Hello everyone! Happy Holidays to you all!
So incredibly sorry I haven't updated this in months! Since my semester was filled with writing subjects, I thought I'd have time to write, but it turns out I don't hahaha ha. :/ Anyway, I was having second thoughts about updating this, but when I went back to my outline, I realized how short this story actually was so I thought, why not? And a lot of people still favorite it and follow it, surprisingly! Thank you so much, by the way! Anyway, won't keep you for long! Here's a late Christmas present, I guess? Enjoy!
Cath may have been determined not to fall in love with Austenland's allegedly delicious roster of actors and servants, but she was definitely not going to hold herself back from falling in love with the view outside the car window.
She hadn't expected their drive to last for almost two hours, but the English countryside they passed by literally looked like a commercial for an HD television set. It just looked unreal. The luscious green grass, the beautiful flower patches, the brightest of the bright blue sky—all of it just felt like a dream. In HD. Literally everything looked like it was in HD.
Cath had resisted the urge to fish her phone out of her pocket to take pictures; she didn't feel comfortable publicly taking pictures when apparently the hot, Orlando Bloom look alike driver couldn't stop staring at her. She wanted to believe it was because admiring one of nature's greatest gifts felt like an intimate moment for her, but no. She just didn't want to look like one of those weird, tech-crazy tourists in front of Orlando—Max, alright, he's name is Max.
Cath wasn't usually like this. When had she ever cared about what guys thought of her? Never, that's when. Okay, maybe a couple times in the past year, but it still felt like a new experience for her. Before she leaves her apartment, she always had a mental list of things to do everyday, and once she leaves her apartment, nothing could ever, ever stop her from accomplishing all of the things she sought out to do. This meant guys were pretty much off her mind. Yeah, she'd go out with her friends from time to time, and she'd spot a really good-looking guy, but that was it. No flirting, just looking, and to make her love life even more nonexistent, each hang out she had with her friends usually had a three-week interval. It was a lonely, dull life, but Cath enjoyed it. She liked holing herself up in their apartment, reading or writing or doing something else productive. It was just her way of life, and no one else had been determined enough to break that.
Half an hour, after they'd been driving through gorgeous fields, the scenery turned into a forest, and that was when Cath allowed herself to lean back, relax and take a nap. The great thing was they were still on a road, which meant that the ground was even and the drive was smooth. Unfortunately, it only lasted for 30 minutes, and being the uptight girl that she really was, she had only managed to fall asleep the last ten minutes of the trip before they drove through a gate and pulled up in front of a brick house.
"Goddamnit," she groaned quietly, earning again the attention of the driver.
"This isn't the house yet, you know," Max beamed from his rearview mirror.
Cath sighed deeply and looked out the window. "I know. I just prefer not to be here right now."
"A lot of girls would kill to be here right now."
"Well, if that's the case, I'm willing to offer my life right about now."
Max twittered and turned to look back at her. "Do you have anything against Jane Austen?"
"Not really. I just hate this place. I love the amusement park, but not the resort. It shouldn't even be called a resort—there's nothing relaxing about it!"
"I can see that," Max smirked at Cath's sudden tense outburst.
"Sorry," Cath smiled sheepishly. "I just really don't want to be here."
"Don't worry. I don't either," Max admitted. "I mean, I don't actually work in the manor—"
And just like that, Cath's level of excitement just dwindled down even further. She may or may not be attracted to this younger-looking Orlando Bloom, but at least she'd know someone else—someone who hated Austenland as much as she did. All Cath could think of was, when the hell do I catch a break?
"—but the amusement park does get a bit boring on weekdays."
"No women to flirt with?" Cath joked.
"No women at all," Max snorted, sending Cath into a fit of laughter. Her obnoxious wheezing trying to mask itself as laughter eventually woke everyone else up, and one by one, they all started to groan groggily.
Emma, being the loud person that she was, wasn't ashamed to just stretch her little arms over her head and let out this massive groan with a booming voice. Cath cringed at her sister's intolerable manners and prayed to God she wasn't going to wake up the whole manor like this for the next seven days. Jane, being the gentle person that she was, let out a squeak than a groan. She allowed her body to writhe in the pleasure of waking up from a good nap before she opened her eyes and marveled at the familiar, little house in front of them. There may have been bad memories, but she chose to hold on to the good, literally and figuratively. Finally, Henry, being the most pessimistic person at times, groaned in despair at the sight of the brick house. Even if he fortunately managed to meet Jane and briefly step into one of his favorite historical eras, he was not at all glad to have his memories of learning how to dance and acting appropriately and being bossed around by his aunt flood back into his mind. God only knows what's in store for him.
"Man, I thought you were dying," Emma mumbled while trying to lick back the moisture in her mouth and on her lips. "I still don't understand why you laugh like that."
"And I still don't understand why you're not freaking out," Cath said instead, just to hold back the rant building up at the back of her throat (she hated it when Emma made a big deal about the way she laughed), "because we're in freaking Austenland."
It took a while for Emma to process Cath's words, when suddenly, her eyes shot open even wider and a gasp escaped her lips. Emma freaking out was definitely not something Cath wanted to handle, but given her current circumstance, watching her sister lose it over something inane was actually really fun to watch.
"I can't believe it! We're here! C'mon! Open the damn door!"
Cath, Jane and Henry all grinned at Emma's enthusiasm and followed exactly what the crazy lady asked for. Cath slid the door open, letting the scorching summer heat engulf her long-sleeved, pants-wearing body. It killed her spirits a little, but when a slight breeze blew against her face, she let herself remember that they were in England. She was breathing English air, and soaking up the English heat. It may feel like a sauna, but at least it was an English one.
As the rest of them piled out, the front door suddenly creaked open and an old woman dressed in regency garb stepped out with a broad smile on her face. From the surprised looks on Jane's and Henry's faces, Cath could guess this wasn't the scary, insufferable aunt that played with Jane's heart and essentially embarrassed her.
"Welcome, welcome," the old lady greeted with a very distinct English accent. She sounded rather pleasant to Cath, but she just hoped her first impression of her as the sweet, charming grandma wasn't all an act.
"Hi, I'm Emma Hayes!" Emma said animatedly as she stepped forward and shook the old lady's hand. The old lady then turned to the other three and shook their hands while Emma introduced them all. "This is Cath, Jane and Henry."
"Yes, yes, we've all been expecting you," she smiled. "I am Mrs. Abigail Travers and welcome to Austenland."
"Yay!" Emma clapped excitedly as Mrs. Travers motioned them to follow her into the house. Cath, Jane and Henry just looked at each other, all three of them displaying three different looks—disbelief, excitement and hope, respectively.
"She does not look like your aunt. At all," Jane whispered to Henry as they walked along the stony pathway leading to the house.
"Thank God for that," Henry quipped as a broad smile appeared on his lips.
Cath silently chuckled at her future cousin-in-law's sudden relief. If there's one thing Cath was sure about Henry (other than the fact that he is the most British person she has ever met), it was that he disliked his aunt. Very strongly. With a weird, intense passion. She didn't know if it was because she made him work at Austenland for a week, or if he just hated the idea of Austenland all together, but one thing's for sure: she had never seen Henry look so ecstatic at the sight of a chirpy, old woman he barely even knew.
Stepping into the old—well, relatively speaking—brick house, Cath was greeted by the smell of what seemed to be chocolate chip cookies and the sound of classical music playing in the background.
"Mmm, if Austenland has a tray of cookies in every corner, maybe this won't be so bad," Cath mused as she followed the scent of her second favorite dessert of all time.
"Maybe she won't be so bad," Jane quipped quietly, hoping Cath didn't hear it. She did, unfortunately, and was just lucky enough to only receive a glare from her. Jane shrugged in a lame attempt to apologize and smiled as she watched her cousin scamper off to find the delicious chocolate sweets.
Of course, as they followed the scent through dainty-looking rooms and surprisingly narrow hallways, they were led into the room Jane thought she'd never set foot in ever again: the consultation room. Well, that's what she called it anyway.
However, cookies weren't the only surprise waiting for them.
There, sitting behind the familiar desk in front of the unnecessarily lit fireplace (on a hot summer's day) was Ms. Elizabeth Charming.
"Lizzy!"
"Janey!"
Lizzy and Jane both squealed the same time they saw each other. They engulfed each other in tight hugs and exchanged endearing sentiments of how much they missed each other. Cath, Emma and Henry all looked on as they watched the two women catch up and burst into fits of laughter. Henry and Emma politely smiled as they watched two friends see each other again, but Cath let her impatience and curiosity take over as her eyes roamed around and studied the room.
Watching a lot of period dramas during breaks and days off, it looked exactly like any room you'd expect to find in the Regency era: plates displayed everywhere, a grandfather clock, floral-patterned chairs, paintings hung on walls to name a few things. She didn't know whether to find it interesting, or somewhat creepy that people who aren't making movies actually decorate their houses like this in real life. But then again, this wasn't technically a house someone actually lived in. It was only for show, and she'd rather think about that than imagine a person actually spending a ton of money just to decorate their house like this.
"Oh my goodness, where are my manners?" Jane suddenly says, breaking Cath's gaze away from the doll collection across the room. "You remember Mr. Nobley."
"Oh, Mr. Nobley," Lizzy sighed. "Still as handsome as ever."
"Oh, thank you, Ms. Charming," Henry smiled somewhat timidly as he moved to give Lizzy a hug.
"Do I have something in my eye?" Lizzy suddenly joked, lifting back one of her eyelids. Jane, remembering that faithful day when Lizzy shoved Henry's face right into her bosom, suddenly burst out laughing as Henry's face started to turn red. Not even sure what was going on, Emma and Cath just smiled at the bashful man standing before them, a sight they rarely saw. If Ms. Charming was going to be with them the whole time, then maybe this trip won't be as bad as Cath anticipated.
"Ha, funny," he mumbled, slipping behind Cath and Emma as he tried to hide his mortified face. "Lizzy, this is Cath and Emma, Jane's cousins."
Shoved forward, Cath and Emma smiled their biggest smiles, as Ms. Charming turned to them with so much delight they thought she was about to explode.
"Oh my goodness, aren't they just the most beautiful girls ever!" Lizzy exclaimed. "Our hunky servants are going to have a field day with you two!"
"Ooh, la, la, I think I'm going to have a field day with these servants," Emma smirked, earning her a light elbow to the back from Henry.
Cath, as expected, cringed at her sister's embarrassing words and covered her face with her hands to hide the cringe that wouldn't leave her face. She knew Henry wanted her to be here to stop her boy-crazy sister from doing something stupid, but it was proving to be rather difficult to even stand the sight of her sister saying or doing something idiotic.
"What's the matter, darling?" Lizzy asked worriedly. But then she suddenly turned to Emma with a failed attempt to whisper her question. "Is she a lesbian?"
"No," Cath answered, a little too quickly and defensively. She cleared her throat and composed herself calmly as everyone waited for her to speak. "I just…didn't come here to flirt with anyone."
Silence suddenly overtook the room, making Cath feel a little too…pathetic. She should've just laughed awkwardly and went with everything they were saying, damn it.
A few, long seconds had past, and Cath was just begging for anyone to say something. Awkward laugh over awkward silence! Always remember that, Catherine! Cath thought as she tightened her cardigan and crossed her arms over her chest.
Suddenly, thank God, Lizzy leaned over to Jane, and failed yet again to understand the concept of whispering. "Is this the old maid you were talking about?"
"Yeah, why don't we just start over because this is getting a little awkward," Jane suggested as her voice started to trail off to a higher pitch. "Lizzy, these are my cousins, Emma and Cath!"
"Pleasure to meet you both!" Lizzy greeted, awkwardly (which was natural in her perspective), kissing both of Emma's cheeks before moving over to Cath.
"No, the pleasure is all ours," Emma smiled sincerely, on her part. Cath just tried her best to make sure she didn't look like Bill Haverchuck from Freaks and Geeks.
"Okay, well, I have to attend to the servants and get them ready for your stay here in Austenland. Mrs. Travers will help you get settled," Lizzy announced as she started for the door. "Toodaloo, see you for tea at two!"
Shutting the door behind her, Emma finally burst out laughing and collapsed on the couch beside her. "Wow, oh man, she is a gem, isn't she, Cath?"
"Shut up," Cath retorted, taking a seat on a cushioned chair on the opposite end of the room. Remembering the plate of cookies that seduced her to this very room, she reached for two over at the desk in the middle of the room and plopped back down on her seat.
"Cookies are the only thing good in my life," she said with a shake of her head. She took a huge bite of the first one, a mock frown forming on her face. "I love it, it loves me."
"Cath, don't be dramatic," Jane laughed. "If you ask me, I think it went well."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I agree," Henry butted in. "At least this time, you didn't go on an hour-long rant about how terrible the world is and why you don't want to date."
"Ha ha. Very funny," Cath deadpanned as she shoved the rest of the cookie in her mouth.
Not long after that, all four of them launched into mindless conversations as they waited for Mrs. Travers to arrive. They hadn't even noticed she disappeared when they entered the room. They just hoped she would appear soon, because dealing with a cranky Emma whining about what was taking her so long wasn't really on their to-do list for the trip.
After five grueling minutes of shared enthusiasm between Jane and Emma, Cath (and secretly Henry as well) sighed in relief as Mrs. Travers walked through the door with a couple of booklets in her hand.
"I am quite sorry for the delay. I was just receiving last minute instructions from Miss Charming before I lead you to your costume fittings," Mrs. Travers rambled on as she took a seat behind the desk.
"Oh, it's not problem at all," Jane spoke for everyone as they positioned themselves across the table.
"Anywho, I'm sure you are both familiar with the inner workings Austenland, correct?" Mrs. Travers asked, looking both at Jane and Henry. They nodded in response, prompting her to smile broadly. "Perfect. We will be giving Catherine and Emma all of the lessons, as usual, but having somebody to remind them of the rules and the proper etiquette inside the manor would certainly be helpful."
"Don't worry. We'll keep them both in line," Henry assured her, but deep down he knew neither of them would even keep to the schedule they probably had prepared for them.
"Wonderful," she smiled. "Now, as a gift to her friends, Miss Charming has provided you with the Platinum Elite package, so you may experience the full Jane Austen experience."
Great, Cath thought.
"However, just to remind you again, all guests are expected to maintain appropriate manners and conversation, and to eschew all things modern. Any flagrant disobedience will result in the early termination of your stay."
"Wow," Jane suddenly blurted. "I didn't think Lizzy would keep that rule."
She recalled her little mishap with her cellphone the last time she was there, and had been silently thanking Henry for coming to her rescue every single day ever since.
"This is to keep the authenticity of your experience, Ms. Hayes," Mrs. Travers responded in a polite manner. "Also, Miss Charming has now given her guests the opportunity to change surnames to whichever they please. This is not required, but highly encouraged, to keep the anonymity of your real identity.
Immediately, Emma's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. This was her moment to live in her favorite era—her favorite book even. If she was going to enjoy her stay here in Austenland, she needed the perfect last name to start her vacation off the right way.
"Hmmm, do you, by any chance, have any actors that go by the name George, or Knightley?"
Mrs. Travers beamed at Emma's request. "We do not have a George, but we have a Thomas Knightly, an army general who had just returned from the First Opium War."
"The First Opium War? The one that started in 1839?" Cath asked in confusion. "I thought Jane Austen died in 1817?"
Henry surged with pride for a brief moment—he'd always forget just how intelligent Cath was underneath all that hostility—but judging by the poor woman's perplexed expression, Cath was imposing her intelligence on the wrong person.
"Why does that matter? It's only a character description," Emma snapped.
"Well, if authenticity is what they're aiming for, I think researching on important historical events during Jane Austen's time would be a good start—"
"Let's just say it was the Napoleonic Wars in 1813, hmm?" Henry mediated with an overly joyous tone in his voice. If there's one thing they didn't need right now, it was Emma and Cath engaging in a screaming match, especially not in front of a 60-year-old woman.
"Fine," Cath retorted, with an eye roll from Emma.
"Sorry for that," Jane said. "I'll keep Erstwhile as my surname."
"Really?" Henry smiled at his fiancé.
"I thought it would be nice to keep our names," Jane beamed. "It could be like a sequel to our Austenland story."
Henry's ghost of a smile got even bigger as Jane reached for his hand. Even if visiting Austenland again was never on his bucket list, he was reminded time and time again why he would never regret spending that one week following his insufferable aunt's humiliating orders while falling in love with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
While sharing an intimate moment, Emma melted into a puddle of happiness for her cousin, as well as excitement for a hopeful chance at finding love at Austenland, too. Even Cath was really happy for them. She was just more subtle as showing it. She wasn't going to lie, she wished she had someone to share this moment with, like her cousin, but she knew there was only one person she could think of to spend this week with, and that person wasn't around—will never be around for this moment. She didn't want to take this moment away from Jane and Henry, so she just smiled and patiently waited for anyone to say something so as to not make her sound like a bitter drag.
Mrs. Travers, also grinning from ear-to-ear, pulled out a quill—astonishing Cath, by the way—and filled out a form, "Alright. Miss Jane Erstwhile it is."
"Is she actually using a quill? To write?" Cath whispered to Henry, but still keeping her eyes on the large black feather the old woman was using. She was starting to admire their dedication and devotion to keeping the authenticity of the era, even if she still found all of this extremely weird.
Ooh, I wonder if I'll have to use a quill to write, Cath though. If she was forced to play along, might as well match their dedication.
"And you my dear?" Mrs. Travers said, turning to Cath.
"Me?" Cath said in surprise. "We all have to pick names?"
"Yes. This will be your pseudonym. Your true identity will remain confidential and it is greatly discouraged to disclose any of your information to the actors and servants," Mrs. Travers explained. "It's all in the pamphlet."
"Right," Cath said. "The pamphlet."
Cath had read the pamphlet a total of four times during the plane ride, and in those four times, she chose to ignore this bit of information. If she chose a name, she felt like she would be accepting everything Austenland was, so she never bothered to even think of any possibilities.
"Can't Emma and I share a name? We are sisters after all, so it would be logical if we shared the same surname—"
"No way," Emma objected. "Cath, I love you, but I'm not sharing the same surname."
"Because…?" Cath raised her eyebrows expectantly. Was her sister seriously throwing her under the bus?
"I want to have my own Regency surname," Emma said, "as a souvenir. No, as my own character here in Austenland."
As Emma looked into the distance, a faint smile gracing her face as she imagined her own unique identity that would go down in Austenland's history, Cath couldn't do anything but glower at her sister. Was she really making a big deal out of picking a surname? They were only staying for a week! They probably won't even do anything out of the ordinary and follow the intended program. Emma was taking this surname thing way too seriously.
But then again, so did she. Damn it, Cath thought.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. She shouldn't even be having a hard time thinking of a name. She was a writer for Christ's sake. She had a pool of names she'd go to when creating characters. Why was it all of a sudden dry?
"Fine," she finally said. "I'll be…I don't know, Miss Darling?"
Cath cringed at her lame attempt as Emma and Jane praised her choice rather exaggeratedly. Miss Darling? Why don't I just put on a stupid, pink frilly dress and make dinner for my rich husband? she grimaced.
"How lovely," Mrs. Travers smiled as she pulled out another blank form and wrote down her name. "Miss Darling."
"Which she is anything but," Henry joked, earning him three different reactions: an amused yet chastising grin, a hearty laugh and a smile trying so hard to mask itself as a glare.
"No, I love you, Catherine, but someone had to make a joke and I needed to be me," Henry explained himself while engulfing Cath in a hug.
"If anyone else, I might just castrate them," Cath laughed. She couldn't deny the joke though. She was the last person you would call darling. Unless you meant it sarcastically.
"And you, Emma?" Mrs. Travers turned to the older sister.
"I'm thinking…Ruskin," Emma smiled brightly, her eyes staring into the distance and her hands smoothing out a pretend banner at the mention of 'Ruskin'.
"Ruskin?" Cath said with a crinkle of her nose. However, deep down, she was mentally slapping herself for not thinking of that one. Stuck at this horrid place with a horrid last name to match it. Turning down that camp counselor job is probably the worst mistake of my life, she chastised.
"Ruskin," Mrs. Travers enunciated slowly as she scribbled it down. "Excellent choice, my dear."
"Thank you," Emma beamed, her back straight and her nose in the air.
"Alright, last names done," Jane said excitedly. "Time for fittings!"
"Oh, one more thing," Mrs. Travers said. "Another unique feature of Austenland is love and romance. Every visit, each client is assigned with an actor to experience an Austen romance, but under new management, you now have the choice whether or not to be paired up with an actor."
"Oh, no romance here," Henry piped up immediately at the mention of romance. If there was any policy her aunt should have adopted before she sold the resort, it definitely should have been this one. Now that he felt responsible to protect these girls, he was relieved to know he wouldn't have to be on their heels—on Emma's, actually—and keep an eye on them.
"Hey, that's my choice!" Emma protested. "Just because your whole Austenland romance was a mess, doesn't mean you can take that away from me."
"Look, Emma, I think opting for some romance is a bad idea," Jane intercepted. It really was. She was case-in-point number one. She was just happy—and lucky—Henry did fall in love with her.
"Yes, Jane and I found love, but that didn't stop her from getting her heart broken by an actor—"
"Whoa, hold on there," Jane said with furrowed brows. "I was not heartbroken. I was humiliated, which is much worse because that meant none of it was real. At all. And I don't want that to happen to you, okay?"
"But—"
"I just don't want you getting attached to some guy that's just doing his job," Jane continued. "If you're meant to find love here, then you will, but it'll be much easier to find out if it's real or not when you know, at the back of your mind, this guy is not meant to act like he's in love with you."
Emma still looked determined, and Cath was not at all happy about this. She had to agree with Jane. Emma was a hopeless romantic, and a stubborn one at that. She just loves the feeling of being in love too much, without even thinking of the repercussions. Cath had only been with one guy all her life, but she wasn't that blind. Not all romances ended with a happy ending. If Emma chose to be paired up, she was afraid hers would be on of them.
After a few grueling minutes of silence, Emma's sigh of defeat broke the tension and she turned to Mrs. Travers with a downcast look. "No romance for my stay."
Cath tried to hide her sigh as she opened her mouth. "Me too."
"Alrighty, then," Mrs. Travers took note, whose expression suddenly going from eager to disappointed.
With their paperwork done and filed away, waiting to be reopened at the end of the week, they all filed out one by one, with Cath hurrying out first, followed by Jane and Henry, and an indifferent Emma at the end of the line.
Hope you enjoyed that! I promise, the next chapter will be them actually being in the big house so I hope I get to writing it soon amidst the stupid break homework. I honestly hate professors who give homework durin s. So incredibly annoying :/ Anywho, reviews would be nice! I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter and what you are hoping to see! Thanks for reading! :-)