn’t know she was the most striking thing there.
He excused himself and crossed the crowd.
---
Ami stared at her reflection in the champagne fountain, her nerves a storm beneath her skin.
“You made it.”
She turned sharply.
Ryan stood under the fairy lights, hands in pockets, looking at her with a softness she wasn’t prepared for.
“I thought you didn’t like parties,” he said.
“I don’t.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“My roommate insisted.”
He smiled. “Do you regret coming?”
She hesitated. “…Not yet.”
Up close, he looked even more impossibly effortless—dark hair, warm eyes, a quiet confidence that felt dangerous in all the ways she prayed against.
“You look,” he said, voice dropping, “different tonight.”
“In a good way?”
“In a way that makes it hard for me to remember what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Heat rose in her cheeks. She stepped back instinctively.
He stepped forward.
Too close.
Then—
“Ryan!”
Lia’s voice sliced through the air like a blade.
Her smile sharpened when he turned, but he didn’t move away from Ami.
Ami whispered, “Maybe you should go.”
“I’d rather stay.”
“Ryan…”
He studied her. “You pray a lot, don’t you?”
She blinked. “Why do you say that?”
“You have that peace about you. The kind people only get from talking to someone who actually listens.”
Her heart twisted. No one had ever noticed something like that about her.
“I feel like He’s the only one who does,” she murmured.
Ryan’s expression softened. “Then maybe that’s why I can’t stay away from you.”
Her breath caught.
Too much. Too honest.
---
Later, when the party thinned out, Ami slipped away, walking the quiet path back to campus. Her heels clicked softly on stone, her heart still tangled in the night.
The chapel doors were open. She stepped inside and sank into a pew, the candlelight warm against her skin.
“Lord,” she whispered, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I want to stay good. I want to stay Yours. But everything here feels like it’s pulling me under.”
Her voice trembled.
“Why him? Why now?”
Footsteps echoed behind her.
She turned sharply.
Ryan.
He leaned in the doorway, hands in his pockets, gaze steady.
“I figured I’d find you here.”
“How?”
“Because it’s the only quiet place you’d run to.”
He walked closer, the candles painting gold on his features.
“I’m sorry about Lia,” he said. “She hates losing.”
“It’s not about her,” Ami said. “It’s about me not fitting into your world.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Then maybe my world isn’t the one that matters tonight.”
Her breath tangled in her chest when he reached out—slow, gentle—as if to brush a stray curl from her cheek. His fingers hovered, barely touching.
Too close.
Too real.
Too dangerous.
She stood abruptly. “I should go.”
Ryan exhaled like the words struck. “You always run from me.”
“Because if I don’t…” She swallowed. “I’ll fall.”
His jaw tightened. “Then maybe I’ll be the one to catch you.”
She didn’t look back as she walked out, even though her pulse begged her to.
Later, lying awake in the dark, the soft echo of his voice still clung to her skin.
“Lord,” she whispered to the window,
“don’t let me lose myself… even if I’m losing my heart.”
Across campus, under the fountain lights, Ryan stared into the water, thinking of the girl who prayed—and wondering why she was the only thing he couldn’t forget.
- Writer
