Page 7 of Accidental Attraction

“T-There’s no sexual tension between us,” I choked out.

“You can deny it, but it is there. You guys just need to give in.” She sighed and bit into her food.

“You’re one to talk! You and Blake couldn’t keep your eyes off one another yesterday.”

“Now that is a lie. Blake never has and never will see me as more than a friend. I’ll always be the brace-faced, nerdy girl from high school,” she said in a dejected tone.

“Yeah, right. He literally could not keep his eyes off of you. He purposefully sat beside you when there were plenty of empty seats, and you were the bridesmaid to his groomsman. I know for a fact that if you were Grayson’s, he would have thrown a fit. Lenn, honestly, there is no way in hell he does not like you. You are beyond gorgeous, funny, smart, nice.”

“Then why hasn’t he said something or made any moves to do so? He didn’t care when I had a boyfriend a few months ago.”

“Maybe he is scared of ruining your friendship, or he just doesn’t have the balls to say something. I bet he cared more than he let on about your ex. You may just have to be the one to ask him out. There’s no shame in doing that.”

“Have you done it before?” she asked, looking at me almost hopefully.

“I, um, I haven’t.” I cleared my throat and looked down at my plate.

“Jenna, you’ve had a boyfriend before, right?” Lennon asked. I could feel her gaze on me, but I kept looking down. I felt embarrassed saying I hadn’t. She took my silence as my answer. “That can’t be true. You’re beautiful.”

“I just hung in the background during high school. And no one wants to date a girl who doesn’t have parents,” I said, shrugging. Admitting it out loud didn’t hurt anymore. “But let’s not talk about that. We should probably finish this before Liam gets home. We have to go and pick out pictures for the papers later,” I changed the subject quickly, not wanting the attention.

“Don’t think I will let this go so easily, missy.” Lennon pointed at me. Grabbing our plates, she put them in the sink and grabbed a huge binder before coming back to the table.

“What is that?” I asked, staring at the binder that was three times thicker than my wrist.

“This is everyone that you will most likely be seeing on Friday. Employees from Stanford Industries will be there, as well as beneficiaries from the company. There will also be some of the top A-listers from New York companies. We need you to be familiar with all of them so when they come up to you at the Benefit, you will be able to talk to them. Let’s get started.” She rubbed her hands together and opened the binder. I groaned, already dreading the next hour or so.

***

“Lennon, if you so much as say another person’s name I will kill you,” I threatened exactly two hours later. My brain was beyond fried, and my head was pounding. It was now one, and I was more than ready to be done. Lennon was a torturous teacher. On more than one occasion, I’d wanted to strangle her.

“Jenna, one more. Who is Martin Brotherson?” she asked.

“He is Vice President and Founder of Brotherson’s Inc. They sell everything from furniture to electronic items. He has brown hair, which he probably has to dye. He is in his late forties. His wife is Karen Brotherson, and he has a daughter named Tessa and a son named Ryan; they are twins and thirteen years old. I think they are at some boarding school,” I mumbled into my arms, where I rested my head. “There. Can we be done now?”

“Wow, I’m impressed you learned everyone’s name and things about them. I was expecting to come over tomorrow and finish up, but now I don’t have to.”

“Thank the Lord,” I mumbled.

“Why aren’t you in school? You’re really smart.”

“I never had the money to go. I couldn’t even make it to high school most of the time, so why spend the money for college to have the same problem?” I shrugged, getting up to get a drink.

“Maybe now you can! You could take a few classes,” Lennon said, following me.

“I don’t know.” I’d never thought about going to college. It was always something that I couldn’t do. I mean, I did okay in high school. I would have done better if I knew I could get in somewhere or if I had a future. I wasn’t stupid. In fact, I was pretty smart, but the whole idea of going to college was foreign to me.

“Just think about it, it couldn’t hurt to look into it. I’d better get going. A girl that I do makeup for needs me for something. I’ll text you later. Have fun with Liam.” She winked at me before pulling me into a hug and leaving.

Exiting the kitchen, I headed up to the library to do some reading before Liam got home. I hadn’t read in a while, and I was starting to have withdrawals. I’d finished 1984, so I searched the rows of books for something to catch my eye. As I browsed around, a familiar black cover caught the corner of my eye. Pulling it out, I let out a laugh when I saw the title. Never in a million years did I think Liam would read or have Twilight. I shook my head, laughing softly as I noticed he had the entire series. With the book still in my hand, I headed for the comfortable chair in the corner. I’d never read it before, but I’d heard it was good. Tucking my fuzzy-socked feet under me, I dove into the story.

I didn’t know how long I was reading for, but when I finally looked up, Liam was standing in the doorway watching me. I blushed, realizing that he had called my name a few times but I hadn’t answered. I was so engrossed in the book I didn’t realize he was home already. I was a good ninety pages into it, and I could see why it was such a big hit. The author did a great job at pulling the reader into this world where vampires and werewolves existed.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t hear you,” I said quietly, almost like I would wake the books up. There was something about being in any library that made you whisper.

“What are you reading?” Liam asked, his deep voice loud to my ear after hours of silence. At the mention of Twilight, I grinned, walking toward him with it pressed to my chest so he wouldn’t see what it was.

“I didn’t know you read the entire series of Twilight.”I couldn’t keep myself from mocking him.

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