Pride, Prejudice and other bad first impressions

Chapter 7

I probably should have taken the helmet off before walking into the living room. There was everyone, elegantly dressed for a fashionable dinner out and I came strolling into the room, wearing my bike helmet, my clothes all wrinkled and sweat stained from the action of riding over there. I can’t lie and say I did not notice the look of shock in everyone’s eye, I saw the critical look of Caroline and Louisa, the kind yet surprised look of Bing and the weird open mouth staring of Will Darcy. I couldn’t help but to do a weird little curtsy and salute.

“The doctor said Jane should be fine. She just needs some rest. I think it best for her to spend the night here, and she said you would bring her by some clothes.” Bing offered me a friendly smile.

“Um, yeah.” I smiled holding up the backpack into which I had stuffed some things for Jane. I then remembered my helmet, took it off and tried to run my fingers through my serious case of helmet hair. “Do you think I can see her?”

Bing obliged, nodding and leading me by the arm from the room to where Jane was resting, and I couldn’t help but hear the sarcastic giggles of Caroline and Louisa.

Jane was laying on the bed with a sheet over her legs, and the look of pure glee that I had arrived with clothes was evident in her gleaming smile.

“Lizzie!” Jane smiled and sat up as best she could. “Bing and everyone has been so nice, they even offered me to stay here for the long weekend until my ankle is a bit better. I’m so happy you are here.”

Bing was staring at Jane’s cleavage, now that the sheet had slipped. “Caro offered Jane a change of clothes, but she said that she would feel more comfortable wearing something of her own. Plus, she might need some help to get dressed, so who better than her sister to help her.”

“Oh yes!” said Jane, giggling nervously.

“You know, Lizzie, you should join us this weekend.” Bing offered.

I shook my head furiously. The mere thought of spending any more time with this crowd was not very appealing to me. I was about to open my mouth and refuse, when Jane interrupted me.

“Oh please, Lizzie, won’t you stay?” Her puppy dog eyes melted my resolve. “There’s going to be a clambake on Sunday!”

“Well, alright.” I grumbled. “I can’t say no to clams.”

“Great, it’s settled. Why don’t you change into something more comfortable so that you can join us for dinner.”

I looked down and saw my rumpled sweat stained clothes and didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until Bing left the room.

“Thank God you came!” Jane cried. “Caro kept offering to let me borrow something to wear and help me change! Can you imagine Bing’s sister seeing me in my underpants?”

I laughed at the thought, and opened the bag, pulling out some clothes for Jane and myself. I chose a tank top and a pair of yoga pants for Jane, who insisted that she didn’t feel up to dining with everyone else because she was still embarrassed at causing such a fuss. I couldn’t help but burst into laughter when I helped Jane out of her dress and saw the frilly lace bra and panty set she was wearing.

“I know.” Jane couldn’t help but giggle too. “Mom insisted I wear this set ‘just in case.’ If she only knew.”

I laughed and helped her into the outfit before I went to take a quick shower in the adjacent bathroom. The bathroom was huge, and seeing as how it was only a guest bathroom I was thoroughly impressed. The shower was stocked with expensive soaps and shampoo, and I took advantage of that. There was even a guest hair dryer, so I could fix my hair. I chose to wear one of the sundresses I had thrown in the bag for Jane, seeing as how it was one of the nicer things I had packed, and I didn’t want to look totally out of place.

When I came downstairs, everyone was there except for Bing, who had made a tray to take up and dine with Jane so that she wouldn’t be alone. The thought of eating dinner with this group of people, whom I had begun to have a seriously dislike for, without the comfortable buffer of Bing was not something I looked forward too, but the food looked and tasted amazing. I tried to keep my temper and mouth in check during dinner, but Caroline made an effort to keep me out of the conversation by making inside jokes and references that I had no idea about.

After dinner, Bing came down and joined us for cocktails at the bar at the back of the house. Caroline and Louisa were sharing an Ipad, tapping away and making comments about something, when Caro looked up and spoke to me directly for the first time that night.

“What’s your twitter, Lizzie?” Caro smiled. “I will follow you, so you can follow me back.”

“Oh, I don’t have one.” I said.

“You don’t have a twitter? How about Facebook? Tumblr? Pinterest?”

“Myspace.” Louisa squeaked under her breath, still loud enough for me to hear before breaking into giggles.

“I just think we spend so much time with technology that we get wrapped up in it and it can take over our lives. I’d rather focus more time on living life than documenting its every instance to prove to the world what kind of person I am.”

“Elizabeth Bennet is a Luddite!” Caro proclaimed. “She only plays vinyl records and sends her messages via carrier pigeons.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I interrupted. “I just think its sad how much time we spend living online. I’m not opposed to watching the occasional cat video on Youtube or reading a gossip website to escape a bit, but I’d rather keep me to myself, I guess. I value privacy.”

“Hmmm....” said Caro. “I wouldn’t go so far to say that people are fake if they have Facebook or Twitter. Doesn’t your sister have a fashion blog thingie? Do you think Jane is fake or wasting her time?”

“I never said that.” I tried to keep the growing anger out of my voice. “Jane’s blog is amazing. It’s a productive use of technology. She is sharing her passion with the world, and those sort of endeavors are admirable. I’m talking about people who spend time crafting witty things to tweet, or growing crops on some digital farm or adding filters to their pseudo-artistic photos to prove how amazing they are or there life is. They could be doing something real. Growing real crops, writing a book, experiencing the photo instead of staging it. I don’t know.”

“Jane’s blog is pretty amazing.” said Bing. “I think its so cool the way she shares her passion with the world.”

“It takes more than that to make a digital imprint.” Darcy finally joined the conversation. “A blog is not enough. You have to make yourself available through other mediums to enjoy true success. Control over your identity is only there if you are the one holding the reins. A twitter profile with carefully thought out expressions, a Facebook, these things are necessary if you are going to have a successful brand.”

“Not everyone is looking to be a product, Will.” I answered back with a bit of bitterness.

“A product?” Caro shrieked. “I don’t think I’m trying to sell myself. I just want to make sure that I have an imprint on society. You are making it sound so sordid.”

“It’s not that...” I tried to interject.

“Lizzie does have a point.” Will interrupted me. “It’s only about having a well-thought out digital presence, but also about making sure you actually live your life the way you represent it.”

“It’s about being human.” I finally answered. “I just like keeping things to myself, that’s all.”

Caroline only answered my reply with a roll of her eyes before muttering to her sister about how I was a hipster who made myself feel better than other people by judging them. I chugged my drink and made excuses to leave them and check up on Jane. The mere thought of spending another two days with them was eating at my soul, and my patience.