:: Darcy & Elizabeth ::
10 Things I Hate About You
08 : Darcy & Elizabeth
by inmyeyes


(Lunch. Chilton dining hall)

"What are you reading?"

Rory jumped at the feel of Tristan's breath tickling her ear. She turned her head, and found that he was much close than she anticipated. They were almost nose to nose, blue on blue. "Don't do that!" she chided, trying to ignore the faint whiff of his cologne that she inevitably caught.

Tristan just gave an indolent grin as he sprawled himself on the empty seat next to hers. "What are you reading?"

"Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'," she replied, her eyes now on the words in front of her.

His grin widened. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees and kept his gaze on her. "In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

Rory's eyes jerked up at the familiar words of Darcy's proposal. "You've read this?"

Tristan leaned back, revelling in her surprise and half-mesmerized by her beauty. He smiled confidently. "Don't look so surprised, Mary. I can read, you know."

Rory reddened, embarrassed that he had read her mind. "I-I didn't mean... it's not that- I just..."

The grin fell off his face. "Hey, it's ok. I know what you meant." He lightly touched her arm in reassurance.

Rory tried to compose her thoughts, and ignore the searing touch of his hand on her. "I'm sorry anyway," she insisted. "I didn't think that you'd read Austen. It's just that hearing you, of all people, quoting Darcy threw me off," she admitted.

"You like Darcy?"

"Of course, who wouldn't?"

Tristan found an opening and ran with it. "I think I'm a lot like Darcy."

"How so?"

Tristan smirked. "Well, for starter's, there's the obvious. We're both rich and good-looking."

Rory snorted.

"And we're both misunderstood. We're both judged solely on our interaction within society. And we both like someone who has the worst impression of us, and someone who isn't at all aware of how we feel. Our every word and action is misinterpreted." Tristan averted his eyes as he realized how much he had revealed. He decided to go for broke.

"And you're like Elizabeth Bennet," he smiled at Rory's shocked look. "Smart, strong, witty, beautiful and feminine in an utterly bewitching way. Not afraid of speaking your mind, not impressed by wealth and status. And you, just like Elizabeth, don't have the best impression of Darcy."

Now he had definitely revealed too much.

There was a tense silence as Rory tried to fully understand what he had just said.

Tristan turned around in his chair. "I have to go, my friends are waiting for me." He gestured to the table where all the 'popular' crowd sat.

"You don't always have to be what they want you to be, you know," Rory stated quietly. The look in his eyes told her that he knew the truth of what she said.

"I happen to like being adored, thankyou," Tristan teased, but Rory noticed that there was a sad glint in his eyes. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah." She watched him as he walked away. She watched as the mannerisms that she had come to know so well were acted out.

Sighing silently, she turned back to her book.

*****

(Later. The Gilmore House)

"Ok, let me get this straight. He's Darcy and you're Elizabeth," Lorelai said.

"Something like that."

"Isn't Darcy like in love with Elizabeth? And Elizabeth can't stand him because she thinks he's a pompous, self-absorbed jerk?"

Rory leaned back against the couch and wearily slung her arm over her face. "Yes."

"Well, Hot Tristan practically confessed that he's in love with you, didn't he?" Lorelai pointed out.

"Not really," she mumbled, even though she herself thought that after hours of analyzing every word he had said.

"He did," she insisted, prying Rory's arm away from her face and pulling her up. "He likes you, and he's trying to tell you."

"He likes anything female that can breathe, mother."

"If I remember correctly, by the end of the book, Elizabeth's opinion of Darcy did a complete 180."

"And your point is?" Rory asked.

Lorelai went on. "Elizabeth falls in love with the man Darcy really is, and they get married."

"Wow, Mom, you actually finished reading the book," Rory remarked dryly, arms across her chest in a gesture of defiance.

Lorelai didn't pay any attention to Rory. "So, if life imitates art, then you'll drastically change your opinion of Hot Tristan-"

"Will you stop calling him Hot Tristan?" Rory said irritably.

"And you'll fall in love with him, 'cos god knows he's already half in love with you."

"I'm not going to fall in love with him!"

"Of course, you won't." But Rory knew from her mother's tone that she didn't believe a word of what she was saying.

*****

(Friday evening)

"Hurry up, Mom!" Rory called out, waiting at the foot of the stairs. "We need to leave now!"

"I can't find my black shoes!"

When Lorelai still didn't make her way downstairs after about 5 minutes, Rory went up.

"I don't wanna go!" Lorelai pouted, sitting on her bed, already fully dressed, her black shoes on her feet.

Rory sighed and pulled her mom by the arm. "Come on, Grandma's gonna kill us if we're more than 10 minutes late!"

"Can't we tell her that I slipped and fell and broke my leg and that we can't go for dinner for the next 3 months?"

Rory ignored her, and continued to push her out of the house.

Lorelai smiled evilly. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. There'll be guests at dinner tonight."

"Who?"

The smile grew. "The DuGreys."

"Excuse me? I don't think I heard you correctly." Rory stopped walking. She prayed that she had mistakenly heard what her mother had said. She didn't think she could handle a Gilmore dinner with Tristan DuGrey there.

"The DuGreys are gonna be there. Mom's on some committee for some charity ball and Mrs DuGrey is on it as well. So they were invited for dinner." She saw the relieved look on Rory's face. "And Hot Tristan will be there. Mom invited him as well when she found out he's from Chilton."

"Oh great," Rory lamented.

"C'mon, Lizzy, your Darcy awaits." This time, it was Lorelai who had to drag Rory along.