A/N: What's this? An extra long update? And only two days after the last one? I wish I could credit for it, but this chapter pretty much wrote itself. So you can blame it, if you aren't happy with the results. I gotta say, though, that I had way too much fun writing this chapter. Especially that last part.

By the way, there were some questions over how Liz is going to react to the insight into Wickham's head, but I tried to word it so that when she gives him the benefit of the doubt (which we all know she does), he still comes out better than poor Darcy. Remember that she has that whole prejudice aspect working against her.

Now enough of that and let's get on to the par-tay at Netherfield!

Chapter 6: Puzzle Me Exceedingly

"Liz, do you think I should do the dangling earrings or the hoops?"

"Dangling."

Jane rushes back down the hall to her room. She has been like this all day. Red top or green top? Pants or skirt? Boots or heels? Hair up or down? I keep trying to remind her that Charlie will remain smitten no matter what she wears to his party, but still she frets.

A knock comes from the door. "Oh good, the padded van has arrived for you, Jane," I yell down the hall to her, but I when I see who is on the other side of the door, I realize that I am the one who is going to need the van.

"SURPRISE!" Lydia and Kat yell in unison as they come past me into the apartment.

"Indeed it is. What are you guys doing here?"

They are throwing bags and pillows onto our couch. "Well, Mom mentioned that Jane's latest is throwing a party, so we thought we would come crash for the weekend and check out what Meryton has to offer," says Lydia with an eyebrow waggle.

"By that, she means 'check out the man meat'," Kat says.

"Yeah, thanks, Kat. I got that."

Jane comes back from her room carrying a flowered hair clip and a bejeweled hair clip. She stops when she notices our sisters settling in on our couch. "Oh, hey, girls. What a pleasant surprise." Only Jane really means the "pleasant" part, whereas I am not yet sold.

"We've come to crash a party," Lydia says as she rifles through her purse.

"Oh, perfect! You guys can meet Charlie!" Bless Jane for not seeing the potential embarrassment that can be brought on by our younger sisters. "Only hurry and get ready because I promised him that I would be there by 8:30."

Kat and Lydia look at their cell phones in confusion. It's finally Kat who says, "Jane, its 5:00."

I add, "Yeah, not all of us are going to agonize over our wardrobe quite as much."

"So, Lizzy, does Charlie have any cute friends who will be at this party?" Lydia asks.

Before I can answer, no, most definitely not, Jane sticks her head out from the bathroom. "Yes, but he already has eyes for Liz."

"Um, false. Darcy hates me every bit as much as I hate him." He just has weird thoughts about my soft skin and sniffs me. "Besides, I am meeting my own date there."

Kat sits up and says, "Oh, really? Do tell."

I proceed to tell my two younger sisters about Drew and his dealings with Darcy, which leads to some talk over him as well. At least the stuff that has not been gleaned from reading his mind. There have been times in my life when I have wanted to tell Lydia and Kat about my gift, but I am certainly not going to do it right before they go on the prowl. They will only use my powers for evil.

Jane come rushing out with her eyeliner in hand and only one eye lined. "I don't want to rush anybody, but just a reminder that we need to leave in two and a half hours."

"Noted," I say and Lydia, Kat, and I go back to lounging on the couch and catching up.

Oddly enough, thirty minutes had been more than enough time for the rest of us to make ourselves presentable for the party and we showed up at Charlie's at 8:30 on the dot.

While the party is not yet in full swing, there are people milling about here and there, but the bulk of the people seem to be in the living room where the excess furniture has been moved out to allow for more people. Charlie, of course, comes sprinting towards us like a moth to the flame as soon as we walk through the door. Darcy and Caroline come sauntering behind him. Jane and I make the introductions of our sisters, but they get distracted by some decent-looking guys making eyes at them and take off, leaving us with the housemates. The conversation quickly turns to how we all felt about our finals and after the general consensus is established that we are glad to be done with them, Caroline cuts in.

"Jane, help me try to persuade Charlie to change his major to business."

Jane looks fearful, not wanting to offend either sibling, so I decide to do it for her. "Why does it matter to you what his major is, Caroline?"

"Anthropology is a useless degree."

Charlie tries to interject, "Actually, there are a lot of avenues I…"

"And if he changes to business, I am sure that Darcy could find something for him to do. Right, Darcy?" Caroline slinks past me and strokes Darcy's arm. This knocks him out of some reverie and he attempts to slyly put himself out of her reach.

"While we would be happy to have him, Charlie can make up his own mind about what he wants to do with his life," Darcy says then turns to survey the party.

Caroline now unhappy with the turn of the conversation stalks off, Charlie and Jane float away in their bubble, and not wanting to be left with just Darcy, I wander off to get a drink and scout the place to see if Drew has come yet. While not as overstated as my younger sisters and not as over thought as Jane, I did put some care into appearance for Drew's sake and I am quite pleased with the results. I wander through the party with a little bit more swagger than usual. Reaching the drink table, I decide to opt out of the alcohol for the time being and grab a soda. As I turn away from the table, I come almost nose-to-nose with Liam Collins as he is right behind me, with his eyes closed as he sniffs my hair. What is with these guys today?

"Liam," I say to get his attention. "What are you doing?"

He opens his eyes, then acts like there is nothing ridiculously creepy going on. "Oh, hello, Elizabeth. I was just coming over to say hello and allow you the opportunity to wish me congratulations on graduating. With top honors, might I add."

"Congratulations," I murmur as I roll my eyes.

"Also, I wanted to give you one more chance to accept my invitation to come with me to Mrs. De Bourgh's cabin in Tahoe. I don't think you realize what an honor this is."

"Again, I am going to decline." Like manna from heaven, Charlotte comes over to save me. I throw my arms around her like we haven't seen each other in years. "Oh, Char, it is so, so, so, so good to see you." She was at my apartment an hour ago.

"Um, hi, Liz," she says as she awkwardly pats my back.

I pull away from Charlotte. "Liam, this is my very best friend in the whole world, Charlotte, and I just know that she has come over to tell me something very important." When he doesn't take the hint, I add, "And very private."

At this, he raises his eyebrows in understanding. "Ah, I see. Yes, I know how you girls like to get together at these things and talk about the potentials. I will leave you to it."

As he ambles away trying to give us the best views of him like he is one of said potentials, I let out a sigh. "Thank you, Char. You saved me."

"What was that all about?"

"That's the TA who proposed to me!"

"Oh, I see," she says. We drift off to a corner that allows for the best people watching and the best vantage for me to see when Drew arrives.

Once situated, Charlotte says with some hesitancy, "I came across Kat and Lydia…doing body shots with a bunch of guys."

"Already? It's barely 9:00!"

"If it makes you feel better, they were in a bedroom."

I look her in the eye. "And why would that make me feel better?"

"I don't know. Away from the public eye?" She shrugs.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and tells me that I have a text message from Drew. I scan the crowd looking to see if he is here looking for me before I look at the message.

Hey, I don't think I am going to be able to make it because I'm not feeling too hot. Try not to look too beautiful without me.

Damn. Something tells me he would be feeling a little better if the party wasn't being held at Darcy's house. I stuff my phone in my pocket and glare where I had seen Darcy standing a few minutes ago, only to find him watching me. He looks elsewhere and I sigh. Charlotte looks over and follows my line of sight.

"You know," she says, "whatever you might think, Darcy does look at you a lot."

"No, he doesn't."

This makes it clear enough to Charlotte that I don't want to talk about him, so she shifts to another topic and looks over to Jane and Charlie huddled in their corner of the room. "What's the deal with them?"

"What do you mean? They're besotted."

"Really?"

I give a derisive laugh. "Charlotte, yes! Look at them."

We both study them for a moment before she says, "Well, he is obviously head over, but is she into it?"

I watch them as Charlie gazes into her eyes that shyly dart around the room. "This is Jane we're talking about. She's no Lydia, but trust me when I tell you that she is in deep smit."

"You do seem to have a knack for these things," she concedes.

Lydia and Kat come barreling into the room towing four class acts behind them. Lydia perks up when she sees me and runs over.

"Lizzy, come help us get some dancing started. We've got more than enough guys to go around."

Kat comes over and grabs Lydia by the arm. "Lydia, you know Lizzy's no help. She hates dancing."

They scamper off a bit too wobbly for how early in the night it is. I look back over at Charlotte and give an exasperated sigh. It's not that I hate dancing. In fact, I quite like to dance. It's the full-on body contact with horny strangers that gives me a headache. As Lydia and Kat begin making a spectacle of themselves on their impromptu dance floor, I thank my lucky stars that Charlie is too distracted by Jane to pay them any attention. I am not so lucky in regards to Darcy and Caroline, though. Almost as soon as my sisters had come in the room squealing for better music, Caroline had slunk over to Darcy and began whispering in his ear with a look of disgust. If she isn't looking at Lydia and Kat, she is examining Jane and Charlie. Darcy just looks at me the whole time they are talking. It would seem the Bennet girls just can't win in their eyes, but it's not as if Jane and I can be blamed for our sisters, so I don't know why Darcy has to keep giving me that accusing stare.

After only one song, both my sisters have paired off with guys and they begin leading them out of the room. There used to be a time when I would try to stop them from making rash and possibly disease-ridden mistakes with guys at parties, but the day they turned 18, I decided to wash my hands of them in that sense because it just got too exhausting. I do have to hand it to them, though. They did get a lot of people dancing.

Charlotte and I continue with our people-watching, which is occasionally interrupted by a friend or acquaintance stopping by to say hello. Across the room I can see Caroline still trying to hold Darcy's attention as he just looks around the room, pausing more frequently on our corner of the room. I glance around me to see if there is anything of interest going on, like a dog riding a unicycle or something but come up with nothing.

"Char, do I have anything on my face or in my teeth?" I whisper.

Charlotte looks me over then shakes her head. What is his deal?

Just then, the song changes and brings the tempo down quite a bit. Yep, it's that time already. The four obligatory upbeat songs have passed and now its time for the slow song. People on the floor awkwardly search for someone to dance with or just make their way to the sidelines. I smile as I see Charlie take Jane by the hand and lead her to the center of the room. I watch as more people pair off and try to not to get bitter that Drew bailed on me and I try even harder not to glare at Darcy again, but I fail. When I look over, Darcy is watching me again. Seriously? All of the sudden, he cuts Caroline off mid-sentence and makes a beeline towards me and Charlotte. He is walking with so much determination and speed that I don't even have time to make a run for it and before I know it he is towering over me, looking me right in the eye.

"Liz, would you dance with me?"

"Sure."

What? Liz, what are you thinking? At least stammer a bit or something before saying yes. What am I thinking agreeing to dance with this guy? I don't want to be privy to his condescending thoughts for the course of a whole song. With my luck this is probably some power ballad that lasts 8 minutes.

Darcy turns towards the floor and I have no choice now but to follow. I throw a sorrowful look over my shoulder at Charlotte to which she just smiles. Some friend.

When we find an open spot amongst the other dancers, we both just face each other for a moment, unsure of what to do next. As he goes to put his hands at my waist, all I can think is, "Here goes nothing."

Ok, just breathe. She is just like any other girl and you are just dancing. She's not even that pretty.

Then why are you subjecting me to this torture?

Oh, who are you kidding? She's gorgeous. It's those eyes. You can read novels in her eyes.

Gah! What? Where is this coming from?

"Hey, let's talk!" I say with too much enthusiasm. Talking can sometimes drown out the thoughts.

"Do you always talk when you dance?" he asks with a stone-face.

"Yeah, sometimes it's best. You know, get away from your thoughts for a while."

You have no idea. I have tried so hard to stop thinking about you…

"AND there is no better time to get to know someone that when you're dancing cheek to cheek, right?"

"I guess."

Or I could just spend a whole lifetime getting to know you. No, stop thinking like that, Will.

I try not to let my eyes pop out of my head. Then there is a glorious moment of silence before he says something again. Out loud.

"My mom always used to sing that song."

"What song?"

"Cheek to Cheek."

"Oh," I say then I consider this. "Really? How does it go again?"

"I don't remember."

'Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.' Couldn't have said it better myself.

I can't help the smile that comes on my face as I listen to him sing the sweet song.

That smile is going to be the death of me. It lights up her whole face. No, it lights up the whole room. This song really needs to end.

Amen, brother. I really need to step away from this situation and reassess what the hell is going on.

I see Jane and Charlie over his shoulder and latch onto them. "Jane and Charlie seem to be having a good time. He's a really great guy."

Jane and Charlie? Jane and Charlie who?

"Oh, yeah. He is."

Geez, getting this guy to talk is like pulling wisdom teeth.

Should I ask her? No, I shouldn't. But…

"Tell me, do you know Drew Wickham very well?"

Please say no. Please say no. Please say…

"No, but we're trying to get better acquainted."

You're too good for him. He's a sanctimonious, conniving, evil…

"From what I understand, you two haven't remained very close."

I should think not!

"No."

"When I was here last, you told me that you don't forgive easily."

"I remember."

"But what happens when you are the one the who needs to be forgiven?"

What has he been telling her?

"I'm sorry but I am not seeing the connection here."

"No, I would imagine not."

Please, you don't know what he's…

"And why you are asking me this?"

"I am just trying to figure you out, Darcy. I hear about so many different sides to you that I can't quite decide what to make of you."

Will, say something. Anything.

"Sorry."

Thank heaven, the song is over.

Wait, it's over? Already? Well, at least I can breathe again, but I don't know that I can let go…

I step away from him and make it easier. "Thanks, Darcy. I need to go… somewhere now. Have a good night."

Then at least that will make one of us. I don't dare to look back at him as scurry past Jane and tell her that I am getting a ride home with Charlotte, but when I search the room for my friend, she is nowhere to be seen. Screw it, I'm just going to hoof it. Fresh air does wonders to clear the mind.

A/N: What do we think? Did we follow the inner-working of Darcy's love-soaked mind alright? Is Darcy to dippy-drippy in love? I had to restrain myself from making him even more so, because if there is one thing I love it is a smitten Darcy. Hit that review button and let me have it!