kipo’s jacket patches + the friends they represent
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@vishnuvenugopal
kipo’s jacket patches + the friends they represent
kipos jacket:
This show 😭
Kipo season 3 was just announced, so here’s some fanart!
V excited to get into Season 3. If you haven’t been watching Kipo, it’s uniquely great. Check it out!
Rewrite First Draft
Sita: Cassie, please just tell me I look ok so I can go talk to him.
Cassie: (drunkenly, with the confidence of an incredibly sober person) I already tried! He's not gonna like you if he didn't like me.
Sita: Jane!
Jane: Cassie, you're drunk. Si, you look great, just... (Jane reaches over and fixes Sita's hair before she brings her face level with her and picks up her chin).
Jane: There. He's gonna wanna talk to you.
Cassie: He didn't want to talk to me -
Jane: Cassie, that was not the right way to do that - Si, you're good. Just go!
Sita: You're the best. Thank You.
Jane: I know, now go talk to him.
SITA makes her way across the bar to VIKRAM. He is awkward and suddenly alone, turning to see her as just as she arrives at his table. She is a vision and he is helpless.
Sita: Hi.
Vikram: Hi.
Sita: Um...First Impression...Go!
Vikram: You want my first impression...of you...?
Sita: Yeah!
Vikram: Well, how honest do you want me to be?
Sita: Completely honest!
Vikram: Are you sure?
Sita: Yeah!
Vikram: Well, I thought you were really pretty. Like wow, this is the Indian girl I'm supposed to be like authentically attracted to and I'm supposed to fall in love with and marry her and it's a whole thing. But you were wearing a lot of make up. And I didn't really get it, because I mean like I said you're like WOW. But the make up thing threw me off. And I was just like I wonder why she does that - I wanted to know why you do that.
Sita: Why I do what?
Vikram: Why you wear so much make up. Like it looks so thick and caked on and you just seem like such a naturally beautiful person that I just - I mean you grew up in like LA right?
Sita: Orange County.
Vikram: Really? No way. Have you seen the show?
Sita: Real Housewives?
Vikram: No like, The OC.
Sita: No.
Vikram: Oh...well...How far is the OC from LA?
Sita: Like an hour? But I mean with traffic, it's much worse. We usually just take ubers, but they're different. LA and the OC are very different.
Vikram: Oh. Well like LA strikes me as this huge media capital where there's all this messaging around beauty and how you need to look and what you need to do to look that way and I would imagine that's kind of exhausting. Do you feel like that was a thing growing up in the OC too?
Sita: Maybe?
A beat. VIKRAM looks at her.
Sita: What? I don't know, I was a kid. And then I went to New York and then I was back in LA.
Vikram: NYU and USC right?
Sita: Mhmm.
Vikram: What took you to NYU and then what brought you back to USC?
Sita: Aww you think I'm just gonna tell you that. That's so cute.
Vikram: Um...is there something I need to do to find out?
Sita: I don't know. What do you think?
Vikram: I genuinely...do you wanna grab coffee sometime?
Sita: Sure.
Vikram: Tomorrow?
Sita: Wow. Forward.
Vikram: If I'm Harry Potter and you're Ginny Weasley -
VIKRAM picks up her phone off the table, puts in his number and shoots himself a text.
Vikram: I'm not tryna waste any time.
Control
R: So thanks for meeting me, I uh...
S: Oh please, you don't need to thank me, I love seeing you. What's up though?
R: I just...I just wanted to tell you something and I'm really nervous about it.
S: (clicks their tongue) You don't need to be nervous, you know how much I love you.
R: Well, it's kind of...I think I fell in love with you over text. You know, those first few months last year? And then...when we finally got to meet up and hang out for the first time after all that, it was awesome, but I was nervous and awkward and I talked WAY too much...and...
S: You didn't. I didn't...I didn't quite know how to say what I wanted to say to you then either, but...I don't think I really feel that way about you...at least not any more...
R: What do you mean?
S: I think I did - maybe, if only just for a second - but then I talked to someone -
R: Oh no, why'd you have to do that.
S: (laughs) No but I trust them. And they told me that it probably wasn't a good idea. So I just...stopped thinking about it like that. And I let it - I let you - go. At least in that way.
R: (Speechless)
S: And don't get me wrong, I mean I want you to be in my life as long as I can have you in it. But at the same time, if that's what you want from me, I don't think I can give it to you...
R: Who did you talk to?
S: It's not important.
R: I'm just curious, I promise. I talked to someone who said the same thing to me.
S: It was T.
R: Yeah...he told me the same thing.
S: So?
R: So, if you thought we could be something, and I thought we could be something, why did T think we couldn't?
S: I don't know, they just seem to know that kind of stuff, right?
R: Maybe...but maybe not.
S: What are you saying?
R: That you and I should be making our own decisions based on what we feel, not on what other people think. And if you really don't feel anything for me, it's fine. I'll be ok. I just want you in my life too, in whatever capacity you'll have me. But how long are we going to let other people make decisions for us? How long are we -
S Kisses R full on the mouth. It's a good kiss, the type that gets better each time your lips touch.
R: What was that for?
S: I made a decision. I think it was a good one. Do you?
R: Yeah, I just -
S: Pick me up tomorrow at 7. If it goes well, we can tell T he was wrong.
R: And if it doesn't?
S: Then we try a couple more times. Or we just admit that T might have been right.
R: We can't do that.
S: Of course not.
They grin at each other.
S: I'll see you at 7. Don't be late.
KYLE: Or there's the alternative.
NATE: Well, there's a few alternatives -
KYLE: Nate, please, allow me. I'd like to introduce you to the Rachel Green Experience: a theory of women based on the experiences of the character Rachel Green, as played by the enchanting and magnificent Jennifer Aniston.
NATE: Oh boy.
VISHNU : Here we go.
KYLE : So there's an episode of friends where Rachel meets this dude who I think she's working with at this diner. He's really cute and artsy and writes poetry. So one thing leads to another, they sleep together and he writes a poem about her where he compares her to - get this - an empty vase - something that can be so beautiful, especially when it's filled with the right flowers. She's flabbergasted and can't believe he'd do something so callous but when she asks him if he thinks she's an empty vase he responds no, she's not the empty vase, all American women are.
A beat.
NATE: Yeah man, that set up wasn't worth the payoff.
VISHNU: And you're confusing Rachel and Monica, all that stuff happened to Monica with Julio who she dated for like a second when she worked at that diner. Also, that feels at least a little bit sexist.
KYLE : What? How?
VISHNU: Dude basically is just like you are the most beautiful when I give you flowers.
NATE: Except when he says flowers -
KYLE: He means his [BEEP]. Wow, Friends was -
VISHNU: At least a little problematic, but was also somehow better than most of the television that was being produced at the time.
NATE: They ran ten seasons though. How many bad boyfriends do you think they went through?
This is...woah
Present: And then I woke up and I was...here?
Future: Ohhhh so that's why you're so confused.
Present: Yeah! Cuz I mean as much as the whole come lay on my couch and answer my questions thing is cliched, it's actually kind of nice, but also really fucking confusing. Like I have no idea how i got here.
Future: Well, what if you're still dreaming?
Present: Like a dream within a dream? Like Inception?
Future: Kind of. But like this is the intermediary space. Like how Dumbledore meets Harry in King's Cross when Voldemort kills him in the woods?
Present: So I have to decide whether I want to keep sleeping and stay here or I wake up and leave?
Future: I guess? I don't really know, the rules are kind of up to you.
Present: Just like Dumbledore told Harry.
Future: Yup. Basically.
Present: So am I Harry Potter then? Am I like the boy who lived? Is there something I'm supposed to do?
Future: Hold on, lemme check...nope, no lightning bolt scar. Hmm...I dunno, what do you think you're supposed to do?
Present: Um....I mean I've always wanted to tell stories? And I've slowly kind of been realizing that that's what's going to make change for me? Like if I tell stories, if I tell people's stories with them, then maybe I can help to change the way we all perceive one another. And then maybe we can stop killing ourselves and our world and make things better by working together.
Future: Like in Arthur!
Present: (beat) Like the theme song?
Future: Yeah of course. C'mon man.
Present: My bad.
Future: It's all good. But ok, then that's what you're supposed to do. That's your Harry Potter-King's Cross Station-Realization. You've gotta tell stories. So what stories do you want to tell?
Present: Well, I always thought that seeing more people like me on TV would change the way I had grown up. Cuz most everyone I saw who looked like me was kind of othered in some way. Or we just were there for a splash of color while everything else happened, or we just worked as a plot device. That's basically how all POC were in media.
Future: Were?
Present: I mean Black Panther flipped it and the white people were the plot devices.
Future: Well what about Bend it Like Beckham? Or Kal Penn on How I Met Your Mother?
Present: Bend it Like Beckham is a classic. But we don't get those very often. And Kal Penn got famous making movies about him and John Cho smoking weed. I feel like he gets a pass now.
Future: A pass?
Present: Like he gets to do whatever he wants because now brown people are like oh, ok, I guess you do that.
Future: Do you think brown people fuck with him?
Present: Depends on the demo? Like I think young brown people do, but older brown people? They probably hate on him on principle cuz they think weed is bad.
Future: Cuz weed's a drug, and drugs are bad so Kal Penn = weed = bad.
Present: Yeah. Basically.
Future: So who you tryna be then? Do you wanna be Kal Penn or the girl from Bend it Like Beckham?
Present: Do I have to be one of them?
Future: I mean you've got lots of options. Have you seen how much stuff gets made in India? You wanna go somewhere you can be like white people, you should go there.
Present: What?
Future: Well in India, everyone's mostly brown, right? So all the movies are mostly brown people, right?
Present: I mean, I guess. I haven't really watched a ton of Indian movies or TV.
Future: Me neither. Maybe that's not the best thing for us to talk about.
Present: Yeah...but ok, Why can't I just be me?
Future: I don't know. Can you just be you? Do you know who you are?
Present: I don't know. I'm figuring it out though. Every day I get a little closer to it I think, but also farther away because we're all always changing you know?
Future: So maybe you want to write stories about that.
Present: About how we're always changing?
Future: Yeah. I mean we're always becoming who we are right? There's like this inevitable unending process of becoming that we are constantly undergoing as human beings.
Present: Maybe we should be human becomings. Why aren't we human becomings?
Future: Because that doesn't roll off the tongue the same way - I don't know. What I'm trying to say though is that everywhere we go, everyone we meet, they impact who we are. It might be a tiny little microimpact or it might be something hugely monumental that echoes throughout the rest of our lives, but it does change us - those experiences in those places with those people help to make us who we are. So maybe talk about that.
Present: Ok but where do I start?
Future: Where do end?
Present: What do you mean?
Future: The beginning and the end are irrelevant.
Present looks at future confused.
Future: Look, the important thing is that the stories get told. Don't get lost in the minutia of when something happened in relation to something else, in the end you can just use time as a plot device too. Kind of like you're doing now.
Present: What? What do you mean kind of like you're doing right now?
Future: You and I aren't really here. You and I are having a conversation in a dream that you've needed to have with yourself for a long time. So now that you're having this conversation, you've gotta just go out and do it. Go tell the stories you want to tell. And don't let anyone stop you.
Present: But what about -
Future: Dad and Mom will get it. It'll take a long time, but they will. How else you think I have this beard and haircut?
Present: Wait so you're really me in the future?
Future: Yeah you could say that, I'm one possibility.
Present: On possibility? What about the others?
Future: I dunno, you'll have to keep moving down the path of your life to see how we turn out.
Present: This is -
Future: Oh - looks like I gotta go. I'm around though. And you're gonna be fine. Don't worry. Cheers mate!
Present wakes up in bed
Present: Woah..
Radio Gemini EP 001 out now on Apple Music and Spotify
Zilla, whaaaaaat
Five words have kept you in my mind more than the rest of the hours long conversation we had the other night. I feel like a terrible person because those five words have far less bearing on all that I learned about you prior to that moment. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was sexy AF, but those five words were not anything I would have expected to hear from anyone, let alone you.
But you said them. Quietly. Slyly. With the slightest curl of a smile. And I waved it off as something you should be proud of. Or I just waved it off because I didn’t know if I heard you right and I was trying to keep myself from laughing and letting my jaw drop. Who knows. Anyway, I hope this isn’t a weird thing for me to bring up in the future. I mean it probably will be, but we are who we are and I hope you continue to feel comfortable enough with me to share the types of things you did last Saturday.
But damn, girl.
I now realize I didn’t see you as existing in that sphere. And that I seem to push myself to not see womxn existing in those spheres in part because of my own social programming to push for platonic relationships rather than romantic ones, not knowing how to move from one phase to the other.
I hope I get to stick around because I haven’t been around people who I feel so close with in so long. And because I really think you’re dope and we’ve never gotten to build the way I’ve wanted to. I think we have a lot of work to do to get all this other stuff off the ground and it’ll be far easier if I’m running point here than in California. But we’ll see.
It’s gonna happen. Just gotta iron out the details.
Everything started from nothing. You can too.
Sandra Lidell (via wnq-writers)
I really needed this today.
Transitions just seem to be the death of me// Not sure if I can go from who I am to who I'm meant to be// Got a voice in my head that tells me to stay in bed// Cuz there's no one at all who seems to want to call// Or pick up the phone when it rings, I sing and I sing// For my supper now I wonder if I'll be anything// Am I writing all these rhymes just to keep the biggest lie from unfolding in front of my eyes? What's stopping me from becoming who it is i want to be? One person, two letters, three times it's me, me, me.
I woke up this morning
Much earlier than usual My eyes burning with what I must have seen in my dreams As the sensation subsided the feelings awoke The same ones that told me I was Inadequate Unable Stuck Lost alone And suddenly I realized I hadn't felt a part of something in a long time That I hadn't found someone to share myself with in a long time That I had been living isolated that I had been alone Why?
First Date Jitters
Charlie: I'm ready
Chelsea: Are you sure?
Charlie: Yeah, why wouldn't I be?
Chelsea: Well I don't know, how much do you like this person you're going on a date with?
Charlie: I've been trying to get a date with her for the last year. And I finally worked up the courage to ask her out and she said yes and I'm here and it's happening and I'm excited!
Chelsea: Is that really what you want to wear to see this girl then?
Charlie: What's wrong with what I'm wearing?
Chelsea: All I"m saying is that if I had been trying to get a date with a girl for a year and I finally did, I would make sure everything was A1 day one ready to go you know?
Charlie: uhhhh....well I was gonna just do dinner and a movie.
Chelsea: Oh god. This is much worse than I thought.
Charlie: What? It's a classic. You can't go wrong with dinner and a movie.
Chelsea: You live in LA and the best you could think of is dinner and a movie?
Charlie: Well...what do you think I should do?
Chelsea: Well first off, you should change. You're really gonna wear a Marvel T-Shirt?
Charlie: Well she likes comics, it's actually one of the things that helped us get close. We have this inside joke about her being the Rocket to my Groot so I thought I'd take her to see the new Guardians movie.
Chelsea: Ew. Jesus Charlie what is wrong with you? You were gonna take her to a comic book movie? C'mon man. Are you trying to get laid?
Charlie: No. Well, I don't know, I just thought we'd see how it goes tonight and if the vibe is right we'd go out again.
Chelsea: You are so boring.
Charlie: Chels, at some point you're going to have to realize not all of us can be as cool as you.
He grabs his keys and checks himself in the mirror. Then turns to face Chelsea again.
Charlie: And don't worry. I'm not going any where.
Chelsea: Promise?
Charlie: Promise. You've got a few months at least before I ask you to move out. (He winks) Have a good time with Drea tonight.(He kisses her on the forehead)
Chelsea: You too. Good luck. And Charlie?
Charlie: Yeah?
Chelsea: I mean that. Also push your hair to the other side. She'll like it. Trust me.
Charlie: (laughs) Thanks sis. Love you.
He did what?
Girlfriend: Check out who just walked in.
Girl: Is it him?
Girlfriend: Yeah, but he’s with a girl.
Girl: What? He’s with a girl? Who?
Girlfriend: I don’t know, I’ve never seen her before.
Girl: Do they look like they’re together?
Girlfriend: I don’t know, How do people look when they’re together?
Girl: I don’t know! Are they like holding hands? What’s their body language say?
Girlfriend: Fuck if I know. He looks comfortable though. Way more comfortable than he is with you.
Girl: Fuck. Also there are nicer ways to say that.
Girlfriend: Anyone can see that he’s uncomfortable around you. And you’re uncomfortable as fuck around him. You two just look at each other and pretend the other person isn’t actually there or some shit and it’s just weird.
Girl: That’s not true!
Girl and girlfriend look at each other.
Girl: Ok it’s a little bit true.
Girlfriend: It’s ridiculously true. You two like each other. Just talk to him.
Girl: But what do I say?
Girlfriend: I don’t know. Maybe Hey! How are you? Who’s the girl you brought? Are you sleeping together?
Girl: That seems like it’s a little on the nose.
Girlfriend: Yeah but you know you’ll get an answer.
Girl sighs. Girl and Girlfriend sip their drinks and look off together.
(Scene)
Packing
Girl: How many times did I go to bed thinking of him? How many times did I wait for a call or text or message that never came? I always thought he and I would be something but after waiting for so long and seeing him walk past me again and again, day after day without so much as a look in my direction, I just didn't want to put myself through it any more.
Boy: She made it pretty clear that she had no interest in me, who I was or who I could be to her. Is it normal for me to think about who we could have been to each other? The dinners and long weekends I had imagined we'd have together never really materialized the way I thought they would.
Girl: If he thought I wasn't worth his time, I just wish he would have said something sooner so I could have known and not put any time into him. I let my emotions get the best of me and I can't let that happen again.
Boy: If I'm being honest with myself, maybe it was just too optimistic to think she and I could ever be anything. I mean what could she have seen in me. She wears designer brands and takes trips around the country every weekend.
Girl: He always had a way about him though. He found ways to put clothes together that made it look like he knew he was gonna be a star and his style had just beat him to the person he was going to be.
Boy: And her voice? Man I thought she must have grown up on the same 90s R & B I did when I heard her sing. All I wanted to do was sit with her head in my lap writing songs together. We could have stayed in a bedroom for weeks just telling stories.
Girl: He always used to talk about how he liked writing. I wonder if he'll ever make something of it. Maybe a tv show or a movie or something. I'll laugh if I see his name up in lights like that. Hmm. We could have really helped each other.
Boy: We could have done so much. But I guess that's just a dream now. She doesn't respond to my texts, ignores my calls and messages. It's almost like she's still playing a game by telling me she won't pay me any attention.
Girl: Did you know he still doesn't look at my snap stories? Can you believe that? Talk about immature. I mean I don't look at his either but c'mon. He's gotta make the first move. That's just what guys do.
Boy: I mean do we still live in a world where men have to make the first move? If she's really a bad bitch or whatever then shouldn't she be willing to take that step?
Girl: Were we just both too scared to be hurt?
Boy: Were we both just too scared to be seen?
Girl: Too afraid to open up?
Boy: Too afraid to speak?
Girl & Boy: Whatever. At this point the only thing I know is that I'm better off without them.
Picking up a Pizza
Boy and Girl get into car.
As the two get settled with seatbelts and such, the boy picks out some music and puts the car in drive.
Boy: Honestly, you're just a lot different than any of the other girls I've met here.
Girl: Different how?
Boy: (laughs) I don't know. Everyone seems sort of...superficial? Or like they're operating in a different sort of world. You just seem...grounded...down to earth, you know?
The Girl's mouth curls into a sly smile.
Girl: So you think my best friend is superficial?
Boy: NO! I mean...look I don't really know her that well, but judging from how we looked at each other I'm sure you get why the whole "I'm gonna marry a white dude so I can have beautiful mixed hoppa babies" is kinda fucked up. And low key heart breaking cuz she wants to do it in part so her kids can do the pie chart thing.
Girl: You mean the whole I'm a quarter dutch and an eighth french and an eighth german and half japanese type thing?
Boy: Yeah, exactly.
Girl: You realize that's what I am. Like what I just said.
Boy: Shit really?
Girl: Yep.
Boy: That's dope. I mean like it's awesome that you have such a diverse set of cultures and traditions that you come from, y'know?
Girl: So what's wrong with her wanting her kids to be able to do that?
Boy: Nothing, I guess. I mean it more from the point of view of white people being the one's who colonized and then set everything up and then not having access to the dominant culture because we aren't white and trying to find ourselves in that culture until we realize that we sort of transcend that culture because it's just something we've grown up in in concert with the cultures and traditions that we were born into. So yeah, there might be that othering and that whole transitioning from trying to fit in to being more comfortable in your own skin to stand out, but as long as we teach our kids to love themselves and others then maybe all the othering and bullying and shit just won't happen.
Girl: Maybe we can just teach our kids to be better people than we were and then they can do the same to their kids. So the world gets better and better, yeah?
Boy: So long as we don't fuck up the climate too much before we get to there, yeah. I guess so.
They share a laugh. They pull up to the house again. They undo their seatbelts and when the boy looks up the girl is suddenly leaned in to him, really close, but not too close to scare him.
Girl: You're different too y'know.
Boy: (still smiling) How do you think?
She gets right up to his lips.
Girl: Oh, you think I'd just give that to you? (She gives him a peck on the cheek) You're gonna have to work a little harder for that one.
She takes the pizza and opens her door, then turns back.
Girl: By the way. This is where you ask me to dinner.
Boy: Are you free
Girl: Friday at 8? Yeah that sounds great.
She winks, smiles and gets out of the car.
(Scene)
At the Office
Boy walks past a cubicle where two girls are sitting.
Girl 1: Oooooh look at those shoes! What brand are they?
Boy: Thanks! They’re Supras!
Girl 1: Oooh who owns them? That’s just like where my mind goes with things now, y’know?
The boy is a little confused.
Boy: I don’t think anyone owns them...?
Girl 2: Yeah, my brother loves them. He used to like only wear them.
Girl 1: Oh, my bad, that’s just where my mind goes now. It’s just like who owns that, y’know?
The boy and the other girl exchange looks. Then look out to the audience.
Blackout.
(Scene)
Outside a Party
Girl: All these white people right?
Boy: (laughs) I guess you could say that. How have you been?
Girl: Good! Do you wanna grab a drink?
Boy: I'm driving :-/ You wanna go outside or something? Somewhere where we can maybe hear each other?
Girl: (she beams, it catches the boy off guard and it shows) Sure! But I'm definitely gonna grab a drink if that's cool.
Boy: By all means, lead the way.
She leads him to the kitchen and pours a drink, smiling to herself a bit nervous but we see the same thing on him. H e motions for the door and they go outside together.
Boy: So what's up? What have you been up to in the last what 8 months?
Girl: Better question: Why haven't you talked to me in that long?
Boy: Shoot. You're not pulling any punches.
Girl: Well, I did grab that drink for a reason.
Boy: Look, honestly, I don't know. I thought I made it pretty clear that I wanted to see you - like see you like date you or at least go on a date with you, but you blew me off a few times when I asked you to lunch - which I thought was the most casual thing I could do - and then when I asked you to dinner, you said yes but then it never happened because any time I tried to pin down a date or time you just didn't respond. I figured you weren't interested and I didn't know how to approach you platonically after that - plus I didn't know if I could. I just... I heard you sing in the hotel way back when and the idea of - the possibility of - you being someone in my life just made me so happy. But then having you seemingly reject me again and again just felt like - well it felt shitty. And I'm trying to do things that build my confidence and self-esteem, not destroy those things.
Girl: So if I had come up to you tonight and asked you to dance, what would you have said?
Boy: Honestly? I don't know.
Girl: It's a good thing I didn't then I guess.
Boy: No, not because of you, because of all of them. And the music. And all the alcohol. And the weed. Look I think you could be amazing. But I don't know you at all. All I wanted was a conversation that could maybe give me some insight into that person and maybe lead to more conversations that could maybe lead to us being something - anything to each other.
Girl: So did you not think I wanted to talk to you?
Boy: No I guess I didn't.
Girl: Because I didn't text you back or whatever?
Boy: That and the fact that, well, I'm not used to interactions being so performative. Do you know what I mean? It feels like everything we do at the office - or anywhere with these people - it just feels like they're going to be watching and then they're going to talk about it and that's just really shitty. Like I just want to be able to live my life and do what I want to do without feeling like I have to be careful of what I do or say or who I interact with.
Girl: What did you think they would judge you for talking to me?
Boy: (Long pause) Yeah. I guess I did. I guess I haven't really come as far as I'd like to think. I got bogged down by all the same bullshit that I thought I could avoid by being the person I had become in the last five years, but without having other people to tether myself to, I kind of lost whoever that person was.
Girl: (sighs) Well, is that why you wanted to talk to me outside? So that they wouldn't be able to see or hear or whatever?
Boy: No! Well, yes, but not the same way. I like you. Like I really like you. And I have no idea why because I keep being shown that I don't know you at all and you keep doing things that make me feel like there is absolutely no way anything could work here between us but I can't help but think that maybe there's a way that you and I could fit together and maybe you and I could be great together and maybe it could make this place seem so much less...shitty. I mean c'mon it's fucking beautiful. But I've never felt more alone than I have been in this past year and I -
Girl: You think I could make you feel less alone?
Boy: I think we could both help each other be ourselves - or better versions of ourselves that would feel less alone and would be more happy and could maybe make other people feel a little brighter about themselves and their lives even though we're in these awful jobs surrounded by mostly terrible people who -
Girl: You really need to stop talking shit about the people we work with.
Boy: Yeah. I do. But -
Girl: What don't you like about them?
Boy: It all just seems to fake. Everything feels like it's done in order to hopefully win someone's approval and hopefully get to a place where they don't hate ourselves when in reality our jobs are so terrible that -
Girl: Do you think maybe if you just accepted that the job isn't for you and that it's maybe a means to an end you could be a little happier?
Boy: I feel like I accepted that, but I haven't been able to be happy in a long time. I just feel like I'm wasting my time here. Like I don't have anyone and no one really cares about me and that I'm here on my own trying to do something that's actually not taking me anywhere near where I want to go. It's just a race up a ladder that I have no interest in climbing.
Girl: Then why don't you quit?
Boy: Because I don't know what I would do if I did.
Girl: Just apply for other jobs. You're smarter than most everyone I know here. It shouldn't be too hard for you to land something else.
Boy: But -
Girl: It's hard. Yeah. It sucks. It's awful and job hunting is awful but if you'd rather be somewhere you can be happy then you have to do it. Otherwise who is to blame for you being unhappy other than you?
Boy: Damn. Look at you. Wise as fuck.
Girl: Imagine if you'd talked to me six months ago and we'd had this conversation. (Makes Mind Blown Gesture + noises)
They laugh.
Girl: Look I know it sucks. We're all doing it. And your job is suckier than mine. There's no question. But if you think you deserve better or that you're built for something different then find that thing. You can't just stay here and feel like this is going to define you for the rest of your life because you don't want to lose your income and have to actually put time and work into finding something you love. Plus if you end up loving the other thing then isn't it all worth it? (the Boy begins to speak but she stops him) And even if you don't love it, then at least you know and you've already found another job so you just have to do it again and it'll be at least a little easier then right?
Boy: I could kiss you right now.
The Girl smiles.
Girl: You remember the night we all sang karaoke at that bar by that hotel when we were in training? You sang
Boy: Senorita by Justin Timberlake and you screamed when I did the call and response thing at the end.
Girl: You could have kissed me then too. And I would have been yours. Shoot your shot kid.
He leans in to kiss her and just as their lips touch, the lights go out so all we can see are their silhouettes in the window of the door behind them.
(Scene)