There was nothing Elizabeth hated more than travelling through central London. She was on the bus to get to the party her sister Jane and her very serious (as stressed by Lizzy's mother) boyfriend were hosting, and she was dangerously late. Jane always fooled people with her pretty looks and angelic face, but she also masterfully made others feel guilty by one simple expression of her blue eyes. It was the sort of look puppies had when they were denied an extra treat - the one that made you feel like a complete arsehole.

So Lizzy was worried, and sixteen texts from Jane in the last hour definitely did nothing to help the situation.

Sighing with relief and certain anticipation, she walked down to the lower deck on the bus, intending to get off at the next stop, when her phone started buzzing again.

"Hello, Janie, great to hear from you so… often," Lizzy said mockingly-cheerful and, having quickly thanked the bus driver, got off onto the wet pavement. She wrinkled her nose and wrapped herself in her coat – it was raining. Lizzy never liked rain.

"Where are you, Lizzy?"

"Literally down the street."

"Lizzy, you're very late—"

"Love you, Jane. See you in a minute!" she chirped and hung up, running up the street to the massive and extremely posh building. She explained the concierge that she was attending the penthouse party that must been in the full swing by now.

The lift brought her to the top floor, where the doors opened and Lizzy fought the urge to open her mouth in amazement. The flat being posh (as Jane initially put it when she first told Lizzy about it) was a massive understatement. It rather reminded her of the sort of flats that were featured in the Gossip Girl. And the people that were at the party were dressed like Upper East Side elite. Too bad Lizzy wasn't rich and the limit of her spending was set on a dress from Zara. She'd lie if she said she was too upset about that.

"Don't you look hot," said her best friend Charlotte, having appeared out of nowhere with a glass of champagne in her hand.

Lizzy had her coat taken, and after that Charlotte linked their arms, giggling in a way that made it obvious she had a little too much champagne already.

"Seriously? You're tipsy already? The party started an hour ago," Lizzy mocked her friend, and Charlotte merely rolled her eyes in response.

"Which makes you an hour late, honey. Jane is furious."

Lizzy snorted. "I respect the importance of being fashionably late. Besides, Jane never gets furious. She's Jane."

"Oh no," Charlotte looked at her with an overly-serious expression, "she is furious."

Lizzy looked at the screen of her phone, "Well, she didn't send me that many texts, so I'm sure it'll be—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence because Charlotte suddenly tripped (all that bloody champagne) and yanked Lizzy's arm by inertia. Lizzy tumbled forward, her phone flying out of her hand. A wave of panic hit her, but then, as she was finding balance again, she saw that her phone was miraculously saved from falling onto hard tile floor by a man she's never seen before.

Lizzy let out half a sigh half a laugh as relief flooded her brain. Her whole life was in that phone, and she could literally kiss this guy who saved her life a few moments ago.

"Thank you," she breathed and took her phone mint-cased phone out of his hand, "so much. I don't know how you managed to do that; very impressive," she giggled and gave the man a smile.

He was very handsome, in a dark, brooding sort of way. He did look a little too old for her though, maybe around his late twenties? She wasn't sure.

In any case, he didn't return the smile and, having mumbled sternly, "It would help if you could be more careful next time," walked off.

"Okay," Lizzy said with her eyebrows raised, looking at his disappearing figure, "you have yourself a good night too. How rude!" she turned to Charlotte, who stood next to Lizzy, still holding her forearm, looking slightly paler than usual. "Hey, I think you've spilled some champagne," she chuckled, but her friend's expression didn't change. "What's wrong? Don't tell me that guy's mood rubbed off on you…"

"Do you know who you just talked to?" Charlotte asked with a panicked face (something Lizzy once again blamed on the alcohol) and tugged on Lizzy's frilled sleeve.

"No, otherwise I would've called him by his name."

"That was William Darcy. He's Charles' best friend?"

"Jane's Charlie?" Lizzy asked, and Charlotte rolled her eyes again.

"Bingo. He's as rich as the devil, his family used to own half of Derbyshire."

"The miserable half, I presume?" They both chuckled at that.

"Anyway, he's very single and would be a massive prize for anyone. Maybe you should go and try to flirt with him," Charlotte wiggled her eyebrows. "You seem like his type."

"And how on earth would you tell that just from seeing him for fifteen seconds?" Now it was Lizzy's turn to roll her eyes.

"Well, you're everyone's type. Funny, pretty, smart… You do law, for god's sake! Darcy's a lawyer too, works in one of the Magic Circle's firms."

"I'm not a lawyer, I'm a first year, Charlotte. That's hardly anything… so far," she reasonably retorted.

Charlotte waved her hand at her. "Never mind that, just trust me—"

"Lizzy!"

Lizzy turned her head and saw that it was Jane who exclaimed her name, and didn't get a chance to say anything in response before her sister embraced her.

"Are you okay?" Lizzy asked, furrowing her brows.

"I'm so glad you're here. I was worried you were bailing on me."

"Why would I do that?" She asked, moving away from her sister so that she could see her face.

Jane looked perfect, as always. A light blue flowy dress with ribbons that tied around her ribcage. She looked like she actually came to a ball, not to a party where people just stood and talked to each other, and only some danced. What a boring party, Lizzy thought, but didn't say anything to Jane.

"Because I said how important it was to me that you meet and make a good impression on Charlie and his friends and sisters… You don't like when people put pressure on you," she explained, gesturing a little awkwardly, but endearingly all the same.

Lizzy rolled her eyes – not in an annoyed, but rather amused way. "I had a 5pm tutorial, I told you. And our contract tutorials always run over because the guy apparently thinks that if he doesn't have any social life on Friday nights, no one else does. And after that, I had to come to halls and change and do my makeup… I wouldn't bail on you, and I'm ready to meet Charlie and whoever else it is that I need to meet."

Jane hugged her again and briefly looked her over. "You look so nice," she smiled in approval of Lizzy's short mint dress and high heels.

"Following your orders," she saluted with a mischievous smile.

"But why are all your dresses so short?" suddenly asked Charlotte. "I'm not judging, just observing," she added hastily after Lizzy gave her an unimpressed look.

"Never liked long gowns," shrugged Lizzy. "Those make me feel fat," she wrinkled her nose at her own words.

Jane laughed, throwing her head back, her hair flowing in perfect blonde waves. "That makes zero sense," she said and linked her arm with her sister's. "Nice to know you don't change. Shall we?" she asked, and Lizzy tried not to sigh at that.

"Sure."

Meeting Charles (or Charlie, as Jane always called him in her sweet voice) wasn't bad at all. Lizzy was pleasantly surprised with his outgoing attitude and dashing looks, but especially by the fact that he seemed to worship the ground Jane walked on. Only that last thing made her decide that she was very much happy with her sister's relationship. Jane was a kind person and people had used it before to their own favour. Charles simply didn't seem like the sort of person to do that.

She also had to meet Darcy, then Charles' sisters – Caroline and Louisa – and Louisa's husband Ben. While she wasn't at all surprised by Darcy's sullen attitude, she was completely astonished by how shallow the sisters and Ben were. Ben didn't seem to talk about anything but politics and overall gratified her with one sentence, and simply continued with his conversation with some other men he had met at this party. Caroline and Louisa differed both in appearance but also in attitude and behaviour. Louisa looked as if she was about to die of boredom, glancing at her husband from time to time disapprovingly, and downing one champagne glass after another. Despite the fact that she was shorter and a chubbier than her sister, her face appeared kinder than Caroline's and Lizzy found her a lot prettier and more appealing. Caroline, however, she didn't like at all, especially for her open hostility. Lizzy had no idea what she had done to Charles' sister to piss her off, but she made blindingly rude comments on the things Lizzy said and also talked with fake gentleness to Jane, which annoyed Lizzy even more. She wondered how people who had grown up with the same parents and in the same circumstances could be so different (especially considering Charles' constantly happy face and kind words), but then she remembered that out of her four sisters not one had a personality similar to another, and dropped that thought.

The introductions didn't last long, and soon Jane and Charles joined the couples on the dance floor, while Elizabeth excused herself to go to the loo. She stood in front of the mirror, trying to tame her curly hair that curled even more after she walked in the rain. She had a love/hate relationship with it. However, she did like how she looked tonight, since she had been able to choose her outfit herself, without her mother's kind guidance, who always wanted her to show as much cleavage as possible. "It's never too early to find a husband, Lizzy," she often said, and Elizabeth just quietly sighed, knowing pretty well that there was no chance on earth that she would get married at 18.

Having left the bathroom, she wandered around, looking for Charlotte or Jane, but then got a text and paused to reply it.

"Why don't you go and talk to someone?" she heard Charles' voice and lifted her head. She stood not too far behind him and Darcy, whose conversation was reasonably loud, and could still be heard by her. Not paying much attention, she continued typing her text, when she heard Darcy's response.

"I would gladly speak to people I already know, but sadly, there aren't that many of them at this party."

Lizzy rolled her eyes, not surprised in the least. The guy made an impression of someone who was never happy, always complaining. Those who don't complain are never pitied, was her mother's favourite phrase, and Lizzy thought that maybe Darcy fit that description perfectly.

"You do know a few people. Find a pretty girl to dance with," Charles offered with an encouraging smile, gesturing with his hand in which he held his champagne glass.

"Easy for you to say, you've got the prettiest girl around here."

"Well, go talk to Jane's sister. She's very good looking."

Lizzy felt herself blush lightly at his words. It was nice to hear someone say that, even if it was one of the most cheerful people she'd ever met who said it. She did not expect Darcy's response to that strike her as much as it did.

He snorted. "Frankly, she's not that tempting. Her phone case matches her dress, for Christ's sake."

Arsehole, Lizzy thought, feeling her stomach churn for some reasons, very much affected by his words.

"Darcy," Charles said disapprovingly.

It was Lizzy's turn to snort now. She walked up to the pair and asked Charles with a big smile, "Hey, do you happen to know where Jane went?" She was perfectly capable of finding Jane herself, but having been very unimpressed by Darcy's words, she wanted to see his face when he realised she had heard his words. It was priceless. She saw blush creep up his cheeks while the rest of his face somehow went pale.

Charles' smile was that of pure kindness. "Yes, Lizzy, she's upstairs. Charlotte wasn't feeling well and needed to lie down, so she took her to the spare bedroom."

"Is she alright?" Lizzy's brows knitted in concern.

"I believe she went a little too far with the champagne," Charles said with another genuine smile.

"Oh," Lizzy sighed. "Thank you, I'll go and check on her. Good evening, Mr Darcy," she added, simply to annoy him.

He responded with a nod, and Lizzy went off to see how Charlotte was doing, mumbling the word "arsehole" from time to time to herself.

A/N: I realise this is nothing new, but I always wanted to try my take on this sort of story. Please, review. It's very hard to continue writing a story when there aren't many people reading it. Hope you enjoyed!