A/N: Hey, so here's another update. So, I'm not too happy with this chapter, I feel like a put too much into a rather short amount of time (your thoughts?) but I didn't know how else to do it. I kind of imagine Charlie as this attractive nerdy hipster type but I'm not sure if that comes off at all, I just talk about his glasses occasionally, haha. Anyway, please review and thanks for reading!

Chapter Six

Jane and Charlie had been dating for a little less than two months, and Jane was pretty convinced they both were in it for the long run. Lizzie agreed wholeheartedly.

"Lizzie, I've dated guys before, but it didn't feel like this," she confided in her sister, sitting next to her on the couch while they enjoyed their morning coffee.

"Jane, that's good," Lizzie folded her legs underneath herself on the couch, "that means it's real."

"I'm just scared that he doesn't feel as serious as I do,"

"Are you crazy? Jane he adores you, I've met all your other boyfriends and none of them looks at you like he does." Lizzie responded honestly. Jane's boyfriends had varied from perfect looking but obnoxious frat boys to nerdy and socially-awkward guys from her college study group. They all liked looking at Jane, but none of them seemed to like her as a person quite as much. Lizzie was quick to pick up that all of them viewed her sister solely as an ornament. However, Charlie didn't seem to set off any alarms, and he looked at her sister like her eyes held the stars.

"Really?" Jane said, wide-eyed, "Lizzie, you always tell me when my boyfriends are just using me, I need you to be honest."

Lizzie picked up her mug of coffee off the table, "Jane, I am being completely honest when I say that Charlie is completely smitten with you,"

Jane smiled and looked down.

"I'm just saying you should consider it, Charlie," Will Darcy said, leaning back on the couch in the living room that overlooked the Californian coast.

Charlie had driven down to San Clemente for the day, thankfully leaving Caroline in the city, to visit with Gigi before she went back to Ithaca.

"Don't be ridiculous, Will," Charlie paced in front of large windows that took full advantage of the view, "I've never felt this way about a girl before,"

"That's first of all, not true," Will sighed, "you're always quick to fall into love with any girl that pays you enough attention." Charlie stared angrily at his friend, pushing the glasses up his nose and ruffling his light brown hair, "I grant you, Jane is the prettiest, by far."

"Will, I'm serious, this is different, I mean-" Charlie was cut off by Gigi walking into the room.

"What are you two up to?" She asked, not noticing Charlie's stressed expression, "I vote we go to the beach."

"Great idea," Charlie responded quickly, desperately wanting to end his conversation with Will.

Charlie had been a nervous-wreck meeting his roommate for the first time. Normally, he was pretty confident, but he was worried that his roommate would be a party-animal and always come home at obscene hours, ruining Charlie's plans for hardcore studying. Will had proven not to be the feared party-animal, but rather a quiet pre-med student, dreaming of "doctors without borders". Charlie began in undergraduate as a civil engineer, but soon changed to bio-engineering, sharing Will's dream of helping people, through designing prosthetic limbs. He had been there for Will sophomore year when his parents died. He watched someone who was a compassionate, shy human begin to turn into a reserved, pessimistic computer science major; something he knew Will hated. And as the college freshmen they were, Will and Charlie experimented with their fair share of alcohol at the occasional party. However, after his parents died from a drunk driver, Will never touched alcohol again. Charlie loved the person who had grown to be his best friend, and he tried very hard to keep him on the pre-med track, but Will insisted that changing his major was what he wanted. Charlie was fairly certain that 'he' referred to Will's late father. Charlie eventually went to MIT for graduate school, and was disappointed to leave Will in California to go to Stanford for his own graduate degree. Eventually, upon Charlie's graduation, he was offered many jobs at hospitals across the country, he chose the one where he could live near his friend, who had seemed to worsen through the course of graduate school. Will hated computer science, and writing a thesis on it had caused him to finally snap into a grumpy, self-loathing person. The only one who seemed to make him happy was his younger sister.

Over their many years of friendship they grown to greatly respect one another's opinion. Will at first thought Charlie was a typical smart, confident, and attractive full-package deal that had women swooning in his presence. He proved to be all those things but in a caring and naturally easygoing package, and thankfully with limited women-swooning.

Charlie was fairly certain that Jane was the one, and he wanted his friend's opinion. Unfortunately, Will Darcy was skeptical, and thought Jane was pretty indifferent toward Charlie. She had a very calm outward appearance, and seemed to enjoy Charlie's company, but he was doubtful of the depth of her devotion for his friend.

"Do you really think that she doesn't feel the same way?" Charlie asked, the question occupying his every thought.

"Who?" Gigi asked curiously.

"This girl Charlie's been seeing," Will replied calmly, "and yes, Charlie, she has you completely wrapped around her finger. Which is convenient given your salary compared to hers." Gigi looked at her brother curiously, "She's an artist."

"How can you say that?" Charlie was visibly angry, "she has a steady job, and it's not her fault that it doesn't pay as much as mine, besides, we never talk about those kinds of things. She's not a gold-digger, Will."

Gigi walked ahead of Will and Charlie, escaping their conversation that was bordering on an argument.

"You don't know that, Charlie," Will retorted, "you've known her for two months, and have only met her sister, you don't know what the rest of the family is like."

"Like her family will somehow lessen my regard for her," Charlie scoffed.

"It might," Will replied, giving Charlie a sideways glance.

Charlie was silent, carefully considering his friend's advice. As much as he disliked it, he valued Will's opinion.

"I'll talk to Jane about what our relationship means,"

Will doubted that was a good idea.

"Hey, Lizzie is that you?" A familiar face said to Lizzie as she was walking onto the Caltech campus.

"Charlotte?" Lizzie replied, surprised.

Lizzie and Charlotte had been friends since childhood, roommates in undergraduate school, and roommates (along with two others) in graduate school. Charlotte had moved to Pasadena to complete her Ph.D. in neurobiology. Charlotte was amazingly brilliant, Lizzie always thought, and to top it off, she was an incredibly hard worker.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in forever!" Charlotte closed in to engulf Lizzie in a hug, "I heard you got a job here, how are you liking it?"

"I'm only on my third day, but so far it seems awesome," Lizzie replied, her excitement visible.

They caught up, and talked about Lizzie's new job, and Charlotte's recent engagement to a fellow Ph.D. candidate.

"He's great, you'll love him," Charlotte promised, "he's getting a doctorate in economics. You should meet him, are you free for lunch today?"

"Yeah, of course," Lizzie responded, " I'd love to meet him. What's his name?"

"Ricky Collins," Charlotte smiled, "he has had an internship with the de Bourgh investment group, and they promised to hire him once he completed his dissertation."

"Wow, the Fortune 500 company? That's promising." Lizzie speculated that Charlotte was more interested in his potential wealth than the man himself, but she promised not to judge until she saw him for herself. Charlotte hadn't always been materialistic, but her personality solidified in high school when she firmly decided to earn a doctorate, not for her interest in the subject, but for the potential money it could create for her. Lizzie wondered if the recent engagement wasn't somehow related.

"Oh, Jane," Lizzie ranted at the end of her day, "he's the most ridiculous human being you'd ever meet. Do you know what he told me?" Jane shook her head, "He told me that my interest in environmental science has limited monetary outcome, you don't tell people that when you first meet them."

"Lizzie, I'm sure he was just trying to be nice," Jane added in earnest.

"You always think the best of people," Lizzie flung herself onto the couch, "he's awful, how can Charlotte even consider marrying him."

Jane patted her sister's head, and Lizzie grumbled loudly into the pillow.

"Excuse me," a voice sounded behind Lizzie, "do you know how to get to Santa Monica pier from here?"

Lizzie turned to see an attractive man, with a nervous expression on his face. He had gorgeous blue eyes, and blonde hair that covered the tops of his ears, his smile was easy, and his eyes held a soft expression that echoed friendliness.

"I just moved here, but I know you're a long way from the Santa Monica pier, buddy,"

He sighed, "Yeah, I used to live here when I was younger, but it's changed a lot," he looked up at her, "I'm an actor, and I figured while I waste my youth away waiting for my big break I might as well see some of the sights that I never appreciated when I was a child."

Lizzie laughed, "I'm sure you'll get your big break."

He smiled at her, "I'm George, by the way," he extended his hand to her.

"Lizzie," she smiled, taking his hand, "I can't get you the Santa Monica pier, but I can invite you to get coffee with me,"

"That would me lovely," he replied, smiling widely at her.

They arrived at the local coffee store a few minutes later. Lizzie was extremely happy that her new friend was as eager to talk as she was. They discussed many different topics ranging from Lizzie's disgust with Charlotte's fiancé to George's aspirations of being an actor.

"So what's your story?" He asked Lizzie, smiling flirtatiously.

"My story?" George nodded, "Well, I was born and raised in Helena, Montana with four sisters. Went to the University of Montana in Missoula, which isn't too far from where I live. I recently finished grad school with a degree in environmental science." George Wickham looked at Lizzie with an expression of earnest interest, "what about you?" Lizzie added.

George sat back in the chair and ran his hand through his hair, "Just your typical story about being treated terribly by your typical rich people," Lizzie was intrigued, and lifted her eyebrow in questioning, "my father and his business partner started a technology company together, unfortunately my own father died before he could see the company succeed. His business partner took me in, and promised to help me get an education. His son and I were pretty close, and went to UCLA together. We grew apart in college, especially after his father died in a car accident. It was in our sophomore year, anyway, his father wrote in his will that he wanted his son to continue to use his father's wealth for my college, and eventually, if I wanted to, graduate school. Unfortunately, his son is a bitter human being, and frankly denied to pay my tuition," Lizzie's mouth dropped, "I had to drop out, and I moved in with a friend from high school who went to school in Boston. After crashing on their couch for awhile, I moved to New York and tried my luck as an actor there, after nothing happened the entire time I was there, I decided to move back out here and test the waters."

Lizzie's mouth was still hanging open, "What kind of asshole would do that?"

George laughed, "Well, you haven't met Will Darcy then,"

Lizzie paused, "Will...Darcy?"

"Uh, yeah, do you know him?"

Lizzie was shocked, "You mean, Will Darcy denied to pay for your tuition after his father died?" George nodded, "Wow, I knew he was a complete jerk, but I didn't think he could be so...horrible, especially to a childhood friend."

George shrugged, "My theory is that he was jealous of me, because his father, well, his father doted on me a bit more than on him, anyway, how do you know him?"

"My sister is dating his friend..." Lizzie explained, "you know the first time I met him, he told his friend that I was vile."

"Well, he would be completely wrong," George replied, "you are quite wonderful."

Lizzie looked at him, blushed, and quickly looked away, "I'm so disgusted with his arrogance, he is always looking down on my sister and me,"

"He has a tendency to be a condescending prick,"

Lizzie smiled, "Truer words have never been said."