All I've Never Wanted(66)

“Right.” Roman snorted. “Parker, I think your girlfriend’s cheating on you.”

Parker stretched his arms over his head. “Bad Maya.”

“I’m not a dog,” I groused, attempting to kick Roman in the shin, since I couldn’t reach Parker. “And I would never cheat on someone! I’m not—“

I’m not my dad. The sentence almost slipped out, but I stopped just in time. It didn’t help though, because the others froze. They had all witnessed by breakdown in New York, and they obviously knew what I was going to say.

An awkward silence fell over us.

I slunk down in my seat, staring resolutely at the ground. I hoped they didn’t bring it up. I was not ready to talk about it yet with other people.

Finally, Adriana cleared her throat. “I think we should get going, guys. It’s pretty late and we have school tomorrow.”

Zack, Parker, and Carlo chorused their agreement and got up to leave.

As I said goodbye to them, Carlo whispered, “If you ever want to talk, you know who to go to.”

I nodded, smiling gratefully. He was too sweet.

In the end, Roman and I were the only ones left in the theater.

“What was Carlo whispering in your ear about?” Roman asked suspiciously, turning off the movie’s ending credits.

“None of your business.”


“I hope you know you’re still dating Parker.”

“I know that.” Even though I wasn’t sure. I mean, now that my grandmother was gone, were Parker and I still dating…er, fake dating?

As I was trying to decide, a huge yawn escaped, followed by another one. And another one.

Roman raised his eyebrows, and I smiled sheepishly. “Um…can you show me to my room?” I asked. “I’m really tired and I forgot how to get there.”

“For someone who’s supposed to be so good in school, you have a sucky memory.” Still, he began to head down the hallway. “Just be glad I have to go that way anyway.”

I hurried to catch up. “Is your room near mine?” For some reason, the thought made me nervous.

“Maybe.” Roman smiled slyly. “Planning on visiting me?”

“You wish!” I snapped, my cheeks heating up. “I just want to know so…so I can avoid it.”

“Yeah, well, good luck with that. It’s right across from your room.”

Great.

After what seemed like an eternity later, we arrived in front of our respective suites, just as a particularly loud crack of thunder made me jump about ten feet in the air. I grimaced. I hated storms, but judging from the overcast sky earlier, it was going to start raining. Again.

“Uh…thanks for walking me here,” I said almost shyly. Jeez, what was wrong with me? All that sugar must have short-circuited my brain cells, because I had no reason to be shy around Roman.

He shrugged. “Whatever. I had to come here anyway,” he muttered, not looking at me.

I frowned. Right. He didn’t need to be so blunt about it though.

“Fine,” I huffed, a bit annoyed. “Good night.” I yanked open the doors to my room and, while I didn’t quite slam them, I did shut them hard.

Once I saw my room, though, I couldn’t help but relax a bit. How could I not, when my surroundings were so beautiful? Of course, I was still a bit paranoid from the movie. I glanced nervously at my bed, remembering the scene where the girl climbed into her bed and lifted up her covers to see that…thing under there.

Maybe I shouldn’t go to sleep right now.

After some indecision, I finally decided to take a long, relaxing bath. Another crack of thunder made me jump again, and I flinched when I saw the lightning zigzag across the sky outside the window.

I quickly pressed the remote that closed the curtains and padded into the gorgeous marble bathroom. There was a whole shelf filled with different bubble baths, shower gels, and bath oils, and I finally settled on a lavender-scented soak.

As I waited for the bath to fill up, I turned on the sound system so that soft, soothing music piped through the speakers, and stripped down.

I climbed into the bath and exhaled a peaceful sigh as the bubbles immersed me in their softness. Wow, I need to take baths more often, because this was amazing. I could feel all the tension leaving my muscles. It was almost as good as a massage.

But, like everything else in my life, the peace didn’t last long, because right after yet another boom of thunder, the lights and music both started flickering in and out.

I shot up, my heart suddenly pounding. Every hair on my body stood on end. It was like some scene out of a horror movie.

Oh my god, ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod, I thought frantically, gripping the edge of the bathtub. I’m going to die!

I am a total idiot, taking a bath after watching The Grudge. This is why I don’t watch horror movies, it’s bad karma! I stared at the bubbles, frozen, as if a creepy dead Japanese boy was going to pop up like it did in the movie.

And then the lights went out.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

It took me a moment to realize the piercing scream had erupted from my own mouth, I was so distraught. Nearly crying, I scrambled out of the tub, feeling around for the bathrobe I’d thankfully laid right next to it earlier.

I ran to the bathroom door, adrenaline pumping in my veins, and did the first thing I could think of. I ran out my suite and across the hall to Roman’s room.