A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. I'd written the next few chapters actually, but I didn't really like them, so I deleted them all and started over again with this one. Plus I've been super busy with school/finals/etc. But I'll be done with all that in a few days, and will have the whole summer to devote to my beloved fanfics! Heh...maybe not, but updates should be more regular at any rate after that. So, as usual, please r&r! Be brutally honest! If you think this is the worst pile of crap you ever had the misfortune to look at, tell me!

They started off somewhat awkwardly. Will wasn't a great talker in the first place, and for some reason Lizzy's ability to make small talk had abandoned her. At last she thought of something.

"So, you must be graduating pretty soon, right?" she asked him. He nodded his head.

"Okay," she thought, "graduation is a pretty big thing; you must have something to say about it. Help me out here, Darcy."

But no help was given. He walked on silently, looking at the ground.

"Right, well, graduation! That's exciting, isn't it?"

He supposed it was.

"So what are your plans? Grad school or work?"

"Law school, actually. If any of them accept me."

Lizzy was glad it was dark so Will couldn't see her rolling her eyes. If any of them accept him? What a joke. It was commonly known that Will Darcy was at the top of his class. And even if his grades hadn't been impeccable, his wealthy Aunt could probably buy him into any university in the world. Feeling suddenly somewhat bitter towards this young man who had the whole world at his feet, while she had to work two jobs and virtually starve herself in order to even stay at school from one semester to the next, she decided stubbornly to let him have a turn rescuing them from the awkward silence.

They were just about to cross over the Sunken Gardens – scene of the crime, Lizzy thought to herself – when they noticed a disorganized sort of reggae band playing at the far end, while about a dozen or so students danced around beside them. Watching them in the moonlight, Lizzy thought they looked like a band of gypsies. She had a sudden urge to join them. If she had been with Jane or Charlotte, she'd have dragged them over there instantly, but, she thought with a sigh, there was little hope that the event would attract President William Darcy.

"So what if it doesn't?" she thought to herself suddenly. "Why do I have to stay with him, anyway? He certainly doesn't seem to be enjoying my company, based on his extreme unwillingness to utter any words over a monosyllable. Hmm. I think I will…"

"Will, I think I'm going to hop over there and join those people. I have a sudden urge to dance."

Will eyed the "gypsies" curiously, as if they were a rare species of Martians.

"Why don't we just go back to the party? You can dance there all you like," he said.

But she had made up her mind. "No thanks – on a night like this I'd much rather be outside than pressed up against hundred sweaty, groping frat boys. You go ahead back though; I'll be fine."

Before he could protest, she ran off through the dewy grass toward the band. Will thought he should probably get back to the House, but he couldn't muster up the will power to do it. There was something about that Lizzy girl, he thought to himself, watching her as she joined the group of students. He could hear the ripples of her laughter as one of the gypsy boys grabbed her hand and twirled her around, and then dipped her so low the tips of her hair touched the grass.

Standing there on the steps of the Sunken Gardens, he was suddenly powerfully drawn to her. He felt a strange fire burning inside of him, but it was different, how utterly different, than the little butterflies he'd felt in his stomach during any of his former crushes; how pathetically those attractions wallowed in comparison with the feeling he experienced now, watching Elizabeth Bennet twirling around in the wet grass as if she hadn't a care in the world.

It couldn't be helped. Before he knew what had happened, he was down there beside her, asking her to dance, his stomach flip flopping as she looked up at him curiously, her lips stretching into a slow, enchanting smile. He put his arms around her, resting one hand on the curve of her waste, and holding her hand out with the other, and they began swaying back and forth to the strumming of the guitar. They didn't speak, but the awkwardness had passed.

A few minutes later they were joined by a small crowd of relatively drunken students, including Caroline Bingley, who ever so elegantly swooped down upon Will and whisked him away from Lizzy. Lizzy was not the type of girl to get worked up over such a thing, so she smiled archly and gladly took the hand of a boy she'd never seen before, an alarmingly attractive boy too, she thought.

"And who might I be having the extremely good fortune to be dancing with tonight?" he asked her, with a slight southern drawl.

"Lizzy," she said, smiling. "Who are you?"

"George Wickham, at your service."

The two chattered and flirted aimlessly. Lizzy was having a great deal of fun. This George Wickham sure knew how to grind, but then, she thought, in a way she still preferred the slow, swaying style of Will Darcy. This was more fun, and, she thought with mild surprise as George slid his hand down the curve of her back, rather more intimate. Still, something made her decide to go back to Will for a bit anyway. She gently released herself from George and walked over to Will, who was sitting on the stairs of the Sunken Gardens with a sour expression.

"Want to dance?" she asked him.

"Really?" he said sarcastically. She looked at him blankly. He shook his head, rolling his eyes a bit, and strode off.

Lizzy was rather bewildered by it. What could she have done to piss him off like that? Just then, Caroline Bingley, who had been watching the encounter, walked over to Lizzy.

"Don't take it personally, honey," she said with a glossy smile. "Will never stays with any one girl for more than a few hours. And really, no offense, but considering your apparel, and who your friends are…I mean it's surprising he stayed with you for as long as he did! He is after all Will Darcy. And you're not even a Sister! Oh, Will, he's just so fickle!"

Lizzy, though she would rather have died than admit it, felt a sharp pang in her gut. But she laughed it off.

"That must explain why he's always running away from you, then," she said with a sweet smile, and then ran off in the direction of the Delta Phi house to find her sisters.