Apprehensive as Jenna was about being in a relationship while using a fake identity, she couldn't deny she was rather enjoying have Bryce around. He was almost too considerate. Making her dinner the first time had been a major surprise but then he kept doing it!
He was always on time picking her up from work, seemed genuinely interested in the mundane details of her day, and was the perfect gentleman. They had seen each other every day for the past week and he hadn't gotten handsy or even tried to kiss her. What exactly was his deal?
It had been a long time since she felt so comfortable around someone new. Being out here had kept her constantly on edge.
Even if she had moments of fun with her coworkers, she wasn't comfortable enough with them to hang out any other time. They didn't talk about personal things, preferring to keep things light and silly.
Jenna couldn't really talk about personal things with Bryce either. She couldn't believe she slipped up and called for Jonas when she was half asleep. Inventing him as a girl friend named Joanna was a terrible thing to do and he would probably be furious if he found out but what was she supposed to do? JoJo was a girly name and Bryce made an assumption!
She supposed talking about her family could be easier now though. Her three fictional brothers could be a mixture of Adam, Colton, Evan, and Peter and "JoJo" could be a mixture of Jonas and Alison.
Poor Jonas. He had been reduced to a female friend instead of her twin brother because of a misunderstanding.
At least he would probably never find out. It wasn't like Bryce was ever going to meet her real family. She wouldn't get caught in her awful lie; what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Jenna had been surprised by her boyfriend's mystery distraction idea but goodness knows it worked. She was too busy scanning every inch of the beach for bingo items to think.
She didn't understand him. Why go to such lengths for her when he wasn't really getting anything in return? She was technically his girlfriend but they didn't do much that real couples did. Sort of cuddling while watching TV was about it.
He looked like he was having fun though. Whenever they met up to show each other an item to cross off, he was smiling.
The mystery deepened. Jenna had no idea why Bryce seemed to like her so much. He said before he was interested in her because she was lively and his life was boring or something like that but was that truly enough to justify all the effort he was putting into keeping her entertained?
He wasn't asking for anything in return either. He simply wanted to spend time with her. She had been the one who insisted on being his girlfriend because she felt bad about taking advantage of his time and feelings for her.
Would she ever like him back? Sometimes she wondered. She hadn't actually had all that many crushes over the years.
The last time she liked anyone was in high school and it had only lasted for a few weeks until she realized he was only nice to her in order to keep her on his flag football team in P.E. and was flirting with more feminine girls behind her back. As soon as she found that out, she joined the other team and thrashed him.
It would be hard not to like a handsome man completely dedicated to her though. She had a terrible feeling that Bryce would wear her down sooner or later. Then the real trouble would begin.
Jenna tried not to think about that now though. That was a problem for later. Her current task was searching for bingo items.
With how diligently she combed the beach, she did end up getting bingo first. She whooped with glee and rushed over to show him the last item and her completed bingo board.
"Done!" she exclaimed proudly. "I guess you're buying lunch after all."
Bryce didn't seem terribly bothered by that considering how warmly he smiled at her. The sight of that smile made her heart skip a beat. She wasn't used to being smiled at like that and she wasn't sure she liked it. That smile was bad news!
"Great job! That didn't take as long as I had expected though…do you want to do that sandcastle contest then? I have buckets and stuff in my trunk."
"I'm down," Jenna agreed.
They headed to the car and each got a plastic bucket and shovel. Her competitive streak flared up. She was an expert sandcastle builder after growing up close enough to the beach to go at least once a month when the weather was nice; she was confident she would win both of the games he had planned for the day.
Once again, she was too preoccupied with how to build the best structure to be homesick or think about any of the other things bothering her. Bryce was very good at this.
She hadn't expected that when she took him up on his offer but she wasn't complaining! At this rate, getting through the next fiveish months of her life would be a breeze. February would be here before she knew it having someone around to keep her from wallowing in misery.
Jenna was genuinely enjoying herself. Braving the cold water running over her toes when she went to get wet sand and having her jeans rolled up as far as they would go made her feel more like herself than she had in ages.
She looked a bit more like herself today too and Bryce hadn't seemed to mind. He didn't seem to mind her very casual outfits when they watched TV after work either.
Wearing pajamas in front of him was a no-no since they didn't know each other that well so leggings had to do. She had always been more of a men's sweatpants fan than a leggings fan but they had grown on her since becoming Tessa O'Brien. They were the most comfortable things she owned aside from her actual pajama pants.
Wearing jeans today for the first time in a while outside of volunteering made her feel more normal. She may have makeup on and her hair may be dyed but she was wearing a normal Jenna outfit and that meant a lot to her.
If Bryce liked doing outdoor activities, she might be able to get away with dressing like herself more often. At school she had a certain image to maintain and at work she wore the same uniform every day but when volunteering it was expected that things would get dirty and sturdier pants were required.
Even now the knees of her jeans were all sandy. So were her legs and hands but she was too happy to be doing something familiar to care.
Jenna peeked over at his sandcastle attempt and barely managed not to snort. It was pitiful! Even using the bucket he wasn't able to get his turrets to stay fully formed. In a strange way that took talent.
She finished her big, beautiful castle and felt so sorry for him that she decided to help with his. "Mind if I help? What you're doing is so bad it's painful to watch."
Bryce let out a self-deprecating laugh. "That bad, huh? Did you do much better?"
"See for yourself."
His eyes widened once he looked at her rather impressive creation. "Are you a sandcastle expert or what?! Where did you learn to make them like that?"
Jenna shrugged before lying. "We didn't live too far from a lake in Colorado that we visited all the time during the summer. I had plenty of practice so don't feel bad that your skills are far inferior to mine."
Bryce laughed at her weak insult. "I suppose that does make me feel slightly better. I only went to the beach once a year because I'm from the landlocked part of California. The beach was about three and a half hours away from us."
He wasn't so prideful that he couldn't accept help and they managed to salvage it into a respectable sandcastle. That wasn't a problem…him wanting to take pictures was.
Jenna knew the rules. She wasn't allowed to have her face posted anywhere in case Anthony Shaw could use facial recognition and track her that way. She had already talked her way out of having her picture taken at volunteer events more than once or hid in the bathroom during group shots when no one would notice.
"Are you on social media?" she asked hesitantly.
Bryce shook his head. "Nah. Pretty much the only people I interact with outside of you are at work and goodness knows I don't need to hear any more about their lives. You?"
"No. I like my privacy. The idea of having my face out on the internet freaks me out. Have you ever heard of reverse image searches and people using other people's pictures that way for catfishing? It's totally creepy."
That was the excuse Jenna had ready for any time people asked if she was on Facebook or Instagram. Josh and Del had both wanted to add her and she had to say no.
Truthfully, she didn't care about that when she wasn't under threat. Both of her accounts had the highest privacy settings possible but she wasn't allowed to access them right now in case anyone was watching her online presence.
Sometimes she cheated though. She wasn't allowed to go on her own social media accounts…but that didn't mean she couldn't look up her siblings' or mom's profiles and stare at their profile pictures and cover photos. They used the privacy settings too so that was all she had access to as a guest without an account.
Jenna didn't want to forget any of their faces. Especially her nieces and nephew since they grew so quickly. She didn't want them to be unrecognizable when she got home.