Please Break My Heart

Chapter 4

Ayanna hoped to see Lake that day.

It had been two days since the incident in the library-s***h-pub event—the event, by the way, earned a good ten minutes of laughter from Lilia. But Ayanna was so over it already. After a day of observing, she realized that she really did not have much choice. Her birthday was in three months and one day. Lake seemed to be the perfect candidate. No one else came close. The guy just seemed to know how to make a girl weak on her knees. If she were to be honest, she would say that if she was one of his fans, she would have fainted when he talked to her. If that was what love was, it seemed easy to learn.

She hummed an unfamiliar alien song as she swayed her hips from left to right in glee. She was still indecisive whether she should wear her plain pink chiffon dress or her floral yellow one so she was still clad in her black bathrobe. She huffed, sitting on her bed.

“When are you going to finally make a decision?” Lilia sleepily asked from the top bunk. The girl had the pleasure of having an afternoon class only for the day while Ayanna was stuck with her 8:30am schedule—the latter would have been jealous if she were not too excited to finally see Lake.

“Come on, Lilia, be cooperative just this once.” Ayanna rolled her eyes even if Lilia would not be able to see. She stood up from her bed and held up both of the dresses to Lilia’s face. “Choose one and I’ll get over it. I still have to apply my make-up.” But the make-up she meant was a foundation and a lipstick. Her friends did say that she looked good wearing a lipstick.

“The pink one,” Lilia groaned without opening her eyes. “I told you that last night.”

“But don’t you think it makes me look too… I don’t know… fairy wanna be?” Ayanna asked which earned herself another groan from her friend.

Lilia opened her eyes and sat up. “You’re acting like you’re actually going to ask out someone you like. Go wear the pink one and get it over with.” She paused. “How do you plan on getting Lake to date you for three months, though?”

Ayanna narrowed her eyes at her best friend. “You don’t trust my charms.”

“Uh, no, I don’t.”

Making a face, Ayanna shook her head. “Well, the plan is for me to know and for you to find out.” Giggling to herself, she made her way to the bathroom to change.

She was so excited to try out if her little plan would work.

*****

Is it too late to back out?

Ayanna could have sworn she was sweating like a pig as she stood outside Lake’s classroom. How she found out about the guy’s schedule was thanks to one friend whose hobby was stalking the varsity players of different sports. Lake’s class was supposed to end at 5:30pm. Ayanna’s ended at the same time but she left class early—their professor barely caring about that—just to arrive before Lake could even step out of the door.

Thoughts about backing out filled her mind. She did not want to embarrass herself. After all, she was just an average looking girl with an average body, background, and even IQ. Not to mention Lake did not know her at all—well, barely, if one could count their little encounter on Monday.

Even so, she mustered all her courage to stand by the classroom. Her knees were shaking and so were her hands. She took a deep breath when she saw that the students started to leave the room.  It was her one chance. If she were to fail, she would just cry for days then finally accept the fact that she would not be able to revise her stories.

With a determined look on her face, she watched as Lake got out of the room. He was alone and was busy looking through his phone. Taking a deep breath, she blocked his way.

“H-hey Lake!” she greeted him with a false chirpiness which she sucked at. She just hoped that Lake would not

Lake looked up, looking at her in confusion. “Yes?” he asked. He showed no sign that he recognized her which Ayanna assumed was a good sign.

“Can we talk?” she meekly asked.

Lake nodded his head, keeping his phone in his pocket. He led Ayanna to a corner, away from the curious eyes of people. Deep inside, Ayanna felt like everyone was judging her, an average beauty who had the guts to talk to the Lake Dylan Pavia.

“Do you have a girlfriend right now?” Ayanna asked when they were out of everyone else’s vision. She did not realize how unprepared she was for a confession even if it was a fake one. Books and dramas made it sound difficult yet made it look like it was such an easy task when in fact, Ayanna felt like running away in humiliation already.

Strangely, Lake looked taken aback. But he shook his head nevertheless. “I just broke up with my girlfriend two days ago… but I guess you already know that,” he added the last part in a tiny teasing voice.

Ayanna did not know which was more tempting: bashing her head on the wall or bashing Lake’s head instead. The fact that he remembered her was more annoying than touching. Who the hell remembers a random weird girl who happened to be eavesdropping? Lake apparently.

“Erm…” Ayanna trailed off, the blush was fully evident on her cheeks. “I just… I want to date you. Please date me, Lake! Be my boyfriend!”

“I thought you said you don’t like me?” Surprisingly, Lake did not sound sarcastic. Instead, he sounded genuinely confused and curious.

Ayanna hesitated. She really was not fit for this kind of conversation. She did not know how to sound like she was head over heels for him. Would he date her if she sounded uncertain? She doubted it. Players like him preferred having girls deeply infatuated with them—at least that was how Ayanna viewed them. However, she could not bring herself to say anything cheesy she might regret later.

“I didn’t like you but I like you now,” she said. As an after though, she immediately added, “a lot!”

Lake’s face did not show any emotion but the female could have sworn she saw amusement playing in his eyes. Finally, he gave her a smile—the smile that was unlike the one he gave his friends but very much like the smile he gave everyone else. Oh how she loathed that smile because it looked extremely fake.

“All right, I’ll date you,” he finally said, nodding his head slowly.

“For three months and three days,” Ayanna hastily said.

“What?” Lake sounded surprised. “Why is there a time limit? Aren’t relationships supposed to end when one party is already not happy or not interested? And it’s weird, you want our relationship to have a due date?” He was looking at her as if she was being ridiculous.

But Ayanna was ridiculous all right. She shrugged, looking so calm but in her head she was already panicking. She wanted to sound so confident yet not desperate. “Well, I may not look it but I am not stupid. I know you change your girlfriend as often as infants changing their diapers so I won’t hope for much. But I want you to give me time to get to know me better,” she reasoned out. She honestly had no idea where all of those reasons were coming from. Before she knew it, they were just tumbling out of her mouth.

“So, kinda like three months to get to know you?”

“No, three months for me to make you fall in love with me,” against her better judgment, Ayanna found herself saying despite the fact that it was quite the opposite. “That’s why we’ll have to go on dates and everything.”

Lake sounded amused with everything so he nodded, chuckling. “Sounds like an interesting deal. Looking forward to what you have in store,” he said.

“Great! I mean, cool.” Ayanna cleared her throat. “Well, I have to go now. See you when I see you I guess.”

Spinning her heels, the female was ready to leave but the male stopped her by grabbing—not her wrist—but her right shoulder. It hurt just a little.

“What?” Ayanna shot him an annoyed look.

“I think people who date each other have to know each other’s name. I’m Lake,” he murmured, looking just a little bit ashamed.

You agreed dating me when you still don’t know my name? But then, the female was not surprised anymore. Lake was a walking man hoe—at least in Ayanna’s perspective. She knew the boy had no idea who she was but he agreed to date her which made her forget about the issue with her name.

“My name’s Ayanna Manzano,” she replied. “And of course I know your name.”

“How about your phone number?” Lake asked, taking out his cellphone. “I believe people, who are dating, know each other’s phone number.”

Ayanna fought the urge to roll her eyes but she took out her phone anyway. While Lake seemed like an annoying person, she could not help but think that this relationship might not be as difficult as she could imagine. After all, Lake was an experienced boyfriend. He might as well be called a professional one.

Oh how Lilia would be so proud of her.