I started to eat the spaghetti they had brought home. I was a really good stress eater. This wasn’t part of the plan. We had agreed that dating would happen slowly on my end.Thank God for meatballs,I thought as I shoved one in my mouth and tried to think of a way to recover from this.
“You think Papa would get that upset?”
“Yes,” Rosalina and Francesca responded simultaneously.
They started eating. Francesca brought food over to Angelina and Sergio to eat as they did their homework, although mainly it was to stop them from joining us.
She whispered, “Papa cannot know. After what happened with Marco, he is super protective. There is no way he would let us date someone he hasn’t approved of.”
I was starting to get a headache. Rosalina smiled.
“Now, tell us everything! It was the guy from the restaurant that day, right? Liam. The dreamy one that looks like Prince Charming.”
I held back a snicker just in time. After all, I was supposed to act all wistful about him if this was going to work. My family wasn’t supposed to find out about him for a few more weeks, and now it looked like Liam was going to have to win my father over for this to work at all.
“It wasn’t really supposed to be a date. We just wanted a break from our project. It wasn’t even a break, really. Just a change in scenery.”
Rosalina raised her eyebrow.
“Was the change of scenery his mouth?”
With a sigh, I shook my head.
“No, we were just having a really good time. I almost fell, and he caught me. I guess we just got swept away in each other’s eyes. So, he kissed me.”
Francesca had a dreamy look in her eyes and sighed.
“It’s just like in one of those romance movies.”
Rosalina, who was the most practical one of us, rolled her eyes.
“Are you guys a couple now? I thought you were still hung up on Marco.”
I glared at her.
“We aren’t a couple since, apparently, I need Papa’s blessing.”
My sister bit her lip, concerned.
“Do you want to be with him, Isabella?”
More than she could possibly know. Unfortunately, my mind and my body weren’t agreeing on that fact. A charade was a charade, though. I put just enough breathiness in my voice.
“I mean, I’d be a fool not to. It’s really unexpected, though, and not something I was looking for, so I just want to take everything slow.”
Shoving some more food in my mouth, I glared at them both.
“Now, I don’t want to hear anything else about Liam until I convince him to talk to Papa. Capisce?”
The girls nodded and made me give them a few more details about our kiss. I made up most of it since I clearly couldn’t say I didn’t feel anything when he kissed me. By the time I was done, even I was almost convinced it was the most romantic kiss of my life. Both of them sighed.
“You’re so lucky, Izzy. I can’t wait for a boy to kiss me.”
I squeezed Francesca’s hand.
“Don’t rush it. I kissed Marco when I was your age and look where that got me.”
My sister looked at me with serious eyes.
