Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Ninety-Two

At dinner, Maisie was seated between Talia and Terence.  Marcus was on Talia's other side, and while she took the opportunity to get to know him, Maisie took the opportunity to get to know Terence better.  They swapped a few childhood stories and he gave her the long version of how he and Clay met.  She scrolled through a photo album on her phone of her high school days and showed him a picture of Clay dressed as Batman at Halloween.

"I love it!" Terrence said, zooming in on the picture.  "Can you send this to me?"

"Go for it - save your number in my phone while you're at it.  You're going to need a Clay insider when he starts to argue why Star Trek is better than Star Wars.  I'm the only one who knows how to get him off topic."

"You must teach me your ways!"

Maisie pushed her chair out and went to the kitchen for a new bottle of wine.  She topped off Aubrey and Kent and was about to fill River's glass when Terence asked loudly, "Who's Mr. Darcy?"

Most of her friends laughed, and Maisie looked at him with faux shock.  "Only the most amazing fictional man to ever be written.  He's the hero of Pride and Prejudice."

"And the only man Maisie will ever settle for," Talia added.

"I was jealous of him in high school," Marcus teased.

"Does Maisie have him as her background of something?" Clay asked, pointing at the phone still in Terrence's hand.

"Or did you open her Facebook page?" Phoenix asked.

"I deleted the Darcy page," Maisie said, sitting back down and filling her own glass.

"What?" George and Kent said at the same time.

"When?" Talia asked.  "I mean, I know you mentioned you were thinking about it."

"Right after the Yahoo! writer published the correction about Bastian.  I let it go too long anyway.  It was silly, and really caused more harm than good."

Terence waved his arm in front of him to get everyone's attention.  "I have no idea what any of you are talking about.  Someone named Mr. Darcy in your phone just texted you."  He handed the phone over, and sure enough, there was a new message from "Mr. Darcy."

Talia snatched it out of Maisie's hands before she could read the text.

"Who is this?"

Maisie looked around the table.  "Did you one of you get your hands on my phone and change a name in my contacts?"

The whole group shook their heads except Marcus and Terrence, who still seemed confused about what was going on.

"I didn't do that, but sorta wish I would have thought of it," George said.  "Ow!" he screeched a second later, and reached under the table to run his leg.  Maisie guessed Talia had kicked him.

She took her phone back from her friend and read the message.  "One of my students wrote a paper on Hamilton and it made me think of you.  Hope you're well."  She smiled and clicked on the blue icon to see more information about the contact.  There was nothing else, just a phone number from an area code she didn't recognize, Mr. as the first name, and Darcy as the last.

"I think it's Caleb," she said to Talia.  "Does anyone know where the 267 area code is?"

"That's Philly, isn't it?" Marcus said.

"Wait - was Caleb from Philadelphia?" Talia asked.

How had Maisie forgotten?  In all her excitement to pack  and prepare for her new position, she'd forgotten she knew someone in the city she was moving to for three months.  Not only that, but he had said she should seek him out if she ever came to the area.  He may feel differently if he knew it was just passing through, but he was still thinking about her after all this time.

"He does live in Philadelphia," Maisie said slowly.

"Wait - who is Caleb?" Clay asked.

"The guy she hooked up with in New York," George said, followed by another, "Ouch!"

"What are you waiting for?" Aubrey asked.  "Text him back!"

Maisie stared at her phone.  She hadn't been thinking about him, but not because she hadn't liked him.  She'd liked him a lot.  When they parted, she told herself they'd never speak again - she hadn't let herself think about it.  But now, everything she went through with the page and Bastian, and losing her job, and fighting with her mother, it all seemed to lead to this somehow and what she did next.

"What are you waiting for?" Talia repeated.

"The right words."

"Do you like this guy?" Marcus asked.  Maisie met his eye.  There wasn't jealousy there, only concern.

"Yeah."

"Then don't worry so much about right and wrong.  Just be yourself."

Terence leaned forward and asked Clay, "What is going on? Who's this Caleb Darcy guy?"

"Long story," Maisie answered before Clay could.  "I'll fill you in after I respond."  She put her thumbs on the screen and began typing a message.  "I hope that kid got an A."

It only took a few seconds for a response to come through.  "B+.  He relied too heavily on the musical instead of its source material and presented some inaccuracies as facts."

Maisie laughed.  "I guess he threw away his shot."  She was very aware of everyone around the table watching her, but stayed focused on her phone.

"You could say he didn't wait for it."

"We could do this all night."

"Yeah, and I'd be okay with that."

Maisie's grin was now so wide her cheeks were starting to hurt, but with everyone still watching and waiting, she decided she should put a pause on the conversation until later.  "Me too, unfortunately I have company right now - a going away party."

"Going away?  Where are you going?"

"I'm starting a three month job in Philadelphia in a couple of days."

"Really?"

"Yeah."  She took a deep breath and kept typing.  "And if you still want me to call you when I'm in town, I'd still like to."

A bubble with ellipses appeared and Maisie braced herself for a hardcore backpeddle, but then his response came through.  "I would."

She sent a smily face emoji and finished with, "Can I text you later tonight when everyone has left?"

"Absolutely."

She put her phone in her pocket, still grinning like a fool, and picked up her fork to take a bite of her now cold lasagna.

"Well?" Talia asked.

"We're going to text later."

"Is that it?"

"He said he still wants to see me when I'm in town."

Talia squealed and clapped her hands before flinging them around Maisie and squeezing.

"Does this mean you found Mr. Darcy after all?" George asked. 

Maisie shrugged.  "I don't know.  Maybe."

~The End~