Set Myself Up

Chapter 1

Mei was in the living room, watching something, as she lay on the couch, eating chips. Just then, she hears someone clear their throat from beside the sofa. Her head then turns at the person. It was her roommate— Ray. His brown eyes looked at his side, but his body faced her. His tall figure stood awkwardly, and his shaggy hair covered his face as if it knew he was shy at this moment; then, he spoke. "Hey!.. Can you... uhm... be my...love..er?" Still not looking her in the eyes, his words made her almost choke on the chips she was eating, causing her to cough for a moment. Once she regained her composure, she blankly stared at him, pondering her reply... "Excuse..me?"

He just stared, this man has always been one to always have a poker face, not showing his emotions as much as he could help it, but somehow, she could tell from his blank stare that he was nervous. "Yeah... Umm... You know... Fake lover..." Mei's jaw opens for a moment in shock, still comprehending what he just said to her. After a few more moments, she thinks of another reply— with so many other thoughts racing through her mind. "May I ask.. what for..?"

Ray sighs before he speaks. "A girl has been harassing me, she's crazy for me, she said if I don't do exactly as she says, she'll make my life hell. So, I don't have much of a choice. Now, do you understand?" Mei finds herself, once more, shocked by his words. After comprehending what he said as if it was gibberish, she puts the bag of chips aside, giving him a more concerned and serious expression. "I...I do but.. how exactly is another girl going to back her off... if she's crazy..??"

He sighs... "Because she's the crazy jealous type, she only wants me...So I'll act like you're the person who's got me, so she'll back off...Simple, right?"

She scoffs at his ridiculous reply. "No! Because if she's that crazy, she will end up stalking the both of us!"

Ray rolled his eyes. "You have any better suggestions then?!" He spoke, his tone of voice getting harsher but still controlled. "If you have a better idea, I would like to hear it."

Mei glares at him, then looks away to go through her thoughts. It only takes a few moments before she sighs, giving in to his stupid idea. "Fine, but how long? And who all are we telling? Also- if she comes at me with a knife, I'm throwing you in front of me!" He sighs. "At least two weeks..and I want this only between the two of us. Can you do that?" He spoke as he went to the fridge and grabbed a beer can. Glancing at Mei, he opened the can, taking a swig from his drink. "And don't worry about getting attacked by her. We can handle her together." He said jokingly, chuckling a bit, he was usually serious, but he actually had a sense of humor.

Ray's reply made her roll her eyes, and she grabbed the bag of chips to return to snacking— this time, it was stress snacking. "So, how far are we going with this? Kissing? Pet names? Just- don't call me anything weird like stink stink or something." Her constant questions made him let out another annoyed sigh. She had a point. They needed to appear to be dating to throw her off entirely. "Ok, maybe we should post about it on social media. It's part of the act.."

Mei uses one hand to shovel some chips into her mouth and the other to pull out her phone. Then, suddenly a reluctant idea pops up in her mind. "So... we're even going to have matching profiles on social media?" Ray sighed, but then a slight smile spread on his face. She had another point, the goal was to make her jealous, and he did agree that matching profiles would be sickeningly adorable. "That might work...And I would say we've been dating for a little over a month?... Would that be convincing enough?"

Mei ponders the idea before a few more thoughts pop up, but she doesn't reply for a few moments, which turns into minutes. She basically does a mini-investigation on her phone, then pulls up a profile of a pretty blonde girl to show to Ray. "Is this her?" Ray leaned in, looking at the profile of the girl harassing him, then nodded. "Yeah... That's her, alright... So, do you agree to this stupid plan?"