Please Break My Heart

Chapter 6

Nothing was worth the trouble.

A few hours into the relationship and Ayanna was nearly losing her mind. Everyone who knew her seemed to have heard about how Lake sent her to her classroom. They all had the similar question in their minds: “why?” Ayanna could feel the gears in their heads turning, wondering why Lake would go for someone like her.

It was not unheard of that all of Lake’s past girlfriends were model materials. So it was either the boy was only interested in pretty girls or pretty girls were the only ones who had the courage to confess. Ayanna was not pretty—she could not stress that enough. That was why she was not even taken aback that everyone seemed surprised and utterly confused.

“Spill.” One acquaintance, whose name was Lyca, approached Ayanna after the class was over. During their first year in college, they were from the same block but they barely ever talked to one another. Hence, it was surprising that she suddenly slung her arm on Ayanna’s shoulder, acting as if they had always been best buddies.

“Spill what?” Ayanna decided to play dumb. Maybe if she kept acting like she had no idea, Lyca would disappear for good.

Too bad, things were not going the way Ayanna wanted because Lyca simply laughed. “How you ended up dating Lake! It’s just so weird. Most of his girlfriends are varsity players or models—no offense.”

“None taken,” Ayanna lied. In fact, a lot of offense were taken. She knew she was not the prettiest but Lyca did not have to point out the obvious. She slipped out of Lyca’s grip and forced a smile.

“So, when did it happen?” Lyca asked, her cheerfulness was annoyingly obvious. “I’m so thrilled when I heard the news and I was like, ‘Ayanna is my friend!’ I told them how you’re introverted but you’re a great writer and people were like, ‘she’s a writer? Cool!’” she narrated, flailing her arms giddily as if she were drunk. Ayanna wondered if she really was drunk.

“Well, yesterday,” Ayanna replied, meekly, not wanting to get into details. She did not want anyone else to know that she made the Lake Dylan Pavia agree to date her for three months. That would make her sound desperate. Believe it or not, Ayanna did still have pride left on her even if she felt like her pride took a severe damage.

“What happened yesterday?” Lyca inquired, leaning in closer to Ayanna.

The latter backed up a little bit and gave Lyca a forced small smile. “It’s just something between the two of us.” Winking at Lyca, Ayanna turned her heel and walked away. She felt a burst of confidence in her chest, proud of how she handled the obstacle—which was Lyca.

*****

At eleven-thirty, Lake fetched Ayanna from her classroom. That morning, they had agreed to eat lunch together, seeing that it was something couples did. The female did earn herself some envious looks as Lake walked beside her. They were not holding hands, just simply walking as if it was the most natural thing to do.

“Where are we going?” Ayanna finally decided to ask when the two of them arrived at the parking lot. Their University was huge, it was like a small town. Even so, Ayanna had always preferred walking—that and she did not have a car and riding a jeepney made her feel like she was spending too much money. “I swear, if you bring me to some weird restaurant, I’m gonna flip.”

Lake laughed. “We’re just gonna eat in a fast food restaurant at the mall. I don’t plan on making my girlfriend eat something weird.” He opened the car door for her.

Ayanna would have blushed at the word “girlfriend” if only she was not so disgusted. Lake had surely called many girls his girlfriend, he surely did every sweet thing he was doing to them. It was disgusting. He was an icky boy. For a moment, she wondered if she made the right decision of dating him. However, as quickly as the thought came, she dismissed it.

“Well, yeah, but seeing how I kinda forced you into this, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did plan something weird,” she said when the two of them have slipped inside the car. She casually buckled her seatbelt and was looking straight ahead when she felt Lake’s eyes on her. “What?”

Lake shook his head. “But I wasn’t forced into anything? Sure, the three months and three days deal was weird but it’s not something I feel forced upon me.”

More than the fact that he called her his girlfriend, the female was more flattered to be told that he dated her on his free will. Something in her stirred. That did not mean that she saw him in a better light though. He was probably so used to everything. He was that much of a player, after all.

“Well, whatever you say,” Ayanna murmured as Lake started to drive.

*****

“So, how many people have you dated before?” Lake inquired.

At the present time, the two of them were inside a fast food restaurant. They were waiting for their orders to arrive when Lake decided to drop a question Ayanna did not really want to answer. It was not that she was embarrassed of not having a boyfriend before or what, she just did not want to look like a noob she was. Worse, what if Lake was to think that she was extremely unattractive? Not that she cared.

“Zero,” Ayanna answered nevertheless. “I have dated no one else before. I was busy,” she said her excuse hastily, afraid of being judged. “How about you?”

“I stopped counting after the third one I had in high school,” Lake replied, chuckling a bit.

The female refused to chuckle along and instead made a snarky comment, “Figures.”

“Sorry?” Lake looked extremely dumbfounded, not expecting such a comment from his new girlfriend.

Ayanna cleared her throat. “I mean—uh—you see,” she tried to find her words. The last thing she wanted at the moment was for Lake to decide that he did not like her and he wanted to break up with her. Her experience would not be enough for her to write a book. And her book for her was everything.

“I knew it!” Lake suddenly exclaimed, chuckling. “You really don’t like me that much, huh? So, what made you want to date me all of a sudden? A guy you like who happen to hate me? A girl you loathe who happen to love me? What?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ayanna scoffed as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. In fact it was. Not only was Lake a player, he was incredibly foolish too. “You watch a little too much drama and read a little many books. I asked you to go out with me because I like you. I’m sorry it’s not showing enough. I’m not very good at showing my affections. Promise, I’ll get better at it.” She thought she really deserved an Oscars for her great acting skills. And she had always considered herself as talentless.

Lake did not look very convinced by her words though. In fact, he looked so skeptical. He was about to open his mouth to speak when the waiter served them their foods.

“Oh, look, our food is here. Let’s dig in. I don’t wanna be late for my next class,” Ayanna murmured.

For the rest of the lunch, Ayanna came up with the most random topics just to avoid Lake’s questions. She told him about the professors she hated, the subjects she loathed, and how difficult her senior high school life was. To her luck, it worked and their conversation stayed like that.

Oh, how she hated confrontations.