| UNFINISHED BUSINESS BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 12 |
Tea: I'm not letting you go.
Todd: You have to, Tea.
[As painful as it is for Tea, she knows that he's right. She has to let him go. She has to let him move on with his life without her since she knows that's what he wants.]
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chapter 12:
[Tea pulls away from their embrace.]
Tea: You're right. I should let you go. You found the life that you wanted and I'm not a part of it.
Todd: You still know how to confuse me better than anyone, Delgado.
[Tea walks around the side of the porch and sits on the steps.]
Tea: It's clear.
Todd: Nothing is clear with you.
Tea: I know this isn't where you want to be anymore.
Todd: So, why do you think I'm here?
Tea: You feel sorry for me.
Todd: Well, that's true.
[Todd sits next to her on the steps. He picks up the comforter Tea had dropped on the floor of the porch earlier and wraps it around her.]
Tea: I don't want your pity, Todd. I don't need it. I've done just fine without you.
Todd: I know that. I know that you're better off without me.
Tea: That's not true.
Todd: That's why I pity you.
Tea: Why?
Todd: You actually like having me around.
Tea: Of course, I do.
Todd: Not everyone feels that way. Most people can't stand me. I can see it on their faces. Their smiles always disappear as soon as they see me walk in a room. Okay, I actually enjoy that part with most people, but sometimes it's kind of okay being around someone who actually smiles when they see me. Back in Llanview, everyone is constantly telling me what a disappointment I am to them. Starr's the only one anymore who seems to actually be happy when I'm around. You and Starr are the only people who make me feel...
Tea: What?
Todd: Like you really want me around. Everyone else treats me like I'm something they stepped in and are trying to wipe off before they walk into their perfect houses because they don't want to stink the place up with my presence. You and Starr and the only ones left who don't treat me like a big, stinking pile of manure.
Tea: That can't be true. You have a lot of people who care about you. There's Viki, Jessica...
Todd: You haven't been there. They all hate me now.
Tea: No, they don't. They couldn't. They would never hate you. You just have to stop pushing away their love.
Todd: I'm not pushing it away. It isn't there. You can call Viki yourself. She can tell you what a despicable person she thinks I am now...what a major disappointment.
Tea: What did you do?
Todd: You think it's all my fault?
Tea: Is it?
Todd: I was just trying to help.
Tea: Yourself or them?
Todd: Are you going to turn on me, too?
Tea: No. If you really miss them, you should talk to them, apologize if you have to. You need their love. I know how important it is to you.
Todd: So, you think apologizing would do it? If I just apologize, I'll be forgiven for any pain I caused?
Tea: If your relationship with them really matters to you then do whatever you have to do to make up for whatever you did.
Todd: Tea?
Tea: Yes?
Todd: I'm sorry.
Tea: What?
Todd: I apologize.
Tea: Are you practicing for when you talk to your family?
Todd: Maybe I am talking to my family.
[Tea suddenly stands up and takes a few steps away from Todd.]
Todd: Did it work? Am I forgiven? I know I stink at this. I know that all I have to offer you is a whole lot of darkness.
Tea: It's too late.
[Todd stands up and approaches her.]
Todd: What? No. It can't be too late.
Tea: It is.
Todd: You said you weren't seeing anyone. Earlier, you were acting like it could happen. Now, I spill my guts and suddenly it's too late?
Tea: Is that what you consider spilling your guts?
Todd: I might have been screwed up when we were getting hitched for the third time but I know I ripped my guts out and handed them to you back then. I said a lot of junk to you that I never should have said. Now, you're just walking away?
Tea: I'm not walking away. I didn't walk away...you did. I stayed here. I waited for you. You never came back.
Todd: I'm here. I came back.
Tea: No, you didn't. If I hadn't been at that meeting this morning, you wouldn't be here now. You would have left as soon as your meeting ended. You would not have come out here. You would not have called. This whole time you've known where I was and you didn't care. It didn't matter to you how much I was hurting. It didn't matter how much pain I was in.
Todd: I didn't know you were pregnant and that the kid didn't make it. I swear, I didn't know that.
Tea: I'm not talking about that pain. I wanted you to be here to help me through that. Of course, I did. But, you knew that leaving me the way you did would cause me pain. You knew how much it would hurt to have another person I loved walk out on me. You knew.
Todd: Yeah, I knew.
Tea: Why did you do it?
Todd: I told you, it got really dark.
Tea: So? Don't you think it gets dark for me sometimes, too?
Todd: It's not sometimes for me. It's all the time.
Tea: You could have shared it with me. You could have stayed and allowed me to help you.
Todd: So, I'm supposed to just go ahead and put you through hell because I hate being without you?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: That doesn't make sense. I should protect you. I should keep you away from all the garbage. I should protect Starr, too. I should just do what I planned on doing.
Tea: What's that?
Todd: Nothing. Never mind.
[Todd walks away from their house until he's standing on the spot that he spent so much time in while he was living here with Tea. He stares out at the darkened ocean before him.]
Tea: What were you planning, Todd?
[Todd doesn't respond.]
Tea: Where you planning to walk out there into that ocean and keep going until you disappeared permanently?
to be continued...
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