Chapter 1

It was a strange new day when Elizabeth woke up to the sun flowing through the blinds. Mainly because she had never woken up to such a beautiful noise and a wondrous sight when she opened her curtains. This was her first day living so close to New York City. The hustle and bustle doesn't quite reach the suburbs, but she can imagine every sound of the buzzing city in her head and can't wait to go and explore it. The sight out her window, which her father had assigned to her specifically for this reason, was the skyline of the city just over the Hudson River. Pictures of it had always brought hope to her, and with it a longing so strong she didn't know what to do for she had always been stuck in the countryside of Georgia where her father farmed; or ranched, she wasn't sure which because the two had been interchanged so often. All she knows is that if she ever smells a peach again it will be too soon.

"Elizabeth! You're going to sleep the day away, it's your turn to make breakfast!" her mother called up.

Elizabeth is the second of four children. Her older sister, Jane, is 24 years old and still living at home, though through no fault of her own. She had attended college, has gotten her degree in the culinary arts, and just hasn't managed to land herself a job that would pay for her own place again. Plus, Elizabeth suspects, she more than likely feels responsible for helping her parents look after the twins, who were only sixteen years in age and absolutely boy crazy. Jane is beautiful, was a true southern belle in Georgia with numerous suitors pursuing her but she just hadn't found one that, as she says, truly linked hearts with her. At five feet eight inches and a fair 165 pounds, with flowing golden locks that go a few inches past her shoulders and blue eyes that would sucker anyone in, she had plenty gentlemen believing their hearts were linked to hers, but no connection was felt on her end. Maybe with the new place, the new view, the new opportunities, Jane will find both a job and a man that will win her heart.

The twins, Beth and Annie, are sixteen years old with light brown hair, hazel eyes, and curves at such a young age it's no wonder they are boy crazy for the boys will not leave them alone. They both stand at five feet and five inches tall; both wear their hair midway down their back, only pull it up for dances or other special occasions. Elizabeth and Jane never knew how they could do it in the Georgia heat but they never seemed bothered by it. Truly old fashioned for 2013, they wear only dresses and carry handkerchiefs in their tiny purses that don't leave room for much else.

Elizabeth, at the age of 22, falls second in line of the sisters. She stands a proud five feet and seven inches with very dark hair that holds a natural wave, floating down to her shoulders if she lets it, but she mainly wears it up in a bun to keep it out of her face and off of her neck. It's usually too hot to wear it any other way. Her eyes are as green as the rolling hills of Ireland, her curves are modest in comparison to her older sister, which she has never minded because she never dresses to show them off anyway. She much prefers jeans to dresses and comfortable shirts to tightly worn blouses; and she prefers women to men though it is only her older sister who knows this, though her father has let on several times that he's just waiting for confirmation himself. She suspects she is her fathers favorite for she's the only one who truly gets and shares his sense of humor. Unlike her sisters she often helped her father with the chores in the fields for even though he had plenty of farm hands he would much rather get his hands dirty with them than boss them around.

Moving so close to New York City was a big change for them. Her father had sold his farm (or ranch or whatever) to a corporate owner years ago and oversaw operations of five different farms (or ranches or whatever) for the owner. An opportunity came up for a desk job and, in his inclining age (58) he decided it was time to retire form the manual labor, even the occasional that he still got to do, and sell out for a high paying desk job. He would be commuting into the city every day to do something that dealt with stocks at the exchange. Mr. Bennett is six feet and four inches tall, his hair has turned snow white and he has a mustache that suits him nicely. His eyes are hazel, though they turn a crystal blue when he's in a great mood, and he still has a spring in his step reminiscent of a twenty year old.

Mrs. Bennett is five feet five inches and plump after four children and years of raising four girls. She is where the twins got their hair color (keeping it died now to look younger) and where Elizabeth got her eye color from. Seeing a picture of her back in her younger days, she is where Jane got her good looks (though Jane's height is from her father). Mrs. Bennett is a nervous lady, always at wits end, and loves the dramatics. Her eldest daughters often say that she should audition for one of the soaps that she watches, for she could put any of those women to shame with her acting skills. Mrs. Bennett is conservative to Mr. Bennett's modest liberalism which always brought them to a clash over the girls, mainly over Elizabeth, who always rejected the traditional aspects of what conservative society thinks a female ought to look and act like.

Elizabeth held her own secrets of course. When her mother bothered her with questions of why she did not date a boy for longer than a day, Elizabeth would simply tell her that he wasn't her type. It was the truth, of course, the part that she did not say, however, was that it was simply because he was a man. Elizabeth, see, fancies other women. She wouldn't go so far as to classify herself as a lesbian because she does not like how society stereotypes people and puts them into little boxes.

That, however, is a big part of the reason why she is so excited to be so near the city, where there is a life for people who don't fit into societies norms, though it would be fair to argue that in this day and age, what with more and more states making marriages between same-sex couples legal, more and more people coming out of the closet, it is the norm.

"Coming Mom!" Elizabeth yells down the stairs as she quickly changes into her chosen outfit today: a pair of dress slacks that fit her comfortably and show her off a bit, and a nice collared shirt, perfect for a day roaming a buzzing city in search of work. She chooses walking shoes that don't look horribly out of place with her slightly dressy clothes and goes to use the bathroom. After washing her hands, face, brushing her teeth, and applying deodorant and a body spray she bounds down the stairs, feeling wound tight from all the energy and excitement built up over her plans for today.

"That's a bit dressy for helping around the house today, isn't it?" her Mom asks as she takes her place at the table with the rest of the family. A plate before her held eggs, toast and jam, bacon, and sausage links.

"Don't be silly, dear, she is going into the city to search for a job," Mr. Bennett informs his wife while he beams at his favorite daughter. "You have the twins to help you today. Jane has decided to join her sister in the search."

"I hardly think it is appropriate for two young women to go into New York City without a proper escort," Mrs. Bennett comments.

"They are, as you say, young women, my dear. I think they have proven through their escapes into Atlanta that they can handle a big city, and I have already armed Jane's purse with pepper spray, along with Elizabeth's key ring," Mr. Bennett replies nonchalantly and then takes a bit of his toast while straightening out the paper in front of him and holding it up to read an article, putting a finality to the entire thing.

"My nerves will be on such edge all day, I'll get nothing done!" Mrs. Bennett complains, looking imploringly at Jane. Elizabeth found this hardly a fair play, as Jane would buckle in a minute.

"Would your nerves be more on edge with me in the city alone or with Jane along with me?" Elizabeth inquires, setting her half-eaten toast down and picking up her fork to take a bit of her eggs.

"Stubborn girl, I don't know where you get it from!" Mrs. Bennett exclaims in exasperation. Mr. Bennett chuckles at this and Elizabeth hides her smile behind her hand, turning to look at Jane who is staring determinedly at her plate now, fighting the urge to giggle. Mrs. Bennett ignores all of this by turning immediately to the twins who have missed the conversation while whispering heatedly to each other about something or other. "Well, it looks like it's just the three of us today, we'll start with the living room and work out way out, we'll get the downstairs done today and everyone can work on their rooms when they can."

Annie looks past Beth at their mother and opens her mouth to argue. One can only suspect that it was the daggers threatening to shoot out of Mrs. Bennett's eyes that made Annie think twice about what she was about to say, for she shut her mouth, nodded, and turned back to her breakfast, of which only remained the eggs that she doesn't particularly like but is not allowed to leave the table until she eats it. Meanwhile, Beth turns in her seat to face her mother like she was facing her sister a moment before, and a discussion ensues as to what should go where and when they should break for lunch and where they should go for it.

"You haven't said a word since breakfast, have you suddenly gone mute?" Elizabeth inquires of Jane as they sit on the short train ride into the city.

"No of course not," Jane rolls her eyes and then turns and smiles at Elizabeth. "It's just so exciting I find myself speechless!"

"This doesn't surprise me, as you are easily rendered speechless," Elizabeth teases. Jane elbows her sister playfully and goes back to staring out the window. "I don't think we should be all about business. I think we should hit any landmark we want to take a closer look at as we pass it, apply at the places that look interesting enough to work in, and then tonight we should go dancing."

"Mother expects us back by dinner…"

"But Dad does not," Elizabeth grins as Jane glances at her again.

"You know how mother is with her anxiety…" Jane replies, looking doubtful.

"We have cell phones, Jane, we will call her every hour on the hour, I've already thought of this," Elizabeth waves her off. "In fact, as soon as this train stops at the station we should call her and let her know that we have arrived in the city safely. If we do this enough, she'll be fine, and maybe even grow tired of hearing from us so often…"

"Like Atlanta three years ago?" Jane smirks.

"Yes, I believe it was your plan then," Elizabeth grins back. As though there were some silent cue, the train starts to slow and Elizabeth's heart starts pounding faster and harder than ever. They were about to stop in the famous Grand Central Station and depart the train. She was about to step foot in New York City for the first time. "Quick, call her now," Elizabeth's voice came a little above a whisper. Jane pulls out her phone obligingly and hits speed dial 2. As the stepped onto the platform with Jane's left ear pressed tight to the phone and right ear pressed tight with her palm, Elizabeth stared around unbelieving. The magnificence of the interior is not done any justice through the pictures she used to look at back in Georgia.

After the ensuing five minute conversation, they were emerging out into the daylight. They made sure to step out of the way of the foot traffic before taking the moment to get their bearings. Jane looked around wide eyed. Elizabeth smiled and closed her eyes, listening to all the voices, the feet hitting the ground leaving no interval of silence, the cars driving in the streets, honking at each other, pedestrians trying to cross and yelling at the cab drivers.

"We meet dad for lunch in three hours, we better get moving," Jane says, breaking Elizabeth out of her reverie. Elizabeth's eyes flutter open, the smile unwavering from her face as she turns to Jane.

"Pick a direction," Elizabeth instructs.

"Why don't we go that way?" Jane points behind Elizabeth, who turns around and immediately spots the Empire State Building.

The view from the top was breathtaking. It took them nearly an hour to get to the building and get to the top of it, and now Elizabeth did not want to leave. She and Jane were pointing out different landmarks between stretches of silent. After ten minutes in one spot, they start walking so that they can take in all sides. All in all they spent a good hour at the top of the building, and it took Jane taking Elizabeth's arm and leading her to get them to leave in time to get across town and meet their father for lunch. Beginners luck, they were able to grab a cab almost immediately.

"There are my beautiful girls! What did I tell you, Charles, the most beautiful girls in the universe!" Dad exclaimed as Jane and I walked into the building that held his offices. It was a four floor building in the business district and the corporations offices were on the first floor. They owned the building and rented the rest of the floors out to various other corporations. Dad was speaking to a handsome, tall man who had the body of a late-twenty year old but a boyish face with short, red hair and looking dashing in a gray business suit. "Girls, this is Charles Bingley, he works in the office beside mine."

"They most certainly are gorgeous," Charles replies with a smile so eloquent as he shook Elizabeth's hand when her father introduced them. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Elizabeth."

"Charmed, sir," Elizabeth replies with her own beaming smile.

"And this is Jane," Dad says.

Elizabeth watches his face as it clearly lights up the room when his eyes land upon Jane. His hand, reaching out to shake hers, shakes slightly, and when they shake hands, they don't let go for a good minute.

"It's certainly a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ja…Bennett," he stammers through the name, seemingly changing his mind at being too friendly too soon, addresses her formally. Elizabeth holds a hand over her mouth to suppress a chuckle.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Bingley," Jane replies, returning his smile watt for watt. It takes a moment for them both to realize their hands are still clasped before they let them go rather quickly.

"Well, Bingley, what do you say? Would you like to join us for lunch? Show us a good place to eat, it's our first day in the city after all, wouldn't want to pick the wrong experience," Dad cut in on the moment.

"Certainly, sir, do you all prefer Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai food, or just a good pizza joint?" he inquires.

"I enjoy Thai," Jane offers up.

"Not good for an old man's digestive system," Dad shakes his head. "What about a good burger joint? Or just a hot dog?"

"You haven't truly lived until you've had a hot dog from a New York City street vendor, and I know just the one," Charles replies. "Miss Elizabeth?"

"I've been dying to try a New York City Street Vending hotdog," Elizabeth agrees with a laugh.

"Miss Bennett?" he turns to Jane, who blushes slightly and nods. "Shall we then?" he asks, offering her one arm and Elizabeth the other.

"Well, who shall I escort if you're taking them both?" Dad laughs and moves forward to open the door for everyone.

The hotdog vendor in question was only one block over and one block down. The three Bennetts just stood there and stared. Charles' phone had just rang and he had told them to order what they wanted on him and he would be off the phone in a minute, but by the time he had hung up the phone, no one had ordered anything.

"I see it all the time," the vendor says with a distinct Italian accent, "Tourists or new to the area are you? Well hurry it up, I've got millions to serve today."

"Would you all like me to order for you?" Charles asks. "Anyone picky about what's on their dogs?"

"No," Jane and Elizabeth say together.

"Four ballparks with the works, Joe," Charles says to the vendor.

Joe pulls four dogs out of the water, puts them on a rolling grill while he takes out four buns and smears mustard on one side of the buns and ketchup on the other, then he lays a piece of cheese, puts the hot dogs on the cheese, and then takes a little of each of his condiments and sprinkles these on top. Then he hands them out and eyes them warily, mainly the ladies, daring them to take a bite and complain. Elizabeth takes a bite and closes her eyes. It was like a party in her mouth, the best hot dog she had ever tasted, and when she is done with the first bite, makes this known to Joe.

"Well you come back to my cart any time," he says with a wink.

"I will," Elizabeth replies and then turns to catch up to the others who had already started walking back towards the offices. "These are amazing," she says when she draws level with her father. Charles and Jane are a few steps ahead talking in between bites. They were just far enough away that Elizabeth couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Those two look smitten and they've just met," Mr. Bennett comments between bites. His hotdog was already three-quarters gone. Elizabeth looked back at them and would have to agree. She'd never seen Jane quite warm up to anyone as quickly as she had already warmed up to Mr. Bingley. "I'll have to let Jane know, if he doesn't, that he is only in town for a few months. He heads back to Georgia in September, just working summers here. And lord knows he does not need to work, thanks to family money," he adds a little more quietly and Elizabeth barely catches these words and smiles.

"We'll see if this infatuation lasts longer than the others. Most men run in the other direction when they realize that Jane is a traditional," Elizabeth states after swallowing what she had been chewing while her father had been talking. Traditional was the code word for virgin in her family. "She says the worthwhile one will stick around because she's traditional, not in spite of it."

"It's very true," Mr. Bennett smiles at Elizabeth. "I told her that one myself, last time she was trying to hide her tears over dear mister jackass."

"Jackson," Elizabeth corrects with a laugh. "And I racked him after what he did."

"Good, he deserved it," Mr. Bennett winced as he said it, as most men tend to wince at the imagery of the sentence. "What about you, Lizzy? Think you'll find someone to bring home and introduce to the family."

"I think I'll concentrate on working once I find a job," Elizabeth shrugs and puts the rest of the hotdog in her mouth, for she eats like her father when she is with him, and he had already managed to finish.

"Dating is not a terrible thing, Lizzy. It's the only way to weed out the losers to find the winner," he states. "and I think it is high time that you are true to yourself and pick your own dates, because once Jane is married off, every suitor she brings over for dinner will be for you."

Elizabeth swallows without finishing chewing and coughs for a moment. Her father lets out a laugh and thumps her on the back. When she's got her bearings back she looks at her father questioningly.

"Mother's suitors are never my type," she says slyly, knowing that he knows.

"May I make a suggestion?" he says. "You plan on moving into the city, no doubt, as soon as you possibly can, since it has always been a dream of yours, or am I wrong?"

"You are not wrong," Elizabeth says quietly, looking now at the back of Jane's head.

"Your mother will throw a fit when that happens," he states nonchalantly.

"Very true, though at the moment, her fit about me throwing out is the least of what I am concerned about," she says, playing around the edges as is he.

"Then here is my suggestion, because we all know what she will be like when you…bring a lovely lady home to introduce us," he says. Elizabeth looks at him in pretend shock and he just chuckles and puts an arm around her shoulders. "My suggestion is that you move out first, and when your mother looks as though she will not let up for anything, tell her then that your preference is women. You'll know the moment, and when it happens, you'll have her blessing to move out in the form of her throwing you out," he says.

"Wouldn't that be the worst way to do it?" Elizabeth asks him, the shock now real.

"No, my darling tom boy, that would be the best way to do it," Mr. Bennett assures her. "The worst way to do it would to bring someone home with you and announce it like that, because then you have innocents in the line of fire, and we don't need any collateral damage, do we?"

"No, we don't," Elizabeth sighs. She opens her mouth to ask him something else but he puts a finger to his lips as they had arrived back at the office and were approaching where Mr. Bingley and Jane had stopped.

"Well, Charles, I would imagine we should get back to my orientation," Mr. Bennett says loudly, interrupting the intense eye contact going on between him and Jane.

"Yes, sir, we should," Charles blinks his way out of it and looks at Mr. Bennett. "Ladies, it was a pleasure," Charles says with a little bow, and then picks up Jane's hand and kisses it lightly. "Until we meet again."

Jane giggles as Mr. Bennett hugs Elizabeth and then Jane before taking off with Charles. Elizabeth takes Jane's arm as they start up a random direction.

"He is very charming," Elizabeth comments at a respectable distance from the building.

"Extremely sweet," Jane agrees. The smile that Charles had put on her face had yet to fade away. "We have a lot in common already. He loves to read but loves to be outdoors too. He's torn in his love between city and country, but would prefer a house in the country and to visit the city on a whim. He has two sisters, one of which is a lesbian."

"Don't get any ideas," Elizabeth states firmly.

"What's the harm in a double date?" Jane asks meekly.

"You told him?!" Elizabeth lets go of Jane's arm.

"Don't be angry with me, Lizzy! He told me of his sister first! I told him you weren't out yet, he swore to respect that, please don't be angry with me!" Jane pleads.

"I can never stay angry with you for more than a millisecond," Elizabeth sighs. "I'm serious though, no fixing me up."

"Deal," Jane beams again, apprehension erased from her face, replaced with the smile that was there before. "His best friend in this world is also a lesbian though," she states quietly. Elizabeth, who had just taken Jane's arm again, elbows her playfully. "Just saying," she says in a sing-song voice.

"You realize that the best friend and the sister are probably together," Elizabeth points out.

"I doubt that, from what it sounds like, they've known each other long enough to be sisters."

"Just saying," Elizabeth uses her own sing-song voice. "What else about him has he revealed to you?"

"That he's well off but likes to come and work here in the summer. He's thinking about getting a house in the suburbs with plenty of land so that he could bring his two horses out from Georgia. Apparently Darcee is the one who hooked him up with the job. Her parents passed in a car accident when she was seventeen, leaving their corporation to her. Darcee is his best friend."

"Darcee is Dad's boss?"

"Bosses boss, yeah," Jane nods. "She's in charge of two rather large corporations, this one and another one on the west coast, so she travels a lot when she's not on her plantation in Georgia with her little brother."

"She raises her little brother?"

"Yeah, he's only fourteen years old," Jane sighs, "Parents died when he was only four, she's raised him with the help of a nanny and the people who run the plantation when she's gone."

"That's…" there were no words that Elizabeth could think of to describe it.

"He is very fond of her, very protective too."

"Can't blame him for that," Elizabeth shakes her head.

"So, Charles says that we should spend the rest of the afternoon checking out Times Square. He also said he'd like us to join him this weekend for a play on Broadway. I told him how you wanted to live in the city and he said a true New Yorker has seen Cats, that way when they boast about how wonderful or horrible it is, they have the experience to back it up."

"Sounds great!" Elizabeth exclaims. She thought it would be a few months before she could go to a Broadway play, and here her first day she has been invited to see one of the most famous ones on Broadway!

They spent the rest of the afternoon as Charles had recommended, wandering Times Square at their leisure, ducking in and out of different places, and applying at two that had Help Wanted signs out. Elizabeth made a mental note to get a copy of the New York Times to look through the job section. After they had dinner in China Town, they discussed where to go.

"I don't fancy being hit on by a bunch of random men in a bar, and I doubt you want it either," Jane says as they stand in front of the restaurant discussing where to go.

"No, I really don't," Elizabeth laughs. "I have an idea though, but you have to be open to it."

"That was pretty much my way of saying take me to a lesbian bar, Lizzy," Jane says, looking amused at her sister's slight apprehensiveness at the idea of taking her to a lesbian bar.

"Are you sure?" Elizabeth raises an eyebrow, not attempting to hide her surprise.

"Of course! You say that people can tell from ten miles away that I am straight, I am very comfortable with my sexuality," Jane's face blushes at the word, "Let's go."

"Alright," Elizabeth smirks.

It takes them twenty minutes to flag down a cab and another thirty before they arrive at the Cubbyhole. Elizabeth had found the name about ten minutes after her father had announced that he had taken a job in NYC. Jane did not take Elizabeth's arm when they got out, as she usually would have done. When Elizabeth offered, Jane shook her head.

"I don't want them to think that you and I are together, that would totally cramp your style," Jane explains.

"Oh stop it, I'm not looking for anyone tonight," Elizabeth waves her off and takes her arm as they walk into the bar. "Let's get a table," she adds.

"I don't see an open one!" Jane says loudly as the volume of the music had gone up significantly upon entering. They showed their Ids to the guard and went in search of a place to sit. "Oh my God," Jane says suddenly, stopping in her tracks, almost making Elizabeth trip.

"What?" Elizabeth asks, and follows her eye line. "Oh wow," Elizabeth didn't know whether to just be shocked or to laugh. He must be the only man in the bar aside from the bouncer. "What is he doing here?" she asks Jane.

"He said he had plans with his sister tonight, didn't know she would drag him here…Quick, let's go this way before he sees us," she says turning, but it was too late. Charles looked up and made eye contact with Elizabeth and smiled, waving them over, but Jane was pulling her towards the bar. It took only a minute for Charles to arrive at Jane's side.

"Of all the bars in all the city, you walk into mine," he says.

"Your bar is a lesbian bar?" Jane smiles at him.

"Yeah, well, I, uh, my sister wanted to come here, and she is, er, only in town for the night, and well, yeah," he stammers through his sentence. Apparently Jane's smile renders him incapable.

"That's sweet of you," Jane comments.

"Why don't you two come sit with us? I would love for you to meet her," Charles says quickly.

"I don't know-" Elizabeth starts.

"We'd love to!" Jane cuts her off.

"Of course we would," Elizabeth mutters, getting up to follow, as Jane had already gotten to her feet and taken Charles' arm. Elizabeth thought she heard him say something about his best friend being here as well, and when they arrived at the table, she could tell immediately which one was Darcee, as she looked completely bored out of her mind, swirling a straw in her drink, looking as though she was above this petty atmosphere. A true Georgian aristocrat. Not to mention, the only one of the two ladies at the table who did not have red in her hair.

"Darcee, Lindsay, I would like you to meet Miss Jane and Miss Elizabeth Bennett," Charles said.

"Jane Bennett?" Lindsay asks, taking Jane's outstretched hand. "The Jane Bennett?"

"The girl you were telling us about, Charles?" Darcee asks. "Why on earth is she in a lesbian club? Shouldn't that be a red flag for you?"

Elizabeth, taking in Darcee's judgmental and dismissive tone, decided that she did not like this woman.

"She was accompanying me, just as Charles, who is clearly not a lesbian, has chosen to accompany you two," Elizabeth stated. Darcee looked up at Elizabeth quizzically for a moment before her face went back to passive judgment. She did, however, stand up and offer her hand.

"Darcee Pemberley," she introduced herself. Elizabeth took her hand, choosing not to level herself to impoliteness that Darcee has already shown once.

"Elizabeth Bennett."

"Lindsay Bingley," Lindsay said, done greeting Jane and having turned to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth shakes her hand too, and notes a kind of mimicking of Darcee's attitude in Lindsay's face, though she had just been perfectly polite to Jane. Elizabeth decided to hold out on making a decision on how she felt about her, although right now, the words two-faced came to mind. Elizabeth could handle herself, Lindsay just better not do anything to Jane.

"I love this song," Charles says suddenly. "Jane, would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to," Jane says and lets Charles lead her off. Elizabeth looks around for a moment and then, knowing what manners would dictate, takes a seat at the table with the other two. Before she can say anything, however, someone comes up and whisks Lindsay off for a dance. Darcee looks at the couples on the floor, as does Elizabeth, for a few minutes. The songs change but no one comes back to the table. Elizabeth, who very much wants to dance, looks at Darcee.

"Would you like to dance?" Elizabeth finally asks.

"I'm not one to dance," Darcee replies flatly.

"Nor do you seem like one who drinks," Elizabeth states, and then mentally turns her filter back on. She's never had patience for rudeness.

"I'm not, this is a coke," Darcee replies, still flatly. "I'd much rather intelligent conversation to drinking till I'm dumb and dancing like a buffoon."

"Then why on earth would you come to a dance club riddled with people who are drinking?" Elizabeth asks bluntly. The filter didn't take. Darcee looks at her appraisingly but before any more words could be said, someone from behind interrupts.

"Can I buy you a drink?" a feminine Italian accent wafted over Elizabeth's shoulder. She turned around in her seat to see who it was addressing and found a beautiful, petite woman looking down at her. This woman was an inch or so shorter than Elizabeth standing up, and had black hair and gray eyes that were smiling.

"Me?" Elizabeth asks.

"Yes," the lady replies, her smile faltering a little.

"Sure," Elizabeth says and follows her back to the bar where the lady orders a margarita and Elizabeth orders a beer.

"I'm Valerie," the lady introduces herself after she orders the drinks.

"Elizabeth," Elizabeth holds out a hand and Valerie shakes it in that proper, feminine way.

"It's a pleasure," Valerie says as the bartender hands over the drinks. "Is that a Georgian accent I detect?" she asks.

"Yes," Elizabeth smiles. "Italian?"

"Slight, yeah, I live in the Bronx, you can't help it," Valerie shrugs. "First time in the city?"

"How could you tell?" Elizabeth almost spews her drink.

"You haven't that New Yorker confidence yet," Valerie says.

"New Yorker confidence?" Elizabeth raises an eyebrow and takes another sip of her beer.

"Most girls from around her, when they're asked if they'd like a drink, reply with a yes or no right away. You were shocked," Valerie explains.

"I wasn't shocked-"
"I found it endearing," Valerie cuts her off. "Nice change of pace. You're also more polite than most," she adds. "This your first time in a lesbian bar too?"

"Yeah, never had the guts to show my face in one in Atlanta. Georgia can be rather small when it comes to the minority," Elizabeth explains.

"I bet, so does that mean you're not out completely?"

"Yes, that's what that means," Elizabeth laughs. "I don't think I've met anyone so forward."

"I apolog-"

"Don't," Elizabeth cuts Valerie off. "I find it endearing and a nice change of pace." Valerie smiles at this.

"Would you like to dance?"

"I would love to."

Elizabeth spent the next few hours dancing between beers with Valerie. She was having so much fun that when her phone rang between songs and she lifted it to see her mother's number on it, she sighed in defeat. Valerie and Elizabeth exchanged numbers before Elizabeth went to find Jane and tear her from the company of Charles to start home. It was only ten o'clock, but any later and they probably would have to take a very expensive cab ride back. This way they could catch the last train, which they barely made, and their father picked them up at the station and took them home.

Elizabeth and Jane stayed up well into the morning hours discussing and analyzing the day's and night's events. When Elizabeth relayed to Jane Darcee's rudeness, they spent a good hour discussing her demeanor and how they would rather have nothing to do with her again unless, of course, in the presence of Charles. Elizabeth had to reassure her sister again and again that if it came to hanging out as a group, Elizabeth would be fine. At three in the morning, Jane went back to her own bedroom, and Elizabeth stared at the ceiling, once again reliving the day and night, until sleep stole over her, falling into it with a smile.