CHAPTER 16
Lying on top of Adrian Storm's sexy body, on my parents' bed, I came to my senses. We couldn't kiss. That would be the worst thing for us to do.
I changed trajectory, stuck my tongue out, and licked the tip of Adrian’s fine nose.
Pulling back, I said, “Say uncle.”
“Uncle?”
I rolled to the side, off his hot body. “I guess I win this round, after all.”
He sat up, shaking his head and looking around as if just awoken from a dream.
“You win,” he said.
“For once.”
“We should go back downstairs before my parents get worried.”
I slapped him on the thigh. “Worried I’ll get their son pregnant?”
He caught my hand and held it in his. “Petra.”
“I was just kidding about you kissing me. I’m actually seeing someone right now. A guy. So obviously that was just a joke.”
“Who?”
I pulled my hand away, got off the bed, and started gathering the tossed pillows. There was obviously no point in saying who, because he wouldn’t believe me anyway.
“Nobody you’d know,” I said.
“I haven’t been out of town that long. Is it that delivery guy? The red-haired coma guy?”
“Carter is a talented singer-songwriter. He’s more than just a coma guy.”
“I guess he’s okay.” Adrian got up and walked to the door. “Yeah, he’s okay.”
I stared after him, my mouth slightly ajar. “He’s okay, you guess? Wow, Adrian, you sure wanted me bad. I feel so desired right now. Thanks. Thanks a lot for reminding me of old times.”
He backed away, his head down and gaze on the floor. “Whatever I said or did, I’m sorry. For the record, I think you’re a really cool chick, and I hoped we could be friends again, like how we used to be.”
“There’s no reason now. No yearbook.” My words hung in the air for a moment. “Chantalle Hart is working at DeNirro’s. She asked about you. I think you should go for it.”
He backed away a few more steps, until he was just out of sight, in the hallway. He called out, “I’m just going to go home now, before I make things worse.”
At that moment, his mother called for him. “Adri-aaaaaan? We’re ready to go, dear!”
“Thanks for the fun,” I said.
He muttered something I couldn’t discern, and then I heard his footfalls on the front stairs, the wood ones.
I went into my parents’ en-suite bathroom and shut the door to bide my time until the Storms left.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I said, “Girl, what’s gotten into you?”
That’s when I noticed the big, green chunk of spinach covering most of my eye tooth. I quickly picked it out, silently cursing stupid Adrian Storm. Imagine what would have happened if we’d kissed! A partially-chewed chunk of my salad would have transferred from my mouth to his.
Ugh.
The thought of it nearly made me hurl.
The door downstairs slammed, and I heard a car drive away. I waited a full minute, ran some water, and ventured back downstairs.
I found my mother sitting amidst her coordinated throw pillows on the new flower-patterned sofa in the front room.
“Tummy beans?” she asked.
I rubbed my stomach and grimaced. “Yeah. That spinach goes right through me.”
She nodded, giving me a knowing look. “I suppose it hit Adrian at the same exact time, which is why you two were upstairs together.”
I flopped down on the couch next to her, then scooched over so I could lie there with my head on her lap.
“Mom, he tried to kiss me. In between insulting me.”
She patted my hair. “What would your movie star boyfriend say?”
“Something utterly charming that turns my insides to goo. And he’s not my boyfriend.”
“They’re not like us, are they? These actors. They’re like the sun, and we all revolve around them.”
“What am I doing with Dalton? Am I crazy? Should I just keep hanging in there hoping he’ll break my heart then write me a big check so I can put a down payment on a house?”
My mother silently stroked my hair for a moment, then said, “Jewelry is less vulgar than straight cash.”
I covered the side of my face with one hand so she couldn’t see my wide-eyed expression.
“Sheesh. My own mother is prostituting me,” I said. “What next?”
“Now, now. What you meant to say is, ‘My own mother is pimping me.’ One can only prostitute oneself.”
“And the hits just keep on coming.”
She patted my shoulder. “You do know I’m joking, right? You’re young, brilliant, and adorable. You’re practically a clone of your dear mother. Any man would be lucky to catch your eye.”
“Okay.”
She kept patting my shoulder. “I know your birthday is a ways off, but he doesn’t know that. You could make up a date, drop a few hints, perhaps walk him by Topaz Jewelry and stop to admire the window display, or—”
I sat up and gave her my most disapproving look.
Her eyebrows pulled together. “I’m being inappropriate, aren’t I?”
“Very. And a little ruthless.”
“That dandelion wine,” she said, shaking her head. “It makes people do the silliest things.”
I rolled my eyes as I got up from the couch and started gathering my things to leave. Dandelion wine, my ass.
My father came into the room with perfect timing to volunteer as my taxi ride home. I would have considered just staying there and getting a lift home in the morning, but I had a date with Dalton in the morning.
The whole ride home, I was quiet, silently sorting through whether or not I’d done anything improper with Adrian Storm.
He was the one who’d grabbed me and pulled me onto the bed, on top of his very hard body that felt way too good underneath mine.
I was the one who dared him to kiss me, though. And using the same words Dalton had said to me outside DeNirro’s. I was kind of a skank! The idea put a smile on my face.
I hugged my dad goodnight and ran into the house, eager to tell Shayla everything. She was out, though, with Golden and Chantalle, according to the note on the fridge.
I frowned at the felt-pen-scrawled words for several minutes. They all went somewhere to hang out without me? How rude was that? Very rude.
I opened the fridge and drank some of Shayla’s precious fresh mango juice, right from the bottle, no glass.