THE COFFEE SHOP
Giovanni walks into the coffee shop and finds Lucy sitting alone. She seems upset.
GIOVANNI: Can I sit?
LUCY: You would look silly standing.
Giovanni sits down.
GIOVANNI: Thank you.
Lucy smiles.
GIOVANNI: That’s a different smile.
LUCY: Yup.
GIOVANNI: Yup? That doesn’t sound like you.
LUCY: Who’s me?
GIOVANNI: I guess I don’t know.
She smiles.
GIOVANNI: It’s different. I’m not saying I don’t like it, I just like the other one better.
Lucy waits.
GIOVANNI: Any chance I might get that one again some time soon?
LUCY: I don’t know.
GIOVANNI: Fair enough.
LUCY: Tell you the truth, I like the other one better too, but it’s just one of those things. This one, the new one? It means something, just like the other one did.
GIOVANNI: I’m not saying I don’t like them both.
LUCY: You already said and that’s not the point.
GIOVANNI: Then what’s the point?
LUCY: You tell me.
GIOVANNI: Okay. The point is this…
LUCY: Can I interrupt you?
GIOVANNI: I haven’t even started yet.
LUCY: Is that a no?
GIOVANNI: Have I earned the right to be making decisions around the area of what you can or can’t do?
LUCY: Absolutely not.
GIOVANNI: I didn’t think so.
LUCY: Okay. I want the truth. I don’t want a lot of talk. I say that because you’re good at it.
GIOVANNI: Thank you.
LUCY: I don’t know if that’s a compliment. It could have been, not just now, then. Before.
Giovanni looks confused.
LUCY: Forget it. Just tell me the truth. Be honest.
GIOVANNI: I like you.
LUCY: Not good enough.
GIOVANNI: It’s God’s honest.
LUCY: Then what happened?
GIOVANNI: Nothing happened.
LUCY: Thank God, or I would have been really upset.
GIOVANNI: You’re not upset now?
LUCY: You’re changing the subject.
GIOVANNI: I’m not.
LUCY: Don’t be quick with me.
GIOVANNI: What do you want?
LUCY: Truth.
GIOVANNI: I’m an idiot. What happened? Me. I happened.
LUCY: Well?
GIOVANNI: It won’t happen again.
LUCY: Just like that?
GIOVANNI: I’m hoping.
LUCY: Not good enough either.
GIOVANNI: Boy, you’re tough.
LUCY: I didn’t have to be.
Giovanni waits.
LUCY: I had such a good time with you.
GIOVANNI: Can’t we do it again?
LUCY: I’d like that.
GIOVANNI: You wanna get hitched?
LUCY: Excuse me?
GIOVANNI: I’m a true blue kinda guy.
LUCY: You’re insane.
GIOVANNI: I just wanna prove to you that I don’t have the urge to not call you after a great time in which neither of us took our clothes off. I know you know, you thanked God for Christ’s sake, but here, this. I wanna make a point.
LUCY: You are unbelievable.
GIOVANNI: And I think the same about you, so what gives?
LUCY: Hello, is anybody home?
GIOVANNI: I don’t appreciate that.
LUCY: And I don’t appreciate this.
Lucy gets up.
GIOVANNI: Sit down, you look silly.
LUCY: What the hell is it? I like you! Can’t you see that? Why didn’t you call me?
Giovanni stands up.
GIOVANNI: I don’t know. You see, I got no upside down clue about what the hell I’m doing here. I just asked you to wear my jacket, and I don’t even know you. You see this. I don’t know. Who does? All I can say is that you’re a shine in the rough, okay, and I dig you. I made a mistake. You know sometimes you just think you know who you are but then later you find out something completely different. Life’s a goof. What can I say! What can I say? I’ll tell you what I can say. I dig you like the trees dig the wind, and I had a small amount of stress behind the way things went down, if you wanna know the truth. I don’t wanna get married, I just wanna see you. I don’t know. I like the way your eyes look. I made a gigantic error, which I’m willing to cop to here. Come with me is all. That’s all I’m saying.
LUCY: I want to, that’s what I’m saying, but you can’t do that.
GIOVANNI: Which part?
LUCY: Any of it. You gotta sit. You gotta stick around for the ending. You can’t just make one the way you think it’s gonna go. You gotta play. This is it. This is life. You can’t just push the button every time you feel something. That’s bullshit.
GIOVANNI: What’s the button?
LUCY: The button!
GIOVANNI: I don’t know what the button is.
LUCY: The button.
GIOVANNI: Would you stop saying that. They’re gonna throw us outta here.
LUCY: Oh, let ’em.
She sits down. Giovanni does, too.
LUCY: You wanna know something?
GIOVANNI: I want to know it all.
LUCY: My mom was in the hospital.
GIOVANNI: When?
LUCY: It doesn’t matter. You want to hear about the button or not?
GIOVANNI: Hundred percent.
LUCY: She was sick, so she had the medicine, or the medicine made her sick. I don’t know. One or the other.
Giovanni tilts his head.
LUCY: You look like a cat.
Giovanni straightens up.
LUCY: She was on the button. Every time she could feel pain, she could push the button. And I asked her what she wanted. I mean, the woman was dying and that’s what you ask, right? I mean, in that situation, that’s what comes up. That’s what you gotta say. What do you want? Maybe it’s gonna be crab legs, who knows. But you know what she says?
GIOVANNI: I don’t.
LUCY: She says she wants the button. She wants to go through life and every time she feels pain, she wants to hit the button.
GIOVANNI: Yeah?
LUCY: No. The answer is no. Shit, I’d like a button, we’d all like a button, but that’s not life; that’s not what it’s all about. You can’t just hit the button every time something comes up. It’s just not the way things work out. You see?
Giovanni takes a beat. And another.
GIOVANNI: I do.
LUCY: Would you kiss me?
GIOVANNI: Do you mind if I cry a little, too?
LUCY: That’s fine.
He does both at the same time.
LIGHTS OUT