Chapter 7
Friday morning, Susanna awoke with a groan. She had been dreading this day all week, but here it was. She had told Darcy she would meet her at Ralph Lauren at nine o'clock, since they couldn't get an appointment on Thursday, and it was already eight. She showered quickly and threw on some jeans and a nicer top.
Staggering out of her apartment, she grabbed her phone and called Ryan.
"You're still going through with this, right?" her voice not at all friendly.
"Of course, why?" he said cheerfully.
"Just making sure I'm not about to waste my time," she said, adding quietly, "although I probably will anyways."
"Have fun!" he said, but she only grunted and hung up.
She stopped at a deli and bought a bagel and the tallest, biggest coffee they had. Trying to not think of the day ahead of her, she sipped it carefully as she walked through the morning crowds.
She reached Ralph Lauren at five to nine, but Darcy already stood there, her hands wringing and shaking.
She saw Susanna and jumped a little. "Good morning, Miss Bennet."
"Morning. What's wrong?" Susanna said.
"Oh!" she tore her hands apart and put them at her sides. "Nothing, nothing's wrong." She paused. "Is what I'm wearing okay to try on clothes? Because I wasn't really sure and I was up at six trying to decide, and…"
"It's fine," Susanna said, trying to calm her down. Darcy wore a plain pair of gray slacks and a white cardigan. Her hair was up as usual, and she wore her black glasses.
"Let's go in," Susanna said, taking her by the elbow only to find her still shaking.
They were ushered in and taken to a round fitting room filled with all sorts of evening gowns. Darcy's jaw dropped when she walked in, but Susanna grumbled under her breath. A lot of gowns equaled a lot of time. She sat on the bench as their fitter came in, a young blonde man with measuring tape all around his neck.
"What is the occasion?" he asked, sorting out the racks of dresses.
"A fancy dinner party," Susanna answered.
"What?" Darcy cried. "I thought it was just me and Ryan!"
Oops, Susanna thought. Darcy's shaking commenced once more, but the man had placed at least half a dozen dresses in her arms and pushed her behind the curtain.
A minute or two later, she emerged wearing a bright purple, sleeveless gown with a long slit up the side. But the moment she appeared, Susanna said, "Hmm. Not your color. Try the next one."
Darcy nodded and went back behind the curtain, and came back out with a light pink, ruffled dress that hit just below the knee. "Nice style," Susanna said. "But it washes you out too much."
Darcy went back behind the curtain. They repeated this for at least twenty dresses, with Susanna shooting them all down.
But then, finally, Darcy came out from behind the curtain wearing a silk, sapphire blue gown that draped at the neck and went all the way to the floor.
Susanna smiled and said, "Perfect! Everything… the color brings out your eyes, you don't look too pale, and it's perfect for you figure! Look!"
She steered Darcy in front of the three way mirror. Darcy gasped, and fingered the gown, as if she thought it wasn't quite real. As Darcy continued to gape at herself, Susanna motioned for the man to come over.
"A little bit at the hem," she said. "If she's wearing heels, it needs to be higher." He nodded, and put the pins in their right places.
Together they looked Darcy over, until he said, "A little in right here," pinching some in at the small of her back. Susanna nodded, but otherwise, she thought, it was perfect. Looking at her watch, it was five after eleven, and they still had to go shoe shopping before noon.
"Alright, time to go. We'll come back and pick it up at four," Susanna said, dragging Darcy away from the mirror.
It took a few minutes, but Darcy finally came out with her original clothes on and the dress draped delicately in her arms. She reluctantly gave it to the young man, who whisked it out of the room.
"Come on," Susanna said as they walked out of the building. "Shoes call."
Darcy gave a small smile as they walked about fifteen minutes from Madison Avenue to the Brittania store. They mulled over shoes for almost an hour, finally deciding on silvery-blue pair.
"Now remember," Susanna said as they walked out. "Hair at two o'clock, and then we'll pick up your dress at four, and then get your makeup done at five, alright?"
"Yes," Darcy nodded, and Susanna began to walk away.
"Miss Bennet?" Darcy called after her, and Susanna grudgingly turned around.
"Yes?"
"How many people will be there?" Darcy asked, her voice fairly dripping in nervousness.
Susanna rolled her eyes, unseen behind her sunglasses. "Probably about twenty, or so."
"Twenty?" Darcy cried in shock.
"Trust me, the more people the better. Then they pay less attention to you," Susanna explained.
Darcy nodded. "Alright," she said, but her hands were shaking once again.
Susanna bit her lip; she felt like she should invite Darcy to lunch, just to try and calm her down. Oh, what the hell. "Darcy, you want to come to lunch with me?"
Darcy looked even more shocked about that than she had about the dinner party. "Um, sure. I'd like that."
They walked a short way to one of Susanna's favorite Italian restaurants further down on Fifth. They talked almost the whole time, Darcy asking questions and Susanna trying to answer them as unbiased as possible.
They finished at nearly a quarter to two, and hurriedly walked to the beauty salon where Susanna had booked an appointment. The instant they walked in, the hairstylist who was to do Darcy's hair began talking.
"Elegant, swept up, out of her face… maybe a few wisps to frame her face… what do you think about a bit of sparkle! Perhaps a barrette!"
Susanna held up a hand to get him to slow down. "Sounds fine. Let's just get started."
He nodded and led Darcy back to the sinks and quickly washed her hair. Settling into a chair, Susanna waited for them to come back.
"Have you ever thought about highlights, miss?" the hairstylist was saying, leading Darcy back.
Susanna cocked her head, and said, "Actually, that's not a bad idea."
The stylist looked at her with excitement. "Yes!"
"Really?" Darcy said, fingering her hair.
"Just to brighten it up a bit," Susanna said. "Not much."
Darcy looked up at Susanna, who was standing over her, also fingering her hair. She smiled and said, "Sure, why not?"
It took an extra half hour to highlight, so Susanna sat in the lobby, reading an old issue of Vogue that had a column of hers in it. Suddenly, she found a picture of the perfect hairstyle for Darcy, and quickly ripped it out.
"Miss?" someone called to her. She looked up abruptly. "Miss Darcy wants your help with the style."
Susanna nodded and went back, where Darcy, who sat gazing at herself in the mirror, looked fantastic. Her hair was brighter, and had been somehow straightened, and she had taken her glasses off, so that she looked very pretty.
"Wow," Susanna said, sitting in the chair next to her.
"What do you think?" Darcy asked, running a hand through her hair.
"It looks great," Susanna said. "Look, I found this," she said, giving Darcy the picture.
"It's perfect!" Darcy cried. They gave it to the hairstylist, who pronounced that it was fabulous, and set to work.
As Darcy's hair was being done, Susanna sat back and nearly laughed at herself. She was having fun! But why? Was it Darcy, or just that Susanna hadn't made someone over in a long time? She became so lost in thought that Darcy had to clear her throat loudly to get her attention.
Darcy's hair had been swept up into an elegant twist at the back of her head. A few delicate wisps hung down, and a few jewels sparkled in her hair. Susanna clapped.
"It's wonderful," she said, but then looked at her watch. It was after four o'clock, so Susanna hurriedly gathered Darcy up, paid, and left.
The rest of the day, including the dress, the makeup, and the final touches, were all a rushed blur. It was nearly quarter after six when Susanna finally got to sit down. Ryan was picking Darcy up at Susanna's apartment, so Darcy was upstairs still getting a few things ready. Susanna grabbed a bag of chips and flipped her kitchen TV on, sitting on the counter and resting her head against the cabinets. She had actually closed her eyes when the door rang.
Groaning, she hopped down from the counter and walked to her door. The prince stood on the other side, dressed in a smart tuxedo and holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Is she ready?" he asked, letting himself in.
"Hello to you, too," she mumbled, closing the door. "You had better be thanking me. I have spent all day not only getting her ready but trying to calm her down. She's very nervous."
He was about to answer when Darcy came down the steps. Something strange seemed to happen then. Ryan's eyes sort of glazed over, and Darcy seemed to slow down, her mouth partway open. Susanna crossed her arms, ignoring the thick tension in the air.
Ryan finally cleared his throat and said, "You look… lovely, Miss Clevell." He handed her the bouquet. "These are for you."
She blushed furiously and took them. "Thank you." They looked into each other's eyes for several moments, and Susanna felt like vomiting.
"Shall we?" Ryan finally said, extending his elbow. Darcy took it, and staring at each other, left the apartment.
Susanna shut the door with a slam. "Your welcome!" she yelled at it, rather pointlessly.
Grumbling, she went to her room and changed into some sweats. Coming back down, she heated up some leftover pizza and flipped the TV back on, but she didn't really watch it.
"That was disgusting," she muttered to herself. "You look lovely," she mimicked in a false voice. "Why, thank you. Of course, I only look lovely because of Susanna, but who cares about her and all that she did?" she went on in a high voice. Switching back to her own, she mumbled, "Who cares, anyway? Let them be all infatuated. He'll get what's coming to him. He'll-"
She was broken from her temporary insanity when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"He did it!" It was Vivian.
"Did what? And who?" Susanna asked, confused.
"Remember Tristan? The guy from L.A.?" Vivian said.
"Um… yeah."
"He finally asked me out!" she shrieked.
"Good," Susanna said, not nearly as excited.
"I know! We're going to dinner in a few minutes. I wanted to ask though; that red dress I got from Barney's? Is that too slutty?"
Susanna racked her brain, until she remembered the low cut, high slit dress that Vivian had insisted on buying.
"Yes! Way too slutty!" Susanna said.
"Damn, I was afraid so. Well, I'll find something. Wish me luck!"
"Good luck," Susanna said flatly. She hung up with a click and finished her pizza. Great, so everyone would be out having fun tonight except for her. Sighing, she grabbed a spoon and a pint of ice cream and went to her theater room, where a large flat screen television hung on the wall. She went to her massive closet full of DVDs, and grabbed a bunch of old movies.
It was half past nine and Susanna had already eaten all of the ice cream and had watched two movies and was part way through her third. She stood up, stretched, and walked across the hall to kitchen, where she threw out the ice cream carton and put the spoon in the dishwasher.
As she walked back into the theater room, however, she screamed. A man stood out on the fire escape, tapping his finger on the window.
"I'm not trying to break in!" he yelled, his voice muffled. "I live below you, but I got locked out!"
She put a hand to her chest, trying to catch her breath. She walked over and unlocked the screen door. The man hurried inside.
"Thank you," he said. "I'm sorry for scaring you… this is so embarrassing."
She chuckled. "It's fine." It was dim, but she could tell he had dark brown, curly hair and was very, very handsome.
"It's actually my brother who lives below you, I'm just visiting. He's not home, even though he said he would be," he went on. "Do you have any idea how I could get into the apartment?"
"You could call Mr. Jennings," she said. "The super."
"Right," he said, but then his eye caught the TV. "Charade?" he said, gesturing to the movie that was playing.
"Yeah," she said. "Do you like that movie?"
"I love that movie!" he said avidly, but then became subdued. "My name is Keith, by the way."
"Susanna," she said, and they shook hands. Suddenly, she was struck by an insane impulse. "Listen, if you're locked out, you're welcome to stay up here and watch it with me… I don't know when your brother's coming home, but…" she trailed off.
He smiled. "Really?"
"Sure."
"That'd be great," he said.
They sat down on the couch and she began the movie from the beginning. They had a great time, acting out parts of the movie and yelling things at the screen. It was close to eleven when Keith reluctantly decided he should go see if his brother was home. She walked him out to the door, suddenly painfully aware of the grungy sweats she was wearing in the light of the hall. He, however, was dressed in a nice pair of black slacks and a crisp, white shirt. His hair fell to the nape of his neck, and he smiled at her as he stood at the door.
"Thank you, Susanna," he said, and she noticed his eyes were a deep brown.
She smiled. "Don't mention it."
He nodded. "I'll see you around?"
"Yeah, definitely."
"Good night, then."
"Good night," she said, and he stepped into the elevator as she closed her door.
She laughed at herself; surprisingly, it seemed she hadn't been the only one to not have fun that night.