AN: Thanks for the reviews. I'm not following the exact plot-line and order of events, just so you know, but I won't diverge massively.
It was quite a few weeks after the party that I finally learnt about Jane and Charlie being a thing. In fact, come to think of it, it was closer to two months.
See, I hadn't lived at home for a while now, the same with Jane really, so even though we talked over Facebook, I hadn't really picked up on this vital piece of information. I knew that she liked him from watching them together at the party, but Jane has never been one to talk about everything with other people, even me. She's an intensely private person.
Out of all of my siblings Jane is the one I'm really close to. Its probably because we were born fairly close together; she's roughly 21 months older than me. There was always more of a distance between me and my younger sisters, what with them being born 4 to 6 years later.
Jane is probably the nicest person I know. Once upon a time I would have called her nice to a fault; these days its come down to simply being incredibly nice. She's not jaded, but she no longer attempts to see the best in everyone we meet, which I have to say was a huge shift for me. As in, a huge world shift. Jane had always been kind of a rock in my life; watching anything change was alarming.
"So, you know Charlotte's birthday party?" Jane began over lunch one day. We were at this Vietnamese soup place at the covered Market I worked at.
"Yeah?" I said. I was trying to not make a mess while not splattering myself when I dropped things back in the bowl.
"Well, I'm kind of going with Charlie," she said nervously.
"Charlie Bingley?" I asked.
"Yeah. We've been kind of dating."
"Wow, okay. Really?" I know it might seem like a bit of an overreaction, but Jane hadn't dated anyone since back in high school when she was about 15. "He seems really nice."
"He really is," she said, smiling a little.
"Well, okay then," I replied, grinning. "Good for you."
"Actually I was bringing it up because of something else," she said, twisting her fingers around her chopsticks. "Charlotte kind of invited Charlie and everyone else staying in his house, so Darcy's going to be there too. She's just got back from England. Charlie's sisters will be there too," she rushed out, seeing my face.
"Darcy?" I dragged out the word, like it was the worst thing in the world.
"I don't see why you've decided to dislike her so much," said Jane defensively. "She's always been nice to me."
I didn't say she had to be, which was what I was thinking at the time. It was also patently untrue, not that I realised that. Darcy was still the devil bitch in my eyes at this point and before you say anything, I know that was unfair. My pride had totally got ahead of me at this point.
Jane sighed in a way that meant she was irritated with me, but didn't say anything and eventually the conversation moved to other things.
So, a week later there I was at Charlotte's birthday party, standing with Jane, Charlie, his sister Caroline who'd just come out from England (who I have never liked, by the way) and Darcy. I don't remember what we were talking about, just that we were standing in the kitchen and I was busy making Charlie and Jane laugh. Eventually Charlotte joined in the conversation too, then John, then Lydia and Kitty (I swear those girls used to make it their life mission to make that poor boy feel awkward.)
Mum was thankfully somewhere else, saying loud things about Jane and Bingley. Darcy heard some of it, which lead to complications later, but anyways, apparently this was the time Darcy decided to take a shine to me. She always said it was because of my humour and vivacity (she actually uses words like that) and I always feel nervous about it, because I'm uncertain of how funny I actually am at the end of the day.
That party was also the first time I noticed her watching me and in my determination to dislike her, I wilfully misinterpreted that too.
"I must really have offended her," I said casually to Charlotte, as we stood there in our silly birthday hats on the veranda.
"Really?" said Charlotte, amused.
"Really," I replied. "We where cracking jokes earlier and I'm certain some of what I said must have got under her skin."
"Eli, you don't stare at people you dislike, you avoid them. She's checking you out, love."
"Bull****," I said. (Hey I'm Australian. I try real hard, but sometimes stuff just slips out. Believe me, I swear nowhere near as much as most of my old classmates did. The worst word I ever use is f***, which practically isn't swearing at all amongst large swathes of Australian society.) "I'm certain she just finds me objectionable."
"Mhmmm? And she was staring at your arse because?" Charlotte trailed off, grinning like the damn Cheshire cat.
"Oh, whatever," I said dismissively. I've never really believed much in my looks (possibly a bit of a side effect from Mum always praising Jane a lot more).
[D: Eli, I know I promised as your very lazy beta not to insert anything, but I feel I have to point out to your readers at this point that you are incredibly good looking. It just took me a little longer to appreciate it. He's not exactly the manly man type, so to speak. And I was actually, just so you know. Also, great hair, comes down to his waist. I won't let him cut it.]
"Believe what you want," said Charlotte, sighing. "Can you get me another drink dear?"
"Dear?"
"It is my birthday," she said, almost pouting.
"Oh alright, jeeze." I stepped back into the house. "But I distinctly don't remember you doing drink runs for me on my birthday."
"You never asked."
Should have known it was a set up.
The windows were all lit up and Charlotte had a perfect view from the veranda of who was standing by the drinks table. In this case it was William, who had apparently trapped Darcy in conversation.
"Don't you think dancing is one of the finer things in life," said William, somehow making it a statement and not a question, who was of course, drunk. He really only gets this way at parties and large social gatherings. Of course, Darcy had only ever seen him at parties and large social events. [D: Has, you mean. I've warmed to him though.]
"If you call this dancing," said Darcy. "I'm not certain any dancing school teaches the art of the awkward shuffle." [D: I didn't say that, did I?]
"Oh, well you should see Jane and Eli then," said William, happily ignoring Darcy's sarcasm. "Eli, I believe Darcy would like a proper dance partner." He said proper in a way that was clearly mocking, but affectionate.
"Sorry," I replied, as I grabbed a beer. "Drinks run."
"I'm sure it can wait," insisted William.
"I'll dance with you," said Darcy, offering her hand. How I looked past this very obvious hint as to her opinion of me I will never know.
"Sorry, birthday girl's request," I said, stepping backwards. "Later Will, Darcy."
"Later," came Darcy's voice as I walked away.
I used to work at this menswear store, relatively upmarket compared to most of the stores around it for Ellen and Isaac Gardiner, friends of my parents, which only really comes into the story because Darcy and the Gardiners ended up becoming close and because of a man named George.
George was, to put it simply a F***ing snake. And yes, all those capitals are meant to be there. [D: I agree Eli, but I had to sensor this quite a bit. Just remember we have to keep this appropriate or someone will take it down, okay?]
Not that I knew that at the time. I thought he was great back then, I really did. He used to 'misplace' items, steal cash when he thought he get away with it and when Isaac picked up the discrepancies, he tried to pin it all on me. He also did far worse stuff to Darcy and others that I won't elaborate on here and will only speak of in the most general terms later in the story.
But back then he was my mate as far as I could tell. Used to come round to dinner at my mum's place and everything, which takes on a whole new dimension now.
"So how was the party?" he asked while we had some time to kill.
"Good, mostly, apart from the bit where Charlotte's dad tried to get to dance with Darcy."
George stiffened and ran a hand through his sandy hair. "Darcy Fitzwilliam?"
"Yeah?" I asked, confused. "You know her?"
"You could say that," he said, laughing awkwardly and moving into the back of the shop to get something. "Listen man, be careful around her, okay?"
"What does that mean?"
"Are you close," he asked. Obviously he was trying to gauge how much he could spin, but I didn't know that at the time.
"No," I said, still confused.
"Well just be careful, okay?"
"Okay man," I replied hesitantly. "Sure thing."
Back then, I didn't think much of it, merely a friendly warning about someone I didn't like anyway. Now I realised he was setting up the groundwork to ensure that I wouldn't trust Darcy if she ever brought him up. He started slow, a comment here and there and eventually got big. Very big. And I bought it all, which lead to a lot of hurt down the line.
