I'm not cut out to be the heroine

The Briansons are hard to read (2.5)

Liam Brianson's POV 

A young girl was standing in front of me. She had large, teary eyes, and fluffy blonde hair. She frowned at me and extended her hand. Her handshake was weak, but her eyes were burning. "I'm Liam Roccaster Brianson, the son of Count Brianson."

That was my first impression of Olivia Erem, an innocent ,and a sweet girl, the kind of girl you wanted to care for.

My second impression was very different. I was telling her the plan for her stay at the manor, when she made strong eye-contact. "Liam, do you want to be friends?"

"What? No."

"Oh, I see. May I ask for what reason?" 

"Well that's..." my mind went blank, in my desperation to look composed I said the first thing that came to mind.

"You're a commoner" 

Olivia frowned "I see, I was hoping to make a friend." She stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "I respect your decision, sorry for wrongfully imposing" the air around her was heating up and she looked very angry.  

Olivia left the room clearly upset. 

Why did I say that? Now she thinks I hate her. She seemed like she was about to light me on fire. Also it was more than just anger Olivia looked sad behind that fiery wall of rage. I guess she really did want a friend. I have to get over my social awkwardness, I can't keep on doing this to people.

I attempted to make up with her throughout the year, each attempt failed because of my instincts to act like a glacier in social interactions. Despite my blunders, We seemed to be getting closer. Olivia was very rude to me, but she would occasionally smile at me after saying something scary. 

I was hopeful, that maybe she didn't hate me, but mostly I was worried. Olivia was good at being polite and had never said anything rash when it mattered. Still she would vent to me afterwords and through extensive data I had concluded that it didn't take much to make her mad. I graduated from The Royal Academy two years ago, many of the kids were intolerable. She might just explode from anger like she had been threatening. 

If she got bullied I feared not only for her, but the kids who poked the very irritable bear.  She could seriously get exiled, or worse. 

I have to come up with a plan, otherwise I won't be able to sleep easily at night.

The four of us were sitting at the dinner table. My father was smiling subtly at a joke Olivia had made and my mother was gazing at her sadly. Mother and father pitied Olivia, especially mother. They could tell she was unhappy they could tell she was scared about her new environment, and  heartbroken about leaving the church. My family shared my trait of being terrible at human contact, in-fact they were the cause . It was very hard for outsiders to read us. For example right now the atmosphere was quiet, but warm. My father may not have laughed, but a subtle smile was his equivalent of rolling on the floor in laughter. 

Olivia looked uncomfortable and took a sip from her cup avoiding eye-contact with my mother who's eyes were awash with sadness, or at least it looked that way to me.

I put down my fork "in 1 month I'll be taking a temporary job as a teacher at The Royal Academy."

Olivia chocked on her drink and hurriedly put it down. 

"Excuse me...could you say that again."

"Ah, yes starting a few days after you start your semester I'll be serving as a temporary magic teacher at The Royal Academy"

She looked shocked "so I did hear you right. If you don't mind me asking, why?"

"The heir to the Wesburn dukedom was a school friend, as you know the Wesburn's have close ties to The Royal Academy. He asked me to fill in for a couple of months until they can find a proper replacement as a favor."

"I see, so it's purely a personal matter"

I responded immediately "of course, what else could it be?" Why would I say that?

Olivia looked down at her plate and continued eating, but I saw a small smile flash across her lips. 

My heart started beating loudly, is she happy that she won't be alone? I'm so glad I remembered Ashel complaining about not being able to find a good replacement for one of the retiring teachers. His reaction to my volunteering myself was quite odd, I'll have to tell him to not ask any questions around Olivia. 

Olivia twirled pasta around her fork, "so...there's no other reason?"

"No, why would, thats *ahem*. No"

She glared at me "I'm convinced" 

 "So,could you please explain to me what is going through your mind right now." Ashel Wesburn, the heir to the Wesburn dukedom was drinking tea across from me. 

"I try and I try, but I can't put this puzzle together." 

"Why would you- the magic prodigy, the undisputed pride of our generation. Take up a job at The Royal Academy, infamous for it's insufferable brats. You could get any job Liam, why this absolutely terrible one?"

I nodded my head "I can see why that would be confusing, could I ask you to be content with not  knowing?"

His teacup clanked loudly as he set it on the table "no!"

"How do I put this... well there's this girl" Ashel flung his teacup onto the ground where it shattered into a million pieces.

"A GIRL?"

He stood up and grasped my shoulders "did you ruin it yet?!"

"Ruin it, what could you mean?"  

"Do you think I don't remember how all your crushes have ended?"

I avoided eye-contact "I was hoping you had."

Ashel sat back down. "So what contact have you had with this poor girl"

"I've actually talked to her a lot, she's been staying at our estate for the past year."

He covered his face with his hand. "Do you realize how bad this is ?" 

"Normally you have the charisma of a rock, but when you're talking to a girl you like you act like an evil warlord on a mission to ruin their day." 

"That's an exaggeration...sort of." 

"If anything it's the opposite, it's so painful to see you flounder through talking to girls and end up hurting everyone involved. Then you come crying to me."

He waved his hand sporadically "rest assured I will work day and night to ensure that you can adequately convey your feeling to this girl."

"When you began so strongly I though you would promise something more impressive "

He squinted at me "I'm a genius not a miracle worker, I can promise nothing more."

"Before you make any plans, it's not like I'm in love with this girl, I'm just interested in her."

Ashel smiled brightly "no,I can feel it. You're finally going to get a girlfriend."

"A-a gir, a girlfriend?" I could feel my face heating up and fidgeted nervously with my hands.

"Oh spare me Liam, you're not a schoolboy" he pointed at me enthusiastically 

"You're a schoolteacher!"