Netherfield Prep (Austen Reimagined: P&P #1)

by Elizabeth Stevens

  I dropped down to my knee at her side and I could practically see the cogs in her mind working as she tried to work out what I was about to say.

  “I need mother’s ring, Aunt Celia.”

  Aunt Celia smiled which, for her, was the equivalent of jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

  “Oh, I knew she was worrying unnecessarily.”

  “Who was what?”

  “Fleur, dear. She came to see me a couple of weeks ago and gave me some story about how you told her you’d never marry her. Of course, I told her she was being stupid.”

  My brain fought hard to keep up with her. “Of course you did…”

  Do I tell her it’s not for Fleur? Or…not so much…?

  “Now, I presume you’re staying tonight? I can have the ring ready in the morning.”

  I grinned. Don’t tell her. “That would be great, Aunt Celia, thank you.”

  She made the call and confirmed the ring would be at her home in the morning.

  “Excellent, I will call Fleur now and tell her to expect you,” she said happily.

  Panic set in.

  It was one thing to let Aunt Celia assume I was giving the ring to Fleur to dupe her into giving me what was rightfully mine, but a whole other thing for her to warn Fleur about it. The last thing I needed was Fleur thinking I was going to propose.

  “What? Uh, no!” I said quickly.

  “What, why not?”

  “I…want it to be a surprise,” I said, fervently wishing Amanda was there…she was so much better at improvising that me.

  “Oh, nonsense, Austin. No girl wants to be surprised by a proposal. She wants to be ready, dressed the part, practised her reply.”

  That was somewhat not in keeping with what I’d been led to believe, but what did I know about the female mind?

  “Aunt Celia, you can’t tell Fleur.” Want to sound any more desperate?

  I watched her eyes narrow. “Why not?”

  I fidgeted. I had three choices now; tell her my real intentions for my mother’s engagement ring, keep lying to her, or leave without the ring. Option three was not going to happen. The likelihood of option two was slim given I couldn’t think of anything else to say. And, I was a little concerned she’d kill me on the spot if I went with option one.

  “Austin?” she said in her most aristocratic voice. “Why do you say I cannot tell Fleur?”

  I felt sweat running down my back and my mind was entirely blank. All I had up there was fuzzy white static.

  “I’m not proposing to Fleur,” I blurted out, then snapped my mouth closed and wanted to punch myself.

  “Who are you proposing to, nephew?”

  I swallowed hard. “No one…yet.”

  “You want the ring so it’s ready for when you do propose to Fleur?” she asked as though that was indeed what was happening and God forbid if I disagreed with her.

  I nodded. “No.” Damn you, mouth!

  “What do you want it for, Austin?”

  I fidgeted again.

  “Stop that. You were brought up better than to stand there bouncing about and making faces. Speak to me plainly, nephew, and I will reconsider disinheriting you.”

  Well, with the threat of disinheritance looming, I was totally going to be forthcoming, wasn’t I?

  “I’m never proposing to Fleur, Aunt. Whatever she told you was no doubt true. I despise her and have no intention of ever marrying her.”

  Aunt Celia practically laughed. “It matters little if you despise her, Austin. You don’t need to like her to marry her.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “People like us don’t marry for love, Austin. People like that Lily friend of yours, they’re free to marry for love. Even Hunter can probably afford it. But, you, Austin? No,” she shook her head, “love, or indeed like, is not necessary for marriage.”

  “Well, as inspiring as that speech was, I intend to marry for love, Aunt Celia, when it’s actually time to marry…which it isn’t, yet. But, when it is! I’ll marry the girl I love.”

  “The girl?”

  “A girl, I’ll marry a girl I love,” I said, mentally chastising myself.

  “So, you just want your mother’s ring for…whenever this day might be?” she asked.

  I nodded. Sure, let’s go with that story. “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t say ‘what’, it’s vulgar.”

  I sighed. “I beg your pardon?”

  “No, you may not have the ring. You can have that ring when you propose to Fleur, and not a moment sooner.”

  “Aunt Celia! You cannot be serious? That ring is rightfully mine!”

  She stood, her face thunderous. “I will not hear any more of this, Austin. You will marry Fleur and you may have the ring then. That is the end of it.”

  “Can Jax have it then?” I asked.

  She gave me a look that I’d seen make better men than me wish they’d brought the brown trousers. I was pretty impressed when I stood up to her, returning her look just as well.

  “That ring is for Fleur,” she said.

  She swept from the room and I forced myself not to grab the closest trinket and smash it against the wall. My fists clenched and I made a very feral noise in my throat.

  When I felt sufficiently calm to move without breaking anything, I stormed back to my car. I was dialling Amanda’s number before I’d started driving.

  “Oz!” she giggled as she answered.

  “Where are you?”

  “Oh, you’re in a mood, what’s up?”

  I yelled. “Aunt Celia is…is a…”

  “Come on, boy, you can do it!”

  “She’s an absolute bitch!”

  “Hooray! The great Austin Cooper finally says something scathing about dear old Aunt Celia. What did the mad bat do now?”

  I stopped, not sure I wanted to tell her what I’d been doing at Aunt Celia’s.

  “Austin? You still there?”

  I cleared my throat. “Yes.”

  “What the hell did you want from her? Was it a sex change? Because if it was, I think it’s going to be a heavy blow for the female population. Of course, I support any choice you make, Oz, but I really-”

  “I asked her for Mum’s ring,” I cried, if only to stop her prattling. “Okay?”

  She was silent now for a while, but I let her process. Finally, I heard her breath deeply, “wow…”

  “Where are you?”

  “Who cares where I am, where are you going now?” Her tone was suggestive.

  “Not there. Celia wouldn’t give me the ring.”

  “What? That fecking witch.” Amanda, dear Amanda, was angrier than I’d been. “Why the hell not?”

  “She said it was intended for Fleur and no other.”

  “I’m sorry? Who gave her the right to dictate that?”

  I sighed. “The person who put it into her safekeeping.”

  “Oz, Dad was only doing what he thought was best. I mean, leave you two in charge of the important jewellery? No offence, dude, but I wouldn’t let you into Tiffany’s and assume you knew what you were doing.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mand.”

  “Sorry, I’m just super pissed at Celia.” She sighed. “God, Mum’s ring would have looked amazing on Lily.”

  I spluttered. “Okay, hang on. Who said I was giving it to Lily?”

  “Who else are you going to give it to, numbnuts?”

  “Well, I… I’m not getting engaged any time soon, I’ll have you know. Especially not to Lily, we’re not even dating. I don’t even know if she likes me.”

  Manda cackled like I was the funniest human being on Earth. “Uh-huh, you keep telling yourself all the things,’ she said through her laughter.

  “I’m serious, Amanda!”

  Her laughter stopped. “Oz, whether you intend to give it to her tomorrow, or in five
years’ time, you cannot tell me you don’t intend that ring for Lily Brewer.”

  I was silent. I couldn’t refute it, but I wasn’t going to admit it either.

  “Right, did Celia call for it before you blew it all and she refused to give it to you?”

  “Yes,” I answered, “and I didn’t really have a choice. She was going to call Fleur and warn her I was going to propose.”

  “She was going to… What? And ruin the surprise?”

  “Yes, apparently girls don’t like to be surprised with that and like to practise their answer.”

  “My left foot, they don’t. Well, Fleur might not. But, Lily and me, we’re of a kind. And trust me when I say, she wants the surprise, great big romantic gesture, something private, personal-”

  “Mand, my self-esteem is taking a bit of a hit by repeating this so many times, but it’s irrelevant. I’ve got no idea if she’d go out with me, without even taking marriage into account. And, I can’t do anything without Mum’s ring.”

  “Does it have to be Mum’s ring?”

  “What?”

  “Just…” She paused. “Look, let me handle it, okay? I’ll call you later. Be safe and let me know when you get back to school.”

  “Manda-”

  She’d hung up on me.

  “Mad as bloody hatters, the lot of us,” I muttered.

  Chapter Fifty-Three: Lily

  Anne and I were sitting in the uncommonly empty Longbourn Common room, playing a very half-hearted game of Bastard.

  “So, you still maintaining you don’t like Austin?” Anne asked.

  I blinked, dragging my eyes from my cards and looking at her. “What?”

  “Are you still telling yourself you don’t like him?”

  “He makes a very nice friend.”

  “Uh-huh, the fact that he is totally in love with you…doesn’t change your mind?”

  “He’s not in love with me. He hasn’t shown me an ounce of romantic affection in months.”

  Anne scoffed. “Oh, no, none at all!”

  “Seriously, Annie, he hasn’t. We’re just friends, and that’s fine.”

  “Is it?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Anne grinned. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with admitting you like like him.”

  “It wouldn’t matter if I did, he already asked me out and I rejected him. How many guys do you know who are likely to ask a girl out again after that?”

  Anne looked thoughtful. “Well, I guess you’re right…”

  “What?” No, I didn’t want to be right!

  “Well, I see what you mean. You can hardly expect him to repeat the sentiments now.”

  I sighed. “No, I can’t.”

  “Do you want him to?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think yes, but I want to hear it from you.”

  “Annie…”

  “Come on, Lily, be honest with me and I promise never to bring it up again unless you want to.”

  “Ugh. Let’s just say I don’t hate him like I used to.” I caught her look and laughed. “All right, I’m quite partial to him, but I can’t say I like like him.”

  She nodded. “Fine, then.”

  The subject changed and we were laughing when Jax and Austin walked in.

  “There you are,” Jax said, smiling pleasantly.

  “Here we are,” I replied.

  I looked to Anne, who’d flushed and was avoiding looking at him, but she was smiling. Austin wore a frown that was much more like the one he’d had when I first met him; not at all like the Austin I’d seen in the last month or so.

  “What are you guys doing?”

  I pointed at the abandoned cards on the table. “We were playing Bastard, but we seem to have stopped.”

  Anne giggled.

  “You guys want to join us?” I asked, looking between Jax and Anne pointedly.

  “Sure.” Jax smiled.

  There was an exuberance to him that I hadn’t seen in a long time and he smiled at Anne constantly, even though she wasn’t actually looking at him.

  Jax, it seemed, was stuck talking to me while Anne and Austin barely contributed to the conversation. Not that I had any idea what we were talking about; my mouth seemed to be on autopilot while I was busy staring at Austin.

  Anne’s words were running around my head and I couldn’t help but look out for any sign that Austin still cared for me. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I wanted him to, or that I wanted him to ask me out again. I mean, I would have been very flattered and I might not have even said no, but I didn’t want him to…

  Austin, though, didn’t seem to know where to look. He would look at Anne, me, or, most commonly, the table between us.

  “How’s Amanda?” I asked in a break in the conversation.

  “She’s good. She’s not going on her next trip after all, so she has Pemberley all to herself. She must be thrilled,” Austin replied, but his tone was somewhat stilted and his smile seemed awkward.

  “She really hopes she might see you soon, Lil,” Jax added with a smile.

  I was seriously expecting Jax to ask Anne out the whole time we sat together; he seemed constantly poised on the edge of blurting it out. The way he looked at her and spoke to her convinced me he’d never stopped caring about her.

  Pity, then, that Anne seemed oblivious to it. I would have to have serious words with her if the boys ever left us.

  Which, I was hoping for more and more as time went on.

  Something about Austin was making me insufferably uncomfortable. I couldn’t tell what was going through his mind. He seemed distant and distracted. Although, what else I’d really expected after he’d had to save my idiotic little sister from the one person he hated the most in the whole world…

  I let Jax and Anne talk among themselves for bit while I tried to work out what was up with Austin. We’d seen each other since he and Kate had come home, and he hadn’t been so awkward then. Had he heard about the Liam incident? Maybe he’d heard about what I’d said to Hunter? Had something else happened? Something with Celia?

  And, why does it bother you so much? I asked myself.

  Honestly, I had no idea. I just wanted the happier Austin back.

  Jax checked his watch and smiled at us apologetically. “We’d best leave you be. We told Williams we’d meet up for this History essay.”

  “Of course, no worries. It was nice of you to stop by.” Anne smiled.

  “Our pleasure, hey Oz?”

  “Yes, pleasure.” Austin smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach his very grey eyes.

  They got up and started to leave.

  “Oh, hey,” Jax turned back to us. “Brickwell thinks we should have a picnic on the weekend.”

  “He knows its winter, right?” I asked.

  Jax laughed. “Exactly what I said to him. But, he thought it would be fun.”

  “All right then, yeah, sounds good,” I laughed. “We’ll be there.”

  “Gem, Kate and Marie are welcome too.”

  I looked to Austin, but he was just nodding.

  “Okay, great, thanks.”

  Jax waved and they left.

  “Well now,” I said, leaning back in my seat.

  “Well what, then?” Anne asked. I looked at her pointedly and she blushed. “Lily, I’m fine. If Lily Brewer and Austin Cooper can be friends, I can certainly be friends with Jax. It’s been a bit of a shock to have him be so friendly lately, but I’m dealing with it and I shall be perfectly able to deal with it a sight better from now on. We’ll go to this picnic of Brick’s on the weekend and I shall prove to myself and everyone else that Jax and I are just friends.”

  “Just friends, my arse,” I scoffed. “You just watch yourself, Annie.”

  “Lily! You can’t think I’ll let myself fall for him again?”

  “I think you are very much in danger of making him as in love with you
as ever!” I replied.

  “Ha! Says you. What was up with you and Austin just now? You laugh at me and Jax being friends? What about you two?”

  “We are just friends. I mean, he didn’t seem inclined to talk to me, or look much at me, and he frowned so… Do you think he’s all right? Why do you think he didn’t talk to me?” I asked her.

  Anne laughed. “No, you don’t love him at all.”

  ****

  My eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright.

  “Shit, I think I do love Austin,” I muttered.

  Oh, this was so not good.

  My subconscious had seemed to work out what my conscious mind hadn’t been willing to think about it. And, it had come to the conclusion I might indeed be in love with Austin Cooper.

  At least, I was very much in a way to falling in love with him.

  “Well, it’s about bloody time.” I heard the smile in Anne’s voice as she rolled over. “Now, shut up and go back to sleep. We can talk about it in the morning.”

  I lay down again, pulling the blankets around me comfortingly.

  What did I do with this information? How did I act around him now? I mean, I’d always been attracted to him; I’d been more than happy to make out with stuck up, arrogant Austin. And, I’d made enough of a fool of myself when I would have been content to see him with his shirt off. What was I going to be like now there were emotions at stake?

  At stake?

  I laughed at myself. There was nothing at stake. Not when I didn’t even know if he still liked me. I mean, he’d disliked me just as much and seemed just as keen on snogging me; our physical chemistry had always been crazy. Just because he sometimes acted like he still wanted to kiss me, didn’t mean he still lov…liked me. He’d gone to bed with people he liked less…

  Why did I have to tell him I’d never love him? Why did I have to turn him down so badly? There might have still been a chance if I hadn’t behaved like such a muppet.

  “God, what have I done?”

  “Nothing that bad,” Anne mumbled. “We’ll sort it on the weekend. Operation ‘See if Oz still loves Lily’ is a go!”

  “No, we don’t-”

  “We do and we are. Now, shut up and let me sleep.”