All I've Never Wanted(80)

“Well, I’m glad you did something right for once,” Adriana teased, pulling a Mason Pearson brush through her shining gold locks. She was in an inordinately good mood today. It was as if she knew something good was going to happen, even though it been a normal Sunday so far.

Zack shot up from where he’d been lazing on her daybed, a wide-eyed look on his face. “Did you just compliment me?” he asked excitedly.

She rolled her eyes, smiling a bit. “Maybe—ow!”

Zack had tackled her in a blur of tousled blond hair, nearly knocking her to the ground.

“And here it starts again,” Adriana complained. “This is why I’m never nice to you.”

“Don’t lie.” Zack squeezed her hard. “You love me and you know it.”

“I know no such thing.” Adriana batted him away, but she was laughing. “Are you going to stay in here all night?”

Zack gave her an offended look. “No. I have very important things waiting for me, you know.”

“Like your video games?”

He ignored her. “Just out of curiosity though, who are you going to homecoming with?”

Her hand stilled, then resumed brushing. “I think I’m just going to go alone.”

“Really?” Zack’s eyes widened even more. “Why? Did no one ask you?”

Adriana shot him a dirty look. “People asked me, Zack, I just don’t want to go with any of them.”


“Oh.” He fell silent, then smiled impishly. “Ok, cool. Well, I’ll see you later then.” With that, he bounded out of her room.

Adriana frowned, turning back to her mirror. Her brother was just too weird.

She set down her brush and was just about to grab her lotion when she heard the door open again.

“I thought you were going to play video games,” she said without looking up, unscrewing the top of her Crème de la Mer. It was supposed to be a face cream but she used it as an allover body moisturizer.

“Sorry, babe, video games aren’t really my kind of thing.”

Adriana whipped her head around, trying to mask her surprise when she saw Parker striding towards her. He wore a pale green button-down that brought out the color of his eyes and had his hands stuffed in his pockets. There was small, smirky smile on his handsome face.

“Ever heard of knocking?” she asked, recovering quickly.

“Knocking?” Parker raised his eyebrows. “What’s that?”

Adriana rolled her eyes. “Funny. Zack just left a minute ago. He’s probably in his room.”

“I know.” Parker leaned against the edge of her dresser and stared down at her. “I didn’t come here to talk to him.”

“Oh.” For some reason, Adriana’s stomach twisted nervously. It was not a sensation she was used to.

“Maya and I broke up.”

She froze, then started applying the cream to her hands with more vigor than ever. “So you finally decided to end the ruse, huh?”

Parker stared at her in shock. “You knew?”

Adriana smirked, feeling more like herself. “It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Everyone knew.”

He ran a hand through his golden-brown hair. “Roman didn’t.”

She laughed. “It’s Roman. What did you expect?”

Parker cracked a smile. “True.” He reached out and fiddled with one of her perfume bottles. “So…who are you going to homecoming with?” he asked casually.

Adriana sighed. Why was everyone asking her that question tonight? “No one. I’m going solo. Don’t have to be tied down to one guy that way,” she answered flippantly.

Parker frowned a bit, his green eyes flickering. “Right.” He stared down at the perfume bottle in his hand. “Don’t you want to know why we decided to end it now, right before homecoming?”

There was something about the inflection in his tone that caused Adriana’s mouth to dry up. “Why?” The word came out as a whisper.

Parker looked up, locking eyes with hers. She felt a strange sizzle beneath her skin, which had warmed considerably, even though the A/C was still at full blast.

What are you doing? she screamed to herself. This is Parker. The boy you’ve known since you were both in diapers.

“I thought it wouldn’t be fair to go with her to homecoming when I really wanted to go with someone else,” he said softly, never breaking eye contact.

Adriana instinctively held her breath, feeling a bit dizzy. She was feeling so unlike herself it was disconcerting, though not altogether unpleasant.

“So who do you want to go with?” Her voice came out scratchier than she would’ve liked.

Parker didn’t say anything for a moment, then he broke his gaze and pushed himself off of her dresser.

Adriana blinked, disoriented from the sudden loss of contact.

“I’ll show you.” Parker held out a hand to her.

She was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Trust me,” he insisted.

After only a second of hesitation, Adriana slipped her hand into his, trying to ignore the small jolt that ran through her.

Since when did Parker make her so jumpy, anyway?

She thought he was going to take her outside, but instead he led her to her balcony. When they stepped outside into the cool night air, Adriana shivered a bit, and he slid an arm around her in response.