Everything I've Ever Wanted

My fingers nervously fiddled with my shirt as I stared at myself in the full length mirror that hung on the back of my door. I glared at my reflection, having an inner battle with myself. One part of me told me I was being a bad friend, going behind Dakota’s back and agreeing to go on this date with Tony. The other part of me yelled that Dakota was a known exaggerator so I couldn't be sure if what happened between her and Tony was true. But then the other side screamed back that that quality never stopped me from hating him before. The battle continued to rage on until I came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter because she wouldn’t be finding out anyway.
 
I sighed and looked myself up and down once more, flipping my bangs a bit so they fell down perfectly against my forehead. I fixed my necklace, making sure every part of my outfit was perfect, from my pink American Eagle sweater all the way down to my grey Uggs. Finally satisfied with my look, I grabbed my purse off the bed and prepared myself to face Dakota.
 
I slipped out of my room, walking into the living room and nervously shifting my eyes to where Dakota say on the coach, her eyes in a trance as she stared at the TV. Her eyes briefly came off of the screen, fluttering to me and then shortly to the screen again before she did a double take and sat up on the couch. I groaned inwardly, glancing out the kitchen window, thankful that Tony was no where in sight. I had a plan that I would be sprinting out of the house and into his car before Dakota could even register that I was leaving.
 
“Where are you going?” Dakota asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
 
“Just out with a friend,” I told her, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and taking a sip.
 
“And would this friend be a boy?” She asked, her mouth tilting up in a knowing smile.
 
“Uh.. yeah but he’s just in one of my classes and we’re kind of going to study,” I told her, turning towards the sink and cringing at how bad of a liar I was.

Dakota snorted from the couch and she hopped up, bouncing over to me and wrapping her arms around my body. A sudden wave of nausea hit me as she squealed on and on about how happy she was. I couldn’t take more than 10 seconds of it before I pushed her away and walked back towards the living room. She gave me a hurt look, the oh so sensitive one, and I gave her a reassuring smile.
 
“I don’t want to ruin my hair,” I rolled my eyes playfully. She gave me a bright smile back and walked towards me.
 
“You look amazing. This guy isn’t going to know what hit him,” She told me, sounding so much like an older sister it made my skin crawl. This whole thing was awkward. She had slept with Tony and here I was, about to go out with him. “So do I know him?”

“No!” I practically screamed at her. She looked a little taken aback so I quickly backtracked. “Well, I don’t think you do.” I reasoned, trying to act cool.
 
“Try me, what’s his name?” She asked at the same moment headlights turned into the driveway. My heart pounded against my chest as I watched Tony turn the car off, getting ready to exit the car and come get me. My whole body screamed for me to move, talk, do something before he came to the door.
 
“Oh! He’s here, lets go meet him,” Dakota squealed at the same time my body kicked in, moving towards the door in fast motion, basically sprinting from the house.
 
“No, uh, we’re late and it’s my fault, sorry, maybe later. Bye Kota!” I screamed, beating her to the stairs and running out of the house.
 
My feet hit the pavement at the same time Tony opened his door. He looked towards me, smiling brightly. He moved to get out of the car and I quickly stopped him.
 
“No! Don’t be all gentlemanly. I’m a feminist, and I prefer to get my own door,” I lied.
 
I would actually swoon if he opened my door for me, but I couldn’t risk Dakota seeing who it was. I ripped my door open and slid in next to him, shutting the door and cursing the dome light as it continued to brighten the car, making Tony visible to the prying eyes of my roommate. I looked towards the house, seeing Dakota approach the window before shifting my gaze to the dome light. I closed my eyes, silently praying for some way to conceal Tony’s identity.
 
An idea popped into my head and I grabbed Tony’s face as he started the car up, both of my hands on his cheeks as I turned his face towards mine, crashing my lips against his, knowing Dakota was watching the kiss and squealing with delight. She was a sucker like that. At first Tony didn’t respond but when his lips moved against mine, my whole body went numb to the outside world. He kept his tongue in his mouth much to my surprise and his lips caressed mine lightly. My head was suddenly caught up in a wave of dizziness and I swore my heart seemed to lift out of my chest.
 
I pulled away slowly, not really wanting to, but suddenly feeling a burning in my lungs for some oxygen. Tony’s eyes stayed closed, but then fluttered open and stared at me. I blushed, thankful that the dome light had turned off by then, the look in his eyes the hottest thing I had seen in a while.

"Hey," Tony breathed out, slightly winded after my surprise attack.

"Hi." I muttered, mentally slapping myself. There had to have been a better way then that. I looked up toward the house again, a small smile on my lips as I saw Dakota squinting into the darkness, trying to see the dark figure.

"Is that your roommate?" Tony asked, a smirk on his face as she pressed her nose against the glass. He chuckled lightly, putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the driveway.

"Yeah, she has issues." I informed him, keeping my body turned towards the house and when Tony turned his eyes on the road I flicked Dakota off. I smirked as we drove away and her mouth dropped in mock disgust at me.

"Or maybe she's just curious?" He asked, taking a right and heading in the direction of St. Paul. I just shrugged, knowing if he knew who she was, he'd probably agree with me

"So do I get to know where we are going?" I asked, watching the street signs and trying to get a clue of where the hockey player could be taking me.

"Nope. You'll see." He told me, a small smile on his face.

I sighed, "Lucia I hate surprises."

"I thought we were on a first name basis?" He smirked, cocking an eyebrow, but never taking his eyes off the road.

"Not when you won't tell me where you're taking me." I insisted.

"Babe, we'll get there soon and you'll have it all figured out."

"Oh so now where on a pet named basis?" I countered, looking over at him.

"We're getting there," he nodded, turning onto the freeway and smirking at me again. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window.

"Tell me something absolutely crazy about yourself. Something I'd never guess about you." He asked, his hand creeping over the center console and covering mine.

He sure is subtle

"I'm really not that interesting. You'll probably be bored with me by the time the night is over." I shrugged, biting my lip as his thumb brushed across the back of my hand, slightly grazing my thigh. Butterflies erupted in my stomach and I held my breath, enjoying the slight contact way too much.

"I doubt that." He pulled off of the freeway, weaving through the streets of St. Paul.

We came to the hill that lead down to the Mississippi river along with the convention centers of the town. To the left of us was the Capital, the white marbled building lighting up the night sky. To the right was the cathedral, the hundred year old building looming above the city of St. Paul. The traffic got worse when we got to the hill and I lowered my eyes curiously as Tony pulled into a parking ramp. I watched several people walking by in Wild jerseys and I turned to Tony leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Tony! Why didn't you tell me we were going to the Wild game?" I asked, "they play the Devils tonight and yours truly has a Zach Parise jersey that needs to get worn."

"He was a Sioux player." Tony told me monotonously.

"So?" I scrunched my nose up at him.

"I'm a Gopher. I do not approve." He stated, grabbing my hand as we walked down the street, heading for the X.

"Well it's a good thing I don't really care what you think." I giggled as Tony pulled me into him tightly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and crushing me to him. People weaved around us, giving us weird looks. It was hard to believe with how touchy we were that this was our first official date. I looked into his sparkling green eyes, mine glowing in the street lights.

"Take that back." He whispered, his lips dangerously close to mine. I swallowed nervously as I bit my lip and shook my head. I licked my lips suggestively, wanting nothing more than for him to press his to mine. One of his arms dropped from around me, the other using more force to press me against him. My stomach flip flopped inside of me as his hand tilted my chin up towards his face as he barely bent over me. "Take it back." He whispered again, his eyes searching mine.

"Make me," I taunted softly, my lips parted and ready for his.

He dipped his face down, his lips a breath from mine before they lightly skimmed across my mouth, the slight touch sending my body over the edge. My arms flew around his neck, keeping our lips pressed together tightly, moving with a rhythm that we had already figured out. Tony pressed me harder into him, as if that was possible, and helped me keep my balance as I stood on my tippy toes. He pulled my bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling on it slightly as his hand slipped up my jacket, resting on my lower back, respectively keeping my shirt from riding up.

A throat clearing made Tony and I pull apart and I giggled slightly as I took in David Fischer and a pretty blonde plus two other people I had yet to meet.

"Nice show, Looch," the tall, blonde guy grinned. Tony rolled his eyes and turned me towards his teammates, keeping an arm around my shoulder.

"These are my teammates, David who you know since he's in our class and his girlfriend Viki. That's Mike Hoeffel and his girlfriend Kara. I didn't invite them but they decided to tag along." Tony told me, winking. "This is Molly."

"It's finally nice to put a face with the name," Mike smirked at me before Kara hit him.

"It's nice for Tony to have a girlfriend," she smiled at me. I grinned back at her, trying to get myself to speak up and say I wasn't technically his girlfriend yet. But who needed to be technical when I was still buzzing from the kiss?

"Where are Lyssa and Aaron?" David asked, looking at Tony who shrugged.

"Ness said him and Lyssa had too much homework to come." All the boys snorted loudly and started laughing. Kara and Viki rolled their eyes and pulled me out from under Tony's arm, looping theirs through both of mine.

"Lyssa and Aaron are interesting people," Viki told me, shaking her head.

"They're crazy in love," Kara giggled, squeezing my arm. "So you and Tony met in class?"

"Yeah, he sat in front of me in Econ and next thing I knew I was hanging out with him and meeting his parents," I giggled.

"You've already met his parents?" Viki asked, her mouth agape.

"Yeah, I went to his brother's hockey game. I'm pretty sure I was manipulated by his pretty eyes." I looked back at Tony who was biting his lip to stop the smile from forming on his lips. "Yep, I was definitely manipulated."

"Tony is good at that," Kara snorted.

"Are you kidding me? She fucked up my ego." Tony whined, "You should have heard her, telling me I sucked at hockey and that I was a worthless piece of crap. That does things to people."

"I think you're over it," I snorted at him, walking into the warm Xcel Energy Center and out of the biting wind.

"Not really," he pouted, his arm wrapping around me from behind.

"Really? Guys with damaged egos repeatedly touch girls on the first date?" I questioned, tilting my head to the side as I studied him. He blushed a bit and dropped his hand much to my dismay.

"Sorry I can't stop touching you," he mumbled, suddenly shy.

"I think that was another ego hit," Mike laughed, wrapping an arm tightly around Kara, smirking at Tony who grumbled under his breath.

"I never said I didn't like it," I told Tony, placing a soft kiss on his cheek and lacing our fingers together.

All the way to our seats I wondered what had come over me. Once again trying to remember why I even agreed to this. Dakota kept flooding through my mind, the constant battle still raging inside of me. I fought over the way Tony made me feel, how safe and secure I was when he was touching me or looking at me. It scared me, not just because of what happened with Dakota, but just in general. It wasn't easy to give myself to someone and here I was, throwing myself into Tony and placing my trust in him. Dakota was still the big issue, but that didn't keep me from being worried over how I acted with Tony. From what I remember, first dates were awkward, especially when you tally in kissing. I sighed loudly, catching Tony's attention.

"What?" He whispered in my ear.

"I just wish I had my Parise jersey. Then maybe he'd see me and fall in love with me." I sighed dreamily, batting my eyelashes at Tony. He gave me a very unamused look.

"That wasn't funny." He scolded me.

"No, but the look on your face was," I grinned at him watching his lips stretch into a smile.

"I love your smile," he murmured to me as we headed down the stairs to our seats located ten rows up from the red line, across the ice from the played box. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Zach Parise gliding across the ice, praying that he would look up so I could wave at him. I watched him all through warm ups, watching in a daze as he skated off the ice, laughing with one of his teammates.

"Damn, Parise is a babe." Kara nodded her head in approval.

"Oh yeah," I told her, giggling as Tony grumbled next to me. "Are you the jealous type, Lucia?" I teased lightly, running my hand up and down his thigh, making him jump slightly. He gave me a look which told me to stop with the hand and that yes, he was most definitely the jealous type. "I'm going to make you crazy cheering for Zach aren't I?" I tightened my mouth, trying really hard to hold back a smile as I creeped my hand farther up his thigh.

"No, because he's on the ice and I'll be the one taking you home tonight." He stated smugly. The smirk dropped off of my face and my jaw went slack, giving Tony the reaction he wanted. He licked his lips, loving the expression on my face.

"You're dirty." I told him, talking more about his maneuver than his talk.

He laughed loudly, his arm slipping behind my seat, "Nope, just smooth."

"You like to think so," I snorted.

"At least act like you like me," Tony rolled his eyes playfully. I wrapped my arm around his neck, puling his face to the side and towards me. I pressed my lips softly to his. I enjoyed the way I had him wrapped around my finger, but also the way it felt to share a kiss with him. It felt so right that it scared me, but at the same time made me realize that Tony and I were right for each other. Kissing him confirmed it, but it was also the way we just clicked.

"I don't kiss guys I'm not interested in or go on dates with them to their little brother's hockey game, and meet his parents even though I'm deathly afraid of not being liked."

"They love you." Tony insisted, tucking some of my hair behind my ear.

"The feeling is mutual," I blushed, ecstatic that they liked me. I felt like jumping up and down and screaming: "They like me. They really really like me!"

The lights lowered as the teams made their way onto the ice. The other four people with us stood up and clapped along with the rest of the arena, but Tony and I stayed in our seats, eyes locked on each other, too consumed in each other to cheer for the hometown team. The rest of the game I kept my attention solely on Tony, not even jumping up when Zach scored the game winning goal. Tony looked at me in awe and I blushed, rolling my eyes as he boasted that he was better than Parise.

Tony and I said goodbye to his teammates and their girlfriends, two people I was sure that I would be spending a lot of time with. I knew that Tony and I were going to be together which was why I stopped fighting my feelings and the burning desire to kiss him all the time. Our lips were like a magnate and metal, always being pulled to each other. We walked along the street, our hands swinging lightly as we headed to Tony's car.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," I murmured, looking at Tony who smiled at me.

"I'm glad. I like being with you and I think you're anything but boring," he teased.

"I guess," I shrugged, laughing as Tony visibly battled with himself about whether or not to get the door for me. "You can open it. I was kidding about being a feminist."

"Oh thank god. I was wondering how that was going to work out, you know, me being gentlemanly and all."

I giggled at him and ducked into the car. Tony shut the door and climbed in the driver's side, turning the car to life and pulling out of the parking ramp. I wondered how I was going to get into the house without Tony wanting to walk me up. I squirmed a bit in my seat, hoping that Dakota was asleep already. I pulled my phone out of my purse, checking the texts that I had ignored while at the game. I practically jumped for joy when I read the one from Dakota, telling me she was staying at a friend's house for the night.

Tony pulled up to my house again, shutting off the car and unbuckling my seat belt. I opened the door before he could get it for me, finding that really weird when I could just get it myself. I walked around the car, lacing my fingers with Tony and climbing up the stairs. I grabbed my keys out of my pocket and fiddled with them as Tony stood in front of me.

"Tony, I'm really into you but I'm not the type of girl who's going to invite you inside. I want to but it's just not me." I told him because it was true. I wanted him to come in but he couldn't, not with all of Dakota's stuff around the house, not to mention the millions of pictures of her and I together.

"I wasn't expecting you to," Tony assured me. "I want this to be slow and for you to feel comfortable. Things have already been a lot faster than I expected them too and I'm sorry if that's been weird for you."

"No, it actually feels surprisingly right," I smiled at him, his green eyes glistening with the porch lights.

"I feel the same way," he breathed out through a laugh.

"I just want to tell you something that might.. complicate.. things," I spoke slowly, trying to find the right words. "There's someone in my life who is close to me and I don't want her to know about you until I feel like she can deal with it." Tony's eyebrows lowered in confusion but he nodded anyway. "She's just... protective of me and I want her to see that you're a great guy, but I need some time before I can bring you up to her. It probably doesn't make sense to you, but I want you to know so that you're aware."

"Alright," he told me, wrapping me into a hug. I nuzzled into his shoulder, sighing as my head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck. "Sleep tight, Molly," he whispered against the top of my head.

"You too, Tony," I breathed out, pulling away and kissing him softly. I pulled away, biting my lip.

"Do you bit your lip when your nervous or flustered?" He asked. I nodded and he smiled down at me, "you don't need to be like that with me. I'll make sure you're alright."

"It's just a habit."

"Despite what I just said, it's sexy as hell." He grinned down at me, laughing as I blushed and chomped down on my lip harder. "This might be really forward, but do you want to come home with me tomorrow? My mom has been asking about you and is still offering the dinner invitation."

"I'd like that," I nodded, rocking back on my heels and bouncing at the cold air.

"Good. Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I breathed out. He placed one more kiss on my cheek before walking down the stairs. I watched him walk to his car, my heart literally sighing in my chest as I thought of how goddamn beautiful he was. From his stunning green eyes to his long hair that still needed a hair cut. He looked amazing, the total tall, dark, and handsome package. I just had a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that he was mine now.

I floated into the house, a small smile permanently on my face as I thought of tomorrow and being in the happy atmosphere that the Lucia family created. I was excited to see all of them again but also to spend more time with Tony. It was hard to believe but I actually missed him now that he was gone. I sighed and stripped down, pulling on my pajamas and sliding into my bed. I laid there, waiting for the guilt to wash over me like the other times I had come home after spending time with Tony. But this time the horrible emotion never washed over me. I fell asleep that night with thoughts of Tony crowding my mind and dreams, a content smile on my face, knowing that tomorrow would be a good day.