Her head tilted draping a few of the ends of her hair across andfuckingin the amaretto sour in her hand. Ten dollars dripped from her bodywave on her first night free in ages, and Charlotte frowned, inspecting the drink for any strays before bringing the stirrer to the corner of her mouth. "Do you wanna break it to her, or should I break it to her?"
Lizzie leaned closer to shout over a bass drop. "What?"
Charlotte took a deep breath. "I'm broke and I'm tired! He's not coming!"
"It's only 12:30."
"Yeah, but he told her 10:30. Look, I love you guys, you know that. And She's way too P.H.A.T. will always be my jam, but I open tomorrow. Plus I swiped my card five times already and now I'm scared to check my balance. Charlie Bingley is not worth this to me."
Lizzie nodded with a little sigh, grabbing Charlotte's drink. "When Jane gets back from the bathroom we'll go," she said pausing to sip.
"Awesome, so another hour then?" was the sarcastic reply.
"They're here!"
As though a higher power overheard Charlotte's bitching and grew equally as weary the dancefloor parted, and Jane Bennet appeared waving her cell phone and looking quite lovely.
"Over by the bar!"
It was Jane's endless good fortune that had led them to this moment. A rare break in her morning routine caused her to cross over and walk into the Starbucks on the left side of the street instead of the one on the right. Perfect timing since Charlie Bingley, leading man happened to be on his way out the door.
They collided instantly.
"oh shit, imsosorry…"
"no it was my bad…"
An apology fest took place on the sidewalk, and Charlie pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head to better inspect the damage.
"...let me replace your drinks…"
"...no no that's ok…"
He'd never seen someone so beautiful covered in frap and whipped cream before. And despite the fact his good character called for him to refuse Jane's offer to pay, Charlie did follow her back inside to give another 'sorry' ("I'm the clumsiest bastard") and to get her number.
There wasn't a single circumstance not even the threat of death that could ever make Lizzie admit to feeling very much like her mother's child when Mr. Teen People texted an invite to her big sister. In five years of hustle, this was the closest she'd come to a networking opportunity (since she didn't count Wilford Brimley sitting in her section for jalapeño poppers every once and while) and she was determined to have it.
"I'm soo sorry! We got caught up with my sister…"
Charlie smiled big and bright clasping his hands around Lizzie's.
"...nice to meet you…"
"...you too, I'm such a huge fan…"
Standing awkwardly on the edge of the group, Fitzwilliam Darcy shoved his phone in his pocket
"...Darcy this is Jane's sister, Lizzie…"
and fixed Lizzie with a seemingly disinterested gaze- seemingly because of the sudden crack in the air when she met his eyes. Seemingly because of the slight twitch his jaw made.
"...Hi..."
"...Hey."