P&P

Chapter Fifteen

"The atmosphere in this apartment is nothing like how I expected it to be." Miss De Bourgh said, walking around Charlotte's apartment with narrowed eyes. "I was expecting something a little more...put together." Even her voice was snooty.

"I did just move in a few weeks ago." Charlotte reminded her. "I haven't gotten around to really decorating the place." The timer rang on the oven, and luckily Miss De Bourgh didn't get to criticize her more on the apartment. Or, Charlotte didn't have to hear it, at least.

"Well I think it looks lovely." The blonde boy said, his smile never wavering. "If this dinner was taking place at my condo, I'm sure all of you would have a heart attack."

"I know once Charlotte gets around to decorating," Richard started. "You will just love the place. But I can assure you, Miss De Bourgh, that you will enjoy dinner much more so than the atmosphere."

"How are you, Lizzie?" Darcy asked me suddenly, catching me completely off guard.

"Fine. Thanks." I mumbled, not looking him in the eye. I knew he was Miss De Bourgh's nephew, but why was he here?

"Hey," The blonde boy came over to introduce himself. "I'm Jacob Fitzgerald, but you can just call me Fitz when my aunt's not around." He shook my hand, and then introduced me to Miss De Bourgh's daughter. "This is Anne."

"Hello." Anne said quietly.

"Hi." I said awkwardly. "Did you say Fitzgerald? Is that any relation to...?

"Whoops. You caught me." Fitz said in a cheery voice. "It's embarrassing, really. Everyone I meet asks me if I can write."

"That's so cool!" I exclaimed in spite of myself. I couldn't help but think that it explained why Darcy seemed to love Fitzgerald's work so much.

"And I see you know Darcy!" Fitz said finally, and I resisted an eye roll.

"Dinner's ready!" Charlotte announced from the kitchen, just in time. Luckily I didn't have to continue talking to Darcy, and we all settled into the makeshift dining room, and I sat on one of the far ends of the table, praying Darcy sat nowhere near me.

No such luck.

"How did you like LA?" I asked Darcy as he sat next to me, realizing maybe seeing him here would be a good thing. Maybe I could get him to tell me why they all left town in such a hurry.

"It was great. Thank you."

"You know, my sister transferred to school there just after you left with Charlie and Caroline. Did you ever see her?"

"No, I didn't."

I looked down at my plate of spaghetti squash and mushrooms, reconvening in my head of what to ask him next. I had to beat something out of him.

"Miss Elizabeth," Miss De Bourgh called on me, which startled me enough to drop one of my forks. It clanked on the tile floor, the ringing taking a full thirty seconds to cease.

"Sorry," I mumbled, scooting out of my chair to pick it up. "You were saying?" I asked her once I had grabbed it, my head popping out from under the table. It suddenly dawned on me that this might not be the best way to act with Miss De Bourgh in the room. Especially since she was speaking to me.

"My god, dear girl. You're not going to use that fork to eat, are you?" She gave me a look of utter disgust, and I looked down at the fork again. Charlotte got up from her seat to take it from my hand, and handed me a new one from the silverware drawer.