All I've Never Wanted
Page 18
Zack blinked. Huh…he supposed it did make sense. The whole relationship had been pretty random. “Well, everyone else at school fell for it too!”
Adriana just looked at him.
His shoulders slumped. “Oh. I guess you have a point. But why do you want to get her with Roman? Is it because of the bet?”
“Kind of,” she said vaguely. “Look, once we get them together, I’ll explain it to you, but for now, I need your help, ok? I have a theory, and I need you to prove it.”
“Fine.” Zack shrugged.
He listened to Adriana’s plan, and couldn’t help but laugh. Oh man. If everything worked out the way his sister wanted, it was going to be a hell of a show.
CHAPTER 14
“Maya! Mayaaaa!! HELP!”
I turned at the sound of someone calling my name, and raised my eyebrows when I saw Zack running toward me, frantically waving his arms in the air.
“Hey, Zack, what’s wrong?” I asked, taking note of the panicked expression on his face.
“Something terrible happened!” he exclaimed, widening his blue eyes until they were the size of sauces.
I stared at him skeptically. Zack was a bit of a drama queen, so I wasn’t sure how seriously I should take this. “Did you stub your toe again?”
“No! It’s even worse! Come on, I’ll explain later!” He grabbed my wrist and began dragging me down the hallway and into the back stairway that led to the Scions’ lounge.
“Oof!” I flinched as I slammed into the railing of the stairway. “If that bruises, you owe me a year’s supply of chocolate!” I called after him, doing my best not to trip on the stairs at the speed we were going.
Zack came to an abrupt stop, causing me to walk straight into him.
“Ow,” I whimpered, hating myself for sounding like a baby. I couldn’t help it though. Walking into Zack was like walking into a brick wall.
“Sorry,” Zack chirped, not sounding at all sorry.
Maybe a lack of apology ran in the family or something.
I followed him into the lounge, keeping an eye out for blood, seizures, or wild animals running around. Nope.
“What’s the emergency?” I asked, slightly annoyed that I was going to miss lunch again. It was turning out to be a worrying pattern, and it’s not like I’ve been having the best week anyway.
“Look, guys, she’s here!” Zack announced, ignoring my question as he bounded over to where Parker, Adriana, and Carlo were seated.
Parker and Adriana were arguing furiously over something, while Carlo was lounging on the sofa, reading a worn copy of Atlas Shrugged.
Hmm, Ayn Rand, huh? I respected her as an intellectual, though I didn’t quite agree with her philosophy.
I briefly wondered where Roman was, but Zack’s voice broke through my thoughts. “Maya, tell them!”
“Tell them what?”
“Red, black, or white?”
I stared at him blankly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Carlo spoke up, peering at me over the top of his book with a slightly annoyed look on his face.
It didn’t seem like he was annoyed at me though, more like he was annoyed by his friends.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you talking about? Red, black, or white what?”
“Lingerie, silly,” Adriana informed me in a you-should-know-this voice. “I bet these two idiots—“
“Hey!” Zack and Parker exclaimed at the same time.
She pretended she didn’t hear them. “—that obviously you would choose red lingerie over black or white, because you have good taste and so you would know it sets off your coloring—“
“But black’s sexier,” Parker butted in, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “There is nothing in this world that’s hotter than black lace.” He looked dreamy-eyed at the mere thought.
“Black’s too slutty,” Zack argued. “Maya’s more innocent than that! Of course she’d go for white!”
“Don’t be silly, white’s only for weddings—“
“Red’s the color of passion—“
“I’m telling you, it’s about innocence!”
“I’m her boyfriend, and I say it’s about sexiness—“
“Stop!”
The three of them shut up, obviously shocked.
“What—“ My tongue suddenly felt too heavy for my mouth. “—are you talking about? Why are you talking about my…my—“ I felt my cheeks heat up as I lowered my voice on the last word. “—lingerie?”
“Oh, My-My, you’re so cute,” Zack cooed.
I made a face. My-My?
“Homecoming is in three weeks! Which means, you know, it’ll be time.”
Now I was even more confused. “Time for what?”
The others exchanged amused glances, except for Parker, who just smirked.
“Well, it just so happens that it’ll be your one-month anniversary with Parker, so…it’ll be the perfect time to consummate your relationship,” Adriana announced proudly.
My mouth fell open, my entire body suddenly feeling like it was on fire. No. She did not just—consummate—what?!
“Yeah, I’m surprised you guys haven’t done it yet,” Zack added, throwing himself into an armchair, a slightly confused look on his face. “Usually Parker does it, you know, the first night.”
I snapped my mouth shut. “I’m not con—I’m—you—we—“ I sputtered, unable to form a coherent sentence in my humiliation.
“Oh, honeybee, don’t think I’m pressuring you, I won’t do that,” Parker assured me, looking like he was trying not to laugh. “But, just in case, you should have your lingerie options planned out. Like I said, I prefer black—“
“I’m not having sex with you!” I yelled.
No one seemed fazed by my outburst.
“You know, I heard it’s bad luck if you don’t consummate a relationship within a month,” Adriana commented thoughtfully.
“That’s a lie. I know plenty of people who didn’t have sex within a month. That’s so soon,” I insisted.
“Oh yeah?” She gave me a challenging look. “Like who?”
“Like—like—“ I was stumped. Damn it.
“That means it’s true!” Zack seemed inordinately excited as he jumped up from his seat. “It is unlucky!”
“What’s unlucky?”
I immediately froze when I heard the familiar voice behind me.
“Hi, Rome! You’re just in time!” Zack beamed.
“For what?”
I gulped, my heart racing in nervous anticipation as I stared stubbornly ahead, refusing to look at him as he brushed past me and settled into a chair next to Carlo.
However, I did have perfect peripheral vision, which told me he didn’t even spare a glance in my direction.
Unable to help myself, I glared at him. Oh, of course. He walks in on me topless and he can’t even be bothered to acknowledge my existence the next day.
He’s probably seen too many girls topless, I thought, pressing my lips into a thin line. For some reason, the thought irked me even more.
“They’re just being silly,” Carlo sighed, flipping a page in his book.
“We’re not being silly, it’s really important,” Zack insisted. Turning to Roman, he added, “We’re choosing the color of Maya’s lingerie.”
I groaned. Ground, please open up a hole and swallow me now.
Roman’s cheeks turned slightly pink, and he glanced quickly in my direction.
Without thinking, I crossed my arms over my chest, causing him to smirk slightly.
“Why are you choosing her lingerie?”
“We’re planning the consummation of Maya and Parker’s relationship,” Adriana explained calmly, as if she were talking about a birthday celebration or something.
Roman stilled. “Why are you talking about it like it’s a birthday celebration?” he asked sharply.
I blinked. Ok, that was just creepy.
“I’m not anyone’s little anything,” I said, annoyed. “And stop calling me My-My.”
“I think it’s cute.”
“It makes me sound five years old.”
“That’s why it’s cute!”
There was just no arguing with Zack when he’s on a sugar high. Which is always, now that I think about it.
“So, we were in between red, black, or white,” Adriana said casually. “What do you think, Rome? Carlo here is being a spoilsport and won’t participate.”
Carlo smirked but didn’t say anything.
“None,” Roman ground out.
“Oh, you mean, no underwear at all?” Parker looked impressed. “Hey, that’s a pretty good idea.”
“That’s not what I meant!” Roman snapped. “Why are we even talking about this? What Parker and Maya do is their own business, so leave it up to them to decide!” He glared at me.
I frowned. What did I do? I didn’t even say anything!
“I’m going to the bathroom, and when I come back, I hope you guys are talking about something a little more important!” With that, he abruptly stood up and stormed out of the room, leaving behind a stunned silence.
I was rooted to the spot. Ok, what just happened?
“I think he voted for white,” Zack finally volunteered. “It’s the closest color to nude.”
* * *
“I can’t believe you didn’t help me earlier,” I groused, hugging my books to my chest as I walked down the hall with Carlo after school. “I almost died from embarrassment.”
Carlo shrugged, a small smile on his face. “It was pretty entertaining. Besides, they’re just messing with you.”
“I don’t think so. Adri’s taking me lingerie shopping later,” I said glumly, casting a pointed glance at where the blonde and her equally evil twin were walking in front of us.
“No talking about me behind my back!” she called without even looking at us.
How did she do that?
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun. Girls like shopping.”
I pouted. “Stop making fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you, I’m just having fun at your expense.” Carlo grinned, then lowered his voice. “Although I think animal-print would suit you better. It’s feisty, just like you.”
I pursed my lips, my cheeks heating up again. “I’m not talking to you anymore,” I declared haughtily, quickening my pace to catch up with Adriana and Zack.
Carlo just laughed.
“Hey, girl, excited about shopping, huh?” Adriana teased.
“Thrilled.”
My sarcasm seemed to be lost on the twins, because Zack nodded enthusiastically. “You finally came around! You’re going to have so much fun!”
And surprisingly enough, I did have fun. While the boys went to play basketball, Adriana took me to La Perla, which sold the most gorgeous lingerie I’ve ever seen in my life. I balked at spending $300 on a bra, though Adriana insisted on buying it for me.
“It’s on Parker, anyway,” she said, giving me a wink as she slid Parker’s black Amex across the counter.
When we finally finished, we headed to Il Serrano for dinner with the boys, the bags upon bags of bras and thongs and teddies and chemises burning into my thigh. I couldn’t believe I’d just charged that much money to Parker’s card. I'd tried to resist, but Adriana was having none of it, and I still needed to keep up my pretense as Parker’s girlfriend.
Besides, as expected, Adriana’s really good at persuading people.
When we got to the restaurant, Zack, Parker, and Roman were already seated in the private VIP dining room.
“Hey, honeybee,” Parker said smoothly, standing up to kiss me on the cheek. “Did you find anything you liked?”
Adriana answered for me. “She definitely found a lot of stuff you would love.”
“Oooh.” Parker grinned, pulling out my chair for me. “I like the sound of that.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Can we order now?” he asked crankily, pressing a button on the side of the table.
“Jeez, what’s up your butt?” Adriana unfolded her napkin and laid it across her lap.
“Ignore him, he’s been like that since lunch.” Zack smirked.
The waiter appeared and took our orders. After a bit of indecision, I finally settled on the pancetta.
“Where’s Carlo?” I asked, noticing the Colombian’s conspicuous absence.
“He had something to do,” Zack replied vaguely, looking a bit nervous as he exchanged a glance with the others.
Weird.
“So what color did you go for, honeybee?” Parker asked, breaking the inexplicable tension.
It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about. “Uh…I don’t know…” I mumbled, wondering why fate insisted on embarrassing me every day.
“Whatever color you choose, I’m sure you’ll look amazing,” Parker declared dramatically, grabbing my face and planting a giant smooch on my forehead.
“Come on, Parker, you can do better than that,” Adriana said, leaning back and grinning wickedly at us. “Why don’t you give her a kiss on the lips?”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen you guys kiss!” Zack cried, jostling the table in his excitement. “Do it! Kiss, kiss, kiss,” he chanted, banging rhythmically on the table like an eight-year-old.
Parker raised an eyebrow at me as I stared at him, horrified. Crap. I’d hoped the others wouldn’t notice he and I never did anything more than hold hands!
“What’s with the hesitation? I mean, a kiss wouldn’t be a big deal—unless you guys aren’t really dating…” Adriana’s voice trailed off.
Parker shrugged apologetically, then slowly leaned in. I immediately tensed.
“Sorry, honeybee,” he whispered in my ear, so the others couldn’t hear. “We have to keep up this façade until your grandmother leaves. Just in case.”
I sighed. Even though there was little chance of my grandmother finding out Parker and I weren’t really dating, I didn’t want to risk it.
“Besides…” Parker’s smile turned sly. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
Before I had a chance to react, he pulled me closer to him and planted a long, lingering kiss, right on my lips, the type of kiss that left onlookers with no other conclusion than the fact that we were most definitely a couple.
The sound of a glass slamming on the table interrupted us.
I pulled back, slightly dazed. Whoa. I know I wasn’t really dating Parker, but the boy can kiss.
He winked at me, a smug look on his face.
I rolled my eyes, my head clearing a little. Not that I was going to tell him that. He had a big enough ego as it is.
We turned to face the others, whose mouths were practically grazing the floor.
A strange expression flickered over Adriana’s face, but when she saw me looking, she quickly covered it up. In fact, it was gone so fast I wondered if I'd imagined it.
“I would appreciate it if you two can refrain from PDA,” Roman said, narrowing his eyes at us as he tightened his grip on his water glass. “Some of us are trying to eat.”
“But the food isn’t out yet,” Zack pointed out, scratching his head. “In fact, it—oh!”
“What happened?” Parker and I asked simultaneously, as Zack doubled over with a groan.
“Oh, god, my stomach hurts,” Zack gasped, pushing back his chair and scrunching his face up in pain.
“What? You were fine just a minute ago!” I exclaimed, slightly worried. I’ve never seen Zack like this.
The blond grimaced. “I must’ve eaten something bad earlier…”
“I told you to stop stuffing everything you see into your stomach,” Adriana scolded him. “Does it really hurt that much?”
“What does it look like?” Zack snapped. “God!” He doubled over even more, clutching his stomach like he was dying.