After the music festival, there had been more dates. A month later, George had asked Lizzie to be his girlfriend. And she had said yes.
A year had passed, and Lizzie found herself at the beach, one day in October, enjoying the last days of warm weather and celebrating their first anniversary with George. Lizzie was happier than ever before, because she was in love.
Lizzie and George talked about books and movies; he made her laugh and did not pester for her time and attention. They had their disagreements, but after a time apart, they would work things out. George travelled often because of his job and that did not bother Lizzie. She then had more time to spend with Charlotte, when her friend was not busy dating a guy from her department, Mark.
George never spoke again of his past with Darcy, but he would sometime say his name in conjunction with words like snob, rich, spoiled, inconsiderate when he was mad about something.
Her whole family and Charlotte liked George. He would go with her when she wanted to visit her family, and had even been there for the holidays. He did not flinch at Mrs. Bennet's not so tactful comments about their relationship, and was a match for Lydia's energetic personality. His dad seemed to approve Lizzie's relationship. Jane had met George twice without Bing.
Lizzie had been more than a year at Collins & Collins. The web series based on one of her stories had been quite successful. Ricky Collins, even though satisfied with her results, wanted her to try new things and had dragged her to work in other projects; and she had been forced to stop her videos.
Lizzie spent the rest of the year between work and dates with George. They had made plans to spend the holidays again with her family. Lizzie knew that Jane and Bing were also going to San Francisco for Christmas, and her mother would be ecstatic by finally having the big fat celebration she always dreamed of.
However, when Lizzie was ready to start her two weeks break in December, George announced that he was going to visit some family in Texas.
"But you said you were free to go with me," Lizzie was mad at him by the sudden change of plans.
"I was, but I got a call from my father's uncle and he want to see me," George excused himself.
"You never told you had family in Texas."
"Because we were never that close, the last time I visited them, I was five or six."
"I wish you could have told me before", Lizzie snorted, "now I will have to deal my mother's ranting."
"I will make it up to you, peach, very soon", George sealed his promise with a very tantalizing kiss.
"I still wish you had told me before", Lizzie responded.
When she saw Lizzie appeared alone, Mrs. Bennet started lamenting. Lizzie promised and swore that everything was fine between her and George, and with her father's help, they managed to calm Mrs. Bennet down.
Jane arrived with Bing and his sister, Caroline. She was very pretty but her attitude made her unattractive. Everyone could tell that she was forcing herself to be pleasant and enjoy their company. The only person she seemed to like was Jane, which at least Lizzie appreciated.
Jane and Bing had been together for over two years, and their relationship was more serious than ever. Lizzie and Lydia teased her that she was bound to have a shiny, new rock on her finger before the spring.
On Christmas day, Lizzie opened George's present: a lace dress, and a ticket to Las Vegas for the 30th. That surprised her, because he knew that she was not a party girl, but Lizzie decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.
She met him at the airport and then went through the crazy day and nightlife of the city, and then the big New Year's Eve celebration. Lizzie felt comfortable by George's side, and enjoyed herself much more than she expected.
George had fulfilled his promise.
Little Lizzie and Lydia knew that they were right about Jane and Bing.
Jane called them both in the middle of February to give them the big news.
Bing had taken her out to celebrate her birthday and had nervously proposed in the middle of dinner, and she had obviously accepted.
The eldest Bennet had to put her phone away from her ear for a minute. Bing smiled and listened to the screams of joy of his soon-to-be sisters in law through the phone.
After almost two hours of giving details and promises about sending photos of the ring and not having fluffy bridesmaid dresses, Jane finally hung up and braced herself for the hardest part: telling her mother.
It was Saint Patrick's Day, and Charlotte and Lizzie were celebrating their 26th birthday, with boyfriends and other friends.
After Jane's engagement, Lizzie had been on the edge, thinking that George might propose too. They had never seriously talked about the future of their relationship. George was most of the type of living life one day at a time.
Lizzie enjoyed the rest of the night and when George did not give her a small box as a present, she relaxed. When they returned to her apartment after the party, she had let go of her anxiety.
When she woke up the next morning, George was gone already. He had left a note on his pillow, reminding Lizzie that he had an early photo shoot and promised to meet her for lunch.
Lizzie sighed and then waited to dial Charlotte to see if she wanted to join her for breakfast. She knew that her friend had also gone home with Mark and did not want to call in a bad time.
While waiting, Lizzie checked her email and her regular websites when she came across something that caught her attention. She read the whole publication, and then just stared at her laptop, thinking. She had found it more appealing that she was willing to admit.
A job at Pemberley Digital.