"Cornelius! No!"

Jenna's frantic voice penetrates my consciousness and I open my eyes in time to see a streak of orange and white dart by.

"Oh, no!" I groan as I abruptly pull away from Darcy.

Cornelius is Jenna's tabby cat as well as an escape artist who could rival Houdini. Jenna keeps him indoors in her apartment but she decided to bring him home for the weekend. He must have escaped somehow...

"Ellie, I think that..." Darcy starts to say slowly. I don't give him time to finish his sentence.

"I need to go after Cornelius!"

"Who?" he asks in confusion and I sigh in frustration. How could he have not noticed the bundle of fur which zipped past us only a minute ago?

I don't have time to explain things. I just take off running.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. You reckon that I'm only chasing Cornelius to get out of talking to Darcy. That's not true. I'm not the one who let the cat escape, am I?

"Ellie!" Darcy calls impatiently but I ignore him and keep running. Damn, that cat is fast. Where on earth can he be?

"Cornelius! Here, Cornelius!"

Yeah, you might think it sounds weird to be calling Cornelius as though he's a dog. Well, he's ten times smarter than your average dog. He knows his name... he just doesn't come unless he wants to.

As I round the corner of a house, I nearly run into Charlie, who looks panicked.

"Ellie, have you seen Cornelius?" he asks anxiously, his eyes wide in alarm.

"Only briefly," I say, and explain how I saw the cat run past me. I neglect to mention that I was kissing his best friend at the time, of course. That has no relevance and Charlie doesn't need to know that.

"It's all my fault," Charlie mutters, looking miserable. "Cornelius was sitting by the back door and miaowing and I thought he was allowed outdoors."

"Well, it's not that he's not allowed outdoors," I explain. "It's just that when he does, he goes off for days at a time and starts stealing dog food and gets stuck up trees and has no respect for cars..."

Poor Charlie goes chalky white at my latest revelation.

"If anything happens to Cornelius, it'll be because of me," he says sadly. "I know how much Jenna loves that cat."

"Hey, he's a cat. He's got nine lives, right? He's around here somewhere," I say with more confidence than I feel. "We've just got to keep looking."

...

But when Mum calls us all in for dinner, we still haven't found Cornelius.

"I'm not hungry," Jenna says woodenly when Mum passes her the plate of roast potatoes.

"Baby, you've got to eat something," Charlie pleads, offering her a bite of his steak.

Jenna shakes her head stubbornly. "I can't eat until I know he's OK," she argues.

Normally I'd be joining Charlie in pushing Jenna to eat something, but I'm having trouble getting my food down too.

Darcy is watching me intently and keeps trying to catch my gaze. I can't lift my head without catching a glimpse of his green eyes.

Caroline, who is sitting next to him and trying to get his attention, is visibly annoyed. She keeps looking at him and then looking at me and I can almost hear a little voice in her head saying, "What has she got? Why does he keep watching her?"

It would be comical if it weren't happening to me.

And I can't help but wonder why Johnny hasn't shown up. He seemed so excited about coming to my place.

It's not like I was chasing him and he'd gotten cold feet. I mean, he was the one who invited himself over! He actually asked for my address and everything.

So what happened? Where is he?

At least there's one thing I don't have to worry about. Charlotte really deserves a medal. She's sticking to Peter's side like a champion and is successfully distracting him from talking to or looking at me.

I should buy her a thank-you present, I think. Maybe some perfume – I know she's been wanting a bottle of Marc Jacobs Daisy...

"William, you haven't touched your lobster!" Mum exclaims. "I went especially to Sydney Fish Markets to get that. I'm sure I read somewhere that lobster is one of your favourite foods."

I cringe as I look up and see Mum beaming eagerly at Darcy. She's so desperate to impress him.

Darcy's eyes narrow slightly and he looks displeased by Mum's fawning.

"I'm not in the mood for lobster tonight," he says coolly.

It's my turn to frown. OK, so I know Mum can be a tad overbearing at times, but does he have to be so rude? A simple 'No, thank you' would have sufficed.

And for once, I'm on Mum's side, as she actually looks quite crestfallen by Darcy's icy demeanour.

I find it hard to believe that this is the same guy I was ice-skating with only a few hours earlier. The same guy that I kissed.

How can someone be so warm and funny one moment and so cold the next?

"Well, I love lobster. But I guess if I was as rich as Mr Darcy, I wouldn't find it that exciting either," Lisa says thoughtlessly.

Just then, the doorbell rings. My mum exchanges puzzled glances with my dad but she bustles off to answer it.

I try to take another bite of my mushroom risotto, which I know should be delicious, but tastes like sawdust in my mouth.

Across the table, Jenna is still determinedly refusing to eat, Charlie has given up and is digging into his steak and lobster with gusto, Lisa is pouting because nobody is paying attention to her, Mary is silently staring into space, Caroline is still trying to make Darcy talk, and Darcy is still staring across the table at me.

"Ellie, you have a guest," Mum says, as she returns to the dining room.

I blink in surprise when I see Johnny following Mum, holding a bunch of yellow roses, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Sorry, I'm late," he says apologetically. "My GPS stopped working and I had to ask about a million people before I got the right directions to your place."

"Oh, it's OK! At least you're here now," I reply, feeling my mood lift instantly.

"Let me introduce you to everyone. This is my father, my sisters Lisa, Mary and Jenna, Charlie, Caroline and..."

Nothing prepares me for the mutual reaction when Johnny's blue eyes meet Will Darcy's stormy gaze.

Johnny looks white while Darcy's complexion turns an angry, mottled red.

And then Darcy unexpectedly pushes his chair back and stalks out of the room. A couple of minutes later, the front door closes with a loud bang!

We all glance nervously at one another, not sure how we should react.

And as annoying as Lisa can be sometimes, I have to give her credit for being the one to break the ice.

"What's for dessert?"

Author's Note: I can't believe that people are still reading, favouriting and putting this story on their alerts lists! Although real life has been and still is truly hectic, I know I have to keep writing this story for you all. Thank you for being so patient.

I am so touched that you are enjoying this story and appreciate each and every one of your lovely reviews! It's great to hear from you.