Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Thirty-Nine

An hour later, after Maisie finished her breakfast, showered, and dressed, the room door was flung open and banged against the wall. Talia barged in - frenzied - her jacket half-off and her hair looking wild and curly instead of its usual sleek and shiny default setting.

"Why haven't you answered any of your texts?" she demanded.

Maisie, who was in the middle of re-packing her suitcase, dropped the shirt she was folding. "What-"

"Whoa!" Talia interrupted. "It smells like sex in here. Oh my God. Mason Eve Frampton - did you fuck Mr. Darcy?"

Maisie smiled and resumed folding.

"You did! You little vixen! I can't believe this - you've finally had a proper one-night stand. Tell me everything."

"What about you? Where've you been all night?"

Talia snatched the garment out of Maisie's hand. "I had the most boring night imaginable compared to the fact that you totally banged a guy who hours before you had less than zero interest in."

Maisie shrugged, but she loved Talia's enthusiasm for her sex life. It felt nice to be on this side of the conversation for once. "It was really nice."

"Really nice? What did he do, knit you a sweater? Sex is not really nice. It's either mind-blowingly amazing, or mind-numbingly bad."

"I'm pretty sure some of those aren't real words."

"Who cares about what words are real - tell me about the sex! Mind-blowing or mind-numbing?"

Tossing the last of her clothes in the case, Maisie sank onto the bed and shielded her her grin with her hands over her face. "It was maybe the best I'd ever had." Part of her hoped her words were too muffled for Talia to hear. It was embarrassing to be a fully-grown woman blushing at the idea of good sex.

"What?! I'm so happy for you, Maze! More, more! I need details."

Maisie threw her hands up, but couldn't break her smile. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Okay, since you asked..." Maisie launched into a play-by-play, starting from the moment she and Caleb met outside the theater, and pausing at their first kiss.

"He actually called you weird?" Talia asked.

"Well, he agreed it was sorta weird for me to blurt it out like that, but after he kissed me, he smiled and got these little crinkles in the corner of his eyes and said that no woman had ever been that bold and just told him what they wanted like that, and that it was incredibly sexy. We couldn't get to the room fast enough after that. I already had his tie off by the time we made it in."

Talia reached over and grasped Maisie's knee. "Fuck, that's hot. Go on."

"It's all kind of a blur. I can remember flashes, moments, like when we got his shirt off and I saw his amazing chest and stomach for the first time."

"Six-pack? Pecs?"

"He wasn't particularly muscular - like, I'm sure he exercises, but he's probably not a gym rat - you know what I mean? No, it wasn't that kind of sexy. I don't know how to describe it - he was just yummy."

"Fuck yeah. Keep going."

Maisie sighed, dreamily. "He unzipped my dress, really slowly, and kissed down my spine while he was doing it. I always though stuff like that was so cheesy and impractical in movies, but god-damn I nearly melted."

Talia started to speak, but Maisie cut her off. "When we were in the middle of everything, he looked me straight in the eye and told me I was beautiful. And yeah, I know he was caught up in everything, and again, it sounds really corny, but can I say it again - GOD DAMN."

"Okay, this guy sounds too good to be true."

"But he's not. He's kinda awkward and he's still really raw from losing his wife and trying to figure out how to raise the twins on his own."

"So, it's not a one-night stand?"

"He lives in Pennsylvania."

"And your point?"

"We both agreed no strings."

Talia shook her head. "That's a fucking shame."

"Yeah, but you know, I've got all my dates back home. Bastian could be something. Who knows? The possibilities are endless."

"One one-night stand and suddenly your whole outlook on love has changed. I should have gotten you laid a long time ago."

"To be fair, you did try."

Talia laughed. "I did! Dammit - I can't believe you did it on your own without any influence from me. I feel jipped for some reason."

Now Maisie laughed. "Your influence was there, don't you worry. Plus, if you had come back to the hotel last night, it probably wouldn't have happened."

"That's right! Okay, good. I feel better about my boring evening now."

"Judging by your hair, your evening was anything but boring." Maisie playfully tugged a piece hanging over her friend's shoulder.

"This is called the horrors of humidity."

"It's plenty humid at home, and I've never seen your hair like this."

"Well, that's because I meticulously groom myself before people see me. You know this."

"I know if you don't want the reign of terror on your head to continue, you'd better get in the shower. We have to be back at Buzzfeed in an hour."

"Fuck! It will take most of that time to dry it." Talia jumped up and started stripping as she sprinted into the bathroom. Maisie chuckled to herself as she began gathering her friend's things from around the room and stuffing them into her suitcase.