03x02 - Moments in Love, Chapter 2

[bunniefuu]

[man] Of all the great American singers,
she was probably the great linguist.

In fact, she once learned
how to speak Hungarian

simply to be able to sing
the Hungarian opera.

Well, here is Jessye Norman
in her impeccable French,

singing "Je Te Veux" by Erik Satie.

["Je Te Veux" playing]

[music stops]

[Alicia] Hmm.

Are you sure
you don't want anything to eat?

Yeah, I'm good.

Oh, um,

you know I gotta go to that
antique fair in Baltimore this weekend.

It's like a five-hour drive,

so I'm probably gonna leave
straight after work,

um, so I can get
to the market early on Saturday.

Okay.

[Alicia] Hmm.

[Denise sighs]

[sighs]

-[softly] Hey. I'll see you Sunday, okay?
-Hmm.

-I love you. Bye.
-Mmm.

[door opens]

[door opens and closes]

So, how's life?

Life is good.

Phone Flush is back.

Which one is that again?

I flushed her phone when I found out
she was sexting this other chick.

Man, you gotta
stop dating these kind of women.

What kind of women?

The kind of women
that ain't on your level.

The kind of women
that you gotta refer to as "Phone Flush."

You keep dating women you know
you ain't gonna be in a relationship with.

Well, yeah, maybe that's the point.

Where is Alicia at?

She drove down to Baltimore
for some antique roadshow thing.

Wow. She drive all the way to Baltimore?

Those must be
some special f*cking antiques.

-[scoffs] I guess.
-[chuckles]

So how are you two? What happened
with all the, um, baby stuff?

We stopped talking about it
ever since the miscarriage.

She doesn't want kids anymore?

I don't know if she wants me anymore.

Really?

Yeah, some days we're good.

Then we go days without talking.

It's like we got this dark cloud over us.

I'm sorry.

All right. You pick something to watch.

I'm gonna put a face mask on.
You want one?

I'm not looking like
Dead Presidents with you.

Oh, why don't we watch that?

Yeah, I could go
for some vintage Larenz Tate.

[suspenseful music playing on TV]

[man grunts]

[g*n cocking]

[man] Shh.

You want some cookies?

You got some milk?

-Nah. Just cookies.
-Mmm.

No, I'm good.

You not gonna eat my cookies
'cause I ain't got no milk?

No, I like to dip.

[chuckling] What?

You gonna eat
these cookies, Anna Mae. [chuckles]

-You gonna like 'em, too.
-[chuckles]

All right. Well,
I'm gonna wash my face mask off.

You put on the oven.

Seriously?

What?

[chuckling] You buy the ones
that are pre-cut into squares?

Yes, I do. 'Cause it saves time
and it creates the perfect cookie.

What are you, like, five?

Here. Put these back
in the fridge, please.

-Busy yourself. Stop talking trash.
-[chuckling]

Wow. New Yorker review.

"The Three Loves of Althea Waters

is a tough look at American reality,

and a poem
written in light, music and love."

Wow, that's nice.

How's, um… How's book two coming?

[chuckles] To be honest, not great.

And normally, I can write so fast,

but for some reason this one…
It's not comin'.

Don't worry, it will come.

What if it doesn't?

Are you scared?

Yeah, I'm scared.

I'm scared I'll run out of ideas.

I'm scared this could all go away.

I'm scared I'll have to go back
to my old life, working a cubicle job.

-Chill. You'll be all right.
-[sighs]

-I hope so.
-Don't stress.

It's gonna be okay.

I appreciate you.

You remember my friend Damon?

Yeah, I think so.

I went to go see his dad the other day.

That's nice.

Not really. He has ALS.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah.

When I was younger,
my dad wasn't really around.

So he kind of stepped in.

He would always take
the neighborhood kids to the movies.

And one time he gave my mom some money

to get my back-to-school clothes
off of layaway.

Thank God.

[both chuckle softly]

Nah, he was a good dude.

I saw him a couple of years ago.

He was fine.

But a couple of days ago,

he was in this scary-looking wheelchair

and he was attached
to a breathing machine.

And there was this
"Do-not-resuscitate" letter

taped to his refrigerator.

sh*t just seemed to get real.

Wow. I'm so sorry.

I was sittin' in his house…

and I was lookin' at this wall he has.

Just like a wall full of pictures.

Pictures of him as a kid.

Stuff from when he was in high school.

m*llitary photos, a wedding picture.

Pictures of him watchin' Damon grow up.

It just hit me.

It doesn't matter
what you do in this life.

This is what happens.

You get old… and you get sick.

[grunts]

[Denise] Really?

You gonna leave me all by myself
to deal with my shame and guilt?

It's not that big a deal.

Easy for you to say.
You're f*cking Phone Flush.

-You're free.
-You could be free.

I don't want to be free.

And I'm not in any shape to drive.

Why don't you just stay in the guest room?

I can't stay here, Denise. It's too weird.

[sighs] Fine. I'll drive you home.

Can you grab my hoodie, please?

[door opens]

[door closes]

[thuds]

[brakes squeal]

Why are you stopping?

'Cause I gotta go see if I hit somethin'.

[car alarm blaring]

[Alicia] Hi. Um, I was told
Denise Watkins is here. I'm her wife.

-[woman] Check in on the third floor.
-[Alicia] Okay.

[panting]

You all right? How you feelin'?

[sighs]

-I mean, a little shook up, to be honest.
-[chuckles] Yeah.

It's kind of scary, but…

The doctors did some scans.
They say my brain is all right.

-Thank God.
-Yeah.

And I got, like, a scrape on my leg,

and a bruise on my forehead, but…

[sighs in relief] Okay.

They said I'll be all right.

-Yeah.
-Hmm.

I'm sorry I scared you.

No. That's all right.
I'm just glad you're okay.

Can we please get the heck out of here?

-[laughs] Yeah.
-Jesus.

-This place sucks.
-Yeah.

-Yeah.
-Thank you, babe.

It's okay.

[door opens]

[door closes]

Hey. You okay?

I don't know.

Do you want any water?

No. I'm okay, but thank you.

Okay. I'll be up in a minute.

Why did I find
someone else's underwear downstairs?

[sighs]

Look…

I…

I don't even…
I don't wanna make excuses for myself.

Did you f*ck her?

Look…

I'm a f*cking assh*le, okay?

I'm a horrible human being,

and I feel horrible.

[splutters] I'm never doing
that sh*t again.

-So you f*cked her. Okay. All right, okay.
-[sighs]

All right, but do you understand

how much of an idiot
that makes me look like?

I drove down to the hospital
at 4:00 in the morning

because you were up late
f*cking some next bitch.

f*cking hell.

I'm not trying
to make you look like an idiot.

-[scoffs]
-All right? That's… I…

I don't wanna do that.

[both sigh]

But how… how did you
drive down at 4:00 in the morning

and get to the hospital at 5:00
if you was coming from Baltimore?

Baltimore is, like, five hours away.

I wasn't in Baltimore, I was in the city.

Okay, so, why were you in the city?

You know what? f*ck it.
I was seeing someone.

[scoffs]

-You seeing someone?
-Yeah.

What the f*ck?
How you gonna come upstairs then,

ready to rip my head off,

but yet, you was on some bullshit, too?

-What the f*ck, bro?
-[sighs]

You know…

maybe I wouldn't have f*cked Heather

if you had touched me
in the last three months.

I'm not trying to make excuses--

Okay. All right. No, so…

I'm saying, we ain't been
intimate in a minute.

I haven't touched you
for the last few months.

You haven't talked to me
in the last few months.

We just had a miscarriage.

There has been nothing from you!

What do you want me to say?

What do I want you to… Something!

I want you to say something!

You know why it's hard to talk right now?

-'Cause I'm f*cking stressed out.
-Oh, God. Okay. You know why?

[Denise] I'm trying to write another book,
figure out what I'm doing.

[Alicia] It's because
you're thinking about yourself.

Again. You are thinking about yourself.

You're thinking about this house,
this career, everything else but me!

[Denise] Jesus Christ.

I am f*cking in this giant f*cking house
in the middle of nowhere!

All I do is think about you.
I'm thinking about us all the time!

-[Alicia] You know what it is?
-Jesus f*cking Christ.

-[Alicia] You know what you like to do?
-I bought you a toothbrush.

You like to go, "Oh, my girl, I got
my girl this and I got her this."

-"I got her a big house."
-Yes, I buy you sh*t.

-It's about you.
-Look at this window. This window--

Who gives a sh*t about the f*cking window?

-You did! You wanted to come…
-Oh, for f*ck's sake.

…live in the country,
have the vintage trimmings.

-[Alicia] I can't. I can't.
-I did this for us.

-I bought this sh*t with my brain.
-[Alicia] That is a lie.

You did it for you.
So you could live your life,

so I can play your wife
in this little house…

[Denise] Time-out.

You want me to do the bed
all the f*cking time. No, no time-out!

-No time-out!
-What the f*ck, man!

-I'm done. I am done.
-Jesus.

-I'm tired. I'm done.
-We had some flings.

-We f*cked up.
-Hon…

-We gotta go to couple's therapy.
-The thing is, babe,

-mine wasn't a fling.
-We work through this.

Mine wasn't a fling.

Okay. All right.
So now you love the bitch?

Yeah, maybe. Maybe I love that bitch.

-Maybe she can give me more than you.
-Go find the bitch.

See if the bitch can get you
Smokey Robinson's hair grease.

[Alicia whispers] For f*ck's sake.

You know what? You know what?

You live your life
and I'm gonna leave you f*cking to it.

Because that's how you like it.

You just use me as a f*cking prop.

-I'm out of here.
-Okay.

[door closes]

[footsteps receding]

[door closes]

[exhales deeply]

[car door opens and closes]

[engine starts]

[car departing]

[sighs]

[grunts softly]

[water running]

f*cking cookies.

[cookies clattering into trash]

[turns faucet off]

[operatic song playing]