All I've Never Wanted(72)

“Well…” I bit my lip, unsure. An amusement park did sound fun, but I didn’t lead him on.

“I promise, we will go as just friends.” James held up one hand solemnly, as if he were taking an oath. “I won’t get the wrong idea. We shall only eat lots of corn dogs and pray we won’t throw them up after a day of scream-inducing roller coasters and long lines filled with screaming children.”

I laughed. “How could I resist an offer like that?” I teased, but I finally relented. “Ok, fine. One outing, as friends. That’s it. But if you throw up on me, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

James grinned happily. “Deal. This Saturday then? Or is that too soon?”

“This Saturday’s fine.”

“Great! Do you need a ride, or do you want me to come get you?”

“Oh, no, I think I can get here by myself.” I remembered there was a bus that went from Valesca to La Terra. “There’s no point in you driving all the way to Valesca and back again.”

“Well, then, I look forward to seeing your lovely face this weekend.” James winked at me. “You have my number if you need anything. I’ll see you later!”

“Bye.” I smiled, his enthusiasm contagious.

James left just as Carlo came back from the bathroom.

“You took a long time in there. What were you doing?” I teased.

“Let’s just say someone wasn’t feeling too well in there and I decided to play the Good Samaritan,” Carlo said with a bit of a grimace, just as the waiter came back out with our food.

I wrinkled my nose. Eew.

“So homecoming’s next week,” Carlo commented casually, placing a slice of pizza on his plate. “Who’re you going with?”

I stared at him, chewing my bread slowly. I swallowed before answering, “Um, Parker?”

“Oh.” He frowned a bit. “Are you guys still pretending to date then?”

“I…guess so,” I replied slowly. I mean, Parker hadn’t said anything, so I’d just assumed. “Why? Did he say anything?”


“No, but I thought he was finally going to—well, anyway, it doesn’t matter,” Carlo said quickly. “It’s too bad though.”

“What is?” I swear, it’s like he was speaking in riddles today or something.

“If you weren’t going with him, I would’ve asked you to homecoming,” Carlo said nonchalantly, taking a bite of his pizza.

I immediately started choking on my food. My breath came out in wheezing gasps as I struggled not to suffocate myself with carbs.

“Are you ok?” Carlo asked with a concerned frown.

“Uh huh,” I gasped, grabbing my water and taking frantic gulps.

Once I’d calmed down, I wiped my mouth and gaped at him. “Why would you ask me to homecoming?” I blurted. He couldn’t—he didn’t like me, did he?

“I actually enjoy talking to you.” Carlo was still acting infuriatingly calm. “I usually go with random girls whom I can’t stand, so it’d be a nice change.”

“Well, why don’t you go alone?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m a Scion. Bad for the image and all that.”

“Oh.” I bit my lip, feeling a bit disappointed with his explanation. Suddenly, I thought of something. “Does that mean Roman and Zack are going with dates too?”

“Yep. I think they already found dates.”

My face fell, the disappointment heightening. I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t care if Rom—if the others had dates. It wasn’t like I wanted to go with hi—with any of them anyway.

I grabbed another breadstick and tore it apart semi-angrily, ignoring Carlo’s questioning stare.

Nope, I didn’t care. Not at all.

* * *

It turns out James wasn’t the only surprise of the day, because when I got back to Roman’s house, I got a double whammy.

The first occurred right as I set foot in the foyer. Hava Nagila started playing on my phone, indicating a call from my mom. I’m not sure why it’s my ringtone, since neither of us were Jewish, but I liked the way it sounded.

“Hello?” I shut the door behind me and pressed the button for the elevator. “Mom?”

“Hi, sweetie!” my mom said cheerfully. “How are you doing?”

I smiled at the sound of her voice. “I’m good, how are you? How’s Napa Valley?” And my jerk of a dad?

“It’s amazing! The wine tasting your friend set up for us was out of this world,” she gushed. “So, you’re enjoying your time at Adriana’s house?”

My eyes narrowed as my defenses came up. I knew that tone of voice. It never boded well. “Yeeesss…” I answered slowly, even though I wasn’t staying at Adriana’s house. But she didn’t need to know that.

“That’s wonderful, dear. Really.”

I pulled open the doors to my suite and kicked off my shoes.

“Mom, what is it? I know something’s wrong.”

“Well.” My mom hesitated. “It’s not that something’s wrong, per se. I’m just not sure—“

“Mom, just spit it out. I’m a big girl, I can handle it,” I said patiently.