Matters of Chance

Chapter 20

Mr. Bennet didn't say much when he heard that Elizabeth was leaving for a second time, but Lizzie could tell that her father was proud. Her father had never been one to talk about emotions, but he had certainly noticed the downwards spiral of his favorite daughter's happiness ever since she returned from her last trip. After seeing that, he assumed that she was finally fully blossoming and ready to leave Meryton, and was taking it one step at a time.

Elizabeth's sisters and mother didn't seem to care. None of them paid much attention to Lizzie when she got back, and they didn't seem swayed either way when she said that she was leaving again. She'd only be gone for a couple days, in fact, she'd only spend one night in San Francisco. However, she could probably be gone for a month and it would make no difference to them.

The flight to San Francisco was similar to Lizzie's flight to Los Angeles, though a bit shorter. She slept the entire time and woke up a little before the plane landed. However, this time, she didn't have Charlotte to pick her up from the airport. Instead, she hauled her suitcase onto a train and spent 30 minutes crammed next to other travelers on her way to SoMa. From her stop, her hotel was a short walk away.

Lizzie didn't have the energy to admire her unfamiliar surroundings as she followed her phone's GPS to the cheap hotel she was staying at. The hotel was old, making it more of an attraction than a place to stay. She admired the cheap pricing and free wifi though, and didn't mind the small hotel room, especially because she wasn't sharing it with anyone. She briefly looked about the small, white walled room before collapsing down onto the bed. She felt her body sink into the mattress and the tension she got from traveling left her muscles. She'd have to be careful about sleeping, or she'd miss the press conference the next morning.

The rest of the evening was spent unwinding and getting ready for the next day. Lizzie grabbed dinner from a sandwich shop nearby, laid out her outfit for the next day, triple checked her email, set an alarm, and went to bed. Unlike Los Angeles, she didn't have much time in San Francisco, so she planned to make the most of her time between work and her flight the next day.

Elizabeth woke up to her alarm blaring from her phone's speakers. She grabbed her phone and shut the alarm off before she could suffer serious ear damage and forced herself out of bed. There was no time for her usual routine of hitting the snooze ten times before she actually moved.

She proceeded with her morning routine, continually checking her phone for the time while she was at it. The conference started at 10, and when she walked out of the hotel, with her reporter bag slung over her shoulder, it was 9:00. The walk to the Pemberley building was 20 minutes away, so she had enough time to sit down at a cafe and eat a bagel. The cafe she chose was nestled in between a hotel and a tech startup. The exterior was painted an eggshell white and the interior was full of bright colors. She appreciated the color, as from what she had seen of SoMa so far was a rustic aesthetic. She didn't mind the rustic aesthetic, even though it wasn't her favorite. From her seat in the cafe she could see the street outside bustling with people. Many of the passersby looked like young techies, carrying leather laptop bags and the most recent phone model. Elizabeth's phone was well over three years old, though it still worked fine.

Elizabeth spent so much time daydreaming that she stayed at the cafe longer than intended. She cursed when she realized the time and, picking up her bag, ran out the door of the cafe. She put Pemberley's address into her GPS. It was a 20 minute walk, and she had 15 minutes to get there. Luckily, she was a fast walker. Elizabeth pumped her legs as fast as she could go without running down the sidewalk, making sure to weave through any people in front of her. Several times, she gave people an apologetic wave as she nearly hit them with her bag. Again, her GPS got more attention than the buildings around her. She was so wrapped up in hurrying that she almost ignored when her phone flashed with the word 'ARRIVED.' She had made it, though barely.