The girls’ apartment. LEIGH stands, holding her cell phone. It’s flipped open. Immediately—
VOICEMAIL LADY (From the phone.) You have seven new messages. First message:
HALEY (Through the phone.) Hey hon it’s Haley. After we talked last night—
LEIGH hits delete.
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. Next Message.
HALEY Sorry—I got cut …
Delete.
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. Next Message.
HALEY I hope you’re ok. I …
Delete.
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. Next Message.
HALEY Leigh I’m worried that …
Delete.
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. Next Message.
HALEY Is this …
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. Next Message.
HALEY You had better … !
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. Next Message.
HALEY WHY WO … ?!?!
VOICEMAIL LADY Deleted. No new messages.
HALEY (From offstage, approaching, yelling.) I’m here! LEIGH! LEIGH OPEN YOUR DOOR!
There is a knock at the door.
LEIGH Shit.
She opens the door.
HALEY is holding a bottle of wine and a balloon.
HALEY This is for you. Well come on. Put your arms around me and let’s do what normal girls do when they haven’t seen each other in a while.
LEIGH I’m not going to let you weasel your way into this.
HALEY Into what?
LEIGH You need to leave.
HALEY No. Not gonna happen. I packed up for this and came all the way up here! I cannot believe Jimmy had to call me and tell me to check in on you. Were you really not going to tell me this was going on?
LEIGH You are not involved in this, do you understand me?
HALEY Is that why it took you two hours to pick up one of my calls last night?
LEIGH Yes!
HALEY We’re movin’ on up, Sis! And I’ll be here to help you deal with your convenient tragedy.
LEIGH Haley—listen—I would rather you not stay.
HALEY Well I’d rather be able to afford a Heineken but sometimes bitch just gotta drink Miller Light. What kind of sister would I be if I just let you deal with this whole thing on your own?
LEIGH One who was respectful of my wishes?
HALEY Yeah. That’ll be the day. How’s college life? Generations of our ancestors are dying to know. I like what you’ve done with the place. Very “dressing for the job you want” of you.
LEIGH The lease is up in two months. Where are you living?
HALEY With Rico at the Super 8 in Waterbury. You wouldn’t believe it. More trouble with the lawsuit. Get this—Apparently … you can’t sue a child.
LEIGH Why is he trying to sue a child?
HALEY But he’s promised me a Pomeranian.
LEIGH Well I hope it works out.
HALEY Me too. Though we’ve been having trouble communicating lately. It might just be the language barrier, but I have this fear that if his English was better we’d find out that we have nothing in common. And that scares me, Leigh. It really does. But, you know, as long as I get my Pomeranian. So … come on … What’s new with you?
LEIGH Well I mean the past couple of days have been kind of rough.
HALEY No no. Just ’cause you got raped doesn’t mean that’s all that’s happening in the world. I want to know what’s going on with you.
LEIGH This is so—
HALEY Have you seen any new movies?
LEIGH You have to be nicer to me.
HALEY Oh, Leigh. You know that somewhere, in the back of your mind, tucked under all of your “despair” this ended up being a good thing.
LEIGH This situation is super fragile, ok? Why did you think that it was alright to come up here?
HALEY Well I’m going to protect you first and foremost. But I’m also here to watch the girl who always lands on her feet.
LEIGH I’m just doing what I have to do.
HALEY Alright—so let’s talk. This guy. The defendant. Is he hot?
LEIGH HALEY!
HALEY What is he telling people? Let’s go over there and get a confession out of him. I’m wearing a new bra and my cell phone records things even through my bag.
LEIGH We’re not going anywhere.
HALEY We need to lock this up and shut this down, Leigh. If Jimmy leaves you, I’ll have no way to make Rico feel bad about himself. And then how else am I supposed to get things?
LEIGH I have to go get my laundry before Grace gets back.
HALEY Fine. Fine. We’ll talk about something else. You’re also being very secretive about what movies you’ve seen so I don’t know what there is left to talk about.
LEIGH Look—I’m not required to let you stay here.
HALEY Better to keep me close, girlie. If I’m on the loose, you just don’t know what I’ll do.
HALEY I’m either for you or against you. What’ll it be? (Beat.)
LEIGH Where are you going to sleep?
HALEY In your bed.
LEIGH No.
HALEY Can’t you sleep at Jimmy’s? He’s not leaving you, right?
LEIGH No.
HALEY I mean post-“miscarriage” he’s still loving you, right?
LEIGH Lucky enough, yes.
HALEY Good. The last thing I need is your poor ass all alone in the big bad world. You got any chips?
LEIGH Chips?
HALEY Chips. Salty. Tostitos. Doritos. Chips. You got chips?
LEIGH You can check the pantry.
HALEY Pantry. Listen to you. “Pantry.” From food bucket to pantry. Wouldn’t Dad be proud.
LEIGH Who?
HALEY You know. Think back. Dad. Dad. The man with the belt and the beer.
LEIGH Nope. Must have blocked him out.
HALEY I remember him whenever I want to wear a backless shirt.
HALEY laughs, trying to connect with LEIGH on that. No luck.
Come on. He was always screwing that woman who never fed us. You remember. Asking Mom for lunch?
LEIGH It’s not something real people eat.
HALEY It only happened on TV.
LEIGH How the hell did she come up with that?
HALEY How the hell did we believe that bitch for so long?
LEIGH I don’t know. But thank God for Daniel Decker.
HALEY What? Why?
LEIGH I would always make sure that I was playing with him around noon so that his mom would invite me in for some food.
HALEY And you didn’t tell me?
LEIGH You always tried to kiss Daniel Decker and then he’d run away.
HALEY I was starving. For years. I used to go to bed early so I wouldn’t be awake to feel the hungry.
LEIGH Daniel’s mom would make like turkey and cheese sandwiches. Not steak. Chill out.
HALEY You stupid cunt.
LEIGH Haley!
HALEY It will always be the same, won’t it? Everything works out for you. You play tag with Daniel Decker and you get a good meal on the table. You lie to Jimmy about being pregnant so the fool will stay with you and then you are lucky enough to get raped. Everything falls right into your lap.
LEIGH I wasn’t lucky Haley. That boy rejected me for years and the one time I say “no” he thinks “yes.”
HALEY Well if you didn’t have something to blame the miscarriage on, you would have to produce a baby in nine months and we get CNN at the Super 8 and I know that when people steal babies from hospitals, it never works out.
LEIGH Oh come on, I would never steal a baby.
HALEY I wouldn’t put it past you.
LEIGH God—am I a monster? Is that what everyone thinks?
HALEY Maybe. But that doesn’t mean bad shit can’t happen to you too. Did you do what we used to do?
LEIGH What?
HALEY Did you count down from 200?
LEIGH nods.
Ok. Anyway, I think I want to start taking classes.
LEIGH Really?
HALEY Yeah! Isn’t this exciting?
LEIGH What kind of classes?
HALEY Just classes. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.
LEIGH Hey—that’s step one.
HALEY And once this is all said and done, I’ll have the money to afford them.
LEIGH Don’t talk like that.
HALEY Oh honey, I got no problem being a dog as long as someone throws me a bone. I’ve also decided that I am going to only wear shirts with low low necklines. It’s time for me to start taking control of my life.
LEIGH Alright. You sit here. Don’t move. Don’t touch anything. Don’t talk to anyone. I’m going to get my laundry. You’ve got your chips right? You’re good with the chips? Just sit and stay. Do you understand me?
HALEY Woof woof. Tail wag. Ear flop. Poop in your bed.
HALEY stares at LEIGH.
LEIGH exits.
HALEY looks around the apartment. She picks up a pillow and looks at the tag on it.
HALEY Crate and Barrel?
After a beat, she puts the pillow down on the couch, unbuckles her pants and pulls them down just enough so that her butt is out. She rubs her butt on the pillow.
GRACE enters through the front door.
GRACE (As she enters.) Hello?!
HALEY frantically pulls up her pants.
HALEY I wasn’t even doing anything!
GRACE Oh! I’m sorry. Umm … Can I help you with something? Where’s Leigh?
HALEY She had to go get her laundry.
GRACE I’m Grace.
HALEY I figured. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Haley. Her sister.
GRACE Oh my God! I thought you’d never come visit!
HALEY Leigh told me that you didn’t like house guests.
GRACE What? That’s not true. (Beat.) Well this is great. When did you get in?
HALEY Not long ago. I like your bandage.
GRACE That’s weird but thank you. (Beat.) So … What’s been going on?