All aboard for the next chapter! Sorry, the rail conductors here don't really say that, but I had to do it at least once. Huge thanks and hugs to my wonderful support team, Sophie, Betsy, Linnea, Amy and Ashley! I'd be lost without you guys!
(Oh, I just realized how this site destroyed my fictitious email addresses. I've found a workaround a * in place of the at symbol and a space between the dot and the com. Silliness.)
Chapter 7
Elizabeth woke with a smile on her face; it took a moment to remember why.
She showered with her favorite gel, grabbed her best jeans, then stood in front of her closet looking at shirts: too warm, to low cut, too high necked, too pink...
Here she was, on Friday, worrying about what to wear, when everyone else would be dressed down from the norm. Why am I doing this!
Finally just grabbing a shirt, she got dressed and went to brush her hair.
I know it won't last five minutes in the office, but I think I'll leave it down for now.
Twenty minutes later she was on the train with her dog-eared copy of A Room with a View.When Charlie got on, he asked how everything had gone at Will's.
"Just fine. It wasn't too big of a problem. I stayed for dinner and met Maggie and her granddaughter," she answered rather nonchalantly.
"So you had a good time?" he pressed.
"I suppose..." She held up her book and tried to get back to reading, making her point that she wasn't in the mood to chat.
A few minutes later, when Will boarded, he noticed her hair and saw her look up with a gleam in her eye that seemed just for him. She smiled and said, "Hey Will," before she buried her head in her book again.
Charlie decided to try his drill again. Sounding quite chipper, he asked, "So, Lizzy took good care of you last night?"
Will broke a small smile. "You could say that." Elizabeth just seemed to be reading her book.
"You guys had a good time?"
Charlie was getting frustrating. "I guess so. She fixed the computer, we had dinner... with Maggie and Tiffany... It was nice." Will tried to keep his voice even.
Giving up, Charlie shifted his focus back to Jane. Will glanced repeatedly at Elizabeth, nose in her book, eyes moving as though she was reading. She had not acknowledged him after her greeting. Did I do something wrong?He was practically staring when he decided to reach over and brush her hand.
She looked up at him, his question obvious in his expression. She smiled coyly. "Common and indifferent, Mr. Darcy." He smiled broadly and took hold of her hand, pulling it down so their joined hands were concealed between them.
They sat silently for a couple minutes; both had things they wanted to say, but would have preferred some privacy rather than the close quarters of a commuter train with her sister and his friend right in front of them. Elizabeth finally started, "It looked like you had a lot of video files on your computer."
Darcy smiled. "We have everything on there. A couple years ago Georgiana spent a good portion of the summer copying our video camera and VHS tapes. We even sent out Dad's old home movies and got them converted. Most of it is Georgie though, I think all of her performances... and she also has a lot of practice videos."
"Must be a pretty big hard drive then. Do you have it backed up? What if something happened to that computer?"
"Georgie has a copy of the hard drive in our safety deposit box; and a couple of CD's of newer stuff... I could have sent her that hard drive!"
Elizabeth smirked. "Two things... One, she probably did not want you shipping her backup drive and putting it at risk... smart girl. And two..." She curled her fingertips and slid her fingers along his. "Are you disappointed with how things worked out?"
He tightened his grip on her hand a little. "I think things turned out the best way possible."
They disengaged their hands as the train headed for their stop. Before he stood up, Will reached into his pocket, pulling out a business card. He handed it to her so she could see the numbers he had handwritten on the back.
She smiled. "You know what to do with a vcard in Outlook?"
"Open it and save it?"
"You got it! I'll send you one when I get to the office." She looked up at him with bright eyes as they both stood up. "Guess I'll talk to you later."
Elizabeth pulled up her e-mail as soon as she got into her office. She opened a new message and attached her personal vcard. She looked at his business card for his address.
To: fdarcy*darcy. com
Subject: Elizabeth Bennet
She had to think for a moment of what to write…
Enjoyed the train in today. We should do it again sometime; though I doubt we will be able to hide it from Jane and Charlie for long…
Guess I'll see you tomorrow night… Feel free to call or e-mail me any time.
Liz
She clicked send, then tried to think about work. Fortunate or not, it didn't take her very long to refocus; a trader was having trouble with his monitors, so she put away her thoughts of Will Darcy as she headed towards the investment center.
A project and two problems later, she was sitting on the floor at someone's desk when her Blackberry beeped. She checked it for new mail.
From: fdarcy*darcy. com
To: ebennet*cblinvestments. com
Subject: Lunch
Don't suppose you're free for lunch today?
Will
She smiled, then clicked reply.
From: ebennet*cblinvestments. com
To: fdarcy*darcy. com
Subject: RE: Lunch
No can do. Meeting. Was hoping for a walk around Rittenhouse Square about 1 though…
Liz
She went back to the computer problem, and her Blackberry beeped again.
From: fdarcy*darcy. com
To: ebennet*cblinvestments. com
Subject: RE: Lunch
Would you mind a companion?
Glad she was used to typing on her Blackberry, she answered.
From: ebennet*cblinvestments. com
To: fdarcy*darcy. com
Subject: RE: Lunch
Meet here? Call me when you're ready to leave your office.
She resolved the computer problem and went to her lunch meeting. Darcy called her at 12:50, and she met him in front of her building promptly at one. After warm greetings, he put on a pouting frown. "You put your hair up."
She grinned. "I tried it... Left it down longer than I expected, until I ended up sitting on the ground, opening a computer case. You could say it's one of the hazards of the job. I don't want to cut it, so I have to pull it back."
"Well, I can imagine it might get in the way, but I thought your hair looked very pretty this morning." As they walked down Chestnut, Elizabeth realized their hands had become intertwined without her even noticing. They talked a little about their mornings and began to stroll lazily around the park, watching the artists and street musicians, kids, other strolling businesspeople and many people eating their lunch on benches surrounded by rock doves.
"Do you have any thoughts on tomorrow night?" he asked after a long, comfortable silence. "Would six be okay? Or seven?"
She was secretly pleased by the eagerness in his voice. "Anytime's fine. Six will do."
He smiled. "I'll make the reservations for seven then... I was thinking of someplace casual, but nice..." A few steps later he continued the topic. "To be perfectly honest, my last few dates were at corporate or charity social events, so I'm a bit rusty. Did you want to do something other than dinner? A movie perhaps?"
Picking up his uneasiness, she offered, "We don't have to have an agenda. Let's just start with dinner and play the rest of the evening by ear?"
He squeezed her hand. "That sounds good."
The continued their walk, occasionally commenting on whatever came to mind. Soon they were headed back towards Elizabeth's office. "This was really nice," Will said. "Do you do this often?"
"As often as I can... Not when it's too hot or too cold... then there's days when I just don't have the time. It's a nice break though."
When they reached the front of the building, Will released her hand. Suddenly it all seemed awkward. "I guess I should get back to my office," he said in a low voice.
"Yeah, me too," she replied softly.
Neither moved. "God, I want to kiss you," he blurted, still in a low voice. "But not here..." He suddenly stood straighter and taller and spoke evenly. "I don't think there's any way I can make your early train tonight. I guess I'll see you tomorrow evening then."
"Yes. Tomorrow..." She looked up at him, her eyes wide and unblinking. "See ya, Will," she said quietly and quickly disappeared.
He stood there a moment, as though waking from a dream, before he turned and walked briskly back to his office.
Will started watching the clock on his computer at 4:00. Elizabeth would be on the 4:08 train, and he would not be.
When the R5 pulled into Suburban Station at 4:07, Elizabeth looked around, hoping Jane wouldn't notice. Will was still probably ensconced in his large, executive office.
A little over an hour later, the sisters were in Jane's car heading towards their parents' house in Coatesville, and Elizabeth briefly wondered if Will was on the Flyer.
Jane and Elizabeth enjoyed dinner with their family and got home a little after ten. Once they said their good nights, they went to their rooms and logged into their computers.
Elizabeth had only been on a few minutes, and was still checking her e-mails when a Yahoo Messenger window popped up.
WillJDar: Hi
Lizzy1011: Will?
WillJDar: Yeah
Lizzy1011: I never took you for a chatter...
She waited for a response. The status bar showed, WillJDar is typing a message.
WillJDar: We have something like this interoffice.
WillJDar is typing a message.
WillJDar: This is my first time online though.
Lizzy1011: you haven't used yahoo im before?
WillJDar is typing a message.
WillJDar: I just figured it out tonight.
Lizzy1011: :-) 4 me?
WillJDar: Yes
WillJDar: What is :-) ?
Lizzy1011: LOL
Lizzy1011: If it doesn't look like a little happy face, u must have emoticons turned off
Lizzy1011: look at it sideways
Lizzy1011: and before you ask LOL is laughing out loud. Yes, I'm laughing at you
WillJDar is typing a message.
WillJDar: Some teacher you are, laughing at your student.
Lizzy1011: I'm sorry
WillJDar: :-(
WillJDar: Is that right?
Lizzy1011: yup! See you're getting better
WillJDar is typing a message.displayed in the status bar for a long time.
WillJDar: I missed you tonight. Charlie's a good friend, but I like sitting next to you more. :-(
Lizzy1011: Me too
WillJDar is typing a message.
WillJDar: This is nice, but can I call you?
WillJDar is typing a message.
WillJDar: I'd rather hear your voice.
Lizzy1011: Cell number, don't bother Jane
They talked for over an hour about nothing of great importance. Elizabeth started yawning and noticed the clock at nearly midnight, so they said good night and looked forward to their date tomorrow night.
