All I've Never Wanted(9)

Adriana gave her brother a look. "For a guy, you're kind of gossipy."

"You're only just figuring this out?"

Eh. He had a point.

An hour later, the Perry siblings were collapsed on Adriana's bed, barely moving.

"Holy shit, I had no idea looking at pictures would be so tiring," Zack groaned. "I hate you for making me do this, Adri."

"Hey, Roman's your friend too, you know, and this'll be good for him." Adriana buried her face in her pillow. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a good person."

Zack snorted. "I think your wish came true a long time ago," he joked, earning himself a jab in his side. "Stop abusing me," he pouted. "It's not very nice."

"You weren't a lot of help," Adriana sighed, too tired to even be really annoyed. "You only crossed out six names!"

"Well, I'm not the girl expert in the group," Zack pointed out. "You should've asked Parker."

His sister sat up straight. "Oh yeah…you think he would be able to come over now?"

"I doubt it," Zack yawned. "I think he's with some girl."

Adriana made a face. "Right. Typical," she mumbled. "Well, I guess if I can't do this objectively, I would just have to get to know everyone better in person," she decided. "I heard there's a party this Saturday."

"You're talking about Stan Hoffman's party?"

"Yeah, I think that was his name. You know him?"

Zack shrugged. "Yeah. We have him run some errands for us sometimes. He throws pretty cool parties."

"Good." Newly energized, Adriana closed the yearbook and placed it in her bedside drawer. "Then we're going to that party."

"By we you mean…"

"Me, you, Parker, and Carlo, if he wants to come. I don't want Roman to know what I'm up to. Better surprise him with who the girl is so he doesn't have time to put his defenses up."

"I think it's just gonna be us and Parker. Carlo doesn't really care much for Stan's parties. Besides, we need someone to distract Roman."

"True," Adriana allowed. "You actually said something smart for once."

"Thanks," Zack said sarcastically.

"No prob," Adriana chirped, already looking forward to Saturday.

This was going to be fun.

CHAPTER 3

I heard it before I saw it: the deep, thumping bass of loud party music, which I could feel vibrating my seat even though we were halfway down the road.

"Oh, come on, move!" Venice grumbled, pressing down on her car horn. Hard. She narrowed her eyes at the line of cars snaking up the street, all waiting for their chance to park and party.

"I think this is a sign," I announced, running a hand nervously through my hair. It usually had a hint of wave to it, but Venice had flat-ironed it to sleek perfection earlier. "Maybe we're not supposed to be here tonight."

"No…Stan's parties are always like this," she answered distractedly, trying to maneuver around the Mercedes in front of us, to no avail. "It's the first party of the year! Of course there's going to be a lot of people."

"Great." I slumped down in my seat.

"Remember what you promised me earlier?" Venice asked pointedly. "You said you were going to keep an open mind and not be such a Debbie Downer."

"I know, I know." I sat up straighter. "You're right. Even though I despise the person throwing this party, don't know anyone else here, and completely disagree with the way things work in this town, that does not mean I can't have a good time!" I paused. "That came out a lot more sarcastic than I intended."

Venice laughed. "You're ridiculous." She eased off the brake as the line inched forward a little. "You've been in such a cranky mood lately I think tonight's the night."

A chill ran down my spine. "Uh…the night for what?" I asked slowly, knowing what she was going to say but dreading it nonetheless.

"The night to find you a guy!" she exclaimed, in a duh voice. "You are 17 years old and you've never even had a real boyfriend, which is…well, it's not normal, especially since you're gorgeous, girlie."


I blushed, muttering something about how I wasn't, really. Compliments on my looks always make me feel awkward. I don't even think of myself as pretty. I mean, yeah, I know I'm not ugly or anything, but when I look in the mirror I just see a regular teenage girl.

Venice groaned. "You kill me. Do you even realize how all the guys stop to stare at you whenever you walk into a room?"

"They don't."

"They do!" She gazed at me calculatingly. "But don't try to change the subject. There'll be plenty of hot guys here tonight and even if you won't date any of them you can still hook up, can't you?"

"You're the one who brought it up in the first place," I huffed. "And I'm not really a hook up type of person, V."

She ignored me, distracted by a parking space on the edge of the road. Granted, it didn't look large enough to even fit one of those tiny cars they drove over there in France, but it was a space nonetheless. Luckily, Venice's car was pretty tiny too, and by some miracle (or lack thereof, in my opinion), she managed to ease into the spot.