Chapter Ten
A few days later Jane and I found ourselves back at the Bingley's house. Caroline and Louisa had taken a liking to us and we had been spending a lot of time with the family. We sat on the Bingley's large back deck that had a beautiful awning to shade us from the bright sun. Jane was sitting with Charles, Louisa and Malcolm on wicker chairs around a table playing cards while I sat a few feet away reading in a large comfy chair. Will was typing a letter to his sister on a laptop while Caroline sat close beside him often distracting him. I sensed that Caroline had a bit of a crush on Will, and he didn't return the feeling by the way he ignored her.
"Oh, and tell her that I can't wait to see her next month!" Caroline said making Will sigh in annoyance, "And tell her that I can't wait to attend her piano recital!"
"I have already," said Will impatiently, "you have asked me several times now."
"I'm sorry." apologized Caroline, not sounding sorry at all, "Georgiana is very lucky to receive such a long well written e-mail from you. Charles sent me half a paragraph when I was away in New York for three weeks! It was very poorly written too! You type very quickly Will."
"I type quite slowly actually." argued Will in a mumble, trying to concentrate, "And a long e-mail doesn't always mean it's well written."
"Well Charles always writes short poorly written ones." stated Caroline.
"They're not that bad!" scoffed Charles looking up from the card game, "It's just that I type so quickly that my ideas come out in the wrong order and I end up missing words, but at least I write with ease. Will carefully checks his spelling and grammar, he and I have very different writing styles."
"I believe that a person's writing style reflects their personality." I offered my opinion.
"If this is true, then Charles is quick and careless," began Will as he continued to type, "he is proud of the fact that he is fast and is not precise. He also speaks without thinking through his words and is quick to act and is easily influenced by others."
"And you Will," I said putting down my book, "are efficient, but exceedingly precise. You are sure about yourself and think everything through. You hardly obey orders, you usually give them and you do not let other people influence you. I think Charles is a positive influence on such a person as yourself. He makes sure you have fun."
"Thank you for sticking up for me," laughed Charles, "and I do see your point. Sometimes Will can be a bit of a downer when I want to have fun, what with all his planning and sensibility! But I know you don't like an argument so I won't continue." I wanted to laugh at Charles comment but could sense that Will was slightly hurt by Charles teasing and thought better of it.
"You should finish your e-mail." I suggested to Will, he had stopped typing after Charles comment. He nodded at me and continued his typing. Once he was finished he closed his laptop and asked Louisa to put on some music. She got up and walked to the expensive stereo, sifted through some CD's and put one in. She must have noticed I was looking at the large rack of CD's below the stereo because she suggested that I look at them and choose something to listen to. I rose from my comfy seat and made my way over to the collection of music and knelt down to take a closer look. I could sense Will looking at me and I couldn't figure out why. He obviously couldn't like me, with the way he spoke so coldly to me, and yet he couldn't be staring because he disliked me. I guessed that he found something wrong with me, more than everyone else here. I knew this shouldn't have bothered me, but for some odd reason, it did.
"Have you found anything you like," questioned Will teasingly kneeling down next to me watching as I pulled out CD's, looked them over and put them back, "or is their music not good enough for your taste?" I smirked as I picked out a CD, looked it over, put it back and picked out another.
"Found something good?" he asked nodding to the CD in my hands.
"I know you would like me to say yes," I said laughing and looking up at him, "so that you can contradict my opinion and rule the CD as a poor one, but I'm afraid I don't like this one and now despise me if you dare!"
"I don't despise you." Will said earnestly staring into my surprised eyes. I was caught off guard, I had expected him to retaliate and was not prepared for his agreement. Before I could say anything in return Caroline suggested that Jane and I show them the paths down by the river on their extensive property. I could tell she did not like that Will had been talking with me by the jealous glare which surprised me, we had been getting along so well this week. She linked arms with Will and followed Jane who was leading the way with Charles by her side. I followed after Louisa and Malcolm holding hands and noticed that I was the odd one out.
We had been walking for a few minutes before I saw Will up ahead stop and bend over to tie his shoe causing Caroline to stop as well while Louisa and Malcolm went around them and continued to follow Jane and Charles. I could hear the ending of their conversation.
"...what painter could paint such beautiful eyes?" asked Caroline laughing sarcastically waiting for Will to finish.
"It wouldn't be easy to catch the expression," said Will agreeing ignoring her sarcasm, "but the beautiful colour and shape could be copied." As he finished tying his shoes, he looked up and saw me approaching and froze.
"What is it Will?" asked Caroline as Will finally stood up and she turned around to see me standing near them, "Oh, hi Lizzie." She grabbed Will's arm again and began to walk down the path. He turned and stopped walking to look at me causing Caroline to stop and look confused.
"Are you coming?" asked Will lifting his other unoccupied arm gesturing that I take it.
"No thank you," I said hiding my surprise with a laugh walking in front of them and continuing down the path, "the path isn't wide enough and you two look so charming walking together." I was touched by the sweetness of his offer, maybe Will Darcy wasn't such a pig-headed idiot after all.