Previously: Tea: During our first marriage, I would touch you and you would pull away. I would sit next to you on the sofa and you would jump up and leave the room.
Todd: I probably had other things to do.
Tea: You were nervous...uncomfortable...scared. Why?
[Todd stares at her eyes as she continues to caress his face. Her voice is soft and feels almost hypnotic to him. He finds himself tempted to answer her questions, to tell her everything...or, almost everything. He knows that if they continue this, it could become dangerous. He could reveal too much. He could open himself up too much to her. Opening himself up in the past has almost always led to regret for him. As he studies her eyes, though, he's almost convinced that it would be okay to risk everything and let her deeper inside himself.]
Tea: It's okay, Todd. We don't have to talk.
Todd: Do you want to go to sleep now?
Tea: Not yet.
[Todd accepts the reality that Tea will continue to be intimately close to him, touching him, because he knows that he won't be asking her to stop what she's doing. Despite every warning signal going off in his head, he feels unable to stop this intimate moment.
Tea revels in the opportunity to be so close to him, to touch him, to look at him, to openly adore him.
Several more minutes pass with Tea continuing to gently caress his face.]
Tea: Todd?
[Todd doesn't respond. He just continues to stare into her eyes with an intense gaze.]
Tea: Would you like to touch me?
Todd: I thought I was. My face is touching your hand, isn't it?
Tea: That's not what I meant.
Todd: I know what you meant.
[Tea lowers her hands and slides them inside his unbuttoned shirt. She places them around his back as she brings her face close to his and closes her eyes as she rests her forehead against his.
For several moments, they both stay completely still, allowing themselves to simply feel their closeness, both physical and emotional.]
Todd: Tea, what is this?
[Tea opens her eyes and moves her head slightly away from his.]
Tea: What?
Todd: This. What the hell is this?
Tea: I don't know what you're referring to.
Todd: Yeah, you do. Why are you doing this? Why are you pretending?
Tea: I'm not pretending. I enjoy being near you.
[Tea pulls her hands out of his shirt. One of her hands smoothes his hair at the back of his head while the other lightly caresses his chin and lips.]
Tea: I enjoy touching you.
Todd: Why?
Tea: Because it's you.
Todd: No. Tell me the truth.
Tea: I am. I feel safe with you.
Todd: Liar!
Tea: With you, I'm more honest than I've ever been with anyone, including myself, in some ways.
Todd: That makes no sense.
Tea: I love you.
Todd: That makes even less sense.
Tea: I'm scared.
Todd: Finally! The truth.
Tea: I'm not scared of you.
Todd: Now you're lying again.
Tea: All things positive are not lies and all things negative are not the truth.
Todd: Yeah, they are.
Tea: If you touch me, or look at me, or speak to me, in a way that makes me feel loved, that isn't a bad thing.
Todd: It is if you believe it.
Tea: Because you don't love me?
Todd: Because you'll get hurt. Everyone that I've ever loved has gotten hurt.
Tea: I want you to love me.
Todd: Don't you pay attention?
Tea: I pay attention to how I feel when I'm with you. I pay attention to how I think you feel when you're with me.
Todd: How do you think I feel?
Tea: I hope you feel loved.
Todd: Because you think you love me?
Tea: Because I know that I love you. I know that I will always love you.
Todd: There's no such thing. We both know that. We both have known that since we were kids.
Tea: You still love your mother, don't you?
[Todd looks away. Tea knows that he's tempted to end what they're doing immediately because she crossed a line that she knew she shouldn't have crossed.]
Tea: I still love my mother.
Todd: She doesn't deserve it.
Tea: Maybe not. I don't know. I just know that I do still love her. I still miss her. I still wish that I could go back to a time before she left, before love became a question mark. Don't you ever feel like that? Don't you ever wish that you could go back to feeling loved without question.
Todd: It's different for you.
Tea: I know it is. But, I don't think that you would love her, and miss her, as much as you do, if you had never felt loved by her.
[Todd continues to refuse Tea eye contact. She brings her forehead back to his and closes her eyes again.]
Tea: I'm not an expert at love. We both know that. I'm not very good at this. I don't have as much experience as you do. I don't know if it's because there really haven't been very many people who have truly loved me, or if it's because after my mother left I felt so incapable of being loved. I want to believe that she loved me because it felt like she did before she left. But, she did leave and that made me question if she really had loved me. Anytime anyone claims they love me, I question it. I doubt it. I analyze it until I come up with the reason why they're saying it. It never seems to be because they really do love me. It's because we're related. It's because they feel sorry for me. It's because they want to have sex. There's always a reason to explain away why they're using that word and it's never because they really feel it for me. Maybe they think they do, but if they really knew me, they wouldn't feel that way about me...they wouldn't be able to love me. My mother knew me and she...
[Tea stops speaking. It hurts too much. She wants so much to feel loved but she's spent years feeling unable to allow that feeling to penetrate into the depths of her soul because she feared ever again feeling the devastating pain of losing that love like she did when her mother left her.]
Tea: Put your arms around me.
Todd: No.
[Tea pulls away, hurt. She feels that she made a mistake allowing herself to feel vulnerable with him. She wants to retreat until it doesn't hurt anymore, but she knows from experience that it's only with him that she feels she has a chance to truly lessen the intense pain inside of herself.]
Todd: Tea...
Tea: It's okay. I understand.
[Tea removes her body from his.]
Todd: No, you don't.
Tea: I really do. I know that you want to distance yourself right now. I want that, too. We'll just go to sleep, okay?
Todd: You don't want distance right now, Tea.
Tea: I do.
Todd: No, you don't. You wish you did. You want to want that. You want to need that. You hate that right now you need to be with me, that you need to touch me, that you need to talk to me. You hate needing me, but you can't help it. Something is screwed up inside you. That part of you that is supposed to do whatever it has to do to protect you from moments like this, from all these feelings, isn't doing it's job right.
[Tea knows that, although he may be speaking with some accuracy about her, he's really talking about himself.]
Tea: What are you saying, Todd?
[Todd surprises Tea by taking off his shirt and lying down on his stomach.]
Todd: Go ahead.
Tea: I don't understand.
Todd: This will be easier if we're not looking at each other. So, go ahead.
[Tea thinks that she understands what he's suggesting. She's shocked, though, that he would allow this moment to continue. She thought that she could count on him to put an end to it and now he's making it clear that he wants to continue.
Despite her own internal instincts to end this moment and retreat, knowing that he's fighting against his own instincts by trying to continue forces her to ignore her own internal battles, even if she knows that the results could potentially be devastating.
Cautiously, Tea's hand reaches out and begins to lightly caress his bare back.]
[Tea caresses Todd's back for several moments, carefully monitoring his response, making certain that he did, in fact, want her to continue touching him in this moment.]
Todd: Don't you think you could do a better job if you changed your position?
Tea: What do you mean?
Todd: You know what I mean.
Tea: Tell me.
Todd: You can't really give a good massage positioned the way you are.
Tea: Is that what you want? A massage?
Todd: I want this to be over. That's not an option so give it your best shot.
Tea: Why isn't that an option?
[Todd doesn't respond. His head is resting on a combination of his folded arms and the pillow clutched within his arms. She can see his face but his eyes are closed and his facial expression offers no outward signs of emotion.
Despite her own internal desire to stop what they've been doing and retreat to the safety of sleep, she can't allow herself to give up this opportunity to continue to be so close to him...caressing him...sharing with him.
Tea places her hands on his bare back as she brings her leg over his body and straddles him again. She quickly begins to message his back and shoulders, not wanting to give him time to change his mind.
Several minutes into the massage, she can still feel how tense he is as his body refuses to relax.]
Tea: Has touch always been painful for you?
Todd: If I have to suffer through this, couldn't you at least ask questions you don't already know the answers to?
Tea: I know that my touch has always been painful for you. I'm wondering if it was painful when you were a little boy.
Todd: You think it tickled when Peter did stuff to me?
Tea: No, of course not. For some children, though, touch of any kind, even good touches, are uncomfortable. Was it like that for you?
Todd: You think I was born like this?
Tea: Do you think you were? What was it like when your mother touched you?
Todd: What was it like when your father touched you?
Tea: He didn't...not very often.
Todd: Did he ever knock you around?
Tea: No.
Todd: Did he yell at you and call you names?
Tea: No. You must think that my complaints about my childhood are...
Todd: Nothing compared to mine?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: They're not. That doesn't mean that you weren't miserable. And, obviously you grew up to be incredibly screwed up. You're with me, aren't you?
Tea: I'm happy that I'm with you.
Todd: You don't have to keep trying to convince me. I already know you're nuts.
Tea: It's not nuts.
Todd: Think what you want to.
Tea: I will.
[There is silence again for several moments as Tea continues massaging Todd's back.]
Tea: How does it feel when Starr touches you?
Todd: Don't go there.
Tea: I'm not asking you to reveal why you're avoiding her, although I am curious...
Todd: If you don't back off...
Tea: Fine. We'll talk about something else.
Todd: Why do we have to talk at all?
Tea: So we can get to know each other better.
Todd: We know all we need to know.
Tea: Do we?
Todd: We've been together every second of the last couple of weeks. We know way too much about each other now.
Tea: Are you glad that we came on this journey together, despite everything?
Todd: It's better than the alternative.
Tea: Which would be...?
Todd: It doesn't matter.
[They are both silent again for several moments.]
Todd: Aren't you going to drag it out of me?
Tea: What?
Todd: The alternative.
Tea: It's being alone, isn't it?
Todd: No.
Tea: There was someone else that you would have been with if you hadn't come back for me?
Todd: Yeah, there was someone I was spending too much time with for a while there.
Tea: Someone you care about?
Todd: Not really.
[Several minutes of silence pass between them. Todd can sense a change in the way Tea is touching him, although she does continue her massage of his back.]
Todd: Don't you want to ask me tons of questions? Don't you want details?
Tea: No.
Todd: What if I wanted to tell you?
Tea: If it was important to you, I would try to listen.
Todd: But, you don't really want to know?
Tea: No, I don't. It's hard enough for me to know that there were people before me that you could share yourself with. I really don't want to think about you sharing yourself with anyone who came after me, too.
Todd: You think you're the only one that I couldn't share myself with?
Tea: Am I?
Todd: What if you are?
Tea: Why?
[Tea has stopped massaging his back. She continues to straddle his body, though, as she dreads where the conversation is now turning. Even more than before, her internal defenses want to force her to escape the pain that she knows lies ahead if they continue on this topic.]
Todd: This is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to get away from.
Tea: This person wanted you to open up?
Todd: Everyone wants that, for some reason. Everybody seems to get a thrill out of digging around inside Todd Manning. I don't know why. There's nothing but a bunch of disgusting stuff inside me.
Tea: So, you thought you'd avoid this person's probing by being with me instead?
Todd: It's not that simple.
Tea: Nothing with you is.
Todd: If I tell you something, Delgado, do you promise me that you'll never tell anyone...ever?
Tea: Of course.
Todd: I'm serious. Even if I'm on trial and you think that you can get me off with this ammo, you have to promise me that you'll never use it against me like Sam did.
Tea (confused): Sam?
Todd: I told him never to tell anyone what he thought he knew. He did it anyway. He didn't care. He just wanted to blab it to everyone. He pretended that he gave a damn about me and all he cared about was winning his case.
Tea: If you're referring to what I think you're referring to, winning that case would mean that you could be free. That's why he wanted to use whatever information he had. He wanted to ensure your freedom.
Todd: Freedom? Is that what that agony was? I'm sure he convinced himself that he was doing something good and noble, though. He's like that. And, he never understood.
Tea: What didn't he understand?
[Todd is silent for a long time before he speaks again.]
Todd: This was a stupid idea. I can't trust anyone.
Tea: You can trust me.
Todd: I'm glad that tape played. I'm glad...
Tea: What are you glad about?
[Todd is again silent. Tea senses how vulnerable he feels in this moment. She knows that he wants to shut down. She also senses that he needs to tell her something, that he needs to tell someone his secret. She thinks that she knows what it is. She wants him to feel safe telling her...revealing himself to her. She wants him to feel safe being vulnerable with her.
She doesn't know how to show him that she's willing to be vulnerable with him...to share her vulnerability with him while he's sharing his with her. All she can think of is to equal his physical vulnerability as a sign to him.
Tea quickly removes her shirt and tosses it on the floor. She brings her body down to his so that her bare chest is resting against his bare back.]
[Tea relaxes her body on top of Todd's. Her hands rest on the upper portion of his arms where he has them wrapped around the pillow his head is resting on. Her bare chest is pressed firmly into his bare back.
She lowers her voice as she speaks softly to him.]
Tea: You don't have to tell me anything. I mean that. I really do. You can trust me with every secret, but you never have to tell me any of them. Your secrets are yours. You decide who knows them.
Todd: That's not what Sam thought.
Tea: He was fighting for your freedom. You're right, though, he shouldn't have told without your permission.
Todd: I gave him that.
Tea: What?
Todd: Permission.
Tea: I don't understand.
Todd: He tried to use it against me at that hearing.
Tea: I remember him trying to bring up your childhood, in the hopes that the judge would drop the charges.
Todd: Was there any chance of that happening?
Tea: Honestly...no.
Todd: I didn't think so. He was going to tell everyone and it wouldn't have made any difference.
Tea: You collapsed, though, before he could tell very much. If you hadn't testified later at the trial, no one would know.
Todd: No one knows now.
Tea: You testified...
Todd (interrupting): Only you believed it. And, Viki, I guess. Sam had already assumed it. No one else believed it, except maybe the jury. I put on a good show for them, huh?
Tea: Yeah, it was a good show. It gave you your freedom, just like you wanted.
Todd: No...it trapped me. But, then that tape played after our wedding.
Tea: Are you really glad that happened?
Todd: Damn right! Every single person who thought, even for a second, that it might be true, knew after that tape played that it had all been a lie that I made up just to keep my butt out of prison. Even Viki and Sam had to seriously question it after that. You were the only one who still knew. You're the only one who knows.
[Tea immediately turns her head from where it's resting on his shoulder and quickly kisses his flesh.
Despite everything that had happened after that tape played on their wedding night, apparently revealing that Todd had faked a personality disorder to stay out of prison, Tea could never quite convince herself that it had all been a lie. There were too many moments spent alone before, during and after the trial, that even looking back on through her later anger, she knew those moments had been genuine. Whether he had a personality disorder, or was faking one, she knew that certain moments had been real. Certain truths had been revealed during that time.]
Tea: So, that tape playing...
Todd: It gave it back to me. It wasn't out there anymore...not with most people, anyway. If people didn't believe it then it didn't happen.
Tea: Why did you leave?
[Todd doesn't respond.]
Tea: I'm not asking...
[Tea pauses for a moment. She certainly wants to know why he left her and stayed away so long...why he didn't stay and try to win her back.]
Tea: Did you leave because of that? Was that part of the reason?
Todd: Yeah...part of it. Everything was screwed up. I was screwed up. I knew that everyone else would think it was a lie. I knew that you wouldn't, though. I knew that when you stopped being ticked off at me, you would start asking questions. I never wanted to answer those questions. I never wanted you to know.
Tea: You left so I would always wonder? You'd rather be apart and have me wonder than to be with me and have me know?
Todd: Yeah.
Tea: Why?
Todd: You know why.
Tea: It doesn't change anything.
Todd: It changes everything.
Tea: Not for me.
Todd: That's a lie.
Tea: That's the truth. You knew that when you came back for me. You knew that I had spent more than a year analyzing everything. You knew that I would go over the court transcripts. You knew I would go over the psychiatrist's report. You knew...
Todd: I knew you'd drive yourself crazy trying to figure out if I had really been crazy...if I had really been...
Tea: I love you.
Todd: No, you don't.
Tea: I do. I swear to you that I do.
Todd: Get off me.
[Todd shrugs his body slightly, letting her know that he doesn't want physical closeness anymore.]
Tea: Todd...
Todd (raising his voice): Get the hell off me!
[Tea removes her body from his and lays to his side. She tries to caress his back but he quickly jumps off the bed.]
Tea: Are you planning to leave? Is that why you told me now? You want an excuse to leave me?
Todd: I didn't tell you a damn thing.
[Tea knows that she would be risking everything by saying the words that Todd has purposely been avoiding but she believes that he needs for this to finally be in the open, without any question about the truth of the statement.]
Tea: You just told me that your father raped you.
[For several excruciating moments, Tea watches Todd silently standing near the solitary window in their small motel room. He has the curtain drawn back just enough for him to see through a small opening. He stares blankly out the window, wishing he were anywhere else right now but where she is...because she knows.
After several minutes, he walks back toward the bed, grabs the remote control and turns on the television. He sits on the floor at the foot of the bed and stares at the television.
Several minutes later...]
Todd: You still awake?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: Hand me the cookies.
[Tea reaches over to the nightstand next to the bed and picks up the plate that Todd had left there earlier. She crawls down the length of the bed and holds out the plate for him. He takes it.
Tea lays her body out so that she's right behind Todd, her head facing him. She moves his hair out of the way and kisses him briefly on the cheek before resting her head on the bed next to where his is resting. Her arms go around his upper body from her position above, and behind, him.
Todd doesn't acknowledge their physical intimacy but he doesn't push her away either. He continues to stare at the television, and pretends he doesn't notice her physical presence until she, to his relief, finally falls asleep.]
[Todd waits until he knows that Tea is definitely asleep before he slowly moves away from her.
He moves around the room, turning off all the light, including the television. He wants to be in the dark. Actually, he wants to be alone in the dark. But, he's not alone...Tea is with him. He wants to change that. He wants to leave, to escape while he can, while she sleeps. He knows that if he did he would be making her nightmares come true but if he stayed his own nightmares threaten to come true, instead. It's a difficult decision for him to make.
Several hours later...
Tea awakens. She's still lying on the bed, on her stomach, her arms draped over the end of the bed. The only difference from when she fell asleep earlier is that Todd is no longer in her arms.]
Tea (groggily): Todd?
[There's no response. Tea quickly begins to panic as she recalls the events prior to her falling asleep. She sits up and looks around the darkened room, desperately hoping that her fears won't be realized again...that he hasn't left her.
She's finally able to relax a little as she spots him, fully dressed, slumped in a chair near the small kitchen area.]
Tea (relief evident in her voice): You're still here.
Todd (disgust with himself evident in his voice): I couldn't leave.
Tea: That's not a bad thing.
Todd: I should have left.
Tea: No, you shouldn't have.
Todd: Go back to sleep. I'm not in the mood.
Tea: You're not in the mood for the truth?
Todd: Just go back to sleep.
Tea: So, you can watch me sleep?
Todd: Yeah, sure, tell yourself that. Just go back to sleep.
Tea: You haven't slept yet, have you?
Todd: Has anyone ever told you that your ability to deduct the obvious is incredible?
Tea: How late is it?
Todd: How the hell should I know? Look at the clock.
Tea: If it's not too late, you can go out and get some beer.
Todd: You're not afraid I won't come back?
Tea: Okay, we can order a pizza and some beer and have it delivered.
Todd: You're not supposed to drink when you're knocked up, remember?
Tea: It's for you.
Todd: You want me to get drunk?
Tea: No, but that's what you want. You're already belligerent, anyway, so you might as well go ahead and get drunk, too.
Todd: Give me a few more minutes. I haven't even built up to belligerent yet. Besides, the last time I had a little bit to drink...
Tea: A little?
Todd: You got all ticked off at me. You embarrassed me in front of some pathetic low wage earner when you had the booze removed from our room. Do you remember any of that?
Tea: I remember last night very well.
Todd: It's after midnight. It was the night before last, now.
Tea: I thought you didn't know what time it is.
Todd: Go back to sleep.
Tea: Come over here and sleep with me. You must be tired.
Todd: Yeah, I'm tired...tired of you.
Tea: Then why are you still here?
Todd: I wish I knew.
[More than a minute of silence passes between them before Tea speaks again, breaking the uncomfortable silence.]
Tea: Why did you tell me?
Todd: You may have assumed something last night but I didn't tell you anything.
Tea: Fine. Why did you want me to assume that?
[Todd doesn't respond.]
Tea: I know that you had a reason. I think that you've been waiting for an opportunity to bring that up on this trip. Haven't you?
Todd: Why would I want that?
Tea: Because you wanted me to know. You were right...I already knew. But, you wanted to know that I knew. Why?
Todd: Maybe I owed you.
Tea: Owed me what?
Todd: Go to sleep, Tea. If I'm here when you wake up in the morning, we'll forget last night ever happened.
Tea: I don't want to forget.
Todd: You like thinking about that? Does it turn you on?
Tea: No, of course not.
Todd: You sure about that?
Tea: Of course, I am. I don't enjoy thinking about it. I don't enjoy the fact that it happened.
Todd: Some people would. It would put a big grin on their faces. You can go back to Llanview. You can tell everyone. No one would feel sorry for me. They would all get a kick out of knowing.
Tea: I will never tell anyone, Todd. You know that. You know that you can trust me.
Todd: I can't trust anyone, including myself.
Tea: I'm glad that you told me. I'm glad that you trusted me with your secret.
Todd: You're glad that it happened, just admit it.
Tea: Why would you think that I would ever be glad that something like that happened to you?
Todd: Poetic justice?
Tea: I don't think that any justice ever truly comes out of that act.
Todd: There's a bunch of people back in Llanview that would disagree with you. They would be thrilled to know what he did.
Tea: They'll never hear it from me.
Todd: Someday, you'll be really ticked off at me...
Tea: It won't happen. You trusted me. I'll honor that trust.
Todd: We'll see about that.
Tea: Come to bed. We both need sleep.
Todd: You might need that but I don't.
Tea: Yes, you do, if you want to drive tomorrow.
Todd: I can't sleep.
Tea: Okay, we'll stay up and talk, instead.
Todd: You think you'll trick me into trying to sleep with that threat?
Tea: I've had a nap. I'm ready to talk for hours. Are there any cookies left?
Todd: Nope.
Tea: You ate all of them yourself?
Todd: You snooze, you lose...literally.
Tea: You'll be sick.
Todd: I needed something to cleanse my palette after I was daring enough to eat your cooking last night.
Tea: Who were you talking about last night?
Todd: What are you talking about now?
Tea: Last night, you said that there was someone you had been spending time with, someone who was trying to probe inside you. Who were you referring to?
Todd: I thought you didn't want details.
Tea: I do if it was your shrink.
Todd: What makes you think that?
Tea: I'm just wondering if that was who you were referring to.
[There is silence again. Tea is again the one who breaks it.]
Tea: If you were with someone else, a female someone else, it's okay.
Todd: It is?
Tea: You're human.
Todd: That's questionable.
Tea: You're a man.
Todd: I'll give you that one.
Tea: If you spent time with another woman...or women...while we were apart, I can accept that.
Todd: That's generous of you, considering the fact that you were screwing half of Llanview.
Tea: Two people. That is not half of Llanview.
Todd: It's still two more than you should have been screwing.
Tea: I don't want to have this fight with you again.
Todd: Then why did you bring it up? Why are you shoving it in my face again.
Tea: I'm not doing that and you know it.
Todd: All I know is that you screwed around on me.
Tea: I had some brief relationships, after our marriage was over, which was after you abandoned me on our wedding night.
Todd: You always manage to make it seem like that was my fault.
Tea: Maybe because it was.
Todd: If you don't want to be with me anymore, just admit it. You don't have to keep starting these stupid fights.
Tea: This is not a fight.
Todd: It sounds like one to me.
Tea: Well, it's not. I just wanted to know more about your psychiatrist. Or, is he a psychologist?
Todd: He's a shrink.
Tea: Fine. Tell me about your shrink.
Todd: Why do you care?
Tea: Because you do.
Todd: I don't give a damn about that idiot.
Tea: Then why did you come back to me?
Todd: You're not making any sense...I mean, more than normal.
Tea: I think he advised you to come back to me and you took his advice.
Todd: You don't think I could come up with that idea on my own?
Tea: I think he encouraged you. Either that, or your therapy started to get too close to some truths that you didn't want to face. Or, maybe you didn't want to face them alone.
Todd: So, you think I came and got you so I could reveal those truths to you, instead?
Tea: Did you?
Todd: You've got some ego.
Tea: Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me that the person you referred to earlier was some slut and not your shrink.
Todd: A slut, huh? Are you jealous?
Tea: Not of your shrink.
Todd: But you would be of a slut?
Tea: If you were with someone else, in that way, yes, I would be jealous. But I don't care about the past. I don't care who you've been with, or when. As long as I'm the only person that you want to be with now, and in the future, that's all that matters. Am I?
[A long, uncomfortable silence descends upon the room again.]
Tea: Do you accept my past?
Todd: No.
Tea: I accept yours.
Todd: You don't know what you're accepting.
Tea: I don't need to know.
Todd: You don't want to know how many chicks I've banged? You don't want all the filthy details?
Tea: No.
Todd: Are you sure about that? It's been a long time since I've had anyone I could really brag to.
Tea: Well, find someone else if that's what you so desperately want to do.
Todd: You're no fun.
Tea: How many people have you made love to?
Todd: Now you want the dirt?
Tea: Not unimportant sluts you've banged it to...people that you've truly made love to.
Todd: A good slut is never unimportant. They're quite valuable, actually. It's hard to find a good slut when you need one. You should know about that.
Tea (angrily): If you're calling me a...
Todd (quickly interrupting): I meant a male slut to fill your needs...you know, like my nephew.
Tea: Well, Kevin may be a slut but he's not a very good one.
Todd: Meow.
Tea: I shouldn't have said that.
Todd: It's a good thing we never screwed. You'd be telling everyone how lousy I was.
Tea: I don't think you could be lousy.
Todd: You haven't screwed me yet.
Tea: It won't be about that.
Todd: What do you think it will be about? Sex is sex.
Tea: Making love is making love.
Todd: What if you don't enjoy it like you think you will?
Tea: That can't possibly happen.
Todd (laughing): Right!
Tea: It can't. I've had great sex in the past...
Todd: Congratulations! Now, shut up and go to sleep.
Tea: When it was over, though, that's all it was...sex. There was nothing beyond that. There was no affection...no...
Todd: The only thing more important than sex is good sex and the only thing more important than that is having lots of it.
Tea: What about making love?
Todd: It's a myth. It's a fantasy created by those twisted romance novels you like to read.
Tea: I don't believe that. I know that you don't either.
Todd: You don't know anything.
Tea: If the only thing that mattered was sex, why haven't you screwed me yet, huh?
Todd: Because, you're knocked up.
Tea: You didn't think I was knocked up at the beginning of this trip, did you?
Todd: I had my suspicions.
Tea: What about our first marriage? What about all of the nights when we lived in that penthouse together? We could have really enjoyed ourselves. We could have been screwing every night.
Todd: That was a business deal, not a marriage.
Tea: What about after it became real? What about after we fell in love? There were so many opportunities. Why didn't you just screw me back then and get it over with?
[Todd stands up and stalks across the room.]
Todd: I'm getting beer.
[As the door slams behind Todd, Tea lays back on the bed, upset with herself for pushing him too hard.
Almost an hour later...
Todd pounds on the door, having forgotten to take the room key with him when he left.]
Todd (raising his voice): Delgado?
[Tea quickly opens the door.]
Tea: Keep your voice down. It's late.
Todd: So?
Tea: Other people are trying to sleep.
Todd: So?
Tea: Did you find your beer?
Todd: Yep. Found a strip club, too.
Tea: Is that where you've been all this time?
Todd: I haven't been gone that long...only three lap dances.
Tea: Is that all?
Todd: Yeah, I'm running low on cash and they don't take checks.
[Tea turns a light on and walks to her purse. She takes out all of the cash that she has accumulated on this trip so far...thousands of dollars...and approaches Todd again.]
Tea: Here. Have fun. Have a slut on me. It's your money, anyway.
Todd: Are you serious?
Tea: Yes. Now, get the hell out of my sight.
Todd: You're ticked.
Tea: Why should I be ticked? So what if I've been sitting here all this time worried that I might never see you again and you've been getting your jollies having some slut grind herself into your crotch. At least your friend got a thrill tonight.
Todd: Wow! You really are ticked.
[Tea had wrapped herself in a bedsheet before opening the door. She now unwraps it and gets back into bed. Todd notices that she's still naked from the waist up.
Todd tosses the cash that Tea had just given him into her purse as he moves across the room. He sits down at the small table near the kitchen area and opens one of the beers he bought at a nearby convenience store.
After several minutes, Tea rolls over in the bed. A few minutes later, she rolls over again.]
Todd: Is the light keeping you awake?
Tea: No.
Todd: You shouldn't let yourself get this riled up.
Tea: Why not?
Todd: Because it's me.
Tea: Exactly...it's you. I don't enjoy the thought of you with...
Todd: Lap-dancing sluts?
[Tea finally opens her eyes again and sits up, facing his direction.]
Tea: I don't enjoy that idea at all.
Todd: I guess it's a good thing I was just teasing you about that, huh?
Tea: Were you?
Todd: Never mind. I shouldn't have said anything.
Tea: When was the first time you went to a strip club?
Todd: What makes you think I've ever gone to one of those places?
Tea: You're a guy.
Todd: Good point.
Tea: How old were you the first time?
Todd: We shouldn't get into this kind of stuff. The most recent time wasn't tonight, that's all you need to know.
Tea: Where were you?
Todd: Getting beer.
Tea: You were gone a long time.
Todd: Were you really afraid I wouldn't come back?
Tea: Yes. I'm always afraid of that.
Todd: Because of your mom?
Tea: Because of our past. Because we fight too much.
Todd: I thought you enjoyed our fights.
Tea (smiling): Sometimes I do.
Todd: But, not tonight?
Tea: I would have preferred that you stayed the whole night.
Todd: The beer was your idea.
Tea: You don't have to get drunk, Todd.
Todd: That's what you think.
Tea: We don't have to talk anymore. If you come and sit with me, I'll try to fall asleep and you can watch me.
Todd: You think that's creepy, don't you?
Tea: No.
Todd: You did when you first found out about it.
Tea: I was surprised. I don't know how you managed to sneak into my room and take pictures of me without waking me up.
Todd: It was easy. Once you conk out you really conk out, Delgado.
Tea: Only when I'm comfortable. I'm very comfortable with you. I always have been.
Todd: Is that why you're practically naked?
Tea: Would you be more comfortable if I put a shirt on?
Todd: Yeah.
Tea: Do you want me to?
Todd: I just said...
Tea: You can want something even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Todd: Everything makes me uncomfortable.
Tea: What do you want? Right now, in this moment, what do you want?
Todd: For you to go to sleep.
Tea: I don't think that sleep will be coming easily for me anymore tonight.
Todd: We could hit the road.
Tea: Only if I drive.
Todd: I thought we agreed that you wouldn't be driving anymore on this trip.
Tea: You haven't slept yet.
Todd: I don't need to sleep. You know that.
Tea: I think that you do.
[For more than a minute, no words are spoken, as Todd continues to drink his beer while Tea watches him.]
Tea: Do you think you'll have nightmares if you fall asleep tonight?
Todd: Sleep has never been a good idea for me.
Tea: I'll be with you. I'll hold your hand.
Todd: You think I need that?
Tea: I don't know, but if you wanted it...
Todd: Why would you even want to touch me right now?
