Written by Joe Janes
4/14/09
86 of 365
CAST:
Larry, late 30s
Grace, late 30s
(Lights up on Larry, wearing sunglasses, sitting on a park bench looking around nervously. Possibly smoking a cigarette. Grace enters.)
GRACE
Larry?LARRY
Grace!(He quickly grabs her and makes her sit down on the bench.)
GRACE
Okay, really nice to see you, too. LARRY
Did anyone see you?GRACE
Sure, lots of people. We’re in a park. Larry, why are you being so clandestine?LARRY
Uh -?GRACE
Sneaky.LARRY
Because, Grace, I’m a married man.GRACE
And I’m a married woman. Doesn’t make it against the law for two old high school friends to meet and catch up.LARRY
My wife might think differently if she knew I had this. (He takes a note out of his pocket.)GRACE
What’s that?LARRY
A note you wrote to me.GRACE
I didn’t write you a note.LARRY
Yes. You did. I found it in the lining of my varsity jacket.GRACE
From our senior year in high school. Larry, I wrote that note twenty years ago. You just now found it?LARRY
There was a hole in the pocket. I found it going through some old boxes. GRACE
Guess I don’t feel so bad now about not hearing from you about it. LARRY
Grace. I need to know if what you wrote in this note is true.GRACE
Larry, I hardly remember what I wrote. That was a different time. LARRY (reading note)
“I think you’re the greatest guy I have ever met. My love for you is forever. I want you to be my first.” Is it still true?GRACE
It’s a little late. I’m married, now. With kids. So, are you.LARRY
But, if I had found this note when you put it there, we’d probably be married. We’d probably have kids.GRACE
But you didn’t and we’re not and we don’t. Scott Morton was my first.LARRY
Scott Morton? That weenie?GRACE
You didn’t respond to my note. He was available. We did it in his parent’s station wagon after the science fair. His Styrofoam model of an atom kept poking me in the ass. It was all very romantic. But, what’s done is done.LARRY
It’s not fair. I didn’t know how you felt. Had I known-GRACE
Did you feel the same way about me?LARRY
Yes. Absolutely. I thought about you all the time. I was just too shy to do anything about it. A note like this would have given me the confidence I needed to ask out a girl as pretty as you.GRACE
You thought I was pretty.LARRY
Everyone did. GRACE
Everyone?LARRY
But you never said a word to me. I didn’t think you were interested.GRACE
I was too shy. Whenever I was around you, my mouth and brain clamped shut. That’s why I poured my heart out in a note. And then it broke when I didn’t hear back from you. I feel a little better knowing it was just a mistake. LARRY
A stupid, miserable mistake. What are we going to do?GRACE
Do? There’s nothing to do. LARRY
Are you happy, now, with -?GRACE
Ted.LARRY
Ted.GRACE
Sure. I guess. I’m not unhappy. And you?LARRY
Same. Very not unhappy. (Pause) What would we have done?GRACE
What?LARRY
If I did find your note and called you. What would you have wanted to do?GRACE
Oh, I had it all planned out. We’d go to the roller rink. Then go to Dodge’s Beach. Build a fire. Go skinny-dipping in the lake. Sleep under the stars. Wake up to the sunrise together.LARRY
Sounds nice.GRACE
Yeah.LARRY
The roller rink closed.GRACE
So did Dodge’s Beach.(Beat)
LARRY
The sun’s still in business.GRACE
So’s the lake.LARRY
Something to think about.GRACE
Yep. Something to think about.(Grace kisses Larry on the cheek and exits. Larry takes the note and crumples it up. He puts it in his pocket. Lights fade.)
