Unwanted Attractions
Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.
"Oh hey," Charles exclaimed, interrupting Caroline's line of questioning, much to Darcy's relief. "There's this comic book store nearby that I wanted to check out, see if they have any of the issues that I'm missing…"
"Charles, how can you think about comic books? I'm sure that Darcy does not wish spend his time in a comic store when he could be settling in to his room," Caroline argued.
Not for the first time, Darcy had to wonder how the two were related. They certainly didn't act alike; Charles was very open, sometimes even a bit childish but he was not as innocent as some people may think him to be, no, Darcy could name a few occasions when Charles let go of his inner child. Whereas Caroline was very proper sometimes even prissy, she lived for high standards and loved to live the life of a movie star despite the fact that she wasn't one and that she was living basically off of her brother's money.
Still, Darcy knew that Charles had four other siblings, three of them sisters and one was a half-brother. Out of those other four Darcy had only met one, Charles' older sister Louisa Hurst who matched Caroline's personality almost identically except that Louisa couldn't quite seem to think for herself.
"It's quite alright Charles," Darcy assured after hearing his friend start to give into his sister's protests, "we can stop by the store as long as you don't make it a fifteen minute trip into an hour long trip."
"You got it," nodded Charles, obviously pleased that Darcy had no objections to stopping by the store.
Charles Bingley had the unique talent of turning anything that is meant to take only a few minutes into an hour long venture, especially when it came to comic books. Darcy still did not quite understand how his friend was such a huge fan of those books or why he bought-'collected,' as Charles would say-them. Even though Darcy was no fan of those miniature books, which he thought of as illustrated movies with only dialogue and limited actions, he never told Charles that he should stop with his 'collecting'.
Leaning forward to glance out the window, Darcy watched as the small coffee shops, bike shops, and other miscellaneous stores passed by. I can't believe I'm doing this, he groaned.
"So," Elizabeth began as she typed in the inventory for the new shipment they had just gotten in, "what's the verdict?"
Charlotte simply dropped a slip of paper over the computer screen so that Liz could read it. "Now hiring?!" she cried out in disgust.
"Read on," urged Charlotte while going over the huge catalogue that they were to order from for the next month shipments.
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth already could tell that she wasn't going to like what she was going to read. "Must be eighteen years of age? Well, I suppose if he wants someone to come in between eleven and three, but still, I was only sixteen when your dad hired me."
"Read on," Charlotte repeated, marking a couple of orders.
With sigh, Elizabeth continued, "Must have two years of retailing experience and a fair knowledge of comics. Oh please, your dad hired me based on my knowledge alone, this is so unfair!"
"Actually, he hired you because I advised him to, but your knowledge did give you an edge. For a while there dad was thinking of hiring-what's-his-face's name?-Denny until he realized that the guy knew next to nothing about comics," corrected Charlotte, flattening Elizabeth's already flattened ego. Now the said ego was road kill.
Glaring at her friend from over the computer screen Elizabeth muttered, "You really know how to bring down a person's self-esteem." In response, her friend just shot Lizzie a knowing smile before sticking her tongue out playfully. "So why isn't your dad asking Maria or Robby to take up a part-time job here, it's not as though they could object to the money."
"Well, dad doesn't want to put too much pressure on Maria since it is her senior year and all, and Robby is about two hundred miles away, remember?" reasoned Charlotte, her brows knitting together in indecision. "What about this one for Darkhorse, 'The Hire'?"
"You got through DC and Marvel that fast, I'm impressed," Liz commented knowing full well that her friend just skipped over those two companies for the small ones. Stopping her keying Elizabeth listened as her friend read the description.
Clearing her throat, Charlotte began, "'The enigmatic hero capable of doing the hard thing for the right reasons,' that's just the pitch line, now here's the first issue description; 'when the Hire is asked to sneak a rich man's spoiled, scandalous daughter out of town, he thinks the worst he'll have to deal with are persistent paparazzi. Then the bullets start to fly…'" Looking up from the catalogue, Charlotte looked to her friend for the 'yes' or 'no'. "Well?"
"Sounds like something I would read," Lizzie replied, returning to her typing. Well, that's about 20 punched in and only 27 more to go. Even though it may have seemed like a small shipment there were forty-four comic titles with between five to ten extra issues and then four trade paperback comics. So, it was a fair shipment, but not as huge as some others.
"So, I should order the comic then," assumed Charlotte marking the comic. "Do you think it will sell good?"
Her keying coming to a stop again, Liz sat to think a bit. "I don't know, but just order five copies, if we need more then we can always order more," she advised.
"Okay, here's another one that's right up your alley, 'Fierce'," Charlotte announced, ready to read the synopsis, but the beeper on the door went off as a nice looking woman entered the store.
"Hey there guys," she greeted with a smile, "working hard as usual I see." She pointed to the two large cups of coffee on the counter then at the half-full packet of donuts.
"That's all her," Lizzie assured, nodding her head towards Charlotte, who looked offended. "I didn't touch one of those things since I had my ramen."
The woman gave Elizabeth a questioning look, which the latter wished she wouldn't, and the woman eyed a half-eaten donut that sat by the keyboard. Liz knew she was busted.
"Really Lizzie, it looks as though you indulged yourself too," teased the woman.
A guilty smile crossed Lizzie's features faintly before fading away. "Aren't you supposed to be watching some three year old brats right now, Jane," she returned, playfully. Even though she meant it as playful, Liz hoped that Jane didn't take her seriously.
"I'm on break," Jane told her. "And I just thought I would stop by to say 'hi' to my baby sister and possibly offer to run out to get some real food for her and her friend, but I see that I'm not wanted. So I'll…"
"NO!" Charlotte and Lizzie cried out at the same time, dropping their jobs to stand up.
Jane turned to them with her trademark grin, "Then what do you two want to eat?"
"I'll have a chicken chief salad and a can of Sprite," Charlotte ordered, causing the sisters to raise an eyebrow. It had to be a family gene for their dad had that same talent and their younger sister, Mary, could do that same trick, if provoked. "What?"
"I don't think Jane's going to be going out to McDonald's, Char," Lizzie explained. The nearest McDonald's was in the next town, which was a good sixteen miles away and Jane's lunch break was only a half-hour.
"Oh come on Liz, you've lived here your whole life. Ted's place has those salads, at least that's where I get them," Charlotte countered, blushing a bit.
Liz looked at her sister and Jane just shook her head, but Liz couldn't help it, this called for teasing! "And just how often do you visit Teddy?" she jibed, holding back a laugh as Charlotte's blush increased. "Oh…I think…"
"What would you like Lizzie," Jane interrupted, much to Charlotte's gratitude.
"I'll have whatever soup he has on the menu for today," Lizzie answered with a pout. Jane didn't need to ruin her fun, it wouldn't have last long.
"Okay, I'll be back shortly," Jane told them as she made her way to leave.
"Jane, wait!" Elizabeth called out as she hopped around the table and over the counter in front of her sister, holding her arms out. "Can't I give my big sister a hug 'hello'?" Jane instantly embraced her younger sister and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Sure thing," she mumbled into Lizzie's ear as she pulled away. "But get back to work." Immediately Liz groaned, she wanted to get out of work so bad, even just for a little while without it being marked on her time card.
Hearing the door close, Elizabeth turned to her friend looking for comfort that wasn't there, only a clip board was held out to her.
"What's this?" Liz inquired, taking the clipboard.
"Those are the comics that we're supposed to put off to the side, since you're already out from behind the counter you can do those right away," Charlotte grinned, causing Liz to groan again. "Oh stop your groaning, it's never a difficult task, especially when I already shelved the new comics."
"Yes, Ms. Lucas," grunted Liz, heading to the back wall where the newest, popular comics are shelved. "Let's see here, Mr. Green wanted the She-Hulk issue and …"
Charles pulled the car up along the side walk in front of the possibly the largest store in that town with a billboard on top reading 'Lucas Comics and Collectibles'. To say the least, Darcy was not impressed by the establishment; in fact he almost detested the place already.
Who, in a small town, needs a big comic book store? he wondered.
"I'll be right back," Charles told them. "Will, you can stay in the car with Caroline."
Suddenly Darcy felt a wave of pure horror course through him; it wasn't necessarily the idea of being in the same car as Caroline that bothered him but rather that he was going to be alone with her. He did not want to give the woman any opportunity to sudden pounce upon him, or flirt with him.
"Um Charles, perhaps I should go with you," Darcy suggested, keeping the pleading tone out of his voice. He didn't want to sound desperate.
"Are you sure?" Charles asked with a puzzled expression.
Caroline looked back at Darcy with slow, 'sly', 'attractive' smile and conspiratorial wink. That was it! That truly made up Darcy's mind.
"Yes," he said hurriedly and was it just him or did he voice go up an octave?
"Oh, then I'll go with you," Caroline decided, much to Darcy's discomfort.
With a shrug, Charles got out of the car and opened the trunk, pulling out Darcy's wheelchair. Opening the door, Charles unfolded the chair and propped it alongside the car, offering his shoulder for Darcy to support himself on.
In one semi-smooth motion, Darcy plopped himself into his wheel chair and allowed Charles to back him up a bit so that the door could close. Wheeling around a bit, Darcy fast got adjusted to being back in his chair on wheels and was making his way to the handicap ramp. At least the store had the decency to have a ramp!
"Here goes nothing," he muttered, nearing the top of the ramp to where Charles held the door open for him.
Thank you to Micheala90 and The Brilliant Fool for your support.