Part 3: Scorning the Devil in The Original Series "The Devil Plays Mr. Darcy"

The party begins as the new cast finally meets each other - & the Devil crashes it!

[If you're just joining us, then you'll want to start the story by reading part 1 here.
If you missed the last chapter before this one, then read chapter 2 here.]

As they all huddled around Brad in Janice’s living room, they weren’t entirely sure if they were ready to hear the casting results for the play yet.

Janice was sure that she must have gotten in because her beautiful Brad was smiling at her so much. Obviously, he was in it too.

Linda was terrified of not getting into “Pride and Prejudice.” All of her acting dreams depended 100% on winning a scholarship from her performance in this play. She had a sinking feeling that maybe Janice hadn’t gotten in. After all, what if Brad had just brought her those flowers to make her feel better about killing her audition in that unfortunate stage accident?

Ben, on the other hand, figured that he would still find a way to crash any party-related activities to this play, which was, after all, the only thing that really mattered. Since Janice was dating Brad, and Brad was totally in the play, they all had vicariously won “friend-add-on” rights to show up whenever they wanted. And he was still waiting for Brad to introduce him to some other, gayer, friends so that they could double-date with Janice. So he sat ready to welcome any news as a win-win.

Ben jumped right in, saying, “Ok, give it to us straight, Brad - no sugar coatings."

Linda protested, "Since when do you prefer anything straight?"

Ben shushed her and insisted, "Just tell us how many of us are in it."

“We’re ALL in the show!” Brad shouted.

And there was much screaming and rejoicing in Janice’s household … so much so in fact, that her mother and little sister came running into the living room because they were afraid Ben had accidentally broken another lamp or window doing his happy dance.

Source on Giphy

"It's fine, Mom. Nothing's broken. We're all just starring in Pride & Prejudice this summer!" Janice shouted to her flustered Mom before she freaked out.

"Oh my God!! So who's playing who?" Linda asked Brad.

"Well yours truly is Mr. Bingley," Brad began.

"Of course," Ben nodded.

"And my princess is Jane," he grinned at Janice.

Janice shrieked in joy and threw her arms around him.

"And Linda is Lizzy Bennet, and you're Mr. Bennet," Brad concluded to Ben.

Linda screamed for joy and couldn't stop jumping around.

Source Giphy.com

"Oh, how exciting! I'm so proud of all of you! I'm going to make some nachos to celebrate!" Mrs. Sanbourn called out before she ran to the kitchen.

A cell phone rang out, and Brad pulled it out of his pocket to check who was calling.

“Oh, it’s my sister. I’ll just take this outside real quick,” he said, ducking out the front door onto the porch.

In the excitement of realizing that the best friends, and the new boyfriend, were all going to get to spend the summer together doing what they loved the most, little did they realize that this one insignificantly treated phone call was about to change everything in ways they could not imagine.

After a few moments, Brad popped his head back in the door and called out, “Sorry, but I’ve gotta go. My sister’s landing at the airport soon, and I’ve going to pick her up. But there’s a big unofficial cast party tomorrow night to celebrate, and you’re all invited!”

Janice popped out to walk Brad to his car while Ben and Linda eavesdropped on them from the living-room window.

Linda sighed, saying, “It’s ridiculous how cute they are together. They stare at each other literally all the time. I mean, they’re so perfect together that it almost makes me sick! I just don't know if I can watch it anymore, but somehow I can’t look away either!”

“Tell me about it. It kills me to watch a hot piece of man pie that I can't even touch," Ben replied.

“You wouldn't!"

“You know I'd never do that to Janice, but why can't he at least have a gay twin or something?"

"Maybe some of his friends will come to the party, and maybe one of them will be hot enough for you. I'm never gonna get a guy like that though."

“Not with that attitude, you're not! Girl, listen, I'm gonna get you fixed up for this party. You need it."

“Do I look that bad?"

“You're a diamond in the rough, girlfriend. We just need to scrape off more of that rough and shine up your diamond. I know just where to go. Shopping date tomorrow! You are NOT allowed to back out of this."

“You're sweet, but -"

"Linda, honey, look- at least do it for me, ok? I'm gonna be busy at this party doing some serious networking, shmoozing, perusing my options ... and you need to be doing the same. I can't be your wingman all the time. All I'm saying is that first impressions are everything! If I find somebody to leave early with, you ..."

"You're walking into that party with your Grinding app on high-alert mode, aren't you? Ben, now that we're going to be spending a whole summer with these people, do you really want to be stuck seeing someone you may have had a bad night with every day?"

“How is that much different than every day in high school?"

“Oh my God Ben, less people, more-intense conflicts! This is why I'd never sleep with a cast member."

“Well, Janice is going to beat us to that one anyway,” Ben muttered. Then as he saw Janice turn around to walk back up to the house, he pulled Linda down to sit on the sofa so that they could pretend they weren’t watching her the whole time.

A few moments later, Janice walked in blushing.

"Well, what else did Prince Charming have to say?" Ben asked.

“Oh he's so dreamy, I can't believe it."

Linda piped up, "Stop it! What have you been watching, ‘Grease’? No one says 'dreamy' anymore."

"Well, his older sister is flying in to visit from college tonight, so he's gotta go pick her up at the airport now - and I'm going to meet her tomorrow at the party! I'm so nervous. What if she doesn't like me?"

"Since when has someone hated you?,” Linda asked. “You could make friends with a serial killer and have a good time."

Janice rolled her eyes before continuing, "Anyway, the party’s at his place tomorrow night.”

Ben’s eyes lit up like the fourth of July as he pronounced, “Now let’s talk about how we’re REALLY going to celebrate getting cast, shall we? I’m taking us out on a shopping-makeover trip. We’re going to stroll into that party and take it by storm!”

Janice said, “But Ben, I don’t have any extra cash to drop on clothes right now!”

“Neither do I,” Linda agreed.

“And I can pick out something nice on my own from the thrift store or something,” Janice ventured.

“No, now when YOU go shopping, you girls come out looking the same as when you went in. But we all know that, as a wise woman once said:

"When I shop, the world gets better."

source Giphy.com

“Besides, my dad already gave me his credit card to use for the weekend,” Ben proudly declared, pulling it out of his pocket with a great flourish.

“Ben! We can’t!” Janice objected.

“Honey, please! With all the money he spends on his girlfriends, I think he can spare several hundred dollars on his only son to celebrate his grand theatre debut! I made him feel so guilty for ditching me again this weekend due to his ‘work obligations’ that he insisted it was the – and I quote ‘best way to make it up to me,’” Ben sang.

“Let’s do it!” Linda agreed.

And so, the following day found the trio of friends in and out of multiple department stores with Ben as their ever-instructive fashion guru to transform all of them into social butterflies of the highest order for their party debut that night.

Their spirits soared as they pulled up to Brad’s home later that night.

However, the word “home” was hardly fit to describe what they saw upon their arrival.

The expansive mansion of Brad’s family was a sprawling, Beverly Hills’ style abode that could easily house 20 people! They pulled up to a chauffer who took the liberty of parking Janice’s modest Honda Civic, and both the girls felt immediately grateful that Ben had taken so much time to dress them up for the evening.

Linda readjusted her top, hoping it really looked as great as her friends thought it did. Even though she had resisted the idea initially, Ben had convinced her to get a Wonderbra for tonight to enhance her “assets.” As long as no one could observe this extra boost at the party, she’d be happy enough.

Ben sauntered out of the car as if he owned the party and everyone in it.

Source: Giphy.com

Janice glided out of the car as happy as if she wore wings, and Brad came running down to greet her as soon as she had taken a step out of the car. They shared the most polite little kiss Linda had ever seen in public, and she tried not to gag on their overwhelming, lovey-dovey cuteness.

Within minutes, Brad was escorting all of them around his mansion with Janice on his arm. He introduced them to every cast member, and they were served any drinks they wanted by the wait-staff as if they were all over 21 already. Linda was happy to see that Brad’s sister Carrie was very sweet to Janice, albeit in a rather forced way. Carrie was the kind of college girl who walked with a Paris Hilton air about her and seemed perpetually dissatisfied unless the conversation focused on her. However, Carrie’s behavior certainly matched the kind of people she expected to see in a family who presided over a great mansion like this one.

Linda was finally able to strike up a great conversation with the girl playing Charlotte in order to get herself away from the “Branice” couple when their pink cloud of wonderful started to nauseate her. Ben had already started making his rounds anyway.

“So I haven’t seen the guy playing Darcy yet. Where is he?” Linda asked Cherise, who was playing Charlotte in the play.

“Oh that guy? He’s late for everything. I’m honestly kinda surprised he was cast in the play at all. He’s pretty reckless, which is kind of a problem considering our director has a reputation for being tough on his casts.”

“Really?”

“But Darcy’s understudy is here.”

“Which one is he?” Linda asked. However, before she could turn to look, Ben had come back up to Linda and pulled her aside, saying:

“Sorry, I’ve gotta borrow her for a minute.”

“God, Ben, what is it?”

“The HOTTEST of men is sitting over there in the corner. Look; he’s the one sulking over that martini. And you’ll never believe it, but I heard he’s so rich that his Aunt has a private yacht in the Bay! They vacation in the Caribbean, and rumor has it that HIS house makes this one look like a sandbox.”

“Seriously?”

“He’s perfect for you!” Ben hissed. “Listen, I tried hitting on him already, but this guy is as straight as a flag pole in winter. That’s why you would be the best one to melt him down. I didn’t make you into a minx just to have you make more boring, platonic friendships. Go talk to him.”

“No!” Linda objected. She did steal a glance at him and noticed that he was indeed handsome. Well, honestly, on a second look, she had to admit that he was much more than that. Although he looked like he was having the most miserable time at the party, his scowls couldn’t hide how perfectly chiseled his face was with his slightly tanned skin.

“Come on, don’t you think he’s sexy?” Ben persisted.

“Sure he is, but-“

“That’s all I needed to know. Now go get ‘im, tigress!” he whispered in her ear before shoving her hard toward his table.

Linda recovered her balance and looked up to see that the man of mystery was already staring at her. She took a breath and figured she might as well give him a try, or maybe that was just the buzz from her first two drinks talking.

“Hello, there,” she smiled up at him. “You know, that drink of yours reminds me very much of a James Bond martini. Please don’t tell me that you’re here to kill someone.”

“If only I could,” he mumbled, taking another small sip from his glass.

“I suppose you’re in the play?”

“I’m an understudy, and – wait, are YOU in the cast?”

“Yes, I am,” Linda smiled proudly. “I’m playing Lizzie Bennet.”

“Right. And you’re friends with Janice, I suppose?”

“Yeah…” she giggled, happy that he must have heard of her. She plopped down into the seat next to him and leaned over casually, wondering if Ben’s makeover was working after all.

Source: Giphy.com

“Well, after that stunt you pulled to get Janice into that big part with Brad, I'm sure it was only your 'talents,'” he mentioned, staring down at her cleavage, "that got you into this show.”

“What?!"

“Look, I don't care what kind of favors you did with the director to get here, but please, save your show for someone who cares. I'm not interested."

Without a second thought, Linda grabbed his martini off of the table and threw it straight in his face.

TO BE CONTINUED...
Read Part 4 here that's now live!

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