Page 30 of Accidental Proposal

“How to eat, talk, and walk.”

“You think I don’t know how to eat, walk, or talk properly?” I asked, feeling myself getting angry. “You think of me as some poor girl who practically doesn’t know the basics of life.”

“Jenna, no, I didn’t say that,” he protested, taking a step toward me, but I took one back.

“Just because I grew up in a home with no parents doesn’t mean I don’t know how to act, Liam,” I bit out angrily.

“I am not saying you don’t know how, Jenna. I know these people. They will find anything to pick on so they can tear you apart! I am trying to help you get ready to face these people, because if you’re not, they will get their claws in you and not let go.” He glared down at me, his face hard. “I know you know how to act civil and proper. I am just trying to help. I told you before to not get angry until I was done.”

“Yeah, ’cause that’s easy to do when someone insults you,” I shot back sarcastically.

“Don’t push my patience, Jenna,” he growled at me. Rolling my eyes at him, I put my hands on my hips.

“Anything else you want to insult me with, or can I get back to what I was doing?” I asked.

“Jenna.”

“Fine. Anything else you would like to talk about, my dear fiancé?” I asked in a sweet voice. He rolled his eyes at me but responded.

“Since you will be attending the Benefit with me, this week we will have to come out that we are engaged.”

“As in, we take pictures and post them on Facebook or something?”

“Yes, but instead of Facebook we send it into the newspaper.” He nodded. I ran my hand down my face, thinking of all this new information.

Okay, this isn’t so bad. I just have to do those stupid lessons with Lennon about etiquette and then take engagement photos with Liam. No big deal. I can do this.The “I can do this” mantra was starting to be my life quote or something lately.Take it all in stride, Jenna.Taking a deep breath, I nodded at Liam.

“Okay, that sounds good. Are you going to hire a photographer soon so we can take the photos sometime this week?” I asked once I had my feelings under lock and key. He seemed taken aback by my sudden change of mood and my willingness.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll call today,” he said, looking at me weirdly.

“Sounds good. Let me know when we will be taking them and when I need to meet with Lennon.” As I spoke, I almost didn’t even recognize my voice, for how calm it was.You know what? Maybe I should consider being an actor. I could be very good at it.

“Okay, I—”

“I’d better get back to redecorating.” Without waiting for a response, I moved past Liam and headed back to the room.I handled that pretty well, I must say.Mentally patting myself on the back, I looked around the room. I needed something to do for a little bit to get my mind off of Liam.

Even though I couldn’t move the desk, I grabbed a paintbrush and worked on opening the paint can. Squatting down, I dipped the tip of the brush in the red paint and headed to the wall. Having no idea what to do, I just started painting up and down in the middle of the wall. I formed a little square, and I smiled, glad at the color. It easily covered the light purple on the walls. Once I ran out of paint on my brush, I grabbed my cell phone. I put it in the corner and scrolled through my music. Last week, during my boring days, I’d bought music from iTunes. I now had about forty songs and I wanted more, but I wouldn’t believe how much money music actually was. Clicking on a Taylor Swift song, I turned up the volume and got back to painting. “Bad Blood” played throughout the room, and I hummed along with it.

With the music playing, I didn’t hear Liam come into the room until I felt a hand brush against my forearm. Jumping, I whirled around and saw him standing next to me, now clad in a pair of blue jeans that had holes in it like mine and a light grey shirt that hugged his upper body. He had the other paintbrush in his hand, swiping up and down along with me. Surprised, I stood there, staring at him helping me paint. I never would have thought he would.

“Are you going to paint or just stare at me?” he asked, still facing the wall. Blushing, I turned back around, moving my brush. Even though there was music playing, things between us were awkward. We were silent for a few minutes, the only sounds being the music and the sound of our paintbrushes against the wall.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” I asked.

“I took the day off,” he said simply.

“Wow that was quite the answer. I don’t know if I’ll ever get you to shut up,” I replied sarcastically. “Can’t you say more than one-word sentences?”

“I could, but I don’t want to. See? That wasn’t one word,” he retorted.

“Six whole words! Is the world ending?” I looked at him with widened eyes.

“Haha, aren’t you the joker?” He fake laughed at me.

“Look at you, being almost sarcastic. Who knew you had it in you?” I grinned at him, dipping my brush back in the paint.

“Well, there are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”Andwhosefaultisthat?I clamped my lips shut, not wanting to say anything I shouldn’t.

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