[Tea stands in front of Todd, completely naked, her towel lying on the floor at her feet where she dropped it, stunned by his surprise presence in her apartment.]
Tea: Todd...
Todd: You dropped something.
[To Todd's disappointment, Tea quickly steps into her bedroom, eliminating his view of her. She leaves the door open as she converses with him while she dresses.]
Tea: How did you get in here?
[Todd approaches her bedroom, but stays outside of it, even though he's tempted to enter and put an end to their being just friends.]
Todd: You left your purse in the limo.
Tea: Right. I realized that as soon as you left.
Todd: I knocked on your door. You didn't answer. I didn't know you were here.
Tea: Didn't you hear the shower running?
Todd: Not when I was in the hall. I thought maybe you decided to spend the night somewhere else. You did end our...whatever it was...early. I was leaving your purse in here and then I was taking off. I wasn't planning on going through your stuff, or anything.
Tea: It's okay, Todd. I trust you to be in my apartment, even when I'm not here.
Todd: Whatever! But, I really wasn't going to touch any of your stuff.
Tea: I believe you, Todd. I trust you. It's okay. It was my mistake for forgetting my purse, like I did.
[Tea finishes dressing and joins Todd in the small hallway near her bedroom. She picks up the towel she had dropped moments earlier. She enters the bathroom and disposes of the towel before joining him again.
As she stands close to him, she nervously runs her hands through her damp hair. Her face still shows the embarrassment she feels for what happened moments earlier.]
Tea: Just so you know, Mr. Manning, I have no other plans tonight.
Todd: You ditched that guy the other night to hang out with me. I thought maybe you were ditching me tonight to do whatever with someone else.
Tea: You're the one who wanted to end our evening early.
Todd: You fell asleep...or you pretended to, anyway.
Tea: Do you also think that I forgot my purse on purpose?
Todd: I hadn't thought of that. What were you hoping would happen?
Tea: I'm not playing games with you, Todd.
Todd: Everyone plays games.
Tea: I did want our evening to continue. And, I was hoping that I would see you again. But, I did not leave my purse behind for either of those purposes.
Todd: Why'd you leave it behind?
Tea: I forgot it. It's that simple.
Todd: You really wanted our evening to continue?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: Why?
Tea: Neither of us has eaten yet.
Todd: I sent my driver for food.
Tea: You said you didn't think I was here.
Todd: I didn't.
Tea: So, you just sent him for food for yourself?
Todd: No, it was for you.
Tea: I don't understand.
Todd: You will.
Tea: Okay. Did you also send your driver for something to drink? Or, can I get you something?
Todd: I could down a few beers.
[Tea enters the kitchen. Todd steps into the living room and stares out her window.
Tea soon joins him and hands him a beer before she takes a seat on the sofa. Todd gulps from his bottle of beer while Tea slowly sips from hers.]
Tea: Have a seat.
Todd: You really do have a lousy view.
Tea: There's a solution to that. Turn around and look in this direction, instead of out there.
[Todd turns his head from the view and looks at her.]
Todd: Why?
Tea: So we can have a conversation like normal people.
Todd: Normal people are boring.
Tea: You probably think I'm boring.
Todd: You do seem kind of different.
Tea: How?
Todd: I don't know.
Tea: I think I am calmer than before. I'm more at peace with myself.
Todd: All that finding where you belong junk?
Tea: Have you found where you belong?
[Todd turns back toward the window and gulps the rest of his beer.]
Todd (speaking softly): I don't belong anywhere.
Tea: I don't believe that.
Todd: Believe whatever you want to. You always did.
Tea: You could spend the night here.
[Todd turns his head in her direction for a moment to see what her eyes are telling him.]
Todd: As a friend?
Tea: I do want to be your friend, Todd. When I see you hurting, I want to do something to stop it.
[Todd turns his head away from her again, struggling with himself over whether to trust the concern her eyes express to him.]
Todd: Nothing can stop it.
Tea: Is that why you went back to Blair? Did you think it would hurt less if you returned to your family?
Todd: Family... People tell you they're your family, they make this big deal about supposedly caring about you, and then they...
Tea: They what? What happened in Llanview that made you feel that you needed to leave?
[Todd turns from the window and leans his back against it.]
Todd: You don't care.
Tea: I do.
Todd: You want something from me. You're just like everyone else. You're just better at playing the game. You're broke, living in this dump. You want to get your hands on my money again. You're just pretending that you don't because you think I'm too stupid to know what's really going on.
Tea: That's it! No more beer for you tonight.
Todd: I'll drink whatever the hell I want to. And, don't change the subject.
Tea: What is the subject?
Todd: You know.
Tea: No, I don't. If I truly needed money and wanted it from you, I would simply ask you for it. I would offer my legal skills to you for a hefty fee. I wouldn't play games with you.
Todd: Since when?
Tea: Since always. Did I ever steal money from you? Did you find any money mysteriously missing while we were married? Did I ever ask you for more money than our original business deal called for? I turned down millions of dollars from you over the years.
Todd: That was a ploy. You were holding out for more.
Tea: You're right. You caught me. The jig is up. It was all a grand ploy, Todd. I've been working non-stop on this for the last several years. Everything I have done, every move I have made, has all been so I could bleed you dry. I turned down all those millions of dollars you offered me, hoping to get millions more out of you in the long run. I divorced you, twice, neither time seeking, or accepting, any alimony, hoping to get millions more out of you. I walked out on you the last time we were together, hoping to get millions more out of you. I've been living in this dump for months, hoping to get millions more out of you. You even think that your coming to New York was your own idea, but I've been secretly controlling your thought processes all this time, just so I could plot that supposedly coincidental meeting in that restaurant. You're such a fool for falling for my master plan.
[Todd leans his head back against the window and closes his eyes.]
Tea: What happened, Todd? What happened in Llanview?
Todd: Lies.
Tea: Who lied to you?
[Todd opens his eyes again but doesn't look at Tea.]
Todd: Everyone.
Tea: That can't be true.
Todd: Everyone was telling me that if I just did what they wanted me to do, what they kept telling me I had to do, that they would care about me again. But, none of them did. I did what they wanted. I put myself through hell for them, and it was never enough.
Tea: Who are we talking about?
Todd: Everyone.
Tea: Could you be more specific?
Todd: Viki...Sam...Starr...everyone...
Tea: So, you tried to be who you thought they wanted you to be, to do the things that you thought they wanted you to do, but it turned out that's not what they wanted?
Todd: They wanted it. They told me they did, over and over. It never stopped. There was always someone in my face, telling me what a pathetic loser and disappointment I was, telling me I had to do all these things to prove to them that I was worth caring about. But, it never mattered. I'd do what they said and they'd still be mad at me, they'd still look at me like I was dirt, like I was wasting their time, like I couldn't do anything right. I've never been able to do anything right.
Tea: That's not true. But, if what you're saying is correct about the people you care about treating you that way, it's not your fault. It's theirs.
Todd: It's my fault. Just ask them.
Tea: Todd, all you can do is be yourself. People either like who you are, or they don't. You can't control their response to who you are. You can only control your own actions.
Todd: But, I tried to do everything they wanted.
Tea: You shouldn't have to do that. You shouldn't have to make yourself miserable to make anyone else happy. When you love someone, you don't want them to be miserable. You don't want them to feel like they have to change everything about themselves so that you'll accept them. It doesn't work that way.
Todd: Yeah, it does.
Tea: If they made you feel that way, they were wrong.
Todd: You're wrong.
Tea: I think it's our perceptions of ourselves that have been wrong. We both learned some lessons, when we were children, that were very wrong. And, because of that, we've made mistakes as adults.
Todd: I don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Tea: You look tired. You can lie down on the sofa and get some sleep.
Todd: The limo will be back soon. We could go for another ride. I won't even care if you fall asleep on me again.
Tea: We could stay here. We could both sleep here.
[Todd looks at Tea with so much intensity, it takes her breath away.]
