Broken - A pretty face doesn't cover an ugly heart

6

It was possible to everyone see that something was wrong. Ryan was struggling with himself. But after five long seconds, he answered without mean it:

– Hey... How are you?

Anna looked at him and went to Haley's bedroom as fast as she could. Her friend closed the door behind her.

– What the hell? Why didn't you told me he was going to be here? You know how this is!

Anna was out of her mind. Usually she was the person who controlled everything and everyone; she reacted to any adverse facts with her head up and a smile on her face, she was confident, always. Well, at least when it did not involve Ryan.

Here's everything you need to know about Ryan, and a resume about why they reacted this way:

He and Anna met each other at school, when Ryan was a senior. He's two years older than her, and they only got romantically involved when she was a senior in High School. They dated for 2 years.

She never understood what it was about him that she couldn't ignore his existence. He wasn't that handsome, in fact, he was quite a normal guy. He wasn't athletic as well, or the most fun... He was kind of serious sometimes, and never seemed to like the way Anna acted or talked with people. But somehow they got together. She just couldn't let it go, and tried everything until he would be interested as much as she was.

It's not like she changed personality when she was with him. She just got softer, hold back her impulses to look more acceptable. He recognized her efforts, and in that time it seemed to be enough. But it wasn't.

Ryan became friends with Barbra when he and Anna started to date. He liked her, she was simple. Anna couldn't stand this fact. The thing that bothered him the most was the fact that Anna just couldn't help to be flirting with everyone. He knew she did it ever since forever, so it was pretty much automatic by now, but it was a headache.

And then she was always mean to her sister without any reason, and allied with Haley they both were just too much. It was two years of breaking up and got back together over and over again. Until the last thing, that he couldn't forgive.

In Anna's eye, Ryan was too much alike her sister. They had perfect harmony, and sometimes she was jealous because looked much easier to her sister to get along with him, what made Anna fight to her even more. She wanted him to approve her, to say she was more than a funny girl to hang out with. But despite the fact that they had big feelings for each other, deep inside they knew it was a matter of time until the differences become too hard to take it.

That was the night, Anna's 19's birthday. They had a huge fight over some guy who was bothering Anna, insisting to go on a date with her, and Ryan said it was her fault for always behavior like she was single and flirting with everyone – which was a big part of her charm, it wasn't forced, she just happened to be a captivating girl.

So she was pissed off when he left furious. She still had her birthday party to go, and doubted she was in the mood.

She cried on the way home, and couldn't believe they had broken up again. Especially because was her birthday. It was no surprise to her family when she told the news. Barbra was tired of the drama, but was also upset because Ryan was a good friend. She offer herself to help Anna to get ready for receive her friends, but the older sister denied.

By the time of the party, she was feeling a bit better, and fooled everyone pretending to be ok. Just because the day was ruined to her, it didn't have to be to everyone else.

Daniel appearance at the party was a success. All Anna's friends had a crush on him. He was 23 at that time, and was even wildest and the party-boy type than he was today. He always had a crush on Anna, who he happily reminded it wasn't her cousin for real. She admitted thinking he was a handsome guy, but his personality, and even worse, he's convinced way, never pleased her.