SAUDADE | Teen Ink

SAUDADE

May 17, 2021
By shyla2005, Coconut Creek, Florida
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shyla2005, Coconut Creek, Florida
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FAde In:

INT. two bedroom apartment – NEW YEARS DAY - NIGHT

The faint sound of music makes its way inside the apartment. Loud sounds of fireworks and people seem to invade the space of the apartment.

RICKY, 23, a timid, non-binary college student sits on their couch going scrolling through their contacts on their phone.

The clock reads 10:30 PM.

RICKY deletes the final ‘F’ contact and starts to sort through the ‘G’s.’

Gigi, Gabriel, Gage… these names she deletes.

George and George remain.

They pause.

 

RICKY

      (confused)

                 Dammit.

 

She clicks on the first GEORGE. No last name. They don’t recognize the number.

The second one, same deal but it feels more… familiar.

They decide to play a game. Whichever one they call first, they keep.

They choose the second one.

It rings……

And rings……

Rings……

Until.

 

UNKNOWN GEORGE (O.S)

             (rushed)

                        Hello?

 

The noise of people in the back is loud, RICKY can barely hear the voice.

 

                           RICKY

                (Loudly)

                      Hi, who is this?

 

    UNKNOWN GEORGE (O.S)

               Sorry, What?

 

RICKY                                 GEORGE (O.S)

(Even louder)                        (Even louder)                                    

This is Ricky Augustine.             I’m sorry, I can’t

                                                  hear you.

               

The two talk over each other, they can barely hear each other’s voices.

 

 

UNKNOWN GEORGE (O.S)

     Give me a second, please.

 

The voice is still inaudible to Ricky. They can hear the sound of the loud voices in the background die down.

It goes quiet, almost serene. Until….

UNKNOWN GEORGE

           (sighs)

          Alright, hello?

 

Ricky’s eyes go wide.

Eyebrows stuck together,

George Williams, their ex: awkward trouble.

Ricky takes in a shaky breath, preparing herself.

 

     RICKY

    (Shakely)

       George?

We then cut to:

 

EXT. ROCK BAR – NIGHT

GEORGE, 24, bubbly type, stands outside of the Rock Bar in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

She stands with a wide smile on her face.

 

GEORGE

    Ricky?

 

RICKY (O.S)

   George, hi.

 

 George

  (excitingly)

Oh my God, hi! How’ve you been? It’s been so long.

A group of people walk out of the bar, the door opens, and the noise of music and chatter makes RICKY’S answer inaudible.

The group of people wave at GEORGE with big smiles, she waves back with the same energy and mouths a goodbye.

 

 RICKY(O.S)

Yeah, I’ve been fine… I guess.

 

                   George

                 Sorry, what?

 

 RICKY(O.S)

Yeah, I’ve been good, all good.

 

 GEORGE

That’s great, that’s great…

 

There’s a pause in the conversation. The two don’t know what to say.

 

CUT BACK TO:

 

INT. two bedroom apartment – NEW YEARS DAY – NIGHT

Ricky’s forehead rests in the palm of their hand.

 

Ricky                               GEORGE (O.S)                                       

Yeah, I was just cleaning           So what’re you

out my contacts.                    Doing for New Years?

         

The two scramble for a chance to talk.

 

Ricky

I was just cleaning out my contacts for some New Years cleaning… you know, closure stuff. It was nice talking to you Georgie.

 

The old nickname comes out of their mouth. Instant regret.

 

GEORGE (o.s)

Wait!

George rushes her words.

 

GEORGE (CONT’D)

(chuckles)

I haven’t heard that nickname in a while.

 

Ricky

Yeah you haven’t heard it since you cheated.

 

Ugly pause.

 

Ricky (CONT’D)

                   I was only calling so I

           Could figure out which George I was calling-

 

RICKY is cut off by the loud sound of fireworks and their dog, PUMPKIN, barking.

                        GEORGE (o.s)

(excitingly)

Oh my God, is that Pumpkin?

 

Ricky

Yeah, she’s doing good.

 

The swift change in topic doesn’t last long.

 

GEORGE (o.s)

I can’t believe you’re still on that Ricky. I never cheated on you.

 

Ricky

Yes, you did, everyone knows George.

 

GEORGE (o.s)

What are you talking about? No one has ever thought that, it’s you being so paranoid and insecure, like always. It’s been like four years; I would’ve thought you would be more mature than you were then.

 

RICKY sits up from her slumped position on the couch. As they do, the screen splits.

On the left, GEORGE stands outside with her hands in her hair.

On the right, we see RICKY.

Ricky

Insecure?!

(MORE)

The only reason I was insecure is because you literally never tried to care about anything I did or said or even thought about. All you did was think about yourself: your looks, your grades, your non-existent music career, and I-

 

GEORGE

Listen Ricky I have no idea what you’ve been doing all this time, but I’ve actually been working on myself. If you used social media like a normal person in their 20’s you would damn well know that my career is not nonexistent. I don’t understand why you’ve called me on New Years Day, to argue about something that didn’t happen four years ago.

 

We begin to see RICKY fall back, starts to become nervous.

Something about George always influenced them.

 

Ricky

(quietly)

Look, I didn’t call you to start an argument.

 

George

Then why did you call me Ricky?

 

Ricky

I don’t know…

 

RICKY tries to find the right words. Whether or not they should be this open with George.

 

Ricky (CONT’D)

For closure, I guess. Like I said.

 

(CONTINUES)

George

Then let’s get closure.

 

 

 

FAde Out:

the end



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