Guest of the Guest
October 11th, 2020
Starring: Jana (female, early 30’s), Julian (male, early 30’s)
Night. Jana (driver) and Julian (passenger) are in the car, driving home. They’re moderately dressed up. A few moments of silence before:
JULIAN
I know you’re gonna strike down this defense with a molten fury
But he had no sense of humor
JANA
I warned you though. I warned you in our pre walk-in overview that he wasn’t a funny kind of guy.
JULIAN
You said he was “a tad rigid.”
JANA
And when your flat Earth joke bombed during the soup course, I figured you’d take the hint.
JULIAN
I assumed everyone in the room was too smart to believe that.
JANA
He’s my boss. I know who he is at work, but who knows who he is at home? Did you see my face when he opened the door in a Hawaiian shirt?
JULIAN
He did smirk at the joke.
JANA
He was being polite. He felt sorry for you.
JULIAN
You told me to play up the boyish charm, I played up the boyish charm.
JANA
It took out all the air in the room.
JULIAN
Nobody else was taking any. I was doing everyone a service. Your colleague—whateverhisname—
JANA
Ellis—
JULIAN
Ellis talked like seven times the whole night! And his wife, she pretty much didn’t say a damn thing until we brought up the Mexico resort story. Like...they left us out to dry! Someone had to engage somehow!
JANA
It wasn’t your place.
JULIAN
Why?
JANA
You’re the guest of the guest.
JULIAN
So if I’m just the plus one, I have to sit around with my legs crossed and hear the pins drop?
JANA
If you want me to have a job and help pay your grad school?
Yeah. Yeah you do.
They drive in silence, until they hit a red light. Jana looks over to Julian:
JANA
He’s not gonna fire me.
He’s just gonna judge the hell out of me.
JULIAN
So let him. He doesn’t get to pay you based on the person you decide to spend your life with.
Plus, we know what we have.
I mean...
Don’t we?
…
JANA
Of course we do.
The light changes to green.