"Flat, glossy, iridescent? What the hell does that mean? Juli Baker has always seem plain to me. Until now."

- Bryce Loski, Flipped (2010)

Note: Vague spoilers for chapter 56. This would make a lot more sense upon reading said chapter.

Edited: August 30, 2013. I fixed some grammatical errors but no major changes were done.

Back in middle school Ayane was known for her good taste in men. Female classmates commended her teasingly, slyly—and always with an undercurrent of bitterness—about how jealous they were of her success in relationships.

During the times when there was no primetime drama or celebrity scandal to discuss, her love life reigned as the hot topic during lunch time. She never talked about her love life. She didn't "flaunt" around her older boyfriends either, contrary to popular belief. But somehow, word always got around whenever she ended a relationship and whenever she started a new one. The interest was sort of flattering really, if not ultimately a bit creepy.

Handsome. Charming. Mature. Sophisticated. These were some of the adjectives used by her peers when describing her boyfriends. And Ayane had to agree. They really were handsome, charming, mature and sophisticated. And if she found out later that they were lying, cheating, irresponsible, scumbags, she simply broke it off, moved on, and found another, better guy.

As Ayane sprawled on an unfamiliar bed, eyes trained unseeingly on the ceiling she tried to forget. She tried to forget the thoroughly unsatisfying kiss. More importantly, she tried to forget the image of Pin, his faded shirt, his atrociously colored hair, and the beer dribbling down his chin.

And as she tried to forget, Ayane wondered where her good taste in men went to.