Darcy or Wickham

Who: Lucas and Ally
Where: Near the Echo
When: Late afternoon

After cleaning up the debris in the club, Ally had gone straight home and taken the longest, hottest shower she could do to sooth her aching muscles and get rid of the grime. She washed her hair twice and scrubbed her skin pink before donning one of her nicer spring dresses and a little make up. She was on a mission and Eily’s assurance had invigorated her to reclaim whom she once was. Her plan was simple and it had her black heels clicking on the sidewalk on her way to the Echo. It was still early enough that people were only just starting to prepare for the end of the workday but she knew that Lucas kept odd hours. So she loitered around a magazine stand by the Echo’s entrance, flipping through Harper’s Bazaar and keeping an eye out for her target. She knew she looked good. Sure her clothes weren’t as grand as they used to be, but they fit her in the right places and she knew that she had been eyed more than just a few times while she’d been waiting. It was the girl who made the dress. Not the other way around.

Lucas had had a busy day, writing up articles and diving into the death of Konovich. There was no direct information sent his way, of course, about what that might mean for the family, but he guessed it meant big things. It was interesting though, doing his best to spin Konovich as horrible and maybe the Tyger had don the city a favor. At least it was news and it was something to overshadow that Cinder hot shot.

That said, he actually left the office at a reasonable hour, dinner with his parents waiting as he’d avoided them for too long and needed to check in. He needed to check in on Feo as well, but he also didn’t need to seem desperate. As he started down the steps from the office, the dress did catch his attention. While he’d limited his extracurricular activities to Feo lately, that didn’t mean the womanizing cam to a completely halt. Following the legs up as he past he was content to keep walking, not stop and talk to her, or even find out who she was. Just a nice pair of legs in a nice dress.

Ally watched him from over her magazine as he walked purposefully down the steps and towards her and she saw his eyes glance at her but he didn’t recognize her, which was a slight blow to Ally’s ego until she realized that she didn’t need DiGiovanni to notice her to know that she looked good and she quickly put the magazine back and followed him, trailing after him to allow people to pass before falling in step beside him. “Lucas,” she said airily, as if she was just on a stroll and happened to bump into him.

Lucas was already mentally on to the next thing when he heard his name and turned back. “Ally,” he greeted, surprise in his voice and expression. For a moment he looked around, as if expecting someone else there, but not seeing anyone but her. “Can I help you?” he asked, realizing that the legs and the dress he’d noticed were her. It was a shame she’d found him deplorable. That could have lasted longer than a few moments.

She nodded a little, inwardly pleased to see that she had caught him off guard. “Yes, you’re going to take me to the Gala on Friday. I wanted to make arrangements with you.” Ally said it as if he already had asked her and she was just finalizing details, as if saying it made it true and it was all done with a confident, self assured voice and calm look on her face.

Now Lucas was sure he’d missed something important. “Excuse me?” The gala? Was he even going to bother with that nonsense? He doubted he could coax another public date out of Feo but she’d be his first choice, not this girl. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“That we’re going to the Gala together. Well, you’re taking me. It was decided right now. Or we could go to dinner together but the gala’s supposed to be fun and we can have a Jane Austen moment as you seem to be a fan.” Ally smiled serenely at him and held up his card between two fingers, seemingly producing it from nowhere. “I didn’t have that bad of a time out with you last time.” She’d used Lucas to get over Miles once, she’d do it again and get something out of it – being seen with an eligible bachelor, getting back into the press in some kind of magical debut.

“Austen writes about women below their stature marrying up. You aren’t making me into your Mr. Darcy are you?” He was never going to revert to loving if that was what she wanted. Studying his card in her fingers for a moment, Lucas scowled. “What do you want? You were miserable last time we went out, still hung up on your stable boy.”

If he was trying to get a rise out of her, it wasn’t going to work. Ally continued to look at him calmly, a slight chuckle escaping her at his scowl. “I was seventeen and going out with someone much older than I was when all I wanted to do was go to Havannah and dance the night away. Of course I was miserable. I want to go to the gala and I want you to take me. Besides, you’re a Wickham, not a Darcy, without the whole running off with fourteen year old girls. He was fun. Darcy brooded. I can’t see you brooding.”

“I like to think I have higher stature than some soldier,” Lucas started then realized he was getting into this argument. Which was stupid. “I still would rather you told me what you want up front. I’m not one for being used unless I at least know about it.”

Ally shrugged a delicate shoulder and slid the card back into her little purse. “I’d like your help in getting over Mr Darcy, not the stable boy,” she said in that same casual manner. “I want to go out and have a nice time and I had your card.” Her lips twitched into a slight smirk. “Alec Ravenwood was a soldier and his stature is pretty high, as you well know.”

Lucas doubted it was Mr. Darcy but he didn’t question things. He doubted she'd give him the truth. "Getting over him hmm?" Lucas considered it but wound up nodding. He could do worse be supposed. Laughing a little he shook his head. "Alec Ravenwood could have been someone else entirely if he'd avoided the war," he said. He knew first hand what kind of trouble maker he could have been. It was a shame Alec had gone straight.

Ally wouldn’t know but Lucas was actually looking like he was considering things. “I’m sure you know how to show a woman a good time, and your mother isn’t forcing you to go,” she added. “Consider this me making it up to you for making it the wretched time we had last time.”

"I can tell you're baiting me Ally," Lucas pointed out but wound up shaking his head. "Alright." He could do worse and part of him was curious just what she had in mind, what purpose there was to this.

Ally’s eyes widened innocently in a ‘who me?’ expression and she produced another card, this time with her address on it and tucked it into his shirt pocket. “Lovely. You’ll have fun, don’t worry,” she assured matter-of-factly.

“I’m sure we have different definitions of fun,” Lucas said but still watched her as she put the card in his pocket. At least it would be something, not much, but something to do. He gave her dress a careful eye and wondered if he should send her something to wear as well. Maybe it would be more interesting to see what she managed to pull of on her own. “Did you need something else?”

“Mmm, no,” she said with a shake of her head. “Don’t be late. Well, too late. One should always strive to be fashionably late.” Her mind had wandered to a similar focus. What to do about a dress.

“Right,” Lucas said as if it didn’t matter. He would show up, see what happened. Not convinced she still wasn’t running some sort of game, he gave her another look. “I’ll see you then.”