First Impressions: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Adaptation

Chapter 9

Outside of Meryton was a military base that often served as grounds for basic training for new National Guard recruits. The young men and women would take their free time in town or, at times, spend a week or two after the training had finished in Meryton as a well-deserved rest.

While the eldest two Bennet sisters were away, the youngest two were happily busy making friends among the enlisted men. The elder two Bennet sisters had been home for a little over a week before they met any of their sisters' new acquaintances.

"We were going into town to meet some friends and do some shopping. Lizzie, do you want to come with us?" Lydia asked, leaning in through the doorframe. "I asked Mary but she told me to go away. Ugh." Lydia rolled her eyes. "That girl needs a break. I wish she could learn to chill."

Jane and Liz exchanged a glance. "Sure," said Jane.

"I'm going to double check with Mary," Liz said.

"She doesn't want to come!" Lydia called after her, but Liz only shook her head.

She knocked gently on Mary's door. "Come in." Liz poked her head around the doorframe. Mary was lying prone across her bed with a pair of headphones on. She pushed her glasses further up her nose and leaned up to look at Liz, pushing the headphones off one ear. "Hi."

"Hey. Lydia said you didn't want to come into town with us. Are you sure?"

Mary shrugged.

"Okay. If you're sure. But you're going to be in Switzerland all year, so if you want to spend any time together, you just need to say so, okay?"

Mary chewed on her lip for a second. "Maybe I do want to come."

Liz smiled at her sister. "Okay!" She closed the door behind herself. Lydia was waiting on the top of the stairs. "I don't know what you said to her, but now she wants to come."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

As the day was a particularly pleasant one—blue skies, not too hot, a pleasant breeze off the lake—Liz cajoled her sisters into walking rather than driving into Meryton. They were less than half way there when Mary pulled off her NASA crewneck, muttering something about it being "too hot for her wardrobe."

Lydia nudged her playfully. "Good think you're going to go live on top of a mountain, then! Just think about all that snow."

Mary opened her mouth to correct Lydia, thought about it for a moment, and closed it again; it wouldn't do any good anyway. Liz patted her on the shoulder as she tied her sweatshirt around her waist.

They made short work of the easy walk, waving to acquaintances they passed, Lydia stopping for several minutes to giggle with one of her high school friends. "Come on," Cat finally said, pulling her away—the only one who wouldn't get an earful about the interruption. "If we're late, I don't think anyone is going to wait for us."

Lydia waved an energetic goodbye and skipped ahead. "If you say so, Kitty. I wonder who Denny's bringing with him..."

"Dunno," Cat said, looking forward.

"And these... young men," Jane said cautiously, "how old are they? And do they know you've just graduated high school, Lydia?"

Lydia clucked her tongue. "Oh, Jane, don't be so stiff. We're all adults here. And it's not like they're going to live here, they're just in town for now. There's nothing wrong with making new friends." So saying, she hooked her arm in Cat's and pulled even further ahead.

Jane lagged back, touching Liz on the shoulder and giving her a look. Liz nodded back. It was all very well for her to criticize Jane for mothering her, but in the case of Cat and Lydia's antics, she usually agreed that they needed to be reined in. That thought in mind, she was slightly surprised by the sight that greeted them towards the center of town, sitting on one of the curved benches that ringed a large fountain in a decorative outshoot of the walking path.