off my phone. You know, if I’d waited just a week, Justin would have been done with school and could have come with me. Of course, there was no way I could have waited.
Sleep pulled at my arms and legs, sinking them deeply into the mattress, slowing my brain, making it fuzzy around the edges. As I drifted off I tried to push Asher from my thoughts, but no matter how I tried, my mind kept returning to him.
And what it might have felt like if our lips had actually touched.
eight
“W hat are you doing?” Asher said. I stood with my back to the fountain, eyes closed. “You know you can appreciate the fountain much better if you’re actually looking at it.”
Things were fine. Back to normal. Asher and I had met in the lobby the next morning while Shayne, Tommy, and Julia slept in, and we’d gone to breakfast. I’d apologized about the day before and he’d brushed it off like it was nothing. And we were fine.
So now I smiled, but didn’t open my eyes. The fountain was gorgeous—it jutted out from the outside wall of a palace and nearly filled the small square. A majestic statue of a man-god stood in the center, framed by two winged horses, each being led by a man. Clear water spilled over the rough rock-like edges of the massive sculpture into a crystal blue pool.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know the legend of this fountain,” I said. And when he didn’t answer, I opened my eyes and looked at him. “If you toss in one coin, it means you’re destined to come back to Rome someday. And if you toss in another, a wish will be granted.”
He looked at me for several seconds, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of coins. He turned his back on the fountain, standing so close his arm brushed against mine.
It felt good, I won’t lie to you about it. And even though I should have, I didn’t move away.
Neither did he.
I closed my eyes again and threw the first coin over my shoulder. I would come back to Rome one day. I’d sealed that into my fate.
The other coin felt heavy in my hand as I tried to figure out what to wish for. I didn’t want to waste it on something frivolous. Not if I was going to have a wish actually granted. (It’s not like I REALLY believed my wish would come true, but I think it doesn’t hurt to cover all your bases…just in case.)
Asher took hold of my hand, which set butterflies to swirling in my stomach.
I started to wish them away, but then stopped because I didn’t want THAT to count as my wish. Stupid butterflies.
“You ready to make your wish?” he said very close to my ear. “Maybe if we do it together, that’ll give it more oomph.”
“Good idea.” But that meant I needed to figure out my wish right away. I would have wished for world peace or the end to starvation or war, but my mind wasn’t thinking on a grand scale at that moment. It was clouded by the warmth of Asher’s hand in mine and the fact that I did not want to be feeling all fluttery about him.
I mean, I liked him.
As a person.
And after spending every waking minute with him for the past few days, he already felt like a close, trusted friend. I didn’t want that to get screwed up.
“On the count of three, then,” Asher said. “One…two…THREE!”
I launched my coin up and over my head, and the word that popped into my mind was Love .
I’d wished for love.
Which, I supposed, was what I’d been wishing for all my life, in many ways. Still, it felt like such a girly wish.
Asher squeezed my hand. “So what did you wish for?”
“To taste the World’s Best Gelato.”
“Your wish is my command,” he said. “Let’s go find Shayne and the others.”
Fifteen minutes later we were sitting on the edge of the fountain eating, I kid you not, the equivalent of frozen heaven.
“Oh my god. This is amazing. Maybe we should Quest for the Best Gelato instead,” Asher said.
“I think we may already be eating it,” I said. “So I’m just going to have to veto that idea.
Sleep pulled at my arms and legs, sinking them deeply into the mattress, slowing my brain, making it fuzzy around the edges. As I drifted off I tried to push Asher from my thoughts, but no matter how I tried, my mind kept returning to him.
And what it might have felt like if our lips had actually touched.
eight
“W hat are you doing?” Asher said. I stood with my back to the fountain, eyes closed. “You know you can appreciate the fountain much better if you’re actually looking at it.”
Things were fine. Back to normal. Asher and I had met in the lobby the next morning while Shayne, Tommy, and Julia slept in, and we’d gone to breakfast. I’d apologized about the day before and he’d brushed it off like it was nothing. And we were fine.
So now I smiled, but didn’t open my eyes. The fountain was gorgeous—it jutted out from the outside wall of a palace and nearly filled the small square. A majestic statue of a man-god stood in the center, framed by two winged horses, each being led by a man. Clear water spilled over the rough rock-like edges of the massive sculpture into a crystal blue pool.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know the legend of this fountain,” I said. And when he didn’t answer, I opened my eyes and looked at him. “If you toss in one coin, it means you’re destined to come back to Rome someday. And if you toss in another, a wish will be granted.”
He looked at me for several seconds, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of coins. He turned his back on the fountain, standing so close his arm brushed against mine.
It felt good, I won’t lie to you about it. And even though I should have, I didn’t move away.
Neither did he.
I closed my eyes again and threw the first coin over my shoulder. I would come back to Rome one day. I’d sealed that into my fate.
The other coin felt heavy in my hand as I tried to figure out what to wish for. I didn’t want to waste it on something frivolous. Not if I was going to have a wish actually granted. (It’s not like I REALLY believed my wish would come true, but I think it doesn’t hurt to cover all your bases…just in case.)
Asher took hold of my hand, which set butterflies to swirling in my stomach.
I started to wish them away, but then stopped because I didn’t want THAT to count as my wish. Stupid butterflies.
“You ready to make your wish?” he said very close to my ear. “Maybe if we do it together, that’ll give it more oomph.”
“Good idea.” But that meant I needed to figure out my wish right away. I would have wished for world peace or the end to starvation or war, but my mind wasn’t thinking on a grand scale at that moment. It was clouded by the warmth of Asher’s hand in mine and the fact that I did not want to be feeling all fluttery about him.
I mean, I liked him.
As a person.
And after spending every waking minute with him for the past few days, he already felt like a close, trusted friend. I didn’t want that to get screwed up.
“On the count of three, then,” Asher said. “One…two…THREE!”
I launched my coin up and over my head, and the word that popped into my mind was Love .
I’d wished for love.
Which, I supposed, was what I’d been wishing for all my life, in many ways. Still, it felt like such a girly wish.
Asher squeezed my hand. “So what did you wish for?”
“To taste the World’s Best Gelato.”
“Your wish is my command,” he said. “Let’s go find Shayne and the others.”
Fifteen minutes later we were sitting on the edge of the fountain eating, I kid you not, the equivalent of frozen heaven.
“Oh my god. This is amazing. Maybe we should Quest for the Best Gelato instead,” Asher said.
“I think we may already be eating it,” I said. “So I’m just going to have to veto that idea.
Similar Books
