Title: Eternal Fight (other ideas are like chocolate to me)
Warnings: Some bad language
Summary: A couple fights.
Length: ~1,250 words
Notes: Point of view is kind of difficult with screenplays. I guess third person. Genre is drama. Also I'm going to state screenplay as a genre, to set it apart. Tense is present, typical of screenplays.
Eternal Fight
(New York City. It is nighttime; the sun has set hours ago. A taxi cab pulls up to an empty curb. An apartment building is on the side of the street. The taxi cab stalls for a while, back lights flashing red. It waits for so long that a viewer may begin to think something is wrong. Camera cuts to inside the cab – head shots of CASSIDY CLAIRE (CASSIE) and ANDREW BYNES sitting in the back together.
CASSIE is an elegant woman. She wears a black silk dress (though the audience cannot see it yet) with red high heels and pearl earrings. Her face is set in a frown as if she has smelled something bad. ANDREW is wearing a simple black suit. They are both staring out of the opposite windows, not talking to each other.)
TAXI DRIVER: (after a moment) Excuse me, are you two getting out?
ANDREW: (looks up) Yes, sorry. (to CASSIE) C’mon, let’s go.
(He opens the taxi door and steps outside. The camera switches to an outside view of the door opening. We see one shiny toe of his black shoe emerging from the cab. He then opens the door and pauses to take CASSIE’S hand and help her out of the cab. CASSIE shoves his hand away and pushes her way past him, stumbling a bit on her heels. ANDREW reaches out an army to steady her, but she quickly backs away and rights herself, glaring at him. The night is warm and humid, and she brushes sweaty hair away from her face as she glares at ANDREW.)
ANDREW: What’s your problem, baby?
CASSIE: (thinly veiled hysteria) What’s my problem? What’s MY problem? Seriously? (She throws her hands up in the air.)
ANDREW: Calm down.
CASSIE: Don’t tell me to calm down.
ANDREW: (sighs) Just listen to me, okay? That’s all I ask.
CASSIE: I always listen to you, and you always tell me the same story, and I’m sick of it.
ANDREW: You make it sound like this happens all the time.
CASSIE: It does.
ANDREW: Oh yeah? Name one other time.
CASSIE: When we went to that nightclub in SoHo. And that other time, when we went to Union Square. Oh, and that time when –
ANDREW: (wincing) Okay, I get it.
(They are quiet for a while.)
ANDREW: But really, let me explain. You always misunderstand me. Just listen.
CASSIE: (sighs but sits down on the apartment steps) Fine. I’m listening.
ANDREW: (joins her, keeping a careful distance between them) She’s someone I know from work. That’s all. She asked for a dance; I gave her one. Stop being so… I don’t know… possessive.
CASSIE: I think I have a right to be possessive. I’m your girlfriend.
ANDREW says nothing. They sit side by side and stare out at the night for a while. One or two cars pass them. Cassie taps her fingers restlessly on her thighs.
ANDREW: I’m sorry, okay? It’s not a big deal.
CASSIE: Like hell it wasn’t. I wish you could’ve seen the way you danced with her.
ANDREW: You’re just angry because she’s a better dancer than you.
(CASSIE gives ANDREW an incredulous look. ANDREW seems to realize his mistake and opens his mouth to speak, but CASSIE jumps in first.)
CASSIE: You’ve always been awful at smooth-talking.
(ANDREW attempts to speak again, but CASSIE continues.)
CASSIE: No, I mean it. You’ve always been awful at everything, really. Like that time when you danced with that girl that you said was an intern at a place you visited or something stupid like that – and then you saw I was upset so you told me that you’d never go out with her because she obviously dyes her hair. I dye my hair.
ANDREW: (indignant and embarrassed) Yeah, well, I know that now! Give me a break, I had been going out with you for what, a few months then?
(CASSIE shakes her head in disgust, looking away from ANDREW. ANDREW senses that he hasn’t quite patched things up with CASSIE yet. )
ANDREW: Listen. I’m sorry. Really. I won’t do it again.
CASSIE: (stands up) You will.
(She begins to pace in front of the apartment steps. ANDREW stays sitting and watches her. He loosens his tie a bit.)
CASSIE: Now you listen to me, Andrew. I’ m sick of being treated like shit by you. You think you can just go off and dance and flirt with a bunch of other girls and come back to me with some chocolate or something and it’ll all be okay? It doesn’t work like that. I like you, I do, but I am sick of you being an asshole.
ANDREW: (insulted) I’m not an asshole.
CASSIE: (halts her pacing and turns to look at him, hands on her hips) I noticed that you didn’t deny anything else.
ANDREW: (stands up and takes CASSIE’S hands. She is reluctant at first, but eventually lets him hold her hands) I only care about you. Those other girls are nothing. Honestly. I’m really sorry that you feel like I treat you like shit, but I don’t know how you got that idea. I take you out places. I don’t do anything wrong. I think you’re the one who’s overreacting here.
CASSIE: (pulls her hands from his grip and turns to the street, laughing bitterly) Here we go again. Now it’s all my problem.
ANDREW: You’re the one making it mean more than it did.
CASSIE: When your boyfriend dances more with other girls than with you, I think it means a lot.
ANDREW: Well you thought wrong, Cassie.
(They fall silent again. ANDREW stares at CASSIE. CASSIE stares across the street. The camera pans around, showing the tree on the block, the starless sky, and the arguing couple.)
ANDREW: Let me walk you to your apartment.
CASSIE: It’s right here, Andrew.
ANDREW: Let me walk you up there anyway.
CASSIE: Fine.
(They walk inside the apartment. It is pretty standard, a thin patterned carpet leading to an elevator. They wait for the elevator and get in. The camera follows them inside. CASSIE presses the button for floor 6. She leans against the rear wall of the elevator and ANDREW rocks on his heels. They steal glances at each other but stay silent for a while.)
ANDREW: Well… I had fun today.
CASSIE: (throws him a dirty look)
ANDREW: Dancing with you, I mean. The other girl was a god-awful dancer.
CASSIE: I thought you said she was better than me.
ANDREW: (beat) Uh, I was lying.
CASSIE: Mmm.
(The elevator doors open. CASSIE’S apartment is right at the end of the hallway. They walk side by side, and then CASSIE gets out her keys. She opens her door and ANDREW pauses on the threshold.)
ANDREW: Sleep well.
CASSIE: Thanks.
(They stand frozen for a moment. CASSIE stares at her door, and then turns with a sigh to ANDREW.)
CASSIE: Just promise me something, okay? No more dancing with other girls. That’s all I ask. I don’t dance with other guys.
ANDREW: (quickly) Of course, I promise. No more dancing with other girls.
CASSIE: (beat) Okay. Good.
(She gives me a quick peck on the cheek and enters her apartment. ANDREW holds his hand to his cheek, and when he moves it we can see CASSIE’S lipstick on his cheek.)
ANDREW: No dancing with other girls. Okay. I can do that. Okay.
(He walks back to the elevator.)
FIN J
haha. Nice job, Julianna! :) I like this story. I seriously think that the guy is at fault. He should know better than to "do things" with other girls if he is with someone. The ending is a bit...open-ended. It's a good way to end it, leaving the reader thinking what would happen (haha, he probably might even do worse things). you should definitely write more about this story later on. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI love this because the dialogue not only rings true but the staging and choreography/body language act synergistically, making this so believable that I felt like I was there! I think doing this as a screenplay adds intrigue and intensity to Cassie and Andrew's argument that, with prose, we would not feel to the same degree. Your title is great because conflict seems to have no ending for this couple and (sadly) repeats for men and women over the ages.
ReplyDeleteYou really should branch out into screenplays. You are very good at setting the scene and creating the kind of details needed in a screenplay. Personally I would like to see a more climatic conclusion to the argument (positive or negative) so hope we will get more at some point!
ReplyDeleteWe see one shiny toe of his black shoe emerging from the cab. – love the details.
ReplyDeleteCASSIE shoves his hand away … she brushes sweaty hair away from her face as she glares at ANDREW. – I like how you start us with this before there is any dialogue. It is vivid and shows a lot about the characters.
ANDREW: Oh yeah? Name one other time. / CASSIE: When we … / ANDREW: (wincing) Okay, I get it. – love this!
Stop being so… I don’t know… possessive. – it’s somewhat irritating how annoying he is, but there really are probably guys like that. It’s good to see her stand up to him.
you’d never go out with her because she obviously dyes her hair. I dye my hair. – a great detail to show how out-of-touch he is.
You think you can just go off and dance and flirt … being an asshole. / ANDREW: (insulted) I’m not an asshole. / CASSIE: … I noticed that you didn’t deny anything else. - another great moment where she catches him.
you’re the one who’s overreacting here. – this is very realistic when both people don’t see their own wrongs.
ANDREW: Well you thought wrong, Cassie. – a great line that really shows his view on it.
The camera pans around, showing the tree on the block, the starless sky… – again, I love how even reading it you can visualise it.
ANDREW: Let me walk you to your apartment. / CASSIE: It’s right here, Andrew. – this little gesture is redeeming, shows that a part of him really does care. Well placed
ANDREW: (beat) Uh, I was lying. – love the (beat), that is his general mood.
FIN J – love the fin.
A great story as a movie! It is so well described that I can actually see the scenes. I love how you put all the camera detail in, makes it alive. Great job!