First Impressions: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Adaptation

Chapter 10

The week of the Fourth of July was always chaos in Meryton. With days off of work and children out of camp, families needed somewhere pleasant and cool to relax. And where better than a resort town by a lake? All of the Bennet sisters, even Lydia, who often slunk away to flirt with the teenage sons of guests, and Mary, who preferred to stay in her room and had convinced their father of the necessity of it—insisting she needed to work on her studies instead—were required to take the desk, checking guests in, lugging suitcases, or answering calls from those already settled in rooms.

Taking advantage of the glut of visitors in town, most restaurants and some stores in town closed on the 4th, in favor of a large fundraising picnic and fireworks event, with all the proceeds raised going back into the community and the schools. It was charming, in a small-town sort of way, but it had been such a staple event that it was welcomed by the Meryton visitors.

The Longbourn ran on a skeleton staff the day of and the entire Bennet family attended the picnic. For several years, Jane had run the high school sponsored raffle, and Mary had played as part of the high school band. It was as significant an event to the family as it was to the town.

Each sister had one particular thought to make the work lighter, the frustrating guests more tolerable to managed. For Jane, it was the thought of seeing Chip at the picnic. She had heard the old high school band that usually played patriotic songs slightly out of key was being replaced with a semi-community filled swing band and she was hoping Chip would dance with her. She enjoyed dancing very much. Liz was hoping George would make it to the picnic; she had been burning with curiosity about the silent animosity between him and Darcy. Whatever it was, it seemed still a tender subject for both men, judging at least by George's words and Darcy's face. Cat and Lydia, who had no such romantic attachments just yet, were both looking forward in raptures to the long weekend off and Chip's upcoming house party.

The morning of the picnic, Liz was rifling through her closet, trying to decide what to wear when Jane came back into the room, running a brush her through her hair. Liz let out a theatrical gasp. "Jane! It's 4th of July and you're not wearing the dress!"

Jane smiled a little as she pressed a clip into her hair. "But I look okay, don't I? I thought maybe it was a bit... much. This year."

Jane had, for the last four 4th of July fundraiser picnics, worn a red, white, and blue dress, with big white stars around the skirt and red and white stripes across the top bodice. Instead, she was wearing a green dress with a pattern of white flowers, with big brown button down the front and strap sleeves that tied into bows on her shoulders. "You look adorable. But people are going to talk, you know! They're going to ask you where the dress is."

"Oh, that's okay. I just... I mentioned something about it to Caroline but she didn't think that it was, you know... Well, she thought it was a little costume-y."

"Rude of her."

Jane looked at her skirt. "She's not wrong, though."

"It's once a year! You can wear whatever you like, regardless of Caroline Bingley's opinion on fashion." If she wasn't thinking about George, Liz might have taken her own advice and put on the first piece of clothing her hand touched. But she put more care into it than that, carefully pulling her hair into a bun at the top of her head and pining all the loose hairs down. She finished with a swipe of red lipstick, tugging at her blue skirt once more.

Mr. Bennet was standing by the bottom of the staircase looking at his watch. "Well, Lizzie, I think we're in the running for 'longest amount of time to get ready for an event that is not a wedding or graduation.' What do you think, my dear?"