"Marriage, Marriage and Marriage! Can't she think of something? Marry that stupid Collins. Over my dead body," Elizabeth Bennet said the last sentence as she entered a diner she had never been in.
She slipped into one of the chairs that was nearest to the first cash register and banged her hand on the shelf. The stranger on her right gave her a look but she just ignored him.
The bang was for dual purposes- taking out her frustration being the first and the second one was to attract the waiter; in which she was successful.
"What can I get you?" the waiter, Betty; as her name tag suggested, asked.
"The strongest caffeine known to mankind, please! I want to forget this day forever," she dramatized. Betty smiled and walked away.
The stranger on her right chuckled.
"What?" she snapped.
"You should try the bar," he replied calmly, his lips twisted in a little smirk.
"I would, if I could. I do not drink," she said with ferocity, maintaining eye contact.
"Oh! Good for you!" he said and took a bite of his pancake.
"Who eats pancakes in the middle of the day?" she asked out of the blue. She could not fathom why, but she wanted to continue the conversation.
"The one who skipped breakfast," he replied without looking away, as if he was tuned to give this answer.
Despite her current mood, Elizabeth laughed and without any hope for a reply asked, "And pray tell, why did you skip breakfast?"
But he surprised her. He cast aside his fork and looked at her intently before beginning, "My aunt set me up with a nibbling, non-talking robot for breakfast."
Elizabeth tried to laugh at it but thinking of her current predicament could not do so. "My position was much the same. Except in my case it was my mother and a hungry-blabbering fool involved."
They both smiled silently as if subconsciously connecting to each other.
"Elizabeth Bennet," she introduced herself and offered her hand.
Taking it he replied, "Nice to meet you, Miss Bennet."
That's it. That's all he said.
"Well, that's when you give your name. But that's okay. I don't really care."
Her coffee arrived and she took a sip and murmured, "Ah, Bliss!"
"As if you do not know who I am," he said smugly after a few moments.
She looked at him incredulously, "If you aren't one of the team winning the Ashes then I have no idea who you are." She smirked, very pleased with her retort.
The stranger just eyed her suspiciously but after taking another bite of his pancake said, "Fitzwilliam Darcy."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Darcy," she said with a mock bow.
"I am sorry. I am used to people knowing more about me than myself," he said, half-seriously.
"How's that like? Must be fun," she said, ignoring the implied message of his words.
"Not as much as you'd think. It's annoying most of the times."
"Great, that I don't know you then," she said.
A few seconds later a very pleasant tune with the following lyrics started sounding.
You're my honey-bunny.
My pumpkin, pumpkin.
You're my honey-bunny
Feeling something, something.
A slightly embarrassed Elizabeth took the phone out of her front coat pocket and answered it, "Hey Jane! ... Yeah, I am fine... I'm just at some local diner... I needed to get away from Collins…Thanks sweety. I promise I'll tell you if I need anything."
After keeping the phone in her pocket, Elizabeth heard 'not a stranger any more' humming the tune, "My pumpkin, pumpkin."
She laughed before saying, "Catchy, isn't it?"
"Absurd," he said before breaking out into a smile of his own.
Such a gorgeous smile he has. Too bad he's so rude, she thought to herself.
"Well, let me apologize for my former behaviour," he said as if he read her mind, "My aunt is just hell-bent on getting me married. And I just find this shell much easier in dealing with such situations."
She contemplated on what he said and replied, "I haven't exactly been a paradigm of civility either. My mother practically forced me to marry right now. I prevailed, of course!"
"I am just tired of it. She tries to set me up with every heiress she can find."
"At least she sets you up with heiresses," she replied before breaking into a fit of laughter. The 'not so stranger any more' joined in.
"Start over?" he asked, something akin to hope in his eyes.
"Hello! I am Elizabeth Bennet," said Elizabeth.
"Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. I am Fitzwilliam Darcy," he replied as he slightly kissed her hand in an old fashioned way.
Author's Note: The ringtone has been popularized throughout India through an Idea commercial. It's really catchy. If you want to hear it, you can just look it over youtube - Idea Honey Bunny.
Needless to say, I do not own the lyrics or the the characters mentioned in the story.