Sunday morning arrived all too soon.
"Lizzie…"
Anna. Beloved sister.
"Shhh," I muttered, my face squished against the pillow, "no talkie-talkie, it's time for sleepy-sleepy."
"Lizzie, you need to get up or you're going to be late."
"And clearly that's never happened before," I yawned, rubbing my eyes roughly before being game to open them properly.
"Come on, I'll help you," offered Anna as she pulled my groggy body from the bed and pushed me toward the cupboard. "What were you even doing last night? I didn't hear you come in. Pick one."
I was presented with my pile of folded shirts.
Grunting, I pointed to a brown fitted shirt.
"Good." Anna opened the wardrobe. "Now pick another."
Grunting again, I pointed to a cream skirt.
"Good job, Lizzie-loo!" she mocked me, smiling.
"Enough You," I finally said, my voice heavy with sleep.
"Arms up," Anna ordered and I obeyed. She helped me out of the shirt I'd slept in
"I went out for a drink with Jimmy." And then I smiled. "Jimmy."
Now the brown shirt was over my head.
"And you'll never guess who I saw there."
Pyjama pants down.
"Who?" Anna mumbled while trying to manoeuvre pants legs off my resistant grounded feet.
"Will Snotface."
"Will who?"
"Snotface. Will, friend of Harry. Enemy of all creatures good."
One step. Two step. Hula dance while Anna pulled up the cream skirt.
"Oh, did you say hello to him?... Phew. You're dressed, sunshine."
Now face-to-face, she looked at me. I looked back at her. "He's not just a snob, Anna, he's purebred awful."
"Give me the abridged version," she said, grabbing a hair brush.
So I did. And by the time my hair was pulled into a high ponytail and we were in the foyer, Anna knew the whole story.
"I just can't believe a friend of Harry's could behave so cruelly. Perhaps, well, perhaps Jimmy was mistaken…or something…"
"Nope, Anna, he's just a bad man."
I allowed Anna to pass, then stepping out into the daylight, I turned to see why my waiting family was so quiet.
"Hello, I'm Warren Beally, and you must be Elizabeth, we didn't meet last night because you came home at a much too unreasonable hour."
The lanky man before me stuck out his hand. And I shook it, chuckling. This man had a sense of humour at least, even if he dressed as if he'd been attacked by a dye wholesaler – fire engine red pleated shorts, burnt orange, short-sleeved, collared shirt. Purple vest. Blue suede shoes. Don't get me wrong, I love colour but this was… a little too colourful, and terribly clashing.
And then my vision rose to his face.
Oh.
He was serious. I searched desperately for the tiniest glimpse of teasing. None.
And, as a consequence, now it seemed like I was staring at him - mesmerized by his way with people, no doubt.
I broke his gaze and scratched my head.
"Yes, I really must work on that, one drink and I'm making out with the next man I walk into."
Mum glared at me – I didn't see her of course, but I could discern that warm glow of her fiery wrath anywhere – while Dad quietly chortled.
I sighed.
"That's our Lizzie," saved Dad, wrapping his arm around Warren's shoulder and leading him to the car, "she says these things to make you laugh, because you know, it's so far from the truth that she assumes you'll know it's a joke. Once you get to know her, you'll see..."
"I wasn't serious…" I whispered to Shannon.
"Who cares, Warren's so weird. He just keeps staring at Anna."
I grinned and nudged her. "That's not an uncommon reaction in men."
Shannon shrugged and ducked into the back seat of the family van. I bent low and followed, pulling Anna's preoccupied wrist along with me. While we shared snippets of the evening before, the drive to church was, for once, silent in the middle seats, and awkward in the front.
"Even the hint of impropriety is a reflection on character, you know," spoke Warren.
"Hmm-mm, I know," Dad agreed, a sly grin ghosting his features as he met my eyes in the rear-view mirror.
"It seems your oldest daughter shows this purity of character."
I nudged Anna beside me and held back a giggle. Anna's face turned red as she peered out the window, the passing street signs now the most interesting things she'd ever seen.
"I would appreciate if you'd consider myself in that statement as well," added Mary, eavesdropping from the middle.
He briefly looked back to her before resuming his position. "Perhaps."
"Yes Warren, Anna was raised to value certain decorum," Mum added, with a fair degree of pride, as if her own example were the sole reason for Anna's behaviour, "… which is why she has a lovely young man pursuing her currently."
"Mum, he's not-"
I grabbed her arm sharply and shot her a look. Without a second thought, the quiet words flew out from between my smiling teeth. "For the sake of this argument, yes, he is, or do you want to have children who dress like traffic cones?"
Anna froze for a moment and then relaxed. From the back seat, she added, "Oh, of course Mum, yes, I am quite taken by him."
"But, you know," Mum continued, now leaning forward to speak closely to Warren, "perhaps Lizzie could be tamed into quite the young lady, if the right man came along."
Apparently Women's Lib was dead and buried.
In the rear view mirror, I could just make out the expression of a man carefully considering a proposition, and by the time we'd reached the church, finally resolving in his mind to do it.
Oh, crumbs.
Seven Bennets and a Beally entered the double doors of my church and before any Bennet girl had the chance to bolt, Mum informed us that we were going to sit together today, as a family. We all knew that Mum had no real intentions of it being 'family time', but since Dad loved the idea regardless of motivation, what Dad wanted, Dad got.
"Oh, Mary, you sit there… and Anna, dear, come sit next to me..."
Mum was arranging us.
At that moment, Stacey and her father joined us, so Mum had to consider how to fit ten people into two rows and still sit me beside Warren.
'"Lizzie, dearest, take that seat by Warren,"' I thought, my mother's tone echoing in my head.
"… and Lizzie, be a pet and sit beside Warren? Yes? Wonderful, we're all set."
Warren on one side, a spare seat on the other: this was my life for the next hour. I considered passing notes to Stacey, via Warren, but he'd probably flip out.
Which would be… awesome.
Smiling at my plan, I jumped when someone slid into the seat next me.
"Jimmy? Jimmy!"
His boyish smile grew a little wider and he offered an ever-so-cool shrug. "Hey Lizzie."
I gave him a big awkward chair hug.
"What are you doing here? I mean, it's great that you're here. Actually," and I lowered my voice, "it's great that you're here, but why- uh, how did you-..."
The chocolate eyes wandering the auditorium focussed back on my face. "You talked about your church real passionate-like, so I thought I'd stop by."
"I'm very glad you did," I said smoothly, sneaking a look at Mum. She'd seen Jimmy just as soon as I had, his long hair and scruffy jeans dominating her attention. Now she sought to subtly shoot me disapproving looks from the next row. Say what you want about her lack of social graces, but for a woman of fifty-three, my mother had fantastic neck craning skills.
Most of the congregation had spilled out into the foyer, but I smiled as Anna and Harry remained in the auditorium, seated beside each other, chatting away. Perfect.
To my surprise, even after we spent the weekend at his house, Harry still hadn't been all that forthcoming with Anna.
Another week had passed and he hadn't called her, even though he had Anna's number, my number, and the home phone number.
He hadn't asked to spend time alone with her on a 'date'… or even the pretence of a 'just-friends' date.
And he hadn't lost Anna's affection yet, which many an-infatuated guy has done before him…so what was he doing?
"…for example, a business with tax deductions stemming from…"
I turned back to Warren. Thank God Stacey was with me, feigning interest and keeping the conversation going.
"And have you been able to profit from the deregulation personally, Warren?"
And off he went. Bless her.
My Harry-induced reverie persisted a little longer until movement caught my eye. Warren had turned to face me, his hand raising slightly as if to touch my forearm, and then lowered just as quickly.
"…which has lead me to be exceptionally well set-up financially, Lizzie, with a reasonably sized house in the northern suburbs of Adelaide."
"Is that so?! Incredible. Of course, what more could a woman want than a man with a reasonably sized house?"
Warren's chest puffed up with pride at my comment. There, I had done my bit to ensure another man went away thinking that he was God's gift to women.
"And I had the privilege, once, of dining with Magda Alliosia. She is, of course, the owner of our company, but aside from that, a wonderful philanthropist and socialite. I wonder, you have heard of her, am I correct?"
"I can't say I have," I answered, carelessly biting a nail and sharing a look with Stacey.
"Never heard of her? Are you quite serious?"
I smiled. "Yes, this one time, I am quite serious."
"Then perhaps Stella here has heard of her."
He turned to face Stacey. "Have you, Stella?"
Stacey blushed, but didn't correct him. "No, I haven't, but I daresay she's in all the papers if she is half the woman to make her out to be."
"Precisely, she recently donated…" and I tuned out again.
A moment later, Jimmy and the younger sisters crashed into our group, having been shown around the church grounds by Jenny and Shannon, in an energetic manner. For once, I was glad for Jenny and her flirty spirit – it wasn't the first time she'd had a crush on a boy I was interested in, but I knew Jimmy wasn't going to take her seriously and I didn't want him to have to endure more of Warren.
Anna and Harry showed up at that moment, making eight. Introductions were made quickly before Jenny remarked, "Harry, why haven't you called Anna yet?"
The man's eyes widened and his face blushed slightly before Jenny continued. "I was so hoping to go to a party this month and yours is the only one that is a possibility."
"Oh," Harry chuckled, "yes, the party. Definitely. Absolutely. It's next weekend, didn't I tell everyone?"
A chorus of negatives.
"Oh, Chrissy was going to let people know… but no matter. I hope you can all still come. You're all welcome, the more, the merrier!"
From the corner of my eye, Warren's face lit with glee and I inwardly groaned.
Jenny sidled up to Jimmy, grasping his arm desperately and pleading, "You'll come too, won't you Jimmy?"
He laughed, shooting me a private smile. "Of course."
The musician's instruments had been piled into cases and walked outside and the house lights in the auditorium switched off. Our gentle suggestion to leave the church was the same every week.
Harry and Anna were very slowly strolling towards his car, chatting about how many unicorns it would take to convince people they were real. (Were they really? I don't know.)
As Dad sat contemplating in the car with the radio on, and the girls talked with other boys from the church, I pointed out the bus stop to Jimmy. Part of me longed to offer him a ride – another chance to spend time with a boy I liked, rather than a man who wanted to change me – but the car was full already and keeping Jimmy away from Warren was high on my list of priorities this morning.
"I'll see you at work tomorrow?" I asked when we'd reached the bus' green pole.
"Nope, didn't get a shift for tomorrow. Tuesday?"
"I don't think I'm working then…"
Jimmy shrugged, "I'll just have to see you looking gorgeous at the party then."
I grinned at his compliment, but quickly felt my stomach drop. Leaning into him, my eyes focussed on where my sister stood, waving as a Jeep reversed out of its space and asked quietly if he remembered Harry from the night before. He didn't.
"He's friends with Will," I muttered, scratching my elbow.
"Elizabeth!" screeched my mother from across the car park. "Come on, we've leaving. Your friend will be fine on his own."
Shaking my head, I offered a rueful cringe and touched Jimmy's arm. "Sorry about her, I better go. But you should know that there's a high chance Will will be at that party… if that changes your mind."
Never in a million years would I have guessed that Jimmy would tilt his head, crook a smile and close the gap to kiss my cheek.
"Forget him, Lizzie. I'll be there and if he has a problem with it, then he can stay away. It doesn't matter to me who attends the party…" and he shot me a sly look and wink as the old bus pulled alongside the curb, "as long as you're there."
A/N - Oh man, now I'm starting to like Jimmy too.
I've already written this whole thing - crazy - and as I go back and edit (sometimes heavily, sometimes not so much) before posting, I'm struck by how different an experience it is the second time around. Now, I like Chrissy. I like Jimmy. Is this normal?
Also, I've recently joined the world of internet dating. I don't think it will be successful because I automatically rule out men if they use poor grammar and spelling. It's a tough world, my head.
[I don't care if they have muscles and work out five times a week, if they can't correctly use a semi-colon, I ask you, what hope could we possibly have?]
