Holy shit, he was tall.
Lizzie's essence realigned itself slowly back to its regular state of being after having been shifted (just slightly) by the presence of Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Living in Southern California her whole life had made Lizzie very comfortable with familiar feeling strangers; it was an odd space where the sense of 'knowing x from somewhere' hung in perpetuity in the air clouding the slightest of interactions. She was used to having her face briefly examined for recognition on buses and sidewalks (she was used to shouts of 'mesotheliomia!' at Charlotte), and she was just as guilty of getting caught up with the wherehaveiseenyou part of SoCal existence.
Only this time she knew very well where she'd seen Fitzwilliam Darcy (just a week ago the Soup looped a clip of him lighting Lindsay Logan's cigarette.) The first time Elizabeth Bennet saw Fitzwilliam Darcy she was about eight years old, and growing impatient with the magazine selection in her dentist's waiting room, she moved on from Highlights to a BusinessWeek issue dedicated to the meteoric rise of Darcy Media and Lizzie remembered the Darcy family photo on page thirty-five clearly because (1)the Darcys had a gorgeous dalmatian and she was obsessed, and because (2)she stuck her bubblegum right on Fitzwilliam III's face because her name got called and her momma told her to never swallow gum. The second time Elizabeth saw Fitzwilliam, he was rushing through LAX hand-in-hand with Caroline Bingley and this picture set was at the top of Perez and it came with a 1:30 clip of paps shouting "when are you guys getting married?" and Caroline playing coy on the subject but stopping long enough to give "thanks we're real happy with it" to a pap who paid compliment on the Brazilian success of her single, "Bangin". And the following summer Elizabeth saw Fitzwilliam using his black suit jacket to cover the face of his baby sister as they went from church to limo after services for Fitzwilliam II concluded. She caught the announcement of the end of his relationship on TMZ.
"...Darcy this is Jane's sister, Lizzie..."
"...Lizzie this is Darcy…"
But her recognition of Fitzwilliam Darcy in person seemed to hold more weight than her casual relationship with gossip blogs and E!; for a moment that lasted entirely longer than she was comfortable with, Lizzie felt as if she knew Fitzwilliam from another lifetime altogether and that the frequency convergence caused the room to tilt (just slightly) and her heart to give three hard knocks inside her chest.
"...hi…"
"...hey…"
In person it felt like his soul was trying to whisper in her ear, and he completely ignored her attempt at a handshake which brought her (just slightly) back down to earth.
Holy shit, he was rude.