My earlier anger is now dissolved as he asks, "Would you like to join me at my table?"
"Sure," I breath, following him as he leads us through the hall. When passing Jane's table, she looks up in pleasant surprise from spotting me with Wickham and I playfully wink at her. I try to calm myself down after the icy glare William directs in our direction, feeling close to going over and confronting him.
"Here we are," he says, stopping at an empty table. I feel butterflies of excitement develop in my stomach as we both sit down, due to the fact that we're alone.
"Do you go here?" I ask.
"No, but my cousin does and she didn't want to go without a date and I thought why not," he grins. "What about you?"
"God no," I laugh. "I go to Hertfordshire University and I live nearby.'
"Ah Hertfordshire, I have friends there. I'm from the South as well but I go to university in Manchester. So what brings you here tonight?" He asks, leaning back and taking a drink from his glass.
"Well...it's an interesting story actually. My mum's friend came to dinner one night with her son who attends here, and at the end of the evening I was forced into going as his date. He's odd and is away dancing, thank God," I laugh and he offers a sympathetic smile.
"My sister Jane is here, she is lucky as she was invited by this guy she's seeing," I indicate towards the direction of her table.
Wickham stares down for a moment before asking, "Do you happen to know the guy with the dark hair sitting at the end of that table?"
"The one with the frown?" I joke.
"That would be the one."
"Why, do you?" I ask curiously.
"I know him well," he sighs. "It's been three years since we've last spoken."
"What happened?"
"I was born an orphan and was adopted by Will's dad when I was five, his mother was already was dead. Will was always such a strange child, and resented me from the moment I joined the family. When his father died - I then was aged 18, he had included me in his will. They're very wealthy, I lived in their large estate in London, so I'm sure he left me quite a large sum of money which I wanted to use to start a new life abroad, maybe open my own business. However, out of spite Will refused me the money and kicked me out of the house, where I was left virtually homeless if it weren't for my friends.
"How cruel," I utter in shock. "Do they still live there now?"
"Yes, he lives with his uncle and younger sister. To think of the life I could have made for myself, but I'm still determined to achieve it, I just have to take a longer and more annoying route."
"I'm sorry," I say, feeling moved by his experiences. "You have the right attitude about it, that's the main thing. I've met William several times through his best friend Charles whom you probably know and he has been very arrogant and rude towards me."
"I wouldn't doubt it for a second. I'd advise you to stay away from him Eliza, he's dangerous."
"I definitely 'Will', no pun intended," I joke in order to lighten the mood.
We talk for the rest of the night getting to know each other, before Jane comes over to tell me we're leaving. I reluctantly get up to leave, offering my goodbyes to Wickham as he scribbles his contact details onto a napkin.
"I hope we will see each other again very soon," he beams at me.
"Me too," I nod, looking back over my shoulder at him various times after walking away.
"Well," Jane emphasises, no doubt wanting to know all the details.
"Wait until you hear."