All I've Never Wanted(81)

“What did you want to show me?” Adriana looked around. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Look down.”

She obeyed, and immediately sucked in a breath when she caught sight of her family’s Olympic-size pool, which was located right under her balcony. Usually, it was a perfect, pristine blue, but tonight, the water glowed from the dozens of tiny votive candles scattered on its surface.

Tiny votive candles that spelled out one simple sentence: Will you go to homecoming with me?

Adriana’s throat suddenly felt too tight, and she gripped the railing of her balcony, unable to look away. For a long moment, no one said anything, and then she breathed, “How—how did you…?”


She felt more than saw Parker shrug. “Zack’s a pretty good distraction. Plus, I found out you can custom-make just about anything as long as you’re willing to pay.”

It was getting a bit hard to breathe. “This is for me?”

Parker spun her around, his face more serious than she’d ever seen it. “For someone who’s supposed to be so smart, you can be so dense sometimes,” he said softly. He was so close she could feel his breath fan across her face.

Adriana swallowed involuntarily, her heart feeling like it was in the race to win the Indy 500. In the back of her mind, she felt as though she should be insulted, but she wasn’t. It was kind of hard to concentrate, when Parker was staring at her like that…

“What do you mean?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The green in Parker’s eyes intensified until they were practically smoldering. “Remember that time we were fourteen and went on vacation to France? And you were supposed to go meet that guy but couldn’t because your bike suddenly got a flat tire?”

Adriana’s breath hitched. “You did that,” she suddenly realized.

Parker neither confirmed nor denied it. “And remember when we were eight, and I pushed you into the pool? You didn’t speak to me for days…”

“Until you came over with a bunch of daisies you picked from the yard and an ice cream cone, to say sorry,” she remembered fondly, a small smile creeping onto her face at the memory.

Parker smiled in return. “Didn’t work out too well. Who knew ice cream melted so quick?”

She wanted to laugh, but the odd feeling in her throat prevented it.

“Were you ever upset?” Parker changed the subject abruptly. “When Maya and I were ‘dating’?”

Adriana’s stomach bottomed out. “No. I knew you weren’t really dating.”

He eyed her closely. “Not even when we kissed at Il Serrano?”

Her grip tightened on the railing as she remembered the strange feeling that tugged at her heart when she saw Parker and Maya kiss. She wanted to say no. She should say no, but the word wouldn’t come out.

Parker sighed, his eyes flickering again. “Adri…why do you think I did all that?” He gestured to the pool.

She swallowed. “I don’t know.” Even though, deep in her gut, she knew. She just couldn’t quite believe it.

He sighed again, a strange expression crossing his sculpted face. He stared down at her, gently tilting up her chin with one finger. “Then I guess I’ll have to tell you now.” His voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear him. “Adri, I’ve liked you since we were both children.”

Her heart nearly stopped.

“I just didn’t have the courage to tell you, then you went away to Switzerland…” He trailed off.

Adriana swallowed. “But you’ve had so many girlfriends.”

“None of them were you.”

“Why are you telling me this now?” she whispered.

He shrugged, turning a bit red. “When I was pretending to date Maya, I kept on thinking how she would be the perfect girlfriend. Beautiful, smart, funny, all that. And I really did like her—“

A ripple of jealousy coursed through her veins, shocking her. She never felt jealous. Adriana opened her mouth to say something, but Parker held one finger up to her lips, shushing her.

“—as a friend. Because the whole time, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I’d rather be with you instead.”

“So—“ Adriana’s voice was thick as she tried to process all this information. “So what—what now?”

“Let’s take it one step at a time, hmm?” Parker rested his forehead against hers. “So will you go to homecoming with me?”

It was a no-brainer. Adriana threw her arms around his neck, an act of ebullience she’d never done before. “Yes!”

And with that one word, she knew her life had somehow completely, irrevocably changed in the space of an hour.

* * *

“Damn, I am on fire, if I say so myself!”

I laughed as I watched Venice twirl in front of the three-way, full-length mirror in Adriana’s room, the skirt of her dress billowing out around her. Her dress was a strapless black number, splashed with brightly colored flowers that matched her personality perfectly.

I had to admit, she did look good. Adriana’s amazing hair skills had even managed to tame Venice’s riot of fiery curls so they fell in smooth waves down her back, and her alabaster skin gleamed under the lights.


“No moving,” the blonde now instructed as she finished curling my own hair. “Unless you want to end up looking like Shirley Temple.”