A/N: I still own nothing. But hey, I can dream, can't I? Anyway, please keep reviewing! I love it!
Chapter 21
"Will? Lizzy?"
Charley Bingley's voice rang out uncertainly in the darkness of the room. Only Will stirred at the sound of his voice, yawning and attempting to sit up before realizing that Elizabeth was still draped over him.
"Charley," he said, looking at his best friend, "what time is it?"
"Nearly midnight," Charley replied, smiling at Will. "I just dropped Jane off at her and Lizzy's room. She was worried when Elizabeth wasn't there."
"Oh," Will said simply. "After I ran out of dinner, we were talking here and we just sort of fell asleep."
Chuckling, Charley said, "You should've seen Elizabeth, Will. She flew off at the mouth. It was hysterical to watch. She gave Caroline the telling off she's had coming for years."
"I'm sure it was highly amusing," Will agreed, "but I was sort of… not in the mood."
"Yeah," Charley said, sobering suddenly.
In the mean time, Will was busying himself with trying to rouse Lizzy. "Lizzy," he murmured, poking her in the shoulder, "Elizabeth."
"Hmmm," she groaned, trying to bury her face further into Will's chest, as if it were a pillow. Within moments, she was asleep again.
Sighing, Will said, "I'm going to carry her to her room." He gathered her into his arms and stood, supporting her weight easily with his strong arms. He walked down the hallway to the room he knew she was sharing with Jane and somehow managed to knock on the door.
Jane appeared at the door within seconds, wearing a pair of sleeping shorts and a tank top. "Oh, there she is!" she cried happily, her tooth brush hanging out of her mouth. Realizing that she was brushing her teeth, she said, "Oh… sorry."
"That's all right," Will chuckled. "We were talking in my room and we both sort of dozed off. I tried to wake her up, but she sleeps like a rock."
"Don't I know it," Jane laughed. "Thanks for carrying her."
"No problem," he said, gently lowering Lizzy onto the nearest bed. "Is this bed hers?"
"Yeah," Jane said, retreating to the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth.
"Good night, Lizzy," Will murmured, kissing her softly on the lips. She smiled and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep, turning over onto her side. "Good night, Jane."
"Good night, Will," Jane called back after spitting into the sink. "Thanks again."
When Will returned to his room, he found a shirtless Charley looking at him expectantly. "What?" Will demanded, sitting down on his bed and taking off his shirt.
"So," Charley said, "somehow, I don't think Jane would appreciate the position you and Elizabeth were in when I came in. Oh, not to mention Chris and Jake."
"Nothing happened," Will told him, throwing up his hands defensively. "I swear to you, we just fell asleep."
"And I believe you," Charley said, being completely serious. "Just curious though… why haven't you?"
"Because it isn't proper," he said, lying back down onto his bed and pulling the covers on himself. "And besides, for all the comments she makes about it, I honestly don't think she's ready."
"Same with Jane," Charley murmured back, crawling into his own bed. "And of course, I'm not going to force her into anything, and I know you wouldn't do that to Lizzy."
"No, of course not," Will said, more to himself than to Charley. "Besides, I don't think I'm ready yet."
TSTSTSTSTS
"William, wake up!"
The next morning, a pajama-clad Lizzy dove into Will's bed, landing rather roughly on top of him. Will groaned and shoved her off of him, sitting up and glaring at her. "What time is it?" he grumbled.
"It's half past nine," she replied, bouncing happily on his bed. "It's breakfast time."
"You slept well didn't you?" he asked, grinning at her knowingly.
"Yup," she replied.
"And when did you get dressed in pajamas?" he asked. "When I carried you to your bed last night, you were still wearing what you wore to dinner."
"Just now," she replied. "Everyone else is going to breakfast in their pajamas, and I didn't want to be left out."
"I'm guessing you wanted to wake me up," he said, chuckling and leaning toward her, kissing her on the forehead.
"Yeah," she said, grinning mischievously at him. "And maybe Charley mentioned you were shirtless. Maybe not."
"Oh, it's good to know you only like me for my six-pack," he chuckled, grabbing a white shirt from his suitcase on the floor next to the bed and pulling it on.
"Don't be silly, Will," she told him. "It's more like a four-pack, anyway."
TSTSTSTS
"Where did you guys go last night?" Chris asked as soon as Lizzy and Will entered the kitchen.
"We were talking," Lizzy replied, standing on her toes so she could grab cereal bowls for both her and Will.
"What about?" he pressed on.
"None of your business," she told him, grabbing the cereal box from him.
"Hey! I was going to use that!" he protested as she poured cereal into her bowl before handing it off to Will.
"Chris, I'd suggest you shut up before Lizzy kills you," Jake mumbled. "Or before I kill you. So help me God, Christopher, it is too goddamn early to hear your whining."
"What's with him?" Will stage-whispered into Lizzy's ear.
"Jake's not a morning person," she stage-whispered back, pouring milk into her bowl. She grabbed a spoon and then headed over to the table, Will taking the seat next to her within moments.
Chris sat on her other side, and asked, "So what's the plan for today?"
"I don't know," Elizabeth mumbled in reply through a mouthful of cereal.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Jake instructed her, frowning.
"Okay, 'Mommy'," she said, rolling her eyes at him. Turning to Will, she asked, "You know the area around here better than we do. What should we do today?"
"I think we should walk into town," he said, his blue eyes lighting up in excitement. "There's not a whole lot to see in terms of landmarks, but there's some good shopping and eating to be had."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Gee chirped happily, and both Bennet sisters nodded their heads in agreement.
"I'm game," Charley said.
"I'm in, too," Chris said, and Jake mumbled something incoherent, which everyone else at the table took to be his assent.
"Oh, William," Caroline purred, "must we walk into town? It's so… primal. Why can't we call a cab?"
"Because it's unnecessary and annoying," Will replied gruffly, anger flaring in his blue eyes. "Just like your presence. If you don't want to go, you don't have to. Actually, I think everyone else going would prefer it."
Caroline scowled at him and looked expectantly at everyone else at the table, as if expecting someone to defend her. She looked surprised and even angrier when no one said a thing, not even her brother. "Well, then, I can see no one wants me there," she said, sniffing and standing up from the table. "Come, Louisa."
"But I've only had five strips of bacon!" Louisa protested, taking a bite of a strip of bacon as she spoke.
"Come, Louisa!" Caroline screeched, stomping off, her chubby older sister following in her wake.
"Well, now that that's settled," Elizabeth said, breaking the silence that had followed Caroline and Louisa's departure.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Jake said cheerfully, sounding happy and alert for the first time that morning. "That made my morning."
"Alleluia," Chris said, staring up at the ceiling with an awed expression on his face, as if the heavens had just opened. "God has answered my prayer."
"Shut up, Chris," Elizabeth said. "It's not like you're suffering or anything."
"Oh, yeah? Who has to share a room with him for two months?"
TSTSTSTS
"It's so nice to have some girls only time."
Gee smiled and took a sip of her iced tea after she spoke, basking in the warmth of the sun that the outdoor patio of the café provided.
A waiter appeared out of nowhere by Elizabeth shoulder. "Madmoiselle?" he prompted her. "Vous ětes prěts?"
"Oui," she replied, smiling up at him. "Je voudrais l'agneau."
She looked expectantly at Gee, who, startled, replied, "Um… the chicken, please."
"Et le poulet," Elizabeth added, watching as the waiter scribbled it down onto his notepad.
"Fish, please," Jane smiled at her sister.
"Et les poissons," Elizabeth said. "Merci."
The waiter nodded and took off. As soon as he was gone, Gee said, "You speak French?"
Elizabeth nodded, saying, "So what were saying just before the waiter came, Gee?"
"I was saying that it's so nice to have some girls only time," Gee repeated. "I love Charley like a brother, and I love my own brother, and I like Jake and Chris, but it's nice to have some time to talk about girls' stuff."
"I agree," Elizabeth said wholeheartedly. "Jane?"
Jane looked up from her lap, and she had clearly not been paying attention to the conversation. "Huh?" she said, a dazed expression on her face.
Smiling mischievously at her sister, Elizabeth lunged across the table, grabbing Jane's phone from her lap and saying, "Aha! You've been texting Charley this whole time, haven't you?"
"Maybe," she muttered, blushing a furious red color. "But it's not as if you're completely boy-free either, Lizzy."
"What are you talking about?" she asked sharply. "I haven't touched my phone since we got here."
"Then why have Jake and Chris been watching you for the past twenty minutes?" Jane said, smirking victoriously.
"What?" Lizzy said, looking surprised as she whipped her head around to follow Jane's gaze. Sure enough, Jake and Chris were sitting on a bench across the narrow street of the town, watching her in what they thought was a subtle manner behind local newspapers. "What are you two doing?" she called across the street.
"Reading the newspaper," Chris said, blushing and biting his lip, two things he always did whenever he lied. "Can't two guys read up on news in peace?"
"Those newspapers are in French," Elizabeth called back. "And I know for a fact that neither of you speak, much less read, French."
"How do you know? My mom speaks French, maybe she taught it to me," Jake called back, looking nervous. "Cet home est blesse."
Rolling her eyes, she informed him, "You just told me that this man is hurt."
"Jake!" Chris cried, slapping his friend on the back of the head. "You're an idiot."
"I always hear that on my mom's French hospital soap operas," he mumbled back.
Ignoring their stupid bickering, Elizabeth excused herself from Gee and Jane and crossed the street carefully, making her way over to Chris and Jake. "What the hell are you two up to?" she asked. "Are you just trying to annoy me?"
"Yes," Chris said quickly.
Too quickly.
"Yeah, you caught us, Lizzy," Jake said, grinning a little too widely. "You always know what we're up to."
She folded her arms across her chest and demanded, "Just how stupid do you two think I am? What are you up to?"
Jake and Chris exchanged worried glances. "Well…" Chris started, but she cut him off.
"Oh, I bet Will has something to do with this," she said. "I should've known." She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, saying, "I'm going to call him."
"No, don't!" Jake said, reacting quickly and swiping her phone from her.
"Hey! Give it back!" she said, glaring at him and reaching for his throat.
"Only when you promise not to call Will," he said calmly, staring back at her with surprising tranquility. "He's trying to surprise you, don't ruin it for yourself."
Laughing dryly, she informed him, "I don't care if I ruin the surprise."
"He'll be crushed," Chris said softly. "He really doesn't want you to find out about this, and he sent Jake and me to keep him updated on your whereabouts. He really, really, really doesn't want you to know."
"Is the surprise something I'm going to like?" she asked, eyeing her two best friends warily.
"Yes," Jake said confidently, nodding his head vigorously. "We are absolutely sure you'll love it."
Sighing, she said, "All right, fine. I won't call him, and I won't try to find out about the surprise. I promise."
Jake made a move as if to give her phone back to her, but he paused, looking at her suspiciously. "Pinkie swear?"
Smiling, she wrapped her pinkie around his, saying, "Pinkie swear."
TSTSTSTS
Gee, Jane, and Lizzy met up with the boys at a small shop, but Charley and Will were missing. "Where are Charley and Will?" Jane asked, looking slightly disappointed.
"Um… Will didn't feel good, so he went back to the villa," Jake lied.
Poorly.
"Yeah," Chris piped up, glaring at Jake as he tried to cover for his pathetic lie. "Charley didn't think Will should walk back alone, so he went with him."
"Oh," Lizzy said, doing her best to look disappointed. She had a sneaking suspicion that this had something to do with Will's supposed surprise.
Sure enough, when she opened the door to her room that afternoon, she found Will sitting on her bed, grinning at her goofily. Behind him, a gift bag sat on the bed. "What's in the gift bag?" she asked with a snort, closing the door behind her. "It's not my birthday… it's not Christmas… so? What gives?"
"Oh, nothing," he said, trying to make his tone light and failing miserably. "Just a little something."
"What?" she demanded, making her way toward him with a sly smile. She sat down on his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist so that she was straddling him. "Tell me, Fitzwilliam," she whispered, her lips suddenly at his ear as her arms wrapped around his neck.
He groaned loudly, wrapping his own strong arms around her and lavishing kisses on her neck. She suppressed a moan, and he was so caught up in kissing her that he didn't notice when one of her hand left his neck and snatched the gift bag up from behind him. "Hey!" he cried as she jumped off of his lap, already rummaging through the gift bag. "I feel so used."
"Get used to it," she teased, throwing the gift paper behind her. She pulled a brown teddy bear out of the bag. "Will? What's this?"
He quickly put on his poker face, replying, "Apparently, the town just got a Build-A-Bear Workshop. It's really popular with the younger children."
"Okay," she said slowly, "but I don't understand what that has to do with me."
"Chris and Jake told me that you love stuffed animals," he said, his poker face failing and being replaced by a crestfallen expression. "They lied to me, didn't they?"
"No, no," she said quickly, flashing him a bright smile as she hugged the bear to her. "I do love stuffed animals. I was just kind of surprised. Jake, Chris, and Jane are the only three people who know, I get kind of embarrassed about it, being seventeen and all. Well, now I guess you know, too."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "You have no reason to be embarrassed around me, Elizabeth."
"I honestly don't know why," she replied, sitting next to him on the bed. "It just never came to mind, I guess."
"Oh," he said, sounding doubtful. "Okay."
"I promise you, Will," she sighed, "if it had come up in conversation, I wouldn't have denied it, not to you."
"Okay," he said, sounding satisfied. "So you really like him?"
"Him?" she said, looking at him in surprise. "Who said it was a him? It could very well be a girl."
"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "I thought it was a he."
"If you say so," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Now… in my opinion, you need to make up to me for using me like that," he said, referring to how she had distracted him in order to snatch the bag from behind his back.
"Like you didn't enjoy it," she said, leaning closer to him nonetheless.
"Oh, I did," he murmured, "which is why I want more."
With that, he closed the distance between their mouths, pressing his lips to hers. He parted her lips with his tongue, cupping her cheek as she moaned into his mouth. She reached up, threading her fingers through his dark hair and pulling his face closer to hers. He hauled her onto his lap, pulling his lips from hers and trailing kisses down her neck. She moaned loudly, resting her head on his shoulder as he moved slightly lower, kissing her slightly exposed collarbone. His hands slowly slipped under her shirt, and her flesh burned wherever his hands came into contact with her flesh. She moaned again and then pulled away, burying her face in his chest determinedly. "What are you doing?" he chuckled, bending down and pressing a kiss to her hair. She shook her head into his chest, inhaling his scent deeply. She wished she had a way to describe his scent, other than 'Will', because someone could bottle it and sell it as cologne. His smell always made her feel at home, and safe. Which is partially why she stole his favorite black hoodie that he always wore. But he didn't need to know that. "Lizzy," he said softly, "what are you doing?"
"Hiding," she murmured into his shirt.
"Um… why?" he asked, rubbing her back tenderly. One of his hands drifted down to the small of her back, and the other cupped the back of her head, pressing it even further into his chest. He put his nose to her hair, inhaling her scent, and wondering if she used perfume. He had never seen her use it, and he had never seen it in her room or bathroom or anything, but she somehow always smelled absolutely amazing.
She risked a glance up at him, her blue eyes peeking out at him from behind her hair. "I don't want you to see how badly I'm blushing. That last moan was pretty loud."