Gentle Reader,
This chapter is going to be the entire middle part of the song Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, because there's only so much romantic content there. I'm really excited about the next chapter, so be on the lookout!
As always, I love the comments!
Love,
RobinDesBois
Brenda and Eddie
The Saturday one week before Jane and Bing's December wedding, William was in the kitchen talking Bing through a panic attack about his suit, while Lizzie was shut in their library, on the phone with Jane trying to help with seating arrangements for two hours, followed by an entire hour with her mother, who insisted on describing every single outfit she was considering wearing to the wedding. William had come in and out of the room to offer her coffee, tea, and sympathetic looks several times. At the two and a half hour mark, he called their Italian restaurant to make a reservation, thinking they could both use a break and some time alone. Around the end of the third hour, he walked in to see Lizzie resting her forehead on her desk interjecting "Uh-huhs" between her mother's statements when he decided it was time for a to the kitchen, he took full advantage of his height to hold down the "test" button on the fire alarm, followed by a shout of her name.
He was successful. Lizzie was in the kitchen a moment later, looking around for the emergency.
"All good in here, how's the wedding planning?" he asked with a smirk.
"Pretty much all finished, unless someone asks my mother, in which case nothing and no one is ready," she smiled back.
"In that case, would you happen to be free for dinner tonight?" he asked, walking up to her and sliding his hands around her waist. "I happen to know a great Italian place where we can think about things that aren't the Lee-Bennet wedding for a few hours."
"You know, as much as I love Bing and Jane, I do think we could use the break."
Ten minutes before their reservation, William and Lizzie walked into the Italian restaurant and walked up to the Maitre d' to give their names, and when they turned around to return to the seating area, they bumped right into another couple.
"I'm so sorry!" Lizzie squinted up at the man she had run into. "Eddie?"
"Lizzie?"
"Oh, my gosh, it's so nice to see you!"
"How have you been! What are you doing in San Francisco?"
"My company's here, I live a couple blocks away, what are you doing here?"
"I'm actually on a trip with my fiancee-oh, I'm sorry, Lizzie, this is Brenda; Brenda, this is Lizzie, we...knew each other in high school."
"Nice to meet you," smiled Brenda.
"Oh, and this is William, my boyfriend. William, Eddie; Eddie, William."
"Nice to meet you, Eddie," William replied, Lizzie noting that his chin was slightly drawn back, and that he might've shook Eddie's hand a little tighter than was necessary. Eddie seemingly did not notice.
"You should join us, we haven't seen each other in so long, it'd be great to catch up with you, Lizzie."
"Oh, we wouldn't want to intrude," Lizzie quickly argued.
"Really, Lizzie, it would be no intrusion," Brenda insisted. "I'd love to hear some stories about Eddie in high school."
Fifteen minutes and a conversation with the Maitre d' later, William and Lizzie were seated across from Brenda and Eddie, and William is insisting on buying a bottle of Bonaccorsi wine for the table and slipping his hand around Lizzie's waist to pull her against his side.
"Hey, Lizzie, do you remember that homecoming bonfire they had when we were juniors?" Eddie asked.
"The one on the green by the football field when it rained almost five minutes in?" Lizzie laughed.
"And the guy with the speaker playing panicked," Eddie reminisced. The conversation fell into a lull as the waiter delivered their entrees.
"I still remember it was playing House of the Rising Sun, which was kind of ironic," Lizzie added. Brenda snorted, William smiled.
"It wasn't raining for the game the next night, though."
"And you tried to sneak beer into the football stadium because you thought you could hide it somehow with all those lights and school staff. I remember distinctly telling you that was a bad idea several times."
"You were right," he admitted.
"She generally is," interjected William.
"Toby Egan managed to do it, and I never found out how," Eddie skulked.
"That explains why he ended up being the Homecoming King," Lizzie reminded him.
"I still think you should've won queen," Eddie added.
"I assure you, no one ever votes for the awkward girl that's always reading." Lizzie laughed.
"You were far from awkward," Eddie assured her, smiling.
"Oh, but I have the photos to prove otherwise. And the YouTube channel to show I still am," Lizzie replied.
"I didn't think you came across as awkward, especially in the videos I was in," William added, shifting his hand from her waist to her hand and lifting their entwined fingers onto the table.
"What kind of YouTube channel do you have, Lizzie?" Brenda asked.
"I did a series of YouTube video diaries as my senior thesis for my Mass Communications Master's degree that ended almost two years ago," Lizzie smiled.
"Wow, that seems like quite the project," Brenda replied. "How did it go?"
"I don't know why, but it became extremely popular-I got about 270,000 subscribers to listen to me talk about my boring life."
"It wasn't just her life, it was costume theater, social commentary, and an exploration of the inner workings of media companies. Don't let her downplay her work, she's started her own company around it now." William added, looking at Lizzie with pride.
"Wow, I knew in school you'd be successful, but I didn't think you'd own your own company. What kind of projects do you do?" Eddie asked.
"We recently worked with some local theater companies to set them up to do live streaming of their shows in the event of some sort of incident that might prevent people from going to the theater-like a few years ago when the swine flu was going around, but in this case something that would actually restrict people to their homes. We're hoping to get something set up with these theaters to allow people to actually see productions from home, as well, since the theater can be kind of expensive and there are a lot of people that are housebound but would still enjoy watching a show like that. One of our key tenants is accessibility in media, which is why all our videos are professionally captioned." Lizzie responded.
"That's amazing, Lizzie," Brenda responded. "I wouldn't have even thought about the captioning on videos impacting their accessibility."
"A lot of people don't think about that because so many people aren't affected by the problem, it's not uncommon for people to have not thought of that, but we actually get a lot of comments on it."
"Excuse me," asked the waiter, "but would you folks be interested in any desserts tonight?"
"Do you have any of that chocolate cake with the fruit on it tonight?" William asked.
"We do, we just got the fruit fresh this morning," the waiter smiled.
"You guys HAVE to have this cake," Lizzie insisted.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Brenda laughed.
"Four pieces of the chocolate cake, please, and put everything on one check," William smiled.
"You're not willing to share cake with me?" Lizzie feigned injury.
"Not after last time, I'd like to try some," William laughed and kissed her forehead.
Everyone was in raptures about the cake, and Brenda and Eddie fought valiantly against William's insistence on paying the whole check until Lizzie advised them that they were fighting a losing battle.
They found that Brenda and Eddie had parked in the opposite direction from their apartment, so they said goodbye outside the restaurant and walked back to their apartment, both thinking over the evening.
"So you and Eddie definitely dated in high school, right?" William asked as they walked into their building.
"Yeah, fall of junior year. Didn't end up working out, obviously. We wanted different things after high school," Lizzie smiled.
"Seems like you have some good memories, though," William replied wistfully. Lizzie looked up and realized he was feeling a little jealous.
"We had one good homecoming," she answered, lifting her hand up to stroke his cheek. "Nothing like what I have with you." William smiled and kissed her palm, taking her other hand and pulling her towards the open elevator.
"I also noticed," William added with a smile as the doors closed behind them, "that Eddie is engaged and you are coming home with me."
"That's true, and I couldn't be happier," she replied, pulling his hand and leading him out of the elevator and into their apartment. She led him straight into their bedroom, where she used his tie to pull him into a kiss. "Let's make the rest of the evening about just us, shall we?" she grinned.
"Delighted to oblige, Lizzie Bennet," he laughed, then turned her around in his arms to access the zipper on the back of her dress. He pulled it down torturously slow, making sure that his fingers brushed her newly exposed skin as much as possible. He gently slid it off her shoulders to pool at her feet, revealing a green lace underwear set.
Lizzie turned around and pulled at the knot in his tie, pulling it over his head and throwing it on the bed behind her. Together they made quick work of the buttons of his shirt, which quickly joined her dress on the floor. He bent down and kissed her, grasping Lizzie's hips and pulling her against him, pressing her against his arousal, and guided her towards the bed. He fell backwards onto their bed, keeping her on top of him. Lizzie laughed as they hit the bed, then sat up to straddle his hips. She pulled her lower lip into her teeth, knowing this was a weakness of his, and ground against his erection. She was rewarded with a groan, and he rolled them over, pinning her under his weight and pressing his lips against her own. William started fumbling with the back of her bra as she started unfastening his pants. She released him first tugging his pants and boxers down together. He stopped working at her bra to remove them completely, then looked back at Lizzie with eyes darkened by lust.
"You know what I really like about lace, Lizzie?" he asked breathlessly.
"What's that, Will?" she smirked.
"It's not very sturdy," he growled as he grasped the center front of her bra and pulled, ripping it down the center and kissing her again. Without releasing her mouth from his, he pulled both straps down her shoulders and threw the garment across the room. He moved away from her only long enough to remove her underwear and send it the same general direction as her bra. Grasping her hips, he ran his tongue over her once, slowly torturously, watching as her eyes closed and she moaned, straining her hips against his immovable grip. He positioned his hips against hers and moved one hand from her hips to gently cup her cheek. He ran his thumb along her lower lip, gently opening her mouth slightly before kissing her, offering her a taste of herself in his mouth before placing his mouth near her ear.
"Say my name, Lizzie," he whispered.
"Will-iam," she replies, his name turning to a moan as he enters her. He takes his time, watching her climax and thrilling to the feeling of her nails digging into his shoulders as she falls apart underneath him. With a shudder and a gasp of her name, he finished as her orgasm ended. They spend a few minutes catching their breath together, him reveling in the smell of her hair and her loving the feeling of his chest pressed against her before he rolls onto his side and pulls her against him. He kisses the top of her head as she nuzzles her face against his chest.
"I can't believe you ripped my bra," she laughed.
"I'll be happy to buy you a new one," he chuckled.
"I love you, William Darcy," she whispered, tilting her head back to look into his eyes.
"I love you, too, Lizzie Bennet," he replies, brushing a bit of hair out of her face.
The next Saturday, William and Lizzie barely see one another before Jane and Bing's ceremony. By the time they get home, they collapse into bed and sleep until noon the next day.