It’s a truth universally acknowledge that if you give me  anything Jane Austen I will not move from my couch unless I’m hungry or for hygiene reasons, other than that its an Austen fest at my house.

I stepped away from the couch for the last time in a long while to put the movie in the DVD player, took the remote control and went to sit down again. I seat with my head against the pillow that was lying on top of the couch armrest, my legs stretched against the seat of the couch almost reaching the other armrest, more than sitting down I was laying down, the  cream color blanket my mother had given me two Christmases ago laid perfectly against my petite body. I pressed on the play button to start my land of Austen ride.

Now more than ever I needed to watch Elizabeth Bennet be as strong as she was, never going against what she believe even when she was complete in error. I couldn’t help but compare my previous work situation as living in the Bennet household, I had my co worker which I saw more than my relatives, like sisters we would say sometimes, we would all spend time together not only at work but at parties, we would go shopping  and even the holidays.

When we went out it would all resemble a ball, Christine and I would always dance and meet new people by talking about our interest, books that we read, what was on the news that morning or whatever current event was important at the moment. Izzie and Morgan were the life of the party asking the dj to put on the latest popular song, laughing everywhere and with everyone and almost always took someone home, they where a lot of fun although sometimes embarrassing, Leslie on the other hand was starting to give us signs of what was to come.

New Year’s at Pete’s was a tradition of the woman in the office we would have a few beers accompanied by several of the peanuts baskets they give you at the bar. Dancing again was the main source of fun, Pete had this jukebox that would only have music from the eighties so Christine and I would take bags of change that we had been saving for the last two weeks and put on every song we liked. Last Christmas  Leslie got there late, for some reason she had to stay a while longer than us at work, when she got there she seemed to be in a bad mood, “Leslie come join us” I said as we dance in the middle of the bar where there was a dancing floor so small that would only fit about three people “ I’m grabbing a beer first” she said as she seat in the bar alone, I remember looking at her as we dance and seeing Pete trying to talk to her but she had a sour look in her face and soon enough he left her alone, I started to walk over to her but decided to go back to the party, after all she wanted to be left alone so I didn’t want to disturb her, I thought that when she was ready she would join us. A few minutes later I notice that she wasn’t at the bar anymore so I started scouting the crowd to see if I could pull her in for at least a dance, but she was nowhere to be found, she left that day without saying goodbye, I called her the next morning to see how she was, “I’m fine I have to go now I’m in the middle of something, I’ll see you later” and hanged up the phone.

After that Leslie became like Mary Bennet, we all loved her but we didn’t necessarily wanted to spend time with her, a few days after the party we were all having a lunch meeting in which we would spend most of the time eating and gossiping instead of talking business, “ I’m going shopping this weekend “ said Christine to me, “would you like to come with me”, “I don’t know I think Elliot and I might do something this weekend”, “well give me a call, maybe Elliot can come with us”, “sure that would be fun”, Morgan turned around with an intrigued look on her face, she had had a crush on Elliot since I brought him to her birthday party a few weeks ago, she tough that that was my birthday gift to her and she was ready to redeem him whenever she could, “can I come with you?”, I smiled at her, “will see, if you promise not to be all over him”, “Must you always talk about guys, or being all over guys, there are more important things you know “ said Leslie in a reproachable way, Morgan was to surprise to say anything, “I have things to do at the office, I’ll see you guys later” said Leslie as she stood up and left us all. “What bug crawled up her ass?” said Morgan, she was never the shy one, so we new she was bound to react, and like always it was my job to defend Leslie “Cut her some slack I thing that Bridget is giving her extra work and that’s what’s got her all tense”, “what do you mean?” said Christine. “Well remember how late she was to the holiday part at Pete’s and how early she left and when  I called her the next day she said she was in the middle of something” I said, Morgan looked at me confused ”so?”, “so Bridget has been working her ass of even on her days of, that’s why she’s so cranky”.

A few weeks later Bridget announce that she would be leaving her job and Leslie was to take her place, we all felt so happy for her we thought that she deserved it since Bridget had treated her like a slave for the last couple of weeks, but a rumor started to spread all around the office, Marcy, Bridget’s  assistant would have to be relocated to another office since she would not stay as Leslie’s assistant and she was not happy about it, Morgan came to my cubicle to tell me in all good gossip traditions that Marcy had told her that Leslie wasn’t asked to do all that extra work, that she had volunteer and that she had had several meetings telling Bridget that no one in the office had her work ethic, even telling Bridget all of Morgan’s and Izzie’s personal life.

“It seems she was willing to do anything to get that job’, “I don’t believed it” I said smiling, it all seemed out o the ordinary for Leslie, “well you better believe it, not hanging out with us at the party and being all rude at lunch was her way of pushing us away since she doesn’t think we’re good enough to be her friends”, Christine came walking towards us, “have you heard?” I asked him, “Sure, Marcy is having a field day with this”, “what do you think?” I asked her, in her very Christine way she said, “Well it’s not really any of our business, we didn’t want her job, she is going to be our boss, so there’s nothing we can do about it”, she had no worry in her voice, and she was always very clear about one thing that was just a job.

In a matter of weeks Leslie had turn from a beloved sister to Mary Benet to Miss Bingley the nightmare of my life, Jane dint have the opportunity to dismiss Miss Bingley, but I believe she would have if she had the chance and so I took that chance even if it wasn’t my doing I was glad to have left the office but now laid there watching movie in the middle of the morning, alone, with no clue as to what I was supposedto do now.