Calling All David Ryans

Chapter 2

                                                                                     II.

Chicago never would be home, I knew that.  I saw the effects of the industrial revolution before my eyes as I drove past the maze of railroad tracks and telephone poles.  Lake Michigan seemed a formidable body of water without a shore in sight.  I stared out the window of my hotel out at the Chicago River. Tour boats passed with people taking pictures of the architecture. Bridges lifted and then came down, keeping the boat and the car traffic at an equilibrium. I suddenly wanted to see the river during the St. Patrick's day celebration. I don't know what inspired that sudden desire, perhaps it was the small percentage of Irish in me kicking in, or perhaps I just wanted to see the river flow green.

I sighed and fell back onto the bed. Today I would go to the Navy Pier, shop around a bit, go on the tall Ferris wheel I saw driving in. I would maybe go on some tours, the Sea Dog sounded fun. No, wait what was I thinking? My thoughts came to a sudden halt when I sat up.

This trip was not a vacation. I had only two weeks to find a David Ryan that would return with me to Cincinnati and act as my fiancé. Considering the strange task I assigned myself, two weeks was not a long time.

What I was doing was stupid, dumb. I could just go back and tell everyone that David and I broke up. I would be offered people's condolences and get a few eye rolls from people who did not believe me at first. I could also come back and tell the truth to everyone. Sure, I would fall into disgrace and hurt my pride, but that kind of sacrifice happens when you do the right thing.

At that point, however, I was not ready to make the kind of sacrifice and face the consquences. And choosing the first option would mean lying again, forcing tears, and telling the story of my hard break up in Chicago. Then I would be single again with the same problem I had before all these lies started.  With that in mind I started my search.

I started my seach with Google. However, for my purposes, the popular search engine brought to up way too many results to sift through.  Without coughing up money, those people finder sites were vague at best.  Frustrated with minimal results, I looked towards Facebook to complete my quest.

I logged in. The first thing I see is a notice telling me, "Maggie Rollen posted on your wall."

I smiled as I read the message.

"Hmmmm...." Maggie wrote, "What is this I see? Still single? Oh, and it seems that David Ryan is not present on your friends list."

I did not reply. There was nothing to say. Retorting back to Maggie was not my primary focus.  Besides, I did that all the time anyways.

I clicked on the search bar and typed in "David Ryan Chicago." A bunch of men with that name popped up along with age, interests, relationship status, and sometimes even phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

I let out a long breath as I decided a course of action. I would choose a bunch of guys around my age, the attractive ones of course, and send them the following:

"Dear Mr. Ryan, I apologize in advance for the strange message you are about to read. You see, I am in an awkward situation and I require a David Ryan to assist me. All you have to do is go down to Cincinnati with me and pretend to be my fiancé for maybe a week or longer. So if you want a wild ride and some memories, message me through Facebook. Before we decide anything, though, I would like to make a dinner or a lunch date with you just to get to know you a little. Thank you for taking your time to read this message. ~ Divinity Claire"

I sent that message to about a dozen different David Ryans. I only received five responses. Out of the five Daivd Ryans, two of them just wanted sex, one threatened to call the police, and only the two remaining were interested in helping me. Those two had their names posted as David F. Ryan and David Arthur Ryan.