An usher led Maisie and Caleb to their seats in the balcony. The theater wasn't crowded - they were early - and no one else occupied their row yet, but Maisie knew it wouldn't be too long before every seat was full of theater lovers and new converts to the cult of Lin Manual Miranda.
Once seated, Maisie opened her program to peruse the cast bios and see if they were being subjected to understudies for the evening, but Caleb didn't seem to care about that kind of thing.
"Why were you nervous?" he asked.
"I'm still nervous."
"Okay, why are you nervous?"
She sighed and closed her program. "Because we have to go back in front of the camera tomorrow and talk about how this-" she gestured back and forth between them, "went. And I don't like to lie."
"So, don't lie."
"Right - but neither option is good for me. If it goes terribly, and I say it went terribly, then I'm a killjoy, and ungrateful. If it goes wonderfully, and I gush about how amazing it was, then I look like a crazy, desperate, clingy woman. I can't win."
"There are more than two options. It could be just okay."
She laughed. "And then we're boring!"
"Better boring then clingy or ungrateful, right?" He smiled. "Besides, I can guarantee you it won't go 'wonderfully,' to use your word."
Ouch. "Why not?" she asked, her tone more clipped than she would have liked.
"Not because of you. Because of me. I don't really want to be here."
"Shocker. Your attitude back at Buzzfeed was super stoked." She rolled her eyes and looked back down at her program in her lap.
After a few silent moments, he responded quietly, "I know I was a little rude - I'm sorry. My sister basically forced me into this even though I told her I wasn't ready."
Not ready. Maisie glanced over at him, slyly checking out his left hand. Sure enough, the faint outline of a wedding band circled the fourth finger. It wasn't as pronounced as many she'd seen, making her guess he hadn't worn the ring in a while. "Bad divorce?" she asked.
He shook his head.
YOU ARE READING
Searching for Mr. Darcy
ChickLitMaisie is unlucky in love. Not that she considers herself special, or anything - who hasn't been disappointed in relationships time and time and time again? The one thing that always seems to get her through is the handsome, awkward, perfect Mr. Da...
