Dinner, Sex and a Movie(13)
Emma:
They’ll tow my car.
Jake:
Drive over then. I have a parking spot.
Emma:
And no car of your own. No. Besides, I won’t get out of town until late.
Jake:
Hot date?
Emma (cautious):
What’s it to you?
Jake (too quickly):
Nothing.
Emma (letting him off the hook):
I don’t have a date, except with the law library. Like I told you, I’m in between men.
Jake:
You don’t have to be. That’s all I’m saying.
Emma reaches out cradles his cheek in her hand.
Emma:
You fall hard and fast Jake. Or pretend to, anyway.
Jake:
I can’t help it. That’s the way my heart’s built.
Emma:
I am finding you very charming right now. I’m also wondering how the world hasn’t done you in yet.
Jake motions like he’s binding his heart together.
Jake:
Duct tape.
Emma laughs.
Emma:
May it never fail.
Jake:
You should let yourself fall some time. It can be fun.
Emma:
Oh, no. I’m not good with heartache. With or without duct tape.
Jake:
So you bail before it can ever get to that stage.
Emma (half serious):
Fuck you.
Jake:
Sorry. Wasn’t trying to hurt you. Just stating what I see.
Emma:
I’m thirty-five, Jake. Next time has to be it for me.
Jake:
Does it?
Emma (frankly):
Yeah, it does. I want kids.
Jake:
I can understand that.
Emma:
That was supposed to scare you off. Why aren’t you running? You should be past the Ferrari dealership by now.
Jake:
I came here to see you. If only for a few minutes.
Emma:
You walked two miles in the rain with a cup of coffee, idiot.
Jake:
I got the payoff I wanted as a result, didn’t I?
Emma:
You’re sweet. And you’re twenty-six.
Jake:
What does that mean?
Emma:
If I never see you again, you’ll probably always be the best fling of my life.
Jake:
And if you do see me again? Which you will.
Emma (almost sad):
Nothing’s going to change, Jake. This is fair warning, right here, right now. I’m walking the second you let me in that music room. And we both already know this is how it ends.
Jake:
Leaving me with nothing but my Strat.
Emma:
And your freedom. At your age, with your looks. You’ll be out having the time of your life while I am changing dirty diapers. Besides, there’s a lot more to you than whatever you do or don’t have.
Jake:
You don’t know me.
Emma:
I’ve known you long enough.
Jake:
72 hours.
Train horn sounds in the distance.
Emma:
There’s my train.
Jake:
Come over tonight.
Emma (looking away):
And walk into your trap? I don’t think so. I don’t need this becoming something it can’t.
Jake:
Come over. It’s gonna be late and pouring rain when you get back. My place is clean and dry.
Emma:
It’s only twenty-five minutes for me to get home from here.
Jake:
You hate driving in the rain, which is why you are training it in today. It’s only five minutes to my place.
She is looking at the rain and doesn’t respond. Jake leans over and whispers in her ear.
Jake:
And I’ll fuck your brains out. With this body.
Emma visibly swoons.
Emma (looking at him, almost pleading):
Fight fair.
Jake (looking her in the eyes, point blank):
No.
The train is heard pulling to a stop. Emma takes a few steps away from Jake to extract herself.
Emma:
Are you riding the train back, or walking in the rain some more?
Jake:
I have something I need to do out here.
Emma (on offense):
Nova lets you shoot pool in the student center?
Jake:
Bitch.
Emma:
That’s me, unfortunately. My train’s here. Wish me luck.
Jake:
Kick ass.
She starts to walk for the train, then suddenly runs back to him and kisses him on the lips. She leaves. He is the last one left in the room, watching the train pull out. Then he turns and walks out.
Sound of pouring rain.
End of Interlude.
Act 4: A (B) Movie
Scene:
Jake’s apartment. A one-room efficiency in Bryn Mawr. Saturday afternoon.
His bed is a mattress on the floor in the corner. A lamp and an alarm clock sit atop an overturned milk crate next to the mattress. He is sitting on a raggedy, but clean couch, in a T-shirt and boxers, writing a song with his unplugged Fender Stratocaster. A television is in the corner, facing the couch, away from the audience.
Emma’s head emerges from under the covers on the mattress. She is sleepy.
Emma:
What time is it?
Jake: