All I've Never Wanted(11)

"Wonderful." My week just keeps getting better and better.

At that moment, Venice ran up, beer sloshing over the sides of the two red plastic cups she held in her hands. She didn't seem to notice. "Maya! Guess who's here?" she cried, her desire to gossip apparently outweighing her desire to give me and a total stranger (to her) some alone time.

"Big Foot?"

She shot me a you're-so-weird-sometimes look. "No. The Scions! Well, half of them anyway." She handed me one cup and gave

James the other one. "I'm Venice, by the way," she said, beaming.

"Hey, I'm James," he said easily. "Why don't you have this drink?" He held out his cup.

"Oh, no thanks. I'm not really a beer person," she explained. She gave me a sly smile. "I see you've met Maya."

He shot me an amused look. "Yes, I have."

"Don't you just love her? She's my best friend. She's amazing! She's so smart, and she's really pretty too, don't you think?"

Venice may not be a beer girl, but she had definitely imbibed some alcohol before she came back. "Venice! What are you doing?" I hissed under my breath, mortified.

"Yeah, she's beautiful," James replied, giving me another smile.

I coughed nervously, unsure what to say. "Haha…um, well…actually, I just remembered I have to go somewhere…well, it was nice meeting you!"

Before he could say another word, I'd already grabbed Venice and hightailed it inside the house, losing myself in the fortunately large crowd. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry I didn't notice I had also hightailed into someone. The unexpected force caused my cup to tilt over, and I watched in slow-motion horror as the sticky brown liquid splashed all over a very expensive-looking shirt.

I slowly lifted my eyes from the stain, up, up, and straight into the face of none other than Parker Remington.

Oh shit.

* * *

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"

Adriana watched impassively as a slightly heavyweight guy in a too-small Abercrombie polo finished off the last of the giant keg in the Hoffmans' backyard, cheered on by his equally drunk and rowdy friends.

"You know, that's actually pretty impressive," Zack remarked, finishing off his own drink, which a simpering sycophant had brought over just a few minutes earlier.

"Yeah, if this were the Frat Olympics 2010," Adriana said, rolling her eyes. On any other night, this party would be pretty fun—great music, free-flowing liquor, and tons of people, which meant tons of cute guys. The only problem was, she wasn't here to find a guy for herself, she was here to find a girl for Roman.

"Where did Parker disappear off to?" she wondered aloud, scanning the yard. They had been mobbed by a frightening pack of drunk, horny girls the moment they arrived, and Parker had somehow gotten 'lost' in the midst.

Zack shrugged. "He's probably—"

"Ohmygod! Someone just spilled beer all over Parker Remington!" someone screamed. Everyone froze for one second, before they abandoned what they were doing to cram themselves into the living room, eager to witness the drama that was about to go down, and curious as to who was unlucky enough to offend a Scion so early in the year.


"Well, there's your answer," Zack said, chuckling. "This, I gotta see."

Despite the crowds, he and Adriana had no trouble making it to the edge of the circle, where Parker and a girl who had her back to them stood. The renowned playboy did, indeed, have a huge dark stain on his shirt, and surprisingly, he didn't look particularly upset.

When the girl turned, Adriana immediately saw why. It was the girl she'd met in the bathroom a few days ago, Maya. She didn't know why she remembered her so clearly, but there was something about her that stuck out from Valesca's preening socialites-in-training. Despite Maya's delicate appearance, she seemed to emanate a vibe that indicated she wasn't one to let herself be pushed around, which Adriana, who herself was no shy wallflower, appreciated.

Besides, it was clear Parker wouldn't be so quick to impose any sort of social pariah-dom on the poor girl--she was gorgeous. Even Zack, who was normally pretty laid-back when it came to expressing his opinions about the opposite sex, let out a low whistle.

Parker, not looking terribly upset, was saying something, but it was hard to hear, since everyone had formed the circle at a respectable distance from the two.

Adriana decided to take matters into her own hands, but before she could, she was surprised to see her brother step forward. "There's nothing to see here," he said firmly. And with those five words, the crowd reluctantly dispersed, though more than few cast surreptitious looks in their direction.

Zack was about to make his way over to Parker and Maya when Adriana laid a hand on his arm. "Wait," she said, tilting her head towards a tiny redhead who was barreling towards the duo at an alarming speed.

"Maya!" the girl cried, her gray eyes the size of saucers as they darted between her friend and the huge stain on Parker's shirt.

"Wh-what happened? Are you okay? You're—you're not going to be expelled, are you?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Adriana watched, intrigued, as a good-looking, sandy-haired guy stepped up behind Venice, staring directly at Parker.