"[No, Guillermo. This is enough. I cannot be with you any longer.]"
"[But Pastora–]"
"[No! I cannot take this anymore!]"
"Say it," Reyna breathed. She was leaning forward on her beanbag, her arms wrapped around her knees and eyes staring intently at the television. "He's going to say it, isn't he?"
Leo nodded slowly as he carefully lifted a single popcorn from his bowl and placed it in his mouth, chewing warily so as not to make too much of a sound while crunching.
"[I cannot run away with you, Guillermo! My father will hit me!]"
"[Your father cannot hit you when you are away!]"
"[But then I have dishonoured my name, my family . . . my cow! Go, Guillermo. Leave my life. It is better this way.]"
"[But Pastora!]"
"Oh gods," Leo whispered, the popcorn bowl slipping from his grasp and clattering noiselessly onto the soft carpet.
"[Guillermo, I told you–]"
"[No, Pastora. Let me tell you.]"
"Yes, Guillermo," Reyna urged, "You tell her." By this point, she had already begun biting her nails.
"[There is something I have wanted to tell you since the very first day I met you.]"
Leo's hands were shaking. "The very first day," he murmured.
"[I remember seeing you on the other side of the room and thinking, 'Why, she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen!']"
"[Oh, Guillermo!]"
"[But that is not all! I have been thinking, Pastora. I have been thinking about you and I.]"
"Great mother of Jupiter." Reyna's head was so far forward that, any further, she would have rolled over onto her back.
"[You were thinking about us?]"
"[Yes. And I have decided, Pastora. I have decided that it is time.]"
"[Time for what?]"
"Stupid b–" Leo cursed at the screen until Reyna shushed him.
"He's going to say it!" she hissed.
"[Oh, Pastora. I have loved you for so long.]"
"[But Guillermo, it has only been five months.]"
"[And I know I do not have much money.]"
"[That does not matter to me!]"
"[But for you, I would do anything. So I went to the pawnbroker, and I gave him my Matador belt.]"
"[What?]"
"[For you, Pastora! So I could buy you this!]"
"[BREAKING NEWS, SPAIN BEATS ITALY IN THE 2012 EURO–]"
"Are you SERIOUS?" Leo flopped into Reyna's beanbag.
"I'll let my dogs loose on you!" Reyna shrieked and pounded her fist on the ground.
They waited silently as the newsbreak refused to end. Neither of them cared about a stupid European soccer tournament, but, according the Spanish television broadcasters, they were the minority.
"They shouldn't even be having soccer tournaments with the whole Euro Zone Debt Crisis thing going on," Reyna huffed.
"The what crisis?"
Reyna sighed. "Never mind."
Five minutes passed, then ten, and the fifteen. Reyna was sprawled across her beanbag and Leo was fidgeting with the TV remote.
"You know," Leo muttered, "If I can get this thing to be able to switch on any device in the world, I'd be rich."
"We've missed it, haven't we?"
"Huh?"
"Don't you remember? El Matador Y Su Amante. Guillermo was going to ask Pastora to marry him!"
"Oh yeah," Leo frowned, "He's probably said it already. I wonder what Pastora said to that."
"Maybe she said 'yes' and then ran away with him!" Reyna's eyes sparkled with delight.
"Or maybe," Leo pondered, his eyes equally bright, "She said 'no' because she has a son from an earlier affair with another man and the son is now kept in that man's basement and she secretly visits him every week without the man's knowledge!"
Reyna blinked. "No, that's too predictable."
"If I get it right, you and I have to go on a date."
"Real smooth, Valdez."
"Oh, it's on, praetor."
"[Last time, on El Matador Y Su Amante.]"
"[If I see you with that man one more time, I will hit you!]"
"[But papa, I love him!]"
"[Run away with me, Pastora!]"
"[I cannot be with you any longer.]"
"[Will you marry me?]"
"[No!]"
"[You should be careful of that Pastora. That girl has more secrets than you know.]"
"[Tell me, Pastora! Tell me what it is that you are hiding!]"
"[I have a son, Moises, with another man. Poor baby, he is locked up in a basement. But I visit him every day, in secret. His father will never know.]"
"So," Leo grinned over at Reyna, "Would you like a candlelight dinner, or a romantic walk on the beach?"