Me and You Are Not a We

by Faith Zingeswar

Pride and Prejudice re-imagined and set in 1980's Virginia. William Darcy is a film producer and is looking to break out of his comfort zone and create a documentary. To do so, he will need Lizzy Bennet's help. Lizzy is an aspiring author who needs a chance. Helping Darcy with his documentary might just be the jumpstart her writing career needs.

5. Chapter 5 Lizzy

Author's Note: I found it so hard to write in Nia's voice for this chapter. I feel like I have a hang on Darcy's voice. I can imagine him in my head – how he responds to situations, his pet peeves, his strengths, weaknesses, etc., but I'm still figuring that out with Nia. Also, I re-read Pride and Prejudice for inspiration and I never realized how uninteresting Jane Austen's Mary is (Amanda in my story). She's average looking with average musical abilities even though she works really hard at her craft, also she's socially inept and a little arrogant.

Also, re-reading Darcy and Elizabeth's scenes, I totally see how Darcy thought Elizabeth was in love with him too. She thought she was being snarky but the way she phrases things could easily be seen as playful flirting ie. when she mentions that she walks the path at Rosings often expecting him to avoid it, but he read it as 'walk this path so we can see each other more often'.

Anyway, thank you again for taking the time to read, favorite, review, and follow my work. I appreciate the support. I made small edits to chapter 2 (just changed newspaper to magazine) nothing worth re-reading the chapter over).

Stay Happy, Stay Golden!

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Chapter 5: Lizzy

"Dear Nancy, the other women in my neighborhood are intentionally leaving me out of their get-togethers. I watch through my window and see them all heading to Annie May or Betty Lou's house with cookies and pies. Nobody ever invites me. I know that they're jealous because my husband makes more money than theirs and I have nicer clothes, but I can't help that, now can I? They don't know how to act around me because I'm basically a celebrity – on account of my being much wealthier and classier than they. How do I let them know that I don't mind having poor friends? I get awfully lonely sitting in my big house all by my lonesome. Sincerely, Mrs. Lonely."

"Dear Mrs. Lonely, maybe if you stop being so self-centered and annoying your neighbors will want to invite you to their parties. Fix your messed-up attitude or stay alone. Ya feel?" I look up from my typewriter and gaze at the wooden slabs lining the ceiling. I have been working on this piece for the past two hours with no success.

This week's inquiries to Dear Nancy include a litany of particularly privileged problems. There are always one or two borderline insane questions, but I can usually muster up responses equal parts biting reality and witty quips. This week's answers have all been biting reality with none of the humorous quips. Answers guaranteed to endear no one to Dear Nancy. I know that our readers tend to err on the born-with-a-silver-spoon side, but have they always been this…snobby? Maybe my fight with Jim Barnes opened my eyes wider, but I am especially taken aback by the drivel I am tasked with answering this week. The thought of having to write for this column for the rest of my life makes me want to claw my eyeballs out. I just cannot do this anymore.

"Ugh!" I heavily sigh as I crumple up the column I just wasted my time typing and toss it behind the door. I let out another labored, over-dramatic sigh before heaving myself out of my desk chair.

Ever since my meeting with Jim Barnes, all of my pieces have been angry and bitter sounding. No matter how much I try, I can't get out of this negative headspace. I'm so mad that I let him get to me like this. I give him this power over me, and I let him define my worth as a writer. I appreciate the opportunity to write for such a prestigious magazine, but at the same time I have bigger dreams to pursue.

"I'm so over this."

"Elizabeth, sweetie, what's wrong?" Janet glides into the room her hair pin curled up and her dress billowing around her legs as she moves. She daintily sits on the edge of our bed and crosses her ankles before turning to give me her full attention.

"Everything I write has been trash. I can't hit the right note on any of these pieces. Also, the problems for this week have been ridiculous. Why are all of my readers so entitled? Why can't somebody write in with a problem that isn't due to a character flaw? Like, am I asking for too much?"

"Oh sweetie," Janet gets up from her perch and takes both of my hands in hers. "I always thought you have way more potential than that magazine you write for. Do you want to quit?"

I take a deep breath, debating if I want to share my hesitation with my sister. "I've thought about quitting a lot, but I don't want to quit until I have something else lined up. I've applied for some position and submitted some of my pieces to different magazines and newspapers, but so far, nothin'. I haven't had time to really put effort into writing anything new, so I've been submitting old pieces. Nothing timely. It's frustrating because I need to quit to have time to work on my writing, but this job with Jim Barnes is the only way I can save up money for classes, so I can get better at my writing. Ugh, maybe I should just quit and get married like mom is always telling us to do."

Janet laughs. "Oh Lizzy, you can't be serious. Give up writing and settle down before your career's taken off? Not on my watch." Janet pauses to think for a moment. "You need a break. Amanda is talking about checking out some club uptown. It's usually really exclusive, but she has an in for tonight. It's a real ritzy place. We'll have a girl's night. It'll be so much fun!"

I consider it for a moment. "James isn't coming?"

Janet looks away from me. "No, he's busy tonight. He's already left." I know that busy is codeword for hanging out with those no good Dosesee boys, but I don't push the issue further. I'll have to chew him out the next time I see him.

"Amanda said that there are executive types hanging out at this club. Directors and publishers. You might be able to meet your future editor tonight. You don't want to miss your destiny, do you?" Janet bites her lip excitedly and raises her eyebrows waiting for my response.

I smile up at her. "Alright, you've convinced me. I'll join ya'll for a bit. Who's driving?"

Janet looks at me knowingly, "Don't worry I'm driving. I won't be drinking, so I'll be right as rain to drive everybody back. Lianna will be sitting in the back on the way home so any distractions she might cause will be contained to the backseat."

I laugh. "Good, cause I'm not having a repeat of last time when she threw up all over the dash and Amanda freaked out and almost hit a lamppost."

Janet is full out laughing too. "Oh no. I'll never forget Amanda's face when she hopped out of the car onto the highway screaming about being covered in puke. There was maybe one drop on her sleeve."

"Not even that," I yell. "I'm pretty sure Lianna missed her entirely and got all of it on the jacket I let her borrow. Thank God for pre-soaking in ammonia or I'd have taken Lianna's store earnings for the year to buy a new one."

"She is definitely not drinking tonight. We have to take turns watching her. I didn't want her to come, but Momma insisted we bring her too. We can't leave poor Lianna sitting by herself bored and all alone."

"Our mother is ridiculous. She's the only mother in the world who actively advocates for her underage daughter to go out and get drunk in strange places."

Janet shrugs at my statement and begins rifling through my closet looking for something acceptable for me to wear. She pulls out a green dress and tosses it to me. "Hurry up and get dressed, so I can do your hair."

It takes us under an hour to be ready and soon we're in the car waiting for Lianna who forgot her fake ID. You have to be 18 to enter this club, so Amanda made it by a few weeks and of course, Janet and I are safe. The drive to the club is long but Lianna entertains us with outrageous stories from her week and Amanda sings us a few verses from a new song she's working on. We park the car a little way from the club entrance and make it inside without a hitch.

"Ohhh, this is my jam!" Lianna yells over the thumping music before bopping her way onto the dance floor. Within minutes she is surrounded by men eager to dance with her and buy her drinks.

"I'll keep an eye on her," I state with an eye roll as I watch Lianna take a cup offered to her by a complete stranger. Before she can down the contents, I elbow my way in and grab the cup out of her hand.

"Hey!" Lianna yells pawing at the drink in my hand.

"Only water and non-alcoholic fruit juice tonight. You're way too young to be drinking liquor. Remember what happened last time you got drunk? Yeah, that's what I thought. Also, don't take cups from strangers."

Lianna lets out a heavy sigh. "Fiiiinne." She turns to the guy she had previously been dancing with. "My sister is being a buzzkill. Can you buy me a coke?" She makes sure to pointedly enunciate coke, so I know how stupid she finds my rules. Then she looks up at the guy with wide innocent eyes, and he hurriedly nods his head and leads her to the bar. I guess that's the best I can do for Lianna right now. I've lost sight of Janet and Amanda, so I bounce along the edge of the dance floor while keeping an eye on Lianna. She's back out on the dance floor, once again surrounded by men vying for her attention. She's like a man magnet. I take a seat at the bar and survey my surroundings. I've only ever been to some local clubs in our area and they're usually full of people from the neighborhood dancing to the funky tunes of James Brown and Diana Ross while drinking moonshine crafted by someone's Uncle Tyrone.

This club…this club is different. The demographics are all over the place. Everybody's talking to everybody as if color divides don't exist. The DJ is playing a mix of music. Some I don't know, but most of it is songs by singers I do know. They play this one song I really like "Don't Stop Believing," and I can't help but smile. This place seems like a middle ground, a true melting pot. Under the influence of alcohol and whatever else is floating around, everybody seems more tolerant, more open.

"What are you doing sitting all by yourself? Pretty as you are, I can't believe I made it to you before the pack of men descended." I am thrown back by the smooth-talking guy in front of me. He's dressed in a sharp suit and his hair is neatly combed out. He extends a hand and I take it just as the song is shifting. The song changes to my favorite song of all time, Thriller.

"I love this song," I yell to my partner as I start to sway to the beat. When the words start, I hit every move I saw in the music video including the infamous hands up, dead man's walk to each side. My partner, whose name I find out is Jeremiah can hold his own pretty well. A good portion of the dance floor is dancing along with us. When the song is over, people come over to praise my dancing skills and Jeremiah asks for a couple more dances. Before long, I'm sweating and all grooved out.

"Lianna!" I exclaim in a panic. I've completely forgotten about watching her.

"Who," Jeremiah asks. I think he was in the middle of saying something or asking something, but I am too concerned about Lianna to try and figure out what he might have said.

"My little sister. I'm supposed to be watching her. Making sure she doesn't drink or take any drugs. I'm sorry. It was nice meeting you, but I have to find her." In a hurry, I rush back to the bar to see if she's maybe there. I search the row of chairs but don't see anybody resembling Lianna and her wild head of curls. After a few seconds of searching while standing on a barstool, I get a feeling as to where she might be. Once I run into the women's bathroom, I discover that my hunch is correct.

I smell Lianna before I see her. Putrid alcohol and tonight's dinner are being retched from her stomach into the porcelain toilet underneath her. Her dress is hiked up and strands of her hair are in the toilet bowl. Her shoes are sitting next to her and her arms are draped over the toilet. If I wasn't so mad at her, I might express more empathy for her current situation.

I rush into the stall and examine her. Her eyes are a little bloodshot.

"Lizzyyyy, where'd the music go?"

"Come on, we're going home." I pull her up by her armpits and lean her against me as we stumble out of the bathroom.

"Why are you always such a buzzkill? I'm fine. I'm fine!" Lianna pushes away from me and starts to stumble by herself. "See, I can… I can walk allllll byyyyyyy myyyyyyself." Lianna goes a few more steps before slumping onto a wall. "Completely and totally okay."

"Sure. You look completely fine," I sardonically reply as I grab her arm again.

"No, Liz. I don't need help." Lianna pulls away from me again and stumbles into a tall man with his back to us. He isn't holding a drink to spill, Thank God.

"Good thing you were there to stop my fall," Lianna giggles as the man jumps away from her in total disgust. I grab Lianna's arm before she can walk back over to the guy and embarrass us further.

Before I can apologize for her, the guy looks at his friend and spits out, "I don't know why you hang around these disgusting people. They're all just a bunch of whores."

"Darcy!" The other man replies as the rude jerk pushes past him and heads towards the club entrance. I don't get a good look at his face before he leaves, but hopefully, I never have to see that man again.

Disgusting people… Whores… Really? It's a club, there are drunk people. I get being angry if Lianna spilled something on him or did some serious damage, but his angry language was completely uncalled for.

A man's voice breaks my reverie. "I am so sorry you had to hear that. He's not usually like that. I think something happened. I don't know. That's still no excuse for his behavior. He's usually a standup guy."

"Yeah, he seems like a real swell fella." I sarcastically reply, smiling and tossing my arm to the other side in a gesture of fake sincerity as I watch the irate man walk towards the club exit.

The man still looks embarrassed, so I cut him some slack and extend my hand out for a shake. "I'm Elizabeth. Lizzy for short. I promise I'm not trying to get anywhere near Hollywood."

"Charlie Martin. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Behind a flurry of people, Janet comes rushing over to me. I turn away from Charlie and towards Janet when she shouts out my name.

"Lizzy, I've been looking for you all over. Where have you been?"

Janet looks over my shoulder at Charlie, and then the Earth shifts into perfect alignment, the polarity of gravity reverses and pigs everywhere develop wings and fly… or something like that. Janet and Charlie make eye contact, and a magnetic force draws them closer and repels me away from the field. Soon they are directly in front of each other.

"Charlie."

"Janet."

I listen to their conversation for a bit, before going off to find Amanda, Lianna in tow.

"You have just the look for movies. Have you ever acted or modeled? You'd be an amazing actress."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't be any good."

"Oh, yes, you definitely would be. Your face could sell manure if you put it on an ad."

Janet laughs with the girlish giggle she reserves for suitors like Mr. Moore. The one that is genuine enough to make the guys think that they are the next Eddie Murphy, but fake enough not to require too much effort.

"You just have a really… trusting face. I mean you're beautiful, don't get me wrong, but you're also so much more. Sorry, I'm rambling. You don't even know me." Charlie chuckles softly and runs his hand through his hair.

Janet is at a complete loss for words. I don't think she's ever met a man who didn't try to compare her to some Greek goddess. A man who used an adjective to describe her that was not synonymous to pretty.

I leave the happy couple be and go out in search of Amanda. I spot her sitting at a table in the corner looking sullen.

"Lianna's drunk, we have to go now. What happened to you?"

"Nobody was interested in my demo or coming to one of my shows. Most of them wouldn't even give me more than a cursory glance before moving on to talk to some stunning blonde or busty brunette. It's hopeless Lizzy." Amanda throws her hands up in defeat and then drops them onto the table to cradle her tear-streaked face.

"I'm so sorry, Amanda, but this is not the place to cry. It's gross and grimy in here. Let's get Janet and head home so you can tell me more." Amanda stands up and thankfully grabs Lianna's other arm assisting me with dragging the semi-conscious, still slightly struggling Bennet back to Janet so that we can all leave together.

Amanda spots Janet and Charlie first and beelines towards them pulling Lianna and I with her.

"Janet, we have to go."

"Oh Amanda. Lizzy, I didn't realize you left. And… oh, Lianna." Janet looks down at Lianna disapprovingly before hastily turning to Charlie. "It was so nice meeting you, but I have to go with my family."

"What were the two of you talking so intently about?" Amanda asks curiosity getting the better of her.

"I was just letting this angelic lady know how she would make an amazing actress or model. Heck if she can carry a tune and stay on beat, she would make an amazing singer and dancer too. I'd love you to meet my agent. He would definitely want to sign you. Also, I'm Charlie by the way."

"I have to pee," Lianna exclaims as she squirms under my tight grip.

"Okay, let's get you to the bathroom, so we can all go home. Come on Amanda. Janet, you stay here, we'll be right out." I drag Lianna back to the bathroom, Amanda in tow. My biceps will be very well-defined after all of the dragging I'm doing.

"Are you sure?" Janet whispers out of earshot of Charlie. "I should help you."

"No, stay," I casually reply, "Go ahead, flirt, network, whatever you want to call it. Don't pass up your opportunity to be a star. I'm as sober as judge. I've dealt with Lianna in much worse states, so I'll be fine. We'll be quick. Stay here and get his number." I smile.

We move through the bathroom line quickly and leave Lianna in the stall by herself while we stand right outside the door.

"See," Amanda looks down at me with forlorn eyes and a resigned frown, "I've been coming to this club trying to get discovered for months. Janet shows up once, gets hit on by everybody and gets signed to some hotshot label. My showbiz career is at its plateau. This is as good as it gets for someone like me."

"Hey, we don't know if Charlie is legit. We just met the guy. He seems nice enough but who's to say he doesn't deliver pizza for a living. We don't know. Besides, Amanda, you're so talented. You have so much more to achieve. You have – "

Amanda holds up her hands to silence me. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up Lizzy, but you and I both know that I'm no Janet. Agents are searching for a specific kinda look and I don't got it."

I frantically think of what to say to combat Amanda's defeatist speech. "Amanda, you have so much to offer the world. Not everybody cares so much about looks. Hey, at least you got your foot in the door with the hotshots that come to Old Blue's."

Amanda looks away and sighs. "Yeah, well, I'm afraid it might never get past the door."

I don't know what I can say to make her feel better, so I let the silence between us grow. It lingers awkwardly despite the loud music and yelling all around us. Lianna comes out and washes her hands, and I pretend to fuss over her to combat the awkward silence that engulfed us.

"I think I'm going to head to the car with Lianna. Keep her from getting into any major trouble while you get Janet. I'll see you in a bit?"

Before I can even say "yeah sure", Amanda has walked away from me pulling a still stumbling Lianna with her. I am left standing in the middle of a crowded bathroom wondering if I said the right thing. I shake out of my funk and go looking for Janet. She is right where we left her still being chatted up by that Charlie fellow. I watch my sister smile and nod with a look of captivation. I go over and link arms with her.

"I'm going to have to steal my sister away from you Charlie you've been talking to her long enough."

Charlie looks a little flustered as he sputters, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to monopolize you. Of course, yeah, steal away. Oh, but first, when, where can I see you again?"

"You said to stop by the studio anytime, right?"

"Yeah, the humongous building on the corner of Linden and Pemberley. You can't miss it. I'm usually there working in the afternoons during the week, but if you come on a Saturday, I can give you the full tour and introduce you to everybody."

"Okay, I'll try to make it up there this Saturday."

A huge smile breaks out across Charlie's face as excited energy radiates from him. Then as an afterthought, he throws in, "And of course, Lizzy you're welcome to come as well."

I smile back but reply, "I think my skills are better suited behind the camera, not in front of it. I'm too blunt for performing; all the subtlety of a freight train." I pause considering if I should mention Amanda. I throw caution to the wind and bring her up anyway. "My sister, Amanda, on the other hand, is a natural-born performer. I'm sure she'd have a cow if she could be on a real movie set."

"Yes, sure, the more the merrier." He turns to Janet, "Bring her with you when you visit."

"Will do," Janet smiles. "Saturday?"

"Saturday."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Oh brother," I exclaim as Janet allows me to pull her towards the exit. If I left it up to her, she would stay here making googly eyes at Charlie until the sun came up.

"See you Saturday." Janet declares before turning and following me.

"Saturday!" Charlie shouts at our retreating backs, and I roll my eyes at the dramatics of it all.