Page 29 of Even If the Sky is Falling
He put his arms around her, pulling her close. “Yay.”
“I have a question, though. Why don’t you get along with your family?”
He chuckled. “They think I should stop dating around and settle down with a nice Pakistani girl. I’m starting to see their point.”
Maya frowned. “Um...you think they’d approve of me?” She knew her parents didn’t like the Mizras; didn’t his family dislike hers, too?
He put his arms around her. “I have no idea. Maybe this is what will make our parents finally talk again? Or not.” He shrugged. “This is between you and me, though. Not them. We have time to figure it all out.”
Maya smiled. And at that moment, she believed him. They had time.
Tarek gathered Maya in his arms and with one more incandescent smile, he lowered his mouth onto hers.
And they were kissing again. Maya had never had an apocalypse as amazing as this one. And when they got out of this flea market, she knew they were going to make this work. Because it was so worth any risk.
A loud noise startled them apart. Specifically, three loud noises.
A voice blared from the alarm system.“This is an official announcement. Your area is now confirmed ‘ALL-CLEAR’ from aerial debris. Please exit your shelter safely.”
Half a second later, both Maya’s and Tarek’s phones started buzzing with texts. Maya checked hers and saw messages pretty much from everyone in her family asking her if she was well and saying they were all okay. She sent a text to her family chat saying she was absolutely fine.
“It’s over,” he said.
Maya’s whole body relaxed. She laughed, then looked into Tarek’s beautiful eyes. “It’s not over,” she said.
He smiled, putting his phone down. “No. it’s not even a little bit over.” And he pulled her down for another long kiss.
They could get on with their lives later. Maya and Tarek were busy right now.
