by Ana Huang
Roman remained tense for a few more moments, but then I felt him relax the tiniest bit. He shifted his weight, and I thought he was going to push me off, but he pulled me down so that I was sharing the chair with him.
He slowly, hesitantly returned my hug, burying his face in the crook of my neck like a little child.
I closed my eyes and rested my chin on his broad shoulder, trying to ignore the little thrill that ran through me when I felt his strong muscles through his thin T-shirt.
“You smell good,” he mumbled into my neck.
My eyes widened in shock, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little. He really did sound like a little child. “You smell good, too,” I murmured.
We didn’t say anything else, just sat there and held each other. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that, because the night had taken a toll on me, and I soon drifted off into a deep sleep. I didn’t even feel Roman lift me up and gently tuck me into bed.
CHAPTER 17
Something was tickling his arm.
Without opening his eyes, Roman frowned and attempted to scoot away from the source, only to find he couldn’t move his arm. It seemed to be under something heavy. And it was seriously tickling him.
Reluctantly, Roman cracked one eye open, then the other one, hoping there wasn’t a horse’s head in his bed or anything. The first thing he saw was a mass of silky dark hair.
He frowned, but when he moved his gaze lower and saw Maya snuggled into the crook of his arm, the events of last night rushed back to him.
With a groan, he resisted the urge to hit himself in the head. He couldn’t believe he’d told her about his parents. He’d never told anyone about the situation with his parents, not even Carlo and the others, who knew only the vaguest details.
And now she has the perfect blackmail material, Roman thought darkly, berating himself for how stupid he was.
With a scowl, he propped himself up with his elbow and tried to pull his arm out from under Maya’s head without waking her. It didn’t work.
Letting out a low curse, Roman tried again. And failed again.
He sighed, falling back on the bed in defeat. Without even noticing, though, Roman’s scowl softened a bit as he looked at Maya’s sleeping face. Her long lashes cast a shadow over her cheeks, and there was a small smile on her lips. A stray strand of hair fell over face, and he willed himself not to brush it away for her.
She looked so peaceful when she wasn’t yelling at him.
Roman was so busy looking at her that when his alarm sounded, he jumped about ten feet in the air, jostling her in the process.
He winced when Maya let out a groan and slowly sat up, rubbing the back of her head. She yawned and opened her eyes, and then—
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The scowl came back in full force. Ah, there was the Maya he knew and lov—disliked.
“It’s a bit early in the morning for that, don’t you think?” he pointed out, shaking out his numb arm. A tingly feeling invaded his limb as feeling slowly crept back into it.
“Why were we sleeping together?” Maya asked accusatorily, her green eyes wide as she scooted back to the edge of the bed like he was going to attack her or something. “What happened last night?” She narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t take advantage of me, did you? Because if you did, I’m going to—“
“Of course not,” Roman snapped, swinging his legs over the side of his bed and walking over to his closet to grab something to wear. “If I remember correctly, you came in here screaming about some monster being after you. Then you invited yourself to stay over in here till the lights went out, fell asleep, and when I put you down on the bed to sleep so you didn’t wake up with neck cramps, you pulled me down beside you and used me as your pillow. So no, I didn’t take advantage of you. It’s more like you took advantage of me.”
He grabbed a Thomas Pink shirt and a pair of jeans and turned to face Maya again.
She relaxed the grip that was strangling her shirt—his shirt, actually—as realization dawned over her face. “Oh.” She smiled sheepishly, obviously remembering everything that happened. “Oops.”
“Yeah, oops.” Roman rolled his eyes, pulling on his jeans. Girls were just too much trouble. He had no idea why Parker liked them so much. Well, he had an idea, but they just weren’t worth it, in his opinion.
As he buttoned up his jeans, he realized that Maya’s face had turned pink, and she was staring intently in his director.
A small smirk appeared on his face when he realized what she was looking at. “See something you like?” he asked cockily, pulling his shirt over his head in a deliberately slow motion.
Maya’s face turned even redder as she quickly looked away. “You wish,” she snapped, getting out of the bed.
Roman chuckled. She was pretty cute when she was embarrassed. He froze. Did he just think of her as cute? What was wrong with him?
Stupid storm. This is all its fault.
This time Maya smirked. “See something you like?” she taunted.
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, my clothes. Which you’re wearing. I’d like them back please.”
Maya turned the color of a fire hydrant. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not stripping in front of you!”
Roman couldn’t help but laugh at her indignation, which seemed to make her even madder. She was too cute. “I never asked you to. Your room is right across the hall…” He trailed off, expecting her to be smart enough to catch his drift.
“Oh.” The embarrassed look came back. “Right. Well, I’ll be back then,” she muttered, almost running out of the room.
It really was too bad she tripped over a stray tennis racket and fell face down on the carpet.
“Ow!”
Roman burst out laughing again. He should probably go help her up, but he was having way too much fun. Besides, it was payback for her laughing at him when he ran into that door.
Maya glared at him as she stood up. “Thanks for helping me!”
“No problem,” he chortled, trying to contain his laughter.
He almost succeeded, until Maya took another two steps and tripped. Again. Over nothing at all this time, it seemed.
This time, Roman was almost in stitches. He bent over double, his shoulders shaking with mirth as Maya let out a string of very unladylike curses. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so hard.
This was probably the most entertaining Monday mornings he’d ever had.
* * *
“How about this? I think Zack would like this.” Carlo smiled impishly as he held up a hideous green-and-red paisley shit. It was so ugly I actually gagged.
“That’s disgusting!” I complained, covering my eyes with my hands. “Stop! Put it away before I’m scarred for life!”
Carlo laughed, and I didn’t take my hands from my eyes until I heard the shirt being put back on the rack. “You’re too easy to rile up.”
“Am not,” I said rather childishly, quickly dragging him as far away from that Christmas tree they called a dress as possible. “You’re supposed to help me find a birthday present, not make fun of me!”
It was Thursday after school, and Carlo and I had gone to La Terra, the next town over, to find Zack’s present since he probably had everything he wanted from Valesca. Sadly, our shopping expedition was not going too well. The fact that I was on a bit of a budget did not help matters at all.
“Ok, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Carlo held up his hands. “I promise, I’ll be serious now.” He gave me his best solemn face.
“You look like you’re constipated,” I snickered, even though he didn’t. Hey, I had to get him back somehow, right?
Carlo didn’t look offended. “What a liar. You’re just mad because you can’t think of a good present.”
“That’s what you’re supposed to be here for,” I grumbled, eyeing a wall of cologne. Nah. Zack probably already had every cologne under the sun. “Besides, not everyone can afford to buy people a
boat.”
I still couldn’t believe Roman was getting Zack a boat. Seriously, these people had too much money.
I bit my lip as I thought about Roman. We’d been co-existing pretty peacefully the past few days, with the exception of my total humiliation Monday morning. It seemed as though our little conversation Sunday night had eased some of the tension between us, although I was far from feeling comfortable with him. It wasn’t necessarily a bad discomfort, it was just—
The sound of a phone ringing interrupted my thoughts.
“Sorry, excuse me for one second,” Carlo said, pulling out his iPhone. His face darkened when he saw the caller ID, and I wondered who it was.
“Hello?” His voice was terse. “No. I’m not at home. No. I said no. Stop being so difficult! I swear if you—you better not do anything stupid. I’m not covering for you. Yes, I know.” Carlo let out a huge sigh, looking the most annoyed I’d ever seen him. “Fine. I’ll see you later.” He didn’t sound too happy about it.
“Who was that?” I asked curiously as we wandered past the jewelry counter.
“Nobody important.”
I was unconvinced, but if he didn’t want to talk about it, I wasn’t going to force him.
“Anyway.” Carlo quickly changed the subject. “We have to try another tack for Zack’s present. Try to think of things with sentimental value, not material goods. He already has all the material goods he wants.”
I furrowed my brow. Zack and I were friends, but it’s not like we were best friends. How was I supposed to know what had sentimental value and what didn’t?
“If it helps, besides music, he’s also really into photography,” Carlo offered.
My jaw dropped as I stared at him in disbelief.
He blinked. “What?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me earlier,” I groaned. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the store we were in and into the main part of the mall. I was sure we’d passed by a store selling photography equipment before. “You could’ve saved us so much time!”
“Sorry,” Carlo said a bit sheepishly.
I couldn’t be mad though, because after only half an hour in the photography store, I found what I was looking for. All I needed was to put my project together before Zack’s birthday. The end result wasn’t going to be a boat or Cartier cuff links or anything, but at least it was thoughtful.
“Thanks,” I said a bit excitedly as the cashier placed my purchases into a brown paper shopping tote.
She smiled warmly at me. “You’re welcome. Have a nice day.”
“You too!” I chirped, grabbing the bag and swinging it happily. I was so happy I finally knew what I was getting Zack for his present. I kept thinking I should get Adriana something too, but Carlo insisted the group present would be enough.
He hadn’t told me how I could contribute to the group present yet though.
“Are you hungry? We can grab something to eat before we go,” Carlo said as we walked out of the store. “There’s some pretty decent restaurants in here.”
“Sure,” I said. “Where do you want to eat?”
After some indecision, we finally settled for good old pizza at a charmingly rustic parlor tucked into a quiet corner of the mall.
I sighed with relief as I sank down into the red leather booth, my feet thanking me for the reprieve from a hard afternoon of shopping.
“Thanks so much for coming with me, I know guys hate shopping,” I said, lifting my hair off my shoulders and smiling at the waiter as he handed us our menus.
“It’s ok, I don’t mind.” Carlo shrugged, his eyes skimming over the menu. “It’s a nice break.”
“From what?”
Judging from the deer-caught-in-headlights look on his face, it was clear he’d said the wrong thing. “Uh…just from Valesca,” he answered, looking down.
“Right,” I said a bit suspiciously. I had a feeling he was lying to me.
“I’ll be right back, I need to go to bathroom,” Carlo suddenly said, setting down his menu. “You can order for us if you want, I eat anything.”
“Ok.” I stared at his back as he headed towards the bathroom, slightly confused. Why was he acting so weird?
When the waiter came back, I decided to order some breadsticks and a margherita pizza for the two of us. Everyone liked those, right?
“Maya?”
I blinked when a familiar sandy-brown head came into view. “James?”
He grinned when he saw me. “Hey!” he said happily. “Fancy running into you here!”
“Oh, yeah, I was just doing a bit of shopping,” I murmured, blushing a bit as I indicated the bag next to me. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here with a few friends. I live in La Terra, remember?” he added when the questioning look stayed on my face.
“Oh, right.” Now I felt like an idiot. He had told me he lived in La Terra when I met him at Stan Hoffman’s party.
“So, you here alone or are you with Parker?” James asked casually, glancing at the two water glasses on the table.
“No, I’m here with—wait, why’d you ask about Parker?” I frowned a bit, trying to remember if I’d told him I was ‘dating’ Parker. I was pretty sure I hadn’t.
“Some of my friends at Valesca mentioned he had a new girlfriend named Maya,” James explained. “And you’re the only Maya I’ve heard of there, so I figured…”
“Oh, yeah. Well, I’m not here with him.” I cleared my throat. “I’m here with, uh, another friend actually. I needed to find a birthday present.”
“Cool.” James nodded. “I didn’t get a phone call from you, by the way…” He raised his eyebrows playfully.
I blushed. “I have a boyfriend, remember?”
“You can do better than Parker Remington.”
My head jerked up, as his tone seemed a bit sharp, but when I saw his face, it was as relaxed as ever. “Or are you dating him because he’s a Scion?” James questioned.
“Of course not!” I was insulted he would even ask such a thing. “I don’t care about anyone’s social status or whatnot. Parker’s a nice guy once you get to know him. Really.”
“Maybe.” James sounded unconvinced. “I’d advise you stay away from all the Scions though, they’re bad news.”
“Thanks for the warning, but I think I can handle myself.” I used to think they were bad news too, but now that I’d gotten to know them better, they honestly weren’t that bad.
“So, how about it?” James said, sliding into the booth opposite me and abruptly changing the subject.
I was confused. “How about what?”
“A date with me.”
My jaw dropped. “James! You know I have a boyfriend.”
He shrugged, smiling a bit impishly. “Ok, not a date then. A friendly outing?” He gave me a puppy-dog face.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry, I don’t think I can.”
“Come on,” James persisted. “It’ll be fun, I promise! There won’t be champagne and caviar, but it’ll be a nice, simple da—er, outing.”
“I don’t know…”
“How about we go to an amusement park?” he suggested. “There’s one right by La Terra. It’s pretty cool, and I know you guys don’t have one in Valesca…”
“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.