Story: Behind cold eyes - a modern re-telling of Pride and Prejudice Chapter One: The Bennets Author: JennnyJ Note: Pride and Prejudice belongs to Jane Austen, I simply borrow her characters for a while
"Mr. Bennet!" Fanny Bennet hurried after her husband with cheeks burning red of anticipation just as their second daughter Elizabeth walked down the stairs. The young woman met her father's pleading eyes but shook her head and laughed as she continued towards the kitchen.
One of her youngest sisters, Mary, was already up and seated at the family's piano with a bowl of cereals next to her as she practiced; Elizabeth sent her a smile from where she stood at the refrigerator and it was hesitantly returned.
They could both hear how their mother continued her nagging and Mary rolled her eyes, taking a spoonful of her breakfast.
"Is it about the rich people?" She asked her elder sister who smiled and sat down at the small breakfast table with a cup of tea in her hand.
"What else, dear sister", she said, cupping her hands around the warm cup. "What else?"
Mary smiled hollowly and shook her head before she returned to the piano, trying out a new song. Elizabeth listened with a half ear as her sister played whilst her gaze traveled though the room.
"Mornin'", a tired voice greeted them from the door and Lizzie turned her head to send her eldest sister a beaming smile. Jane was still in her pajamas with her blond hair slightly frizzy of sleep, a look which no one could pull of as good as she did.
"And what about darling Jane", Fanny Bennet emerged in the other doorway, her husband already pouring himself his second cup of coffee that morning, "how can you not do it for her? With her beauty I know she's meant to find someone rich, why else would she look so good?"
"She is your child, my dear", Mr. Bennet said and sat down on the seat next to Lizzie who watched the scene with amused eyes, "of course she is beautiful."
Fanny just snickered and put her hands on her hips, eying her husband with growing frustration.
"You must introduce us, Mr. Bennet!" She said, almost stomping her feet in the floor like a spoilt child. "I do not want to see the satisfaction in Mrs. Lucas eyes when she tells me that her husband had the guts to introduce their family to them before you! If you do not act upon this soon I'm afraid our marriage will be suffering!"
"Well, how fortunate for me then", Mr. Bennet said, slowly taking a sip from his cup, "that I had the pleasure of meeting young Mr. Bingley in town yesterday."
Mary stopped playing and both Lizzie and Jane lifted their eyebrows questioningly at him.
"What did you say?" Mrs. Bennet asked, not daring to believe her husband. "And do not lie to me mister, you do know my poor nerves."
"Oh I'd never lie to you, my love - he said he'd be delighted to make our acquaintance", he shrugged and took another sip from his cup not to show his smile as his wife kissed him on the cheek before she left the kitchen, talking loudly about how jealous Mrs. Lucas would be as she stopped by her hair salon and told her the wonderful news.
"Oh papa!" Elizabeth laughed and hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Why do you have to tease her like that, you know how winded up she gets!"
Mr. Bennet's eyes shone as he met his favorite daughter's eyes and he sent her a smile.
"Do not take away the little fun I have, Lizzie dear", he said, ending his coffee before he stood up again, affectionately ruffling her hair. "Oh, and when Fanny finds out that a certain Bingley might attend the Lucas' party tonight, please tell her that I have changed my mind and that we cannot possibly go."
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head at her father's silliness, watching him retire to his study and Jane taking his place with a plate filled to the brim with sandwiches and the rest of the egg and bacon.
"How can you possibly be that thin, Jane dear, when you eat almost as much as father?" Lizzie asked and watched in astonishment how her sister started to eat.
Jane just smiled, as soon as she had swallowed her first mouthful, and Elizabeth laughed once more before she excused herself and left the kitchen.
"Liz, Lydia has been in there for ages, I have to go to the toilet!" Kitty complained as soon as she saw her sister entering the second floor.
"Lydia, let your sister go to the bathroom, you won't get any prettier the more you look in the mirror!" Elizabeth shouted only to be answered with some foul words; Lizzie shook her head and sent Kitty a vague smile. "Sorry sis, you know as well as I how stubborn she can be."
Kitty shouted at her one year older sister and pounded the door as Elizabeth continued up to the third and last floor of the family house, she could vaguely hear how Mary had started playing again and it wasn't until she shut the door to her and Jane's shared bedroom that she was greeted by silence.
Humming softly to herself she walked over to her computer, scrolled down on her latest story and red the last five, six sentences. With a sigh she sank down onto the chair and erased some of it only to rewrite it again.
"You, mister", she said to the story's protagonist and shook her head, "you are far to plain to carry this story all by yourself."
"Elizabeth, you have to change this instant!" Fanny Bennet shouted up the stairs to Elizabeth whom was too captured by her writing to actually listen to her.
"Lizzie", Jane's soft voice made her blink and turn her attention to the blond woman who stood in front of the mirror, trying to zip her dress. "Can you help me with this?"
Elizabeth nodded and saved the document before she turned off the computer hand helped her sister to zip up. With a yawn she walked over to her closet and took out her favorite green dress, slipping into it without problem.
"You know", she said to her sister as she put some pins in her dark hair to keep the soft locks from falling into her eyes when she danced, "you will be breaking countless of hearts tonight, looking like that."
Jane just blushed and waved it away; saying that she by far wasn't as pretty as many of the town's girls. Elizabeth shook her head with a smile, knowing that it wasn't true, but tactful enough not to say anything about it – Jane was far too kind and caring to ever think about herself as superior to any woman when talking about beauty.
A quarter past seven the whole Bennet family entered the rather spacey house of the Lucas family and they were welcomed with polite smiles as some hired blokes reached out to take their jackets.
Elizabeth thanked them and continued towards the dining room which she knew would be emptied of tables and chairs for this specific event to make sure it would be room enough for dancing.
"Lizzie!" The joyful shout came from her best friend, Charlotte Lucas, who made her way through the crowd so that she could pull her in for a hug. "You look amazing!"
Elizabeth returned the compliment and searched through the room for the newlings whom the whole town had been gossiping about for the last two weeks.
"Are they here?" She asked, loud enough to be heard over the music and Charlotte nodded before she pointed to one of the corners where three people stood, watching the dance with quite different emotions.
"They came only moments ago, Mr. Bingley is the smiling man on the right and on the left is his sister", Charlotte said and Elizabeth looked at the red haired man whose eyes were filled with joy. "He's good for one million dollars a year."
"And who is the person looking so bored?" Elizabeth asked, not caring too much about Mr. Bingley's wealth, as she pointed at the tall man who stood next to his gangly friend.
"That is his good friend Mr. Darcy", Charlotte giggled and Lizzie lifted her eyebrow as she saw his proud posture, standing there without the slightest hint of a smile upon his lips even though it was a joyfully gathering of people.
"Poor thing, he looks as if he'd kill to get away from here", she said with a laugh and Charlotte smiled at her harsh words.
"Bored he might be, but he surely isn't poor!" She said, taking Elizabeth's arm as they started to walk through the room to get a better view of them. "He is just as filthy rich as Mr. Bingley, if not more so, and apparently he owns half of Derbyshire!"
Elizabeth couldn't help but look surprised as she couldn't understand how someone so young, she assumed he hadn't reached his thirties yet, could own so much land. However, she soon collected herself and whispered: "I'm most certain it is the miserable part!"
And both girls couldn't help but fall into a fit of laughter only to be silenced by Fanny Bennet whom took Elizabeth's hand to drag her towards the three people who stood in their corner. After gathering her whole family, Fanny stopped before the newlings whom all looked at them with raised eyebrows and rather surprised eyes.
"Mr. Bingley", Tomas Bennet said and sent him an apologetic look which got unseen by his wife, "may I have the honor to present my wife Fanny and my daughters Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia and Kitty. I suppose you have already met Mr. Lucas' daughter, Charlotte?"
Charles Bingley sent them all a beaming smile as he greeted them before introducing his sister and friend, both of them looking rather bored.
Elizabeth however, the great people reader she credited herself to be, could see how much warmer his smile was when his eyes met Jane's and she was sure it was mostly to Jane he spoke and not to Mr. Bennet.
"Would you dance with me, Miss Bennet?" He suddenly asked and Jane's cheeks turned just as red as his. Elizabeth watched with a smile how the two of them joined the dance floor and the departure of Mr. Bingley was the sign Lydia and Kitty had waited for, they both ran off, giggling as never before as they searched for boys to dance with and with a sigh Mary left her family to see where the Lucas' family might have hid their piano this time.
"Ah, Mr. Bennet", Fanny said with an exalting voice, her eyes following her eldest daughter as she danced with Charles Bingley. "Do you see how perfect they are for one and another? We must find Mrs. Lucas this instance, before she misses it!"
Charlotte offered her to help them look for her mother and before Lizzie knew it she was left alone with Mr. Darcy and Miss Bingley.
"Do you dance, Mr. Darcy?" She asked to break the awkward silence and she could tell he was surprised of being spoken to. He turned his icy eyes towards her, looking her up and down as if judging her.
"Not if I can help it", he answered after a while and Caroline smiled where she stood at his side with a hand on his arm. Elizabeth didn't know what to say, surprised that anyone could be so proud that he wouldn't even dance, after a moment she nodded her farewell and left them to be, she wouldn't have a dreary evening just because they choose to.
"Oh, I need some air!" Lizzie laughed as she and Charlotte left the dance floor some hours later.
Fanning her face with one hand, Elizabeth opened the door and stepped out in the chill autumn, welcoming the refreshing cold. "I have never seen anyone so happy as Charles Bingley and did you see, this was the third time he danced with Jane!"
Charlotte giggled and nodded as she leant towards the wall, the front door still open.
"I have never seen so many beautiful women in my life!" A bright voice which couldn't belong to any other than Charles Bingley made the young women fall silent and they moved closer to the open door to better hear the conversation.
"I believe you've captured the only beautiful girl on this party", a dark voice said and Elizabeth raised her eyebrow as she placed it as William Darcy's.
"Oh, but her sister, Elizabeth, is very good looking too", Charles said and Lizzie couldn't help but smile at his kindness, the similarities between him and Jane were steadily growing.
"I suppose she is endurable, but not enough to tempt me", Darcy said without hesitation and Charlotte put a comforting hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, one she shook herself free from as she tried to hear what else they'd say, but after a few minutes of silence she had to accept that they had moved on.
"Endurable!" She spat, turning to her friend with fiery eyes. "How can someone possibly be so rude, he doesn't even know me?"
Charlotte pulled her eyebrows together as she tried to come up with something comforting to say. "See it on the bright side, Lizzie, if he liked you you'd actually have to spend time with him."
Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh as she nodded.
"Yes, I suppose you are right", she said, though she couldn't help but feel how her pride had taken quite a blow. "Come on, we don't want to leave Jane all alone with mama."
Charlotte nodded, knowing full well what damage that could make, and they hurried back inside only to find Fanny Bennet praising Jane's beauty to a red-faced Charles Bingley who didn't know what to do but nod, Jane looking ever so embarrassed.
"A few years ago there was this man, I was most sure they'd stay together forever-", Mrs. Bennet started and Elizabeth decided to interrupt as Jane sent her a pleading look.
"He wrote her a couple of love letters and there went 'forever'", she said with a slight laugh, accepting a drink from one of the serving boys.
Darcy raised his eyebrows as he looked at her in astonishment.
"He was surely trying to express his feelings", he talked for the first time since the whole conversation had started, shocking them all, "how would you prefer a man to declare his love if not though poems?"
"First of all I'd like him to dance", Elizabeth said, swallowing the last of her drink before she sent him a beaming smile, "even though the woman in question was barely endurable."
To her satisfaction she could see a vague blush on the man's cheeks as he realized she must have heard his harsh words earlier and with a last goodbye she turned around and left the party.
This is the first time I've ever written anything about Elizabeth Bennet and William Darcy and I hope you like it. If you want to read more, please write a review and don't forget to add this story to your story alerts so you'll be the first ones to read the second chapter.
Hugs, Jenn