Nate & Laura & How They Met

Act Two, Scene Three

Exterior: Kiyah's house, a small three bedroom house.  Kiyah's car pulls into driveway, parks.  Kiyah and Laura get out of car, walk up to front door, unlock door, enter house.

Interior: Kiyah's living room, Laura and Kiyah enter, set bags down, Kiyah flops down in couch, Laura looks around, nervously.

KIYAH

Well, come on, you can relax now.

LAURA

I don't know, this is all...

KIYAH

Its not like you haven't been here before--

LAURA

Not like this.

KIYAH

Yeah, yeah.  Well, this is it, hon, this is your new home!

LAURA

My new home? My new home!

(She starts to cry.)

My new home...

KIYAH

(Kiyah crosses to Laura.)

No, no, none of that now.  Look, what you need first is a nice hot shower, get the Scott stink off of you, then as much Ben & Jerry's as you can take, cheesy chick flicks until you pass out, and red wine!!  Deal? Come on, look at me, say it, say it...Deal? Deal?

LAURA

Deal.

KIYAH

Good girl.  Now off with you.  You know where the bathroom is.  I'll put your stuff in the study, or where that crazy asshole ex of mine left all HIS stuff when I kicked him out!  Bastard.  We should sell it.

LAURA

What?

KIYAH

We should sell his shit on ebay! Yeah, that's what we can do tonight too!  You got anything from your ex we can hawk?

LAURA

No, I didn't think to--

KIYAH

Well, when we go back there to get the rest of what you need, we'll find some stuff then...

LAURA

Well, I don't know...

KIYAH

Off with you, shower now!  I'll get the ice cream, brownies, and wine ready!!!

Interior: Shower running, Laura leans against wall, water falls over her, she closes her eyes, sobs

Exterior: Kitchen, youtube in the background playing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", Kiyah sings along as she pours the wine.  Her phone buzzes, a text from Samantha. It reads: Just got home, totally can't handle Benjamin right now, angry drunk. Can I crash there? Jacob's with his grandparents.

Kiyah types back, it reads: Yeah, of course, hon. Laura's here, just moved in, we're totally doing the girl's night.

Samantha's text: Awesome! See you soon!

Kiyah returns to singing with the music.

Laura walks into kitchen.  She's wearing pajamas, towel drying her hair.

KIYAH

There you are, and there you go!

Kiyah places wine glass in front of Laura.

LAURA

Wow, rum and cokes and now red wine, isn't there a little poem about this?

KIYAH

You mean, like, beer before liquor, no, it says nothing about wine.  And besides, this is a special occasion!

LAURA

How so?

KIYAH

You've been liberated.  No...we've been liberated!

(Both girls raise their glasses.)

KIYAH AND LAURA

To us!

(They sip their wine.)

LAURA

Let's let nothing come between us, okay? Nothing.

KIYAH

Yeah, no guy is worth it!

LAURA

I like that.

KIYAH

Its true.  My teacher in high school used to tell me that all the time.

LAURA

Your teacher in high school? Wait, why?

KIYAH

He was kind of like a dad to me, yeah.

LAURA

Oh, nice.  You still talk to him?

KIYAH

Not so much.  He died.

LAURA

Oh, sorry.

KIYAH

Yeah, no worries.  Come on, let's drink and dance!

(Kiyah dances with wine glass into the living room, turns up music, the girls start dancing together to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".)

Enter Samantha.

SAMANTHA

I came at the right time!!!

(She starts dancing with them.)

Song ends.

KIYAH

Wine in the kitchen, get yourself a glass, Samantha.

SAMANTHA

On it!

LAURA

(scanning through youtube)

What should we listen to now? Oh, I like this one...Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia...

KIYAH

Hells no!

LAURA

Why? It's how I feel--

KIYAH

Exactly why you shouldn't listen to it.  None of that sappy sad shit tonight.  That's for hangovers! For tonight, how about...Spice Girls!

(Samantha entering living room with wine bottle and wine glass.)

SAMANTHA

Girl power!!!

(Wannabe starts playing in the background. The girls dance together happily. Song ends.)

LAURA

Ah, I don't feel so good. I need to sit for a minute.

(They all sit around on couch, on the floor, etc.)

SAMANTHA

Now what?

LAURA

Ben & Jerry's Stat!

KIYAH

It's time for some eBay fun, baby!

SAMANTHA

How do you mean?

KIYAH

Jordan's left his stuff here for like over a month, its mine now, and I'm gonna sell it.  Yeah, bitch.

SAMANTHA

Nice!

(Kiyah exits into study, returns with a cardboard box and a laptop.)

KIYAH

Yeah, this is just one of his boxes.  And his computer, I'm keeping it, but let's see what gems we can find!

(She sits and the girls gather around her, start pulling items out, examining them, and Kiyah turns on laptop.  Samantha's cell phone rings.  She looks at it.)

SAMANTHA

Fuck, Benjamin!

KIYAH

Put it on speaker!

SAMANTHA

Oh, all right, but he's pretty drunk so I'm warning you...

(Samantha sets phone on coffee table, puts it on speaker.)

BENJAMIN

Listen, Bitch, don't bother coming home if you don't even have the decency to tell me where you are going.  You are so irresponsible, I'm not even sure how you became a mom, I mean, you are so incapable of being a mom, you are more a kid than he is...when are you going to grow up and be an adult...stop with this artsy fartsy life you think you have, stop living this stupid fairy-tale, its never gonna happen for you, you no talent bitch, get over it, get over yourself--

(Samantha turns phone off.)

SAMANTHA

Yeah, I warned you.

KIYAH

You did, hon.  Look, I got another room, its teeny-tiny, but its yours if you want it, at least, for awhile.

LAURA

I don't really need that big study, if you and Jacob want it, and I can take the smaller one.

SAMANTHA

Thanks, guys, really, I owe you. I don't know where I would be without you.

LAURA

To us!

(She raises her bowl of Ben & Jerry's ice cream!)

SAMANTHA

Girls rule, boys on the side!

(She raises her wine glass.)

KIYAH

No guy is worth it!

SAMANTHA AND LAURA

No guy is worth it!

Fade out.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

And Finally, A Healing

Vagina Diaries Day 9

Once again, this entry may not seem to have much to do with the subject of my vagina but when it comes down to the more focused discussion of femininity and strength (See: the popular meme of the late 1990's of 'girl power!), it surely does.  In fact, it appears to be a carry over from yesterday's blog about the realization in 'loving oneself'.

Wannabe

When I was fifteen, I was dealt a blow of extreme heartbreak and betrayal, one that has had lasting effects through every area of my life and relationships subsequently.  During the early summer months of my Sophomore to Junior year of high school, my boyfriend, Matt, of the long term relationship of three months broke up with me, a heart-wrenching thing for any young girl whose new to the world of dating, but added to that was the even worse additional wounding of a supposed best friend.  The best friend, Heidi, seemingly outdid the boyfriend by starting up a relationship with him at least an hour after he had broken it off with me, even after I called her crying in despair for comfort.

As I said, this left a resounding effect on the state of my heart for years to come and is still a battle I face today.  It caused a major disturbance in my relationships overall and a lack of trust in women as 'best friends'.  I started being known as the 'girl's guy', with many guy friends who would love to cross over beyond the friend zone and yet if they were lucky enough to do so, found a very jealous, insecure girl-friend on the other side, one who had the constant fear of having her boyfriend "stolen" by another girl.

So, this has been a life-long struggle, one of which I had some major victory over due to much time and money spent in therapy and various types of recovery programs.  Then of which I have finally learned to love myself which follows the ability to be comfortable "on my own", truly not needing another person to help define my sense of security and self.

In my current relationship, I am glad to say I have a partner who I can trust completely and who really likes being with me, has no issues that keep him closed off from me, and feels he can completely trust me.  All of this to say the effect of the high school trauma is weakening more and more with each passing day.  In truth, I have finally found the ability to forgive both the high school "best friend" and the "ex-boyfriend."

So, last night I had a dream, one of which I made some snarky remark to a mutual friend of mine and my current partner about some lack of her ability as an actress, etc etc etc.  It only made me look poorly in the eyes of not just my boyfriend but all present.  In the dream, he approached me and urged me to apologize to her right away, which I did, of course.  This resulted in my half-waking from the dream to turn to him for comfort when I suddenly stopped...

It dawned on me, once again, that I did not need him to comfort me, reassure me of his love, but could find that in myself.  So, in my dream-self, I lay beside him and thanked the divine universe for healing me of this long-standing affliction and for also giving me finally a boyfriend who I could infinitely trust and who could help support me in this final healing.

Almost like a scene from one of my favorite movies, Inception, I found myself back in the world of the girl before the best friend betrayal, a girl who believed in the innocence that all people were really good and out for my best interest.  A girl who with this aforementioned best friend would delight in sharing her secrets, desires, fears, and willing sit on the school-grounds after school hunting for four-leaf clovers while we waited for our mothers to pick us up and drive us home.

In that moment, the pain of the years pent up betrayal began to lift and I felt a freedom of heart that I hadn't felt in a very long time.  I don't honestly believe that I am completely 100% healed and will probably still have to deal with issues like these in future, but the shedding of this reaction will become gradually easier and easier.

So, what does this have to do with my vagina? Simply put, an increasing development of my personal feminine strength of power and self, an ability to love myself, forgive myself, and trust myself.  An ability also to truly love and forgive those who have wronged me and then to let it all go, to finally move on.

It is that discovery which I find surprising on this journey I am, already finding so much healing and empowerment for myself.  I hope these words of truth and discovery are helping you, the readers, in some way as well.

The Rose