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.
Luh! It was as horrible as he imagined. The store itself wasn't horrible, it was clean for the most part but there was already a box in his way as Darcy wheeled himself about, so that marked it down in his esteem.
"Are you going to be okay on your own for a moment?" Charles inquired, obviously eager to go comic hunting but at the same time worried about leaving his friend in an uncomfortable situation.
"I'll be fine as long as you don't take too long," Darcy nodded, knowing that the sooner he let Charles run off to find his comics the sooner they could get out of the store. Comics were the one thing that Darcy could never stand even as a young boy. No, his boyhood reading materials consisted solely upon classic literature and the newspaper, never this miniature books that cost three dollars an issue.
Wheeling himself about, Darcy browsed through the comics on a nearby shelf; it was a ploy he used when he was uncomfortable and wished to not attract unwanted attention. While flipping through a comic Darcy watched as Charles spoke with an average looking girl behind that counter, who in turn just pointed at two rows of boxes that had 'BACK ISSUES' written in black marker across the front.
Why did I come in here? Darcy asked himself.
"Can you believe that people actually do this sort of thing as a living?" came Caroline's voice from behind Darcy. She would stick by his side like glue until they left, much to Darcy's irritation.
Ah yes, that was why, he nodded to himself, placing the comic back on the shelf.
Liz was crouched on the other side of the shelves when the group had entered the store, the only person she saw was this really nice looking guy talking to Charlotte until she pointed at the back issue boxes, then he quickly made his way to them with the same giddy smile that Liz often wore on her face when she got hold of new comics.
Unfortunately, at the moment she was stuck just pulling out certain comics to put aside for some of their customers from surrounding towns. It was amazing how much work a store like a comic shop could get when it was the only one within a good 150 miles.
The beeper went off again and Lizzie heard her sister's voice announcing the arrival of food.
"Hey Jane," Lizzie heard Charlotte say, "could you go help that guy out, I think he might be getting lost with the back the issues."
"Sure thing," agreed Jane, as Elizabeth knew she would. Her sister had never learned to say 'no' and she was always happy to help anyone out in any way that was appropriate.
Liz watched her older sister make her way to the said guy and start talking to him. It was a bit funny to Lizzie because immediately the guy started to stumble over his words and sometimes even switch words in comic titles, like '100 Bullets' was now 'Bullets 100'.
Recalling herself to the task before her, Elizabeth turned back to the comics and pulled out the first issue of 'Thunder Cats vs. Battle of the Planets'. That was about the time when she heard someone on the other side comment, "This is ridiculous. I can't believe anyone could call himself a writer for just writing dialogue, is that even considered writing?"
Normally, Liz would have tuned out the person insulting comics, especially comic writers, but it was a bit hard since there was no music being played and there was a total of four, now five, people that she knew were in the store.
"No doubt," agreed a more deeper voice, obviously belonging to a male.
A bit offended, Lizzie began to stand up a bit.
That better be those stupid pre-teens again, she growled. For the last month a group of pre-teens had been periodically coming into the store to make jibes and insults about comics even though not one of them had ever picked up a comic. So, if it was those kids again then it wasn't a problem.
Elizabeth didn't have to stand up all the way to see that there was a tall woman standing on the other side staring at some comics in disgust, but there was no one else standing beside her.
Slowly crouching down again, Liz set aside the comics she had picked and crawled to end of the shelves.
"Mew…" meowed Charlotte's cat, Hertford, as it brushed up against someone's leg, begging for attention.
"They even let a cat roam free, how nice for the people allergic to them," the woman commented as she looked down at the cat in disgust.
Thank you for stating the obvious, Lizzie retorted as she glanced around the shelf to see the woman standing behind a guy in a wheelchair, who Hertford was busy rubbing against.
Not saying anything, the guy picked up Hertford and let the cat sniff at his hand before letting the guy pet his fur. The guy obviously didn't want to be in the store.
So why are they here if they're just going to insult other people? Lizzie questioned.
"Trust me Darcy, you will find most people here to be very rude. Like only this morning, I almost got run over by a person on a bike. The girl didn't even bother to apologize to me," the woman related to the guy, who in turn just nodded, his attention completely upon the cat.
Liz groaned a bit, she hadn't meant to run anyone over. Besides, she pointed out, I did say 'sorry', thank you very nice!
"Can you believe that girl behind the counter?" the woman inquired in a low voice making it sound like it was something scandalous. "Is it some sort of requirement to have to wear baggy shirts with childish cartoon characters printed on them? Seriously, it is as though every comic freak must wear a shirt to state that they are comic freaks, what do you think Darcy?"
Glancing down at her 'Justice' shirt, Elizabeth frowned. Jane had made the shirt for her as a Christmas present; it was based off of their own comic book character. There was nothing childish about it, it wasn't drawn like some sort of cartoon character like Bugs Bunny or Popeye, who Liz felt was one of the greatest classic characters.
Looking up from his stroking, Darcy looked at Charlotte. He had to admit it, Caroline had a point, even Charles would wear shirts featuring comic book characters like Batman or X-Men, or even Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"Well, Darcy?" urged Caroline, biting her lip, she hoped that she hadn't offended him in some way.
Picking up the cat, Darcy put it back on the floor. "The shirts are childish and could have been drawn by a five year old. Most of these 'artists' are rather talentless, much like the writers."
That was it. Liz stood up from her hiding spot and approached the two.
"May I help you two?" she inquired nicely. Don't let them know that you heard them speaking. Don't let them know that you…
"No, we're just waiting for my brother to be done," Caroline answered, giving Elizabeth a quick up-down look to assess her.
"Oh, my bad then, I thought you two were looking through the Marvel comics," Liz shrugged, plucking the last issue of '1602' off the shelf. "If you haven't read them you really should because Neil Gaiman did an excellent job with the writing. He wrote the 'Sandman' comics as well and the book Coraline. He's quite the accomplished writer."
Darcy bit the inside of his mouth, he could just feel the heat that radiated off the girl's words. He knew that she had heard them talking and apparently had taken offense of their comments, but Darcy was not sorry for what he had said.
"Thanks but no," Caroline refused with a sour look on her face that she tried to cover up with a tight smile.
The girl just shrugged and went over to the other side of the shelves where she bent down and came back up with an armful of comics. That confirmed Darcy of his suspicions. She had heard what he and Caroline had said.
Oh well, it is not as though she knows who I am or that I shall ever see her again after this moment, he assured himself as Charles approached them carrying five different bagged comics.
"Find what you were looking for Charles?" Caroline questioned, eyeing the comics.
"Yes, thanks to Jane's help. I take it you two are ready to leave," Charles smiled knowingly. "I'll go pay these then we can leave."
"Then go do so," Darcy encouraged, he did not wish to spend anymore time in that store, especially since he could hear the two girls-the one behind the counter and the one that was offended-laughing about something.
Charles went over the counter and set the comics down.
Lizzie was standing beside the guy when he set down the comics for Charlotte to scan. Reading through the titles Liz saw two 'X-Men' issues, one 'Superman', and two '100 Bullet' issues. She had read all of the issues and even owned four out of the five, she was missing the 'Superman' issue.
"Wow, filling in the holes of your collections?" she commented absently.
"Yeah," Charles nodded, "it's rather amazing that I even found these issues. Most comic stores I go to are usually sold out or have the prices jacked up to twenty dollars an issue, this is the first store I've seen with all of these comics and at decent prices."
"Ah well, then you have Liz to thank for that," Charlotte stated as she calculated the comics. "That would be $18.25."
Charles paid Charlotte a twenty and she quickly got out his change, the girl was almost like a human calculator.
"Lizzie," Jane interrupted from behind her sister. "Here's your food." Jane handed Liz the Styrofoam cup of soup and a spoon then simply stated, "I can't stay long because I have to get back to the brats, as you call them."
Lizzie pouted, she liked having her sister around, it made work even more fun during the long hours before the store actually got a bit busy.
"Okay then, I'll see you later," Lizzie smiled, giving her big sister a hug.
"Hey, huh, if you want a ride I can…give you one," Charles offered, generously.
Jane smiled but she knew better, and she pointed that out to him. "I wouldn't want to be a burden to a complete stranger."
It amazed Liz sometimes how sweet and polite her sister could be even when rejecting a guy of any sort of offer. It was a talent that she wished to possess, it would make life easier and possibly a bit more painless.
"Sorry, Charles Bingley," the guy said holding out his hand to her. Without any resistance, Jane shook his hand with the same gentle smile she gave everyone else, but Elizabeth sensed something was different about it.
"Jane Bennet and this is my sister Elizabeth, then this is our friend Charlotte Lucas," Jane introduced indicating to her two companions.
"Well, since I can't give you a ride to your work, then I hope to see you around," Charles grinned, earning a bit of a blush from Jane, much to Lizzie's surprise. Her sister never blushed under any guy's complement.
"Perhaps you will," she returned, grabbing her bag of food and took off for the door.
After Jane had left, Liz felt the urge to tell Charles that her sister was available but she figured that Jane wouldn't appreciate it if Elizabeth began to try and play matchmaker. It happened once in high school and that hadn't ended too well.
"Well, it was nice to meet you two and I'll probably be stopping by more often," Charles told Charlotte and Liz as he glanced over at his companions.
"We hope so," Charlotte replied before Charles took his bag of comics and approached his friends.
Charlotte and Lizzie watched as the three left, Charles holding the door open for the guy in the wheelchair. When the door closed Charlotte turned to Liz with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you sure it was that guy in the wheelchair? He looked like someone who would know when to keep his thoughts and opinions to himself, unlike the girl," Charlotte commented.
"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving," Liz pointed out, placing the stack of comics on the counter. "Here are all the comics, now you sort them and I'll finish up with inventory."
Thank you to: Nerweniel, non-damsel, Anna, ogoiog, TriGemini, and Micheala90. Thank you all for your reviews. I'm glad I sparked some interest.