A/N: What's high school without a little drama? :)

Chapter 3: High School

Lizzie brusquely pushed her way through the building as she cursed loudly in her own head at the way that her day at started. It was one of those mornings – Lizzie's coffee machine had broken and she still hadn't managed to have her first cup of coffee, aggravated by the fact that she had been stuck on the subway for 30 minutes as the train stalled, claiming that there was "train traffic ahead." Lizzie had been unable to send a text to her team telling them that she would be late to their sustainability meeting due to the feeble phone signal she had while on the train. The only that she had been able to load before her signal sputtered out in depths of the New York subway tunnels was a lengthy email from her mother about someone who had gone to Lizzie's high school who had gotten married, and how she should think about settling down soon.

She arrived at their meeting slightly flustered and extremely apologetic. Sustainability was one of her pet projects, and though everyone in New York was well aware of the unreliability of the New York subway, she couldn't help but feel like the terrible start to her day and her meeting was some sort of omen for the day to come.

The meeting ended up going smoothly despite her late arrival – the hospital board had agreed to most of her suggestions after she and her team had carefully projected out both the cost savings and the reduction in their carbon footprint of switching over to more green processes. After agreeing to meet with her team in 15 minutes, her mind quickly pivoted to a singular goal – get coffee as soon as possible. She briefly marveled at how she was able to keep her composure and string sentences together in her last meeting as she speed walked to the hospital café, smiling vaguely to familiar faces while not really processing who they were. While she yearned for a latte from her favorite coffee place close by, she needed to get back to her office and check her emails before her meeting.

As she took her first sip from her steaming cup of coffee after waiting not-so-patiently in line, the world started to finally come more into focus. If she were a doctor or a nurse, she might have been concerned about her crippling dependence on coffee. She looked around the café as her brain slowly started to process her surroundings once again and noticed a familiar voice drifting over to where she was standing. She saw Will standing a few feet away from her with his back turned, hair slightly disheveled from a long shift, and speaking with Fitz.

She intended to move towards them to say hi, as she hadn't seen Will the past couple of days as he had been away at a conference, except something in their body language made her stop in her tracks.

"I'm not interested in Lizzie, Fitz." The gruff Will responded to an unheard question from Fitz. "You can keep digging as much as you want, but whatever you think you see between us is all in your head. I admire her intelligence, but that is where my interest in her stops. I could not be more indifferent about her."

Upon hearing that, Lizzie turned abruptly, eager to get away without being noticed and trying her hardest to brush away the sinking feeling in her stomach. They had mutually discussed keeping quiet about their dates, but hearing him talk about her in that way in front of her boss felt like a slap in the face.

It was the cherry on top of a shit sundae of a day that she was having.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Lizzie groaned as she brushed off another phone call from Darcy, claiming that she was in a meeting and was too busy to call him back afterwards.

It was partially the truth – she had excitedly signed up to help plan this year's Halloween party a couple months ago, since Halloween was one of her favorite holidays. The hospital threw parties throughout the year to help some of their more long-term patients regain a sense of normalcy in their lives. The party planning committee (the name they called themselves, inspired by the Office) had already decorated the halls of the hospital and were coordinating the transformation of the hospital café into a haunted house. While Lizzie's excitement for the party had been dulled by the recent developments of her non-relationship with William Darcy, she was extremely grateful for the distraction it presented, as well as the excuse that it gave her to dodge his presence given that the party was happening tomorrow.

She knew she was being ridiculous – she was a grown woman who was actively avoiding her office because she knew that was the easiest place for her to get cornered by him, as if she had reverted back to high school Lizzie and was hiding from her high school nemesis. She didn't want to confront him – she was angry, hurt, and bewildered by what she had heard him say two days ago. She certainly did not expect him to outright admit to Fitz that he was seeing her, but the words that he had said about her and the detached tone of his voice made it seem less and less like he was trying to throw Fitz off their scent and more that he was telling the truth. No one was that good of an actor.

She shoved her phone back into her pocket as she opened the conference room door for her next meeting… only to come face to face with the man that she was going out of her way to avoid.

Her brain went into overdrive as she tried to figure out how she had found herself in this situation after so carefully planning her route. Calendars at the hospital were generally on private – while you could see when people were busy or available, you couldn't see exactly what was keeping them busy. Darcy should not have known that she was going to be in this conference room at this time. Her assistant was not the gossiping type (thank god), so she definitely would not have shared her whereabouts with him, and she would have notified Lizzie immediately of his behavior had he come around asking for her schedule.

Lizzie had arrived to the meeting 5 minutes early, as she always did for her meetings so she could fully prepare and ensure that their time in the meeting would be used efficiently. What she was definitely not prepared for was his blue eyes staring into her soul as she gaped at him through the conference room doorway.

"You're avoiding me." Straight to the point, as expected from the no-nonsense Will Darcy.

"I'm not." Lizzie muttered, her mood suddenly darkening as she glared at a spot at the conference table while she started to unpack her things for the meeting.

"I thought we were both adults here." Lizzie finally made eye contact with him, glaring at his unwelcome presence but not bothering to respond to his comment. "I really don't like playing games."

"Games? You want to talk about playing games? You're the one that decided to corner me before my meeting despite your complete and utter indifference towards me." She snarled out, feeling a bit of satisfaction at how quickly his face transformed from his usual look of disdain into shock.

Before he could respond, Lizzie continued, "Yes, I heard your little conference with Fitz. Thank you so much for your glowing review of me to my boss. I know he's your cousin and everything, but next time, please refrain from talking about my complete lack of interesting qualities with my superior. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to run."

Luck was smiling down on her, as at that moment the conference door opened to reveal the other participants in the meeting, saving Lizzie from anything that Darcy was going to say.

The rest of the party planning committee recovered quickly from their shock of seeing Dr. Darcy in the room. Lizzie winced when her co-lead and good friend, Charlotte, asked if he was going to attend the Halloween party. Lizzie hadn't told Charlotte yet that they had been secretly dating and she had hoped that he would forget that the party was happening and refrain from showing up.

Darcy confirmed his attendance (Lizzie groaned internally), said goodbye to the room politely, and left without looking at Lizzie again.

Lizzie certainly was not feeling very festive today.

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me! I've always wanted to keep this short, so I'm planning on having just one more episode. Please review and let me know what you think!