Chapter 16: Queen of Hearts

Elizabeth stepped out of the cab in front of the Jekyll and Hide Club on 44th, dressed in that trusty little black number and 4 inch red glitter heels. She was excited to get out and had chosen her wardrobe to dress the part.

He made a good choice, she thought to herself. Greg and she had been texting back and forth sporadically the whole week. When he had told her where to meet him for their date, she had to acknowledge that she liked the level of thought he had put into it. Recognizing Halloween to be the following night, he explained that they could do no better than to have a creepy dinner and follow it up with a walkthrough of Blood Manor, the NYC yearly Haunted House that was somewhat world famous.

Approaching the entrance, she attempted to get in what she thought was the front door of the restaurant; having no success, she soon realized that the entire group of doors were intentionally misleading. Suddenly, a creepy face appeared at a window and bid her to enter. She was led into a room with mirrored walls and spikes hanging from the ceiling. After a few more theatrics, such as smoke and flashing lights, and some standing around in complete darkness that made her laugh at the effort they were putting in, she was finally able to enter the main dining area and find Greg already waiting. He's cuter than I remembered, she thought to herself. Dressed in a button down and pressed jeans, he definitely was easy on the eyes. He walked over to her the instant he saw her and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "It's really good to see you again Elizabeth."

She could tell that he meant it, especially when he held her out from him and twirled her around once to drink the sight of her in. Smiling, he held up the restaurant pager. "We should only have about five minutes left." As he spoke, the black disk began buzzing, beeping and blinking in his hand. He grinned and raised his eyebrows, "Or, they could be ready for us now." He grabbed her hand and possessively guided her behind him to the hostess stand.

Lizzy had never been to Jekyll and Hyde before. The food was average, but the entertainment was obviously what you came for. All of the waiters had kooky characters to play, and involved themselves heavily in creating a creepy and funny restaurant atmosphere. Elizabeth wondered if they were always like this, or if they were trying extra hard for Halloween. Even the décor itself seemed to be lending a hand to the endeavor; the eyes of a portrait would move, or a gremlin would jump out of a wall without warning to everyone's fright and surprise.

Just as she had remembered, Greg was great company. After expressing her plans to travel one day, he told her stories about living in London and how easy it was to travel across multiple European countries on the bullet trains. He had experienced parties in Amsterdam, culture in France and history in Rome, and was happy to regale her with stories that made these foreign locations come alive in her mind's eye.

Currently, he was in the U.S. working as the receiving department manager for a mid-sized store called Fashion Central on 40th street. His long term goal was to go back to school and complete a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice, but the store paid the bills in the meantime.

She explained to him the basics of her job at Lucas Media, and expressed that she was excited to see how a recent career opportunity she had received with Darcy Motors would grow her professional prospects in the future. He looked surprised when she said this, but offered no information beyond stating that Darcy Motors was a very successful British company that was well-known. In general, he was very interested in what she had to say, and listened attentively as she started venting about the ridiculous secretaries her company hired, going so far as to divulge that one of them had actually referred to one of her clients as "man-candy". Wickham just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

About two hours, two burgers, tons of lively conversation and one shared dessert later, Wickham paid the bill in cash and escorted her out of the restaurant to hail a cab.

Arriving at Blood Manor, Elizabeth started to get a little nervous. She barely knew this guy, and she was about to walk into a place with knives and chainsaws. Fake knives and hopefully chainless chainsaws, but still…

Greg seemed to sense her nerves and gripped her hand. "My little firecracker isn't scared, is she?"

"Absolutely not," she replied. "I bet you scream first."

"Oh, I will absolutely take that bet. What are the terms?"

"If I win, you buy me another coffee."

"That's easy enough. If I win, I get to kiss you when we get out of there."

Lizzy arched an eyebrow at him. "Deal."

The first few rooms were innocent enough. Black-lit horror graffiti with clowns menacing close-by, bloody doctors chasing bloody patients, and terrified actors telling you to, "leave now while you still can!" All typical haunted house fare, Lizzy mused.

Next, they came upon what looked like an electric chair, and a depraved cop licking his bloody chops and seeking out his next criminal victim. As they passed by, the previously stationary cop spontaneously lunged with both hands extended menacingly in their direction, snarling like a rabid animal.

Lizzy was startled, but that's precisely when it happened: Greg Wickham screamed like a little girl.

Lizzy hadn't really seen Jane since Sunday night. That kiss had obviously sparked a very intense relationship between the two, and it now seemed that Charlie was as much glued to the hip to Jane as he was to his own twin sister.

However, they had found time to go costume shopping earlier in the week, and Lizzy had been highly satisfied with the outcome. Coordinating with Charlie via cell phone, they had all decided to be characters from Alice in Wonderland. Jane would be Alice, Charlie the Mad Hatter, and Lizzy, The Queen of Hearts. Lizzy had made some slight changes to her "Deluxe Queen of Hearts Costume" by ripping off the long, lacy skirt in the back and adding a frilly white petticoat underneath to extend the overall length to only a little above her knees. She refused to let her night out become a romp in the equivalent of role-play lingerie, and her minor alterations allowed her costume to become sexy yet sophisticated.

Satisfied with this start, she briefly thought back to the previous night, and the initially awkward outcome of her time in Blood Manor.

Greg was obviously disappointed in himself. Gone was the swagger of earlier in the evening, and in its place was a petulance that wasn't very attractive. Everything had gone well up until that point; she wasn't about to let him crash and burn for both their sakes.

Reaching up, she placed a brief kiss on the corner of his cheek near his ear.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For tonight. I had a lot of fun, even if you screamed first."

"Does that mean I get to claim my prize, anyway?"

"No! It doesn't. That wouldn't be fair." She paused, considered a long past conversation with Jane, and then continued. "But, I guess it means I can offer you a consolation prize. What are you doing for Halloween?"

"I actually didn't have any plans."

"Well, now you do. Come to Ella Lounge on 9th Ave. at 10pm. Wear a costume. I plan on wearing one anyway."

It did the trick - he had looked at her and smiled genuinely. "I'll be there."

Staring at her reflection now, an entire day later, Lizzy was hesitant to admit why she had actually invited him. Sure, she figured he would get along very well with their group, being British too and all. And the man was unbelievably great at conversation. She had even had a really good time last night. The problem was - even acknowledging all of that - she wasn't sure if the invitation was as much about spending more time with Greg Wickham, than it was about seeing if perhaps she could make another certain person, formerly known as PNC, a little jealous. Yes, inviting him had been a split second decision that she hadn't given much thought to initially - but that didn't make her any less disappointed in herself for what she was slowly realizing to be her main motivation.

Thinking about her past interactions with Will Darcy usually made Lizzy's head spin. When considered objectively, the majority of them had been decidedly negative. He had criticized her and barely spoken to her at work, and now that they had finally reached a point where they interacted on an informal basis, it seemed that they couldn't even have a conversation without entering into some type of god-awful debate. I feel like he brings out the absolute worst in me sometimes…like he is taunting me with an unspoken challenge that I keep rising to. And of course, there was also his irritating insistence about lying regarding the circumstances of their first meeting.

But then he had defended her to her mother, a task that no one had ever taken on willingly before. And there was the shock she felt when the formerly taciturn and antisocial PNC had felt comfortable enough to call her "Lizzy". Her shamefully rebellious body also demanded her consideration; although her mind would not let her forget what a truly terrible idea dating him was, the rest of her insisted on continuing to find him completely irresistible. So irresistible in fact, that since witnessing the captivating smile in his usually stoic grey eyes on Sunday, she had been enjoying vividly detailed and downright satisfying fantasies involving Will Darcy that might even make her mother blush. And that was certainly saying a lot.

She couldn't be sure, but a small voice had whispered to her that there was more that he had wanted to say before he left her parent's home Sunday night; that same voice was the one now telling her that inviting Wickham to Ella Lounge was a rash idea that should have been ignored.

Lizzy, this is an experiment asking to go wrong - you had better be careful. Hopefully you'll get an obvious answer either way about whether or not he likes you, and then you will have to carefully consider what to do next. Even if you have sort of developed a crush on him against your better judgment...can you really just forgive him for everything? She was skeptical even asking herself that question.

Sighing, she cleared her mind of serious thoughts and piled her lush espresso curls on top of her head, pinning the matching crown to the side just as it was in the picture. She had just begun doing her make-up when her sister rushed into her room.

"I'm here! I'm here. Sorry I'm late. Charlie stopped by after work and we grabbed cupcakes at Crumbs."

"But Jane, you were going to see him later tonight at Ella."

Jane was oblivious. "So?"

Lizzy shook her head in amazement. "Just go get dressed; we're going to be really late!"

"Okay, okay. You look great, by the way."

Lizzy raised her chin like a queen and playfully pointed her costume scepter straight up in the air. "Thank you, my lovely Alice."