Ellie and Darcy, and other bad first impressions

Chapter 16; a bunch of crazy days

"you two know each other? How?" Said Mrs. DeBourgh with a tone of putting acquaintance being abominable.

"Yes, when I was with Charles Bingley and his sister at Netherfield we..uhh" he didn't know how to put it. Honestly didn't blame him

"We ran into each other quite often" I explained, praying that was a good enough answer. I looked at Lottie through my peripheral and it seemed she was doing the same.
"I see" she said solemnly. No other words of us knowing each other were spoken.

When we finally sat down for dinner I sat in between Fitz and Darcy

"So when did you two meet?" Fitz said as if interviewing us for a talkshow.

"The Knightley wedding" Darcy said still looking at his plate

"Ahh, I see. So Ellie what were your first impressions?" He said nudging me

I thought about it "well, do you want me to be polite or do you want to know the truth?". Darcy then looked in my direction, suck it up buttercup the truth hurts.

"Hmm" Fitz thought with a witty smirk "I prefer to know all the juicy details"

"Well, at the wedding Charles was dancing with my sister, Jane, and while they took a break Charles constantly asked him to dance but he refused. Even though there were many fine ladies in the room and a lack of men"

"Ah" Fitz responded. He leaned around me to look at his dear cousin. Darcy looked up and turned to him. He looked offended but in an almost fake way.

"Really Will, come on" Fitz nodded

"I didn't feel like it, I never dance with anyone anyway. You know how much I hate it" a pang went off in my stomach. Did he forget how he had saved me from an awful dance with Rick? How rude.

"He does too, even though he won't admit it" Fitz whisper yelled to me

"Wow Fitz, very subtle" Darcy halfway chuckled "it's not like I don't have ears"
Did he just smile? I didn't think such a thing was possible.

"William, Fitz, do you care to share?" Mrs. DeBourgh interrupted

"No ma'am" they said at the same time. I tried to hold my laugh by looking down. They were like little boys. After she resumed her talk with Rick, all three of us had to take a sip of water to keep from laughing.

Literally from that day on I saw Fitz everyday. He and Anna would sometimes come together and sometimes Lottie would join us. Darcy came most of all but I did my best to ignore him. He was my rival and nothing was going to change that.

As I got to know Fitz I realized he was a truly passionate individual, and he cared for Anna so we'll. She, like Lyddia, was 18. However, because she was so sickly and scared she was homeschooled but she apparently was very bright. She was sweeter than honey but she was as quiet as a church mouse. Fitz told me later she preferred to stay up in her room and solve all kinds of science and math problems. She was quite the Einstein.

After about a week of this it was just me and Fitz in the park alone. It had become a mini tradition that we walked there every day then go to a local Cafe for some drinks. I of course got hot chocolate.

"So what do you think of the city?" He said as we walked near a fountain in the park.

"I love it, truly. My mother loves the city too. It's wierd I love being in the center of bright lights and action but there's just something about being in the woods or an open field and smelling the freshness of the world. I can't figure out which lights I like better, the stars or the signs. Sorry that was really long. I ramble if you haven't figured that out"

Fitz laughed "I mean, you've put up with me so I'll let it be"

All of the sudden a drop of water flew from the fountain into my nose

Fitz said "have you ever heard of this fountain?" He said sitting on the edge

"No" I then sat next to him

"Well when Will and I were little, before Jack came along even, we would come to this fountain a bit. He and I would toss our coins in and make wishes, or we'd see how many pennies and dimes we could count. In the summer our families would have picinics here, mom didn't come of course but dad would. Georgie would make little flower crowns for Anna, my dad and aunt would fight for control of the grill and Jack, will and I would play tag for hours"

" That sounds like so much fun" I said. It low-key did.

"Do you have a place like that, where you can just go and all your troubles be flooded by happy memories?" Before I could answer he got a text from Anna saying their mom wanted him home.

"Oh sorry Ellie" he got up

"It's fine, but, wait"

"What?" He said walking back over

"What did you wish for?" I asked

"I asked for silly things, toys, looks, grades. Once Jack came along he would ask for girls and crap"

"What did Darcy ask for" I was ya know, just being inquisitive

"Happiness" was all he said and he left

The next week passed by and it was officially September. Fitz convinced his mom to have me and Lottie over at least one more time before I went back home. Fitz and I had become good friends and I would miss him terribly. Anna and I exchanged numbers and I told her to call if she ever needed a girl to talk to that wasn't her mother.

About three days before I left we went over for dinner. It was full of all of us hiding laughter, Rick talking about work and plenty of hasty comments from Mrs. DeBourgh, but it was worth it.

Double update