All I've Never Wanted(104)

What I saw made me gasp.

Every available inch—and by that, I literally mean every available inch—of space was completely covered with flowers. Giant, lush bouquets of flowers. It seemed as though every floral species on earth was in here. Roses of all colors, tulips, carnations, orchids, forget-me-nots, sunflowers, violets, lilies, they were all there, their mingled scent coating the house in a sickly sweet smell that invaded my nostrils the moment I took a breath.

“Holy crap,” James breathed behind me. “Did you forget to tell me you’re opening a flower shop in here?”

I shook my head, unable to speak for the second time that night. How the heck did all these flowers get in here? Did Carlo do this?

“There’s a card.”

I whipped my head around, to see a heavy white envelope on the little table by the door. My name was engraved on the front in gold.

With shaking hands, I pulled the card from the envelope while James watched curiously.

Dear Maya,

I’m sorry for acting like such a jerk before. Give me a chance to make it up to you?

~Roman

I nearly fainted from shock. Was this someone’s idea of a joke? There was no way in hell Roman actually did this. It was probably Adriana or Zack who sent it in his name.

“Roman Fiori? I thought you weren’t talking to him,” James said with a deep frown when I told him who it was from. The strange expression crossed his face again.

“I’m not,” I answered flatly, glaring at the flowers.

I didn’t know for sure who sent them, but I knew I sure wasn’t keeping them.

* * *

As it turns out, Roman really did send those flowers. And how do I know this, you ask? Because he called me the next morning to ask if I’d received them.

Of course, being the smart person I am, I promptly freaked out and hung up on him without saying a word.

For some reason, that only seemed to make him more determined, and I got so many calls I contemplated blocking his number. I couldn’t bring myself to do it though. I just let my mailbox fill up so he couldn’t leave any more voicemails, none of which I checked. I also put my phone on silent so I didn’t have to listen to the incessant ringing.

I was so not ready to face him yet, because honestly, I don’t think I can trust myself around him. Try as I might, I’m still not over him, and it pissed me off.

On Sunday, Carlo helped me move back into my parents’ house, and I didn’t mention running into his brother. I was just so happy to be away from Rico that I didn’t feel like bringing the mood down by talking about him.


My parents were both tanned and happy when I saw them, and they’d brought back countless bottles of wine as well as some super-cheesy souvenirs like key chains and shot glasses. My dad tried to get on my good side by offering to pay for a plane ticket to California so I could experience it myself over winter break, but I declined. First, I didn’t want anything from him anymore. Second, California kind of pales in comparison to partying with supermodels in Hawaii, although I kept that opinion to myself.

When I went to school on Monday, it started off as a normal day. That is until I opened my locker, and found it filled with chocolate, my favorite. There was a whole mountain of it: bags of Lindt truffles, boxes of Godiva, and some other fancy European chocolates whose names I couldn’t even pronounce.

No need to ask who sent them.

This gifts continued throughout the day. When I went to English, I found my desk covered with original, autographed versions of my favorite books. In math, we had a substitute, and we ended up doing one of those worksheets where you solved problems and the answers corresponded with a letter to spell out a phrase. Guess what mine said?

PLEASE TALK TO ME.

I’m not even kidding.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little flattered, but the whispers of my classmates and the extra attention was really annoying.

By the time I got home, I was ready to tear someone’s head off. I couldn’t even find Roman at school to give him a piece of my mind, considering he seemed to be avoiding me. What kind of game did Roman think he was playing? I don’t know why, but the stupid, na?ve part of me thought I’d get a reprieve from the incessant gifts at home. I was so wrong.

“Maya, sweetie, why don’t you go get that?” my mom suggested after dinner, as the doorbell rang. “I’ll finish cleaning up.”

“Ok,” I agreed, wiping my hands before making my way to the front door.

I peered through the peephole and almost fainted when I saw Roman standing there, but he wasn’t looking up. Instead, he was looking at something on the floor.

My skin immediately flushed and my heart started racing. Crap. I wanted to find him at school earlier, but now that he was right here, I realized I had no idea what to say to him. I couldn’t not answer the door though, since my mom already heard the bell ring.

Taking a deep breath and silently praying for strength, I slowly opened the door. Roman’s head snapped up, and my mouth went dry when I locked eyes with him.

“Hi,” he said a bit nervously.

“Hi.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you doing here?”

An image of the last time he was at my house, wearing that ridiculous yellow Mickey Mouse shirt, flashed through my mind, and my mouth tugged up in a small smile, which I quickly erased.