Kiss and Tell will be published as a paperback and e-book from W by Wattpad Books under the new name "As Long As You Love Me". The book is available for pre-order now: https://a.co/d/bV1ARdt

***

Taylor and I left the machine shop together, heading to the cafeteria. I must've been really out of shape because a half hour of welding, tops, had rendered me exhausted. And sweaty to the point where I could detect my own stench. When I finally grabbed hold of a cold bottle of juice, I chugged it bottoms up like it was alcohol and I was determined to lose my consciousness.

My friend whistled as she watched me. "How did you learn to do that? Because it was really hot and I wasn't the only one who noticed."

"Drink like a sailor?" I asked, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. The question made her snort.

"No." She jerked a thumb in the direction we came from. "Weld like a pro."

Technically I was, at least by the amount of hours I'd spent being part of papi's labor over weekends. I shrugged and chucked the bottle in the trash bin. "My dad back home owns a metalwork company and he provides welding services to the industries around."

Her eyebrows went up. "And you just picked it up?"

That made me laugh because this wasn't like watching mami make mandocas and knowing how to replicate the recipe thereafter. Cora and I had learned because we liked what papi and his employees did and we wanted to be a part of that. In contrast, Carlos couldn't care less about machines. He leaned more towards mami's educational background, the human sciences. He'd wanted to be a journalist.

I remembered being a kid and hearing my parents whisper about how their kids had their roles switched around. All along papi had wanted Carlos to take over the company after he retired. Instead his twin daughters were metalheads, in the non musical sense. In our last year of high school, Cora and I had decided to go into mechanical engineering together and work at papi's company after graduating, starting from the bottom until we learned the business inside and out. Until we were worthy successors of our papi.

That was basically the only thing we agreed on. We didn't like the same music genres, Cora was into ballads and anything that played on the radio whereas I'd used foreign hard rock as a tool to practice my English and escape from the world around me. She liked dressing up in the latest fashion, have makeup enhance the very same features I didn't care about and going to the gym regularly. But most of all, she liked her political activist boyfriend.

I didn't.

Not only did ballads make me gag, I had no time to focus on my appearance when I was too busy trying to secure myself a future of my own away from there. And I certainly had no time to dedicate to any stupid boys that would distract me from that goal.

"Of course not," I said, bringing my focus back to my friend. I shuffled my feet after her towards the door. "I learned from my dad since I was a tween."

"Gee, all I learned from mine was how to drive."

I elbowed her side. "And barely."

She winced and color rushed up her cheeks. If ever there was a car in America that looked like it belonged to my hometown was hers. She'd put more dents in it than should be legal.

"Yeah, well. Sometimes the roads get tight," she said with a chuckle. And then her arm lashed out, bringing me to a dead stop. "Oh shit, what do I do?"

"What?" I asked, craning my neck to catch what had caused the reaction. And then I saw her ex walking towards us, headphones in place as she listened to music. Amber was engrossed watching the screen of her phone and didn't seem to have caught sight of us yet. "Okay, what do you want me to do? I can shove you into the bushes, or I can pretend to be your girlfriend to make her jealous."

Taylor snorted and ran a hand through her short hair. "Thanks but I should probably face whatever happens."

"Very mature." I shrugged and put a hand on her shoulder. "But you don't have to be."

She cracked a smile despite the fact that anxiety lined her eyes. Amber and Taylor were dorm neighbors in the first semester and that span of time was all they'd needed to fall in love. It was smooth sailing for a second semester until small differences started to get in the way. Taylor hated the show Friends and Amber's catchphrase was that she couldn't be friends with someone who hated Friends. Or Taylor was vegan and Amber was a southern barbecue type of gal. It all came to a head when Taylor got a tattoo on her forearm that said forever, dedicated to Amber, and the girl hadn't liked it one bit.

Forever lasted three months. By the start of the third semester they were broken up and halfway, they were dating other people. Taylor got a boyfriend who was a year older. Ben was a sweet guy but didn't make my friend's eyes shine quite like before. When they broke up after he graduated, they parted as friends. Meanwhile Amber was in her second relationship after Taylor and rumor had it, the girl might become an ex soon.

Which was exactly why Taylor's eyes gleamed like she looked forward to Amber catching sight of us. And no lie, but she gasped when Amber finally did. Their bodies gyrated towards each other like drawn by magnets. Taylor looked back at me, like asking for permission and I waved my hand in magnanimity. Who was I to deny her wish to collide with her ex like a train wreck?

"Wish me luck," my friend whispered and I sent her off with a smile.

It wasn't like I wanted her to fail. On contrary, I wanted her to be happy and find someone who she could also make happy in return. But I didn't want her to hurt anymore and her ex was really good at that. Watching them, I wondered if all of this was worth it. The drama and the pain, the uncertainty of wondering if you were offering your heart to someone who wasn't going to handle it with care.

Nah. Not for me.

I turned around towards the parking lot. The night was hot and humid, which was the portent to an awful drive home. But once I got there I would enjoy the shower and air conditioner for the pieces of paradise they were. After, I had a lot of studying to do if I wanted a perfect GPA this semester as well and-

My planning drew to a stop as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I counted until twenty seconds had passed and the caller didn't give up. The only person I knew who did that was mami, and I had already blown her off that week. I would to have to pick up her call right there and there. Calls in my car were impossible and once I got home all I wanted to do was relax. So I sat on the grass, feeling the dampness seep through my jeans.

"Bendición," I answered and mami blessed me.

It felt strange to have a conversation in Spanish with someone who had my accent. We made it a point to speak on the phone at least once per week and I felt silly that the way she spoke, that I spoke, now gave me a shock compared all the English I spoke every day, or in Spanish with people from all over Latin America.

"Al fin contestas, mija," she said with the kind of sigh that usually spelled trouble. "Cómo has estado? Cuéntame todo antes de que me saques una excusa de que tienes que irte."

At the last second I managed to morph the laugh that wanted to come out into a cough. Though we both knew I wasn't fooling her. Every time we talked it was as if my body was there, holding the phone and saying words into it, while my mind was already moving on to the task I'd been wanting to do while she called. I pulled my knees up to my chest and forced myself to stay rooted there, sitting on the campus grass and looking out to the streetlights that illuminated the straggling students coming in and out of the cafeteria. I told her everything, including the big chance I had to make my internship a full time position.

In turn, she told me that it was getting harder to find black beans in the markets but that she'd traded some toilet paper for queso de año. She guessed right that I grimaced at the mention, knowing I'd never liked that cheese.

"Como están Cora y papi?" I asked, even though talking about them was tricky. Silence on her end drew so long that I thought the call had dropped, until the sigh came again.

"Deberías hablar con Cora estos días."

Something about her voice made me sit up in alert. "Todo bien?"

"No lo sé."

I tried to calm down. Carlos had been the sweet, calming one of the three. The one who made sure everyone was comfortable and had what they needed. The one who would have made the best parent. Despite whatever stereotypes middle children had, I was the responsible one. But Cora was the drama queen of the Diaz Solis siblings. A papercut was enough to send her into the deepest throes of suffering a person could reach.

"Okay, ya la llamo," I said, a statement mami agreed to right away. We cut off the call and I scrolled through WhatsApp until I found my twin's chat. The last time we'd texted had been about a week ago. Much couldn't possibly have changed but we never knew with her.

I pressed the call button and waited.

And waited some more.

My teeth ground. The fact that she'd let her phone ring for five continuous minutes could mean that she was mad at me and was ignoring me, or that she actually didn't have a pressing life event to share with me. I disconnected the call and dropped back on the grass, staring up at the few stars above me. I grunted at them, annoyed that they looked so bright and happy when all I wanted was to kick something. And then they grunted back.

I startled because of course that couldn't be possible. A glance around confirmed that the source of the noise wasn't the sky but the boy sitting two yards from me. Gabe glared down at his phone like it was the cause of all his misery and he tossed it at the grass like it didn't cost a cool thousand dollars. I must have betrayed myself with a sound because he glanced my way. The frown that had been put in place by the offending device was still carved on his face.

"Trouble in paradise?" I asked, failing to not sound happy about the fact that for once he wasn't a ray of sunshine.

"I guess," he muttered loud enough to reach me. "Life's hard when two women hate you at the same time."

I whistled. "So that's why she broke up with you, huh? You were cheating on her and now you're caught."

Gabe's eyes narrowed to dark slits.

Ah, shit. I wasn't supposed to know that.

I bit my lip, wishing I could take back the words but it was too late and my brain was coming up blank with damage control methods.

"You were the one hiding behind the tree?" he asked, flopping on his back as well. "Great."

I folded my arms. "I'm not going to apologize. You both were having a sensitive conversation in a public place."

"Yeah, but most people would've moved along."

"Not," I cut in. "If they didn't want to become a scapegoat again. Remember that one time?"

Gabe's face scrunched up. "True, she's always been a bit too jealous."

A bit was putting it mildly.

"Anyway." I pulled myself up and patted down my jeans off of grass blades before shouldering my backpack. "I'm gonna leave you to wallow in your two timing mess. Bye."

He cracked up with the same intensity as someone who watched a comedy show. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned to find him curled on his side, absolutely losing it. I was torn between running away from the madman and asking if he was okay. He saved me from the embarrassment of either by wheezing out, "I'm not some cheating jerk. That was my mom on the phone."

I gave him a skeptical look that he dispelled by grabbing his phone and coming over, where he showed me the call history.

Huh, it looked like his mom hated him. How could I use that information as ammo?

I figured I might as well ask. "Why does your mom possibly hate you?"

He tucked his phone in a back pocket. With the movement, a few strands of his long, loose hair fell forward and a few grass blades fell off of it. He messed his hair, getting rid of any extras and combed it back before glancing at me again. My fingers itched and I stuffed them in my pockets.

"Because," he said with a sigh. "I just cancelled my plus one for my brother's wedding, which has to be the most perfect affair in generations of my family and I've just ruined it."

The skepticism was back. "You're kidding."

"I wish." The self deprecating smile was unfamiliar on his face. Maybe Gabriel Cabrera didn't have a hundred percent perfect life. Maybe it was just ninety nine percent perfect.

"Then just find a new girlfriend." I rolled my eyes as I motioned all around us. "It's not like you're going to have a shortage of applicants for the job."

Gabe scrunched up his nose while looking at his safety boots. "I don't really want to ask a new girl out to my brother's wedding, you know? It would kinda send too strong of a message."

Ah, yes. I could see the issue. A fanciful girl could start imagining that such a date was a portent of wedding bells for herself with Gabe, The Campus Babe. What a problem to have.

"Bueno," I said, shrugging. "You'll figure it out."

But before I turned away his voice rang with vehemence. "Unless."

That one word made a tingle run up and down my spine. I looked at him over my shoulder. "What?"

"Unless I ask the one girl who would never, absolutely by no means, look too much into a date like that."

Our eyes remained locked for longer than necessary, as if none of us actually wanted to acknowledge what had just happened. It was clear that he referred to me and yet my brain had a real hard time processing the words that had come out of his mouth.

My brain broke and I started to laugh.

Gabe mirrored my stance and put his hands in his pockets. "It's perfect. It's not a rebound, no false expectations and I get to find a different way to ruin Chris's wedding for mom without disgracing her socially."

Struggling for breath I asked, "And what would I get out of this arrangement?"

"A few free meals?" He shrugged and I started to walk away. I felt his presence approach even before his hand held my elbow. "Wait, there's something you want that I can help you with."

I gifted him one of my patented eye rolls. "What could I possibly want from you?"

"The full time position."

Every muscle in my body grew taut as if bracing for the impact of the word kidding to follow up. But it didn't come, so instead I asked, "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm dead serious." Gabe gave me the same look I'd caught on his face as he watched me weld. A more intense version of when he gloated about getting a better grade than me—as if this time I was the exam he'd aced. "Be my pretend girlfriend and help me ruin my brother's wedding, then the full time job is yours."

I didn't even stop to think about the morality of the proposal. I stuck my hand out and when he shook it I said, "Deal."

In a matter of minutes I'd managed to exploit the newfound weakness of his mom hating him and achieved my goal. Everything would be smooth sailing from here.

Let the fake dating begin!

Who do you think will catch real feelings first?