Fitzwilliam Darcy…
"I believe, dear chap, that you may be enamored." Charles remarked suddenly as he entered the office upon Elizabeth Bennet's departure. Darcy didn't even look up as he perused a stack of paperwork in front of him with enough scrutiny to give a blade of grass a headache.
"I have no such intentions in that regard, Charles. You know me better than that." Will replied before finally leaning back in the desk chair he now occupied. He seemed distracted as he began strumming his pencil along the desk and Charles watched quietly.
"Do I, Darcy? Do I really know you better than that?" Charles asked as he walked around the desk before leaning over to peruse the post-it note Darcy had been doodling on as it lay on his stack of folders. Charles peeled off the small yellow square of paper carefully.
"Because it seems to me that I have suddenly been made aware of how much I truly don't know you. And don't give me any looks because you and I have known each other long enough to know we can be straight forward with each other. I don't know what just happened between you and Elizabeth Bennet, but I do know that I have never, and I mean never, seen you that wrapped up in one person—that…I don't know…almost carefree. You have always dominated an argument and ended it when the other person tried to disregard your statements, but you didn't disregard Ms.Bennet, Darcy. You know what that tells me?" Charles continued before sitting casually on the edge of the desk. Darcy shook his head before standing up and grabbing his suit jacket off of a peg near the door.
"That tells me you need to learn to mind your own business, Charles. As for Italy, if you plan on leaving with us, I expect you here bright and early in the morning." Darcy reiterated before walking out the door. He wasn't having this conversation right now. The only thing he wanted to do was drive home, put his feet up (and yes, he actually knew how to do that), and get a nice glass of something alcoholic in preparation for the following day. Why Elizabeth Bennet's image kept popping into his head…well, he wasn't going to dwell on the why's. What he needed to do was forget about the entire encounter. A dog ran across the parking lot as he approached his car and Darcy couldn't help it, he laughed. He even felt tempted to call Ms. Bennet up and tell her that 'yes, he had had a dog as a boy—a black lab by the name of Bugle. Wouldn't she be surprised? He had even let the flea bag sleep with him despite the trouble it had caused him with his parents. Wow, he hadn't thought about that in years. His sleek black sports car roared to life as he inserted the key into the ignition and he found himself sitting idle in it in reverie. She was insubordinate, crass, and irritating, but she had eyes that could burn through a hole in the ground. Staring into them was like falling into a pool and drowning. No! She riled him to no end, and he wouldn't let a pretty pair of eyes persuade him from his cause. She was temporary. That was that. She was not socially acceptable and her problem with authority would not be tolerated. His mind made up, he shifted the car into reverse and headed home.