Lizzy's POV

I yanked Charlotte away from the corner of the sanctuary at church then dragged her through a hall into the bathroom. Rapidly I checked under the first couple of bathroom stalls. Satisfied that I didn't see any feet or hear any sounds I turned back to Charlotte.

"Geez girl. What is going on?" She rubbed her upper arm where I had probably almost yanked it out of the socket.

I threw my hands up in the air and shrugged my shoulders exasperated, "That is what I am trying to figure out! William Darcy. Remember the billionaire jerk guy? That's him. Not sure if you noticed, but he is here today at CHURCH. I wasn't expecting him to come. At all. I knew Charles was coming because Jane invited him but I didn't know about Mr. Darcy and Caroline. I had just assumed they would worship their money or something. Not that going to church makes someone a Christian but."

Charlotte made a hand motion to get me to my point.

"He was listening to my conversation with your mom and then followed me when I went to talk to the new family. After I finished talking to them I went over to speak with Mrs. Carter about her health. Mr. Darcy followed me again and listened in. Then Mrs. Carter saw him and asked me to introduce my boyfriend to her. So then I just smiled at her and was like, 'oh no, he's not my boyfriend.' Then,"

I paused and took a breath, "he cleared his throat. The loud type to get attention and I was so confused. I'm still confused! I ended up introducing him but why on earth did he do that? It's not like he's interested in me or Mrs. Carter. He said as much at the Gala. So anyway. My point is, why is he following me around and listening to my conversations?"

Charlotte looked surprised, "I have no idea. The only thing I can say is that Mr. Darcy is the only one who can answer that question. Go out there and keep talking to people then maybe he will even talk directly to you and then you can allow his follow request on Instagram."

"Oh yeah, that. Fun." I said in the most sarcastic voice ever. My train of thought changed from what Charlotte had said at the end to the beginning. "If Mr. Darcy keeps following me around I will let him know what I think of it. He is so critical of everything that he sees. If I don't have my guard up then I might become afraid of him."

"I wouldn't doubt for a second that you would tell him what you think."

We went back out the door and I went back into the fray of people that had thinned out considerably. The one person that I wanted to be gone wasn't though. Well, the main person being Mr. Darcy. Caroline was still there too.

That lady. Ugh. She's one of the hard ones to love.

Someone called my name and I turned my head. It was Mr. Lucas, Charlotte's dad. I walked over to him smiling.

"Hi, Elizabeth! How are you today?"

I responded easily, "I am doing great! How are you, Mr. Lucas?"

"Oh, just fine. What else can you expect from an aging guy? I got some hearing aids this week so now I can finally hear again. I also have an appointment at the eye doctor because I think I need a stronger lens."

I laughed then patted him on the arm. "I think you are doing amazing, especially since you were able to lose those twenty-five pounds because you were eating well."

"I don't know if I would say that girl."

I shook my head and grinned "I'm still sticking to it."

He chuckled then asked, "Mr. Darcy, what did you think of the service and the music?"

Um, I'm not Mr. Darcy. Why is he asking that?

I turned and saw the hoity-toity guy standing right behind me.

Like five inches away from me. How did I not feel him, breathing down my neck? I was shocked. Why was he listening to my conversations again?!

"Are you talking to me?" Mr. Darcy asked.

Seriously dude. How much more cocky could you get?

I stepped back and allowed him to come into the group but he didn't move, he just stood there with his hulk.

Mr. Lucas got flustered. "You are Mr. Darcy right?"

I felt Mr. Darcy straighten his shoulders next to me in his suit that had to be expensive.

"Yes, I am. Who are you?"

If Charlotte's dad was flustered before he was intimidated now.

"Um. I'm William Lucas. I met you at the charity gala held in our local facility." Mr. Lucas talked slowly but didn't meet Mr. Darcy's direct gaze. "I asked what you thought of the service and of the music."

Mr. Darcy didn't say anything which gave me time to think about how big of a freaking jerk and how rude that was. Eventually, after a couple of seconds, I realized that he hadn't said anything.

Was he even going to respond? Or did he think he was too high and mighty to talk to a normal guy? Goodness gracious, did the man have hearing problems? I mean everything else about his physical being seemed to be quite alright if not extreme quality, but did he need an ear cleaning? Would Mr. Darcy answer if I asked?

It might put Mr. Lucas out of his misery. The poor man was rubbing his right-hand fingers together which I had come to recognize as a sign of agitation. Most of the time I saw him do that whenever he and my dad were caught up in a political "discussion".

"Mr. Darcy," I began with a smile plastered on my face. His gaze locked on mine. I wanted to stand on my tippy toes so as to be closer to his eye level and not feel intimidated.

"Yes, Ms. Bennet?"

I hadn't expected him to answer me on that. Back to the original plan.

"Mr. Lucas was wondering what you thought of the service and the music."

The formality that was being used and the time it was taking to get this one simple question answered was about to drive me crazy.

Mr. Lucas looked vastly relieved I had gotten Mr. Darcy's attention and asked, as well as taken the pressure off of him.

Mr. Darcy kept looking at me and I kept the smile on my face.

"Well?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought the service was good quality and the music was very contemporary."

Um, okay. That was short. I could have come up with three paragraphs on the message.

"Do you not like contemporary music, Mr. Darcy?"

"I believe that in general women like music more than men. Contemporary music also makes people more energetic than normal, especially women as they are more emotional than men."

"Really? Someone could consider that being sexist."

He tilted his head, raised his eyebrows at me, and said very firmly, "Maybe it is, or maybe it's just facts."

True, but he didn't have to say it that way. He can't say anything right. Now, do we just awkwardly stand here? Cause that seems what is happening.

I turned my head to see Charlotte standing a couple of feet away staring quizzically at us. My mind scrambled to see what I could do. I raised my hand to my face as to move a strand of hair. In reality, I was mouthing at Charlotte "help."

Charlotte walked over to us. "Lizzy, come play the piano, I want to listen to you."

Why did she have to say that? Maybe something more along the lines of, "Lizzy, let's go eat."

"No, Charlotte, I don't need to do that today," I paused to look at Mr. Darcy, "I would rather not because I am sure that Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, and Ms. Bingley are used to only the best. Which I most certainly do not fall into that category."

"You are fine Lizzy! You took lessons for years."

I still shook my head.

"Elizabeth, you should do it, it is always a joy to listen to you play the piano. I'm sure Mr. Darcy won't have any objections." Mr. Lucas said.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it. Excuse me, Mr. Darcy, I cannot promise how my performance will be so I might suggest you cover your ears."

Before Mr. Darcy could give some annoying monosyllable response I turned and walked away to play the piano.