INT. MOLLIE’S LIVING ROOM (2025) – NIGHT:
17-year-old MOLLIE is sitting near the fireplace with her best-friend, MILO. A homework assignment they were working on is now put on hold due to the electric wires being knocked out during a windy thunderstorm. This family never learns their lesson.
While Milo sits next to the fire, knees close to his chin and a blanket wrapping around his body, he sees Mollie trying to plug her phone through the various portable chargers she has bought over the years. None of them are charged. Very likely of Mollie to do. She sets her phone next to her and then takes a deep breath while grabbing her head. Milo keeps looking on.
Milo: You can live without texting Weston for a little bit, Mol.
Mollie: Yeah, you of all people should be telling me that, Mr. “I gotta text Soph at every minute of the day, and Snapchat her dumb shit whenever something’s “hashtag relatable”.
Milo: Don’t be mad because I’m completely myself with my girlfriend.
Mollie looks over at Milo with scrunched up, angry eyebrows.
Mollie: What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
Milo: Oh c’mon, Mol, we’ve been friends since birth. We’re practically family. I know the way you act around Weston, acting like you’re such this perfect person. Weston isn’t gonna like you if you keep acting like something you’re not.
Mollie: And if you keep acting like this pussy whipped kid to a girl who hangs out with the plastics, you’re gonna get your heart and ass handed to you, buddy. So stop telling me how to live my life, Milo.
Ouch. Milo laughs and shakes his head in disbelief.
Milo: Okay, Mol. Talk to me when you get a reality check.
As Milo gets up from the floor to move to another room, Mollie is not finished giving her best-friend a piece of her mind.
Mollie: You know, that’s the problem I have with you, Mi. You think just because you get better grades than me and that you’re a part of all these clubs in school and your girlfriend is a girl that I bet slept with everyone in that damn vocal room, you think you’re better than me, or you feel obligated to look over me like I’m some kid. I don’t need you breathing down my back telling me what to do because granted, you don’t even know me.
Milo takes in everything that has just been said. He looks at Mollie like he doesn’t know who she is anymore. The person he shared secrets to, confessions to, the one person he was able to confine with when things got bad. The person he calls his best friend, just sounded like his number one enemy. He sits back down to face Mollie, furious of what she just said.
Milo: Let’s get one thing straight, Mollie, just because you refuse to get to know Sophie as an actual human being doesn’t automatically make her this “class slut” just because her friends walk around with that reputation proudly. If you actually got to know her like the rest of us and like a good best friend would, you would know she’s nothing like that.
Mollie: “Like a good best friend?” So all those times I got myself in trouble for having your back when those same jocks and plastics beat your ass to the ground because your dad gave him bad grades for the trimester wasn’t me being a best friend?
Milo: Mollie that was two years ago! We’re seniors! Also, are you really going to bring up that same thing without acknowledging the fact that I even helped you get out of being expelled for that fight? Come on now, Mol!
Mollie is at lost for words, but also very stubborn. She crosses her arms and turns around, not facing Milo anymore.
Mollie: You still don’t know me, Milo.
Milo stares at Mollie, still in disbelief. How did this conversation even start? Oh yeah, Weston.
Milo: If that was true, I wouldn’t know the reasons in why you’re so afraid to show Weston your true self. You’re afraid of damaging him.
Mollie quickly turns her head to face Milo, now livid.
Mollie: Damaging? You seriously fucking think I’m such this horrible person, that I’m afraid of “damaging” another person? What the fuck do you even mean by that?
Milo: Oh come on, Mol, stop with the bullshit. You know what I mean. I know you’re scared of showing your real self to Weston because you’re afraid he’ll run away. You’re afraid for him to find out that every Tuesday you go see your therapist to talk out your issues, the same therapist that my dad and Jennifer would take you to every Tuesday after-school since we were kids. You’re afraid to tell him that Alex isn’t your real dad, that your actual dad left you and your mom because he was living a double life even when you were born. You’re afraid of letting him know that you’re not the most put together person in the world, that you fight your demons every single day, that you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong in your life even if you never had control over them. You’re afraid that if you let him in too much, he’ll come walking out all fucked up and damaged because you believe that’s how you leave people when they come into your life. You’re afraid of showing Weston who you really are because you love him.
Mollie, angrier than ever, turns around to spit fire at Milo.
Mollie: How fucking dare you. How dare you say those things so nonchalantly like it’s no big deal! You don’t even know half the shit I go through on a day-to-day basis! You only know what I want you to know! You think just because we’ve been friends since birth that you have the right to throw all that shit in my face? You have no right! No right!
Mollie stays facing away from Milo, taking everything in. Milo walks up to Mollie and sits next to her; the air is tenser than it was before and puts an end to the feud.
Milo: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I didn’t say those things to make you feel like shit. I said them because I know you. Maybe not about everything, but I know you well enough to know how much we are alike. We share a lot of the same demons, Mol. We know each other too well to let the other sit in them and let us consume us. You deserve more than what you’re putting out. You’re interesting, spunky, a tough-as-nails bitch. You’re selling yourself short, and Weston, for not being honest with him. You never know what things you guys have in common. You’ll never know what good you guys could put into each other’s lives.
Mollie doesn’t budge. Milo tries again.
Milo: It wasn’t easy admitting to Sophie the things I didn’t want her to see. I didn’t want her to see how Micah looks so much like my dad and Jennifer and then there was me, looking like the oddball in the family. I didn’t want to tell her that I never met my mom. I didn’t want to tell her the reason why I couldn’t go to her band recital was that that specific day was the day my mom passed away all those years ago and it still leaves me wondering about certain quirks and traits that I have. I didn’t want to tell her these things because I felt like it would be baggage for her. But once I started to fall for her more and more, I realized that she deserved to know these things about me. She deserved to know the person behind the smiles and the guitar and the dreads. She deserved to know me. Because of that, she’s helped me fight some of my battles just by knowing they exist.
Mollie looks over at Milo, who is looking at her back.
Mollie: I’m sorry for saying those things about Sophie.
Milo: (cleans hands) None taken, Castro. I know just how hardcore you get when you’re defensive. Again, something you should let Weston know. Love will get you angry on some days.
Mollie: (rolls eyes) Shut up, I’m not in love with Weston.
The one lamp in the living room begins to flicker and eventually turns on. Mollie’s mother yells from the other room that the power is back on. Milo gets up from his spot, grabs his phone charger, and hands it over to Mollie.
Milo: Talk to me when you get a reality check.
*This scene was inspired by “Best-friend bonfire”, a scene written about Jennifer (Mollie’s older sister) and her best friend, Milo (Milo’s father).
-End-
Letters From Liz. 