Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Twenty-One

Three things happened early the next morning. First, the new Yahoo! article appeared online and in Maisie's inbox.

Why do women love Mr. Darcy? According to Maisie Frampton (30) there are many reasons. The obvious, "he's tall, handsome, and rich," and the not so obvious, "He's humble... extremely selfless and generous... He's actually a really good guy."

A really good guy. You'd think if it were that simple, we'd all be able to find a Mr. Darcy. In the age of Tinder, , and sexting, it isn't that simple. More women than ever are saying finding a decent guy is like finding a needle in a haystack. So Frampton took matters, and Jane Austen's guidebook for the perfect guy, into her own hands.

It started as a joke. When Frampton posted a page on Facebook asking for help to find Mr. Darcy, she never expected anyone other than her close friends to see it. But now hundreds of thousands of people all over the world know about her quest and she's taking advantage of it.

It's been a week since the page first went live, and Maisie has already been out with several men. She even sees long-term potential with one of them! We're all rooting for her and hoping she's found her Mr. Darcy.

The article already had fifty-two comments and the Facebook page was inundated with new comments. Several mothers wanted to set Maisie up with their sons. A couple of them were cute, but Maisie couldn't appreciate the attention. Priyanka had printed that she saw long-term potential with one of the men she'd gone out with with. She panicked for ten minutes until the second thing happened.

Bastian texted her.

"Saw the article ;)"

"Great," she muttered. She screenshotted the comment and sent it to Talia. "What do I do?????"

"Flirt!"

As if it were that simple. "Ugh." She stared at her phone, willing a flirty text to write itself. But nothing happened. "Okay, here we go." She looked at Dashwood, who was busy batting around a feather.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow night ;)"

She sent it and tossed her phone to the other end of the couch. It was awful. Why did she send that? The phone dinged.

"Looking forward to it!"

She grinned. He wasn't completely turned off! She hadn't blown it, yet. She texted back one last smiley face, then opened her email to find the third thing: an email from a Buzzfeed editor asking her to come to New York for an interview and segment with the TryGuys.

"Holy shit!" She replied immediately asking when they wanted her to come, then waited with bated breath to see if they'd respond.

"What is my life right now?" she asked Dashwood, who had abandoned the feather and was now cleaning his tail.