The-Spanish-Love-Deception-www.indianpdf

every single time the tune announcing the start of the most painful thirty
seconds of my life reached my ears. During that time that stretched into a
hellish eternity, the camera scanned the crowd seated on the round tables
scattered across the lush green garden of the restaurant before coming to a
stop on a couple and displaying their image—framed by a heart—on a
conveniently installed projector.
Every single time the camera so much as passed over my fake date and
me, my heart ceased beating before resuming at breakneck speed.
Apparently, the possibility of having my first kiss with Aaron displayed
on a big screen in front of my whole family was going to give me a heart
attack.
And just as if my thoughts had somehow conjured it, the tritone tune
announced the start of a new round of: Will Lina die of nerves and
anticipation tonight? Or will she lose her shit and commit camera murder?
“Oh, what a fun idea this was, Isabel!” my mom hollered with excitement
from across the table.
My sister seemed to pride herself even more, if that was possible. “I
know.” She smiled giddily. “They’ll even put all the film together, edit it, and
send me a montage with all the kisses,” she explained over the relentless tune
of doom.
One eye on the projector screen, I watched the camera hover on a table
close by.
“I had to book an extra package for that, but it’s totally worth it.”
The camera swiped over our table, displaying Aaron’s and my faces on
the screen.
My face blanched. My hand somehow jerked, dropping a fork. I dipped
after it, too briskly, and almost knocked over a glass. Cursing under my
breath, I picked up the fork from under the table, resurfacing just in time to
see the camera moving along.
Close. That was so close.
Reaching for my wine, I actually considered sneaking out and putting an
end to this. But that would be running. Being a coward. Again. Something I’d
kept doing a lot of lately.
If the camera stops on you, you will kiss Aaron, I told myself as I downed
the rest of my wine. A peck on the lips. It doesn’t need to be a movie kiss.
Just a kiss.
But my pep talk didn’t help. It only made my chest tighter and my belly