"I like you." "I do." "I just need a break." "A break..." "Up?" "No, no, no, no." "Not a break-up." "Just...a break." "What's the difference?" "I mean, besides two letters..." " Graham." " And a hyphen?" "Okay." "It's not that I don't want to be" "If you had known this was gonna happen, you wouldn't have brought her here." "You would've gone somewhere where no one knows you," "Not the place downstairs from your apartment." "I feel like we're really on different pages, maturity-wise." "Maybe I never really took the time I needed to get over my ex-boyfriend." "Turkey on wheat." "Thanks." "Can I get you anything else?" "No." "Thanks." "Does that make sense?" "So, are we..." "It's not you." "It's me." "So it's you." "But I don't know." "Maybe it's kind of you, too." "So it's me?" "I mean, we just kind of jumped into something, and I didn't take the time to be on my own." "And this photography class I'm taking is just taking up all my time and..." "Everything was going so well." "You had introduced her to your parents." "She bought you that old typewriter for your birthday." "And now you're here, the crushing reminder that no matter how close you think you are to someone, you never know when it's all going to just fall apart." "And you don't answer, or if you do answer, it's just like you're not there." "Graham?" " Paul." " Paul." "Freshman year." "Batel, first floor." "Hi." "It's so funny I'm just running into you now." "I'm here all the time." "That's funny." "Know who's having a party tonight?" "No." "Sam." "Sam?" "Sam." "Sam." "Right." "Yeah." "Sophomore year, we all lived third floor Stewart." "Sam." "You got to come." "You both should come." "I'm gonna text the address later on, and I will see you there." "All right." " Ciao." " Later." " Nice to meet you." " See you." "Sorry." "What were you saying?" "Well, I was saying that sometimes it doesn't feel like you're present, like... like I don't even know if you're... if you're listening to me or what I'm thinking." "I mean, I can't tell what you're thinking." "You're just all over the place." "And as you sit there, it all starts to feel very familiar." "And all the words start to sound like all the other times you've been broken up with, or broken up with someone." "And you start to realize that your life might completely be going in circles." "I just don't think you know what you want." "But I'd like to stay in touch." "Maybe we can grab a coffee sometime." "Items to be returned/thrown away." "One copy, "unbearable lightness of being" with notes in the margins, lent/given as gift on second date." "One postcard from trip to Spain, with affectionate writings on the back." "One purple shirt, given as gift, rarely worn except in her presence." "One typewriter, Underwood 1939, given as birthday gift." "Well, no need to get carried away." "Three Bobby pins, date of origin unknown." "One letter written to Samantha after first date while she was in Phoenix for some reason, unsent." "Letters from camp girlfriend, circa sixth grade." "One photo key chain made with college girlfriend senior year at last chance dance." "Photos of various ex-girlfriends." "Old notebooks," "Ideas for novels that were never written." "Lists of things to do that were never done." "Notes taken during class." "Notes written to distract you from class." "Long entries about girls you haven't thought about in years who used to seem like the most important person in the world." "People you've lost track of but you still think about sometimes." "From now on, just move forward, move ahead, focus on the present, don't look back," "Don't get caught up thinking about the past." "or whatever you do, don't." "Hey, Paul." "Right." "Sam's party." "Okay." "See you there." "Hi." "Hey." "I know you, man." "Uh, Grant." "Graham." "Graham!" "That's it." "I met you at, um..." "Where (did) we meet?" "When you see her at the party, you're not sure it's her at first." "If it is her, then she's changed her hair, that's for sure." "It has been three years, so that does seem fairly likely." "We were at that party together," " at the Tribec..." " Excuse me." "I think that's my ex-girlfriend." "I hate that." "I mean I just..." "I can't stand running into exes" "Oh, well, we'll catch up later, man." " Hey." " Hey." "Um, was that girl's name Laura?" "Yeah, it is." "You wait in the hall, anxious, looking awkward talking to no one." "but you don't wanna get caught in a conversation and miss your chance." "Finally, she emerges." "It's her, Laura." "She looks just like she did." "Now is the moment, the moment when your eyes will lock and everything will come together." "Oh, yeah, yeah." "He just told me that." "I Like blog." "I'm, like, a blogger." "I write stuff about, like, you know, my day and what I'm eating... that kinda thing." "Oh, that's really neat." "Hi!" "Oh, hey!" "How are you?" "I'm good." "How are you?" "Good." "Um... what are you doing here?" "I..." "I know Sam." "Oh, I..." "I didn't know you knew Sam." "Yeah." "No." "Uh, through Paul." " Right." " Right." "Right." "Of course." "Yeah." "Um..." "I thought you moved." "I did." "Um..." "I did, and I was away for a while, but now I'm back, so..." "You ease into a routine of irrelevant questions and overly enthusiastic replies." "You try and make it seem that everything's all right and that life has been going well, despite that e-mail you sent late one night after a few too many drinks." "You try and make it seem like there's nothing awkward about this chance meeting but when you look at her smile, you're reminded of how things used to be, and you wonder why it ended the way it did" "and how your life has come to this point." "Hey, you'll never guess who's here." "Oh, um..." "I should probably go, but, um..." "It's really good to see you." "It's good to see you, too." "So, was it her, dude?" "Yeah, it was her." "Oh, man!" "That..." "How'd it go?" "Did you guys talk?" "And that's when Ben enters the picture, the guy you've met a dozen times who never remembers your name." "Hey." "How's it going, Ben?" "Hey." "Graham." "Yeah." "Yeah, I know, dude." "How are you?" "Good." "How are you?" "Good." "You know, the same, but..." "Good." "Good." "Uh, this is, uh..." "Ben." "Ben, this is, uh... som somebody." "Cool." "Yeah." "Okay." "Okay." "You have a drink, and then another, thinking that maybe she'll notice your world-weary malaise and find it charming, like she used to." "You keep a close watch on where she is in the room the rest of the night, trying not to be too close, but trying to also be available in anticipation of the follow-up conversation where you both might open up more" "and have a more in-depth talk where she tells you that she's been thinking about how she regrets the way things ended that maybe you two should get a coffee and catch up." "No, a drink." "Yes, a drink." "If she says coffee, that means she doesn't really want to meet and she's just being polite." "The night goes on and on, and you keep looking over at her and explaining to your friends how strange it is that you used to go out with that girl and haven't seen her in years." "They don't remember her." "Tou only dated for a few months, and you're not the type of guy to introduce a girl to all your friends right away." "You expect them to react a little more to the strangeness of the situation, but no one really seems to think it's that significant, and it's disappointing." "The last time you heard her name was when another ex-girlfriend, now a friend, Kate, mentioned that she was dating someone who had apparently gone out with Laura." "You had given Kate a copy of one of your short stories, and he saw your name on the title page." "You know this guy?" "Yeah." "He's my friend." "He wrote a story." "This guy, he dated my friend Laura." "He totally broke her heart." "Oh, cool." "He kept going on and on about how you broke this girl Laura's heart." "And I was like, "Yeah, fine, all right, already." "Can we get back to boning?"" "Wait." "He said that Laura was heartbroken?" "I know." "Who would be heartbroken over you?" "Always dangerous to become friends with ex-girlfriends." "They know too much, and they're not afraid to be brutally honest." "Or maybe that's just the way it is with Kate." "Are you guarding the drinks?" "Hey." "Just trynna make some tips." "Are you... avoiding someone?" "Yeah." "Okay." "It's this guy I used to go out with, and... it's really awkward." "There's another person that you went out with at this party?" "Yeah." "Um... and I didn't end things well, and it's just really uncomfortable." "It's kind of embarrassing." " Wow!" " I just don't know if he saw me and... or what, but..." "Is he looking over here?" "I don't know." "Who are you talking about?" "He's, um... behind me." "He's got the blazer and the hair." "Ben?" "You went out with Ben?" "I mean, it was for, like, two seconds." "And..." "I just..." "I didn't return his phone call, and I felt like a jerk, and I just..." "Is he looking over here?" "Did he see me?" "You know, I mean, he's pretty much staring at you, so..." "Oh, good." "Great." "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." " You went out with Ben?" " How do you know him?" "Through Sam." "God, it's such a small world." "All right." "Now, here's a plan, okay?" "You walk out the door." "I'll meet you in the hallway." "We'll go get a drink somewhere else." "I would love to, but, um... one of my girlfriends is over there, and she kind of got cornered by this guy that she used to hook up with, and..." "Ouch." "Yeah." " He looks like a winner." " Yeah." "Um..." "And I..." "I should say hi to..." " Yeah." " ..." "Ben." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "No." "But we should catch up sometime." "Yeah." "Um... maybe get a coffee?" "Yeah, coffee." "Coffee's great." "I love coffee." "Me too." "Have it all the time." "Yeah, you still have it at that place that you used to write at?" "Yes." "Nothing has changed at all." "Awesome." "Maybe I'll see you there." "I'll be there." "Okeydokey." "Well..." " Good luck with that." " Thank you." "You say as you watch her walk away, knowing that you won't hear from her again." "You don't even have her phone number, anyway." "You'll see each other again at the same party next year and have the same conversation, wondering how time passes so quickly." "It's weird." "I didn't even know that you guys knew Laura." "Yeah, crazy, right?" "Yeah." "Oh, thanks." "Well, it was great seeing you tonight." "Yeah." " It's good to see you guys." " Thanks for coming." "And... be safe." "Thanks." "And give me a call next week, yeah?" "Sounds good." "Okay." " All right." "Take care, bud." " Bye." "Hey." "Hey, Ben." "Well..." "Hey, dude... did you go out with that girl Laura?" "Yep." "That's so weird." "I mean, I thought you did from Sam, but when I asked her about it, she said you guys just had, like, a one-night stand." "Wait." "She said what?" "She said you guys just had a one-night stand." "That's weird, right?" "I mean, why would she lie about that?" "I don't know." "That's weird." "How long did you guys go out for?" "Five or six months." "Yeah, that's longer." "Did she say anything about me or..." "No." "Okay." "Cool." "How long did you guys go out for?" "I don't know, man." "I don't know when you're going out with someone, or like just going on a few dates, or seeing someone or dating someone or together." "What does that mean?" "You know, I have no idea." "Cool." "Okay." "All right." "Well, I'm gonna..." "Are you?" " You're going that...?" " Yeah." "Oh." "I'm gonna go that way, actually." "All right." "Cool." "All right, man." " Good to see you." " Yep." "You walk away... in the opposite direction from Ben, even though the subway is in the direction he's walking." "You walk all the way home, even though it's 30 blocks." "This is the more dramatic thing to do." "You wish that she could see you walk all those blocks with your hands in your pockets, thinking about things." "But you know that she's asleep and thinking about something totally different." "You think about e-mailing her when you get home, but you're not quite sure what to say." "After all, you've said it all before." "Comments?" "I just thought it was problematic in plot and character." "Just the way that everyone coincidentally knew each other and it was all interconnected seemed unrealistic." "What does he want?" "What does he want?" "I think he wants the girl." "Is that enough?" "I mean, what does getting her do for him?" "It will do a lot." "So, wait." "Why is it in second person?" "I think that just kind of felt like the way I should write it." "You should think about writing more in the first person." "Yeah." "Editing is important for every writer, especially you." "Yeah." "What I am hearing... when I hear these words is a sense of alienation between these people who... know each other but who don't really know each other." "In a sense, the character doesn't know himself." "He has an... outside voice speak for him, giving him instructions, because in a way, he doesn't really feel in control of himself." "He's essentially... failed, as a... human being." "I mean, he's unable to... connect, and open up to the people around him." "He's unable to really reconcile with his own nostalgic, idealized notion of the past with his lonely present." "Well, I..." "I wouldn't say lonely." "He is very lonely." "And ultimately, unable to be honest with himself and have a genuine moment." "See, I don't..." "I don't really know if, uh, that's what I was going for." "His walking home is an act performed for... not himself, but... someone who's not even watching." "I don't think that you've really reached the core of who this character is." "I think you need to dig deeper." "And I think you should work on it and bring it back in next time." "Thanks." "And why Laura?" "Because she's beautiful?" "Because she's smart?" "Because you like her personality?" "Aren't there other beautiful, smart girls with nice personalities?" "What makes her different?" "Because she's your ex-girlfriend?" "Because you wanna make it right this time?" "Also because she's beautiful, and funny, and sweet." "and life would be better if you were together." "and she's read "War and Peace."" "and those eyes." "No, there's no way to go back." "You can only go forward." "You can't regain the past." "The best thing would be to forget about her and go forward." "Yes." "Don't think about her ever again." "or Facebook her." "Maybe you should defriend her." "No, that's too much." "Maybe just hide her posts." "Of course you're here." "Hi!" "Hey!" "What are you working on?" "Just... writing." "About?" "People and places, doing things." "Wow." "That sounds interesting." "Yeah, it's fascinating." "Oh, am I interrupting?" "Are you deep in writerly contemplation, or..." "No, no, no." "Um..." "Do you wanna sit down?" "Do you wanna have a coffee or something?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Do you want..." " Sure." "No, I'm good." " You're good." "Yeah, totally." "Um..." "Okay." "Um..." "I'm gonna get something." "Okay." "I'll be here." "Okay." "So, I got your e-mail." "Oh." "Okay." "Come on." "Ben said what?" "Well, he said that... he knows that you and I went out, and when he asked you long we went out, you said that we only had a one-night-stand kind of thing." "What?" "Yeah." "I don't know." "I mean, that's what he said." "No, I never said that." "Yeah." "No, I mean, I'm sure it's a weird... something." "I may have said something vaguely like that." "But I..." "I never said "one-night-stand."" "Yeah." "No." "I..." "Cool." "Okay." "Come on." "You know when you start dating somebody and you sort of tend to, I don't know, downplay certain things?" "Yeah." "No, I mean, it's natural to lie a little bit." "Lie?" "It's not lying." "It's downplaying." "Right." "Downplaying." "Okay, fine." "It's lying." "But, it's... a noble lie." "you know, just avoiding saying something that someone doesn't necessarily need to know." "Right." "The noble lie." "Sure." "Mm-hmm." "Well, one-night stand or heartbreak, I guess the truth is somewhere in between." "Heartbreak?" "I don't know that I would call it a heartbreak." "I don't know." "That's not what I heard." "Oh, really?" "Do tell." "Okay." "So my friend Kate is going out with some guy that you went out with." "Okay." "And he told her that when you and I broke up, you told him that you were heartbroken." "Okay." "Who is this guy?" "I don't know." "I don't remember his name." "Okay." "What does he look like?" "I never met him." "I don't know." "Carl, maybe?" "Mm... no." "I don't think so." "Harry Jacobs?" "I don't know his name is what I'm telling you." "Okay." "Okay." "Oh, God." "I don't know." "Anyway, um..." "Yeah, I guess I was kind of sad about it, but that's... that's natural, don't you think?" "Well, but I mean, you're the one that broke up with me." "Well, I... there were some things going on in my... anyway, you weren't putting that much of an effort in, so I didn't think you were really all that interested." "What?" "Of course I was interested." "I..." "I put in effort." "I did stuff." "Are you kidding?" "I would call you, and you would text me back." "Okay, but a text is a totally valid form of communication." "No, texting is not communicating." "I just..." "I don't know." "I never felt like I knew what you were thinking and... you just didn't really open up to me." "See, this is the whole problem." "Girls always wanna know what guys are thinking, and the truth is that we're not thinking anything profound." "We're thinking about what's on TV that night what we're gonna have for lunch." "You give us way too much credit." "Well, you need to communicate." "I'm working on it." "Paul nateland." "No." "Dan Preston?" "No." "I don't even know if they're going out." "She's in New Haven for the semester, so..." "I'm sorry." "I'll stop asking." "It's annoying." " It's okay." " Oh." "Hey, I got your e-mail." "Which?" "The apology." "Oh." "Last year." "Yeah." "It was sweet." "Right." "What made you send it?" "Ah, I don't know." "I guess I was just feeling like I wanted to apologize." "Oh." "Somebody had just broken up with you, hadn't they?" "No." "Yes." "Yes, but how do you know that?" "Because that's the only time that people e-mail their exes that and when they're really drunk." "Yeah." "Yeah, that's true." "Well, if you liked it so much," "Why'd you never write back?" "Well, I don't know." "I..." "I've been in this on-again, off-again thing with this guy, and..." "Oh." " Sounds complicated." " It's complicated." "Yeah." "So, are you on again or off again?" "On again." "Oh." " Congratulations." " Thank you." "So, you wrote me that e-mail 'cause a girl broke up with you?" "Partly." "Kate?" "No, no." "We went out a while ago, but we're just friends now." "You don't strike me as the type to be friends with your exes." "Really?" "Well, I mean, I guess after the statute of limitations has expired, sure." "Oh." "What, are you just not attracted to her anymore?" "No." "I mean it's not that." "I mean, I'm not attracted to Kate anymore." "It's..." "We're friends." "That... no." "I don't know." "I feel like there's always kind of a bond there with somebody you've gone out with." "Yeah?" "Now you're back together with your ex." "Yeah." "Um..." "It's kind of complicated." "We were together for a really long time, and then I found out that he'd been cheating on me, and so I broke things off." "But..." "I kept just, you know, thinking about him and..." "I don't know, wondering if he could change." "And, you know, he kept persisting and wanting to be back together, but..." "I didn't feel like I could trust him and... or anybody, really," "Not even, you know, um..." "But uh..." "But yeah, I told him six months, if he can go six months and not be with any other girl, then we can be back together." "And he did it." "He..." "He did it." "So..." "Wow." "That's great." "So you were back together with him when I saw you at that party." "Yeah." "Yeah, it's funny." "I was actually gonna meet Tom there, but then..." "Tom!" "That's the name of the guy." "What?" "Yeah." "That's him." "That's the guy going out with my friend Kate." "Not, um... not Tom Whitman." "Yeah." "No." "Maybe." "I don't know." "Maybe it's a different Tom." "Um..." "Well, how... how long did you say they were going out?" "Two..." "I..." "I don't know." "Maybe it's not Tom." "Maybe it's somebody else." "I'm sorry." "I didn't know." "When did they go out?" "I don't know." "Are they still together?" "I don't know." "Laura, wait." "Wait." "Wait, wait, wait." "Are you mad?" "Hey, come on." "Come on." "Hey, come on." "Talk to me." "I'm sorry." "I really don't know anything." "I'm not even sure if this is true." "Could you call her?" "Who?" "Your friend." "Yeah." "Sure." "Kate, hey." "It's Graham." "Give me a call when you get this." "Do you think you could text her, too?" "Sure." "I can't believe he was lying." "I really believed him." "Well... maybe it's a complicated situation." "Maybe it's a noble lie." "Yeah." "Yeah, it's still a lie, though." "Um..." "Why do I always do this?" "Why do I end up with guys that lie to me?" "Do you think that she'll call back soon?" "She must be in class or something." "Right." "So, should I just have a mental breakdown?" "No." "Don't do that." "Has she called you?" "Oh, my God." "No, not yet." "Is life always gonna be like this?" "No." "Is every relationship like this?" "No." "We weren't like this." "That's true." "We didn't have any major catastrophes." "Well, we got bored of each other." "That's why we broke up." "Bad timing, I guess." "You think?" "Yeah." "Sorry." "I, um..." "You probably have plans and..." "No, no." "Well, I mean, I'm meeting some friends, but not until later." "Well, I'm a little bit of a disaster right now." "So..." "I think I should go and deal with this, and then you can meet your friends," " No." "Wait." " and..." "Are you gonna call him right now?" "No." "Okay." "Okay, then stay with me and we'll wait until Kate calls back." "Okay?" "Okay." "Okay!" "I think I should probably call him." "No." "Don't call him right now." "He'll just try and confuse you." "You need all the facts before he... spins his all story into something crazy." "He's a manipulator." "How are you gonna call someone on this?" "Look at this phone." "Who are you calling, Zack Morris?" "Oh, you're right." "Um..." "I'll just wait..." "to hear from Kate." "But it's not like it's a misunderstanding or a coincidence." "He's obviously lying to me, and..." "I can't trust him, and I have to end it." "I mean..." "It just makes me really angry, because..." "I'm sorry." "You don't really need to be dealing with this." "No." "No, seriously." "I'm..." "I'm here for you." "Do you want another?" "Okay." "You can't get caught up in the middle of this." "It's not your place." "It's something they need to sort out." "The messenger always gets killed in this kind of situation." "You need to be... be the neutral territory that she comes to when this is all sorted out." "You need to be Switzerland." "Yes, you're Switzerland." "You don't need to keep hanging out with me." "I know you have plans with your friends and everything." "No, no." "I mean, I..." "I wanna... be here with you." "Has Kate called you yet?" "No." "No, she hasn't called yet." "You know, it's kind of perfect that you're the person here with me right now, 'cause I think you're the only guy who's never lied to me." "Sure." "Of course." "This means that things are over with you and Tom, right?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I mean, I can't..." "I can't be with him after this." "You know what?" "You should come with me." "You should come with me to meet my friends." "No, I'd don't think I'd be that fun right now." "You need to forget about this for a little bit." "We'll wait for Kate to call back, but in the meantime, just get your mind off this for a little bit." "I think we need another drink, though." "Well, what I'm saying is... where is the line between fiction and nonfiction?" "Uh, one is based in reality." "One is not." "What is reality?" "Are we really talking about this again?" "Yes, we're talking about it." "He said it was an autobiography." "then he went on television, said, "everything in here is true."" "And then he had to go back and apologize for lying, which makes it not an autobiography." "You realize that if you add up all the lies, most autobiographies add up to being fiction anyway?" "Then why not call it "fiction"?" "There's plenty of writers who write about themselves, but they don't claim it to be true." "They fictionalize it." "Okay, but it's much more effective..." "But it's not true!" "I'll be right back." "Okay." "Ok, what if the lie you're telling is, like, actually helping people?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "The noble lie." "The noble lie." "Yes!" " See, he knows what I'm talking about." " Be right back." "But you're not a noble man." "Look what you did." "You scared away the girl." "You happy?" "She's beautiful." "She is hot, yes." "Are you texting him?" "No, he... he's gonna be suspicious." "I haven't written him back all day, so..." "Just don't talk to him right now." "It's a terrible time." "Just... just talk to him later." "Okay?" "Yeah." " You're right." " I'll hold on to this" " so you don't call him, okay?" " Okay." "Okay." "Yeah." "We'll just wait." "We'll wait for Kate to call back, okay?" "All right." "Okay." "All right." "Thank you." "Of course." "Do you uh..." "do you want a drink?" "All right." "I'll be right back." "Okay." "It's... it's taken me this long to..." "to get it all down on paper, but it was in my head in fifth grade." "Hey." "What's going on?" "Why are you asking me about Tom?" "Yeah." "No." "I think..." "Tom is going out with this..." "this other girl, Laura." "What?" "Are you still going out with this guy?" "What the hell?" "I mean, I don't know." "That's what it sounds like." "But, I mean, I don't know." "No." "I think everything is totally fine, because they're definitely not together anymore." "I don't know." "I got to go." "I finished my first novel." "It... came out last year." "Do you read the New York Times?" "It was reviewed in the New York Times." "You didn't read that review?" "It was there." "Herbert?" "Herbert?" "No." "You didn't..." "Really?" "Did you bring me here on purpose?" "What do you mean?" "Wait, you forgot?" "Right over there." "Here?" "No, I think it was here." "I have it." "Okay." " Here you go." " Thank you." "Um..." "I should probably go home and deal with this." "But, um... maybe another time?" "Yeah." "You did the right thing." "She'll break up with him, and then you'll get a drink, or a coffee." "Nothing wrong with coffee." "Just let things sort themselves out." "Don't write her an e-mail." "Maybe just a short one." ""Good to see you tonight."" "No." "Terrible idea." "Definitely not." "Turn off the phone." "That's the only way." "Hello?" "It's me." "Open up." "Why do you 've so many stairs?" "Hey." "What's up?" "What's going on?" "What are you doing here?" "You didn't answer your phone." "Yeah." "I don't..." "I don't know." "Really?" "I'm sleeping." "Yeah?" "Not gonna answer your phone in the middle of a crisis?" "You didn't answer your phone yesterday when I called you." "Interesting." "I'm a grad student." "I have classes." "I don't have to answer my phone." "So you came down from New Haven just to talk about this Tom thing?" "That's the interesting thing, because I was gonna come down anyway, because today's Tom's birthday." "But I had a big exam, so I wasn't gonna be able to make it." "Tom said he would come up to New Haven to celebrate with me on Sunday." "But I was able to reschedule my exam, so I was gonna come down and surprise him." "but it's a good thing that I didn't, because he would've been boning that girl Laura." "Really?" "He was trying to keep me up there so he could celebrate with her today, celebrate with me tomorrow." "Oh." "Okay." "I'm crashing here, by the way." "You were just gonna come down here and not tell me about that?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, you just kind of show up and, you know, make plans with me if other stuff falls through." "I mean, maybe you could just call and make a plan for once instead of showing up and saying, "Hey, let's go get a bagel."" "Oh, I'm so sorry." "But I'm the one that's getting cheated on here." "When do I get some sympathy?" "I didn't even know you were still going out with this guy." "I'm trying to!" "Well, great!" "I don't even know why you're shouting at me!" "Why don't you buy me a bagel and say you're sorry?" "Then you can follow that up with an apology for not wearing any pants around me." "So, I asked him about it last night, and he said that this is some girl from his past that's still hung up on him." "She wants to get back together, and he's trynna get out of it." "This guy's such a liar." "Yeah, I know." "So, that's it." "They're over, right?" "No." "'cause this morning, he called me and said things are more complicated than he thought with Laura and he needs to sort stuff out, so he broke up with me." "Wait." "He broke up with you to be with her?" "Yeah." "But she's not gonna get back together with him." "Yeah." "Why would she do that?" "I don't know." "Didn't you tell her everything from last night?" "Not everything." "I just assumed..." " that was enough!" " Why didn't you tell her?" "Because it was a noble lie, she didn't need to know all of it." "I just thought that she was done with him already, and I wanted her to..." "let her..." "You were putting the moves on her." "No." "Of course not." "I was trynna be supportive." "I didn't wanna be the bearer of bad news." "In retrospect, it was a bad idea." "So, he told you that he was back together with her?" "Yes." "Makes me so mad he's just gonna get away with it." "We need to tell her what's really going on and save her from getting hurt by him again." "What about me?" "What about you?" "I'm being cheated on, too." "Yeah, but, I mean, you know you're getting cheated on." "She's a poor, innocent, you know..." "But he broke up with me, and that's not fair." "I don't get broken up with." "I'm the one that does the breaking up." "We have to tell her." "It makes me so mad that he's just gonna get away with this." "Can we let him get away with this?" "No." "We gotta do something about it." "Yeah." "She should know." "Right." "Okay." "What do we do?" "Call her." "I don't have her phone number." "What?" "What do you mean?" "I thought you hung out with her last night." "No, I just ran into her, but..." "I'd erased her phone number back when we broke up 'cause I didn't want to send her any weird drunk texts, and now I didn't wanna ask her at the party, 'cause it would've been embarrassing to tell her that I'd erased her phone number," "so I only have her e-mail." "You've some really serious issues." "I know." "Well, let's e-mail her." "Okay." ""Dear Laura"." "No." "Too formal." ""Hey, Laura", Too casual." ""Laura"," ""good to see you yesterday."" ""Hope you're doing... better?"" "Whatever." "Okay." ""Kate got back to me this morning."" ""She says she's been dating Tom for months."" ""So basically, I just think he's probably still lying."" ""Anyway, I don't want to get in the middle of anything,"" ""but I thought you should know."" ""So,"" ""maybe we can hang out some time again."" ""It was really nice to see you."" ""Sincerely, Graham."" "Well, don't say "sincerely" at the end." "Yeah, you're right." "Take that out." "In fact, you should lose this whole last sentence." ""I hope this wasn't too upsetting." "Maybe we should get a drink some time."" "You just destroyed her life." "Give her like a week to recover." "But maybe she needs a shoulder to cry on." "Ooh, yeah." "Maybe just give her like a couple of days." "You know what?" "Feel it out." "If it's right, she'll come to you." "But don't wait too long, right?" "No." "If it's meant to be, it'll be." "So I should send this." "Yes." "I'm pretty sure we're about to ruin both their lives." "Yes, we are." "I mean, we're gonna ruin his life for sure." "He needs to be held accountable for what he did." "And you know what?" "I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but she would be better off with you." "Thanks." "I agree." "Of course." "Okay." "I'm gonna send it." "Do it." "Sent." "It's done?" "How long do you think it'll take before they write back?" "I don't know." "But she will write back, right?" "Oh, yeah." "She has to." "I need a drink." "Me too." "Let's go." "Are you done?" "Uh, yeah." "I'm done." "How many?" "It's 20-ish." "What number am I?" "You are number 18." "Are you going chronologically?" "No, I'm just going stream of consciousness." "Well, then why am I not number one?" "I don't know." "I was just kind of thinking off the top of my head." "Do you wanna be number one?" "Well, what number would I be?" "I don't know." "Are you really asking me that?" "Yes." "Look, I can rearrange it, okay?" "I don't wanna be number 18." "Well, now you are number one." "So I'm the best sex you ever had." "Yeah, you are the A-plus, number-one best ever." "We would be perfect for each other if you weren't you." "I mean, we both like watching TV." "We both like bagels." "and we don't sleep together, so we're like an old married couple." "It's true." "What about the sex?" "Was it good?" "Yeah." "Then how come Tom doesn't want me?" "Because he's crazy." "Yeah." "Why do you care?" "Because I like him." "He doesn't call me all the time." "He's not needy like other guys." "Because he has a girlfriend." "Well, nobody's perfect." "Maybe I should just date guys that have girlfriends." "You know, that's a really good idea." "You should follow that up." "Maybe, if they break up, you can go out with Laura, and I can go out with Tom." "Wait." "You would still go out with him?" "Even after what he's done?" "Well, now that he doesn't want me, I want him more." "What?" "You know that's how it works." "That's why you want Laura." "That's not why I want her." "And also, I'm not doing this because I want her." "I'm doing this to help her." "You know, things just kind of got complicated." "What happened?" "Timing and stuff." "You went out with her, and it didn't work out." "Well, I was a different person then." "Mm-hmm." "I was a little immature." "And now?" "Very mature." "Old." "I'm not old." "Are you 30?" "I'm not 30." "Jesus!" "How old are you?" " 29." " Exactly." "So, what's your final count?" "You go first." "I'm at 27." "27?" "Yeah." "What?" "Is that bad?" "What's yours?" "26." "What?" "!" "Really?" "All right." "It's 28, okay?" "I'm not a bad person." "I am not saying anything." "I don't even think that Tom counts, 'cause he cheated on me." "So..." "Oh." "27." "We're both at 27, and we're even." "Half these guys, I don't even like." "Most of them." "All this effort." "Stupid Dating!" " Buying drinks." " Talking." "For what?" "Where'd it get us?" "Nowhere." "I don't wanna keep adding numbers to my list." "Neither do I." "Tom was different." "Laura was different." "I really like him." "I really like her." "But I'm not gonna text him." "He has to text me." "Why hasn't she responded to our e-mail yet?" "God, I know." "Doesn't she have an iPhone?" "No, she doesn't." "She has an old flip phone." "What?" "I know." "It's inexplicable." "So if she wants to check her" "I know." "It's inexplicable." "So if she wants to check her e-mail, she has to go to a computer?" "Oh, God." "That's brutal!" "What if she hasn't even checked her e-mail today?" "She's been with Tom all day, sorting through all of her feelings, making up," " probably boning right now." " Can you not say that for a second?" "Well, it's true." "And she's at the birthday party." " The birthday party." " Yes." "Oh, my God!" "They'reprobably doing it right now." "Can you not say that for like two seconds?" "And if she's read the e-mail, then she's probably back in love with him, and we just look like jealous exes." "Okay." "We need to go there." "We should go there!" "Where's the party?" "The Hamptons." "The Hamptons?" "What are you talking about?" "I thought you were coming to the city to go to the party." "I came to the city so I could take a train to the Hamptons." "Ok." "Well, what time is the next train?" "We can't wait for a train." "We need to go right now!" "Well, how the hell are we gonna get there?" "We need a car!" "And this actually the second novel I'm working on right now." "The first one, uh, won quite a few awards." "Oh, cool." "So, you two used to go out?" "Yep." "No." "No?" "Like, "go out" go out?" "Is there any other kind?" "What?" "What do you mean we didn't go out?" "Well, there are different gradations of going out." "Is that a mathematical thing?" "There's hooking up, which is just straight-up boning, and then there's seeing someone, which is boning with some implied exclusivity, although it's not legally binding." "So if you boned somebody else, you may be slightly in the wrong, but no major crime has been committed." "You said "boning," right?" "That's what she said, "boning."" "So we were what?" "Hooking up." "Hooking up?" "I didn't even make it to "seeing someone"?" "Well, I don't know." "We didn't really go out that long." "Three months." "I mean, I just kinda would've assumed there'd have been some implied exclusivity after three months." "I don't know." "Maybe." "So you and Tom are what?" "We're going out." "Oh, okay." "So Tom, history of intellectual whatever, gets fast-tracked straight to "going out,"" "whereas I go out with you for three months, and all I have is these little games where I'm trynna be not too needy or not too distant, and I don't even make it to "seeing someone"?" "So what?" "I don't know." "I think I at least deserve some recognition." "So... so what?" "You wanna be upgraded?" "Yeah." "For a relationship that ended two years ago?" "For a relationship that ended because I had the decency to be a nice guy, and not be like these other guys who treat you terribly that you always go out with." "Fine." "You can be upgraded." "Why don't you get upgraded right to marriage?" "Yeah, why don't you upgrade me to ex-husband?" "Oh, that's good, 'cause you're the husband I never wanted to have." "Fine!" "How much longer is this?" "Too long." "Let's get to the Hamptons." "You hungry?" "You wanna get a bagel?" "I don't even like bagels." "Go ahead." "Great." "Oh, no." "That's gross." "Thanks." "So here's how it goes." "There's this woman, all right, and she's at her sister's wedding, and she meets the guy of her dreams." "You know, she instantly falls in love with him." "But she gets called away before she can get his number." "What about e-mail?" "No." "Boy, she could look him up on Facebook." "No." "He's not on Facebook." "Sounds suspicious." "Has he studied the history of intellectual thought?" "Do you mind if I finish the story?" "Great." "Okay." "So she has no way of contacting him, but, you know, the more they're apart, the more she's falling in love with him." "Typical." "Next week, she kills her sister." "Why?" "Mm, because she's crazy?" "No." "Because she's jealous of her sister's marriage?" "No." "She kills her sister so she can see the guy again, 'cause if he went to the wedding, he'd go to the funeral." "Oh, my God." "What?" "That's the right answer." "Yeah." "It's simple." "Yeah." "That means you're a psychopath." "What?" "It's a psychological profiling question the FBI uses to identify psychopath serial-killer personalities." "that it'll needs people who are psychopaths get the answer right." "No." "Yeah, you're a psychopath." "A psychopathic serial killer." "I'm not a psychopath." "You know, this actually makes a lot of sense, 'cause I've kind of thought this for a long time." " Can we go?" " Yeah." "What are we gonna do when we get to the party?" "Well, I mean, I guess we just tell them the truth, right?" "(You) think it'll work?" "I don't know." "It's the one with the hedges." "It's these hedges!" "There, where I just see lights." "With the hedges." "Which one?" "This one!" "Here." "Pull here." "Jeez!" "Whenever you're ready." "... but you're too close on my side." "You're too close on my side!" "You know what?" "I drive the car." "I'll drive the car." "Hey, pull out, 'cause I can't get out." "No, just climb over." "I'm not climbing over!" "Well, I'll hold your hand if that makes it easier." "I know." "Fuck!" "I'll climb over." "Okay." "Are you ready?" "Yeah." "All right." "Let's go in there." "You can't just go in there." "What if she's not in there?" "Then we're gonna look crazy." "Okay." "And what if she is in there?" "Tom's gonna throw us out before we get anything done." "You have to get Laura alone." "Okay." "So how do I do that?" "Hey." "You go around back." "You go in and find Tom." "Look." "That's Tom." "Looks like a jerk." "Got it." " He does." " He is." "Opinions are judgments, right?" "Find Tom." "Tell him someone's blocking his car." "Bring him out." "Hey." "Once he comes out with Tom, you go in and find Laura." "You've a picture of her?" "Sure." "No, I know what she looks like." "I met her last night." "Okay." "Perfect." "So you go in, find Laura, tell her that you're with Graham and that she needs to see Graham on the back deck." "Okay." "Cool." "Okay, so you go around back!" "You guys go inside!" "I'll wait here for Tom!" "Right." "Right." "Okay." "How are you so good at this?" "I'm a psychopath, remember?" "Right." "Okay." "Good luck." "You too." "Graham?" "Laura." "What are you doing here?" "I had to come up here, because I wrote you an e-mail about Tom and the whole thing." "Graham..." "Wait." "Wait." "I think he's still lying to you." "Tom was going out with my friend Kate until last night." "I wrote you an e-mail about this whole thing, and then I remembered you have a flip phone." "And you know what?" "I realize that I should call sometimes instead of texting." "Whatever happened between us before, maybe the timing wasn't right." "But I know that maybe now the timing is right." "and I just feel like I wanted to be honest with you so that you could see that I've changed." "So..." "Here I am." "Graham, I got your e-mail." "Okay." "Good." "But I already knew." "You knew..." "You knew what?" "About Tom." "He was at my apartment when I got home the other night, and... he told me everything." "And he just..." "He looked so sad." "You could tell he'd been crying." "and he told me how he'd been seeing your friend behind my back and that it was terrible, and... that he didn't deserve me." "I..." "I knew that I had to forgive him." "But he lied to you." "Yeah." "I know." "I don't understand." "I don't expect you to." "I can't really explain it." "You're staying with him?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Yeah." "See, that's the part that doesn't make sense to me." "Well, people make mistakes." "Yeah, but some mistakes are forgetting to pick up the laundry, and some mistakes are carrying on an entire different relationship behind your back." "Oh, when you love someone and they ask for your forgiveness, it doesn't really matter." "Yeah." "Yeah, it does matter." "It matters for all kinds of reasons." "What we have is a civilization built on rules and morals." "And if you're just gonna say that it doesn't matter and someone can just do something and then one day, it's a problem, and the next day, it's not..." "He tried every argument he could think of, but nothing worked." "She loved Tom, and that was that." ""Maybe," he thought, "it was the very fact that Tom had done something so monumentally wrong." "If Tom had only done something a little bit wrong, like texting when he should have called or making out with someone else once, then it would have been weak and distasteful to forgive him."" "But because Tom had committed such a prolonged and loathsome act of pure deception, she elevated herself to the level of sainthood by forgiving him." "She had succeeded in transforming herself from helpless to the supreme judge ruling over the whole situation." "The deception didn't ruin her life, it made it finally make sense." "And as he continued to look at her, he started to suspect that she was completely crazy and that he had been chasing after the wrong thing the entire time." "Tom wasn't what he had pictured at all." "He'd always imagined someone more imposing, an evil prepster who would be the type of guy to cheat on his girlfriend and maybe kick a dog on his way home." "Tom looked disappointingly normal, someone that he might have been friends with under different circumstances." "To make matters worse," "Tom explained how he was actually glad that his double life was over, and that someone had finally forced him to confront his terrible actions." "The worst part was that Graham actually believed him." "The fact that everyone was so happy with the outcome made Graham even more depressed." "Not only had his plan to expose the truth and win Laura back failed, it had precisely the opposite effect." "It'd brought them closer together." "Tom invited him into the house to join the party, but Graham declined." "His only thought was getting as far away from there as possible." "Kate had fared no better." "Tom had immediately apologized and asked for her forgiveness, robbing her of any pleasure in tearing him apart." "The whole thing was a disappointment." "Maybe we can go get a coffee or something in the city." "You know?" "Disgusting." "They're happy." "I know." "What did we miss?" "It had been a wasted weekend." "He had so thoroughly believed that he was doing the right thing, and that if the truth was brought to light then he would come out ahead." "But there was something somewhere that he hadn't taken into account, and he couldn't quite figure out what it was." "They went back over every detail and tried to figure out where they had gone wrong." "According to the facts, they should have come out ahead." "They had been the ones seeking to bring the truth to light." "And for what?" "What difference had it made?" "He was only trying to win the affection of a girl." "And in the grand scope of things, what did that matter?" "Hey." "Did you really mean that I'm the husband that you never wanna have?" "You really think I'm a psychopath?" "No." "Sociopath, maybe;" "psychopath, no." "Okay." "Then I guess you can say we went out." "They decided to go to his apartment and sleep for a few hours before she had to take the train back to New Haven." "Are you awake?" "No." "Think I'll ever find real love?" "Yes." "When?" "Later." "With their bodies so close together, there was the impulse for things to turn sexual." "But then it started to feel good to be close to someone without that." "That wouldn't have been the answer anyway, just a new entanglement to fall into." "He hadn't held hands with someone that he wasn't going out with for a long time, and it felt nice." "It felt like something simpler, like it was more important to have a good friend." "He took her to her train, and they said goodbye." "He thought about just getting on a train and going somewhere, somewhere far across the country without packing or wondering what he would do when he got there." "He wondered if he could be totally in the present without worrying about the past, to just live there in that moment," "But all the trains were going to places like White Plains, so he decided he should stay where he was." "He thought about the story he was going to write." "He wanted to put things down as they had actually happened, without changing them too much to make the story funnier or more dramatic." "He would try and present the people as they actually were and the situations as they had actually happened, because maybe there was something to be gained from seeing how things happen in life instead of how they happen in stories." "Maybe he didn't even understand what had happened yet, and in getting rid of some details that seemed insignificant at the time he would be getting rid of the most important part." "If he could just write it down, maybe one day he could look back on it and understand." "The people in the class would not like it." "But then again, they wouldn't have liked anything he had done anyway." "Comments?" "Graham?" "Lisa." "Hi." "Hi!" "How are you?" "I'm good." "How are you?" "I haven't seen you in forever." "I know."