Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Sixty-Two

"It's been twenty-four hours - why hasn't he texted you back?" Talia asked over dinner that night.  Maisie had made chicken piccata.  Talia poured the wine.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you for advice.  Should I text him again?  Or call him?"

"No.  Absolutely not.  You made the last communication, it's his turn."

Maisie stared at her phone on the table.  It was just sitting there, all quiet.  She kinda wanted to smash it with a hammer just to force it to make some noise.  "But what if he didn't get my message?"

"He got it."

"Maybe his phone is broken."

"It's not."

"It could have been turned off."

Talia sighed.  "It wasn't."

Maisie set her fork down and picked up her wine glass.  "Why?  Why wouldn't he text back?  We had a great time on both our dates."

"Best case scenario: he saw your text and didn't have time to respond and he forgot to come back later and answer you."

"Okay, I can understand that. I do that."

"Worst case scenario-"

"No! I don't want to know the worst case scenario yet.  But if the best case is true, then I should reach back out."

"I will take your phone and hide it somewhere you can't find it," Talia threatened, one hand reaching across the table towards Maisie's disgraced cell.

"I like him, T."

"I get that.  I really do.  But you go making yourself look desperate and that's the end of it."

"But we know each other.  We have history.  The same rules shouldn't apply."

"You knew each other a long time ago.  You've both changed.  No matter how much you want to be sixteen or seventeen again, you aren't, and neither is he."  Talia cut into her chicken and took a big bite.

Maisie glanced down at her plate.  She wasn't feeling very hungry.  "Games are stupid."

"You aren't playing a game."

"Isn't not texting him even though I want to just because it's his turn playing a game?"

"No."  Talia refilled both of their glasses.  "It's protecting yourself.  Trust me."

"Come on, you've never had to worry about a guy not texting you back."

"I haven't?" Talia laughed.  "Are you joking?  I've been ghosted so many times that all-female Ghostbusters reboot should have been about my dating life."

"What?  You've never mentioned being ghosted on."

Talia shrugged.  "It's embarrassing, letting myself get so into a guy only for him to disappear after two dates."

"But... but guys like you."

"Guys like my tits and my ass.  They could not care less about me."

"I always thought you dated around and dropped men left and right because you enjoy being single, free, and flirty."

"Oh, sweet summer child."  Talia stood and collected her empty plate.  She placed it in the sink and turned the water on.  "Sure, I enjoy dating.  I enjoy sex and see no problem with sleeping with whomever I want, whenever I want.  But a relationship would have been nice.  All this time, I kept waiting for a guy to see me and to like more than my face and body."  She shut the water off and plopped the plate in the dishwasher.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Maze." Talia said, as if that was enough of an explanation.

"What?"

"That was your thing.  Mine was being the confident girl who didn't care."

"I didn't tell you you had to be that.  That's our thing - that we can tell each other anything."

"But that's not our thing.  We pretend it is, but we keep secrets from each other, and that's okay.  We're not married."

"I don't want us to keep secrets."

"Okay, great.  How was your date with Bastian last night?"  Talia asked.

Fuck, Maisie thought.  "He cancelled."

"I know.  He posted a message on the Darcy page, apologizing profusely and making it quite clear to anyone else on the page that you're seeing someone."

"When?"

"Last night, not too long after you left for the date.  You said nothing about it, because you didn't want me to know, because I already don't like Bastian.  Which is fine.  Like I said, we don't have to tell each other everything."

"I didn't want to give you more ammunition against him."

"I know."

Maisie poked at the chicken on her plate.  It was cold by now.  "Are you keeping other secrets from me?"

Talia opened the cabinet underneath the sink and took out the dishwasher detergent.  The appliance gurgled and vibrated when she turned it on, and she didn't answer the question.  "Should we have ice cream?" she asked instead.  Maisie took that as a yes.