-1Chapter 8

Lizzy waited impatiently for their visitor. Her father had announced the night before that his cousin's son would be coming to stay for a couple of months. Billy was twenty years old and wanted to study law. He had been accepted by a local law firm to intern for a time and it was easier to be staying with them than to travel the two hours there and home again everyday. The girls were none to keen to have a male - not including their father - in the house; Lydia felt that it would ruin the atmosphere.

"I bet he'll leave the toilet seat up, and…," she cast about for another possible crime he could commit against her family, "and leave playboys around the house. Could you imagine Mary, lifting up your dumb books to find one of those underneath?" This comment proceeded to cause an argument between Mary and Lydia as to whether her poetry books were dumb or not. Lizzy just squirmed on the window seat. Wishing he would hurry up so that she could go and see Charli, it was the last day of the holidays and they had not seen each other once between her trip to Rye and Charli's visit to her grandparents. So when this cousin, whom they had never met because of family politics, did arrive, Lizzy was the first to see his car and first out the door, closely followed by the rest of the females of her family and her father who walked out more sedately, muttering something about damned female curiosity. Lizzy just laughed and grabbed her father's arm, "I'm meeting Charli as soon after Billy gets here. So be nice and let me go soon." Daniel Bennet just beamed at his daughter, he was not to happy about the arrangements but his wife had decided that he might take a liking to one of her daughters, -But they are family! Only distant relatives, that is virtually strangers- and since he was so well off after the dead of his father, well, I am sure one can imagine what she was thinking.

A red Porsche pulled up at the end of the drive way and amidst her sisters exclamation's of 'wow, what a hot car', Lizzy hid a smirk, a Porsche was very mid-life crisisesque. Her opinion didn't change when her cousin got out of the car either, short and pudgy with black hair already showing signs of grey, Lizzy could imagine that he would be considered 'middle aged' for most of his life. He was dressed in a very smart suit, which he kept tugging over his bulging stomach, his hair was long, lank and greasy and he had grown a sparse goatee - thinking it gave him an air of distinction and creativity. He looked at the family over frameless lavender coloured glasses, his gaze lingering longest on Lizzy and Jane who looked at each other in unease, Lizzy had a decidedly bad feeling about this.

"Uncle Daniel?" came a voice that could rival Caroline's on both annoyance and nasal level, MR Bennet forced a smile and stepped forward hand extended. Unfortunately, William Collins, who thought the name Billy, made him more accessible, mistook his intention and threw his arms around his uncle in an enormous hug; Daniel Bennet just stood there shocked at the actions of his relative and was ultimately saved by his favourite daughter.

"You must be William! Hello, I'm Lizzy, and this is my twin Jane." Lizzy stepped forward, holding her hand out; making it obvious, she was going for a handshake. He looked down at her hand and back up at Jane and Lizzy in profound disappointment, but he thought of himself as a gentleman born and bred and took up his cousins' hand with gusto. She was sure he had almost dislocated it with enthusiasm alone.

"Call me Billy, please, please, we're family. I shall endeavour to call you Lizzy and Jane, and my other dear cousins," he looked upon Mary with contempt, and Lydia and Cathy with a look that resonated quite loudly with the thought 'JAIL BAIT'. He turned back to Lizzy and Jane with a gleam in his eye and a skip in his step. Lizzy's bad feeling just got worse. However, either he mother was not as in tune with life as he daughter, and therefore not as prescient, or she simply did not care. She ushered Billy into her arms with a 'heartfelt' cry, "I always wanted a son and I'm sure you will be just the same!" With loud exclamations of happiness, Mrs Bennet drew Billy into the house while her daughters followed somewhat subdued. Mr Bennet just gave Lizzy a quick smile before disappearing into the study, calling out a quick, 'Lots of work to do.' when his wife began nagging him about welcoming his nephew.

"No matter, no matter. If he is busy then he and I will get acquainted later." Billy looked around the living room, impressing Mrs Bennet with his excellent compliments to her home. Already he was a favourite with her, and already she was wondering which of her daughters he might, one day, take a liking too. Not Jane, she was too pretty, and Bingley was infatuated with her, not Mary she was too sullen, and not as pretty as her other sisters. Cathy and Lydia were too young, and really such lovely, pretty girls they could get anyone. That just left one. She turned her gaze on her least favourite daughter, who was at that minute dressed in faded, holey jeans, a t-shirt that said "A Smaller Footprint For Mankind - A Longer Life For Mankind" - what was that supposed to mean? - with a long sleeved black shirt underneath. She was reading another book - Anne of Green Gables - and her bright green nails were drumming on the arm of the chair. Mrs Bennet thought she looked ridiculous, a political statement? Individual preference in clothing? What kind of strange child was she? Mrs Bennet shook her head and wonder how soon she could get her married and out of the way, she wasn't pretty enough to find a very rich man, or smart enough to make it on her own, so she needed some help from her mother, and that is just what she was going to get!

Billy had also noticed his cousins again, the eldest in particular held his interest. He felt keen disappointment when Mrs Bennet talked about how Jane was in relationship with Charles Bingley -"Mama, we're just friends!" - but perked up when he observed Lizzy. Small, petite, and quiet (obviously he had not been around her long), just the sort of thing he liked in a woman. Unfortunately for him, and probably very fortunately for her, she felt his gaze and a shiver ran down her back. Oh, oh. I don't like that look one bit, she thought. Billy began to step towards her, while her mother looked on with anticipation. Lizzy chose that moment to grab her sisters hand and say loudly with false apology, "I'm so sorry we cannot be here longer to welcome you into our home, but our friend has just returned from a trip and we are so desperate to see her again!" and was gone from sight.

"He is vile," Lizzy exclaimed, throwing herself down onto the slide, as Charli and Jane parked themselves more gently onto the rickety bridge nearby. "Vile, I tell you."

Charli looked at Jane, Lizzy was wont to exaggerate when she was frustrated, and at this particular moment in time, she looked much beyond frustrated. Jane looked a little uncomfortable, "He's not vile, he's just…" she searched in vain for another word, but was interrupted by Lizzy.

"Disgusting. You both now I'm not vain, but I am perfectly aware our entire family is very attractive. One would think that he would resemble us at least slightly. But no such luck, and not only is he disgusting physically but he has disgusting manners. He practically salivated when he saw us. If lust had a corporeal form, he would be it!"

Charli laughed, "I'm sure he wasn't leering at you Lizzy. He was probably just surprised to see he had such pretty relatives." Lizzy scowled her disagreement but said nothing. She just harrumphed her way over to the swings, and sat, her feet leaving scuff marks in the tan bark.

"I am actually looking forward to school," she said, "I miss the clarity it gives me, I don't write half so well or much in the holidays as I do after a particularly rough day of classes. Although, I barely have 5 classes in a row anymore with all the frees we get."

"Ha!" Charli exclaimed, "One girl's clarity is another's monotony." Charli had dropped out when she was in yr 10, and the twins in year 9, she went now to Tafe and was doing an art course. She wanted nothing more from life than a comfortable home with a studio. Of course, part of that picture included her two best friends, particularly Lizzy, dropping by for a chat or to help with some minor creative issue she was having. She drew and Lizzy wrote, creative in very different ways, when the need arose they could extend themselves enough that they could assist the other through a rough patch. She could not imagine being happy in life if she could not stay best friends with Lizzy, it just would not make sense to her.

The girls gossiped and bickered - as true friends do without malice - for hours, any observers remained unobserved themselves and should anyone at home be wishing they would reappear, they too were thought nothing of; you know the saying, out of sight out of mind.

Such cannot be said for Fitzwilliam Darcy however. He had spent three days away from Lizzy since returning from Rye, three days and he had not seen her, heard her, or even had the pleasure of listening to Caroline complain about her (and it was indeed a pleasure as he was reassured that even if his romantic tastes were not perfect, that Caroline found so many faults meant he was at least, doing something right), he had in truth missed her terribly. In their time away, he had been used to the cheer she leant to the day, how every morning she would get up and run out to the beach in her pyjamas, even in the rain, to greet the day. He had grown to love the way she turned up her nose at foods she did not like, which were many, or at any meat that was not chicken. He missed the way she would say or do something to tease her sister and wait for her to notice, a cheeky smile growing across her face as she fought to control her giggles. He missed the smell of her perfume, which had been left behind on the cushions of her favourite chair, and the way that she bit her lip and brushed her hair from her face when she was concentrating. But most of all he missed the fun, cheek, love and joy that made up her eyes, the way you could tell how she was feeling, no matter how composed her face, by the particular shade her eyes were. Out of sight, out of mind. He thought, kind of contradicts the thought that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Will was sitting in his tree, he was dozing off in the warmth of the sun that crept throw the canopy of the tree. He was trying to keep Lizzy out of his mind, he succeeded mostly during the day, or rather for an hour or two before he saw, or heard something that reminded him of her, but despite that, he managed to function perfectly well throughout the day as he kept himself busy. The same cannot be said for moments of quiet, or sleep. He dreamed constantly of her, in some she was on the beach again, leading him by the hand into the surf, screeching with joy as she water hit her bare skin, in another she lay asleep beside him on a picnic rug at Pemberley next to the Lake. His personal favourite was the one where he was walking through the wilderness of Pemberley, when someone (can you imagine who?) covered his eyes, he can feel a short, slight female body pressed against his back, reaching up on tip toe to cover his eyes. He spins quickly and catches her in his arms, her arms slink around his, and he bends down to bring his lips to hers. Ofcourse, not all his dreams are so delightful, in some she hisses and spits at him, she calls him proud and conceited, in one particularly bad dream he walks into a room to find her wrapped up in the arms of a man he despises.

It just so happens that while Lizzy, Jane and Charli were sitting on the playground catching up, he was asleep in the tree, and having one of his other favourite dreams, although this was one he preferred to pretend he didn't have, naughty thoughts and naughty dreams, did nothing more than make his infatuation worse. This particular dream included a Spa, and a bikini top finishing hanging from the showerhead. He was both sore and grumpy when he was awoken by the sound of laughter, but the source of that laughter soon alleviated his irritation. She was throwing herself into the arms of Charli, laughing and screaming, 'Yo bitch! I missed you!" Damn her, would she never leave him in piece, in person, in memory, in sleep, she taunted him. He watched her as she threw herself one the slide, gesturing wildly, making her companions laugh. He watched her scowl, imagining the flash of her eyes as they changed to match her mood. He watched as she sat on the swing, digging her toes into the dirt, before leaning back and swinging slowly, her long hair flowing behind her. Then he stopped, he had to stop, he could not, could not let himself watch. Not anymore, this was become way more than an infatuation, more than an obsession. Was it possible that, maybe, just maybe, he was…falling in love?

A/N I know I'm making Collins a pervert, but in my opinion that is just what he was. Creepy, slimy and perverted. I think he would have to be anyway, in this day and age, to want to get together with his cousin…however distant. Ick.

I was wondering if I should spend a little more time within Lizzy's mind, giving her thoughts on people. I haven't so far because she is more vocal than Will, but I want some input. REVIEW please.