I Sunk the Ship, Part I

I had given up looking for love online. I thought to myself, I should just find a girl within my proximity.

What happened with Jae still haunts me at this time. The guilt and shame were no more, but I just did not want to end up with a girl that knew her.

In the middle of 2024, I met Shane. Well, I had met her back in 2023 when I was in a randomized grouping of a course we had about IT service management.

She was pretty cute, but personality-wise, I do not know her well. Every term since then, we became groupmates randomly. But it was only when I was grouped with her close friends that I had fallen for her.

Shane was different. She was a dancer; she really loved dancing. She looked pretty cute too. She was quiet and shy. She looked well-reserved to me. She was quite popular too, in our college and in other dancing organizations within the university. A lot of students knew about her relationship with her ex, who was a Computer Science student.

From what I knew, they had broken up in December 2023. And at this time, mid-year of 2024, I heard she was looking for a new one.

When I was grouped with her and her close friends, she tried to get to know me outside of academics. I had a crush on her by then. She asked for my account on that social media app that had a camera as logo, and we mutually followed each other.

We casually got to know each other better. We even played a game together, that one first-person shooter game that had agents with different abilities, it was her current favorite.

I raised my eyebrows out of surprise and asked her, "Oh, so you're into gaming? You love video games?"

"Just about alright," she casually replied, "I liked the game; I really liked it, and I play with my friends from my dancing organization."

"What's your main? Like role?"

"Uhhh, Controller... How about you?"

"I play Duelist. But I'm mainly a one-trick." I was a one-trick player in using that one agent that had self-healing, blind, and repositioning in its abilities, with the ultimate being an increase in the guns' fire rate.

When we played together, I saw a whole new side of her. She was quite cute when playing. She was clumsy and fun to play with. And in the games we played together, I was always top-fragging on the leaderboard each match. I was not serious about playing the game with her, but somehow I played too well or too good. It was one of those moments where you can say it was a "buff" from playing with your crush.

We got to know each other's interests and we clicked. She would show me pictures of her interests, especially dancing and her love for reading Geronimo Stilton books during her childhood. Geronimo Stilton and K-Pop were our common interests, maybe even gaming as well. We even shared the same favorite pasta which was Pesto. I loved Pesto so much that I never missed eating it every month since 2020.

Every time she would show a picture that had her in it, I would compliment her with words like, "You looked pretty," or "You looked cute here."

Every time our class was dismissed, our group would walk together from one building of the university to the other. We all usually go to the building where study halls and rooms were.

Eventually, our other groupmates started shipping both of us behind our backs. Even our peers had started a small gossip if there was 'something' between Shannyne and me.

I do not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was happy to hear that.

After some time, I started to drop more and more hints, and she did as well.

For instance, I made an event for all of my close friends in college. I called it "Pesto Night," a night where I cooked everyone purely homemade and fresh Pesto. The sauce was homemade, and I used Pecorino Romano and dried pasta that was meticulously selected based on advice from an Italian chef living in Australia I often watched online. Cooking an authentic and homemade Pesto cost a lot, especially if I had to cook for 15 people.

Knowing it was her favorite food, I invited her and three of her close friends as well. She agreed and promised to come but unfortunately did not. She sent proof that she had dance training that could not be avoided. Her other close friend, a girl, did not come as well. I was hoping if she could help me in winning her over or at least make small steps of progress. That meant 13 people came, but we managed to find 2 more who took their places.

I texted Shane, "Okayyy, if we have some pesto left, I'll give it to you."

She replied, "Thank you!"

And throughout the pesto night was a fun and cheerful moment. Eventually, my close friends cornered me into admitting to two of Shane's close friends that I had a crush on her. Then they told me that I have a chance.

While I was cooking the last batch out of the three, I reserved some for her. And the next day, I gave it to her and told her, "Here's some pesto from yesterday..."

"Wow, thanks!" She said.

"By the way, that wasn't leftovers. While I was cooking the 3rd batch out of 3, I reserved some for you before handing it out to others."

She shuddered and was thrilled to hear that. "Awww thank you!!" she exclaimed, her face got red and she smiled so much.

I thought to myself, Let's go! I struck her heart!

I never got any confirmation if I really did, but that was what it felt and looked like for me.

We walked together along with our groupmates going to the study hall. We talked throughout and she repeatedly thanked me for the pesto I made for her.