At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.
W. Somerset Maugham
Chapter XIV: Valentine's Day Dinner
We walked (me being dragged behind) into the bar and we sat at one of the tables.
"I thought you were taking me out for dinner?" I asked as I looked around the place to see if there were any familiar faces.
"I am." He said, casually cruising through the menu.
"I see." I said, finally picking up my menu too.
I looked through the thing and saw that there seemed to be a huge spaghetti plate on the special's menu. I got up to go to the counter to order my food but Darcy stopped me.
"What are you doing?"
"Ordering my dinner."
"We're not eating here."
"Then what in the world are we doing here?"
"Having a drink here and waiting until our 6 'o clock reservation." He said matter-of-factly.
"Were you planning to eat by yourself today?" I asked with a half smirk and half questioning smile on my face.
"No, because I knew that you were going to have dinner with me."
"You're being overly confident again, aren't you?"
"There is nothing wrong with having self-confidence, Miss Bennet."
"Nothing wrong with confidence, but you shouldn't let it turn to conceit."
"I had faith that you will, one day, agree to go out with me."
"I'll give you an advanced answer to that…no. I will never ever never go out with you, Darcy."
"But look at me," he said. "How would you feel if you couldn't go out with me?"
"Get over yourself already, Darcy. No matter how good-looking you are, I still won't go out with you."
"I never said anything about me being good-looking, you just called me good-looking." I could definitely see that weird smirk creeping up again.
"That's it. I guess you can eat alone then." I said. (I was being sarcastic but still…)
"Wait," he got up and walked to me." Come on, I was just kidding. You can take a joke, can't you?"
"I can so take a joke, Darcy. Don't think that I can't."
"Alright, then let's go have dinner."
"Tell me where we're eating so I can be sure of what to expect. I mean, I don't think I can expect anything too surprising from you, can I?"
"It's just a nice French restaurant, that's all."
French restaurant… I was wearing bright blue cotton sweats.
"I should probably go change, shouldn't I?"
"Umm…" For a sophisticated man like Darcy, asking him if what I was wearing was too informal seemed to be too hard of a question for him to answer. I looked down at my watch and saw that I still had about forty five more minutes until the reservation at six. So I told Darcy that I needed to run back to Yale and changed and that he could pick me up in twenty minutes. I speed walked home (more like ran) and opened the door with my keys to find Jane and Charlie making out on the couch.
"Oh my gosh!" I said as I stupidly covered my eyes. The couple scrambled to fix their hair and straightened out their clothes as I apologized and walked into my room.
I was looking at my closet to see what I could wear when Jane walked in. The door closing as Charlie left could be heard.
"Charlie didn't have to go. I'm just here to find some clothes."
"He's coming back later. Where did you go? We came home and thought that you would be here." She asked, walking from the doorway to her bed and sat down.
"I had to give Collins a tour of campus today and one thing lead to another and now I'm having dinner with Darcy tonight." I said, flipping through the many pairs of jeans that is my wardrobe. (My motto: You can never have enough pairs of jeans. )
"Glad to see that you two are getting along, Lizzy." she smiled sweetly.
"We might be getting along," I admitted. "But nothing more. Don't try that matchmaking stuff that you've been obsessing over the past couple of years."
"Alright, but it wouldn't hurt to give the guy a chance. Charlie tells me Darcy is really interested in you."
"But I'm not interested in him, Jane. I don't want a boyfriend right now. I have more important things on my mind." I said, holding up an orange dress up to my body. Jane shook her head and went to her part of the closet and pulled out one of her sexier dresses and held it up to me and nodded.
"If you and John hadn't broken up, then you would've broken up with him anyways because you have more important things than love."
"#1 rule of becoming my perfect man is making a very good impression, Jane."
"That list is a little old, don't you think?"
"But it works, doesn't it?" I said, while putting on the dress to see Jane's complete approval of when I finally had it on. It was a spaghetti strapped red dress that came down to my knees. It did look pretty on me and Jane hurriedly rushed over to our dresser and pulled out the necklace with the purple pendant that Darcy had given me for Christmas.
"Add a little blush, mascara, and lip gloss and you're ready to go." Jane said, taking out her make-up bag out of the drawer.
"No mascara please, I've never liked those." So in five minutes, I was ready and I strapped on some red heels and walked into the living room to find Darcy already there. (I guess Charlie didn't lock the door, but doesn't Darcy know how to knock?)
"Wow, you really can do wonders in twenty minutes."
"You should be happy that I actually went this far for you. Normally, I would just put on a blouse and skirt."
"I guess I'm the lucky guy tonight to know that I am taking the beautiful, outspoken Miss Bennet to dinner."
"Well, you wouldn't want us to be late now, would you?" I said, grabbing my purse and saying goodbye to Jane and told her not to have Charlie sleeping here tonight.
"I would never do anything like that, Lizzy!" Jane said in hysteria.
"Right."
PPPPPPPPPPPPP
We left the building and walked to Darcy's Porsche. That's right; this guy was wealthy enough to freely drive a silver Porsche convertible.
"This was not what I had in mind of what you would be driving when I met you at the bakery."
"Not the ideal car, but my parents got it for my graduation present and I shouldn't buy another car when this one is still working."
"That's reasonable enough, but I am awfully jealous that you're driving a Porsche while I'm going safe with a Honda." We got in and Darcy drove me to a small formal restaurant that lied on the outskirt of New Haven. The interior of this place was beautifully decorated for Valentine's Day. Everything was either a soft red or pink or had small hearts on it.
"Romantic, isn't it?" Darcy asked as we sat down at our reserved table.
"It depends on who you ask. If you ask a love struck fool then yes, it is romantic."
"Are you a love stuck fool?"
"A fool? Maybe. Love struck? Not really. This place is classic but the atmosphere is a little stuffy for me."
"So you don't like it?" Darcy asked with a small look of disappointment in his face.
"I like this place but I'm not really big on Valentine's Day." Since when? I asked myself but it was one of those things where when you're single then all those lovey-dovey things that you used to love to do now makes you want to vomit.
"I guess it'll be my job to change that, huh?"
"Have you noticed that you guess a lot?"
"There's no such thing as a definite answer."
"There's a definite answer to 2+2. Four, right?"
"2+2 can equal fish for all you know." I laughed at that statement.
There was an awkward pause between us but it was then interrupted by our waiter, asking us what we wanted to have. We both ended up having steaks. (I love steaks!)
"Have you known Frances for long?" Darcy asked.
"Not really, I met him for the first time like two weeks ago. I can't believe that you two are related."
"I can't believe that either."
"What I don't get is how you didn't even know that he was your cousin."
"We're not exactly blood-related and I'm not really big on my extended family."
"You're the nuclear family kind of guy, huh?"
"My sister and mother are all my needs."
"All your needs? Then why would you even want a girlfriend?"
"Because I like a challenge once in while." He said with a playful smirk forming across his face.
"That's good to hear."
"Don't get me wrong. I want to find a girl to love but I don't want a girl that's easy to get and…"
"Not accomplished enough?" I finished his sentence.
"In a way…yes."
"My, my, you really stick to your words, Darcy."
"Of course."
We ate for a little more and Darcy called our waiter forward and asked him to bring us a good bottle of red wine. When the waiter came back with the wine, he poured us two glasses with the strong stuff.
"Cheers." Darcy held out his glass and clinked it with mine. I put it down while Darcy took a little sip.
"What's the matter? Why aren't you drinking?"
"Has the fact that I'm eighteen ever occurred to you?" I asked, sarcastically. I thought it was very funny but pushed the wine glass away from me.
"Oh," he said.
"Kind of forgot about that?" I said, encouragingly.
"Yeah, well I guess I'll have this glass too." He took it and drank the whole thing and I looked at him for a minute and he suddenly started to turn red.
"Have you drank alcohol before, Darcy?" I asked. I was worried. If he gets drunk, I'm going to have to drive. I don't know how to drive stick!
"Of course…of course." Darcy said, sounding sure of himself and finished up his glass. Wasn't wine something that you drink and enjoy with little sips. I have never seen anyone down two glasses of wine before. I guess he was being a little too confident of himself and thought that he could handle the alcohol…he couldn't.
Ten minutes late, I was holding up Darcy (and he's really tall and heavy for me) and trying to drag him to the car. Darcy ended up finishing most of the bottle of wine, I tried to stop him but his big ego wouldn't have any of what I said. When I got to the car, I had to find a way to get to his keys so I made him leaned against the Porsche and searched through his pockets. (And no, I didn't do anything inappropriate…dirty minds. ) I found the keys in his left jacket pocket a short while later and pressed the button to unlock all the doors. I opened the passenger door and slowly helped Darcy into his seat.
"There, Darcy, buckle up." I felt like I was his nanny or something or at least his big sister.
"Ok, Lizzy…" I'll let him slide this time because he was intoxicated after all. Darcy pulled on the belt and put it into the buckle and heard the click and became overly excited, "Funny! It made a clicky sound, Lizzy!" (When reading this, you should try to imagine Darcy drunk and acting like a six-year-old.)
"Good, Darcy."
I closed the door behind me and walked over to the driver's side of the car and turned on the ignition using the keys. I breathed in and put the car in gear. It wasn't really that I didn't know how to drive stick shift but it was just that I didn't do it often enough for it to become second nature for me.
The drive home wasn't very long but I was nervous the whole time. Darcy was just sleeping his head off. It struck me odd that he hadn't vomit yet. People usually puke around this state of drunkenness. If he puked, then at least it won't be in my car. I would've killed him right then and there and fed his body to the fishes if it was my car.
When we got back to Yale, it was pitch dark. There was virtually nobody around except for a few couple who decided to take a walk in the moonlight. I knew that Charlie was still with Jane as it was only eight 'o clock. I began to walk with Darcy toward Berkley. Of course, I didn't know where Darcy's room was but I would assume that the RA there would know. I walked into the living room where, surprisingly, a lot of guys were hanging out.
"Do you guys know where I might find the RA of this place?" I called out to the crowd while Darcy was holding onto my shoulders. I am seriously having a hard time in holding him up.
"Will Darcy's our RA and he's out on a date." One of the guys said without looking up. Date?
"Well, I have him right here with me but I can't seem to get him to tell me where his room is." They looked up and immediately realized that Darcy wasn't really here with us on Earth. While I was trying my best to hold him, Darcy was mumbling something into my ear. I didn't understand what he said.
"Damn, Will, what did you do to yourself?" The same guy asked.
"He's drunk, can you tell me where his room is?" I was sure they would let me take him to his room.
"It's on the second floor, room 208." He said with a smirk.
I ignored it and thanked him. I proceeded to drag Darcy up the stairs and finally to his room five minutes later. I opened the door with Darcy's keys and found a very neat room. I would have expected it so since Darcy wouldn't even let me sharpen his pencil one time because he thought that I would sharpen it the wrong way. How you would sharpen a pencil the wrong way beats the heck out of me.
"Ok, Darcy, time to go to bed."
"Ok…" Darcy said as he began to unbutton his shirt. I blushed and quickly turned around. I walked to his bathroom (He even has his own bathroom!) and tried to see if I could find any Advil that would help with the coming handover. I came back with water to find Darcy already in bed. He looked really sleepy and it just made me smile.
"Take this, before you wake up tomorrow in the most painful state you've ever been in." I came over to him and gave him the glass of water and pills. He took it and put it into his mouth and drank the water. "Now go to bed, Darcy. You have classes tomorrow." Darcy looked at me and sat up a little and kissed me on the cheek. I immediately reached up to my cheek. I could feel my cheeks burning and growing red.
"Thanks for taking care of me, Lizzy." he laid back down on the bed and I helped tuck him in.
"You're welcome. Now go to sleep." I bent down and lightly kissed him on the forehead like a mother would do to a child. I turned off the light and left Berkeley; I walked back to Davenport and came home to find Jane sitting with Charlie in front of the TV watching Moulin Rouge. I love that movie! But I didn't stick around to watch it. I got my stuff and went to take a shower. I came back half an hour later to find Jane also getting ready for bed.
"Where's Charlie?"
"He went home."
We both got into our beds and Jane asked me what had happened today. I asked the same to her and we both talked until one of us fell asleep. Today had been a strange day but not the weirdest I've encountered. But it was truly been one of the more stranger Valentine's Day that I've experienced.
A/N: Bom dia, everybody! I hope this wasn't so long of a wait. I couldn't think of anything for this chapter for some time. I guess a week and half is a long time. Even I have been cringing to get this chapter out. To make it up to you, I made this chapter twice as along as my others chapters. I apologize if chapter 13 had a lot of grammar errors and typos. I kind of rushed through that chapter and forgot to read through it. Sorry! I want to thank all of you for reviewing and I feel so lucky to have now gotten 60 reviews! That's so great! I hope you like this chapter. It might be a little wordy but I was trying to make it long and couldn't think of anything else.
Question of the day: I was wondering what you guys think should happen next. I was thinking that the next chapter should start a couple of months after Valentine's Day, on Lizzy's birthday and have Collins propose. Does that sound good to you? I could then have the Wickham character come in. ...I just thought of something, you're going to love this! Suggestions are much loved since there's a pretty good chance I will use it. Thanks to all my reviewers and readers and hope you had fun with this chapter. Remember, any part of this story that might seem familiar to you like you've heard it somewhere probably means that I didn't make it up. I probably took it somewhere and this would be my disclaimer. Thanks for reading!