Well at least the sister has manners. Lizzie thought to herself. She couldn't believe Darcy would be so easily offended by such an innocent accident. It only furthered her ill opinion of him and Oscorp. What kind of staff would he be leading as such an arrogant person?
'I guess manners skipped a sibling.' Lizzie laughed. 'Perhaps his sister was adopted from a kind family and thrown into such poor genetic composition of expressionless people.'
'He might be rude and expressionless, but there is nothing poor about the Darcys. Oscorp alone is worth 20 billion dollars.' Charlotte explained. 'Georgiana does seem a more social than Darcy. Well they are new in town. It is a bit of a difficulty getting acquainted with a new city.'
What Lizzie didn't notice was Darcy's stare as she walked away. His expressionless face, for a split second, showed a bit of intrigue.
'Look, here come Jane and Darcys' friend.' Charlotte cautioned.
Jane and Peter walked over to Elizabeth and Charlotte. Jane's blonde curls bounced as she drew closer, her smile could hardly hide the blushing color of her cheeks. Lizzie knew that Jane was smitten. Peter was introduced to Lizzie's best friend, Charlotte, and made a bit of small talk. Darcy and his sister walked toward the group just as Peter asked a question.
'I find it a bit hard to talk to people in a new city, don't you guys?'
'I suppose if you walk into a pub on the night of a much awaited concert, probably. People usually just want to get to the music and not mingle.' Elizabeth answered in a light hearted manner. 'It's hardly grounds for small talk.'
'How would you prefer small talk be initiated?' Darcy interrupted as he looked at Elizabeth.
She stared back at him blankly and said, 'Accepting someone's genuine apology. Knowing they meant nothing by it.' She turned and said goodnight to the rest of the group, and walked off.
His pillow was moist. The sheets pulled violently as he squirmed in his bed unable to wake up. He remembered the day he lost his uncle. Kneeling over him, covering the gun wound with his hands as he yelled for help. He remembered his aunt's face when the news was delivered. Guilt consumed him every second he stood in front of her as she cried. There was no way to appropriately explain Ben's death to Aunt May. All of a sudden he heard a string snap as the vision of Gwen's fall flashed in his dream. He immediately sprung out of bed and clung to the ceiling. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead and onto the ground. His breath was heavy. The clock read 7:48am. He released himself from his grip and jumped down to the floor. There were far too many thoughts running through his mind as he paced his room. He grabbed his forehead as he sat at the foot of his bed. Just a blank stare at the floor. Then he buried his face in his palms. There was no way he would allow that to happen again. There was no way he was going to lose someone he loved. This time things would be different. Uncle Ben had always taught him the importance of responsibility when something large had been entrusted to someone. Peter realized he wasn't a teen anymore. Mistakes of carelessness end up costing lives. Claiming the ones closest to him. He'd only met Jane two days ago, but had not been able to get her out of his mind. Her deep blue eyes would make the ocean seem artificial and her laugh would forever echo in his memory. He stood up, walked over to his desk and began packing his equipment. If he didn't leave soon, he'd be late for work. As he pulled his camera strap over his head, he decided the best thing to do would be to never see Jane again. The least he can do is save her life.
The ice shifted as it melted in her half consumed caramel iced coffee. The papers she set it on started to wrinkle. She sat in her chair nodding off, facing her computer pretending to work. She knew the show two days ago was a mistake. She was running behind on her latest story and had been unable to catch up on sleep.
'BENNET!' A loud abrasive male voice shouted across the room.
'BENNET! WHERE'S BENNET?!' the shouting continued waking her up from the 25 second power nap she fell into.
She swung her chair around and saw her boss standing at the threshold of his office.
'GET IN HERE!' He yelled as he turned to walk back in.
Lizzie grabbed her note pad, jumped out of her chair and followed.
As she sat down, she wondered if he always carried a cigar in his hand...
At least he's not smoking it this time. She thought to herself. She couldn't quite grasp the complimentary concept of his gray, flat top hair cut and mustache. Not to mention the suspenders he always wore. She indeed thought him a very unique individual.
He slammed a manila folder in front of her.
'ASSIGNMENT CHANGED. YOU'RE COVERING OSCORP'S NEW CEO.' He demanded.
'Mr. Jameson, I don't think that's a very good ide-'
'IDEA?! WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT IDEAS?! GET THE INTERVIEW!' Jameson continued.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, composed herself, and calmly responded, 'Mr. Jameson, I don't think I'm the person for that job. I have strong objections about Oscorp. Aside from an arrogant, inhumane CEO they do a lot of their testing on humans.'
'WELL AT LEAST THEY'RE SAVING PUPPIES.' Jameson said condescendingly.
'Sir... what do you think cross genetics species is?'
'WHAT ARE YOU SOME KIND OF TREE HUGGER?! AND ARROGANT? HOW DO YOU KNOW WILLIAM DARCY TO BE ARROGANT? YOU MUST HAVE TALKED TO HIM AT ONE POINT.'
'Uh- it wasn't really a talk-,' Lizzie tried to explain.
'YOU KNOW HIM. GET THE INTERVIEW. WRITE THE STORY. THIS IS BIG NEWS AND THE DAILY BUGLE HASN'T HAD ANY COVERAGE ON IT. I'M NOT PAYING YOU TO KEEP US BEHIND.' He exclaimed.
Well, you hardly pay me at all. She thought.
His office phone rang and picked up on speaker. 'WHAT?!'
'Mr. Jameson, you have a call on line three.'
He looked at Elizabeth, pointed at the folder and sternly said, 'GET THE STORY.' as he picked up the parked call.
She grabbed the folder, walked out of the office and closed the door behind her. A young man ran into her as she turned to walk to her desk. Caught a little off guard she dropped a few sheets from her new assignment folder. She bent over to pick them up and saw a hand reach down to help.
'I'm so sorry.' said the culprit.
'Its okay. A little warning next time.' She responded as she looked up.
'Peter.' She looked puzzled. 'Wh, wh, what are you doing here?'
'Uh, I work free lance for the Bugle.' He answered as he clicked his camera, igniting the flash.
'Oh, uh. Well... That's strangle I've never seen you around here before.'
'I could say the same about you.' He finished.
Lizzie nodded, 'Yeah, I guess you could.'
'Well, I gotta -' He pointed at Jameson's office.
'Yeah. Yeah.' Lizzie dismissed as he walked passed her.
Peter went inside Jameson's office and closed the door behind him.
'PARKER! I NEED MORE PICTURES OF WEB HEAD!'
Jeez... Paper thin walls. You can turn down the volume. Lizzie thought as she sat down at her desk.
She stared at her computer. Web head? Is this guy trying to catch pictures of Spider-Man?
