WooHoo!!!! My article is done (well except for the fact that my editor just told me she wants to meet with me this week to talk to me about changing things :( )!! Which means, I am once again back!
Wannabehermy and dcas1984: It's my law review note and it's a 4th amendment issue. Don't know if it is absolutely going to be published yet, but I've been told I stand an extremely good chance (keep those fingers crossed), but I can totally relate to the ick factor (and the desire to chuck the bluebook into a body of water)
Geril - thanks for the message. Definitely helped to motivate me to finish up my schoolwork for the week so I could get back to writing this.
Everyone, thank you so much for your ideas on how Darcy could entertain Liz. Some of them were hilarious, and although some were not quite what I was looking for, really made me laugh. I did end up choosing one out of the many great ideas, and the winner is listed at the bottom of the chapter (so as not to spoil the effect). So read and enjoy!
Chapter 25:
Julie was so excited for the party that she ambushed my dorm two hours before Josh was scheduled to pick us up in order to get ready with Jen and myself. As a result my choice of dress had been discussed numerous times, my hair was done more than it usually would (it went from curly to straight to wavy through the use of a curling iron), my make-up meticulously done. In addition, my nails were done, as Julie gave me a manicure and pedicure in my favorite color, chocolate kisses.
"I can't wait for tonight." Julie exclaimed as we sat on the couch, ready and waiting for Josh. "Will throws some pretty awesome parties."
"I'm looking forward to it as well." Jen replied. "Not that I know most of the people there, but the two of you and Josh will be there and besides, Liz has talked enough about the people at work that I'm now curious to meet them."
"Liz has been talking about her co-workers? Hmmmmm . . ." Julie trailed off
"Not in that way Julie!"
"I don't know"
"Caroline" I sung in reply.
"Oh ok, true enough. She is not going to be happy tonight."
"Why not? Her brother is coming home, shouldn't she be happy?" Julie asked
"Oh not that, I think she's indifferent about Charlie being back. I just meant that Will is throwing a party for the first time in god knows when and his attention won't be on her."
"Well one would assume that as a host he would not focus his attention on one specific person during the party." I responded, unsure where this topic of conversation was headed.
"I wouldn't think it was safe to assume that Liz."
"What do you mean by that Julie?" I asked, dubious
"Oh nothing." She said, a little too innocently.
At that exact time, there was a knock at the door. Jen bounced forward to answer it and on the other side was Josh wearing a pink button down shirt and grey slacks.
"Hello darling." He said as he pulled Jen in for a noisy kiss. She giggled in response and playfully swatted.
"What? No PDA? I don't know if I can be in a relationship with you if I can't show a little PDA."
"Let's go!" Julie said as she struggled to get her coat on. Josh, gentleman as always, helped her get it on. "We're going to be late!"
"We're half the party, pip squeak." Josh replied "I don't think it's possible to be called late when you consist of half the guest list"
Nevertheless, we all put on our coats, headed downstairs to Josh's car to head over to the party at Darcy's apartment.
"Ladies may I take your coats?" Josh asked gentlemanly when we arrived at Darcy's apartment. I shrugged out of my coat and absently handed it to Josh while taking in my surroundings. His apartment was huge! It was also very tastefully decorated.
I scanned the room and saw Charlie mixing a drink behind a bar counter in the corner of the living room with a man and woman I didn't recognize sitting at two of the three bar stools. I walked across the room toward them.
"Charlie?" I called out to him. Charlie looked up and stopped mixing the drink he was working on. He then broke out into a huge smile and rushed around the bar towards me.
"Liz! It is so good to see you!" He enveloped me in a hug and gave me a peck on the cheek "How have you been?"
"I'm good." I replied, smiling. His enthusiasm was infectious. "How are you?"
"Happy to be home." He then dropped his voice a bit. "How is Jane doing?"
"Last that I spoke to her she was well. Happy with the work that she was doing in Africa. Have you spoken to her?"
"No I haven't been able to get contact information for her."
"Well, here's the better question." I decided to be blunt "Do you want to be in contact with her?"
Charlie nodded.
"I do Liz. I've missed her terribly. I wish I could have told her why I was staying in Tokyo so long and I'm sorry to have put her through so much pain. What can I do?"
I thought for a minute and then decided he was serious and genuine.
"E-mail her at her regular address. She tries to check it as often as she can, although it is not frequently. Tell her you are back in New York and miss her and that you know you have a lot of explaining to do, but if she'll hear you out that you will be here waiting for her when she gets back. In the meantime, I'll e-mail her and tell her that I've spoken to you."
"Thank you Liz!"
"Now why don't you introduce me to your acquaintances?" I asked, gesturing to the two people on the bar stools.
"Why don't you sit down and I'll do just that while mixing you a drink?"
I took a seat next to the man.
"What can I get you?"
"Um how about a screwdriver?"
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks Liz. I was afraid that you'd want something complicated. I'm not exactly the best bartender when it comes to mixed drinks. But a screwdriver I can handle."
He fixed me my drink and handed it to me which I began to sip.
"Liz, this is Diana Allen." Charlie said indicating to the woman. She was petite, with pale red hair, and pale skin. Overall she looked fragile. "Diana, this is Elizabeth Bennett"
I reached over and extended my hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
She shook my hand.
"Likewise." She replied. Her voice was strong, and held a bit of disfavor in its tone. I wasn't sure she really was happy to meet me.
"This is Michael Donahue. He attended law school with myself and Darcy."
I extended my hand once again to this man with brown hair and green eyes. He stood up, shorter than Darcy and Josh but still tall, about 5'10". He took my hand and rotated it so that the back of it was facing up. He then leaned over and kissed it. What is it about these Harvard graduates?
"Mike, please. So you are the infamous Liz Bennett?"
"I don't know about infamous. Perhaps one day though."
He laughed, a low rich laugh. Yet I wasn't feeling anything for this guy who was certainly genuine. What is wrong with me?
"Either way, it is a delight to finally meet you. Darcy has told me so much about you."
"I'm sure they haven't been the most flattering of things."
"On the contrary, he holds you in the highest regard."
I was momentarily speechless.
"Liz." Darcy spoke from behind me. "I didn't realize you arrived."
I turned around.
"Hey Darcy. I arrived with Josh and the rest of the group. You have a lovely home." I said, using the manners that my mother hammered into me.
"Thank you."
"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Actually, would you mind helping me grab the vegetable platters from the fridge?"
"Sure." I set my empty glass down on the bar and gave a quick wave to Charlie and the rest of the people at the bar and followed Darcy to the kitchen.
I stood in the doorway to the kitchen while Darcy stuck his head in the fridge.
"You got me to come tonight with the promise that you'd entertain me, and yet here we are and you're putting me to work?!" I teased.
He popped his head out to look at me.
"You want entertainment? Well, I did have something small planned . . . "
"Bring it on Darcy"
He reached his hand into his pocket and ducked back into the fridge for a minute. He then came back out and looked at me, except this time he had a red clown nose on top of his.
I burst out into laughter.
"I take it that you approve?"
I was still laughing so hard that I grabbed onto the door-frame for support.
"That. Is. Hilarious." I said, while gasping for breath.
"Did I entertain you?" He asked, still wearing the clown nose
I finally got myself under control.
"Absolutely! Brownie points to you Darcy."
He smiled at me, took the nose off and stuck it back in his pocket. From behind me we suddenly heard a loud bang. I turned around to see Caroline, in a lime green mini dress, by the table where a glass holding alcohol was set right in front of her, the alcohol having sloshed over the rim as if it was slammed down. Guess I discovered where the bang came from. She was looking at me with daggers in her eyes. If looks could kill . . .
I ignored Caroline and began to help Darcy set up. We each had a drink while chatting a bit as we were bringing things out from the kitchen and setting them out and I was smiling and laughing and truly enjoying myself. Then he excused himself for a moment to use the restroom.
"Liz? Can I speak with you for a moment." I looked over to see it was Diana calling me.
"Um, sure."
She then walked into a room off the hall and I followed, it seemed to be a study of some sort. Diana flipped on a light and then scooted around me to close the door. She then turned back toward me.
"Normally I'm not the kind of woman who gets easily jealous, but based on what I have been observing tonight I feel I need to make things clear. Fitzwilliam and I are together. I don't know what kind of scheme you have planned to get your hands on his money, but it isn't going to work, especially since the two of us are very much in love." She said smugly.
"Whoa! Let me stop you right there! First off, I don't have any scheme to get my hands on Darcy's money, cause frankly, I don't care about that. Second, I am not trying to get together with Will, cause the two of us are just friends. Thirdly, if you were with Will as a couple, and so much in love, you would already know that. Fourthly, you should stop deluding yourself and face reality, cause Darcy is not that into you, and definitely not in a romantic way."
"How dare you! You little bitch."
Diana reached out and slapped me on my cheek. Although it wasn't very hard, it did sting and was enough to send me stumbling a few steps backward. Everything seemed to go in slow motion from that point.
I stumbled a few steps back and knocked into a side table holding a crystal vase. The vase tipped over and went crashing to the floor, sending crystal shards everywhere, and nicking my skin in several places the process. I then jumped forward in an attempt to get away from the shards, and the heel of my shoe stepped straight onto a large piece of crystal, causing my feet to slide out from underneath me and I began to fall. I placed both hands out behind me in an attempt to break my fall, and as they made contact with the floor, I felt a piece of crystal slice through my left arm. My right arm hit the floor at an odd angle and I heard a crack at my wrist.
Time seemed to then begin to run at its normal pace. I felt a shooting pain in my right wrist, and used my left hand to push myself up into a sitting position, ignoring the sting in the arm. The door burst open and Darcy came rushing through, with Julie and Josh directly behind him. He took in the sight of his study.
"What the hell happened?!" He demanded.
"I didn't do anything!" Diana instantly stated. "She walked backward and straight into the vase and then fell!"
"Liz, you're bleeding." Darcy then said calmly.
"I just got nicked by the vase when it broke. I'm sorry Will, I'll pay for it."
Darcy turned to Josh. "Go get me some towels, now." He said, a bit harshly.
Josh nodded once and rushed out. Darcy, being careful of the crystal and water on the floor, walked over to me, knelt down beside me and lifted my left arm over my head with one hand, and used the other arm to keep me sitting up by providing support to my back. I then noticed that I had a long gash down my left arm, from elbow to wrist, and it was bleeding profusely.
"Oh. My. God." I said, feeling the blood drain out of my face.
"You are NOT going to faint on me Liz." Darcy said roughly.
"There's so much blood." I rolled my eyes into my head, trying to keep myself from both passing out and crying. Will shook me to gain my attention again. Josh then came rushing in with the towels and handed them to Will. Will took one of them and wrapped it around my entire arm and then used another one to start applying pressure.
"Liz, do you think you can apply pressure to this with your other hand?"
I nodded and moved my right hand over to the left one. The minute it made contact, and unbelievable amount of pain shot through the numbness of my right arm. The pain was so great that I cried out in pain and one or two of the tears that I had been holding back slipped out and ran down my cheek.
"Liz, darling, don't cry. It's going to be ok." Will soothed gently as he wiped my tears off my cheek while maintaining pressure on my arm.
"My hand. . ."
"Yes I know. You're going to need to go to the hospital to get some stitches."
"My other hand . . ." I looked down at the hand and so did Darcy. My wrist, and the area around it had swelled to at least three times its normal size, and looked slightly out of place.
"Oh! Liz it might be broken. We need to take you to the hospital now for both hands."
I didn't respond and Will swooped me up into his arms, using his chest to maintain the pressure on my bleeding arm.
"What are you doing?"
"How were you going to stand up without using your hands?"
My mind was fuzzy.
"Good point." I looked down. "Will you are getting blood on your shirt."
"It's ok Liz. Don't worry about it. Let's focus on getting you to the hospital."
He carried me out of the study and it was then that I realized that there was still an audience watching. Josh, Jen and Charlie all looked concerned and Julie looked panicked, her face all white.
"Julie, I'm fine. Really."
"There's was all that blood. . ."
I winced.
"Jules, she's going to be ok. Go grab my car keys."
Julie rushed off to go get them and came back and met us in the living room.
"Julie do you feel steady enough to drive so that I can sit in the back with Liz?"
She nodded.
"Will, it's ok. I think you should drive and I'll sit in the passenger seat. Nobody else needs to come."
"No!" Julie exclaimed. "I want to be there. It would be hell trying to sit here and waiting to find out if you're ok."
"Julie, I'm fine."
She merely shook her head.
"Ok that's settled." Darcy said.
"Jen and I will follow behind you." Josh added
"Please don't." I pled. "I really don't want to make a big scene. Stay here and enjoy yourself. I'll see Jen back at the dorm."
"I don't think –"
"Josh, I think it's best if we don't bring an entire entourage." Darcy imputed.
Josh nodded his assent.
"Ok, let's go."
Still in Darcy's arms, I made my way down to the car with Will and Julie.
Um, ouch and owwie!!!!!!
That being said, the winner of my last contest was . . . MM!!!!! I loved the idea of the clown nose. It was something simple and brief, and very unlikely move for a buttoned up Darcy who wouldn't want to make a fool of himself in public so it was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, I don't know how to get in contact with you so that you could get a sneak peek at this chapter. But if you message me and tell me how to reach you, you absolutely can have a sneak peek and a bit of an input into the next chapter.
So what do you guys think will happen next? (I kind of already know) Let me know your thoughts and opinions by clicking on the little green button below. We all know how much I LOVE reading them!