Simply Tolerable

Chapter 1: First Meetings

Summary: She could remember the kiss vividly. She could remember every little detail about it. But the one thing she couldn't remember was the man... Join Lizzie through a whirlpool of events involving love, chaos, drama, and a certain pair of clear, blue eyes.

Disclaimer: Okay. If I owned Pride and Prejudice, do you really think I would be here on Fanfiction? No. I would totally be sitting in some awesome mansion and working away on my next masterpiece. And I'm not, so therefore I don't own Pride and Prejudice.

A/N: Okay, thank you guys so much for reviewing! I feel so much better now! I was practically hyperventilating all day, wondering if you guys would like it. So all of your reviews were positive (all three :D ) and I'm feeling inspired so I decided to get out another chapter.

Oh, and sorry about the confusion. Jane is Lizzie's sister, not her cousin.

I really don't know which way I want to take this yet, so if you guys have any ideas, let me know!

ONWARDS!

Lizzie groaned as she opened her eyes. Why did the sun have to shine in the morning? Couldn't it wait until afternoon to come? Grumbling at the pain in her head, Lizzie stumbled out of bed, blearily trying to make it to some coffee before she tripped on something.

But of course, she tripped. On a man's jacket.

Lizzie snapped out of her dazed state, head still hurting, but having more important matters at hand to worry about than the crazed monkey inside her head that was beating a drum incessantly, laughing at her pain.

Focus, Lizzie.

She looked at the jacket curiously. She then proceeded to poke at it cautiously as if she was afraid it would bite her. It didn't. She then racked her memory, trying to recall why she had a jacket in her room. Blurry images shot through her head, confusing her even more.

She decided to abandon the task and she set to finding herself a cup of coffee and a bunch of Advils. And of course, there was a pretty good chance that there would some puking as well.

Once that was taken care of, Lizzie set about to making herself decently respectable, brushing her teeth, taking a quick shower, and brushing her hair. She stepped out of her bathroom, towel securely wrapped around her middle, standing in front of her closet. Today, she remembered with dread, she had to go to a lunch at her parents' house with Jane. And the Bingleys had been invited over, along with him. Lizzie scowled as she remembered the tall, handsome William Darcy, CEO of Darcy Enterprises, recalling his harsh words from the night before.

Deciding on a nice silk top and some dress pants with a pair of simple, black heels, Lizzie looked at the clock. It was 11 o' clock, so she still had some time. Of course, her head still was not in tip-top shape, but it was better than she had expected it to be, so overall Lizzie was happy.

Until, once again, she tripped on the man's jacket. Grumbling, she looked at it. Now that her head had taken pity on her, Lizzie set to trying to recall all of the previous day's, more like party's, events.

She remembered arriving at the party and chatting with Charlotte about the guests who were about to come. She remembered seeing Charles Bingley, Caroline Bingley, and it for the first time. She definitely remembered hearing Will Darcy insult her and also could recall that in her anger, she had consumed too much alcohol. After that, things got fuzzy. Racking her brain, she could remember going outside for a breath of fresh air. Once she was outside, she remembered talking to somebody. Then…

Lizzie gasped. She remembered kissing somebody. But who? All she could remember was a pair of eyes; eyes which seemed to steal her away with them, but she couldn't remember anything else. What had happened last night? What had she done?

Lizzie went into her bedroom and sat down on the bed, refusing to even think about what might have happened the night before. She prayed that she hadn't been a complete idiot and let whoever it was take advantage of her.

But most of all, she wondered who the man from last night was. She could remember his eyes.

"Lizzie! Are you ready yet, because if we're not at home in half an hour, mom's going to have a fit!" Lizzie heard her eldest sister's voice ring through the apartment.

She grumbled and got off of her bed. Then, she put a smile on her face and called on to Jane in a very preppy voice, "Dear Janie! I'm here! And look I'm all ready to go! Are you all ready to go? Because if so, let's go!"

Jane entered Lizzie's bedroom and spoke, her annoyance apparent, "Lizzie, that's not funny! We haven't visited the family in more than 6 months and we're only a half an hour drive away!"

Lizzie smirked, "Have you ever thought that maybe there's a reason why that's been the case?"

"Lizzie!" Jane screamed. She then sighed, suddenly looking very tired. Lizzie decided to stop bothering her older sister, realizing that Jane was probably pretty stressed about the party as well, considering that it would be the first time that Charlie, her "friend" (that's what Jane claimed, but

Lizzie knew better) would really get to spend time with her family. It was no wonder that she was worried.

"Well, c'mon!" Lizzie called over her shoulder as she exited the room.

"Jane smiled and followed her out of the apartment.

All throughout the car drive, Jane was chattering on and on about Charlie and how lovely he was, barely even stopping for breath. Lizzie began to wonder how Jane managed to keep speaking for so long. Getting bored of hearing of Charlie's many "wondrous qualities", Lizzie opened her window and turned her focus on the scenery, watching as green, grassy hills shot by, topped by windmills that were lazily spinning in the slight wind. She saw cattle grazing on the slopes and saw the horses playing around as well. She could smell the scent of fresh grass and could feel the cold air brush against her face, calming her and exciting her at the same time. She felt a breath of air on her neck. Suddenly, a memory flashed through her head.

She was in a hallway of the Lucas's home, her arms wrapped around someone. She could feel his breath on her neck, the warmth sending shivers down her body. She could hear his voice, a calming soothing baritone. She turned her face to look up at him, and saw those eyes again, a startling, bright, blue just like the sky. She smiled at him and held her breath as he brought himself closer, closer, closer…

"Lizzie! Goodness gracious! What's happening to you? Stop spacing out will you? Come on, get out of the car. We're home!" Jane turned on her heel and headed towards the door, leaving Lizzie in her muddled thoughts. Lizzie decided to forget about the mystery man and think about other things. She stepped into the house and, ignoring her mother's shouts, headed up to the library, where she met Mary, curled up with a book. Lizzie sat down and began thinking about how to brave a whole afternoon with her parents, sisters, Caroline Bingley, and Will Darcy.

Now, of course, her parents were notorious for being obnoxious. Especially her mother. In fact, mainly her mother was known for being a complete gossip maniac, one whose last wish was that she see all five of her daughters married off. Francie Bennett made it quite clear to the world that her daughters were to marry handsome, rich, young men and become more famous, rich, and powerful than she herself was. Francie especially loved to talk about Jane, her eldest daughter, bragging about her daughter's beauty and her gentle, docile nature. And it was quite obvious to the world that while Jane was Francie's favorite daughter, Lizzie was her least favorite. It made sense, considering that in her young age, Lizzie had been the complete opposite of Francie's view of a perfect daughter, not being interested in makeup and boys, instead wishing to focus on sports, academics, and friends. Francie just couldn't comprehend that her second oldest daughter actually wished to have an education when she could just marry a wealthy man and be done with all of that hard work. Tom Bennett was simply very quiet. He would rather spend his time with a good book than with a person, with the exception of his favorite daughter, Lizzie, whom he always had time for. Though Jane was quite sweet and kind and quite tolerable for company, Tom felt that all of his daughters, except for Lizzie, were all just his wife's lapdogs, doing whatever she wanted them to. His three youngest daughters were quite atrocious in his mind, one living in her own world of books, not caring to even speak with others, and the other two, ditzy, stupid teenagers who, like their mother, could talk about nothing but boys, clothes, and gossip.

Lizzie felt that though very harsh, her father's view was correct. But instead of feeling that Mary was useless because she didn't interact with the outside world, Lizzie simply felt that she was shy, which was true. Mary barely spoke to those she knew, and she never uttered a word in front of a stranger, preferring to just listen to the conversation as she delved into the pages of one of her many books. She was the complete opposite of her two youngest sisters, Kitty and Lydia. Where Mary preferred to wear conservative clothing, Kitty and Lydia strutted around in clothes that most would declare to be "much too revealing". While Mary went around with no make up on her face, Kitty and Lydia looked like Barbie dolls, ones that had their makeup done by a five-year old, with too much mascara, eyeshadow, and a scary amount of bronzer. Finally, while Mary had read countless books, the two youngest Bennett sisters could count the number of books they had read on one hand, one of which was "The Little Red Riding Hood".

Lizzie sighed as she remembered her family. But they were not the worst part of that afternoon. There were going to be two other people there at the lunch party. One of which, she could handle and ignore, the other one constantly sending her into a angry state within seconds. Caroline Bingley wasn't that bad, Lizzie had decided. Yes, she was cold, and haughty, but at least she could be ignored. She had blonde hair and did her makeup quite heavily, but still, she might have looked beautiful had it not been for the scowl the seemed to permanently mar her features. With her Prada bags and Gucci dresses, Caroline might have looked quite elegant and fashionable, if all of clothes weren't horribly mismatched and gaudy. The day before, at the party, she had been wearing a bright orange cocktail dress with black earrings and pink high heels. This all might have passed, had it not been for the chartreuse wrap that she had wrapped around her tall, thin frame. Lizzie recalled herself wondering where Caroline could have purchased such a scarf. Lizzie smiled at this thought. She probably had it custom-made, Lizzie decided.

Finally, the one person she was truly dreading to meet, Mr. William Darcy, would be there. He might have been attractive too, Lizzie thought, if it hadn't been for his horrible personality. He stood at an impressive 6' 3", with long brown hair, sharp masculine features, and clear blue, eyes…

Wait a second, clear blue eyes… No! Lizzie almost fell off of her chair as she thought about this. No, it can't be. She laughed at herself silently for thinking such a thing. Her and Will Darcy? If that happened, she would change her name!

She stayed in the library for a little while, just enjoying her surroundings. Lizzie had always loved books. When she was a little girl, her father would read her books, and teach her about all of the new words. She smiled remembering the wonderful times she had in the library. She decided to head downstairs when she heard the doorbell ring.

Great, Lizzie thought, and the torture begins!

And the plot thickens.

Yeah yeah, I know. You all hate me for leaving you with so little. I bet you are all cursing me right now for not telling you enough who Lizzie's mystery man is. Don't worry though. I will do my best to update regularly, even if it means staying up late... this is where you all cheer and clap for your amazing author

I have written out a timeline that is turning out to be 40 chapters or so, but hey, let me know some of your ideas. If you want something to happen, tell me. Let me just warn you though, I might not incorporate your ideas. Also, my story is not going to be following Pride and Prejudice exactly, I will try to stick to it a bit, but certain things happen that just had to be different.

Anyways, I've bored you enough. Now shoo! and let me write more for you like the wonderful amazing author that I am! :)