90

Adam

Not How I Remember It

Pushing down on the accelerator, I turned towards downtown Houston, a huge grin on my face. Tonight was the night. The night I'd tell Piper I love her. It was the perfect night for it, the location, the evening, the dress .

I stole another look at her. Her blonde hair curled perfectly, spilling down her shoulders, and even if her dress had all the ruffles, I could still see her curves, the curves I loved touching, kissing. Her eyes were shut—just like I asked—but I wanted to ask anyway.

Taking a right, my grin widened. "Are your eyes closed?"

"Yes," Piper replied, amused.

"Closed tight? Closed-closed? Or is this a Piper-Truth where they're closed but closed tomorrow?" I teased.

"I am closing my eyes right now, Adam. What's the surprise?"

I love you. I want you to love me too.

I chuckled and drove into the valet parking. Usually, the streets were crowded with people, especially now, but they were silent. I pushed open my door and shook my head when the valet tried to open Piper's. I strolled over to hers and opened the door for her, taking her hand in mine, soft to the touch.

"Can I open my eyes now? "

"Not a chance." I tugged her up and walked her carefully across the blue tile. We were a little late and maybe that was a good thing. I could hold her hand a little longer.

"Now can I open them?"

"Okay." I brought her towards the entrance and released her hand. "You can open them."

Her gray eyes sparkled in the lights and she took in everything slowly. At first, she was a little confused. Her eyes widened, and she gazed back at me, the bright blue flickering across her face.

"The aquarium?" Piper whispered.

"Yeah, you know, I didn't know if you'd like it. I told them—damn—Piper wanted a wrestling match instead."

"An aquarium?! " Her voice shot up, and she hiked up her dress, hurrying across the multi-colored pathway towards the front entrance, the rest of the fabric trailing behind her. "I've been so busy—it's been so busy! I didn't get a chance to come—Adam! The aquarium! Wait—the aquarium? " She whirled back around, her dress swishing in the air. Her eyebrows knitted together. "This isn't a coincidence."

"That'd be a pretty crazy one," I admitted.

"Did you…?"

I shrugged. "They were taking suggestions…"

Or I signed my summer away to Cleo for every shoe signing and stupid viral video challenge they could throw at me to make sure this evening was everything for you.

Piper folded her arms over her chest, a playful smile on her face. "How much blood did you have to pay for it?"

"Gallons." I laughed. "Buckets."

"Adam! Piper!" June hurried up to us on the walkway, grabbing us by the arms.

We were bound to get interrupted eventually, at least it was now and not later. The three of us walked through the front entrance into the lobby, decorated with dark blue balloons for the night. There were huge fish tanks built into the wall, and I could see Piper's eyes widen as she took in everything around us.

"I have vodka in my purse," June muttered from the side of her mouth.

"Are we going to need it?" I frowned. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Lots of speeches tonight."

I nodded and June and I walked through one of the special tunnels built into the fish tank where fish swam above you, bumbling together in their glowing blue water.

Piper lingered behind, gaping at the tunnel.

"We'll be right there, okay?" I murmured to June and turned around, passing the other football players and their dates, the ones that weren't also their babysitters. Standing next to Piper, I placed a hand on her back, gently bringing her along with me through the tunnel.

The blue water reflected on her face and her lips parted, watching all of it. "It's so…magical."

"Yeah." I nodded. "You are."

Piper glanced up at me, a little smile tugging up on her lips, a breathtaking, heartbreaking smile that cut out all of my words and put them in the paper shredder. Every smile Piper gave me was precious. I had to appreciate them when they happened.

"I really want to kiss you right now." My hand curled along the fabric of her dress, and Piper's breath hitched in her throat.

"Me too," she murmured.

The tunnel opened up into the aquarium's restaurant, blocked off for the evening. Most of the tables and chairs had been pushed to the other part of the room and in their wake, a dance floor was set out with a band just starting to play. Everybody understood we were only at the beginning of the night but in the middle of the dance floor, there was our team captain and his girlfriend, slowly dancing together.

"They make me sick just looking at them," I said, walking along to the tables.

"I think it's sweet."

I shot her a grin. "You think everything's sweet."

"Not true. Why is Coach Lawson wearing a Romans hat?"

I snickered. Our head coach could clean himself up nice, suit and all, but he didn't take the caps off for anything. It stayed right where it was supposed to. We had a running joke in the chats that he slept with it on.

"Our dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes," a man announced in a crisp suit. "In the meantime, enjoy yourself, find your seat, and—just for your information—our Sand and Sea Exhibit is closed for construction."

He clapped his hands and walked away, but Piper's eyes strayed to Ryan and Kassie dancing together.

I held out a hand. "Want to show these assholes up?"

"What?" Piper gave a quick glance at my hand and turned back to the dance floor. Pink touched her cheeks. "Wait—do you mean dancing? Adam, are you asking me to dance?"

"Yeah. We've done it before."

Piper stared at me. "Uh…no, we haven't."

Oh, man, I didn't tell her?

I couldn't keep the grin off my face, bringing Piper back a foot away from everyone else. "See, when you were drunk, there were three things you desperately wanted." I counted them off my fingers. "Rides on my back, dancing, and my dick."

Piper's mouth fell open. " What? "

With a deep sigh, I shook my head. "I was just a piece of meat to you."

"You're joking."

"Nope."

"We—we danced?"

"Yep. It was the only way I could convince you to go to sleep. I popped on some oldies playlist and we slow danced in your living room." A chuckle burst out of me. "You practically crashed in my arms."

"I don't remember that at all," Piper whispered, a wistful tone in her voice.

"Guess we have to make new memories, huh?"

I held out my hand again and for a moment, Piper took a deep breath and reached for it, ready to hold my hand and make the whole floor jealous. But her hand hovered over mine and she brought it back to her chest, looking away from me.

"Adam, we can't do it here." She swallowed. "Everybody's here."

Oh. Right .

In those few seconds, I completely forgotten about the hundred or so people still filling up the room, finding their seats, and yelling jokes at each other. Cleo and Coach Lawson, some of the residential leaders that went out with football players, yeah. Everybody would be watching.

I dropped my hand, but my knuckles twitched at my side as I curled my hand into a fist to hide it.

"Was the begging and pleading that bad?" Piper murmured out of the side of her mouth. "That's just embarrassing. Sorry, I had to drag you into dancing when I was drunk."

That's not how I remember it.

But I didn't say anything. I just nodded along and watched the band before shoving my hands in my pockets. Everything was going to change tonight. I didn't want to hide anymore.