Here she is, sitting in a dingy bar bathroom, sipping a beer and wondering how her life came to this precise moment. The light above the stall is flickering and a heavy-set tattooed woman is banging on the door. Almost done with her beer, Lily begins to wish that she could order another one from the safety of the stall. The thought of going back out to the raucous sounds of hormones and idiocy makes her twitchy. Finishing in two gulps, she pushes the door open quickly and hands the empty bottle to the impatient woman.
Her cell phone feels heavy in her pocket, the text from her ex-boyfriend Julian burning in her mind. As she looks around the bar all she can see are the words – It’s not about “what do girls want” anymore. It’s about “what does Lily want.” Lily is practically stuck in a mediocre romantic comedy – the terrible first date, the looming ex, the smoky bar. Walter waves stupidly, as though maybe she forgot where he was sitting or that perhaps she could have overlooked his hideous yellow shirt. Lily smiles absently at him, and across the way she spots a Julian look-alike – the same shaggy brown hair, rumpled plaid shirt and precise air of pretentiousness. She laughs at how similar they are to each other and how ironic that both probably consider themselves “unique.” Look-alike Julian is even drinking the same brand of beer while hitting on the same type of girl. The words from the text lose their impact – fake Julian probably already said them to the little blonde in the corner. Kissing Walter impulsively on the mouth, she suggests heading back to her place. He scrambles off the stool quickly, and Lily realizes that he knows what women want – to always make her feel like she’s better than you are.
My headline was sort of a often asked, ever satisfactorily answered question. Being a girl myself, I can attest to the fact that I rarely know what I want. There are some things that are sort of easily pin pointed - and I think that my character Lily understands that as she remembers why things didn't work out with Julian. It's hard to be in a relationship with someone who has a huge ego, and maybe trying something new could be better for her.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah. That's what I wrote. :)
Hilarious, I love your style.
ReplyDeleteNice job, Beca, and a lot going on here for a short piece. Maybe even too much? To some extent, starting inthe bathroom stall feels a littl too early for this piece, when so much can and does happen when she's actually out in the club. One thing that confuses a bit is that Lily's name isn't introduced until about midway through, so we're not sure who this is referring to at that point. Just name her at the outset. In this same place, that italicized passage, coming right after the reference to the text, makes us think it might be the text, rather than the inner commentary it turns out to be. I'm not sure I mind not knowing what Jeremy said in his text, but at the same time, it seems that it's more complicated than something we could just intuit, like "We're done." If that's the case, might help to tell us what the text says, or even give us a fragment that hints at the content. It seems like the "moment" here is looking at Walter and seeing an alternate Julian. This comparison could be the whole piece, without the bathroom or the kiss--a kind of brief meditation on the title's question and its resolution.
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