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.
It was going to be one long night that much was for certain, as Lizzie sat in the living room with her parents and Mary watching the news. Unfortunately for Lizzie and Jane, the weatherman had been right for once and it rained as Lizzie road her bike home from work and Jane rode hers to Charles' house for dinner, taking a spare set of clothes to change into.
Having gotten home early from work due to the weather and the few number of customers, Lizzie had began to study for her classes on Monday but soon found herself unable to concentrate. She was so worried about Jane riding alone in the rain to the Bingley house for dinner.
The confounded droplets of rain had not ceased falling all day; however, there was one thing about the rain that Lizzie was grateful for, she did not get to meet Collins, Kitty and Lydia's cousin. Kitty and Lydia were supposed to have brought Collins into the comic store that day but due to the rain, the girls had stayed home. So, Lizzie had been saved from having to be introduced to the man.
The phone rang and Lizzie leapt off of the couch to dash into the kitchen and retrieve the phone off its cradle.
"Bennet residence," she stated, trying not to sound too excited.
"Lizzie, it's Jane," Elizabeth sighed in relief, "I'm just calling to let everyone know that I made it to Charles' house safely and I am being well taken care of so that I don't catch a cold."
"Jane, you just couldn't call to cancel or ask for a ride, could you?" Lizzie smiled, turning around to lean against the refrigerator. She could see in her mind Jane blushing a bit for being seen through so easily. "Always trying not to be a burden upon anyone, even if you're not a burden."
"I just don't like to trouble or make others concerned for me," Jane replied.
"I was worried about you," Lizzie pointed out and a moment of silence followed. "Thank you for letting us know that you are safe though. How was dinner? Anything good on TV, beyond the news?"
Jane laughed a bit, "We haven't had dinner yet and there is no television in the house yet, only a radio and even is turned off since almost no one likes country music."
Lizzie pouted, "Aw…that's too bad. Well, I won't keep you from your dinner date anymore. Go, on and enjoy yourself, but you either stay over there tonight or have Charles give you a ride home later."
"I promise I will," vowed Jane. "Night Lizzie."
"Bye Jane." Hanging up the phone, Lizzie reentered the living room and sat down to start her work again. "Jane is at the house and she's safe."
Mrs. Bennet squealed in delight. "See my dear," she gushed, patting her husband's arm, "I told you having her ride out in the rain would not be so dangerous. Now, Jane will have to spend the whole night there from the sound of the storm coming our way."
Lizzie's head shot up when her mother admitted to sending Jane out in the rain on a bike.
"You did what! Please tell me you weren't the one to send Jane to Charles' house only on a bike!" she implored, watching as her father adverted his eyes in uneasiness and her mother beamed with pride.
"Of course I did, dinner is most certainly not a long enough time for those two to get to know each other. Sending her on bike has worked out for the best as Jane will have no reason but to stay there all night," Mrs. Bennet declared.
Outraged, Lizzie gripped at her English book and inhaled deep, sedated breathes to try to calm herself. She was angered with her mother, what so of irresponsible parent sends his or her child out in the rain on a bike!
Before Lizzie could contemplate the question the phone rang again.
Getting to her feet at a slower rate than before, Lizzie made it to the phone in two rings.
"Bennet residence, Lizzie speaking," she greeted in almost a growl.
"Wow, I didn't think you were going to be so disappointed with the news Lizzie, but as you have apparently read my mind, I just won't tell you," came Charlotte's teasing voice on the other side of the phone.
Elizabeth shook her head, sitting on the floor and playing with the telephone cord.
"Hey Char, what's up? What news are you talking about? The news about my mother having sent Jane over to Charles Bingley's house on bike in the rain, no less?" Lizzie returned in a bitter, sarcastic tone.
"Are you serious?" Charlotte exclaimed, surprised that anyone would do that, especially knowing country weather. "Damn…that sucks."
"She's safe though, she just called a few moments ago to let us know that she made it there safely, in some dry clothes, and was being taken care of," assured Lizzie, spinning the cord around her finger. "So what's your news?"
"Oh right, you are the first person to know, daddy wanted me to call you up and tell you that the barn raising party has been postponed until next Saturday due to the weather, especially since it's supposed to continue tomorrow," Charlotte informed Liz.
Nodding understandingly, Lizzie opened her mouth to say something but she heard the sound of a dial tone then nothing, and the lights began to flicker until they went out completely.
"Crap…dad, I thought you took care of the bills this month!" shouted Elizabeth, standing up as every image of horror movie villains flashed through her mind. It made her paranoid, there was a reason why she normally didn't watch horror movies, or at least hated to be in the dark.
"It's the storm that did that and I did pay the bills this month, thank you," answered Mr. Bennet, flickering open his lighter and began to light the three candles in the room. "Unfortunately, the storm is supposed to last all night."
"How bad is the storm?" Lizzie inquired, feeling her way into the living room. All she could see was the faintly lit faces of her parents and Mary as they all sat on the couches sipping their glasses of soda.
Mrs. Bennet shrugged, "According to the news it's supposed to be the worst storm of the season but I highly doubt that…" Something shattered upstairs causing everyone jump in sudden fright.
"I'll go check that," Mr. Bennet volunteered, getting up and making his way to the stairs. Along the way he grabbed the broom that had been leaning against the wall as Mary had been sweeping the kitchen earlier.
He held the broom in a defensive position in case there was a burglar in the house. "It's just a broken window, caused by a branch of the tree outside!" Mr. Bennet called down the stairs, much to the relief of everyone.
"How long is this storm supposed to last?" Lizzie questioned, hoping that maybe her ill luck had shifted to something, no matter how small, positive.
Mrs. Bennet clapped her hands and held a broad grin on her features. "All night."
Cursing profusely, Elizabeth went into the kitchen to the rack of jackets while her mother scolded her for having such a flowery vocabulary. Feeling each jacket, Lizzie groaned in frustration when she couldn't find a rain coat. With an irritated sigh, Lizzie grabbed the first sweatshirt she felt and put it on.
"Lizzie, what are you doing?" Mrs. Bennet cried, standing in the doorway of the kitchen trying to find her daughter in the darkness. "Mary, what is your sister doing?"
Mary looked up from the book she was trying to read in the candlelight. "I have no idea, perhaps going to the comic store or going over to Netherfield Farm," suggested the girl, squinting her eyes to see the words.
"Don't read in the dark honey, it'll ruin your eyes even more. Lizzie, where are you going? Are you going to the comic store, because I'm certain Lucas has already taken precautions with prepping that place for the storm..."
"I'm going to see Jane," Lizzie interjected, putting on some gloves which she wished were waterproof.
Even in the dark Lizzie could see her mother's disappointment and simmering anger that was all directed at her. Mrs. Bennet hated to have her plans fouled and the person who normally fouled them up was Lizzie, so Lizzie was used to feeling her mother's wrath.
"Why in the world are you going to Netherfield? Surely there is no reason to go there. Besides, it's three miles from here and you'd be traveling in the rain, you'd get sick1" persisted Mrs. Bennet, hiding her anger but it crept into her tone a bit.
"Mom, I have to go tell them that the barn raising party is postponed until Saturday," Lizzie responded as she donned her father's Batman baseball cap, to keep the rain out of her eyes as much as possible.
"I'm certain that they already know," Mrs. Bennet shrugged, waving off the subject with her hand.
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Mom, Char told me that I was the first to know, so trust me, they don't know," she countered, digging through the weather wear bin for a rain poncho.
"Then call them tomorrow morning," suggested mother.
"The phones are out and in case you forgot, the storm is supposed to last throughout the night, so the power may not come back on for a while as far as the telephone is concerned. And I bet you anything it's the same thing at Netherfield. Besides, they might end up going over to the party tomorrow anyways, not realizing that there is none," reasoned Lizzie, putting on her shoes.
If nationality had anything to do with personalities, then Lizzie was currently hating her mother's German blood that was causing her to be so stubborn.
"Well, you can go over there tomorrow morning to tell them or they may stop here to drop Jane off, she does have to change her clothes you know," Mrs. Bennet pointed out, much to Lizzie's annoyance.
"Mom, Caroline Bingley would probably lend her some clean clothes to wear and who are you trying to fool? You wouldn't let me go off to Netherfield tomorrow morning to tell them that the party got canceled while using the excuse that it's still raining," Lizzie retorted, opening the door. "Love you Mary, don't ruin your eyes too much tonight, and love you mom."
Leaving the house before her mother could say another word, Lizzie made her way to the garage to get her bike, but halted mid-way.
If I take the bike then I may end up falling more often than biking. So, the confounded thing might be more of a burden than useful, but if I walk it'll take me about an hour or more…Well, may as well get walking, I'll just cut across the farm land, it'll be a bit quicker, Lizzie decided, turning away from the garage and making her way in the direction of Netherfield farm.
She hadn't told her mother the real reason why she was going to Netherfield, it was partially because she didn't wish to be in the house in the dark without someone there who understood her fear of the dark. Plus, she didn't wish to leave Jane alone with Caroline Bingley to deal with, despite not knowing the woman too well Lizzie already knew that Caroline would probably make certain that Charles and Jane spent as little time as possible together.
However, now that Lizzie had some time to think about her explanation as to her coming she found that her excuse was weak.
Maybe I'll add in that I wanted to let them know how long the storm was going to last and to be prepared for the worst, possible flooding if the rain keeps falling like it is, Lizzie thought as she slipped when climbing over a gate. She felt the mud absorb into her sweatshirt, much to her disgust.
Getting up, Lizzie looked down at her shoes to find them covered in mud along with her socks.
"I should have worn my boots," Lizzie muttered.
Thank you to: Michaela90, nebulia, keeleyann, Clavel, anti-botox, non-damsel, and maritza chan (Yeah, most people don't understand why Darcy's in a wheelchair. Well, there's two reasons: One, because I wrote him in one, and two…well that will be explained later.) Thanks guys, especially Michaela90, thanks for the heads up on Katie.