Читать книгу Boyfriend Shopping: Shopping for My Boyfriend / My Only Wish / All I Want for Christmas Is You - Caridad Ferrer, Earl Sewell - Страница 14

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Paul, Maya, Viviana and I were in the family room watching reruns of a reality television show called Fear Factor. It was a show where people did outrageous stunts that were designed and supervised by professionals. We all liked it because we got a charge out of watching people who boasted about being tough and unshakable wail like the siren on an emergency vehicle or puke when they were asked to eat something really gross, like live scorpions. We had just watched a lady who had tried to eat African cave-dwelling spiders. The spiders were brown, had long legs and tiny claws. They were on a table and scurried around in search of someplace to hide.

“Eww,” said Maya, who cringed at the sight of the insects rushing around. “Oh, God! I would never eat a spider for any amount of money.”

“I would,” Paul said, who didn’t seem to be bothered by the grotesque spiders.

“What about you, Viviana?” he asked.

“Oh, no, I’m with Maya on this one. I couldn’t do it. What about you, Anna?” she asked me.

“If my life depended on me eating one, I would,” I calmly answered.

“Really?” Viviana was surprised by my answer.

“I guess,” I said as I watched one of the contestants, a female, pick up one of the spiders by its hind legs.

“Oh, God,” Maya said as she covered her face with her hands. She tried not to look, but curiosity got the better of her. The contestant pinched her nose just before she bit into the insect.

“Eww.” Viviana cringed, then began sweeping her hands over her arms as if something creepy or slimy had just crawled on her.

“Paul, would you kiss a girl who ate spiders?” I asked.

“No. Eating spiders is right up there with eating boogers, in my book,” he said, then flinched as another contestant ate one of the spiders.

The next challenge involved snakes. The contestants had to agree to be strapped to the inside of a coffin while two dozen snakes were poured over them. They had to sit still for three minutes. If they freaked out they would lose their chance at the prize money.

“Now, that is something that I would refuse to do. I don’t like snakes,” Maya said. One of the contestants, a guy, got inside the coffin, wearing goggles. Once he was strapped in, he told everyone he was ready. A man came out with a black bucket filled with snakes and dumped them on the face of the guy in the coffin.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Viviana squealed, who was sitting on the sofa with her legs tucked under her.

“Geez, Maya! There is a spider on your shoulder!” Paul, who sat next to Maya and liked to pull pranks, lightly touched the back of Maya’s neck with his fingertips. Maya leaped up, slapped the back of her neck and screamed. Paul began laughing hysterically.

“That’s not funny, Paul.” Maya flung one of the sofa pillows at him. Viviana and I got a good laugh out of Paul’s prank, but warned him not to pull one on us because we’d beat him down together.

The television program ended and Paul went upstairs to grab something to eat. Maya, Viviana and I continued to watch television. An automobile holiday commercial came on and reminded me that I still had shopping to do and time was running out. I knew what I was getting Maya and Viviana. Maya was into music, so I planned on getting her an iTunes gift card. Viviana was into clothes, so I had plans to get her a nice sweater. I knew that a gift card to Paul’s favorite sporting-goods store would satisfy him, and my parents’ gift would be coming from all of us. We’d decided to purchase them theater tickets to go see a play at the Goodman Theatre. I knew that Lauren wanted a pair of red, heart-shaped earrings from LuLu’s. The only person left on my list was Jeremy, and I had no idea what I was going to get for him.

“Viviana,” I said.

“Yeah,” she answered while clicking through channels with the remote.

“What are you buying Red for Christmas?”