By this time it should be March, but here it's still July :)
Lizzie had promised her father that she would be extremely careful and after much persuasion she was finally able to convince him to send her to Arizona by herself. Charlotte met her at the airport and they hugged each other tightly.
"Lizzie, do you forgive me yet?" Charlotte asked with imploring eyes and a small smile.
"Of course," she declared. She still hadn't accepted the decision or thought it right, but she still wanted to have a healthy relationship with her best friend. On the way to Charlotte's new home they talked about everything.
"You'll be sleeping in my room," Charlotte grinned. "Sometimes it can get pretty lonely."
Lizzie breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank God you're not in the same room!"
Charlotte wrinkled up her face. "He's a priest Lizzie! Anyway, I'm of age," she finished, mock haughtily. "And Mrs. Bourgh is pretty decent I guess. She's a tad old fashioned and is very prone to temper tantrums but besides that she's just fantastic."
"Oh yeah, okay. As long as I don't speak I should be okay," Lizzie joked and they all laughed. "Goodness, it is hot!" She breathed out as she stepped out of the car when they arrived at the house. It was a modest home, with few outside decorations. Lizzie noticed a few touches on the exterior of the home that were done obviously by Charlotte's hand, and she sensed the hesitancy of her friend to make herself too at home at Collin's house. Glancing down and seeing a few of Charlotte's signature garden adornments around the yard startled her, for it was never a factor in her equation that her best friend would actually like living there. The fact that she bothered to decorate the home suggested contentment in the arrangement,something that made Lizzie somewhat uneasy.
"Yeah, but it's in the middle of the summer so it should get cooler," Charlotte shrugged. "I like it here, it's pretty much the same all year long. And I don't have to shovel."
"Sounds nice," Elizabeth smiled. She personally enjoyed the change in seasons because it gave her a break between the scorching heat of summer and the freezing cold of winter, and with a new season often came a new state of mind. The consistent planes of Arizona didn't hold much for Lizzie, but there was a certain magic to the desert flowers and the various shapes and sizes of the cactus scattered naturally about the state.
"It is, and I don't have to rake leaves, or pull out weeds, or shovel snow or anything! And Will likes to work around the house so he takes care of the lawn, so I basically have the entire house to myself the whole day!"
Lizzie smiled tightly. "What have you been doing to keep busy?"
Charlotte shrugged. "We live in an area where a lot of retirees live, so there are a ton of country clubs that, frankly, we can't afford. Especially with me going to college after this year. So I just work around the house. I'm painting one of the rooms, moving things around. He's given me a lot of freedom," The spark in her eye was unmistakable, this and Charlotte's casual use of 'we' together made Lizzie nervous, but she remained quiet. Freedom was something Charlotte had felt she lacked in her own home, having so many other siblings, so it was obvious this sudden gift had taken her off her feet.
"So he's paying for your college then?"
"Well, not entirely," Charlotte replied, the frown lines only beginning to make their way onto her, until only a second ago, carefree face. "It's expected that I finish high school in an IB school in Phoenix next year and that I get a decent scholarship. Mrs. Bourgh has been kind enough to promise to lend Will the money, and will only withdraw it if I lose my scholarship."
"You won't lose it," Lizzie told her reassuringly, her voice almost cracking. "You can do anything."
"Yes well," Charlotte looked at the ground. "Do you want to go inside?"
The inside was only slightly more extravagant than the outside, and it was evident Charlotte was putting a lot of work into the home. The house was painted in all light colors, and the majority of the furniture was made of wood. Some of the pieces looked very old, there were some new ones thrown in and Lizzie assumed that was Charlotte trying to replace the old furniture with new. "This looks fantastic. My only question is, how did it look before?"
"Much worse," Charlotte admitted. "I've gotten a lot done so far. I hope to get another room or so done before the school year starts up again."
"Have you considered being an interior decorator? This really is fantastic," Lizzie praised and Charlottes cheeks flushed with pleasure.
"I hadn't before, but now I'm just beginning to. When I think of the possibilities of each of the rooms something just... clicks!"
"Do it," she encouraged. "You're fantastic at art anyway." Charlotte smiled at her.
"How about I leave you to unpack, I'll be in the kitchen getting dinner ready."
"So you're cooking for him now too?" Lizzie asked with mock outrage. Charlotte only smiled happily back at her and closed the door behind her, leaving Lizzie to unpack her things.
After she had changed from the clothes she had worn on the airplane all morning into something more comfortable, she went downstairs to see if Charlotte needed any more help preparing dinner.
"You look nice," Charlotte beamed, looking her friend up and down.
Lizzie waved her hand. "It's only a sundress. Do you need any help?"
"Well, it's a purple sundress. Purple is my favorite color! And no, I don't. Well... you can help by setting up the table. We typically eat dinner together here," she gestured with her head towards a small wooden table in the center of the room, as both hands were full. "Unless we have people coming over."
"So I don't count as people?" Lizzie joked as she found the cutlery and began making three places, making sure that Collins would be as far away from her as possible.
"No, you're family," Charlotte replied warmly. Lizzie had just finished putting the napkins down when the front door opened loudly and a red faced Mr. Collins barged into the kitchens. "What is it, Will?"
"Jennings just came over, Mrs. Bourgh has just invited us over for dinner tonight. No," he checked his watch. "In twenty minutes. He said she wants to meet Elizabeth."
"That's wonderful," Charlotte was stunned. "But I already made dinner for us!"
"Can you put it in some tupperware? We'll eat it tomorrow!" Collins replied brusquely, already halfway down the hallway mumbling about the inappropriateness of his wardrobe.
Charlotte sighed. "This happened a few days ago too, though we were halfway done eating."
"Do I look okay?" Lizzie asked.
Charlotte looked her up and down again. "Yes," she said finally.
"You look fine," Collins said, suddenly reappearing in a new, dressier jacket. "Those hobo clothes you were wearing either wouldn't have cut it though."
In a matter of minutes they were leaving the house, and before they got into the car, Lizzie had time for just one more question. "I didn't really look like a hobo, did I?"
***
"Wow," Lizzie breathed in awe as she raked her eyes over every bit of the mansion, towering over the desert like a queen. The home seemed to be lost in time, though it was styled extremely modernly. Everything was painted in bright colors as to not soak up too much of the scorching sun, and there was a lovely garden filled with plants Lizzie didn't even think grew in the desert.
"It's even prettier on the inside," Charlotte told Lizzie, seeing her friend's face change as the house came into view.
"Impossible." She shook her head.
She found herself corrected, however, as the butler met them at the front door and escorted them directly to where Mrs. Bourgh was lounging on a couch. While the Bingley household was decorated tastefully but modern, this new mansion was just as tasteful, but perhaps not quite as modern. There were definitely more statues and works of art in Mrs. Bourgh's house. Lizzie enjoyed art very much, though for some reason these paintings disturbed her a little. They all had the common theme of a conqueror, and she took this as a sign to mean that Mrs. Bourgh might in fact be as dry as the desert she lives in, and she prepared herself.
"So, this is your friend, Charlotte?" Mrs. Bourgh asked, unsmiling. The intimidating presence of the woman gave Lizzie the strange desire to curtsy, but she quickly talked herself out of it.
"Yes ma'am, this is Elizabeth Bennet."
"Pleased to meet you," Lizzie smiled and stuck out her hand. Perhaps a bit too quickly, for Mrs. Bourgh made no move to grasp it in greeting, instead she gestured to another couch on the opposite side of the room. They were now so far away that Lizzie figured she would have to shout in order to be heard by the lady, a fact that the owner of the house probably factored in while designing the room.
Mrs. Bourgh pursed her lips together and smoothed out her closely cropped gray hair. She was dressed elegantly for someone that hadn't left the house all morning, as Charlotte whispered to her in the car, with her gray two piece suit and faint pink accessories. It was evident that this lady had been someone remarkable in her time and demanded a certain level of respect. Lizzie knew, even from the moment she laid her eyes on her that she wouldn't like the woman, but she realized with a start that she respected Mrs. Bourgh's ability to make a room be quiet without saying a word.
"My daughter, Anne, should be back from the gardens in a moment. The girl likes to run rampant around outside instead of studying like a proper girl should." The lady's lips pressed together in a thin line. Lizzie bit back the desire to fight for the girl she hadn't met yet, telling her host that it was summer. No one, except IB students perhaps, studies during the summer.
The girl in question came in only a minute later, looking a bit red faced from what Lizzie guessed was running. The pink creeping up her cheeks was a major contrast against her pallid face. 'If rabbits were human, she'd be one.' Lizzie thought. 'She looks very vulnerable. Probably because her mother bullies her.'
"Come over here Anne, and introduce yourself to our guests." Her mother sighed at her daughter's entrance, clearly disappointed the girl hadn't bothered to make it more graceful.
"Hello, I'm Anne," Miss Bourgh stuck out her hand and Lizzie grasped it firmly, relieved that she wasn't the only one in the world that still shook hands.
"I'm Lizzie, it's nice to meet you. I'm sure you know Charlotte and... Will, right?"
"Yes, they've both been over several times," Anne spoke, almost with relief. "Since you've never been here before, would you like me to show you around the house?"
Lizzie was startled. She liked Anne very much, and thankfully she seemed nothing like her mother. She wasn't very pretty, but Lizzie now knew that she made up for that in personality. One thing that puzzled Lizzie was that she had been told Anne was sickly, and now seeing her face to face she couldn't see a thing wrong with her, besides being a bit pale. If they became better friends, she had to ask.
"Now where are you two going?" the head of the household asked stiffly. "Dinner should be ready soon."
"Mom, I'm just going to give Lizzie a tour of the house."
"Well, that should be fine. Her name is Elizabeth, child. I was never one for nicknames, that's why I named you Anne. No nickname can come out of that."
"Except everyone in the world besides her calls me Annie," Anne rolled her eyes to her guest once they left the room. "And when we're not around her, I expect for you, too."
Lizzie grinned. "No problem."
"Don't believe a thing she tells you," Annie confided in her as they walked. "She spreads around that I'm as sick as a dog and can't do a single thing. Sure, I am a little pale, but I only have ADHD!"
Lizzie couldn't help herself, she just laughed out loud at that. "That's terrible! That she would do that to you, I mean."
Anne waved her hand as they went from room to room. "It's really no problem. It gives me my solitude, but unfortunately she thinks, for some reason, I can't go outside. That explains my fascination with gardens... and my paleness."
"No offense, but she seems to overdramatize things."
"Oh she does," Anne sighed, adjusting her glasses. "And she can be a bit pushy. If she asks you to do something you don't want to, just do it. Everyone understands. It'll be better for you if you do, because if you don't, it'll be all of your ancestors fault down to the first caveman." And unpleasant sort of grimace found its way on her face and Lizzie briefly wondered what her mother had made other people do to cause such a wince. "I love her though." She looked down at her gold watch. "Dinner should be ready by now. Aw, we only got through half the house!" She frowned.
"It's okay, everything I've seen is wonderful."
"Mother didn't go on a rampage on your appearance the first second she saw you, did she?" Anne asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Er, no," she responded, confused.
"That must mean she likes you," Anne commented happily as they turned to walk to the dining hall. "She'll probably request that you come again tomorrow. Besides, she told me someone's visiting tomorrow that she wants you to meet."
"Who is it?" Lizzie was curious, for Ms. Bourgh was a major influence in the world and whomever it was, he or she was bound to be pretty fantastic.
"I don't know," Annie replied and rolled her eyes. "When I asked her, she told me that I was too curious and that I'd get myself into serious trouble someday. Honestly, she's impossible."
"Sounds it," Lizzie replied back, now comfortable enough with Annie to share her feelings.
By that time they had reached the dining hall and were assigned to their seats by Ms Bourgh herself. Lizzie was more than relieved over the fact that she was not placed next to Collins, but by Charlotte's side. She felt bad for Anne, however, for she had to deal with Collins' ramblings on subjects that had no relevance to anything the rest of the table was talking about. Lizzie felt as if she was carefully planning on how to get through a field of broken glass every time she wanted to speak. Annie's mother was relentless, disagreeing with anything and everything that came out on anyone's mouth, sometimes even disagreeing with herself. If Annie was right and they were invited back the next evening, Lizzie wasn't sure she'd be able to hold all of her opinions in next to their intensely opinionated host.
Surprisingly, she wasn't attacked all that much. She supposed that could have been because everyone else at the table had made more mistakes than she. First, half the meal wasn't cooked to her liking, so the hostess insulted all of her hired help, from the hedgecutters to the butler. Second, Collins had done something different with his bushes, and Collins was attacked. Lizzie would have felt sorry for him had his red face not been so funny. Third, Anne's lollygagging had finally ended her mother's patience and she was told off for the remainder of the meal.
Dinner seemed to take forever, and when it was over Ms. Bourgh seemed more than happy to kick them out due to the ten other, more important, things she had to do. A rushed invitation to dinner tomorrow as well was thrown out carelessly, much to Lizzie's dismay, and the trio were on their way again.
"Well, it could have been worse," Charlotte sighed.
Lizzie groaned, dreading the following evening.