15 minutes, 8/29

(two young men outside of a garage converted into a one-room apartment. they're at the beach and dressed like hip kids with a dash of beach style. they are not oppressively cool)

So when do you think they'll stop?

€I don't know. Do you want to take a walk?

Maybe after we eat. I think a walk would be nice after we eat. The weather's nice.

€Yeah.

Should we go in now?

€I don't hear anything.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

(they enter. there is a couple in the one room apartment)

You guys hungry?

$Yeah, sure. Where did you guys want to eat?

€Chris said Italian sounded good.

Yeah, I'd like pizza. Pizza has been sounding great lately.

$That's fine. We can do Italian. Sara, is that fine with you?

@Whatever.

$But which place though? Felini's or Cafe Fresco?

@I'm not that hungry.

$But you could eat. We're going to eat, are you coming with us?

@I don't know. I guess. Whatever.

$Sara, we have guests. Chris and Paul are our guests. They want to eat.

@That's fine. Okay. Whatever. Where are we going then?

$Do you want to go to Felini's?

@That's fine.

$I thought you said you didn't like their crust.

@Honestly, John, it's fine. I don't care. Let's just go.

(she storms up, grabs her purse and shoes)

Alright then. Pizza time.

€Felini makes me think of cats.

Italian sausage is Italian for cat.

$That's stupid.

And yet still so sickly true.

€Do you think Felini is a man or a woman?

@Can we go?

$We're coming. Calm down. Do you have my keys?

@No, I don't have your keys. What did you do with them, I thought they were on the counter the last time I saw them.

$What?

@On the counter, your keys are on the counter. Let's please go.

(she leads the pack out the door. Chris and Paul lag a little behind just outside the door. John and Sara argue muted to the Neon in the driveway)

€What are the odds of this being this uncomfortable the entire time we're at the beach?

Why are they so pissy? I thought they were okay now?

€They were fine the last time I was down here.

A few months ago?

€Yeah. It was all rainbows and assholes. Not this passive aggressive hell.

Did they breakup? Is that why she left?

€I don't know, it's weird. She had to go back and see her family or something. I guess living together just did what it does. Their relationship didn't help.

What do you mean?

€I mean the whole open thing. They're all against these gender roles or defining their relationship in conventional terms I guess. Technically they were never together how you would call it. Now, they told each other they loved each other and had plenty of sex...

Naturally.

€...but they never considered themselves a couple. No boyfriend/girlfriend thing.

He seemed really excited about that at first. It sounded shady to me.

€Yeah, I told him it was a recipe for weird, but he thought it was great. I guess when they started driving each other crazy this summer things just went to hell. It's not like they developed a real support system to handle the hard patches of a relationship.

That's a shame, you know?

€It really is.

Well, I'm going to enjoy this pizza, this fine beach air, and make John take us to the beach tonight because I want to have a good time.

€Oh yeah, the beach sounds amazing. I want to get in the water, I was thinking about that earlier.

Definitely. Pizza and swimming should be amazing. I can't believe how good it feels out here.

€It's hot, but it's a good hot.

Totally. Have they made it into the car yet or are they still trying to out piss each other?

€Well, I suppose since no one seems to wonder why we're not in the Neon yet that they're still pissing.

Let's just stone both of them and end their misery. Our misery. Whatever. I just want a tan and some damn pizza.