Ask and you shall receive (this one is even bigger than the assignment. What in the world is wrong with me?)

A few months after Sonya and Graham decide to “backtrack a little”, they go out on a date to celebrate their 1 year anniversary.

What happens during that date?

Characters:

Sonya

Graham

John

Maitre'd

Scene 1- Sonya’s apartment

(Sonya has just finished getting ready for her date with Graham. She’s wearing a black backless dress that hugs all her curves and her hair is pinned up)

The doorbell rings

Sonya- Coming! (She opens the door to find her boyfriend wearing a tux)

Graham- (almost salivating) Wow! You look… Wow!

Sonya- Who knew you were that articulate? You look pretty “wow” yourself.

Graham- (Now positively salivating) Not as much as you do.

Sonya- Ok, we better go before you make a river with all that drool. (Looking into his eyes). Better yet, an ocean. Let’s go. (She pulls on his arm and he finally manages to move)

Scene 2-At the restaurant

Graham- (Annoyed) What do you mean you’re booked? I made reservations days ago!

Maitre’d- I’m sorry, sir. There’s no indication of any reservation in your name.

Sonya- It’s ok, honey. Let’s find somewhere else.

Graham- (Disappointed) But… I made special plans! This was where we had our first date!

Sonya- I know. I was there. We can still do the things you planed. We’ll just do it somewhere else. (Looking pointedly at the maitre’d) We don’t need some fancy place that can’t even understand what a reservation is.

(Graham sighs and puts his hand on her lower back, leading her out of the restaurant. Just before closing the door, he throws one more glare at the maitre’d)

Scene 3- Inside the car, still parked in the restaurant’s parking lot

Graham- (Sighs) There go my special plans.

Sonya- Why do you say that?

Graham- (Dejectedly) I had everything planed. Down to the last minute. We’d eat, then go dancing… just like we did on our first date. And now we’re here, in this parking lot, with no place to go.

Sonya- Well, I think there are other restaurants around.

Graham- Yes, there are, but we’d need reservations to those too.

Sonya- That’s because you want to go to some fancy place. I’m sure there are other nice restaurants around here that don’t need reservations and are just as good as those stuck ups. If not better.

Graham- We’re a little overdressed to those places.

Sonya- Oh, like I care! It’s not like they're going to keep us from coming in unless we wear jeans and t-shirts.

Graham- True.

Sonya- So…

Graham- So… where to?

Sonya- Lets go to that diner close to work. I love their food.

Graham- Ok (starts the engine of the car. Sighing) I’m still pissed at those guys.

Sonya- Oh, me too. Next time we come here they are so not going to get tipped.

(Graham laughs)

The car drives away

Scene 4- At the dance club

(Sonya and Graham enter the dance club and find a booth a little far from the dance floor)

Sonya- (Smiling widely) You really wanted to re-enact our first date, didn’t ya?

Graham- (Sheepishly) Well, it was one of the best days of my life.

Sonya- (Sighing) Yeah, mine too.(Noticing that Graham is always looking at his watch) Some place you need to be?

Graham- Oh yeah. I need to go get my other date. And she hates it when I’m late.

Sonya- Well, she’ll just have to deal with it, cause I won’t let you go anywhere.

Graham- Wouldn’t want to.

A voice comes from the speaker

“This is a song that we were asked to play by a man hopelessly in love-his words- dedicated to Sonya Green. So, Sonya and Graham, get on the dance floor!”

(Sonya gasps when she hears the speaker and looks at Graham, who is smiling widely as he stands up.)

Sonya- I cannot believe you did that!

Graham- (Reaching out for her hand) You better believe it, cause I did.

(Graham and Sonya walk towards the dance floor)

Speaker: “There they are! This is for you, lovebirds!”

(Graham and Sonya look up, surprised, when the song begins)

Young man, there’s no need to feel down.
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground

(Graham looks horrified. Sonya tries hard not to laugh)

Sonya- Are you trying to tell me something?

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.
It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.

Graham- (still horrified) This isn’t the song I asked! What the hell are these people doing to me?

They have everything that you need to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys ...

(Sonya can’t hold it in anymore and she bursts out laughing)

Sonya- Oh, God! Oh, God, I’m sorry, I just can’t… (She laughs more) I can’t… stop! (She bends over, laughing)

Graham- TURN THAT MUSIC OFF!!! What the hell…

(Graham is pissed, but looking at Sonya laughing so hard, he can’t help but laugh too)

Graham- (still laughing and holding Sonya, who has lost her strength) Let’s… let’s get back to the booth.

(They go back to their booth, still laughing)

Later, after a few hours dancing

Sonya- So, besides that lovely song you dedicated to me… (Graham groans) What else do you have in store for us?

Graham- What did we do on our first date?

Sonya- We went to the park and well… ya know.

Graham- Yeah, I do know.

Sonya- So… you want to do that again?

Graham- (Getting up and reaching for her hand) Oh, yeah…

(Graham and Sonya leave the dance club)

Scene 5- At the park

(Sonya and Graham are on the swings)

Sonya- You know… on our first date… (She pauses)

Graham- Yeah?

Sonya- This was my favourite part.

Graham- Really? This? Swinging?

Sonya- Yeah. Well, that’s counting only with the things we did outside the house… (Sonya looks at him flirtatiously. Graham blushes). But yeah, this was my favourite part.

Graham- Why?

Sonya- (Sighs) You know how my childhood was. Drunk parents… screams every night… fear. My parents never took me to the park. I’d watch the other kids playing around, having fun… but I was never a part of it. Only in my dreams. You know, when my first tooth fell, I went to show it to my dad. I was so happy, because my brother told me that if I had been a good girl, the tooth fairy would put a dollar under my pillow. So… I went to my father and asked him if he thought I had been a good girl. If he thought the tooth fairy would give me a dollar. I still remember his exact words. “There ain’t no tooth fairy. And even if there was, she’d never give anything to a stupid brat like you”. I remember crying the whole night.

(Graham holds her hand. Her words are physically hurting him)

Sonya- (Continuing after taking a deep breath. Graham’s hand is giving her strength) Then, after… when child services took me away from my parents… I just moved from foster home to foster home… never knowing if the night I’d spend in a house would be the last night… and there were so many children… It was impossible for any foster parent to take us to the park. No matter how good their intentions were, they couldn’t keep an eye on every single child. So we’d stay at home most of the time. We’d only go out to go to school, mostly. And that was fine with me, cause by then I was already into books. I’d spend my days reading. At the library everybody knew my name. And it wasn’t because of my parent’s reputation. It was because of the number of books I’d request there. Books on Physics, Maths… all kinds of sciences. And sometimes, when I felt more… hopeful, I guess, I’d read a romance novel. I guess reading those novels made me a romantic. I always had hope that one day I’d find a guy just like the ones from those books. A guy that would do anything he could to make me happy… (looking at Graham and noticing the tears in his eyes) a guy that would cry for me (she reaches out and brushes his tears away). A guy that would take me to the park to swing and that would listen to me babbling about my bad childhood…

Graham- (Getting up from his swing, pulling her into his arms and burying his face in her neck) I love you. God, I love you so much! Thank you for trusting me like this.

Sonya- (Kisses his shoulder) Thank you for making my dreams come true .

(Graham and Sonya kiss on the lips. The kiss becomes heated)

Graham- (Reluctantly breaking off the kiss) Let’s go home.

Sonya- Which one?

Graham- (With heat in his eyes) Mine. It’s closer.

Scene 6- Graham’s house

(The door bursts open, Graham and Sonya come in, kissing like there’s no tomorrow. Graham pushed Sonya into the wall.)

Graham- (Moving his kisses towards her neck) God I love your neck!

Sonya- I love all of you. (She gasps) JOHN!

Graham- (Stops what he’s doing and looks at her, shocked) I don’t know what you’ve been told, but hearing your girlfriend crying out your best friend’s name is NOT… a turn on.

Sonya- (Hits him in the chest) Shut up and look behind you!

(Graham looks behind and sees his best friend looking at them, shocked).

Graham- (Sighs and rests his head on Sonya’s shoulder) Damn it! We forgot to close the damn door!

John- Well, that certainly was unexpected. How long has this been going on?

Graham- (Pulling away from Sonya and rushing to close the door, after John walks in) Not that it’s any of your business, but today’s our 1 year anniversary.

John- (Surprised) Wow! One year! How did you manage to hide that from all of us? I know that if I had a woman like her I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands to myself! (Graham and Sonya glare at him) Hey, calm down, I was just joking! (Looking at Sonya) You know I love you doll face. (John and Sonya smile at each other) But you guys do know that this kind of… fraternization is frowned upon at the museum, right?

Graham- Yeah, we know, but we don’t care. We love each other and there’s nothing anyone can do to keep us apart. And it’s not like they’re going to find out anytime soon. Right? (He looks pointedly at John)

John- (Raising his arms as if he’s surrendering) Hey, they won’t hear anything from me. I’m just trying to look out for you guys. Especially that young lady over there. (He winks at Sonya, who smiles at him) You know that if you hurt her I’ll cut your balls, right?

Graham- If I ever hurt her, I’ll provide you with the knife.

John- Good. Well, I better go now. I came here to have a drink with you, my friend, but since you’re… otherwise occupied… I’ll just go home.

Sonya- No, stay. I think the fire has pretty much extinguished, (John and Graham wince, for totally different reasons) so why not have a drink? Unless you have a problem with having a drink with a girl.

John- (Taking off his coat) With you? Never.

Scene 7- In the bedroom, after John has left

(Sonya is in the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom, getting ready for bed, while Graham lies on the bed, listening to the sounds she’s making)

Sonya- (From the bathroom) How long have you and John known each other?

Graham- About… 20 years. We met in a conference. Became friends right away. He’s the one that got me the job at the museum.

Sonya- I really like him.

Graham- He likes you too. Maybe a little too much. He should be on my side, threatening you if you ever hurt me. Not the other way around.

Sonya- What can I say? It’s my charm. (Graham laughs)

Graham- I’m glad, you know… that you have someone else looking out for you. This way I know that if I ever… fail you… at least you’ll have someone there for you. (Sonya walks out of the bathroom. Graham looks at her, his love reflected in his eyes) Although I hope that’s never necessary. I never want to fail you again.

Sonya- (Lies down on the bed and rests her head on his chest, while he puts his arms around her) I trust you. I know you’ll do everything in your power to never hurt me again.

Graham- Good. (He kisses her head)

(They stay in silence for a few minutes, then…)

Graham- Move in with me.

Sonya- (Sighs and pulls away from him) Graham… we’ve been through this before.

Graham- I know. But this time it’s different. I’m different. I’m not afraid anymore. (Sonya opens her mouth to speak) Please, don’t say anything yet. Just… think about it. Ok?

Sonya- (Sighs) Ok.

Graham- Thank you. Now… remember what we were doing when John walked in?

Sonya- (Smiling) Yeah…

(Suddenly Graham rolls them over so that he’s on top of her and kisses her surprised laugh off)

Later

(Graham and Sonya are cuddled up together, his chest pressed into her back)

Sonya- (whispering) Yes.

(Graham smiles and pulls her even closer)

The End