CHAPTER FIVE: Social Skills FTW

I try not to swear in front of my sister. Most of the time, I do pretty well. Right now, I was failing miserably.

"Ssssssshhhhhhhit," I say. I look over in Connor's direction and managed a smile. The excited teenager was being followed by a much more familiar face in a yellow and gray hoodie.

I prepared myself mentally for a whole lot of stuttering, mumbling, blushing, and general self-embarrassment.

"Hey Connor!" I said as they got up to us. "This is-"

"Grace." He cuts me off and holds out his poster to her. I laugh and let them get on with it. Taking a deep breath (mentally, not literally), I turn to face Mitch. I extended my hand for a handshake.

"And you are?" I say, somehow managing to keep a straight face. He looks at me, extremely confused. I laugh, trying to sound less nervous than I actually am.

"Kidding! Hi, I'm Jenna," I say, managing not to stutter. He smiles and wraps his hand around mine. His grip is warm and strong. I withdraw my hand before the handshake becomes awkward. I'm concentrating so hard on not being awkward that I almost don't catch his reply.

"I'm Mitch," he says, still grinning.

"I know," I reply. This brought out a small laugh. Yes! I was succeeding! Finally conquering my awkwardness! Of course, now that I've realized I'm doing well, I'm gonna mess it up.

"No kidding," he says. "I was kinda worried when Connor said you were a fangirl, but you're not screaming yet, so I think we're good."

I smile. "Yeah, I try to keep the screaming to a minimum when I'm meeting celebrities and stuff. Can't have famous people thinking I'm unstable or anything."

"You're getting up there yourself, y'know," he replies.

"I guess… we were around 500k last I checked," I say.

"Das Gucci," he replies. I smile.

"I should probably definitely thank you for that. It would have taken us a really long time to get there without you subscribing," I say. He smiles.

"No problem," he says. "I was actually planning to email you before the convention started, but I kinda forgot. I was gonna ask you if I could maybe do something like Mischief and Management."

"Dude, omigod, of course," I reply, grinning from ear to ear. Mitch liked one of my ideas! YUSSS!

"Sweet deal. I didn't want to, like, steal your idea or anything," he says.

"Nah, it's fine. Not like I patented it or anything."

Just as he was about to reply, we were interrupted by Belle.

"If you two are done flirting, Connor was telling me about some really cool booths, so we're gonna go look at those if y'all wanna come," she says. At the word flirting, I can feel my cheeks heating up. I'm just glad my hair hides how red my ears are right now.

"I wasn't – I mean, uh – I didn't mean to – um – yeah, I'll come along," I stutter out.

Well, I almost made it. Oh well. I didn't expect my social skills to remain intact for even as long as they did anyway, so I'll take what I can get.

Mitch elects to come too, so the four of us set off with Connor and Belle in the front and Mitch and I in the back of our little pack.

And just like that, I find myself walking and talking with BajanCanadian.

THE BajanCanadian.

Ssssssshhhhhhhit.

-o0O0o-

MITCH'S POV

She's only a couple inches shorter than me, which was kinda weird. I was used to being the tallest, or at least close to it. I see the moment of panic on her face at the sight of me. Sighing inwardly, I start to get ready for her to be just another crazy fangirl. We get within speaking distance, and she calls out to Connor instead of me.

Wow. Okay. Definitely not a crazy fangirl or she'd be drooling by now.

"And you are?" she asks, extending her hand to me.

What? Her fame is practically based off her being my fangirl. Either this is not Jenna, or she's really good at poker faces. Just as I'm realizing she's pranking me, she smiles and tells me she's kidding. I smile back and shake her hand. Her palms are warm and her fingertips are cold, which feels really weird. Her grip is firm though, which kinda makes up for it. Limp-handed handshakes are the worst. It's like holding a dead fish. Gross.

"I'm Mitch," I reply as she lets go of my hand. I'm glad she doesn't drag it out. That would just be creepy. Long, drawn-out handshakes are right up there with the dead fish.

"I know," she says. I laugh. I tell her I was worried about her being just another part of the insanity and she makes a joke about being unstable, just like she does in her videos. This is so weird, meeting a girl I've watched fangirl over me act totally normal. It's unexpected.

I like it.

She gives me permission to do my own M&M series, which is cool. I'll ask her about brainstorming later, if I get the chance. Soon, though, we're interrupted by Grace. She teases us about flirting. I laugh and take it in stride, but I can see that Jenna is blushing.

Not as calm as I thought.

Still though, that's some pretty good self-control if it took her this long to be at all fangirly.

I decide to come along and the four of us set off in a little pack, Connor and Grace in front and Jenna and me in the back. She gets her blushing under control as we set off.

As we walk, she gets noticeably more comfortable talking with me. We start to branch off into other topics besides Minecraft and YouTube. When we reach the first booth, we're talking about movies, Marvel in particular.

"What's your favorite Avengers movie?" I ask her. She gives it a moment.

"Is all of them a valid answer?" she asks. I smile and tell her no.

"Well, then, Thor I guess," she says. "We just watched it last night so it's still in my mind."
"Nice," I reply. "I've seen the first one but not the second one."

She stares at me and I get my first good look into her eyes. They're stormy blue, with flecks of yellow around the edges. There's a small patch of brown in her left iris. Her reply pulls me out of her eyes and back into reality.

"Are you serious? 'Cause we have the second one up in our room, if you wanted to come by later and borrow it," she offers.

"Really? Connor's been wanting to see it, so… if you really don't mind, I'd be down to take it off your hands for a night."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," she says, smiling. Just then my phone goes off. It's Jerome, wanting to know where I am because we're reopening the signing booth in five minutes.

"Gucci, " I say. "I gotta run, but I'll drop by your room at about 9:30-ish, okay?" I tap Connor on the shoulder, letting him know it's time to go.

"Room 5102," she replies. "Be there or be square and without Thor 2." She says.

I smile at her and walk away with Connor tagging along.

I think I might have even had fun.

A/N TIME! WOOP WOOP! : Hai doods! QD here with an update (FINALLY!). Sorry this took so long, but a new semester just started at school, so homework picked up. Plus, my school play is getting into full swing, AND I've been busy making TC fanart (including a cover for this story. YAY.), so… this just kinda never happened. Yeah. I'm really sorry, but it might happen again, so just be warned. Anyway, now that I'm done apologizing for being a dingus, here are the facts for this chapter:

When I get nervous, I stutter and mumble really badly. I also tend to make really bad jokes that barely work even in my mind when I'm out of my comfort zone.

I don't swear in front of my sister. EVER.

Dead fish handshakes are gross. Like really. If you do it, stop because IS YOU A WUSS

There a bit of brown in my left eye, but only the left one.

They're not gonna fall in love at first [Insert evil author smile]

AND ZE FICTIONS:

I'm pretty sure Thor 2 isn't out on DVD yet. Sadness.

There is no way I'd be able to my fangirlyness that far buried. No way at all.

Anyway, hope you doods enjoyed this chapter! I'll update again as soon as I can. Unfortunately, we're coming to the end of where I planned things, so… that's a thing. Also, I made a pen doodle of the Mudkip on my arm and posted a pic on tumblr, and QUENTIN REBLOGGED IT. That was easily the best part of my Monday. Anyslut, keep reviewing and stuff because I love you beautiful individuals and your feedback! Keep on being beautiful and I will write you later.

-Quiet Defiance

If you see this comment attack of the fangirl