Текст книги "Prom and Prejudice"

Автор книги: Elizabeth Eulberg

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 10 страниц)

Twenty-Six

JANE WAS IN HYSTERICS WHEN SHE OPENED THE DOOR. BUT IT didn't take her that long to realize that I came with a guest. "Darcy?" she said in between sobs, glancing between the two of us.

Darcy took over, asking Jane where Lydia was last, what she had said, where she liked to hang out. Then he did probably the hardest thing – he told Jane the truth about Wick.

I looked down at the floor when he recounted the story he had e-mailed me. He kept control of his voice, but the one time I dared to look up, his hands were balled up in fists.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this sooner," he said to Jane. "But the only reason I'm telling you this now is not to make you feel worse, but for you to understand what we have to do next."

Jane and I were both confused.

"We have to call around to hotels to see if they checked in anywhere."

"What?" Jane exclaimed. "She's fourteen years old!"

"Does she have a credit card?"

"Of course."

He studied me for a second. "Lizzie, I need you to start calling hotels."

"Like the Waldorf?" I had never stayed at a hotel in the city in my life. There were thousands of hotels, and I had no idea where to start.

"No, Wick would want the trendiest hotels." He thought for a second and then rattled off about a dozen hotel names to me. I grabbed a pen and paper out of my purse and started writing them down.

"I have a phone call to make, excuse me." Darcy exited to the kitchen.

I got the phone numbers for the hotels and started calling them one by one. First asking for Lydia, then Wick. Nothing. I was distracted watching Jane repeatedly try to call Lydia. When the fourth hotel operator said, "One moment, please," and then the line started to ring, it took me a second to realize what was happening.

"Darcy!"

Darcy came running out of the kitchen right when Wick picked up the phone.

"This better be about why our room service is taking so long," Wick slurred on the other end of my phone, loud enough for all of us to hear it.

Darcy grabbed the receiver. "I'm just calling to confirm the room number, sir," he said in an unrecognizable voice.

"What? Didn't you just call the room? How can you call a room and not know the room number? Didn't you have to dial room four two seven?"

Darcy quickly hung up. "I don't think you guys should come," he told us. "I can handle this on my own."

Of course, Jane and I ignored him and followed him out the door. Darcy didn't protest, he just sat in the front of the taxi and was on his cell phone the entire time.

Jane was practically shaking. "I can't believe how irresponsible Lydia is. They are clearly drunk, and she has the nerve to use her credit card to get an expensive hotel room to do who knows what. I'm the worst sister on earth!"

"Jane, how is any of this your fault? Lydia should know better."

She leaned back in the seat and put her hands over her face. "And here I thought everything was going to be okay, now that I was with Charles. Of course I couldn't be that lucky." I'm sure it didn't help that Charles was away with his family in Greece for the break.

We pulled up to the hotel and none of us waited for the bellman to open up the door. We hurried inside and a tall, muscular gentleman in all black approached Darcy.

"We can't gain access to the guest room floors without a key card. I didn't want to call security until you arrived."

"Security?" Jane was panicked.

"I'll handle this," Darcy assured us. He walked to the front counter and spoke to a manager. The guy stood guard near us, but didn't speak a word.

"Let's go." Darcy motioned us toward the elevator. He slid a room key into the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor.

"How did you get a key?" Jane asked.

Darcy ignored her. I could tell that he was trying to control himself. When the door opened to the fourth floor, he blocked the elevator door with his arm.

"We need to do this my way. You guys stay outside and I'll get Lydia to you. Let me handle Wick."

We approached room 427 and could hear blaring music coming from inside before we even rounded the corner. The man in black leaned against the wall next to the door and folded his arms. Darcy guided me and Jane to the other side of the door.

He tapped on the door. "Room service," he called out.

There was giggling coming from inside.

Wick's voice came from the other side of the door. "Did you forget something, because you were just here...." The door swung open and Wick stopped in his tracks when he came face-to-face with Darcy. Wick's shirt was unbuttoned, his face unshaven, his hair a complete mess. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen.

Darcy pushed Wick to the side and entered the room. I instinctively followed him, even though he'd told me not to.

The room was in shambles. There was an empty champagne bottle on the coffee table and an open, nearly empty bottle of wine next to it.

"What the hell do you want, Will?" Wick stumbled as he backed into a couch.

"Lydia?" Darcy called out.

Jane ran into the room and grabbed her stomach as she took in the scene.

We heard moaning from the side of the couch. Jane ran over and found Lydia nearly passed out on the floor. It looked like she was about to be sick.

When Lydia looked up to see what the noise was about she smirked at her sister. "You're not the only one with a boyfriend." She hiccuped. "You think I'm such a child, but look at me. Fancy hotel room, hot boyfriend, champagne."

"See." Wick moved toward Lydia. "She's fine. We were just having some fun, blowing off some steam. No need to call the trust-fund police –"

It all happened so fast that I didn't even realize what was going on at first. Darcy grabbed Wick by his shirt and threw him up against the wall.

The man in black entered the room and stood at attention. I wanted him to get between the two of them. I was scared for Darcy.

"Get off me, Will." Wick tried to push Darcy off him, but he wasn't moving.

"Jane," Darcy said evenly. "Get Lydia out of here. Take her to my room."

The man in black handed Jane a key. I helped Jane pull Lydia up from the floor. Her body was limp and she smelled of alcohol. Lydia groaned and tried to push us away, but she didn't have the strength or motor skills to fight us off. "I don't want to leave. I want to party. Why do you have to ruin everything for me?"

"Shut up, Lydia!" Jane screamed at her.

Lydia, shocked from Jane raising her voice, stood up, and tried to gather herself. (Even I was a little frightened in that moment – Jane yelling was more jarring than Darcy having Wick pinned against a wall.)

"Come on." Jane pulled Lydia from the room.

I found myself frozen. I knew I should've followed Jane, but I was too scared to leave Darcy alone with Wick.

"Typical Will, coming in and ruining my fun," Wick said, a slow smile starting to spread across his lips. "You never seem to approve of my girlfriends, do you, Will? It's just like the last time you got in the way. That one loved me almost as much as this one. What can I say? I seem to have a way with the ladies."

Darcy threw Wick on the floor. He landed with a thud.

"Don't you dare ever talk about my sister that way." Darcy was shaking. "Wick, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Mr. Meryton. He's head of security for my father's firm." He motioned toward the gentleman, who had remained silent and at attention this entire time. "He's already familiar with your work."

Wick looked up with such hatred in his eyes.

Darcy continued. "He's going to be taking you to his office to go over with you what your very limited options are. He's also going to be discussing the various restraining orders that will be issued on behalf of my family, Jane's family, and Lizzie."

Wick got up from the floor so that he and Darcy were only inches from each other.

"Typical Will, hiding behind Daddy's money." Wick sneered.

Darcy leaned in closer. "No, I made the mistake of hiding last time. Now we're doing this out in public, and you're not going to have anywhere to hide. Everybody will know what kind of person you really are."

Darcy left Wick speechless as he pulled Mr. Meryton aside and started giving him instructions.

Wick, who was a complete mess, swayed back and forth. He looked over at me, perhaps realizing for the first time that I was in the room.

"Lizzie, how could you? Will Darcy, of all people. You even said yourself that he's a spoiled snob, right?"

I froze, horrified that Darcy had heard it, and repulsed with myself for not only thinking that of him, but saying that to Wick.

Wick approached me. "He thinks he's so much better than us."

"Don't lump me in with you."

"So you finally learned what I've been trying to tell you. These people aren't really worth anything, except what you can get from them. The funny thing, Will's sister wasn't even worth it." He chuckled slightly.

Something in me snapped. I stood there and watched this horrible person make fun of taking advantage of Darcy's sister.

He grabbed my arm. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you saw things my way. Don't stand here and pretend that you're better than me. You want in on the game, too, don't you? You know that it's not enough to play the piano. You're at Longbourn because you want to play the best pianos in the best places. That's nothing to be ashamed of. But you're fooling yourself if you think that you can get by on talent alone. You need connections. Talent and connections. You've got the talent part, but do you have it in you to get those connections, no matter the cost?"

I pushed his arm away from me.

Wick leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Don't be naive. You and I are cut from the same cloth."

"Leave her alone!" Darcy came over to intervene, but before I even realized what I was doing, my fist came in direct contact with Wick's face.

Wick fell to the floor and pain surged in my right hand.

Darcy's eyes were wide as he stood over Wick's unconscious body.

"Ow!" I held my throbbing hand. Darcy quickly ran over to the kitchen area and put some ice in a towel.

I'd never hit anybody in my entire life. I'd never even really thought about it. Certainly, I felt the urge my first few weeks at Longbourn, but I never thought I would actually do it.

Darcy took my hand in his and applied ice to the place of impact.

Mr. Meryton knelt down near Wick to check the extent of his injuries. He looked up and finally spoke. "Darcy" – he nodded toward me – "I like this one."

Twenty-Seven

WHILE MR. MERYTON WAITED FOR WICK TO WAKE UP, Darcy took me to his suite to see Jane and Lydia.

Jane was in the bathroom making Lydia take a shower. Darcy went into the kitchen and started to brew some coffee.

"How did you get this room?" I looked around at the gorgeous hotel suite that took up nearly the entire top floor. I sat down on one of the large plush couches in the living room area that faced the floor-length windows with a magnificent view of the Empire State Building. I was thankful to have something to distract me from the throbbing pain in my hand.

Darcy shrugged. "We needed a key to get upstairs, and this was the only room they had available. How's your hand?" He came over, unwrapped the towel, and gently examined my hand.

"That was stupid. I don't know what came over me."

"George Wickham – that's what came over you."

"Darcy, I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to keep apologizing." He took another towel and ran it under cold water. "Not that I didn't enjoy the spectacle, but you have to be careful with your hands, Lizzie." I hadn't even thought about how my little violent outburst would affect my playing. Darcy carefully wrapped the towel around my hand.

"Thank you."

He nodded.

"No, thank you for helping. I don't know what we would have done without you, truly."

He looked sad at my comment. "I guess I did hide behind my money today."

"What are you talking about?"

"The room? Mr. Meryton? I guess you were right about me after all."

I grabbed one of his hands with my good hand. He looked shocked. "What you did was thoughtful and kind. And I, I ..." The words got caught in my throat.

The bathroom door opened and Jane emerged, escorting a bathrobed Lydia by the arm. "You are going to sleep this off, and I will try to think of how to explain this all to Mom and Dad." She dragged Lydia to the bedroom and put her to bed.

When Jane returned to us in the living room, she was clearly rattled and exhausted.

"What happened?" she asked when she saw my hand.

"Oh, nothing." I was completely embarrassed by my behavior.

"Darcy, how can you be laughing?" Jane scolded him.

I turned around and saw that Darcy was indeed laughing. "I'm sorry, Jane. I am, but ..." He turned to me. "Do you want to tell her or shall I?"

I was horrified that my reputation was about to get worse. I couldn't tell if it would be better to be known as a bruiser than a charity case. But then maybe people would think twice about messing with me....

Jane eyed us both suspiciously. I shrugged.

"It seems as if Miss Elizabeth Bennet has been hiding one of her many talents from us," Darcy said. "One that, I might add, I really wish I had known about earlier, as I would have approached things in a very different way."

"What?" Jane shook her head in confusion.

"I punched Wick," I admitted.

"She knocked him out," Darcy added.

Jane's eyes went wide. "You what?" Her shock wore off quickly, and before I knew it, she was grilling me on how it felt.

"Excuse me," Darcy interrupted. "As much as I would love to relish those details, I do have to go. I got the room for the night, so feel free to stay here. I'm going to take care of things with the front desk, so you don't have to explain any hotel charges to your parents. Mr. Meryton and I have some things we need to do."

Jane and I both expressed our deepest gratitude to Darcy. Then I filled Jane in on the details of what happened in the room after she'd left.

"I can't believe Darcy. If it weren't for him ..." Jane looked pained for a moment. "I can't even begin to think about it. I also don't want to think about what I'm going to tell my parents. Something has to be done about Lydia. There is no way she can come back to Longbourn after this." She got up from the couch and went to the window. "I'm just tired. I don't want to talk about Lydia anymore. I'll deal with her tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be passed out for a while. For now, there is something else I would like to talk about."

"Anything." I couldn't imagine what Jane was going through. I'd be willing to talk about whatever she wanted in order to get her mind off of today's nightmare.

"What were you doing with Will Darcy?" She winked at me.

I recounted the previous day to Jane. She'd known his mother was a performer of some kind, but hadn't realized she was a famous pianist.

"So ..." Jane prodded me.

"So?" I replied. "So, Will Darcy isn't evil incarnate. I, however, am apparently a lousy judge of character. It nearly destroyed everybody close to me."

"You can't beat yourself up about Lydia. She would've found Wick eventually. Or some other version of him. She can always find trouble. You are the reason Darcy was here."

"I know – I was so lucky he was with me when you called."

Jane shook her head. "That wasn't what I meant. Lizzie, he didn't do all this for me. He didn't even do all of this to get back at Wick. Yes, those were probably huge factors, but I'm pretty sure he did this all because he cares about you."

I didn't want to admit that I was hoping that Darcy's feelings for me hadn't changed. But I couldn't really blame him if they had, after all the horrible things I'd said to him. The last two days had been great, but they couldn't erase the past.

My feelings for him had changed immensely. I was beginning to really care for Will Darcy.

Twenty-Eight

I SPENT THE REMAINDER OF MY SPRING BREAK STARING AT my cell phone. I naively thought that Darcy would call me. He sent me a few texts inquiring about my hand, but that was it. I didn't want to bother him after everything he had done to save Lydia from Wick, but I was hoping he'd want to see me again.

For the first time, I was excited about returning to Longbourn. I even accepted Jane's offer for a ride. Especially since Jane's parents were taking Lydia separately. After Jane told them about Lydia's behavior, Mr. and Mrs. Netherfield threatened to enroll Lydia in a strict Catholic boarding school in Maine, even though they were agnostic. They even drove up there during the break so she could see the nuns and uniforms and gated fence (and, most important, not a single boy in sight). I believe the term "scared straight" was coined because of places like that.

Nothing at school really changed after spring break, but I felt hopeful for once. The recital was coming up in a couple weeks, and despite not practicing as much as I wanted to because of my sore hand, I was making great progress with Rhapsody. Practice with the orchestra started the week we arrived back, and although the majority of the students in the orchestra despised me even more because I was being featured in the concert, the practices went well.

I was even excited about work, convinced that Darcy would return to his regular visits. But he didn't. I wouldn't have even known he was back on Pemberley's campus if it wasn't for Jane.

But fortunately, Jane was back with Charles, which meant that she was happy ... and that I was able to get Darcy intel.

Jane returned from a date in a particularly good mood. "So, Charles thought it would be fun for a bunch of us to go out to dinner on Saturday."

"A bunch of us?"

"Yes. I know how much you normally dread these invitations, but for some reason, I think you might actually want to come this time. But if you don't ..."

Jane wasn't one for teasing, but after all the grief I had given her over the course of the year about going out, I fully deserved this ribbing.

"I think I can suffer through it."

She patted me lightly on the shoulder. "Thank you for making such a sacrifice."

"That's what friends are for. Speaking of friends, do you know which of Charles's friends are going to be there?" I tried to look innocent.

"Let's see, I don't know. Charles has so many friends...."

She wasn't going to let me get away with this so easily.

"Fine. Is Will Darcy going to be there?"

"Darcy ... Darcy ..." Jane tapped her lips and she rolled the name around on her tongue. "The name is familiar. Yes, Darcy ... I believe he is going to be there."

"Thank you. I guess I could make an appearance. I don't want to be rude."

She laughed. "No, we wouldn't want that. Plus, it will be so much fun!"

How many times had Jane said that to me? How many times had I scoffed at her bright disposition?

But for the first time, I sincerely believed that I would have fun.

We were among the first people to arrive at the restaurant. Jane sat next to Charles at the head of the table, and I sat next to her. I put my purse on the chair next to mine, reserving it for Darcy. A few other students started shuffling in, including Colin and Charlotte, who sat directly across from me. There were only two seats left open, the one next to me and another seat on the opposite side of the table, farthest away from me.

Darcy walked in and apologized for being late. I smiled at him and he briefly glanced in my direction. I took my purse off the chair and put it on the floor next to me. He walked around the entire table and sat in the other seat.

Charles announced that one of his friends just texted that he couldn't make it so we were all there.

My spirits sank as I realized that my evening would be spent with Jane and Charles in deep conversation to my left and Colin and Charlotte in front of me straining to talk about anything. And to my right, an empty seat.

I kept leaning over to hear what Darcy was talking about at the other side of the table, trying to find a way to join his conversation. But it was hopeless; there were four people between us, and I didn't really know any of them well. I tried to catch his glance so I could smile at him to show that I was a friendly person, not the horrific person who'd berated him for asking me to prom.

But Darcy just stared ahead or would politely nod in response to something someone said to him. I was desperate for confirmation that our friendly encounters over spring break hadn't been a fluke.

"So," Charles said loudly, commanding the attention of the group, "it's good to be back. Greece was wonderful, but I missed being with friends." He winked at Jane. "What did everybody do on their break?"

Charles had Charlotte start, and slowly everybody went around the table talking about vacations, beach houses, Europe, and, of course, prom-dress fittings. I waited patiently for Darcy's turn to come, to see if he would mention me.

But when it came time for Darcy to talk, he shrugged. "Nothing special, just spent time with my family." He looked to the person across the table from him, signaling that he wouldn't be elaborating further.

So I did receive confirmation, but not the kind that I wanted. It was clear that I was no longer of interest to Will Darcy.

"Lizzie?" Charles called to me. I was in such a daze that I hadn't realized it was my turn.

"Oh, I had a good break, thanks." I looked toward Darcy. "I had some friends come and visit me and that was fun. I, uh, went to this amazing concert at Carnegie Hall...."

"What? No prom shopping?" the guy next to Darcy asked.

"No, I'm not going to prom."

One would think that after that embarrassing admission (at least in this company) there would be an awkward pause around the table. But at the mere mention of the word prom, discussions started going around the table about dinner reservations and after-party plans. Maybe they didn't want to acknowledge that I wasn't going.

Despite the fact that I was surrounded by more than a dozen people in a crowded restaurant, a feeling of loneliness swept over me. It certainly wasn't the first time I'd felt alone on campus. But this was worse. Because not only did I feel alone, but there was a reminder on the other side of the table of what I could've had. At that point, it might as well have been the other side of the world, but there was someone I wanted to be with.