"No pictures, all day?" Lady Catherine shifts in the ornate chair the next morning, surrounded by even more ornate decor. This particular corner of the house is Lizzie's least favorite, but it looks like Lady Catherine likes it most of all.
"No, ma'am," Lizzie tries to sound professional. "At least, not until the soirée this evening."
Gregory and Amelia nod, because they are modern nobility and reasonable people. His sister just didn't seem to have gotten the memo on that.
"Should we be wearing any particular outfits?" Amelia Fitzwilliam smiles. "I brought a few to choose from should you wish to color-coordinate."
Lizzie looks to Kitty, who really is the stylist between the two of them.
Kitty smiles, and Fitz beams as if he's the only one being smiled at. The two are ridiculous.
"A unified palette would be helpful," says Kitty. "Since the men would probably be in darker suits, we would encourage the ladies to either maintain a pastel theme to contrast or to coordinate in darker colors across the board."
"How very ordinary," Anne Rosings whines, even though she really isn't part of the family, in anyone's opinion except her own.
It's obvious, of course, that she wants to be part of the family, preferably via marriage to one William Darcy. But at the rate things are going, Kitty might end up with an heirloom ring on her finger before Anne ever would.
"I do think we should go with the darker hues," Amelia states elegantly, even in her otherwise casual summer dress. "It might lend some gravitas to the occasion."
"Of course," Lady Catherine mutters. And everything is settled.
"So we do not need to take photos - at all - until tonight?" Giana Darcy asks so softly, from the edge of the circle of family members, that Lizzie almost doesn't hear her.
She smiles at the young girl, who looks heartbreakingly hopeful. "No, you don't. Although I would much prefer to take some shots of the younger generation doing some more casual, candid pursuits during the day. Maybe Freddie and Fitz can be up for some golf? Or some other outdoor sport? The weather looks overcast and bright."
"Maybe some shots in the pool, then?" Freddie pipes up. He smirks in an overtly flirtatious way. "I've been wanting to take a swim."
"You just want to show off your abs." Fitz laughs at his brother.
"I am plenty proud of my abs, thank you. Unless you, little brother, are too chicken to bare yours."
"I can out-swim you any day."
"Ah, but can you do it on camera for the lovely Miss Bennet?" Freddie winks at Lizzie. She chuckles awkwardly.
"I'm always up for a challenge," Fitz huffs.
And the group of two brothers and two photographers make plans to head for the pool. William, who looked almost grateful at Lizzie's initial photography plans for the day, is now scowling again.
"Wait!" Anne screeches, just before the group of four can make for the large glass patio doors. She plants a heavily accessorized hand on her hip. "I need some photos taken. I need some glam shots."
Lizzie looks around at the people who are actually paying her. Gregory just shrugs.
"Well, of course, Miss Rosings," Lizzie answers. "Once we wrap up our shoot at the pool - "
"I can use another bedroom, probably the red one down the hall. I brought my new lingerie collection and need some boudoir shots."
"That's my room," William Darcy sputters.
The two Fitzwilliam brothers laugh mercilessly at their clearly agitated cousin.
Anne flutters her lashes at her unwilling prey. "I would simply be borrowing it. But, of course, you are more than welcome to watch when we - "
"We have a spare bedroom right across from Darcy's," Amelia comes to her nephew's rescue. "The decor is almost exactly the same and should be perfect for some basic photography. Wouldn't an empty bedroom be preferable, Miss Bennet?"
It takes all Lizzie had not to roll her eyes. "That would be perfect."
Freddie and Fitz don't even bother waiting until they're outside before they clap William on the back and laugh.
The crowd is technically not that big. Lizzie has had to cover much bigger corporate events throughout her budding career. As personal events go, however, this has got to be more than 'a simple soirée.'
Kitty whistles lowly the moment they step out of the hall.
"Good luck getting a clean shot all night," she commiserates, her glossy hair shining under the chandeliers.
Lizzie nods miserably.
Small clusters of guests are scattered all over the ballroom, mostly in groups of two to four people. The gentlemen wear coats, while the ladies display a variety of outfits that range from fancy dress you'd wear to your cousin's college graduation to bedazzling cocktail numbers. The Fitzwilliam family members are nowhere and everywhere all at once, and Lizzie groans at the realization that nothing she shoots tonight would be suitable for the project. It would be nice for memories, but you can't get an entire ballroom of important people to sign image rights agreements, especially when they're all well on their way to being drunk on vintage wine.
"You made it!" Fitz pops up out of nowhere. He manages to smile at both sisters before he gives Kitty a well-deserved once over. The man looks nice cleaned up, even if his more boyish looks aren't as classically handsome as his cousin's. "Care for a drink?"
"I don't think we should be drinking on the job." Kitty smiles. Lizzie can practically see the two of them under a wedding arch. They are that smitten.
"I apologize," Fitz promises solemnly.
Lizzie laughs.
She's glad that she's borrowed Kitty's spare sundress tonight. It fits, even if the neckline is a little (okay, a lot) deeper than she would otherwise wear. She can't help her curves. Kitty and Jane were always the willowy ones. Sure, the way she mostly spills over at the top veers towards unprofessional, but at least she doesn't look like a stray in the mist of all the glamor.
"Go ahead," she finds herself saying.
"Looks like your boss is giving you the night off." Fitz winks at Kitty.
Lizzie smiles. "It's not like we can take any actual portraits tonight. I'll just snap some candids. We have a good working collection already anyway."
"You haven't shot my cousins much," Fitz reminds her.
"I've seen way more of Anne than I've ever wanted to see, thank you." Lizzie grimaces at the memory of the aspiring model in her more 'intimate' outfits and poses this afternoon.
Anne offered, more than once, to do her 'bedroom eyes,' supposedly 'for all her male fans.' Lizzie ran out of excuses pretty fast and just took as many photos as she could. She'll send Anne the files by tonight. There is no way she'll want to edit those.
"I don't mean an aspiring cousin." Fitz shakes his head, chuckling. "I meant my real ones."
He points out William and Giana - both impeccably dressed and irrefutably eye catching - as they weave their way amidst the crowd. William looks pretty damn gorgeous in a well-fitted suit, not that Lizzie would ever admit it out loud.
Instead, she shrugs. "We can resume tomorrow. I think everyone is staying another day, right?"
"We are."
"Tomorrow then."
Fitz nods before he turns to Kitty and extends an arm like an actor in some kind of historical play. "In that case, shall I get you a drink, milady?"
"Lizzie - "
"Go ahead." Lizzie smiles at her sister. And then they're gone.
Lizzie takes a moment before she starts her trek across the ballroom. She spies the occasional glance down her cleavage whenever she reaches for the camera strapped around her neck, but at least no one makes any uncomfortable comments. The guests are well dressed and well trained for the camera, and it's relatively painless work collecting pictures of every other huddle until she's almost done with the whole crowd.
She steps back for a second, letting the room reshuffle, and leans against the wall.
"May I ask for a dance?" William Darcy appears beside her, in all his suited up glory.
Lizzie looks up at him sideways, not quite ready to turn and give him her full attention. But she does smile. "I don't dance."
He looks taken aback. He tucks his chin towards his chest. "I - I wasn't aware."
Lizzie chuckles softly. "I thought it would be beneath you to dance with the help."
A dark look crosses his face, and she almost regrets her jab.
"I apologize." He frowns so sternly that he looks almost like an entirely different person. "I was in a gruff mood about the entire pictorial, what with Giana's situation, and I - "
"Hey, it's fine." Lizzie nudges him with her shoulder.
He meets her eye slowly, almost hesitantly.
She gives him a bigger smile. "I don't hold it against you, okay?"
"You would be completely within your rights - "
"William, it's fine!" She flips herself around until she's fully facing him. She grabs his arm. "I get it. I have three younger sisters, and the only sibling older than I isn't keen on playing a she-wolf, so I get it. I really do."
He softens slowly, as if her words are taking time to sink in.
"But I really don't dance." She laughs. "And I can keep you company if you'd like, but I'd rather not risk tearing any part of Kitty's dress with any ill-advised physical activity."
His eyes stray to her neckline, if it can even be called that this far from the neck, and return to her face. He's sort of blushing, and it's very endearing.
"Very well," he mumbles. "I would be glad to keep you company."
"As long as you don't tell on me for taking some personal time off the clock."
He leans a little closer, and she catches a whiff of his cologne. "I wouldn't dare."
Lizzie doesn't have time to make a clever retort before a half-drunken Fitz crashes into them.
"Hey now!" William props him back upright.
"And there's our lovely couple." Fitz grins. Kitty chases after her man, looking dazed and half-drunk herself.
"I think you've been day-drinking." William grunts when Fitz launches at him again with some weird, congratulatory sputter of words.
Lizzie laughs at the scene. She never had brothers, but this is mostly how she imagines they would look like.
"I have a challenge for you." Fitz grins at Lizzie, his arm slung across his cousin's shoulders.
"Oh yeah?" Lizzie cocks a brow.
"Mm hm." Fitz laughs while William forces him onto his own two feet. "I know Freddie wants to submit the pool pictures to People magazine."
William winces. Lizzie smirks. "Alright. And?"
"And - I think it's unfair to have just the two of us apply for world's sexiest man."
Kitty is laughing, out loud. Lizzie waits for whatever this supposed challenge is to spell itself out.
"I challenge you to submit a photo for Darcy here too."
Dread creeps all over William's features, and Lizzie would have laughed if she hadn't felt bad for him.
"In the pool also?" She asks.
"In the pool, in the bedroom, in whatever you want!" Fitz hollers, laughing at his own terms. "Make this guy sizzle in pictures, and I'll know you're the best photographer in the world."
William looks so awkward that he might as well be a tween boy asking his crush to the dance.
Lizzie grins. "Challenge accepted."
A/N: Okay, so Lizzie isn't that perfect, because she still has her mischievous side. But I hope this was a fun enough middle chapter of this short story!