Twenty Months

by Alicia Rogers

  * * *

  "Oh fuck me…" He muttered under his breath as he tried with all of his might to keep himself from smashing his forehead against the steering wheel. Grumpily, Darcy maneuvered the rental car through the crowd of kids that were heading towards the club's entrance, finally finding a parking spot near a sketchy back alley.

  Dear Christ, how he hated surprises.

  Lizzie's eyes glowed with amusement when she turned to face him. "I'm kinda sad you don't have a cane to shake."

  With a sigh, he pulled the keys from the ignition. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Are you twenty-four going on eighty?" she laughed.

  "I'm not one for crowds. Clubs inevitably lead to crowds. Georgiana knows this she's just trying to torture me."

  "Huh," Lizzie began with a tilt of her head, "that's ironic considering how we met and all. Next thing you know, I'll find a fly in my chardonnay."

  Darcy hesitated, "When we met, I was…going through something…"

  "Eva." She nodded grimly.

  He regarded her momentarily, his features completely blank and then promptly exited the car without so much as peep let alone another word.

  Thoroughly confused (and just a tad bit annoyed) Lizzie jumped out after him. "What is with you and these hasty exits in the middle of conversation?" She asked, frustrated, as she struggled to catch up. "All that money your parents poured into a private school education and they didn't bother to teach you social skills?"

  Darcy stopped in his tracks. "What do you know about, Eva?"

  Lizzie shrugged. "I know Georgie used the phrase 'C U Next Tuesday' to describe her."

  Practically crushing her hand with his, he told her in a clipped voice, "Good. Let's keep it that way."

  Upon reaching the door, they were immediately ushered towards the back of the stage by a tall, gangly boy who'd clearly stolen his sister's jeans.

  "You're Georgie's brother right?" The kid tried his best at shouting over the chatter.

  "Yeah," Lizzie answered on Darcy's behalf. "How'd you know?"

  The boy smiled. "She told me to look out for a tall guy, with dark hair who seemed like the most miserable bastard in the room."

  Darcy rolled his eyes and Lizzie laughed loudly squeezing his arm. "Perfect description."

  Backstage was virtual chaos, with loads of teenagers and even more loads of equipment crawling over every inch of its surface; somehow the pair managed to spot Jonah in the middle of all of the madness carefully unpacking guitar cases.

  Happening to glance up from his work, Jonah smiled brightly at the sight of Darcy and Elizabeth, and pushed a mess of chocolate hair out of his eyes. "Hey! You made it, huh?" He gave Lizzie a quick once-over. "What happened to skanky?" Jonah asked playfully.

  "My best skanky days are behind me, I suppose," she told him with a crooked grin.

  "Where's my sister?" Darcy didn't bother with the pleasantries and Jonah solemnly shook his head,

  "Bathroom," he told Darcy with a sigh. "She's really got to get over this stage fright thing. Anyway, we're about to go on in fifteen minutes – just as soon as they finish sound check and I pull Georgie's head out of the toilet. So, you guys can sit back here and chill or I highly recommend finding a good spot out front." He shook his head. "I never understood the appeal of being backstage at a show."

  Eyebrow cocked and lips curling into the insult-hurling ready position, Darcy had a verbal assault lined up that was so powerful it would have left a cloud of obscenity and piss and vinegar hanging over the whole of New Hampshire, and then Lizzie went and grabbed his arm,

  "Cool, we'll be right up front. Have a good show, okay," she told Jonah while yanking Darcy in the direction of the crowd.

  "Please tell me whatever it is you were about to say to Jonah involved the phrase 'have a good time'."

  He threw his hands up in frustration. "Georgie's supposed to be focusing on graduating at the top of her class not screwing around with some band!"

  Brown eyes rolled heavenwards. "Because god forbid she play anything other than some dead Austrian's concertos! Or have a social life."

  "That kid is wasting her time!" he shouted. "She…"

  The house lights dimming and the cheer of the audience around them put an end to Darcy's rant and Lizzie told him sternly before turning her eyes to the stage, "Shut up and be supportive."

  As it turned out, Georgiana and her boyfriend fronted one of the most popular/buzzworthy bands to come out of the Exeter area. Through enormous talent, and lots of MySpace hits, what was once a way to kill after-school boredom had become the juggernaut known as, Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks (named so because of Jonah's Modest Mouse obsession).

  It also turned out that 'Everywhere' and its five members (all of whom had yet to reach legal voting age) had been cranking out their own special brand of quirky, indie-pop for over a year, and were lucky enough to be noticed by a few record execs. This particular show was a celebration, as it was their first as a signed band.

  And, in other heart attack-inducing events Fitzwilliam Darcy did not see coming, it seemed that Lizzie had a penchant for dancing. His senses were ridiculously heightened from their short fight earlier and the crowd closing in from behind only served to press him into the back of his gyrating, fake girlfriend (who was clearly feeling the song's groovy bass line).

  The crowd shoved forward and he instinctually put an arm around Lizzie's waist to hold her steady. She cast a look over her shoulder, seemingly grateful for the protective gesture and when the crowd finally settled, Lizzie once again lost herself in the music.

  Darcy's arm remaining firmly wrapped around her petite frame proved to be the death of him as Lizzie's hips rocked back and forth in perfect time. Eyes closing, he found himself getting lost in the feel of having her in his arms and unconsciously moved with her; resting his chin on the top of her head afforded him the luxury of a whiff of Lizzie's hair, it smelled of strawberries and Darcy wondered if she tasted like strawberries as well. In the back of his mind he knew this train of thought was no good – this was a business arrangement and it was idiotic and dangerous of him to treat their relationship as anything but, but good leaping Christ, he was a man after all! No straight man could possibly be immune to the package that Elizabeth Bennet presented; he'd grown to admire her confidence and her wit (even when he was the target), and if he hadn't found her physically attractive, the tiny bump in her stomach, which his hand now rested on, wouldn't be there. In the end, cold, business-minded logic took over, allowing his libido this small victory but vowing to stay strong from here on out.

  Thunderous applause and screams brought Darcy out of his reverie and he reluctantly let Lizzie go. She turned around, smiling brilliantly.

  "They're so awesome, aren't they?!" she shouted above the crowd.

  "Yeah," he nodded, "not bad."

  "Not bad?!" She raised an eyebrow. "Fucking amazing is more like it!"

  He shrugged, the corners of his mouth turning up in a grin. "That's what I meant by 'not bad'."

  Lizzie put her attention back on the stage, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting an appreciative "Whoo!" at the top of her lungs.

  Georgie wore a Cheshire Cat expression as she put her lips to her microphone. "Nice moves, Fitzie," she said and Darcy immediately attempted to will himself off the face of the earth. "My brother's here tonight…" The announcement garnered a lot of cheers from the female members of the audience and Georgie laughed, "I guess you guys read People, huh? Anyway, yeah, my brother's here and it's cool because it's rare that I get to have family out at one of these things. Maybe, I can persuade his girlfriend to let him come sell T-shirts for us when we tour in the fall."

  "Keep him for as long as you want!" Lizzie shouted back good naturedly earning a few laughs.

  "Oh great," Georgie chuckled, "Will you're a merch-boy now."

  Jonah strummed a few cords, absently tuning his guitar. "We're super excited to be opening for Mewithoutyou this f
all, so every one of you has to come out and go ape-shit during our set," he said with a smirk. "We wanna look as important as possible."

  "Damn straight," Georgie interjected.

  "Okay, we got a couple more for you before we get outta here. I had a dream about being abducted by aliens and wrote a song about it. Wanna hear it? Here it goes," Jonah told the audience jokingly and launched into the blistering opening cords of the next song.

  xx

  "Oh my god, you guys! That was incredible!"

  Georgiana enthusiastically hugged Lizzie as she came off stage and humbly blushed. "You really think so?"

  "Trust me, I'm a total and complete music snob – you were amazing."

  Smiling, Georgie gave her brother a playful punch in the arm. "It definitely looked like you were enjoying yourself for once." Darcy's expression was cold and Georgiana's own turned to seriousness when it dawned on her he wasn't playing along. "Look, I was only kidding up there – I didn't mean to embarrass you, it was just great to see you having a good time…"

  "I've been trying to figure out how you're going to do a national tour and attend classes at Brown at the same time," he said sternly and the teen paled.

  "I meant to tell you about that," Georgie started.

  Darcy's eyes narrowed. "Tell me about what?"

  "I, uh," she paused and took a deep breath, "I decided I'm not going to Brown in the fall."

  "It's not a good idea to defer enrollment, Georgie. You don't want to be behind your peers." His hands had made their way to his hips and his sudden fatherly tone made him appear far older than his twenty-four years.

  "Actually," Georgiana began weakly, "I've decided I'm not going to college. Period."

  Lizzie's eyes flitted nervously between the siblings and off in the distance she swore she heard a snake rattle.

  * * *

  "I know it's really none of my business, but you were kinda hard on her…"

  Darcy walked purposefully toward the car with Lizzie once again struggling to keep up, while she continued to state her case to the back of his head.

  "Georgie's immensely talented and this is a pretty huge opportunity for her band. Okay, so this wasn't exactly in the Darcy-family plan, but she deserves the chance to do what makes her happy. The least you could do is support her."

  Stopping suddenly he turned to face her, his countenance practically stone, but fire blazing in his eyes. "I'm not going to support her fuckups and that's exactly what she's doing! Do you have any idea what my father would say if he were here?! This wouldn't even be an issue – he'd set her straight faster than you could blink. We have an obligation to uphold, one that you couldn't possibly begin to understand. The 'Darcy' name doesn't exactly conjure up images of gigging across the country in dirty night clubs!"

  Lizzie stood, mouth agape and her hands forming into fists at her side. "You think I don't understand familial obligation?! Oh, I can't wait for you to meet my mother."

  "It's not the same, Lizzie." He shook his head. "Our lineage can be traced back to English lords, not to mention that Georgie and I are the faces of our father's business empire. There's certain expectations that come with that, and yeah, a I wouldn't expect a girl from the Valley to grasp that."

  At the taste of blood, Lizzie had to remind herself to remove her teeth from the meat of her cheek. "And you're certainly doing a good job at keeping the 'Darcy' name golden," she spat out nastily.

  "I'm fixing my mistakes," he replied coolly and without another word he fished the depths of his jean pocket for the car keys.

  Chapter 11

  Bang the Doldrums

  Charlotte was surprised to receive a call from Lizzie asking for a ride home from the airport. First of all, it was ten in the morning – her prime time to be unconscious, and second of all, she had expected Little Lord Darcy to at least be capable of driving her friend home; but from Lizzie's deathly silence all the way from LAX to their apartment on 2nd street, Charlotte immediately knew the 'vacation' had not been a relaxing one.

  "Penny for your thoughts?" Charlotte asked as she swung the car into a parking space.

  Lizzie sighed heavily, "You don't wanna know my thoughts."

  "I promise you won't offend my delicate sensibilities," she said with a crooked grin.

  "You don't have any," Lizzie shot back, actually managing a smile.

  "I know; I'm completely amoral so you have nothing to worry about."

  "Stab, shoot, decapitate…"

  "Oh, is that all?" Charlotte cast a sympathetic smile in Lizzie's direction as they climbed out and quickly rounded the car to grab the bags out of the trunk. "Did I ever tell you how very sorry I am for making you go to the club that night? And then not stopping you from going home with him? Cause, I am, really sorry…"

  "He's the most pompous jackass I've ever met! Seriously, he told me I couldn't understand what it was like to live with the weight of familial obligations on my shoulders because I'm a middle class kid from the Valley!"

  "He said that?!" Charlotte's eyes widened.

  "Well…" Lizzie began scrunching her face up as she slung the small carryon over her shoulder, "I may have jazzed it up a bit, but yeah, that was the gist. Oh, and get this, I'm the mistake he's fixing. It's like he thinks I'm absolutely thrilled I got knocked up because of who he is."

  "All things considered, you did kinda hit the jackpot in that area."

  Lizzie made a point to violently mash the elevator button. "But, that's just it; I don't care about his money, or his stupid name! His family roots could be traced all the way back to a bum living in an alley behind a pub in London and it wouldn't make a difference – Darcy would still be a total fuckwit."

  * * *

  "God, Will, you're a total fuckwit."

  Chapter 12

  Into You like a Train, Part One

  Lizzie pouted; her bottom lip sticking out as far as it could go and her face scrunching up so that every freckle across the pale skin of her nose stood out. It was a dirty trick, the second best in her entire arsenal that had managed to work since she was very little. Maybe it was her big, brown, doe eyes that held all the power, or perhaps it was the adorableness of the aforementioned freckles themselves that rendered her victims helpless.

  Whatever it was, Lizzie's pouty-face had specialized in getting her whatever she wanted since 1989 and it'd never let her down.

  Until, now.

  "Don't make that face at me," Jane warned, shoving the phone into her little sister's hand. "She's already filled our inbox up to capacity with hysterical messages and threatened Charlotte's life if she didn't get you on the phone. You've gotta call."

  "But…Janie…" Her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes widened to anime character proportions.

  Standing her ground, Jane merely held up the copy of People Magazine for Lizzie to see:

  ENGAGED

  Fitzwilliam Darcy's America's #1 Bachelor No More!

  The paparazzi photo of her and Darcy from their night at the Ivy stared back at her from under the bold print of the headline and Lizzie dropped her shoulders, taking the phone in defeat.

  With overly dramatic sighs and groans of displeasure, she punched in the numbers and tried to keep herself from crying at the sound of the other line ringing.

  "Hello, Bennet residence…"

  Before Lizzie could even make a sound, the violent, unmistakable shriek of a putout teenage girl rang in her ears,

  "I've got it! Jesus H.! How, many times do I have to tell you to quit answering the phone, Mary?!"

  "I've got every right to answer it! I live here, don't I?!"

  "Unfortunately…"

  "Screw you, Lydia!"

  "You should look into moving out. I'll help you."

  "How's everyone doing?" Lizzie asked sarcastically, finally butting in between her bickering siblings. "Getting along better than ever?"

  "Hey, Lizzie," Mary said cheerfully.

  "Holy, shit! MAMA, LIZZIE'S ON THE PHONE!" Lydia took to sho
uting and Lizzie could've sworn she had just gone deaf in her right ear. "You have to tell me what it was like eating at the Ivy."

  "Expensive," Lizzie replied dryly.

  "Have you seen the library at The Darcy family ranch?" Mary asked enthusiastically. "I've heard it's the biggest private collection in the country…"

  "Oh my god, I wish you could've seen Sasha Marlowe's face when I told her my sister was marrying Fitzwilliam Darcy! She totally shat a brick, I'm not even kidding," Lydia cut in. "Hey, I may have promised a couple of people rides in my new brother-in-law's Hummer," a beat, "he does have a Hummer, right? Cause, he would like suck at being rich if he didn't…"

  The shrill scream of Lizzie's name over yet another phone line prevented her from answering. "Where have you been?! I've left message after message…Lydia, Mary, you can hang up now – Lydia, I told you to hang up I can still hear you breathing."

  "Ugh, fine."

  Click.

  "I've just been, you know, working," Lizzie casually said.

  "And getting engaged to rich and powerful men without even bothering to give your poor, suffering mother one, lousy phone call with the good news. After the week I've had, I could've used it," Francesca Bennet whined. "I had a horrible tanning bed accident – my poor legs; I doubt I'll be able to wear shorts this season…"

  Lizzie rolled her eyes – it was just like her mother to make the 'plight' of a California housewife sound as if it were akin to Sally Struthers' starving Ethiopians. "Hopefully, it won't come to that," the sarcasm was thinly veiled and a tiny snicker was heard:

  "Mary, hang up the phone," Fran sighed loudly.

  "Sorry."

  Click.

  "I meant to call…" Lizzie began, lying through her teeth, "but, ya know, Darcy and I have tried to keep our relationship low-key. People broke the story before we had a chance to let our families know."