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.

"What about this one?" Jane inquired to Lydia, trying to persuade her younger cousin to get involved in the on going search for good books. It wasn't working. Lydia and Kitty Phillips weren't ones to be taken with books.

"Give it up, Jane," Lizzie commented as she read the back of a book. "Those two don't read literature unless it is in a magazine with a bunch of men in uniforms. Oh, that sounds good!"

Lydia adjusted her tube top as she threw her cousin a playful glare. "I resent that Elizabeth, I read books from school," she pointed out.

"So do I," Kitty echoed as she tried to peep over a shelf at a couple of men that were by the hardcover books.

"Kitty, let me see," Lydia sighed, easily peeking over the shelves because she was clearly the tallest out of the five girls. "Ugh, why are you checking those two out? Well, I suppose that one guy is pretty cute but he would be better if he was in uniform."

Elizabeth and Jane exchanged glances.

"See? Those magazines are dangerous when they make our own cousins lose IQ points by having to check out any and every guy that they see, uniform or not," Lizzie remarked, hiding her face behind a book.

"Lizzie!" Jane playfully scolded.

"For your information Lizzie, those magazines are quite educational, which is more than what I can say about those books and comics you have your nose buried in all the time," Lydia countered. "Is that other guy a midget or something? Why is he so short?"

Kitty shrugged looking at the man her sister was talking about. "Maybe he's one of those midget people," she suggested.

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth glanced over the bookcase at the two men her cousins were talking of. It didn't take much of a look to know who they were, and there was no way that Elizabeth was going to get caught checking them out.

"Oh sh…" cringed Lizzie, slowly sliding to the floor.

"What is it Lizzie?" Jane inquired, her voice was dripping with concern. "It's not Joe, is it? I would have thought you would be happy to see Joe after he's been gone for so long…"

Elizabeth shook her head to make her sister stop. "It's…'

"Jane, what a surprise to run into you again," came the cheery voice of Charles Bingley.

"Him," Liz muttered, finishing her earlier sentence.

"Ch-Charles," Jane smiled, quickly collecting herself into the calm and ever charming persona. "My, this is a surprise indeed. Do you need help in searching for something because I can't help you, I don't work here."

Charles smiled, "No, I just wanted to come over here and say 'hello'."

"Oh," Jane blushed but Lizzie knew her sister too well, there had been a small sigh of relief from Jane.

Did she really think that he just thought of her as someone who helped others find stuff? Honestly, Lizzie thought, shaking her head only to notice that the guy in the wheelchair from the other day was behind Charles. Why is he here?!

"Uh? Charles, who is that?" Jane inquired, gesturing to the man in the wheelchair and Elizabeth almost blessed her sister aloud.

"Oh!" Charles exclaimed as though he was reminded of something he had forgotten. "Jane this is my friend William Darcy. Darcy this is Jane Bennet and her sister, Elizabeth."

Inwardly, Darcy groaned. He knew that Charles had emphasized the girl's name and the word 'sister' so that Darcy would recognize that these were the girls from the comic store the day before.

"Lizzie. Call me Lizzie please."

Darcy was grateful that Charles hadn't introduced him as 'Fitzwilliam', it was such an out of date name that it sounded so queer to hear it much less to say it.

"Nice to meet you William," Jane greeted, holding out her hand to shake Darcy's.

She is rather pretty, Darcy observed, eyeing Jane a bit. Nothing at all like her sister.

He shook her hand but Darcy didn't offer anything to say to either of the girls. Although he eyed Lizzie a bit then adverted his eyes and proceeded to pretend that she did not exist.

"Ugh-um!" coughed Lydia from behind, causing Jane and Lizzie to turn to their cousin in surprise. Whoops, they had forgotten all about their cousins and little sister.

Lizzie decided to spare Jane the introductions. "These are our cousins Kitty and Lydia Phillips, and in the back there is our younger sister Mary," she informed Charles and Darcy, pointing to a petite girl, head bent over a book in the Religious section.

"Pleasure," Charles assured but turned his attention immediately back to Jane. "Jane, I was wondering if you and Elizabeth would like to have some coffee with Darcy and I this morning, before he has to head off to a business meeting."

Biting the inside of her mouth, Lizzie tried not to smile. It was so cute to see this man indirectly ask her sister out on a date, especially considering that Jane's late date wasn't since high school and the guy was a jerk.

Shifting her eyes from Charles to his friend, Liz found a look of pure disdain on Darcy's features and it just hit Lizzie the wrong way. What is it? Aren't us comic book fans good enough to have coffee with him and his friend? Lizzie thought bitterly as she checked her watch.

"Actually, as much as I would love to do coffee with you guys, I can't. I've got to go to work soon and…" Elizabeth began to explain but Charles silenced her with a reassuring smile.

"If you need a ride I can give you one and on the way we can quickly order our coffees," he suggested and Liz gave him grateful smile while Lydia and Kitty giggled excessively in the background.

Ignoring her cousins Jane explained, "There is no coffee shop in town where you can just order coffee and go, unless it's the ground coffee in a bag that you want to take home and make."

"Really?" Charles asked, surprised. "No Starbucks or anything around here?"

"No," Jane answered.

Nodding his understanding, Lizzie still saw a tiny smile playing at Mr. Bingley's lips as they twitched a upwards a bit. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that had caught Lizzie's attention, Charles' friend Darcy did.

He was starring at her, not in the manner that simply said 'Go away,' just stared up at her and it unnerved Elizabeth a bit. What was it? Was there some sort of pen marking on her face or something? Was there a bit of breakfast still left on her teeth? What was it about her that attracted his stare?

Not being one to tolerate unwanted starring, Lizzie returned Darcy's stare with one of her own but adding a lifted eyebrow.

It shocked Darcy to say the most, he hadn't expected the girl, Elizabeth, to start starring at him. To be truthful, he hadn't noticed that he had been starring at Lizzie, he had just been trying to read the titles on the spine of the books behind her.

Adverting his eyes, Darcy pulled a random book off the shelf and began reading it while glancing up at his friend, waiting for Charles to close the conversation. That didn't seem like a possibility any time soon by Darcy's estimation as he observed Charles' behavior. The fool was infatuated with the girl, Jane.

Glimpsing from the book to Jane's sister, Darcy noticed that she was the same girl from the comic store the other day. Not that he cared much truly, it was just that he didn't wish hear how she deeply offended was at the comments he had related. That was the last thing he needed.

"I've got to get going, Jane," Lizzie interjected for a moment. "I'll see you later, tell mom and dad that I'll be a bit late tonight, I've got to close up again."

"Hey, do I get a discount on the comics?" Charles joked with a wink.

With a teasing smile, Lizzie replied, "No, I reserve that right for myself and my dad. It's was good to see you again Charles and nice meeting you Darcy." She might not have particularly liked the guy but that didn't mean Elizabeth was going to go against the manners she was raised upon.

Darcy had gave her the slightest of nods before Elizabeth left, leaving her sisters to deal with their cousins and the two men.

"Would you like to go out with me for some coffee after I drop Darcy off in the city?" Charles asked Jane with hopeful eyes.

"I can't, I have to work at the daycare center. Sorry, but I would love to sometime," assured Jane with a bit of a blush. Lydia and Kitty giggled a bit behind their cousin's back.

"Okay." Bingley was in no way disappointed with her answer, in fact he was devising a plan to get Jane to go out for coffee with him. Turning around, Charles found his friend pretending to read a book. "Ready to get going, Darcy?"

Putting the book back into its rightful place, Darcy nodded.

"It was nice meeting you Darcy," Jane said, holding out her hand to shake his.

Grasping the girl's hand for a second time, Darcy gave it a firm shake. "Same here," he stated, letting go of Jane's hand so he could wheel himself backwards.

"Nice meeting you girls," Charles waved to Lydia and Kitty. The girls gave him little waves before bursting out in a fit of giggles. "See you around Jane."

"See you."

Following Darcy out of the store, Charles kept turning back to see Jane and ended up tripping over random shelves and display stands. Darcy shook his head at his friend's clumsiness. What was so special about the girl?

"Oh…" Lydia spoke up, "Jane's got an admirer."

At this Jane blushed deeply and denied it, saying that Charles was just being nice.

"He wanted to go out for coffee with you," Kitty pointed out, causing her cousin to turn bright red in the ears.

"As friends," defended Jane, trying to regain her composure. "Are you girls done?"

Snorting at the pathetic attempt to change the subject, Lydia held up two teen magazines and a tabloid. "We're ready since we know that you want to get going so that you can see your Charles Bingley again, this time alone."

Ignoring her cousin's comment, Jane walked past them to her sister. "We're ready to leave whenever you are," she told her youngest sister.

Closing her book of Psalm, Mary nodded and adjusted her thick glasses. "I was just waiting for you," Mary informed her sister.

Nodding, Jane led the way to the cashier and paid for the books that she and Lizzie had wanted to purchase, as well as her cousin's and Mary's items. They would pay her later for the magazines, tabloids, and books.

He is not interested in me, stated Jane as she left the book store and went to her car. No, Charles couldn't be interested in someone like me.

Thank you to: Your Worshipfulness, EreshkigalGirl, TriGemini, Akanksha, Michaela90, harmony, Aly Spy, Clavel, missmcweir, and Monte. I never would have thought people would actually read this fic.