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.
Marching season is finally over with and I'm now back to updating my fics as much as possible. Thank you for your patience.
It wasn't until well after ten that Elizabeth came home, mentally exhausted after having read seven of the twelve chapters for her British English course. To make matters worse, the normal rush hour came into the store after six and stayed until past closing time.
Despite all of this, Lizzie, being the good daughter she was, still remembered to buy her dad a box, some bags, and boards to store his comics in. The man collected comics like crazy and he relied upon his daughter to provide him the materials to preserve his illustrated books.
Entering the multipurpose room, Lizzie set the box, the bags and boards inside, down at her father's foot.
"Got you your box, boards, and bags," she sighed, flopping down on the couch beside her dad. "I hope they keep you busy for a while."
"Thank you Lizzie and you have a present too," Mr. Bennet commented as he reached over the arm of the couch.
Intrigued, Elizabeth raised a questioning eyebrow as she waited for her father to pull out whatever the present was. As he straightened, Mr. Bennet pulled up a box with the label 'Westfield Comics' on the side.
"Our comics came in today," grinned Mr. Bennet, handing Lizzie a huge bagful of comics and two graphic novels. "I might borrow your trade paper backs when I get done with my comics."
"That's quite alright dad," Lizzie assured as she scanned over the titles of each comic, trying to recall when she ordered them and which ones were back issues that she had been waiting six months for.
"Lizzie," Mr. Bennet spoke up after a few moments of sitting quietly while watching 'Clean Sweep'.
"Mmh?" was his daughter's only response as she opened one of her graphic novels.
Still watching the television, Mr. Bennet inquired, "Your mother has been pestering me into meeting a young man by the name of Charles Bingley, you don't happen to know anything about this do you?"
It took Elizabeth a couple of minutes to recollect the events of the day before she realized that she knew the name. "Yeah, he stopped in to buy some back issues of a couple comics. He seemed to like Jane, offered her a ride back to the daycare center."
"Ah…well then, that solves my dilemma, I can just tell your mother that you girls have already met the man and that there is no reason for me to meet him at all," decided Mr. Bennet, taking a sip of his soda.
Elizabeth knew that her parents were in a strange, unexplainable love despite the fact that they were polar opposites of each other. Whereas Mrs. Bennet was outgoing and talkative; Mr. Bennet was distant and quiet, always standing aloof as he observed those around him. It was something Lizzie admired about him, his keen eye for detail.
"Well, I'm off to bed; mom wants to go see Aunt Phillips tomorrow. I'm thinking of perhaps hinting to Lydia and Kitty that Lucas is hiring again, maybe one of them will actually fill out an application this time," Lizzie commented, standing up and stretching out her arms.
Mr. Bennet snorted, "Knowing your cousins Lizzie, I would highly doubt that they will even consider picking up an application while using your uncle's wedding as an excuse."
Lizzie groaned, she did not want to be reminded that in the coming weeks she would be stuck in a bridesmaid skirt and tight shirt, which pinched her skin. It wasn't that she wasn't happy that her Uncle Edward was getting married, it was just that she didn't want to be standing up in a skirt and high heels.
"Night dad," Lizzie said as she left the room.
Upon entering her room on the second floor, Elizabeth saw another box on her bed that had an 'AMP Comics' label on it. She grinned and shook her head.
My 'Shades of Blue' finally came in after all this time, she sighed, setting her comics on her dresser and changing into a larger t-shirt with baggy pants.
Once Lizzie was fully clothed for bed there was a knock on her door. Turning around, Elizabeth saw Jane in the doorway hiding something behind her back.
"I see you got your comics," Jane commented, nodding towards the stack of comics on the dresser then to the box on the bed. "Anything good to read?"
"Definitely," grinned Lizzie, noticing the unusual shifting of weight in her sister's stance. "What are you hiding behind your back, Jane? Is it some sort of love letter? Or perhaps a publisher letter?"
Jane laughed, "If only Lizzie. No, it is not a love letter, only the covers of our comic and the first three pages."
The reaction was instant, Lizzie's jaw dropped in amazement as her eyes went wide awe. How was that possible? How could her sister have gotten all that done within three days?
"Of course," Jane added, ignoring her sister's reaction, "I haven't added the color or done any of the inking. So far it's all just pencil work but I wanted you to have a look at them to see if they're okay."
Pulling out a large pad of paper from behind her back, Jane handed it to Elizabeth, who eagerly took it, and waited nervously as the younger Bennet sister looked over the art. Both covers were beautifully done to give an idea of what the comic was about but not giving away the story line. Then the three comic pages were excellent, each frame capturing every thought Elizabeth had in her mind while writing the pages.
"Wow Jane, you really outdid yourself with these," Lizzie complimented in awe. "Could you possibly make this frame a bit larger to show emphasis and then make this one here a bit smaller?"
Looking at the mentioned frames Jane examined them then nodded. "No problem. So, when is the first issue going to be done?"
Slapping her forehead, Elizabeth winced a bit, she hit her head harder than she meant to. "I'm hoping that before Christmas I'll have it done for you, but I'll try to have the next page done for you by tomorrow if you can wait that long," promised Lizzie. "In the meantime, have you shown these to Mary yet? She would probably like to see them."
Jane shook her head, her expression falling a bit. "She claimed to be too busy. I'm a bit worried about her Lizzie, I know that she usually is reading books but to be studying as hard as she is right and for such a lengthy period of time, it cannot be healthy," Jane replied.
Elizabeth nodded knowing that Mary was quite the bookworm but she never locked herself in her room just to study before. Now Mary wouldn't leave her room for food, causing Jane to worry for her.
"Well," Lizzie spoke up, "why don't we take her to the book store while mom visits Aunt Phillips. We can take Kitty and Lydia with us as well, then that way we can say that we did something with our cousins."
"Lizzie, it's not that bad to spend some time with Kitty and Lydia," Jane insisted.
"Sure, when they're not chasing after military men," Lizzie remarked sarcastically as she thought of how her two cousins shamelessly flirted with a stranger who had a uniform on, usually it was a Navy or Air Force uniform. "Enough about Kitty and Lydia, what do you think of Charles?"
"He was a very nice man, very polite to me when I was helping him with the comics. I like him," Jane answered, not quite certain at what Liz was trying to get at.
Smiling, Elizabeth nodded her agreement. "That's for sure, it's more than what can be said about his friends though."
"Why?" Jane inquired. "What happened?"
If there was one thing Darcy could credit to this country town it was the house Charles was leased. It was a large two story farm house with a field of corn in the back and pumpkins off to the side, then in a small patch grew strawberries, tomatoes, and carrots.
Granted, Darcy didn't think much of the country life but this he found to be quite satisfying. It was quiet with a good mile and a half distance from the neighbors, the closest being the Lucas family then the Bennet family. So, Darcy had his peace and quiet, at least when Caroline was not hanging about him.
"So, what do you think Darcy?" Charles asked as he stood in the doorway to the library. "I know it's nothing to Pemberley but…"
Holding up a hand, Darcy silenced his friend. "Charles, I believe it was you who put it as such, 'no place can compare to Pemberley'. With that statement I would have to say that this place cannot compare to my home but it is comfortable for me to stay in for a while," Darcy assured.
"That's good to know," Charles smiled, sitting down on a chair. "What do you think of the town?"
Darcy's eye twitched in his efforts to keep from wincing. "It is exactly as I always thought it would be; quaint," he stated, not wanting to damper his friend's high hopes for no reason. Besides, where Charles lived was none of Darcy's business, right?
"What of the people?" Charles questioned, eagerly.
Now Darcy was interested, Charles knew what Darcy's opinion of people in general was; so, why was he asking?
"I have yet to speak with anyone of the town, although you have apparently," Darcy noted with a raised eyebrow. "Who did you meet and become friends with now? A young teen, the cook, or the flight attendant?"
"Actually I met her at the comic store," Charles admitted, growing red in the ears, causing Will to frown. Charles had this horrible habit of falling in and out of love with the wrong kind women at the wrong times.
"She was really sweet and was quite a beauty," continued the love-struck fool while his friend shook his head. "It's the truth Darcy, you ought to meet her because she was such a cute girl with a wonderful smile."
With a sigh Darcy egged Charles on, "Besides her smile and looks did you get her name?"
"Yeah, it's Jane Bennet, and she has a sister that was kind of cute, and might I add, I think she might be available too."
Darcy threw a playful glare at Charles. "You know how I feel about being set up with a stranger, especially some sort of country bumpkin," the handicapped man reminded as he wheeled his way to the door.
"Right…can't blame me for trying to get you to socialize with someone beyond my sister," Charles shrugged as he rose to his feet. "Well then old man, how does searching for some books for my library tomorrow sound to you?"
Rolling down the hall to his room, Darcy turned around to face Charles. "Sounds like heaven to me in comparison to spending the day with your sister following me about."
"Cool beans!"
Watching Charles make his way to the staircase, Darcy shook his head. Who said 'cool beans' beyond sophomore year in high school?
Only Charles would say something like that and make it sound natural.
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