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Elizabeth Bennet tried to hide the grimace that immediately graced her features as she unlatched her door and pulled it open. She could hear Charlie babbling to Darcy before she could see them.
“Lizzie! How nice to see you again!” Charlie painted an anxious smile on his face as his eyes flickered right through her into her dorm room.
“Charlie. Darcy. What brings you by?” She asked as if she didn’t already know the answer.
“Uh, we were just on the floor and thought we’d say hello,” Charlie replied as he craned his neck to see every angle of the room he could.
“Ah. Well, hello,” Lizzie retorted with a wry smile. She glanced cautiously at the silent man beside Charlie who tipped one eyebrow up at her. She still wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a greeting or if that was the best he could muster following that horrible night at the Alpha Tau Omega house with the awful drunken declaration of love.
“How’s your family?” Charlie asked casually when he finally relaxed, leaning against the doorway.
“Oh, everyone’s well. Dad finally fixed the leak in the roof. Mom got an invite to the gala coming up so she’s over the moon. Mary just had her performance at Juilliard. Kitty’s gone to Boston with our Aunt for spring break. Oh, and Lydia broke up with that creep.” Lizzie rattled off, glancing again at Darcy when she mentioned Lydia and George. His face remained passive, but she was certain by the softening of his eyes he recognized her own gratefulness. She’d have to find a proper way to express it at some point.
“And Jane?” Charlie asked before he could stop himself. Lizzie smirked.
“She’s in the lab, but she’ll be back in, oh, about ten minutes or so if you’d like to ask her yourself.”
“Well, I suppose we have time to spare. Right, Will?” Charlie looked at Darcy for approval.
“All the time in the world,” Darcy replied before stepping over the threshold with Charlie in tow.
“I see you’ve redecorated!” Charlie commented as he studied the photos stringed on the wall. All new photos, replacing the ones of him and Jane. Lizzie and her best friend, Charlotte, had dragged Jane up and down every house on Fraternity Row to replace those pictures and while Jane wasn’t beaming in them, she did look happier than she typically looked.
“We’ve been busy the past couple of months. Memories don’t wait to be made,” Lizzie replied tersely. She really, really wanted to hide the bite in her tone, but all of those nights not shown spent eating Ben & Jerry's while watching the worst rom-coms known to mankind had left her truly bitter.
“Oh.”
As Charlie paced the room, Lizzie watched Darcy trying and failing to make himself comfortable. He eyed her bed for a moment and clearly discounted sitting on it. He turned to the numerous floor cushions which were probably too undignified for him no matter how much she’d like to see someone of his stature try to sit on one of them and subtly shook his head. Finally, he settled on leaning against her desk.
After a few moments of awkward silence and both Darcy and Lizzie watching the fidgeting figure of Charles Bingley, the familiar scratch of a key in the door indicated that Jane was finally back from lab. Charlie wiped his palms on his jeans before mustering his calmest smile.
Jane’s eyes widened slightly and for a moment Lizzie thought Jane might back out of the room and go right back to lab, but Jane mustered her best politician smile and greeted the room.
“Charles, William, what a surprise!” She spoke her words to Lizzie with a hint of a question in her tone.
Whatever calm demeanor Charlie had a moment before was fleeting. At the sound of Jane’s voice his cool, relaxed smile quickly became a beckoning beam of joy.
“They just happened to be on our floor and decided to stop by for a moment.” Lizzie didn’t bother to hide the tone of disbelief from her voice. Darcy and Charlie were on the fifth floor in a completely different dormitory than their own.
“Oh, well how lovely to see you both.” Jane smiled coolly, her eyes flickering between Charlie and Lizzie.
“Jane, if you have a minute–” Charlie began, but Lizzie interrupted.
“Darcy, I meant to show you the new media room downstairs.” Lizzie turned to face the scowling man and gave him a meaningful look.
“What? Oh, right! Yes. I have to see the media room.” He agreed. She linked arms with him and pulled him from the room, not sparing a glance at Jane. She’d get scolded later.
As soon as the door closed she smiled at him.
“Thank you,” she said as she dropped his arm.
“It’s all Charlie’s doing. We were just in the area.” Darcy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Oh, I’m sure the two of you have a thousand reasons to be on the fifth floor of Legacy Hall,” she said with a snort.
His ears tinged pink, but he didn’t reply.
“Well, where’s this famous media room?” Darcy glanced in both directions down the hall. She guided him back toward the stairwell.
“I was thinking we should grab lunch instead. They’ll need all the time they can get to sort it all out.” Lizzie told him. She stopped suddenly, realizing that she was more or less asking him out. She glanced his way.
“Just the caf or something?” She added sheepishly.
“Well, if you think we should give them time we could go somewhere off campus. Didn’t you mention that you liked that bistro on Sixth Street?” Darcy asked her and she flushed. It had been something she’d mentioned briefly in passing and he remembered. She suddenly wondered if maybe, just maybe, there was something to that night at the frat party.
“That’d be really nice.” She smiled shyly at him and was pleased to see him smiling back down at her.