After seeing the most recent picture of Bing and Darcy, as uploaded via Caroline's twitter, I couldn't stop laughing. What, what, what is Bing doing? I saw some great posts on tumblr about it. "He's throwing up a gang sign! He left Jane to protect her!" "Is that some sort of gangsta pose?" "Was he going for a peace sign?"
It left me thinking of a common event in many a girl's life, I think. Picture this: You're sitting around, perhaps with friends or perhaps alone, browsing your social networking website of choice. And BOOM, there it is: The picture of your ex. Only it's been a few months now, and you aren't crying yourself to sleep anymore. Maybe you're even completely over him. And maybe he does look handsome, maybe he doesn't. But seriously…what in God's name is he doing? He looks completely ridiculous!
I started to envision Jane's reaction to this upload of Bing. I started to wonder what the hell was going through her mind. So I asked if I should write fic, and tumblr seemed enthusiastic – so here's some Jane fic!
.x.
Jane's work holiday party had been fun. Super fun. It had been so fun that when two of her friends from work invited her back to their posh shared apartment after, she had been completely game. Instead of demurely saying that she had to go home – there was a book and half a bottle of white wine waiting for her – she had agreed and now she was sitting on a couch, sipping on some cheap, bubbly moscato.
Raleigh sat to her right. Raleigh was everything wonderful about L.A. mashed up with a Southern Bell. She was tall, blonde, svelte, tanned, blue-eyed and glamorous, and yet her voice was as softly drawling as a Georgia peach or some great-aunt's sweet potato pie recipe. She was sorority meets Hollywood, old world meets the new.
Safira sat to her left. Safira was a perfect gem, and everything cool and edgy that Jane would never be. She had a gorgeous, dark complexion, and her chocolate-colored skin always seemed to glow, especially tonight. She wore a jewel-colored blue dress fitting to her name. Her teeth were perfect and white and she looked like a model in some edgy spread, but perhaps not fashionable enough for Vogue – certainly versatile enough for Cosmo.
The three all held their wine glasses in one hand, their smartphones in another. Raleigh had just finished snapping a picture of them on Instagram. "I'll upload it to Twitter," she said, and Jane, her head spinning from her third glass of wine that night, smiled affectionately as she peered down at Raleigh's iPhone screen.
"I have a twitter! I'll have to follow you!" She opened up the app on her own smartphone, noticing that she had new mentions as she did so. She ignored that and typed in Raleigh's twitter handle in order to follow her while taking another sip of her wine. After doing so, she went back to check her mention.
It looked like the tweet was from one of Lizzie's viewers. I wonder if LooksByJane has seen the picture that_caroline just uploaded. A little buzzed, Jane murmured aloud, "I am not getting into that again…"
"Into what, honey?" Raleigh drawled.
Jane rolled her eyes. "It's nothing," she said, regretting her little slip. "Drama with people I don't want to be involved with anymore." She dropped her cell into her lap and swatted her hand dramatically. "People who don't want to be involved with me, anyway," she murmured into her wine glass.
"Sounds like an ex-boyfriend," Safira murmured.
"Oooh!" Raleigh squealed. "We're all ears!"
I really shouldn't talk about Bing, Jane thought to herself. But I really want to talk about Bing! She hadn't had a lot of boyfriends in the past, but it was true that there was something therapeutic in bringing up old lovers. Getting this or that off her chest always made her feel like things weren't really that big of a mess after all. Or, rather, like she wasn't the failure. Like maybe Bing was.
"It's my ex's sister," Jane explained. "She posted a picture onto Twitter."
"Let's have a look," Safira said, nudging closer to Jane so that she was practically on her lap. Jane had to be careful not to spill her wine, though the contents of her glass were running low. Raleigh scooted closer too.
"Oh, alright," Jane said, as if the two had done a lot to convince her. She picked her phone back up and tapped on the blue icon of the Twitter app, then scrolled to her mentions. She clicked on the link of Caroline's username, knowing full-well that someone like Caroline would never set her Twitter to private – so there was no worry of that. It was from there that she opened up Caroline's most recent tweet and saw it.
A picture of Bing and Darcy.
"She says," Jane read aloud, "Heading to dinner with these two handsome gentlemen. Happy Holidays everyone!"
"Which one's your ex?" Raleigh asked.
"Ah, this one," she pointed to Bing, finally taking the picture in. Unsurprisingly, seeing his face sent a little pang to her heart, even now. Darcy looked his usual self – suspenders, tie, no smile. Bing's legs were blocked by a nutcracker, but he wore a more laidback blue button-down, and… Wait.
What was he doing with his hand?
Safira asked just that. "What's he doing? Throwing up a gang sign?"
"Don't Asians normally do peace signs in pictures?" Raleigh asked. "God, that sounds awful, but like… My friend's Korean, she always does this in photos!" When Safira laughed at her and Jane made an odd face wondering just what sort of stereotypes about Asian people Raleigh held, she imitated the pose, two peace signs mirroring her face. "You know, like that!" she insisted before sipping her wine defensively, a pretty blush on her cheeks.
"No, no, I know exactly what you mean," Safira said with a laugh. "But it's true, what's he doing? You dating gangsters, Jane?"
"No!" Jane laughed. "I have no idea what Bing's doing!" She blushed scarlet, embarrassed that she had dated someone who threw up three fingers in a photo as if it held some meaning. "He must have meant a peace sign?"
"Oh, even that's tacky, honey," Raleigh murmured before hiccupping.
"Maybe they're three minutes late to dinner," Jane sneered. "Caroline's a little high maintenance."
Safira's jaw dropped. "Jane Bennet, did you just make a joke at someone else's expense?"
Jane closed her Twitter app and frowned. "Um, maybe?"
"Yes!" Raleigh cheered, putting her wine glass down in order to dramatically wave her arms about. "We've done it! We've finally done it! We have finally turned Jane Bennet evil!"
"Oh, I don't think we're close to that," Safira smirked. "But maybe she's on her way…"
Later in bed that night, Jane would open up her Twitter app and be faced by the picture again, having not closed the app fully. Instead of feeling that pang in her chest, she would roll over onto her stomach in hysterics.
Because really, what the hell was Bing doing?
.x.
Light and silly! Hope you guys liked it! Please review!
