Sequel (Advent Calendar 2016)

THE 9TH OF DECEMBER

The 9th of December

...

Heavily inspired by Episode 3, Season 2 of the Norwegian TV-series Skam.

"Hey," is all Kristen says when Rob opens the door to the trailer. "Hi," he mumbles as he walks away from the door, expecting her to follow.

He sits down on the small couch. She sits down in the other end, as far away from him as possible.

"Scene 8?" She asks. He nods. They find the right place in their scripts.

"I'm sorry," Kristen says, completely genuine. Rob looks at her, mouth open.

"It's the line," she explains, ignoring the slight ache in her chest as his face hardens.

"Right," he mumbles, and says his line.

"Again," Kristen says when they're done, not quite satisfied. Rob doesn't say anything, and she takes his silence as agreement.

"I'm sorry," she begins. "Still just a line," she whispers under her breath. He hears her.

"Shut up," he hisses. "And that was not a line," he adds through his teeth, eyeing her. She glares at him.

"Fuck you."

He ignores her, and continues.

"You're doing this on purpose," Kristen says, when they've rehearsed the scene for the fourth time and they both still don't feel they've done it well enough.

"Doing what?" He asks her, gritting his teeth.

"Being shit! But we're gonna do this till it's good, so you better fucking pull yourself together, 'cause I'm enjoying this as little as you are."

He takes a deep breath, trying not to lose his temper.

"Have you thought you might be shit too?" He asks.

She lifts an eyebrow at him. "At least I'm trying."

"You know what, Kristen? Fuck you. I'm not being shit on purpose, I just can't be anything but shit when you're shit too. We both fucking pull ourselves together or we're getting nowhere."

She tries to hide her surprise, and bites her lip.

"I'm sorry," she says, grabbing her script.

"Me too," he reads his next line.

"Fuck this shit," Kristen says, slamming her script down on the table when they've gone through the scene one more time.

Rob takes a deep breath, then plays his last card. "Beer?"

She looks at him like he just found the solution to poverty and oppression.

"Yes," she groans, dragging out the word.

He fetches two beers from the small fridge in his trailer and throws one at her. The corner of her mouth lifts slightly when she sees the brand.

"Heineken," she states.

"Always," he says lifting his tin to toast with her.

They both take several gulps.

"Let's do this," Rob says, grabbing his script again.

They rehearse the scene a couple of more times, but by the second beer, it gets hard to focus. "Shite," Rob says, when he realises he only had four beers. "What?" Kristen asks, wiping her mouth with her hand. "We've drunk it all." "Ah fuck," she says, frowning.