Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“You done offending middle America?”
Sebastian glanced to his right, gaze landing on his smirking companion. “I hate tourist season,” he scowled. “It makes me crazy.”
Michael Richardson pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against, sparing one last look at the offended vacationer before turning back to his best friend since birth. “Just about everything does that to you.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes as he scrawled notes about the exhibit onto a sheet of paper. He wasn’t usually this easily annoyed, but the past couple weeks had been stressful. After returning from a whirlwind trip to Paris, Milan, Monte Carlo, and Dubai, his summer had been devoted to an internship at his family’s oil company, finishing obligatory projects for school, and planning his eighteenth birthday party.
While the internship and projects were hard in their own right, planning this party seemed to be taking up most of his time. No matter how many people were onboard to help pull it off, it still seemed like there was a ton of work ahead of him. The fact that the party was in two days didn’t make it any better.
“Aw, cheer up, buttercup,” Michael teased as he narrowly avoided being run down by a group of chattering preschoolers. “What’s got you feeling so murderous? This stupid assignment?”
Sebastian sighed as he gave up on answering the questions required for one of his classes that started next week, too distracted to finish it. “No, my party,” he muttered, tucking the sheet into the back pocket of his jeans. “It’ll be a miracle if this entire thing actually comes together by Saturday night. If not, I’m going to be the laughingstock of Georgetown Trinity. Everyone expects this to be the best party of the year.”
“Oh, please,” the other boy scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Like anyone would have the nerve to laugh at you.”
“You never know,” Sebastian replied, though his answer trailed off when a girl breezed by.
With fiery red hair, ivory skin, and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, she could have been considered simply cute, but the fact that her “I heart D.C.” t-shirt was two sizes too small for her impressive chest and her shorts barely cleared her ass meant she was firmly in the hot as hell category instead. Though her attire all but screamed that she was a visitor to the city, she was attractive enough to make him wonder if tourist season was entirely bad after all.
And he wasn’t the only one eyeing her.
“Think the carpet matches the drapes?” Michael murmured amusedly, just loud enough for him to hear.
A smirk found its way to Sebastian’s lips as he let his gaze linger, watching as she strolled through the exhibit. She wasn’t his usual type, but fuck it, he needed a distraction.
“Doubt it,” he answered, dragging a hand through his hair. “But I wouldn’t mind finding out.”
“Fifty bucks says you never will.”
Sebastian had always prided himself on never backing down from a challenge, and honestly, he didn’t think it would be too difficult.
“You’re on.”
Metamorphosis
It had begun to drizzle when the plane touched down at Reagan National Airport.
Ominous, gray storm clouds loomed in the distance, promising a downpour in the near future. The small screen on the headrest in front of Taliana proclaimed the current temperature outside was a sweltering ninety degrees, an average number for D.C. in August, and also what turned a little bit of rain into a massive thunderstorm. Those summer storms were one of the things she’d missed desperately upon moving to LA, since the rolling thunder and bright cracks of lightning had always managed to lull her to sleep at night.
It was comforting to see that first bright strike splash across the sky as she strolled through the terminal, though she was glad she hadn’t been stuck in the air during the storm. However, when she turned away from the windows and began her trek toward the baggage claim where her father was supposed to be waiting, any sense of calm disappeared as reality set in.
Gone was the dry heat and drama of LA. Gone was her mother and the home Taliana had lived in for the past seven years. And gone was Lia Colton-Avilla, the name Taliana had taken and the girl she had become upon moving there.
This was her chance for a fresh start, to be Talia Avilla again, just as she had been so many years ago. She’d been wanting that back for so long, but now that she was there, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Taliana didn’t linger on the subject for fear she would turn around and get on the next flight back to LA, but she wasn’t a wimp. She could do this.
At least, she hoped she could.
With a heavy sigh, Taliana adjusted the strap of her carry-on bag on her shoulder and trudged forward, scanning the crowd for the familiar face of her father.
Charles Avilla wasn’t hard to miss. He still sported the same meticulously combed dark hair, a jaw that could have cut steel, and calculating ice-blue eyes that Taliana had snagged from the gene pool. Her pace quickened in an attempt to get to him, gently nudging people out of her way. It wasn’t until she was a few feet away that she managed to catch his eye. The look was fleeting, but he did a double take soon after.
“Talia?”
The laugh she’d been holding back finally surfaced when she reached him. “It’s me, Dad.”
A smile finally broke out across his face, the corners of his eyes crinkling, the only indication of his age. Before Taliana could even comprehend what was happening, he pulled her to him in a bone crushingly tight hug, and the familiar scent of his cologne flooded her nose.
Taliana hesitated briefly before bringing her arms up as well and hugging him back, her own shock slowly fading. It felt like an eternity before he pulled away, his grin wider than before.
“My firstborn is all grown up,” he teased, his hands locked firmly on Taliana’s upper arms as he looked her over. Charles let out a soft, disbelieving chuckle before shaking his head and letting Taliana go.
She couldn’t help grinning back at him. “And you’ve gotten old, Dad.”
A booming laugh came from him, causing a few people to look over in surprise. But Taliana’s father paid them no mind. He simply draped an arm over her shoulders and continued to grin. “Still got your charming sense of humor, I see.”
“Mom always tells me I got it from you,” Taliana chuckled as he guided her toward the baggage carrousel.
After grabbing her oversized suitcases-she still couldn’t believe she’d managed to pack practically her entire life away in them-her father nodded toward the exit, a silent command for her to follow him.
A hot breeze brushed over her cheeks, gently stirring the dark hairs that had slipped out of her ponytail as they stepped outside into the rain. While she’d been half expecting to see her mother’s black Mercedes idling in front of the terminal, she wasn’t surprised to see a massive SUV instead, especially when a petite, blonde woman hopped out and bounded up onto the sidewalk.
“Talia, sweetheart!” Katherine greeted, rushing toward her with arms spread wide. “It’s so good to see you!”
That time Taliana was semi-prepared for the impending hug, but she hadn’t anticipated the sheer force of it. Her stepmother may have been tiny, but what Katherine lacked in height she certainly made up for in affection. She practically threw herself at Taliana, arms wrapping tightly around her waist. It was a slightly uncomfortable position, seeing as her cheek was pressed firmly against Taliana’s not-so-ample chest, thanks to the fact that she stood a good ten inches taller than Katherine. The last time Taliana had seen her, they’d been practically the same height, although she’d had an inch or two on Katherine’s five-foot frame even back then. Apparently, Taliana had grown more than she thought.
Katherine leaned back a moment later and beamed up at Taliana, brown eyes sparkling with joy. “We missed you so much.”
And then Taliana was pulled into yet another one of those motherly hugs as she awkwardly patted Katherine’s back.
There was no denying that Katherine was the complete opposite of Taliana’s mother. While Andrea was constantly calm, cool, and collected, Katherine was bubbly and unafraid to show what she felt. Taliana had always enjoyed the weekends she got to spend with her father and stepmother when she was younger, just because it was nice to be with someone who wasn’t afraid to have fun. She and Katherine had gone to the zoo and made funny faces at the monkeys, splashed around in the ocean on their annual trip to the beach, and ordered every type of flavor available at Thomas Sweet Ice Cream. For a stepmother, she was the best anyone could have ever asked for. Taliana certainly knew she had lucked out in that department.
After a few more uncomfortable seconds, she released Taliana and ushered her toward the car, opening the back door for her and shutting it once Taliana had clambered inside. A flash of white-blonde hair caught Taliana’s attention as she settled in, causing her to turn and look at the two girls sitting in the third row.
Had it been under any other circumstances, she probably wouldn’t have recognized the twins. They’d been towheaded kids the last time she’d seen them, and while their platinum-blonde hair hadn’t darkened a single shade, they certainly didn’t look like the tomboys she remembered. No, the sixteen-year-olds looked more like the fashionistas Taliana’s mother wished she could’ve been.