My Peculiar Man

One

"Are you all right, Elizabeth? I just heard you farting up a storm outside. Do you need to see a doctor? Because farting more than twenty times a day can be quite unhealthy."

I stare incredulously at the black-haired man standing before me, wondering if I heard him right. He was looking at me with a concerned expression on his face. 

The entire room, filled with a hundred people at least, had gone eerily silent.

Did he really just say what I thought he said? No. He didn't. He wouldn't. Who does that? 

When he approached me from the other side of the room with a determined look on his face, a few seconds ago, I thought he was coming to ask me for my number. 

 I was getting ready to put on my most charming smile but apologetic smile and say, I am sorry, you are very handsome but I have a boyfriend when he said..... that.

My mind was not registering his perfect clean shaven-face anymore. Maybe because he just announced to a room full of Charleston's most important people that I fart!!

Not just fart that is. That I farted up a storm?!

I Elizabeth Thall, am the most popular, desired, beautiful girl in the entire St. Thomas High School by popular vote and also the most envied girl because let's face it, I am rich and pretty, and I DO NOT FART!!

Okay, so maybe the guacamole I ate at Becca's place tasted a little funny. But how could I refuse to eat it when she was so absolutely convinced that she was the best cook ever? I didn't have the heart to shatter her dreams of becoming the next Masterchef.

I felt my cheeks start to heat up as I glare angrily at the tuxedo-wearing man standing in front of me, looking concerned. 

Concerned my ass.

Any other time I might have noticed the bulging biceps on his right arm as he held a drink, the perfect jawline, or the fact that he seemed to exude manliness even though he had a clean-shaven face, or how the thick eyebrows were pulled together as those brown eyes looked at me. 

But right now I was furious at this stranger.

How dare he! 

This party was supposed to be my charismatic introduction to all the important executives and CEOs of the top fashion brands in Charleston. I was looking for an internship after I graduated from High school because Dad said it would look good on my resume. And I had been doing great till now.

"I did not!" I hissed angrily at the incarnation of the devil standing in front of me.

I felt the stares of a hundred people on me. The room which had been flowing with intelligent conversations and airy laughter a moment ago was completely silent now. 

Some were shuffling their feet uncomfortably while some were trying to hide smirks behind their drinks. Their evening had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting. The stunning girl everyone secretly resented had just been humiliated in front of everyone and they were trying to hide their glee.

I stood under the yellow lights, feeling like a spotlight was on me. As if everyone was waiting for a performance from me. 

Oh, God. Could this be any more humiliating? 

If there was a god, please make me disappear right now.

"Oh, but you did", he insisted in a not-so-quiet voice, eyebrows knit together like he didn't know why on earth I was glaring at him, red as a tomato. "I was behind you when you went outside. I heard you."

I felt my face heat up further.

Was this guy for real? What was his problem?

I had to admit he was putting on a good act. He looked absolutely clueless. Was he an actor? Was he someone hired by my arch-nemesis?