| Flight of Fancy Parts 1-4 Part 1 Mr William Darcy resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the portly little man beside him continued to prattle on about a wonderful real-estate venture that Darcy would be mad not to invest in. Darcy marvelled at the man's ability to talk without any apparent need to pause for breath. "Well, at least he doesn't seem to require much of a response from me," Darcy thought as he looked for a bright side to his situation. He half smiled as he imagined a plot on behalf of the airlines, to always seat him next to their most irritating passengers. In his minds eye he could see a computer notation come up next to his name every time he booked a ticket: NB - This man once argued about the amount of hand luggage allowed on a plane. Please seat him next to salesmen, elderly ladies with hundreds of photographs of their grandchildren, or yobbos who have had a little too much to drink at the airport. His attention to the little man's words drifted even further away, as he noticed an attractive young lady board the plane. "Now why can't they, just once, sit me next to someone like her," he wondered, as his eyes followed her progress down the aisle of the plane. She seemed a little confused, checked her ticket again, and made her way back up the plane to the nearest Flight Attendant. As Darcy returned his focus to his neighbour he realised the little man had actually paused and seemed to be expecting a reply of some kind. Fortunately he was saved from the embarrassment of having to admit he hadn't been listening, by the flight attendant calling the attention of the little man to herself. "Excuse me sir, May I check your ticket for a moment?" The man looked disgruntled at the imposition, but never-the-less produced his ticket for the attendant. "I'm sorry Sir, but it appears you're in this lady's seat. If you'd like to come with me I'll show you to your allocated seat." "This is very inconvenient!" puffed the little man. "This gentleman and I were in the middle of a business discussion. I'm sure the young girl won't mind trading seats with me for the duration of the flight." "I'm sorry Sir," the attendant countered, catching and understanding the mute plea for pity in Darcy's eyes, "but airline policy does not allow for that." "I'm sure there'll be no difficulty in making an exception here," he replied in a patronising tone. "I'm a very loyal customer of this airline. This gentleman and I would particularly like to have the opportunity of talking together on this flight, and the girl could hardly have any objection to..." "I'm sorry ...Mr Collins," the attendant cut across him, reading the name from his ticket, "but apart from anything else, it would be unfair to take this woman's business class seat, and to force her to take your economy seat in return." Darcy smiled his gratitude to the Flight Attendant, and mouthed 'thank you' as Mr Collins fished around under his seat for his briefcase. Still murmuring to himself about the outrageous inconvenience, how he'd be taking matters further with the airline, and with a word to Darcy that he would catch up with him after the flight, he followed the attendant further down the plane. Darcy sighed with relief, and appreciatively took in the form of his new companion as she stretched to put her hand luggage in the overhead compartment. "This is too good to be true," he thought to himself. "There'll have to be a catch here. She'll have a voice like Lamont in 'Singing in the Rain', or be without two brain cells to rub together." He caught the soft scent of her perfume as she lightly seated herself beside him, and decided that it didn't really matter. Part 2 The girl gave a slightly embarrassed smile as she settled herself down. "I'm sorry if I've put you out at all. I really wouldn't have minded changing seats." Her voice was delightful. "Please don't apologise. I don't know the man at all. You've actually saved me from a very tiresome journey. He was trying to interest me in a property investment of dubious merit. Who knows, from there he may have moved on to an attempt to sell me the Eiffel Tower. She responded with a slight musical laugh. "He wasn't very pleased was he? I wonder what he'd think if he knew I'd just made this flight on 'stand-by' after a cancellation. He probably paid quite a bit more for his ticket than I did for mine." Her eyes spoke her amusement at the situation. Darcy, a little too distracted by the aforementioned eyes, was not quick enough to keep this verbal exchange going and noticed with disappointment that she now intended to focus her attention on a newspaper she'd brought with her. He watched as she expertly flicked the cumbersome broadsheet and folded it into a manageable shape for easy reading. She seemed so contented in her occupation that Darcy felt it would be intrusive to interrupt her. He satisfied himself with the thought that he'd certainly have opportunity to talk with her sometime during their cross-continental flight, and settled back with his own novel. The awareness of her presence, however, was proving too much of a distraction for him to give his full concentration to the book. She had now turned up the crossword, and he was impressed to see that she was making rather short work of it. On her pausing for longer than usual though, Darcy suspected that she had hit one of those stubborn little crossword corners, and he looked across at the clues. "Asmara," he said, and on registering her blank look he continued. "29 across, the capital of Eritrea is Asmara." "Oh... thank you," she replied, bestowing a grateful smile on Darcy before filling in the answer to 29 across, and also the answers to a few of the cross clues. "You wouldn't happen to know a malleable element, six letters, second letter 'o' fifth letter 'e'? "Copper," he replied, with hardly a hesitation. "Drat, I suppose should have been able to work that one out. I hate geography and science questions," she told him. "Dad and I usually do the crossword together and I have to admit to leaving him to answer most in those catagories of those questions. Occasionally I'll try and commit some of these facts to memory, but my brain says 'No, not interested' and drops them into a blackhole somewhere." He found the way her smile reached to her eyes very attractive. "I think I can relate in some way," Darcy replied, not letting this opportunity for conversation go begging. "When I lived at home my mother would often express amazement at the amount of trivia I could retain in my head, while never being able to recall which night I was supposed to put out the garbage. No matter how many times I was told, the information wouldn't stay." "That's nothing to do with your brain." There was that musical laugh again. "That's solely to do with your gender.... By the way, what time do you make it? Shouldn't we have taken off by now?" "It's 5.20, we're about 15 minutes behind schedule. I suspect they'll soon be making one of those confidence building announcements about us being held up due to technical difficulties." If he was at all concerned that his words might foster some nervousness in fellow commuter, his mind was put at rest by her unworried reply. "You know, that's probably why they insist on all passengers being in their allocated seats. It must be a lot easier to identify the bodies when they're strapped into the correct seat number." Darcy laughed out loud at this. "It could be awfully disconcerting otherwise," he put in. "I can just see your grieving family going into shock at the viewing when, instead of their precious little girl, they find Mr Collins in the casket." "It'd be an easy mistake to make," she countered with a serious expression on her face, only her eyes reflecting the humour of her comment. "Maybe the family wouldn't notice.". As if on cue the pilot's greeting came over the intercom system, and they both bust out laughing as the he finished off his address... "...we will be running slightly behind time due to minor technical difficulties..." ~/~ It was actually close to an hour after scheduled departure time when the plane taxied down the runway for take off. Normally Darcy would have found this circumstance quite frustrating (he would have been near mad if he had still been beside Mr Collins) but time moves quickly when you're seated next to a vivacious, intelligent, and very pretty young lady. Her conversation was proving a delight, and he wouldn't have minded if the plane had sat on the tarmac for an hour or two more. "I hope my sister rings to check on the expected arrival time," she commented. "I was only able to give her notice of which flight I'd be on at the last minute. She was going to have to rearrange everything in order to leave work early to pick me up." "So, do you live in the west?" he asked. This was the first time their conversation had touched on more personal details. "No, but my sister does. Jane moved over there a few months ago for her job. I've missed her terribly and she's quite homesick. This is the first time I've been able to visit her. I wouldn't mind giving Mum the slip for a bit, so I'm half inclined to look for a job while I'm over there myself." Darcy was half inclined to offer her one, he may have even done so had not the firm in which he was an executive practised a very strict policy against internal office romances. "It's not an easy decision to make such a big move," he replied. "You wouldn't feel you were leaving too much behind? Do you have a boyfriend at home?" Was that too obvious? "Not one that I wouldn't mind throwing over," she laughed. "Actually it would give me a great excuse to get rid of him. Personally I'm surprised that he's still hanging around." "Why's that?" Darcy had difficulty in imagining any guy who'd not want to hand around this delightful girl. "Oh, I think he's finding his lack of progress in the relationship a little frustrating," she answered with seeming amusement. "I get the impression he's used to his relationships moving a lot further a lot faster. When he finally gets the idea that it's just not going to happen I don't think I'll see him for dust. He's a bit on the smarmy side..." The relief Darcy felt on finding out she was not seriously attached took him by surprise. "That's what I like to see in a relationship," Darcy grinned, "respect! Part 3 Jane sat at the domestic terminal and wished she'd brought her novel. If she'd thought about it before she'd left her office, she would have taken the time to ring up and check whether the plane was expected on time. The truth was though, she'd been so excited about Lizzy's visit that she wasn't thinking about practicalities. Jane smiled as she caught herself checking the arrivals monitor again. It was like the proverbial watched pot. No matter how many times she checked it, the plane wasn't about to arrive any earlier. She amused herself for a few minutes by watching the interplay between an increasingly restless little boy, and a nice looking young man who, it seemed, had caught the toddler's attention. It had started off with a shy game of Peek-a-boo from the child and, after the young man responded, the little fellow appeared to claim him as personal property. The boy was now animatedly chatting to the man about his action figure. If the young man could understand 3 words in 10 he was doing well, but he happily gave the child his full attention, and appropriately responded to the little boy's enthusiasm. This new friendship however, was broken up upon the arrival of a plane carrying the little one's grandparents, leaving the young man in peace. Jane turned again to the monitor, and sighed with exasperation as she noted the arrival time had been put back a further 15 minutes. "It's very frustrating isn't it?" Jane looked up to find the pleasant young man addressing her. "Are you waiting for flight 317 too?" he continued. "Yes, to both your questions," Jane replied with a smile. " Should have known better than to expect it to arrive on time." "I know what you mean. The friend I'm picking up will no doubt think me a fool for not having the sense to ring up and check before coming down here," the young man smiled. "Look, I was just about to go in search of a cup of coffee. Would you like me to bring you one back as well?" Jane would have loved a coffee, but she was a little concerned about the propriety of accepting one from a stranger. The young man seemed to be reading her thoughts and continued. "Better still, we could go and find a café. We still have 45 minutes to kill until the plane gets in... And just in case you don't associate with strangers I can remedy that with an introduction. I'm Charles Bingley, ... more commonly known as Bing." He gave her a wonderful smile and held out a hand for her to shake. Jane gave him a disconcerted look, and hesitated before accepting his hand. "Hi, I'm Jane," she said, giving in to his undeniably easy charm. "Jane Bennet." ~/~ Darcy was taken completely by surprise at the announcement to fasten all seatbelts. How on earth could the trip have gone so quickly? It suddenly occurred to him that he was running out of time to make a move on his enchanting young companion. He realised with exasperation that he didn't even know her name, but it seemed a little odd to be belatedly introducing ones-self at such a late stage of the flight. As they finished off a conversation on some of their favourite novels, Darcy looked for a casual opening to naturally find out her name and to introduce himself. The opening didn't appear and, as the plane taxied into the terminal, he readied himself to just ask her straight out. He was on the point of speaking when the helpful flight attendant addressed him. "I thought I should warn you. Mr Collins is very intent on catching you as soon as the flight ends. Would you like some assistance to make a quick get-away?" Darcy winced at the idea of being cornered by Mr Collins again, but neither did he want to throw away his opportunity to get at least the name and phone number of his neighbour. He looked from the flight attendant, to the young lady, in indecision. "Go on," his companion laughed, "or you'll miss your chance of escape." It then occurred to Darcy that he'd have no difficulty in catching up with her at the baggage retrieval. "I've really enjoyed your company on this trip," he told her as he collected his hand luggage. "And I yours," she smiled at him as the Flight attendant led him toward the front of the plane." ~/~ Bingley and Jane talked companionably as they walked back to the arrivals lounge. He was hopeful that the plane might have been further delayed, giving him more time with his beautiful new acquaintance. His hopes however, proved ill founded as Darcy was already waiting for him on his return. "No problem," Bingley reasoned as he took his leave of Jane. "I'll ring her on Monday." ~/~ "Good flight, Darce?" Bingley asked. "Actually, It was a great flight," Darcy replied with a smile. "What's this? I thought I'd find you in a state of restrained exasperation at the very least. The plane was over an hour late.... I can only assume that the flight attendants must have been particularly attractive on this run." "I didn't really pay close attention to the flight attendants," Darcy laughed, "but my fellow passengers were extraordinarily good company." "Passengers?" queried Bingley. "Well.... Passenger," answered Darcy. "Oh... I see," Bingley replied with a grin. "What's her name?" "I didn't actually get her name," Darcy admitted with a little embarrassment. "Didn't get her name!" Bingley exclaimed. "Then who are you going to ask for when you phone? Are you just going to give a description of the woman with whom you wish to speak?" "I didn't get her phone number either," Darcy grimaced. "I'm intending to catch up with her at the baggage retrieval." Bingley only laughed. "Darce," he said. "Sometimes I just don't believe you. You're now so used to waiting for the girls to throw themselves at your feet, that you've become lazy and forgotten the basic pick up rules - number one of which is at least get the girl's name!" Darcy grimaced again at this depiction of himself. Bingley did have a point. "I'll just have to take a refresher course from you then, Bing. I'm sure you would never have made such a basic mistake," "No, indeed!" Bingley cried. "As a matter of fact I've just been putting my money where my mouth is. There was this absolutely stunning woman here this evening and, even if I say so myself, I've made a pretty reasonable start. At least I know her name." "Stop gloating. I'll soon know mine's name as well. Come on let's get to the baggage retrieval. I don't want to risk missing her." ~/~ Jane ran to Elizabeth and hugged her warmly. "Oh, I've missed you!" "Janie, it's so wonderful to see you!" After another hug and more enthusiastic greetings Jane and Elizabeth sat down in the lounge to do some more catching up. Despite the fact that Elizabeth would be staying for close to three weeks, it seemed imperative that so many things be said and done right there and then. It was at least 40 minutes later that enough had been shared to allow them to think of more mundane things such as picking up the luggage and getting back to Jane's flat. "Oh, I forgot to ask, did you have a pleasant flight over here? How did you cope with the delays?" "Oh, the flight was fine. I had a terrific companion on the way, so easy to talk to, very well informed and with a great sense of humour. You wouldn't believe how quickly the trip seemed to go." "Was he cute," Jane asked. "Oh, 'cute' doesn't come close to describing him," Lizzy laughed. "Move over Adonis.... By the way I'm sorry you had to wait so long for me." "Don't be," Jane grinned. "I actually found some very agreeable company myself. I ended up having coffee with a rather handsome young man." "Go Janie!" Liz laughed, "and where did this uncharacteristic bravery come from? I would never have thought you'd allow yourself to be so casually picked up at an airport." "How can you make a simple coffee sound so sleazy?" Jane was still smiling. "Well, did he ask you out, Janie dear? I'm waiting for all the gory details." "No, but he knows where I work, so I hope I'll hear from him." "Well, you're doing much better that me then." Liz sounded a little disappointed. "I don't even know the name of my mystery man." "What about George?" Janie asked. "Are you losing interest in him already?" "Oh, forget George Wickham," Liz smiled "I've found he's all packaging and no substance. The best case scenario I can think of is that he'll run off with someone else while I'm over here. It'll save me the trouble of having to dump him." - Part 4 "I'm sorry to say this Darce, but I think she's given you the slip - possibly when you went diving for cover to avoid your friendly little real-estate salesman." Darcy reluctantly admitted that Bingley was probably right. They'd been waiting now for close to 3/4 of an hour, and there'd been no sign of her. She must have somehow come and gone with out him seeing. "We can wait a while longer if you'd like," Bingley offered, "but if we leave now we'll make it back to the car in time to avoid a further $10 on the parking fee." "I think I should just face the reality that I've managed to stuff this one up," Darcy sighed. "I'll regret this one though. It's giving me a strong sense of lost opportunity." "Come on Darce. Don't be so negative. Truth be told you'd have no doubt ended up as dissatisfied with her as you have with the rest of them. You set pretty high standards, you know. I'm yet to meet a woman who could come up to them." "You might be right ... still, I would have liked a chance to find out for sure," Darcy replied, "but there's no use in crying over spilt milk." "No use at all, " agreed Bingley encouragingly, "and while we're talking in clichés - remember that there's plenty of fish in the sea." Darcy laughed at this. "Bing, one minute you say no woman meets my standards, and the next you're telling me that there's plenty of fish in the sea. Choose one or the other - you can't have it both ways." "Do I always have to watch everything I say with you?" Bingley asked with a grin. "You should be used to it by now," Darcy smiled as he slung his pack over his shoulder, and he and Bingley turned to leave. If either of them had taken the time to glance back they would have caught sight of two very attractive young women, still talking animatedly as they collected a lone suitcase. On Monday evening Darcy noticed Bingley, upon arriving home from work, was a little out of sorts. The two had shared the (rather impressive) Darcy family home for three years now; ever since Darcy's parents and sister had moved from the city to a country estate. These men had been friends since early in their school days, and they could read each other's moods with little difficulty. "Well, are you going to let me in on what's troubling you?" Darcy asked after giving Bingley time to settle down and have a makeshift tea. "Nothing really," Bingley answered. Darcy just raised his eyebrows at this. "Oh well, if you must know, I tried to get in contact with the girl I met at the airport the other day," Bingley explained, "and was told that she'd taken the week off work... The problem is that I don't know whether it's true, or whether she just doesn't want to see me." Darcy couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "You were a lot more sanguine when I was in your position the last Friday. What was it you told me...? 'plenty of fish in the sea'." Bingley gave a sheepish grin at Darcy's amusement. "Don't be so smug; you forget..." he sent back, "...that I still happen to know my dream girl's name... and I still have the hope that she might be back at work next Monday." It may be needless to say, but on the following Monday Bingley returned from work in a much better mood. It was amazing how much a simple phone conversation with Jane had lifted his spirits. William Darcy was not by nature one to indulge himself in regrets, and he was quite willing to take responsibility for his actions and move on from there. Still, by the third Monday following his disappointment after his East Coast trip, his friends even greater than characteristic cheerfulness, was almost getting on his nerves. Bingley's good fortune seemed to be an ever-present reminder of what he'd missed. Bingley, aware that Darcy was still harbouring a slight sense of loss, tried to be sensitive to his friend's feelings by not talking of Jane too much, but it was hard not to mention her when he was finding Jane everything that his first sight of her had promised her to be. Her physical beauty seemed to be totally in accord with a beautiful nature. Sure, they'd only had one coffee, two lunches (and numerous phone conversations) but Bingley knew he'd never in his life been this attracted to anyone. "Darce," Bingley broached cautiously, "I've asked Jane out for dinner tomorrow night, but she has her sister visiting at the moment. Would you mind coming along with us to make up the foursome?" "Would you really mind if I didn't go?" Darcy asked, ignoring a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was something about Bingley's words he really should think through. "I've got a lot on my plate at work at the moment and I was planning to stay back late tomorrow night to try get on top of it." "Are you sure that's all it is? You're not still brooding over your mystery flight girl are you? If Elizabeth is anything like Jane I'm sure you'll find her great company and very attractive." "Bing, you'd have to I admit I'd be pushing my luck to expect to run across two girls aup to the standard of my 'mystery flight girl', as you so eloquently put it, in the space of a few weeks. Honestly, I really should stay back at work. It's good to have a clear run at things without out any distractions." "Caroline Bentley still getting on your nerves?" Bingley asked. Darcy rolled his eyes in reply. "You know, any time I'm tempted to feel annoyed about our firm's archaic 'No Personal Relationships' policy, all I have to do is think of Caroline, and I'm suddenly blessing the person who instituted it." Bingley laughed at this. "Oh well, if you really can't come I'd better ring Richard and see if I can line him up." "Oh the poor girl, do you really think that she deserves Richard?" Darcy asked with a grin on his face. "She's only here for two more days. I don't think that that's enough time for him to break her heart." Bingley smilingly replied. "Mind you, with Richard you never know." ~/~ Bingley was in high spirits when he arrived home late the following night. "You should have come Darce, we had a great time," he enthused. "Jane is incredible, and I'm sure you would have loved Elizabeth - She's a bright girl." "I'll have to take your word for it," Darcy smiled. "How did she get along with Richard?" "Very well I think, but she's no pushover, he had the charm on 'full' all evening and she still managed to keep him at arms length. He'd just be getting confident and she'd hit him with a smart line that would send him back a few paces." "Maybe I should have gone, that would have been worth seeing," Darcy laughed. The weeks moved on but Darcy found himself still occasionally thinking of the bright, vivacious girl he'd met on that flight. He'd also met Jane a number of times now and understood why Bingley was so smitten. She was a beautiful girl, maybe a little quiet for his taste and a little hard to really get to know, but obviously good natured and intelligent. He hadn't quite put it together in his head, but it was often after spending time with Jane that he thought of the other girl. Some times an expression of Jane's, the way she phrased something, or a physical mannerism seemed familiar to him. On the whole, Darcy watched the growing relationship between his friend and Jane with pleasure, but occasionally he was concerned by the thought that she might not feel as strongly towards Bingley, as he did for her.. That Bingley would do anything to please Jane was obvious, and it didn't surprise Darcy a great deal when he found himself in the middle of a conversation with him, over whether there might be a job for Jane's sister Elizabeth, with the publishing firm in which Darcy was an executive.. "...And may I ask why, if she's as good as you say she is, you aren't offering her a job in your own company?" "Darce, even you should understand that there aren't many opportunities for a person with graphic design and marketing qualifications, in the chemical engineering field." "Okay ...conceded... " Darcy went on, "but if she's so good she should be able to get a job without my help." "I have no doubt she could," Bingley argued. "but she's only just made the decision to move here, and it does create some awkwardness in that she lives so far away. On top of which, I know you're looking for someone." "So you're only advocating this for my benefit." Darcy laughed. "Of course not. Jane will be over the moon if her sister gets a job here, but Elizabeth is a great girl and you might be impressed if you take a look at her C.V.," Bingley countered. "You just happen to have a copy of her C.V. on you?" Darcy asked in amazement. "Yes, I lifted it from a bunch that she sent over for Jane to drop off at prospective places of employment. Jane doesn't know I'm asking. I wouldn't put you in that position." ~/~ As a result of this conversation, a fortnight later, Darcy found himself back at the airport's domestic terminal, waiting to pick up Jane's sister. Not only had he been conned into giving her a job, but as Bingley and his new love were both tied up at a compulsory work function of Jane's, he'd also been roped into picking her up from the airport. "How will I recognise her?" he'd asked Jane. " Does she look like you?" "In some ways," Jane had answered, "but her hair is darker and longer, she has darker eyes, and is a little taller than me." "If all else fails," Bingley grinned, "she'll be the lost lonely passenger left over after everyone else has been picked up." On Jane looking alarmed at this, Bingley continued. "There's really no need to look so worried honey, He's quite capable of collecting your sister from the airport. Thanks so much for this Darce, we really do appreciate it." "Not only this, but the Job too," Jane smiled at him. "I don't think you'll have cause to regret it. Liz is pretty good at what she does." "So I gathered from her résumé," Darcy smiled back at her. As he waited in the arrival lounge Darcy couldn't help but remember the last occasion he'd been there, and caught himself thinking about that beautiful young lady once again. So it was, that when she entered the lounge, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Then something in his mind seemed to go click, and it all made perfect sense. He walked quietly up to her, and she looked at him in astonishment as he addressed her with a smile. "Elizabeth Bennet I presume." Next |
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