"I love the girls and the money and the shame of life." "The speed and direction of our path through life are pretty good measures of our age." "We race headlong through childhood, never looking back." "Wanting it to end as quickly as possible." "As we get older, we ocassionally stop long enough to look around and savor certain moments." "It's a sure sign of growing up." "Oh, hey, it's a good day, Mr. G." "What's up, boys?" "Ephram, what's with all the happiness?" "Oh, sometimes it just feels good to smile, little Amy." "You should give it a shot sometime." "So?" "C'mon, man." "What happened?" "Was it like playing Pac-Man or what?" "Oh, yeah." "Give me some skin." "Oh, hey, I know paw slapping is an important ritual with your people but, uh, it's not going to happen, alright?" "Oh, c'mon, man." "You gotta give me something." "I mean, how did it go down?" "Was it everything I promised?" "Everything and more." "So much more." "In fact, thank you for underplaying it." "So the boy becomes a man." "It's amazing." "I mean, I didn't think things could get any better or, or, I could like her any more but I do." "This is what you were warning me about, huh?" "You knew I was going to feel this way?" "Well, I don't think I use the word "feel"." "I might have used the word "feel-up"." "That's totally different." "You know, when the Lord of the Rings came out?" "You know, you saw the first one." "It was great." "You thought, there's no way the second one could be as good." "But it was." "And then you thought OK." "That's it." "'Cause you can only make something so perfect, right?" "But then "Return of the King" came out and it just blew your mind." "It's like that." "You gotta remember to pace yourself." "OK?" "This is a marathon, not a sprint." "It's all under control." "No worries." "No worries at all." "It's only in our twilight years when our pace is slow and the long race is nearing the end that we spend most of our life looking backwards and we wonder why we were ever in such a hurry." ""The L Word"" "What the hell got into you?" "You're playing jazz." "Well, isn't that what you've been teaching me all these months?" "What I've been trying to teach you." "What you've been playing is another matter." "Until today." "Well, what can I say?" "Things have been pretty good lately." "You think you're hot shot." "Wanna put some money where your mouth is?" "As long as there is no actual money involved." "Why?" "What's up?" "There's a jazz festival this weekend in Boulder." "Last night, they're holding an open competition." "I put your name in." "Oh, that's really cool of you." "Ah, unfortunately, I already have plans." "You can leave the girl for one weekend." "It won't kill you." "Oh, who says this is about a girl?" "You're about as subtle as a baboon's ass." "The only other thing that affects a man's playing like that is heartbreak." "And from that idiot grin you're wearing and affix, I'm guessing that's not it." "Well, last weekend was pretty special." "I shoulda known." "I mean, why waste my time?" "I thought music was important to you." "Oh, you know it is." "Why else would I come here twice a week?" "Your sunny disposition?" "I don't have time for dilatons." "I have better things to do." "OK, OK." "Fine." "I'll, I'll spend my weekend playing piano for jazz geeks instead of making out with my hot girlfriend." "Fine." "You get back at it." "I don't want you to embarrass me." "Play the bridge." "We're leaving it on the fifth." "This is a piano, not a paddle hold." "OK." "You wanna grab that?" "What?" "You wanna get that first?" "That'll keep." "Play." "OK, here's one." "Um, dispirit is to variety as a) unique is to randomness, b) audacity is to intelligence..." "I don't think it's working." "Oh, me neither." "You know, I have no friggin' clue what dispirit even means." "No, I mean Tommy and I." "Oh." "Are we back to that?" "I thought you decided." "He's out." "If I had just one more thing on the con column, I'd be... fine with it." "Oh, let's see." "Did you put "big fat liar" on the con column?" "'Cause that should count for like seven." "It's not that simple." "It is though." "I mean, I was willing to give the guy a benefit of the doubt but... he let us down, Amy." "You know, dealing was just one thing he lied about." "And the only reason you know he lied is because you caught him." "No." "You caught him." "The point is: he only came clean after the fact." "I mean, he might have been lying to you about tons of other stuff you don't even know about." "He's not a liar." "I mean, look where he comes from." "He's just a little... damaged." "He's not a Social Studies project though." "You don't have to justify his behavior." "You can feel sorry for him." "I mean, I do too." "But it doesn't mean you have to be his girlfriend anymore." "Yeah, I..." "Look, it's simple." "Does he make you happy or doesn't he?" "'Cause if you're spending more time questioning this relationship than actually enjoying it..." "Yeah." "I know." "So just do it." "And be quick when you do because he is going to beg and plead and you're not strong enough to resist that for very long." "I'm strong." "You put "damaged" in the pro column." "Are we sure this is your brother we're talking about?" "Yep." "Little Harry would come running into the living room with a spatula for a microphone and do his whole Tom Jones thing." "He swivel his bony hips and do "Delilah" whenever we had company." "Please tell me there's super eight movie of this." "You interested in going to Boulder tomorrow?" "Boulder?" "Yeah." "It's a city." "I'm playing in a jazz festival." "You're kidding!" "That's terrific!" "Wow!" "Congratulations, Ephram." "Oh, I'm actually not in the festival." "It's a, it's a competition afterwards." "Will set me up before." "So don't congratulate me until I win." "Which naturally I will." "Well, of course I want to go." "I've been dying to see what you guys have been working on." "Good because Will was hoping you might drive." "Well, sounds like an opportunity to get to know the great and mysterious Will Cleveland." "We're going to Boulder, not Oz." "And you can't be all buddy-buddy with him." "I know you saved his life but please don't do your" ""I'm Andy Brown, cleverer and entertaining" thing." "It's not a thing." "It's just who I am." "Well..." "Oh, wait." "Delia has got this big project to do." "She's going to have to stay here." "Oh, don't worry." "I'll call Nina." "Or, uh, I could do it." "Oh, she likes me now." "We bonded over frosting." "It was good." "I'm staying out of this one." "Are you sure you know what you're getting into?" "Oh, come on." "I managed Africa for three years." "I'm sure that I can do a weekend with a fourth-grader." "What's the project?" "She has to make a diorama for a book." "Something about nimrods or nimrats, and a frisbee." "Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of Nim." "I love that book." "Oh, we'll have a great time." "OK, if you're sure." "Let me just talk to Delia about it." "Talk to me about what?" "Well, honey, Ephram is going to play in this big jazz concert this weekend and I have to go." "So how would you feel about Linda staying over and, uh, helping you with your project?" "I don't know." "How important is this festival?" "Well, it's pretty important." "Can Brittany still come over?" "Absolutely." "The more the merrier." "And I bet you Linda's better at making dioramas than I am, anyway." "Well, I don't want to brag but I'm pretty good at the paper-mache." "I guess it's OK." "Remind me again what a diorama is?" "Hey." "Hey." "You said you wanted to, uh, talk?" "Which is usually code for something a little bit on the fun scale so..." "What's going on?" "Is it that bad?" "No." "No, no." "Um, I don't know." "I don't know how to do this exactly..." "Well, what exactly are we doing?" "Are you happy?" "Because..." "I don't know if I am." "It seems like something got off track between us a little while ago and..." "Sorry." "Go on." "It's not that I don't like you." "I do." "A lot." "It's just... we've been getting into these weird fights lately and they never really get resolved." "At least I don't think they do." "See, that's just it." "I don't understand them." "Or you." "And all these things keep happening which make me wonder..." "Like that." "I don't know what that is." "It's work." "They just want me to take another shift." "That's all." "See, now I'm neurotic." "This is bad." "Alright, well, the last thing I want is for you to be sad." "You know?" "And you've had enough sadness in your life." "So, if you think this isn't working out, then maybe we should just stop." "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah I think we should." "OK." "No hard feelings though, right?" "Alright, well, I gotta go." "But, uh, we'll talk." "One of the governments did this their wax conservation policy." "They look better when they're all blendy together like this." "And don't change the subject." "I want to hear more about this competition." "Oh, it's no big deal." "It's just a contest." "It's a huge deal." "And I so wish I could be there but our band has our first paying gig this weekend." "Do you?" "Since when?" "I just found out." "I was going to tell you." "Oh, that's awesome." "I can't, I can't miss that." "I'm going to be your roadie slash groupie." "And at the end, I'll hold up a lighter for an encore." "Don't be crazy." "OK?" "You're going to kick ass your thing, the band is going kick ass at our thing, and then we'll get together." "Tell each other about it later." "So sort of like an ass kicking debriefing?" "Mmhmm." "I'm sorry." "Oh, Carrie's gonna kill you." "Oh, not if I tell her you did it." "Oh, that's very useful." "I love you." "I'm gonna get the iron." "I know this trick." "Maybe we should sing some good road trip songs." "Will, any favorites?" "No." "I got one." "Hit it." "Oh, cruising down to Boulder in an SUV." "We got Will, Doc Brown, Ephram, and me." "The meanest MC of the hood from Everwoo..." "Who are you again?" "I'm from, uh, I'm Bright." "Doubt that." "If I had known we were bringing pets, I would have brought Oscar." "I've just gotta fill her up." "Anyone want anything from the mini-mart?" "Fresh air." "How bad is it?" "Oh, I'm not going to lie to you, man." "It's not good." "I mean, I knew you were troubling when you started about that whole" "Lord of the Rings thing but I didn't think you'd actually say..." "Yeah, I didn't mean to." "Alright?" "Everything was cool." "One minute, we were kissing and, and, then, all of a sudden it just slips out." "So what did she do?" "Well, she kissed me back." "And got an iron." "Cardinal rule number one, never be the first person to say "I love you," OK?" "Never pull that trigger unless fired upon first, my friend." "Even then, it's iffy." "This is going to screw everything up." "Everything was cool." "I told her that I wouldn't push." "Why do I speak?" "Well, look, you went too far." "But it's OK." "OK?" "We just need to counterbalance it." "Oh, this sounds bad already." "Oh, well, we'll pick up some Boulder babes, bring them up to the room, you call Madison." "Just to say, you know, "Hey" and she'll hear the groupies in the background." "She'll be begging for your love." "That's your plan?" "We get Madison to forget I told her I loved her by making her think that I'm cheating on her?" "I think we stumped upon why you've never had a girlfriend for more than forty-eight hours." "So, Will, how is the arm?" "Physical therapy going OK?" "It's my arm." "Use it all my life." "Don't need any lessons." "Oh, you know you really should keep it up." "If you're not happy with your current therapist, there are a couple of others I can recommend." "Yeah, yeah." "You know, we were all pretty worried about you out in the mine that day." "I mean, we didn't even know you were a pianist at the time and yet somehow we knew we had to save that arm." "I already thanked you for what you did." "Don't be fishing for more." "No." "Of course not." "I was just, well, anyway, got a little bit of a road trip." "Says who?" "You know, back in the day, I took a road trip with my buddies once." "It's a funny story actually." "If you tell one more story and I'm walking the rest of the way." "Hey, you watch your back." "Huh?" "Oh." "Hell." "Well, we should be ready to go in just a minute." "Well, you drive." "I need some Pepto." "Hey, Will." "While you're in there, pick me up an iced tea, will ya?" "If we could keep the sand in the jar, that would be good." "Oh, and we're going to keep this glue covered 'cause it will dry up." "Oh no." "Oh gosh." "Now we have to start all over." "No, I, you know what?" "I think I can fix it." "Let me see." "You just made it worse!" "Oh, you're right." "I'm sorry." "Um, you know that?" "Maybe we should do the painting last." "No." "First, we have to paint the sides and then we do the sand and then the characters." "Says who?" "Anyway, you're using the wrong color." "The sky should be this color." "Yeah, if it was raining." "You know what?" "I have an idea." "Let's take an ice cream sundae break." "OK." "Oh, yeah!" "You guys get the bowls and the spoons and I'll get the ice cream." "It will be good." "Yes, breaks are good." "I don't want any bananas." "It's not a sundae without bananas." "Who are you?" "Queen of sundaes?" "This is America." "We don't have queens." "Uh." "Why do I feel as though I'm the one who just got dumped when I broke up with him?" "It's called saler's remorse." "After a breakup, we just focus on all the good stuff and forget about the crap that made us want to break up in the first place." "Well, maybe if we just tried a little harder." "Maybe we would have gotten better." "Well, you did the best thing." "Trust me." "The worse part is that he didn't even put up a fight." "It was like he was completely fine with it." "Look, maybe this is just some sort of blessing in disguise." "I mean, your parents' biggest problem was the whole Tommy thing, right?" "Maybe now that he's out of the picture, you guys can talk again." "No because then they'll just think I broke up with him so that I could go home." "So let them think that." "I mean, who cares?" "Wouldn't you rather be at home?" "Yeah, I know you're worried, Amy, because if there's any way I could bring my parents back to the land of living," "I would do it in a heartbeat." "You know, I wouldn't even care if they grounded me or yelled at me for all the stupid things I've done lately." "I should just be happy to have them back in my life." "Yeah, you're right." "And I know it doesn't feel like it right now but giving up Tommy might be a good trade-off." "I don't know what I'd do without you." "That's me." "I'm all about the silver lining." "So these jazz groupies." "They like cologne or they more into the "à la natural" vibe?" "I gotta talk to her." "No, man." "Calling her was a huge mistake, OK?" "Besides, they charge like 10 bucks a minute on those phones." "You don't understand." "Alright?" "I-I-If I wait until I get back, it's going to be too late." "I know her." "The longer she has to be alone to think about this, the worse it's going to get." "You know what she's doing right now?" "She's pacing around her apartment, wondering how things got so outta control." "Oh well, I can't imagine what that looks like." "Or worse, worse." "She's on the phone with her girlfriends, crying because they're telling her that she needs to break up with me which she doesn't want to do but she realizes she has to because I've gone too far." "I've made her pace and cry." "This is bad." "I, I've got to take it back somehow." "Uh, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, dude." "Look, you need your beauty sleep." "OK?" "The competition?" "The reason why we came here?" "You're right." "Thank you." "Nine times out of ten." "Yes." "I can't call her." "Finally." "I gotta go see her." "Wait." "What?" "I'm not going to be able to sleep anyway." "I'll drive all night." "Explain everything." "Be back in time for the recital." "Wait." "No, no, no." "Bro, this whole whipped lap dog thing is not a good idea, man." "And besides, your dad is not going to let you use the car." "Who do you think drove the last hour?" "What about this reception, man?" "We're supposed to pick up some girls?" "You know." "I'm a drummer." "Remember?" "Cover for me." "You did that on purpose!" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Linda, she's ruining my diorama!" "It's not YOUR diorama!" "Come on, you guys." "Please." "I'm the one who got all the sand and the paint and all the construction paper!" "I'm telling Mr. Perkins!" "You're the one who keeps messing everything up." "You're always being so bossy!" "No." "It's my project!" "It's my project!" "Hello?" "Brown residence." "Hey you." "Oh, hey yourself." "How's it going?" "Are you guys having fun?" "Oh, it's good." "We're having a great time." "How are you doing?" "How's Ephram?" "Is he nervous?" "Oh he doesn't seem to be." "I stopped by." "Bright said he went to sleep already." "So if he is nervous, it isn't keeping him awake." "What's that?" "They're not getting too wild, are they?" "Maybe I should talk to Delia." "Oh no." "They're fine, they're great, they're angels." "Really." "But you know, I really should get going." "Finally you get to spend the night over at my house and I'm not there." "Kinda ironic, isn't it?" "Ironic, unhuh." "What was that?" "That's it, girls." "You know, really use the lungs to clear the chakra." "I'm, uh, teaching them, you know, primal, uh, screen therapy." "You know, they're naturals at it, Andy." "Well then, I'm sorry I'm missing all the fun." "OK then, I am too." "Bye." "STOP!" "SIT!" "NOW!" "I wanna sit there." "No, I'm sitting here." "Enough, enough." "OK, now I want to know what happened." "She put..." "No, no." "One at a time." "She put sand in my paint." "She put paint in my sand." "And she called me banana hater." "I did not!" "Yes, you did!" "I did not!" "I did not!" "Yes, you did." "Yes, you did." "Stop!" "Please." "Please, I'm begging you." "Please." "Let's all just take a breath." "OK." "Now, you guys are best friends, right?" "And best friends don't fight over everything." "So let's just start over, OK?" "Now, Delia, I mean a sundae can probably be a sundae without bananas, right?" "And, and you can probably do the sand before you coloring the walls." "I mean, that would work too, right?" "Whose side are you on?" "I'm not on anybody's side, Delia." "Yes, you are." "You're taking Brittany's side." "But you're my dad's girlfriend and you should be taking MY side." "I wanna go home!" "Like right now!" "Oh my God!" "Tommy." "Are you OK?" "Oh hey." "Um, can I just, can I talk to you for a minute please?" "Listen, you don't have to if you don't want to." "You know, we can just go." "The movie's going to start so..." "No." "It's just going to, it's only gonna take a couple of minutes." "I promise." "I just, I just really need to talk to you." "Um... you can just go ahead." "I'll get my grandparents to give me a ride." "Sure." "You OK?" "You look really pale." "Um, don't break up with me." "I really need you." "I'm sorry." "I, I don't understand." "Yesterday, you, you, we thought we should break up too." "You were completely fine with it." "No, it's just, it was an act." "I was completely pretending." "It's not how I really feel." "I just, I messed up." "Amy, I messed up." "What did you do?" "Oh, I was just so miserable." "You know, I didn't care about having a habit to break anymore." "Not without you." "Are you on something right now?" "Oh my God." "Amy, I really need you." "OK?" "You, you're the reason why I stayed clean all this time." "Being with you is the only good thing that ever happened to me." "Don't say that." "Please." "Look, Tommy, I want to be there for you and I want to help you." "But I can't save you." "This whole thing is crazy..." "Yeah, I know." "It's crazy." "And you know what?" "You deserve better than me." "You do." "But if you just give me one more chance," "I promise you I will not screw up." "OK?" "No more lies, no more secrets." "We'll tell each other everything." "About our past, about our families, what you want me to do, what you don't want me to do." "Remember that night you and me stayed up and we talked for like six hours?" "See I want some more of that, you know?" "That's the guy that I want to be." "But I just, I need your help." "That's all." "Please, Amy." "I'm, I'm scared for who I am without you." "I love you." "I would like to say congratulations to Joe Lies..." "...and its drummer." "To Joe Lies and the drummer." "And to the beautiful gorgeous most amazing lead singer we could ever hope to have." "Morning." "Morning." "Pretty cool, huh?" "Do you like it?" "Did you do this?" "I don't know." "Maybe the rats of Nim snuck in last night." "Now you can call Brittany and you can spend the day playing or whatever." "What do you think?" "I think it's cheating." "N- no, Delia." "You did most of the work." "I just,..." "..." "I, you know, I finished it to..." "You made me a cheater!" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, Delia." "I..." "Where's my dad?" "I want my dad." "Delia, I..." "Linda." "What's wrong?" "I'm the worst baby-sitter in the history of the world." "That's what's wrong." "Is Delia..." "Up in her room." "Oh my God, am I not supposed to leave the house?" "She'll last ten minutes." "Come on in." "I thought she'd be thrilled." "I really did." "I mean, when I was her age," "I would have loved it if someone had done my homework." "Listen." "No limbs were lost." "No one lost an eye." "It'll be fine." "No, no." "I don't want to do battle." "I'm a pacifist." "I mean, there is no reason why..." "You are right." "There is no reason." "Because she's 10." "They're pretty much irrational at that age." "They're all pretty guts and heart and tear ducts." "I'm not very natural at this... parenting thing, Nina." "I don't know how you and Andy make it look so easy." "I'm sorry but did you see the cast on Sam?" "And a natural parent, Andy's not." "Do you want to know how many times he's come through that door, asking for help?" "Yeah but I see the way he is with them." "You know, what they mean to him." "They're his whole world." "And if he finds out that I can't even handle a two-day babysitting job, it doesn't bode well for us." "He's with you because he wants to be." "Not because he's looking for a surrogate mother for Delia." "It's not a test." "Thanks." "Now with Delia, on the other hand, everything's a test." "Oh, God, I should probably just let her call Andy." "I..." "You should talk to her first." "You'd be surprised how much a little truth can help." "But, uh, don't talk down to her 'cause they hate that." "See, they like to pretend that they're really in control but they also need to know that you're going to protect them when the time comes." "That's a hell of balancing act, isn't it?" "24/7." "Oh, and if it ever comes up, always take Delia's side over her friend's." "Oh." "Good to know." "Where the hell you been, man?" "Special corner of hell." "All night on." "Oh please." "I had to sit through four hours of jazz music." "Didn't get a single number." "Apparently, you can't talk while they're playing." "Thanks for the heads up, by the way." "So how did it go?" "Oh, I just want to get some sleep." "Did you see her though?" "I mean, is she cool with everything?" "Oh, yeah." "I saw her." "She's cool." "She's real cool." "Me, on the other hand..." "Oh man, I told you not to go." "Oh, we're OK for towels." "Thank you." "You'd think they could read the sign..." "...at the door." "Guys, it's me." "Can you just tell him I fell asleep?" "You've been sleeping for thirteen hours." "He's going to call an ambulance." "Ephram, they need all the competitors on the stage for a run-through." "Ephram?" "You in there?" "Yeah." "Coming." "So as it turns out, going to the movies by yourself on a Saturday night is even less fun than one would think." "I am so sorry." "I didn't know whether something had happened to you or what." "I was actually worried." "I know, I know." "I thought I'd be right there but he was just really messed up, you know?" "Yeah, I saw that much." "I mean, he was really hurting." "Of course he was hurting." "You broke up with him." "Did he finally do the begging thing?" "I knew he would that eventually." "Tell me you just didn't get back together with him." "Amy!" "Look, you weren't there." "You wouldn't understand." "I understand he's an addict." "Even last night, he was obviously strung out." "I know and he told me that." "He's not hiding that stuff from me anymore." "Which is the first step to a better relationship." "A better relationship with a drug addict?" "You know, I don't even understand this conversation." "His family's screwed up, his friends suck." "He needs someone to be there for him." "This is NOT a minor personality flaw." "I mean, c'mon." "If six months in rehab couldn't make him better, what makes you think that you can?" "Look, Tommy might not be perfect but he has a good heart." "He was there for me when I needed him." "I'm not just going abandon him when he's at his worst." "I'm sorry." "Fine." "Do what you want." "Waste your time with this jerk-off." "But I'm not going to just sit around and watch you to get hurt again." "So you're bailing on me now?" "Listen,  I don't want to have the same conversation with you in two weeks!" "You know what?" "Maybe this is the relationship I shouldn't waste time on." "Maybe you're right." "I think Ephram's never played in front of quite this many people before." "He'll be fine." "You think he has a chance to win?" "Well, I didn't sign him up so he could win some ribbon like it's a doggie show." "I wanted him to hear some live musicians, to see that jazz is a living art." "He's still too much in his head." "What is this piece?" "Do you know?" "You want to know if I'm going deaf, just ask." "How long's it been going on?" "Since the explosion." "It's been getting worse." "Doctor says something about damaged hair cells." "They're doing some amazing things with implants." "And there are new drugs that might help with the sensorineural damage..." "No, I, I've heard this pitch already and I'm not interested." "I'm too old to be a guinea pig." "But why not at least try?" "That's all I'm saying." "When you get to be my age, you're bound to lose something." "But my eyes are still good." "As long as you know what you're seeing, just watching the great ones is a thrill." "And watch your son." "He could be next." "And I may not be the best teacher for him anymore." "You know it and I know it." "Delia, I know you're mad at me." "But I'd like to talk to you, if that's OK." "You know, um, when I was in, uh, Bangladesh once," "I was in this mud hut, and, and there was a hole in the roof." "And I had to fix it and all I had was some rope and no ladder, and then it started to rain and, and I had to go and cut down a bunch of palm leaves..." "And I forget why I started telling you this story." "That's OK." "It's kind of boring anyway." "Delia, I'm sorry about the diorama." "You're right, I shouldn't have worked on it." "I probably didn't even do a very good job anyway." "It looked pretty good." "You think?" "Still, though, terrible idea on my part." "Oh, I never knew how hard it was to take care of a ten-year-old." "You don't have to take care of me." "I know." "I just wanted to help out your dad out so he spend the weekend with Ephram." "And, honestly, I was hoping that if you and I had some more time alone together, you might like me more." "I know it doesn't feel like it, but I really was trying to do the right thing." "I gues I'm just pretty terrible at this parenting thing." "Pretty much." "But you're trying." "And in school, we also get grades for effort." "Thank you, Shawna Yoffee..." "Our next performer is a pianist from Everwood, Colorado." "Studying under Willingham Cleveland, please welcome Ephram Brown." "I have one of those books on tape." "Maybe we could..." "No." "It wasn't that big a deal, Ephram." "Just a little performance anxiety." "That's all." "Happens to the best of us." "You know, when I first performed surgery, I was so nervous and I dropped a scalpel." "Stop." "Please." "Just stop." "I'm begging you." "I'm just trying to help." "Well, you can't and you won't." "So just give it up." "Pull over." "What?" "Will, we're almost home." "Can't it wait?" "I said pull over." "LINDA!" "Come see I finished it!" "Just a second!" "You finished it?" "Oh, I can't wait to see..." "Honey, are you OK?" "Yeah." "I'm fine." "Well, c'mon." "Let's check it out." "As fascinating a study of Americana as this is, what are we doing here?" "Will, couldn't this wait?" "I mean, how badly could you need socks?" "When they finally kick Bright out of Victoria's Secret, he's not going to be able to find us." "Play." "You're joking, right?" "What is this?" "A cable access version of "Punk'd"" "How long you known me?" "I don't know." "A while." "How many jokes have I told?" "Now go ahead and play." "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do." "But I'm in no mood to do the whole "get back on the horse" thing." "Alright?" "Whoever this girl is, she made you play your best, and she made you play your worst." "Wait." "This is about a girl?" "It's always about a girl." "Now go ahead and get her out of your system." "Well, I thought you weren't supposed to play for anybody but yourself." "You think I was born old and alone?" "I've been there;" "love and heartbreak." "Pleasure and pain." "In the end, it's all passion." "Use 'em both." "How did you know?" "Well, some people see the forest, some people see the trees." "I'm not sure if you just insulted me or not, but it doesn't matter." "As long as you can get my son to play like that, I can't think of a better teacher for him." "You know I'm going to miss?" "This." "I didn't know food could cost this much." "I mean chicken is chicken, right?" "Yeah and whatever trouffles are, I hope there's like gold in them." "We really don't need to eat here." "No, no." "It's fine." "I picked up a couple of extra shifts at the drug store." "The real drug store." "Not the one I ran out of my trunk." "I wanted this to be... special, you know." "Not that I don't enjoy our Whopper meals together, but, um, this was sort of a new start." "For... me and for us." "I wanted to thank you for giving me another chance." "And show you how much a different person you make me." "You don't need me to be that person." "I know." "But..." "I don't want to be that person without you." "Well, I'm starving." "What are you going to get?" "Well, I don't know." "Um..." "I have no idea how to pronounce any of this." "What's the French word for "bathroom"?" "I don't know." "Le "john"?" "Le john." "I'll be right back." "Now I don't have to play every weekend for the next couple of months." "Isn't that incredible?" "Oh that's great." "Oh, and the owner said he probably could get a couple of people out to listen to us because he has these unbelieveable connections from when he lived in L.A." "That'll be huge." "Yeah." "Oh my God." "I've been all about me since the minute you walked indoor." "I haven't even asked you about your concert." "I'm sorry." "No, no." "Your story's much better." "Trust me." "Well, how was it?" "You killed, didn't you?" "There was definitely some dying involved." "I sort of didn't play." "What happened?" "Did you get sick or something?" "No." "It wasn't so much sick as it was the, the all-night drive from Boulder back to your house and back again." "It kind of made a wreck of me." "Y- you drove back here." "When?" "Why?" "Oh, forget it." "No, no." "I don't, I don't understand." "Why did you come back here?" "Well, I, you know, I thought, I kinda figured that I really freaked you out with the whole "I love you" thing that you might be obsessing over it." "But, but you, you obviously weren't because I came back here and I saw you and you were fine." "Wait." "You saw me and you didn't come in?" "Well, I didn't want to be like the crazy person barging in but..." "Though I'm probably not helping my case too much by telling you all this." "Well, this is um..." "Horrifying?" "I know." "This is just a little crazy, Ephram." "That's what the voice in my head kept on telling me the entire way back to the hotel." "I should have said something." "It's just when you said it, it caught me off guard and I didn't want to, uh," "I didn't want to say anything like reflexively if that's a word." "I don't know what I was saying..." "It's OK now." "It's alright." "I wasn't planning on ignoring it or you." "I just didn't want to say anything at first because I wanted to process it." "I wanted to figure out how I felt." "I never, I never thought that you would drive all the way back here." "Look, it's fine." "Don't worry about it." "I am worried." "Look, I was, I was just excited about, you know, last weekend and everything." "It's not like I'm psychotically in love with you or anything." "I, do, you know, we can just maybe rewind the last couple of days?" "Just go back completely?" "I don't think it works that way, Ephram." "Right." "The, uh, toothpaste tube." "Forgot." "Do you think we can maybe just pretend?" "For now at least?" "Yeah." "I guess we can do that." "OK." "So you guys really had a good time?" "Absolutely." "And she brushed her teeth?" "Mmhmm." "Oh, that's usually her favorite delay tactic." "That and needing another drink of water before she can go to sleep." "She kind of turns into a sponge right before bedtime." "No, I told you everything was great." "Wow." "You're going to have to tell me your secret weapon." "I've never gotten through a weekend with that kind of success." "Not without Nina, anyway." "You know what?" "Kids are a mystery." "Crop circles pale in comparison." "Well, it does get easier." "Hey sweetie." "Linda was just telling me about the great time you guys had this weekend." "Mmhmm." "I say we should have sundaes and celebrate your dad's return." "What do you say?" "Works for me." "Alright." "Oh, I get your trick." "Frozen sugar." "Three hot fudge sundaes with extra bananas." "So what's that about?" "Nothing." "Oh." "Secrets, huh?" "Yeah." "It's a secret." "Oh." "Bananas!" "Sometimes it's easier to pretend things are OK rather than face a difficult truth." "So we go through the motions, the rituals of everyday life." "We hope the comfortable rhythms of familiarity will hold off the inevitable just a little longer." "Return things to normal." "Anything to buy us more time." "Playing pretend, make believe." "It might be the one thing we never outgrow." "Script:" "Gaby Srt:" "Juanfran"