Apparently Darcy had a full day planned, as they were to start almost as early in the day as on a work day. Darcy had been insistent about the time, though he would not state specifically where they were going when he came to confirm, once again—as though he could not actually believe the day would occur—that Lizzie was going to spend the day with Gigi and Darcy.
They arrived at her house, well her house-sitting house, promptly at 9 a.m. as planned. Lizzie thought she might invite them in, but Darcy, as he had stated, had a full day planned. He asked if she had appropriate layers, since San Francisco weather was so unpredictable, and then led her to the car.
"Absolutely no touristy attractions! We won't go near Pier 39, nor are we driving down Lombard Street," smiled Gigi who had moved from the front seat to the back seat. Lizzie had tried to insist she could very well sit in the back seat, but both Darcy and Gigi had said "guest," so she nodded and sank down in the front seat. She glanced over at Darcy. He was smiling.
"We aren't going to avoid any sights, and we will at least point out anything as we drive by," Darcy mentioned as he kept his eyes on the road, turning a corner to swing into traffic.
"Where are going first?" asked Lizzie as she wondered what this "real" San Francisco tour would entail.
"Will wouldn't tell me no matter how hard I pestered him, which is pretty hard," Gigi said from the back seat. Darcy smiled and offered up nothing.
"You said the hills are unforgiving once," Lizzie quipped, and Darcy smiled, "are we going to be hiking around visiting historical sites on foot? I at least wore my best walking boots." Lizzie offered, trying to entice Darcy to answer.
"Do you like baseball?"
"What?" Lizzie was startled by his question.
"Do you like baseball? I drove a little out of our way, but there is AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants play."
"I am not really a sports fan, I guess." Lizzie suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. She thought it odd for him to bring up baseball.
"Gigi is a big Giants fan. Though I think just because both their names start with G," he suddenly turned to glance back at his sister who grinned back. There was a certain tension in the air.
"I love going to games, what's wrong with that William? Hanging out with friends? Having a little down-time from school. Besides, baseball is just a little more, well, elegant than other sports."
Lizzie had this image of the Darcys at a baseball stadium, in a private box, of course. It made her feel uncomfortable, and she suddenly started to wonder if coming along today had been such a great idea. The Darcys had money, and access that money and privilege brought with it, which she did not. And they did not always seem to realize the burden that might put on one side of a friendship. She thought about Gigi's comment earlier in the week about skiing.
"You're not a real fan Gigi; you're just a fan of trying out crazy combinations of toppings on a polish dog and trying to sneak sips of beer when the guards aren't looking. You don't actually follow the game. Name a Giants player." Darcy pulled into a turn lane as they continued on their trip.
"Um, Matt Smith?"
Darcy laughed. "I think you are getting TV and baseball mixed up and Matt Williams stopped playing baseball about ten years ago."
"Well, home-town boy, you besmirch the name of SF by following another team!" She ended her statement with a conspiratorial hiss that was directed at Lizzie. Lizzie began to suspect that arguments about baseball were a regular topic.
"What is your team?" asked Lizzie, turning and trying to catch Darcy's eye. He suddenly found the road too interesting to turn towards her, even if for a second.
"The Boston Red Sox, even a different League!" Again, Gigi hissed with emphasis.
"At least I know how the game is played!" He chuckled.
"Well I still love going to games. I love buying tickets in the cheap seats and hanging out with the rowdy crowd and having a good time. It is a great get-away. Something, you big brother, cannot, perhaps, appreciate." And Gigi settled back into her seat.
Lizzie thought about the rapport between the siblings and realized that was something that no amount of money could buy. Gigi had mentioned that she bought the cheap tickets; so images of the rich girl in the prime box entertaining friends gave way to an image of a girl laughing and fooling around while sitting on a fold-down plastic seat, watching a game, but mostly having fun with friends.
Perhaps her earlier thought about money and privilege had been too quick. Sometimes it isn't that others judge you so harshly, but that you are so quick to judge yourself harshly. That she had judged herself not worthy to spend time with these two and perhaps that wasn't being fair to herself.
They drove past signs for the Golden Gate Park, and Lizzie wondered aloud again where they were going, but Darcy didn't answer. Gigi let out a squeak as if she had guessed where they were headed.
Darcy knew exactly where he was going, so never asked either of the women to look out for parking lots, let alone open parking spaces. Given what Lizzie had heard about the dearth of parking spaces in San Francisco, she was beginning to see Darcy in a bolder light.
They ended up in an underground parking garage and Gigi started bouncing in her seat as she had apparently guessed where they were going.
"I haven't been here in years Will!" She called excitedly as she hopped out of the car.
"I fear you will be disappointed." He answered.
Lizzie was out her side of the car before Darcy could think about being gentlemanly and coming to open her door or even offering her his arm or something. She then blushed at even thinking something along those lines.
The garage was well lit and had signs indicating entrances to two different destinations. Gigi started walking towards the signs indicating "The Academy," but Darcy called her back.
"We're going to the De Young, Gigi, not the Academy." Gigi turned a face that seemed to register a lot of emotions at once on it. There was a disappointed little girl who wasn't getting her prize, the mischievous imp who conspired with Fitz to get Will and Lizzie together, and the young woman who frankly hated museums.
"We really should keep going; we don't want to be late."
"So, finally, where are we going?" Lizzie broke the tension between the siblings as they walked across the parking lot and entered the elevator.
"The De Young Museum. There is a new exhibit that opens today on the Mauritshuis, paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. The highlight is Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. I guessed a little that you might appreciate the exhibit. We have tickets for 10 o'clock." He looked her full-on then, capturing her eyes to see the surprise and delight that registered in them. Lizzie had a hard time not opening her mouth in shock. Vermeer was her favorite painter. Her favorite painting of his was perhaps Girl at a Window Reading a Letter, but that Darcy could be so attuned to her that he could anticipate her enjoyment of this exhibit was stunning.
"You know, dear brother, The De Young is very touristy." Gigi snapped, feeling still a little like a disappointed kid. The elevator doors opened and Gigi stepped out. Lizzie and Darcy stood staring at each other. They finally seemed to notice that the doors were open, and Darcy jumped, in that awkward way, to catch the elevator doors from closing again, while Lizzie walked out.
"Wow," Lizzie finally said, "thank you! I think this is the perfect start to my non-touristy SF day." And she turned to Darcy again to smile and catch his eye. Lizzie had a compulsion to reach out to him, and touch him, as she had that day (and captured on video for all to see), but resisted with Gigi right next to her.
The crowds were large, since it was opening day. Darcy got their tickets at the will-call desk and they queued in line for the 10 a.m. ticket holders.
Like all exhibits, once in, you are ostensibly allowed to take your time, but the galleries are set up to encourage visitors to walk through and exit without being able to back-track, or circle back through. So Lizzie took her time in each hall. Darcy was not someone who needed to discuss each painting. This surprised Lizzie, given how much of their past history had been spent in confrontation and discourse—that he allowed her time and space to enjoy the paintings. They did remark on color or light or composition, but in general, Lizzie had time to contemplate paintings on a more emotional level than she generally was able to. Even Charlotte wanted to discuss objects d'art when the two of them went museum visiting.
Once she found Girl with a Pearl Earring she had to wait to get close. Darcy hung back and could not help but contemplate the eyes portrayed in paint to the eyes that turned to look at him with a bit of frustration at the three-deep crowd of people in front of the painting. His heart flipped. He told her he thought she might need extra time, so went to find Gigi, who had disappeared.
The pack finally moved on, and Lizzie could step close and contemplate the light and dark colors before her that had inspired so many (even a Colin Firth movie!). With all the technology available today, it was still amazing to her what someone, a talented someone, could do with some paints. How realistic a picture he might paint, how lifelike that portrait truly was that gazed back at her.
Lizzie found a small bench with one corner unoccupied and sat to rest. Though there were no hills (yet), she had been walking the exhibit hall for over an hour.
It had been so perfect, the timing was so perfect. This exhibit that happened to open today—with these magnificent paintings to which she could never appropriately describe—despite years of English, creative writing courses and how many years of graduate school, how phenomenal a coincidence? That there had been a Vermeer, her favorite painter, how pleasing.
Lizzie had not been fortunate enough to travel to Europe yet. So many of her college friends had taken time in the summer or after undergraduate work to travel in Europe to see Paris and Florence and Amsterdam, but she had never really ventured far from home. She had worked hard in high school to get into a good college. Then she worked hard in college to get into graduate school. Lizzie had never allowed herself too much down-time. Even Gigi had admitted to down-time, despite school, and the swim team and then tennis.
It was like Darcy had been able to do this for her, bring a little bit of Europe to her, but for once she had to admit that no amount of money or connections could have conjured an art exhibit for her. Yes, he probably had been able to conjure last-minute tickets, and she contemplated about arguing over the paying back, but she had to admit to herself that she was grateful. Grateful that at some level he understood her, her interests. That it was not all about modern social media and that there were other things that piqued her interest like Dutch painters.
"Lizzie?"
She looked up to see Darcy looking uncertainly down at her.
"Are you ready to move on?" And then he held out his hand to help her up. She took it and let him help her to her feet.
"Yes, thank you. Darcy, um, William," and she hesitantly said his name while looking down at the ground, "thank you," she looked up again, "this non-touristy day has started off great."
"I'm glad you're pleased," he replied with a smile like no other that she had seen spread across his face. "Er, Gigi is getting anxious, she isn't the museum type, so is waiting at the exit. I will go keep her occupied until you finish the exhibit." And he smiled at her again and walked back to find Gigi.
Lizzie made her way through the rest of the exhibit. Perhaps a little rushed now, since Gigi seemed to be anxious about leaving.
"There is another exhibit here, a photography exhibit. I thought we might take in that," suggested Darcy as she approached him and his sister. Gigi groaned.
"No way, I thought we were done! Please can't we go to the Academy! Please big brother, can't we fit it into your schedule?" She looked pleadingly at Darcy. He looked sternly down at her. Gigi hooked her arm through Lizzie's and pulled her close. "Lizzie, you have to come to the Academy, it is so much fun, you have to meet Claude!"
"Who is Claude?" Lizzie asked looking from Gigi's pleading eyes to Darcy's irritated ones.
"Come and see…" Gigi hinted as she started pulling on Lizzie's arm.
"Really Gigi, this is Lizzie's day, not yours, you could come to the Academy any day you wish because you live here, and we have only seen one exhibit here at the De Young."
"Oh stuffy old exhibits, who cares, when you have Claude…" Gigi rolled his name off her tongue in a pseudo-French accent.
Lizzie extracted her arm and looked at Darcy. "Well, I think I want to see this Claude person."
"Hurray!"
Darcy frowned as his well-laid plans started to fall apart. Lizzie could almost see him pulling up a spreadsheet in his mind and inserting an extra line beneath the entries:
*Pick up Lizzie
*Show Lizzie AT&T Park
*De Young Museum
*California Academy of Sciences Gigi's idea
He probably had a time estimate for each activity too. Then she wondered if she was being too hard on him and looked up to see him looking back at her. He seemed to have asked her a question and she guiltily answered, "Yes," assuming he was asking if she was ready to go.
They didn't go back down to the parking lot, but crossed a garden in front of the museum that separated the two destinations.
The California Academy of Sciences housed a number of things inside and Gigi seemed to want to see everything, but Darcy put his foot down and insisted that they pick and choose just a few, since this was "unplanned." Gigi teased him to lighten up, but opted to show Lizzie the Steinhardt Aquarium.
Tanks of fish weren't exactly Lizzie's idea of fun, but Gigi seemed to think they were great, and they wound their way through exhibits, with Gigi's exclaiming about colorful fish at every turn. Darcy didn't say much and seemed to have lost his momentum for the day with this unexpected stop.
They finally ended up in front of a large tank and Lizzie saw something ghostly move out of the corner of her eye. A white shape was in the water in the corner of the tank.
"What is that over there?" A school group seemed to be plastered in front of the tank in that corner, so she couldn't see clearly.
Gigi stood on tiptoes, "Oh, that's Claude," she delightedly answered and nudged closer to the school group. The kids were squealing loudly.
"Ah, what, is Claude?" asked Lizzie a little nervously. Somehow her sensibilities about the world did not include pure white whatevers.
"Claude is an albino alligator," answered Darcy unexpectedly as he stepped a little nearer. She appreciated his proximity, both when the horde of kids scrambled noisily away, and because Claude opted to swim out of his corner. He was bigger than she had expected.
"Wow, well, I seem to be at a loss for words," she fumbled as she watched the white skinned alligator paddle in front of the three of them. Gigi was beaming from ear-to-ear. Apparently she and Claude were old friends. Lizzie was happy to not be pressed up against the glass, who knows how germy it could be given all those kids?
Gigi excited pointed out some monstrously large snapping turtles and other grotesque fish on display, all of which charmed her. Apparently visits to the Cal Academy had been a regular childhood occurrence. Lizzie was happy to have Darcy at her elbow. He seemed to sense that this was not 'her thing,' so suggested the live penguin exhibit before their lunch.
Of course, they had missed the penguin feeding, which Gigi lamented loudly, but there was still a trainer in the penguin exhibit answering questions, so they hung around listening as mostly school kids asked mostly standard questions about penguins and got mostly standard answers. Lizzie did regret that the trainer always first said "great question! to the asker before answering." Sometimes there were lame questions. Or out-right stupid questions. Or questions you should just never ask, like 'why am I spending the day with William Darcy?'
She didn't dare tackle that question, really. She had worked out that she was grateful to him. Grateful to him to not hate her when she rejected him, in front of thousands of people. Grateful to him to willingly give her an internship at Pemberley Digital so she could finish her thesis. Grateful to him for this day.
"Lunch!" said an enthusiastic voice at her elbow. Lizzie jumped. She feared she was going to leave a bad impression on the two Darcys if she kept being lost in her own thoughts and not enjoying their company.
"I have that planned, there is this great…" began Darcy, but Gigi interrupted him.
"No fancy plans, Mr. fancy pants, why don't we eat in the cafeteria here?" A sweet smile snaked across her face. Lizzie wondered if it was the eleven year old remembering her weekend visits to the Academy, or the impish side of Gigi. Lizzie decided that a cafeteria, probably full of those same germy kids, was not what she wanted.
"Ah, Gigi, if it's all the same with you, I think a cafeteria full of noisy, germy kids isn't my idea of a great lunch venue." Lizzie and Darcy turned as one to look at Gigi who wrinkled her brow, pursed her lips, but said nothing. She couldn't exactly protest when the guest turned down her lunch idea in such a fashion.
Gigi was sullen in the elevator ride down to the parking lot, but seemed to recover her spirits as she teased Darcy about lunch. "I'm sure it is some high-brow place, to show off to Lizzie." And she poked at him, a little too hard which made him lose his balance and stumble towards Lizzie. He caught his footing and glared back at her as if she were being deliberate.
"Nothing fancy. Lizzie do you like Mexican?" He asked while he unlocked the car. He opened Lizzie's door and held it for her. She sat down and pulled her feet in before looking up at him.
"Yes I do."
"Great, there is this little place I like called El Charro. Small, but clean and quiet." He emphasized the last two words for Lizzie's benefit, then shut the door.