Page 35 of Accidental Proposal

“I don’t know how the paparazzi found out. Lennon and Blake wouldn’t tell anyone,” he said quietly, almost to himself. Before he had time to think more into it, our order was called. For the next few minutes we ate silently, both of us lost in thought. I stared at Liam while he ate like a complete weirdo, finding him even more attractive as he chewed.Wow, did I hit my head or something?“So Blake seemed nice,” I commented, tired of the silence between us.

“Yeah, he’s a great guy. Takes a little bit to get through his exterior.”

Like you?“You didn’t have to leave the restaurant because of me,” I said a few minutes later.

“Well, Lennon didn’t want you walking home by yourself.” Wow, and here I thought he did it from the goodness of his heart. Boy was I wrong. “Plus, she kind of threatened me.”Well, at least I know Lennon likes me.Rolling myeyes, I stuffed a few French fries in my mouth. Right now I couldn’t care less what Liam thought of me eating. The silence between us dragged on until I was halfway through my McNuggets. Then I snapped.

“Liam, you have to talk or something because this silence is killing me. Apologize for being an ass to me and then move on,” I snapped at him. The longer we sat there not saying a word, the more angry and agitated I was becoming. Liam needed to man up and say sorry before we could go any further. I was not going to say sorry first; I had nothing to say sorry for.

Liam looked over at me, and for a split second I didn’t see the guy I had come to know. Instead, his blue eyes seemed to soften with guilt, and his expression morphed into something other than narrow and cold.

“Sorry,” he said so quietly that if I wasn’t already leaning toward him, I wouldn’t have heard. The moment after he said sorry, his face became emotionless once again, and he was back to the old Liam I had come to know and hate. I could almost see the walls he had built around his heart come down, but he was still shielding himself. I knew that was the only sorry I was going to get. I let out a sigh. Even though he didn’t specifically say what he was sorry for, I was going to take it and move on. I really wasn’t one to hold grudges, and holding one against Liam would just be futile.

“So what exactly is this benefit thing?” I asked, changing the subject.

“It is kind of like a benefit. Raise money and send it to children’s hospitals all through New York. But it is mostly just a thing where all the upper class people come to show off,” Liam answered, sounding bitter toward the end.

“You don’t sound too excited about going,” I said, taking a sip of my drink. Liam brought a fry to his mouth and angrily chomped down on it.

“No. Snotty rich people showing off how much more money they’ve got or what new summer house they just got in the Hamptons, definitely not my favorite kind of event to attend.”

“Well at least they are donating to the children’s hospitals. That’s always good,” I commented, trying to find a bright side but probably failing. Just from the sound of it, I was already dreading having to go.

“That is the only plus to this event. If I had a choice, I’d rather stay home.”

“You mean you don’t want to go and talk to people who couldn’t care less all the while wearing a fake smile?” I asked sarcastically. “That sounds like a boatload of fun to me.”

“You’ll fit right in, then.” He shot me a smile. I couldn’t help but let out a laugh at that. We both knew I would not be the one fitting in; I’d be more of the person who would stand in the corner watching as woman threw themselves at Liam, oblivious that I was his “fiancé”.

“Are you sure you want to me go with you?” I asked, hoping he would say no.

“Yes, it will be a good opportunity for us to show up after announcing our engagement later this week.”Damn, there went that plan.I had actually forgotten about the pictures Liam and I were supposed to take later this week, announcing that we were engaged to everyone. Yep, definitely not looking forward to that.

“It’s this Friday, right?”

“Yes.” So much to do in just four days. We needed to get our pictures taken, and I needed to take those stupid lessons with Lennon, all before Friday night. Busy week ahead of us. The conversation kind of died after that, leaving us to finish our food in silence, but this time it wasn’t uncomfortable. Five minutes later, I stood up, grabbing my garbage with Liam behind me. Sipping on my drink, I followed Liam back to the Jeep and slid inside. I was glad this time there were no people with cameras waiting for us.

“Thank you for coming out after me tonight, Liam, even if Lennon made you. You really saved me from the paps,” I said as we started on our way back home. “And, also, thank you for ‘helping’ me paint the spare room today and not freaking out that I did it without you knowing,” I added. For some reason, it felt like a lifetime ago that we were throwing paint at one another, but it had really been just this morning.

“You’re welcome. Jenna, I am sorry about saying those rude things to you this afternoon in front of Lennon and Blake. I didn’t mean any of it. And I am sorry for being so rude to you as well,” Liam said. I held back my wide grin that was threatening to break free. The rest of the ride home was quiet, the radio playing softly throughout the car.

As I was making my way to the kitchen after arriving home to throw away my drink, the sound of a knock at the front door made me stop. I turned to Liam next to me with a raised eyebrow, wondering who was here. It was seven at night, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t Lennon and Blake checking up on us. Liam just shrugged at me, going toward the front door. I quickly stepped into the kitchen and threw my cup away before going to see who was at the door. When I went into the living room, I saw Garrett standing next to Liam.

“Garrett, what are you doing here?” I asked, walking toward him, confused. Why was he here at seven? I knew he had class early tomorrow.

“I was just checking up on you. I called and texted you a while ago and never heard back, so I got worried.” I looked down at my bag, where my phone was on silent. After I got changed to go to dinner, I didn’t even bother to check my phone.

“I’m sorry I haven’t even looked at my phone all afternoon. We just got back from dinner,” I said, sending him a guilty look.

“That’s okay. I just wanted to know if you needed help painting the room tomorrow,” Garrett said, sending me a smile that showed his left cheek dimple.

“You’re helping her paint the spare room? I thought I hired you to be a driver,” Liam butted in. His voice was low, and he was glaring over at Garrett. I watched as Garrett looked between Liam and me, confused.

“Uh, Jenna asked me this morning if I’d help,” he said slowly, looking over at me.

“Well, she doesn’t need your help anymore. We painted it this afternoon.”

“Liam—” I started to say, but Garrett cut me off.

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