The Thing About Three

chapter thirty | in between

MY FAITH HAS always been a big part of my life. Some of the most potent memories of my late mother were of her reading Bible stories to me in my small, pink princess bed.

When I went to church, it made me feel a little bit closer to her, and at peace, like everything was going to be fine.

And after the almost-kiss with Dallas and the surprise love profession from Noah just a day before, I desperately needed some peace. And some good, old-fashioned prayer and repentance.

Just walking into church made me feel a bit lighter, some of the weight lifting from my chest.

I started praying the second Dad and I sat down at our little pew in the back, which sounded a little something like—Lord, what the heck is going on with my life right now? Can you tell me what to do from now on? Clearly, I'm not doing a good job of making my own decisions.

God didn't get a chance to answer me just yet, because a hand on my shoulder made my eyes shoot open.

"Noah," I breathed out, looking up at my boyfriend as he smiled down at me. He wore a dark gray button-up and jeans, his black hair styled.

"Hey, baby. Hey, Mr. Craig," he greeted, slipping into the pew next to me, his arm coming to rest around my shoulders.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. As far as I knew, I'd never seen him at my church.

He hitched a thumb over his shoulder. "Mom's dating some guy that goes here and made me tag along with her. I didn't tell you cause I wanted to surprise you." He smirked and dropped a kiss to my cheek.

"Well, you definitely surprised me," I told him, snuggling into his arm. "Does this mean you'll start coming here more often?"

He shrugged. "I guess, but not too often, I woke up way too early for this." He punctuated his sentence with a yawn. "So," he started once he recovered, his voice lowered so that my dad wouldn't hear, "there's this party I was thinking about going to tonight. You wanna come?"

"'Party?' Whose party?"

"That Josiah guy that used to sit with us at lunch last year. It's at his house and it's supposed to be big since everyone's on Christmas break."

"Uh . . . I don't know. I don't really care for parties all that much."

"Oh, come on," he pleaded, "it'll be fun, and I can be the designated driver if you want to let loose. I'll take care of you, baby." He kissed me on my cheek again. "I love you."

I looked up at him, smiling. "I love you, too."

"So you'll go with me?"

I playfully rolled my eyes. "Fine," I conceded, "but you don't have to be D.D. because I'm not planning on drinking."

"You sure? I really don't mind."

"I'm sure."

"So does that me you'll be the D.D?"

I scoffed. "As long as you don't drink yourself into oblivion, I will be."

"I don't drink like that," he told me. "And I'm not a crazy drunk, either. Just a flirty one."

"Oh, so what I'm hearing is that I'm gonna have my hands full with you tonight?"

"Maybe," he smirked. "Especially now that I know that you love me. Last night was amazing."

"Yeah," Dallas's face flashed across my mind, "last night really was something." Dallas's face hovering over me, his eyes zeroed-in on my lips. "Hey, I'll be back, okay? I'm gonna go to the bathroom." My guilt followed me there.