I woke up the next morning and for a second, thought that everything that had transpired yesterday was some strange, bizarre dream. But then I felt a pain in my cheek and looked down to see that I’d slept on my hand and my ring had pressed into the side of my face. I got up and went to the mirror where I noted that I now had a large red indentation in my face- so attractive.
Chris was gone and had left a little note on the table,
Dear Mrs. Lieberman
I’ve just gone to make a phone call- reception in this room sucks- so I need to climb to higher ground.
I’ll be back soon and then I think we should have some more wild sex and cake.
Your husband Chris
p.s- You look really pretty when you sleep.
p.p.s- I kind of think that maybe perhaps and sort of that I might still be in love with you this morning.
I beamed to myself. Of all the strange and wonderful things that could have happened to me, this was right up there. To find love when I least expected it. To fall in love with the guy I was pretending to love. To finally be the girl, the first girl, to make him fall. I’d never been happier. And thirstier. I could still taste the sweet red velvet cake in my mouth.
I walked over to the bar fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, there was another veranda attached to the room that I'd never been onto, it lead into a little courtyard with an open air shower and small garden. Oh, the many perks of the presidential suit! I walked outside, it was hot, but there was a slight breeze in the air that cooled me down.
Across the yard was a sheltered area with a table and chairs, which I made a beeline for. Chris’ laptop was there on the table and I saw the familiar collection of coffee cups around it, he must have been up early writing.
Curiosity took over. We were ‘married’ now after all, I was sure he wouldn’t mind me looking. I opened the laptop and the screen came to life. I scrolled to the top and started reading.
My heart sank.
It plummeted.
It fell to my feet and I dropped my bottle of water.
SCENE 1
INT. Bedroom- Morning
We open on ANNIE- 25, redhead, attractive- she is walking up a flight of stairs slowly, holding an expensive looking shoe and a knife. She looks worried, frightened. We hear noises coming from the top of the stairs. ANNIE creeps towards the door and opens it slowly. She gasps as she sees her boyfriend TAYLOR and another woman TAMARA- 25, gorgeous, Megan Fox look alike- having sex- the kinky kind. She looks nauseous as she notices that he is wearing nipple clamps. The woman looks up from the sweaty sex and screams.
TAMARA: (Shocked) Oh my God. Annie
Her boyfriend TAYLOR looks up- also shocked and frightened
TAYLOR: (Frightened) Annie, please. Think about what you’re doing. I know it looks bad, but this isn’t the way.
ANNIE looks at them both, confused. Suddenly POLICE rush in and TAYLOR screams out to them.
TAYLOR: (Screaming, pointing) She has a knife. She’s going to kill us.
ANNIE looks at her hand and realizes she is still holding the knife, she is about to open her mouth when the POLICE tackle her to the floor. The shoe breaks as she is being handcuffed.
No! No! Surly not. I continued to scroll down, my hands were shaking.
SCENE 5
INT. Sex shop- Day
ANNIE is scrambling on the floor trying to pick up the vibrators that she's knocked over. They are a strange looking colorful bunch, one has flashing pink lights and another is playing a Reggae tune. She chases after one that seems to be crawling across the floor by itself------
SCENE 10
INT. Hotel reception- Morning
ANNIE looks around nervously. She looks like she's trying to disappear into the furniture.
CHAD: Are you sure it’s them?
ANNIE : No.
CHAD : Okay, I’ll take a photo of them, wait here.
CHAD walks off and takes photos of his surroundings. He whistles as he goes trying to look casual. He finally gets it and returns to ANNIE. He shows her the picture.
ANNIE: (Horror) Holy crapping hell balls- it’s them. Oh my God, shit!
CHAD looks at ANNIE, amused. He bursts out laughing.
ANNIE: (Cross) Hey, this isn't funny-----------
SCENE 12
INT. Massage room- Evening
CHAD and ANNIE stand opposite each other awkwardly. They look around the room trying to avoid eye contact and CHAD clears his throat. ANNIE walks over to the window awkwardly and looks out, before picking up a candle and smelling it. She gives a little, "Mmmm"
CHAD: Well, this is awkward. (Beat) Okay, lets both turn around at the same time and take them off. I wont look. Promise.
ANNIE: Are you crazy? I’m not going to get half naked with you in the same room.
CHAD: Even if I am ridiculously good looking?
ANNIE looks at CHAD and rolls her eyes and then shakes her head.
CHAD: Okay, so what do you suggest then?
ANNIE looks at him and sighs. There is no other choice, they need to go through with this.
ANNIE: Fine, but if you look I swear I’m going to-
ANNIE stops talking, she is searching for the word.
CHAD: Going to do what?
ANNIE: I don't know. But I promise you it will be painful. And hard.
I could feel the sweat starting to form on my forehead and the nausea rushing up. I felt sick. And my head hurt. I continued to scroll down, reading snippets from the various scenes.
SCENE 13
EXT. Balcony- night
ANNIE and CHAD are eating dinner on the balcony, happy, laughing, joking. There is a rustle in the palm trees next to them and they swing round in shock. As they do, two faces peep out from the foliage. It is TSQUARED
TAYLOR: (Cheesy) Howdy-doody neighbors.
TAMARA: Peek-a-boo.
Both TAYLOR and TAMARA laugh out loudly at their corny jokes. ANNIE and CHAD turn and look at each other- shocked, but amused--------------
SCENE 14
INT. Room- night
ANNIE sits crying on the couch, CHAD is sitting near her, looking sympathetic
ANNIE: Do you know how it felt? How humiliating it was? I kept thinking that maybe I wasn’t good enough for him? A good enough girlfriend, good enough…
ANNIE pauses -CHAD can see that she is hurting deeply and takes her hand, holding it. She looks up at him and takes some courage in his presence.
ANNIE: … That maybe I wasn’t good enough in bed.
I heard a buzzing in my ears as all my senses became dull. I could feel the warm, wet tears beginning to stream down my face. I couldn’t believe this. He didn’t love me, he didn’t care. I was just a story to him. He was just using me to write a story.
SCENE 15
EXT. Beach- evening
ANNIE stands at the top of the aisle, dressed in a beautiful vintage wedding dress. She smiles up at CHAD.
TAYLOR glares at them as a string quartet appears out of nowhere and starts playing the wedding march.
CHAD and ANNIE exchange bemused looks, they look pleased and CHAD winks at ANNIE.
TAMARA walks out and gasps. Her eyes fixate on ANNIE. Hatred and jealousy flare in them and she seems to challenge ANNIE to a wedding march walk-off.
TAMARA starts walking up the aisle glaring at her.
ANNIE starts walking too. With each step the woman become more and more competitive. Until TAMARA is practically running up the aisle. ANNIE starts running too.
Caught up in the absurdity of the competition, both woman throw themselves at the men and begin to kiss them. Each one trying to out do the other with a more over-the-top spectacular kiss.
He’d turned the wedding into a farce. Something about this scene hurt me the most. He’d taken something that had meant a lot to me and turned it into a big fat joke.
This scene made me out to be a mad, competitive crazy person. Was that really what he thought of me? I could see there was one more page and I was dreading it. Had he written about the sex, and about us saying we loved each other? My heart was thumping and I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I did. I scrolled down, one more page…
SCENE 16
INT. Hotel room- Night
ANNIE and CHAD throw themselves at each other like crazy people. They come barreling through the door and knock over a vase as they go. CHAD picks her up and tries to push her against the wall, but she keep slipping down. Her dress is a slippery satin material.
CHAD: Shit!
CHAD grabs at her dress and tries to open it. Get it off her. But he can’t. He tugs on it comically but cannot find his way in.
ANNIE: (Breathless) Zip. Back. Now.
CHAD flips her over and unzips her, they scramble to the couch, clawing their way up onto it, clothes are flying at this stage.
They are rolling around so much that they tumble off the couch. CHAD is trying to undo her bra, but is struggling….
Clearly the sex hadn’t meant anything either. He’d turned the whole thing into a slapstick comedy. It was obvious he didn't care- and it hurt. It hurt so deeply that I could feel a pain in my ribcage as it seemed to tighten. It was okay to show me crying and telling him something totally intimate in the script, but then he practically mocked me by turning the other scenes- the moments that had really meant something to me- into comedy.
I heard a noise and looked up.
Chris was standing there wide- eyed. He had a look of absolute shock plastered across his face.
“Annie, I can explain. I promise.” He sounded panicked.