Lizzie turned on her camera and positioned herself in front of it. She had a minute or so before Gigi came to join her for it and she wanted to get out some stuff before Gigi came.
"So usually I have an intro to these where I say a few things but all I can say is my name is Lizzie Bennet and I almost went on a date with William Darcy," she shrugged her shoulders before sighing. "I know what most of you are doing right now, angrily tweeting about how I didn't tell you this before. Surprise! Some things are actually done off camera and I also didn't want to get you guys too excited. I know about how some of you "ship" us," she said pointing at the camera and then making air quotes around the word ship.
Lizzie bit her lip. She was usually confident in front of the camera, able to speak her mind freely to the thousands who were watching, but this subject made her nervous. Thankfully she had put on more make up than usual so her blushing wouldn't come across. "Most of you, if not all of you, have seen Darcy's video that he posted the other night. What you didn't see is what happened after-"
She got cut off by Gigi opening the door and slipping in to the room, "Oh, Lizzie, you're filming already. I thought we were going to do a thing."
"Oh, just the intro. Nothing important. But we are going to do a dramatic reenactment of what happened last night. Do you have the script?"
"Better than that, I also brought some props and a special guest."
"Your brother?" Lizzie's voice raised slightly and she coughed to try to hide her excitement.
Gigi shook her head. "Fitz, actually. The whole reenactment takes three and I thought he would be perfect for the role of Darcy, since he has experience playing him and everything."
Fitz entered the room and sat down next to Lizzie so she was in the middle of the two. "Hey Lizzie."
"I thought I was house sitting for you? Where are you staying?"
"We can discuss that later, but for now, let's act," Fitz smiled into the camera before putting the hat on his head and smirking at Gigi, who had put on a stethoscope and handed out the scripts.
"You're playing me, Lizzie."
Bing clicked through the videos, scrolling over the time to see if either Jane or a reenactment of himself was on screen. He had a lot of feelings over this sudden revelation that there was video proof that Jane's feelings for him had been genuine. And above that, that his sister had known about the videos since before they had the Bennet's stay at Netherfield. And Darcy knew. He felt completely duped. The wool had been pulled over his head and he had never thought to pull it back and ask Jane himself what her feelings were for him.
Gigi and Darcy seemed to be staring at him awaiting his reaction which just made him more angry. They all knew, all of them, and they hadn't said a word to him. Now, Bing Lee was, in general, a very calm and giving person but this wasn't something that one faced in ordinary life. He had very well been in love with Jane and trusted two people he thought would never lead him astray. Darcy, he almost understood his motives. Well, maybe not his motives but the fact that he did truly think Jane wasn't good for him as the videos hadn't been something he had watched until later. But still. He hadn't told him. And Caroline... well, he was ready to stop talking to his sister forever but by forever he meant a few days because that's all it took to break him down.
Bing slammed the lap top close and stood up. "I need some air," he said to neither of his friends in particular. Darcy stood as well and Bing motioned for him to stay seated but Darcy didn't take that advice.
"Bing," he started, but Bing didn't let him get very far.
Bing shook his head and kept making his way to the door, but he thought better of it. He wasn't going to be like the others and keep important things to himself, he was going to tell them what he thought. "How dare you, Darcy. How dare you keep that from me after you found out? You know how torn up I had been about it. I left her one night and didn't come back and didn't call her all from the advice from my so-called best friend."
"I am your best friend," Darcy said, his tone was filled with sadness as he held his best friend in such high regard and that's why he had done it. "I didn't mean to harm you, Bing."
"You embarrassed me. I'm the laughing stock of everyone, I'm sure. The guy who is so out of tune with social media that he was able to be fooled into thinking a great girl was evil and manipulative. And then you had a chance to right your wrong. I took time off of school, Darcy."
"It was never the right time."
"When is the right time? Now? How is this the right time? After I ruined everything!" He threw his hands up in the air as Gigi sat with her mouth wide open.
Breaking character, Gigi intervened in their retelling. "That's when William told him about you."
Lizzie shot her a glare from the side of her eye. She would just have Charlotte edit that part out, she didn't want everything to be put out there. "Just continue, I'm waiting for my first line."
"Bing," Gigi said, standing from the couch. "He was just trying to be a friend."
"A friend is someone who would admit when they're wrong and he apparently didn't want to do that and cost me someone I really liked," he said, pointing his finger at Darcy.
Darcy's hands went up like he had been just caught by the cops. "I know I did wrong, Bing."
"Why are you telling me now?"
Darcy looked like he was going to make up something before he finally admitted, "Lizzie."
"Bennet? Lizzie Bennet made you suddenly change your mind?"
"I asked her on a date."
Bing had skipped the moments between Darcy and Lizzie and Darcy had never mentioned his feelings before because he hadn't wanted to admit he had been rejected. "Since when?"
"The other day, Bing. I... I confessed my feelings-"
"What feelings?"
"Maybe you should watch the other videos before you get mad," Gigi chimed in, trying to calm down the situation.
"I got them to stop shouting for a few moments which is when I went and called you. Bing went on to watch the videos about William, he got a real kick out of the one where William got rejected by you but I think it was just because he was so angry."
Lizzie looked sheepish, this was all her fault. If she hadn't made Darcy tell Bing about the videos, they wouldn't have had the fight. But then again, if Darcy had never made it a secret of if Caroline had told him, this would have never happened. Darcy did break Jane and Bing up after all. "Are you sure this is right? It sounds a bit dramatic."
"Dramatic? If anything, I toned it down! I had to shorten it a bit, you know."
"How long did you know?" Bing shouted at Darcy, by now he was in his friend's personal space. He couldn't help it, he was heated.
"Know what?"
"That you loved her! That she was fine for you and your fortune but Jane was out to use me for mine!" And in the moment, that step, Bing slipped on the area rug and came crashing down. A moment later, Gigi stepped out of the room looking shocked.
"Did you punch him, William?"
"No, he fell," Darcy looked unmoved but eventually extended his hand to Bing. "Look, can we just sit down and talk about this like gentleman?"
"The crash was just him falling?" Lizzie asked.
"I still think William pushed him," Gigi said, shrugging. "He doesn't like when people raise their voices and get in his personal space. But they both insisted he fell on his own."
Bing raised his hands in retreat and sat down on the far side of the couch, as far from Darcy as he possibly could sit. "I just don't know what you want me to say."
"Nothing. I think there is something I need to say however," Darcy said as Gigi placed herself on the table, in the middle of them just in case she needed to break something up. "I am sorry and I was wrong."
"That's a first."
"Bing," Gigi interupetted, glaring at him. She didn't want anything to ruin the peace treaty that seemed to be coming.
"No, he's right. I should have told him this a long time ago and my foolish pride really screwed it up. I've pretty much known I've had feelings for Lizzie since I met her but I really did try to stop them. And I think of the reasons I wanted to get you away from Jane, besides my earnest belief that she was wrong for you, was that it meant I would be away from Lizzie. I never thought she was right for me."
"But?"
"But... I guess sometimes there are things you can't control and one of those, for me, is my feelings for Lizzie." Darcy looked away, not able to keep eye contact with Bing when he was feeling like a puppy dog being shamed for chewing on a slipper.
"So why didn't you tell me?"
"Lizzie kept my secrets."
"But these weren't secrets! Everyone else watched them. You, Caroline, Gigi."
"I didn't want you to be mad at me," he said. "I was wrong and I guess to protect myself and I guess, protect you, I thought it was best that you didn't find out. And you never tried to get back with her! I thought I had done right by you."
"Because I didn't want you or Caroline to think I was a fool but now I am the fool."
"No you're not, Bing," Gigi said, her voice calm. "i personally think that if you were to write Jane or call her, you guys could sort it out. You both seem to have big hearts."
"I just... I don't know what to think."
"Just know that his heart was in the right place," she suggested before sitting down and wrapping her arms around him. "I know it sucks, but at least the portrayal of you was mostly positive! Look at what they said about William. And the way they made him act."
"It was pretty funny."
"Excuse me?" Darcy said, glaring at them both.
"She called you a robot. What part of that isn't funny?"
"And that's really all that happened?" Lizzie asked, as Gigi took off her stethoscope and Fitz slid off his had.
"Well, no... but I think the rest of it I'll have to tell you off camera. It didn't end all nicely like that but I wanted your viewers to have a happy ending."
Lizzie turned to the camera and smiled. "And so you have it, the reason I didn't have my date with Darcy. And now I have to talk to Gigi about what really happened."
Lizzie leaned over to turn the camera off. "Now spill on what really happened at the end.
"Well all that I just said was true until right after the push…" she started.
