Matters of Chance

Chapter 13

Meryton continued to grow in population by the day, but to Elizabeth, it felt empty. One week had left her missing Charlotte more than anyone. For the first few days after Charlotte left, Lizzie tried to fill her loneliness with talking to (and flirting with) George Wickham. Soon he was gone too, though. The Bachelor party had ended and all the men went back to Oakland. Jane had comforted her after she learned about Wickham leaving, expressing that she knew what it was like to lose a man to California. Lizzie knew it wasn't the same. Her and George weren't dating, but she let Jane comfort her anyway.

For the first time, Elizabeth was happy that the school year came to an end. Meryton's public schools got out in mid-June every year for summer vacation. Usually Lizzie dreaded having Kitty and Lydia back in the house all the time, but now she was thankful for the extra noise in the house. For Jane, however, school getting out meant that she was out of a job, as there were no classes to substitute during the summer.

Elizabeth and Jane sat in their room. Lizzie worked on researching a topic for her next article, while Jane scrolled through applying for part-time jobs on her phone. Outside of their room, they could hear the TV from the living room playing whatever Netflix show Kitty and Lydia decided to start their binge watching with.

Elizabeth looked over at Jane. "Any luck?"

Jane looked back at her. "I've applied to some places, but not really. You?"

Lizzie shook her head. "I've exhausted all of the stuff I can do in Seattle. I think I need to look somewhere different."

Jane nodded. "Different would be nice."

The two of them spent another half an hour like this until Lydia and Kitty bursted into the room. Oddly enough, Mary was with them also. Lydia slid up next to Jane, looping a hand around her shoulder.

"Hey Jane?" Lydia batted her eyelashes. "Could you pretty please bring us all to get boba? Mom gave us money, so you'd just have to drive us."

Kitty and Mary both watched intently, pleading in their eyes. Jane looked at them and smiled. "Well, because you asked so nicely, I will. Let me get ready."

"Yes! Thank you!" said Kitty, and the three youngest sisters ran out the door.

"Do you wanna come, Lizzie?" asked Jane.

Lizzie shook her head. "I'm good here," Lizzie smiled, "But can you bring me back a drink though?"

Jane nodded, "Sure, no problem!"

"Cool, I'll text you my order."

Elizabeth's sisters had been gone for 5 minutes before she decided to move from her bed. She shut her laptop. Her head was devoid of any ideas for articles and her room, despite being the only one in it, started to feel cramped. She walked out into the living room. There she found her dad, in his usual spot in the easy chair, reading a book. Lizzie plopped down on the couch.

"I heard Jane got her heart broken," said Mr. Bennet. He looked up from his book. "It's your turn next."

Lizzie looked at her father. "No thank you," she said, "I'll focus on work."

Her father closed his book and looked at her. "How's work going?"

Elizabeth groaned. "Not well. I can't come up with any more articles. I've exhausted my options locally."

Mr. Bennet hummed. "In California, there's a lot of environmental protests. There's a lot of business versus environmentalist conflict down there."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "I don't have the money to stay in California, Dad."

"Well, Charlotte moved there."

Lizzie gasped. "You're right, she might let me stay with her." Elizabeth frowned and looked at her dad. "You'd be okay with me going to California for a while?"

Her dad pursed his lips. "I'd miss you, of course, but I want you to go out and use that big brain of yours." He grinned. "You're the light of my life, Lizzie, but I know I can't keep you here forever."

Elizabeth jumped up from the couch and gave her father a clumsy hug in his chair. "I love you, Dad. I'm going to go text Charlotte."

"I love you too, Lizzie."

Lizzie grinned and ran to her room.

When Jane got back, Elizabeth immediately told her of her new plan. If Charlotte agreed, Lizzie would go live in Los Angeles with her for a week and gather information for new articles. Jane's reaction was overwhelmingly positive, which was a bit of a surprise for Lizzie. She expected Jane to be sad, as recently, it seemed like many people were picking up and leaving for California. Jane grabbed Lizzie's hands and squeezed them, a wide smile on her face, one that Elizabeth didn't expect to see for at least a week or so.

"It seems like you had a great time getting tea, Jane," Elizabeth smiled at her sister.

Jane grinned, "It's actually what happened when I was getting tea."

Elizabeth nodded her head, prompting Jane to keep talking.

"Aunt Sandra texted me while we were out getting tea," said Jane, "You know how she works at a private school up in New York that does year round schooling?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"They need a substitute English teacher for a month or so to take over for a woman on maternity leave, and Aunt Sandra recommended me."

Elizabeth grabbed her sister's hands. "That's great!"

Jane grinned. "Since I'm an experienced substitute teacher and I have a teaching license here already, getting one in New York will be easy."

"When will you be leaving?"

"In a week."

Elizabeth hugged her sister. "I'll miss you so much while you're away."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll be too occupied to think about me during your week in California."

"Even if I go," Lizzie responded, "I'd never be too busy to think about you."

Jane laughed and finally let go of the hug.