Chapter Text
Lizzy wasn’t surprised to see Charlie Bingley come into the shop at exactly 10:30. Normally Lizzy was not impressed by the wealthy businessmen who stopped by Longbourn café merely to flirt with one of her sisters, and barely even ordered. But this was Jane, after all, not Lydia, so any man that caught her eye was worth a little extra attention. Even without her sister’s obvious interest, Charlie’s friendly manner and generous tips would have made him welcome as a repeat customer.
Charlie had brought someone with him, which she hadn’t expected. The man was tall, dark and handsome – as tailor made to Lizzy’s tastes as Charlie’s fair curls and easy smiles were to Jane’s. Charlie’s friend was engrossed in his phone, and barely looked up as the two entered the shop.
Charlie, for his part, was attentive enough for two. He glanced about the shop with obvious pleasure, though Lizzy was quite certain that nothing substantive had changed since his first visit the day before. He nudged his shoulder gently into his friend’s.
“What do you think, Darcy?” Charlie asked. “Isn’t it a great place?” Lizzy smiled at the compliment to their family’s shop, but Charlie’s eyes had gone to Jane, who offered a warm smile in response.
“Nice,” the other man replied, barely looking up from his phone. Lizzy managed not to roll her eyes. She knew his type all too well: so busy with the connections and experiences on his phone that he missed the opportunity to make them in real life. Lizzy loved her phone as much as the next person, but she despised people who lacked the basic courtesy to put them down long enough to make eye contact.
“Sorry about him,” Charlie said, stepping up to the counter. “He’s having a busy day at work. That’s my friend Darcy – William, that is. We went to prep school together, but I’m the only one who calls him Darcy these days.”
“It’s nice to meet you, William,” Jane said. “Do you two work together now?”
“Oh no, Darcy’s a lawyer,” Charlie replied, “but our offices are only a few doors down. I like to drop by and ask him for advice. Even though he’s not actually in finance, his instincts are as good as anyone’s, and his judgement is better.”
Lizzy liked Charlie, but she wasn’t sure what it said about him that he depended on the judgement of someone who didn’t realize it was rude to ignore people in favor of your phone. Still, supposed she could give Charlie the benefit of the doubt, at least for Jane’s sake. Sometimes people’s high school friends were more indicative of who they had been than who they were now.
“What can I get for you both?” Jane said. Lizzy suspected that she wanted to continue the conversation, but didn’t want to impose herself on the two men’s time. Too nice by half, Lizzy thought, since Charlie had obviously come in here to speak to Jane again.
“I’ll have a small coffee, dark, no sugar,” Charlie said, “and…do you recommend the muffins or the scones?”
“The scones are Lizzy’s specialty,” Jane said. “They’re always a good bet.”
“I did notice they received excellent reviews on Yelp,” Charlie said. Lizzy hid a smile at the admission that he had investigated the shop since he had been in yesterday. As far as Lizzy was concerned, looking up Jane’s job on Yelp was a clear sign he was interested; the man might as well have brought flowers to declare his intent.
“Everything they say about Lizzy’s baking is true,” said Jane, who would never take a compliment for herself, but was always eager to accept them on behalf of her sisters.
“I’ll take one then,” Charlie agreed amiably. “What about you, Darcy? Take a look at these scones. Aren’t they magnificent?”
William finally looked up from his phone, and cast a dismissive glance at the scones. “They’re tolerable, I suppose.”
“But not handsome enough to tempt you!” said Charlie, with a rueful smile.
Lizzy seethed quietly to herself as Jane prepared Charlie’s order, answering his eager questions as she did. Typically Lizzy would handle the drinks while Jane was on the register, but this time she hung back, hoping to allow Jane a little extra time to chat with Charlie. William, of course, had returned to his phone, allowing Lizzy to cast a few annoyed glances his way while Charlie’s attention was occupied.
It was certain, she decided between covert glares. Charlie might be nice, but William was a jerk. Lizzy didn’t actually need a random stranger to agree her scones were “magnificent,” especially without even trying one. But Jane had indicated that the scones were a point of pride for the shop, and had made it clear that Lizzy had made them. Yet William still felt no compunction about dismissing them while she was standing right there. He was obviously one of those corporate douchebags who thought people in the service industry were invisible, non-human entities who could be insulted or mistreated without concern. She could get over the insult to her scones, but that kind of arrogance was harder to forgive.
Jane had finished Charlie’s coffee, and was handing him a scone in a brown to-go bag. Lizzy offered him a smile. “Thanks for coming in,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll see you again soon.”
“I’ll certainly be back,” answered Charlie, whose eyes were still on Jane.
“Let’s go,” William said to Charlie. “I have to take care of this stuff.”
“See you around,” Charlie told them, and the two men left. Lizzy wasn’t sure, but as she peered through the window after them, she thought she saw Charlie hand William his coffee before the two parted ways.
“Well, well, well,” Lizzy said suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows at Jane. “Looks like someone has an admirer.”
Jane blushed. “He’s not an admirer, Lizzy, he’s just a friendly customer.”
“Don’t be ridiculous Jane! Of course he’s an admirer. He came in two days in a row, and barely glanced at me either time.”
“Maybe he came back because he likes our coffee,” Jane said in a tone that was obviously trying to be reasonable.
“I’m pretty sure he just handed his coffee to his friend,” Lizzy informed her. “He yelped our shop, for goodness sake! Who even does that?”
“Who yelped the shop?” put in a familiar voice. Lizzy glanced up, and saw her friend Charlotte had just come in the door.
“You should really get a bell for the door,” Charlotte told them, coming behind the counter and pouring herself a cup of coffee. Charlotte and Lizzy had been roommates in college, and Charlotte liked to claim that sharing this formative experience entitled her to unlimited coffee at Longbourn Cafe. Since she didn’t abuse the privilege, Lizzy allowed it.
“You’re the only one who sneaks in that quietly,” Lizzy told her. “Everyone else manages to make their presence known.”
“So, who yelped the shop?” Charlotte wanted to know.
Lizzy grinned. “Jane’s admirer.”
“He’s not an admirer!” Jane protested, entirely predictably. “He’s just a customer who came in twice in two days – ”
“- and made googly eyes at Jane all the while,” Lizzy added. “He let slip that he’d looked up our shop last night and I’m sure that wasn’t for the coffee. He may not even drink coffee! He brought his friend with him, and I’m fairly sure I saw Charlie hand him the coffee as they left.”
“Is he cute?” Charlotte asked.
Jane blushed again. “Not that it matters, but yes. Very.”
“He’s just Jane’s type,” Lizzy corroborated. “Blond hair, blue eyes, big smiles, friendly manner.”
“He sounds ideal. Have you let him know you’re interested?”
“Slow down, Char!” Lizzy laughed. “Jane’s barely met him! She was very nice to him.”
“Jane is nice to everyone, and she’s a barista,” Charlotte said seriously. “Nice guys don’t want to be harassing women in their place of employment. Jane needs to give him plenty of extra encouragement, or he’s not going to keep coming around. That may not be your style, Jane, but you should do it anyways.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Lizzy said, putting her arm around her sister. “You just be yourself. He’s obviously already interested in that.” She knew from experience that her sister and her best friend had very different ideas about dating. Jane was a romantic, and believed that love would happen, dramatic and sudden, if you had enough faith and patience. Charlotte was a pragmatist, and thought that women should make the most of every opportunity life gave them, rather than waiting around for some unrealistic ideal. Lizzy was somewhere in between: a romantic, and also a cynic. She wanted love that fit naturally, not love that required finessing or settling. She just wasn’t sure it was out there.
Charlotte, to give her credit, knew when to back off. “So he brought a friend with him?”
“Yeah, and he was a total douche,” Lizzy told her. “Stood there on his phone the entire time, barely looked up, and didn’t order a damn thing. He called my scones ‘tolerable.’”
“Maybe he was just having a bad day,” Jane said.
“You always think rude customers are having a bad day,” Lizzy said, smiling fondly at her sister.
“And you always think they have deeply flawed natures,” Jane’s responded.
“I’m with Lizzy on this one,” Charlotte said. “He called your scones tolerable? To your face? That’s straight up rude. If he ever comes back to try them, Lizzy, you should refuse to sell him one!”
Lizzy laughed. “I think I can safely promise you, Char, that I will never sell a scone to William Darcy.”