See You Soon - written 12.2007

This is a rough idea of a short film, typos to follow.

Cut from black.
First story:  A boy, college student, wearing a jacket, baseball hat, jeans, is waiting at the airport in a car.  His eyes scan the people walking in and out of the sliding airport doors.  A police officer walks by and tells him he has to move.  He motions to his watch, the officer says he’s got one minute.  The boy (let's say his name is Noah) looks at his cell phone.

***Transition to a girl (from story three) sitting on her sofa in her apartment, waiting.  She wears a sweater, new jeans, her hair is shorter than it used to be, but still beautiful. Her phone rings.  She answers and talks to the boy that’s coming to visit her, he’ll be in tomorrow around 4. got everything?  what about the address? ok see you tomorrow.  She says okay and hangs up.  She (Erin?) looks nervous/anxious.

Cut to a girl at a train station in Florence, Italy, looking up at the arrivals board, stating delays for all trains.  She looks distressed and finds a bench to sit down on.  She wears a long warm jacket, her hands in her pockets, a warm hat on her head, her hair flowing out underneath it.  She looks down the empty track.

Music continues

We follow a girl (Sara?) dragging a carry-on suitcase while talking on the phone and searching for the baggage claim/exit signs.  She isn’t paying much attention to the person on the phone (her mom) and looks confused.  She grows frustrated, tells her mom she’ll call her back, calls Noah.  She walks briskly toward an exit sign.  
Noah is driving back around to the arrivals area.  He looks tired and is missing class to pick up Sara.  She spots him first and waves, her bag falling over backwards as she does.  He sees her and cuts off a taxi so not to pass her.  He gets out and hugs her tightly, lifting her up.  She plants a huge kiss on him and garners a few awes from the old lady crowd.  Noah smiles and lifts her bag into his cluttered backseat.  They get into the car, he turns to her and says, “okay, now where to?”

Noah, looking older, unshaven, wearing a heavy jacket and warm hat with large headphones on top, is asleep with his head leaning against his window.  He wakes up as the train shakes suddenly, causing his head to bounce fairly hard off the window.  He looks around his settings and sees his car is still empty.  The train speaker says in Italian that they will be arriving in Florence momentarily.  Noah pulls off his headphones and stares out the window, thinking of what Erin will be like/look like/say when he arrives.  Erin stands as the train pulls in, scanning the windows for Noah.  She doesn’t see him.  
Soon, he gets off the train with his heavy suitcase immediately spots her.  He stares at her as he drags his suitcase toward her, wading through the crowd.  They are both straight-faced until they finally meet.  Then they break into smiles and hug each other without reservation, like old friends.  Hi, she says mid-hug.  Hey.  he says back. They pull away, he picks up his pack and says, ok, where to?”  She smiles and nods toward the exit.  

*Noah stands up simultaneously with the rest of the seated plane as the fasten seatbelt sign turns off at the gate.  He reaches up and pulls down his suitcase, and turns on his phone.  It rings.  It’s his dad.  Yeah, he’s landed.  Everything’s fine.  No he hasn’t even talked to her yet.  okay, he’ll call later tonight.  ok.  ok.  ok-bye dad.  Noah looks up and out the tiny airplane window, thinking about nothing/everything until the people begin to move off the plane.  He lets an old lady pass him, then her husband, and sneaks back into the line to leave.  

Sara and Noah pull into the parking lot of the house he and his roommates live in.  Noah carries Sara’s bag into the house where they find his two roommates playing videogames, looking stoned, they greet her and welcome her into the house.  Noah continues to his room and tossing Sara’s suitcase onto his bed.  He falls down next to it.  There’s still an air of awkward and not very much space left on the bed, so Sara sits at his desk, on his computer chair and asks him what the plan is.  He thinks they should go get a bite to eat, then maybe have some drinks tonight with some friends, kind of like a welcome, sara party.  She seems pleased with this idea and quietly makes of note of this to herself. She glances around, soaking up his posters and postcards around the room.  She notes his guitar is out and decides to use that for conversation later.  He just did his laundry and his bed was made, how sweet she thinks.  His computer has a playlist and she clicks on a song and hunches over his desk for a second, letting Noah rest a little longer.  Then she leans forward and says ok lets go as she pulls Noah’s arm to lift him up, he gets about halfway up, then pulls her back down on top of him and kisses her.  He smiles, she smiles back, surprised.  Noah says okay, now that’s out of the way, we can go.  Sara smiles and they get up together.  In the car, they drive to Noah’s favorite place to eat.

Erin and Noah walk next to each other down a crowed sidewalk on the way to her apartment. So what’s the plan, he asks.  Erin tells him about the bar that she and her fellow study-abroaders frequent.  He seems happy with the idea, She asks him how everything was getting in.  He tells her of his two flights to Milan, and the lengthy train to Florence.  He grows tired telling her about it, losing the nervous adrenalin that woke him when he was about to arrive.  She notices this and says they can stay in tonight and rest if he liked.  He says, no way—I don’t want to waste a minute.  She smiles the way a mother smiles at her young son’s blind determination to accomplish something.  They get to her apartment and have to walk up six flights of slick marble stairs.  Noah looks like he can’t believe it.  Erin apologizes and offers to carry his bag, but he declines.  They trudge up the stairs and open her apartment.  She lives alone, and the place looks tiny and bare other than for a couple photos from home and a few recent ones from abroad she’s put up by a window next to a desk.  She asks if he wants a drink, he says sure and quickly glances over the photos to see whether he is in any of them.  None of them—wait, one of them! Sweet, he thinks and walks over to Erin as she makes his drink.  “Made you a cd.” He says as casually as possible as he shuffles through his bag to find it.  Erin turns and kinda cocks her head to the side.  you did?  Yep.  –Kind of disbelieving as Noah finally pulls it out of a side pocket of his jacket and hands it to her.  she says thanks and examines the cover.  it’s called “see you soon”.  Can I listen to it? She asks?  Yeah, for sure. he answers and takes a sip from his drink.    

*Noah walks out of the airport exit doors, looking for a taxi.  Where the fuck are the taxis?  He only sees people waiting to be picked up.  He asks somebody and finds out he has to go down a level to get a cab.  ok. thanks. he says.   In the cab he’s driven to a hotel.  He rolls his suitcase into the bar and sits down for a drink.  He looks out the window, wondering which way her office is.  and when she’ll be here.

music changes to something by the strokes or the black keys or rolling stones.  Noah and Sara are eating in a pizza place, we see them from outside through a window.  They are smiling, he says something and she laughs hard.  He smiles at her.  Is he in love? Does he care?  She looks back at him and he takes a bite of his pizza.  Does she love him? She wonders.  She thinks so.  She doesn’t know.  She doesn’t think that he loves her, or at least he doesn’t show it.  and that’s ok for now.  he’ll figure it out.  he looks up and she looks away.  They drive back to the house.  The guys are already playing Beirut as the pull in.  People begin to show up and neighbors come out for a beer from the keg.  There’s a crowd of people now and the music is playing loudly (rockinroll, black keys maybe)  Noah is playing Beirut with Jake and looks drunk.  Sara is talking with some friends of Noahs by the hammock and tiki torches.  They keep trying to catch each other’s eyes.  They keep missing.  Noah has to hit one last cup to win.  He hits it! He throws his hands up in victory!  He spins and high fives Jake, he looks and Sara looks, they meet! Noah wades through the crowd to Sara.  And squeezes onto the hammock.  The crowd subtly dissipates, leaving Sara and Noah on the hammock together.

*Through the hotel window, we see Erin and Noah meet and awkwardly hug, his suitcase falls over as they embrace.  In the cab, they talk minimally, commenting on traffic and the weather and the city, pointing at things that seem odd to them.  Erin puts down the window.  They are eating dinner at a restaurant, Noah chooses the wine, Erin smiles as he stumbles through looking grown-up.  They are standing outside on the street corner, waiting for the white walk sign to flash as it starts to rain.  They stand closer.  They brush against each other as they cross the street.

Sudden music change:  Erin and Noah are sitting in conversational silence, listening to music play….after an awkwardish silence, “I like it.” she says quietly, unassuredly.  yeah? Noah asks meekly.  good, I’m glad.  she smiles and so does he.  Noah stares down at his feet and Erin looks away.  Let’s go out, she says.  I’m in.  he says.  They stand up and pull on their jackets and hats and walk outside and down the stairs.  They enter a crowded pub and wade toward the bar.  

Erin and Noah walk through a bar to meet her roommates.  This bar is much less crowded than the one in the previous scene.  They get drinks and sit at the bar.  They all laugh hard at something.  They order more drinks and the waiter shows up with shots, everyone shouts when he arrives.

Sara and Noah are inside the apartment, in the kitchen about to take tequila shots.  Neither one looks too pumped about the idea, but they can’t think of any other way to break the ice.  they take their time cutting limes and putting salt on their wrists.  ok, he says.  they clink glasses and drink.  music is now neutral milk hotelish, something slow and optimistically depressing.  Noah follows Sara upstairs to her room.  Noah drank too much.  He stumbles a little, stops and braces himself against the wall.  Sara notices he’s not following her.  noah throws up in the bathroom.  sara walks in and asks if he’s okay.  he nods, he nods, he pauses, shakes his head, he throws up again.  fuck.  he says.  

Noah is sitting at the bar listening to two Italians speaking to him in Italian and broken English phrases.  He nods and looks as though he is concentrating hard to understand them; he nods constantly.  erin is sitting with some friends at a table drinking and talking about travel plans that weekend.  they include her in conversation but she doesn’t hear them and smiles at Noah from across the bar.   He looks over at her; she shrugs empathetically to him.  Noah sighs. Everyone walks out of the bar after it closes.  Noah and Erin say goodbye to everybody and walk toward her apartment past the Duomo.  They walk slowly and Erin shivers a little.  She slides her arm around Noah’s and they walk alone down the deserted street.

Sara walks Noah to his room, he leans on her heavily and somehow looks way worse off than she does.  She puts him on the bed and leaves.  She comes back with two glasses of water, but he’s already asleep and half naked, his shirt somehow pulled down so that the collar is stretched around his waist.  Sara smiles uncertainly and sips her water, looking at him, wondering whether or not it was a good idea to come.  she slides into bed and puts her arm around him.  music from the party is still heard, only muffled.  

*Noah is asleep on a couch, Erin comes in and puts a blanket over him.  In the morning, he hears movement of cereal bowls and spoons clinking and talking in the kitchen.  He moans in hangover agony and rolls off the sofa.  Erin and her roommate Kate are eating before heading to work.  Noah wishes that Erin would skip work and hang out with him, be he knows she can’t.  They head to work and Noah takes a shower.  He opens his computer and types for a while.  Around mid-day, he decides to go for a walk.  He is in Boston and manages to find a park.  He watches people walk by and thinks of other times he’s been there.  Erin sends him a text message with ideas for him to do.  He likes that she was thinking of him and keeps walking, trying to find something great to talk about later when she gets home.  He sees something out of the corner of his eye and watches it intently, without regard to anything else in the world.

Noah wakes up to Erin showering.  he’s in her bed and looks around to garner some clues to what happened when they got home.  He rolls out of bed, still wearing his jeans and meanders into the kitchen. oh that’s right the wine when they got home.  and the cheese.  He made a note to buy her more wine later.  A thick vein in his forehead made his hangover look a lot worse than it was, but it still wasn’t exactly pleasant.  He got a glass of water and got a glass from the counter and stood by the sink, drinking liberally and refilling often.  Erin got out of the shower and peeked her head around the corner to see where he was.  Hey dude, she said.  howdy. he said back.  Are you done with the bathroom?  um, yeah.  no wait, one sec.  Erin slides into the bathroom and grabs her necklace.  All clear. she said.  Noah gets out of the shower, soaking wet.  Your shower is freezing! he says through the bathroom door.  Welcome to Europe! she says back.  Noah shivers and thinks of shaving but opts against it.  

Sara comes back to Noahs room after taking a shower.  your shower is disgusting.  she says.  I thought Jake cleaned it! He replied.  It’s gross.  Sorry.  Noah gets up to go shower.  Be right back. he says.  Sara sits on his bed and watches him close the door behind him.  is it an act? does he act like that because he loves me? because he wants me to love him? or because he wants to love me, but doesn’t?  She shakes her thoughts away and gets dressed.

At a bar, eating breakfast, Erin and Noah sip their cafes slowly.  She asks what he wants to do while he’s here and he tells her he doesn’t care.  whatever is fine.  Well, maybe we can go for a walk or something?  Yeah, that’d be great.  Noah looks at the old man sitting across the bar at the counter, smoking a cigarette and drinking a café.  He is dressed in a suit, with a cane and a hat even.  His hand shakes a little when he reaches out to ash the cigarette.  Erin brightens up—oh! lets go see a movie!  they’re playing English films today at 3 and 7.  Great. Noah says.  What’s playing?  Who cares? erin says back.  You’re going to love this theatre, it’s like an old performing arts theatre that was renovated into a movie theatre, it’s like a hundred years old and they sell beer and wine there. Wow.  Noah looks at Erin, trying to catch her eyes.  She looks back at him with an uncertain smile. what? she says.  Nothing.  He raises his camera from the table and snaps a picture of her just as she breaks into a smile.  Through the café window we see him lower the camera and smile back at her.

*Noah is sitting at the dining table, typing into a computer when erin and her roommate kate get back from work.  their other roommate has already begun cooking for them.  The girls walk by and go to the back room.  They say hi as they pass and erin slides her fingers across noah’s shoulders as she walks to her room.  Noah smiles, not knowing exactly how to react.  They are squashed in a cab, stuck in traffic, but laughing.  Noah has his arm around Erin, and they gradually relax almost as if they were forced into that intimacy.  Noah watches the street out the windshield, erin watches him, inspecting his face, looking for changes, differences, age.

Sara and Noah are eating sandwiches in a small sandwich shop.  They are quiet for a bit, watching people drive by or ride bicycles or jog.  Want to go see a movie?  Noah asks.  Yeah, sure. Sara says.  they smile reassuringly at each other.  Noah takes another bite and looks at Sara through the corner of his eyes.  The car comes to a stop in a fairly vacant parking lot.  They get and walk to the theater  (something from early 2003 is playing)

*From inside the apartment, the door opens and every one fills the apartment.  They fall into the couch, noah pulls up a chair.  everyone is watching tv.  slowly the roommates grow tired and disappear into their rooms. Noah gets the couch ready to sleep on.  He sits on the couch, drunk and trying to steady himself when erin comes back out and sits next to him.  They sit together in silence. erin pulls a blanket over the two of them.  They decide to try laying down side by side together.  They speak in whispers and softly laugh at small jokes.  Noah falls asleep.  fade to black. Out of focus, he wakes up later as Erin rolls over him, whispering that she’s going to go sleep in her bed.  He says ok. she brushes her lips against his cheek.  

Leaving the theater, erin and noah pass a movie poster for “Lost in Translation.”  They walk down a street to a market place, check out flags and t-shirts and shoes.  They try to avoid anything too touristy and spend their time walking around aimlessly.  Erin shows Noah her school.  They walk around, check their email inside.  

*Noah wakes up to the door closing.  Noah sits up and sees he slept fully clothed again.  He walks into the bathroom.  Looking into the mirror, he tries to back-track, but can’t remember.  He shakes his head and looks into nothing.  When he gets out, Erin and her roommates are already making breakfast.  Later on, they are walking down a street.  Erin and her roommates are shopping with noah along for the ride.  He hangs out, leans against a street lamp, waiting for them to come out of a make-up store.  He has his hands in his pockets and watches the hundreds of people walk or drive by.  There’s an old man having trouble stepping up onto a curb.  Noah decides to help him out.  The old guy accepts his help, but isn’t happy about it.  Noah watches him hobble away.

It’s night as Sara and Noah walk up the steps to a house party.  They make their way to the alcohol, and each get a drink.  They walk through the halls of the house, filled with people and that drunken haze of ambient light and blue television screens as hip hop music blares.  Sara leans against a wall, Noah leans forward, in front of her, his forehead against hers. they hang out together, drinking without reservation. Erin is there, but that’s unimportant. They leave the party early, go home and have drunk sex.

Noah is staying for three days with her before heading to London for two days to see his best friend.  Erin seems good.  Happy.  There is an ambiguous history between them.  It is clear that he loves her, but she doesn’t see it.  Or she doesn’t believe it. They drink, go home, drink more and pass out together in her bed.  as she guides him home drunkenly, her arm in his, to her apartment, he kisses her in the street.  they go up stairs and make love.  she falls asleep with her head on his arm.  he watches he breathe. this is the most content he will ever feel.

*Erin, her roommates and Noah go to a bar and get drunk.  turns out it’s a lesbian bar, and it’s ‘come out’ that erin has dated women during the past two years, and that her twin brother has killed himself.  Noah knows this and is unfazed by it.  they continue to drink and dance, noah pries himself away from trying to be with just erin—he dances with her roommates, her friends, some random lesbians he thinks, but then erin pulls him to a corner without saying anything.  they look at each other for a sober moment and begin to kiss.  it’s a deep kiss that lasts until people begin to bump into them and erin thinks they should go back to her friends.  noah and erin run home. everybody passes out immediately.  Erin is already on the sofa, noah kisses her, they fall asleep, her head on his arm, her legs entangled in his.  in the morning, she’s gone again.

Noah and Sara sleep in until noon on Sunday and have awkward sober sex in the morning.  After lunch, they go for a walk around the town, shopping a little, but mostly just enjoying each other’s quiet company.

* erin’s other roommate makes Noah breakfast.  he gets a text message.  she had lunch with her roommate’s parents.  they come back and everyone takes it easy, nursing their separate hangovers.  erin and noah talk minimally, he gives her two cds he made for her.  she gives him one.  they go see a movie together.

In the evening, noah takes sara up to the mountains to show her “the spot”, a reclusive little area he and his friends go when they want to get away from real life.  After the sun sets and the stars starts to come out, the city begins to illuminate from within by way of street lamps, traffic lights, cars and buildings.  They sit for a while in quiet, she leaning into him, he looking out toward the darkened horizon. they go home and spilt a bottle of wine.  They drunkenly profess their love to each other.

*later they all have dinner at a sushi  restaurant and erin begins to talk with everyone about her old lovers and girlfriends, adding to the table conversation.  she talks of her family problems and medications.  noah looks distressed, but tries to hide it.  erin continues to try to make him feel bad on purpose; she’s trying to scare him away with her exaggerated flaws and demons.  but he loves her.  he just can’t say it because he doesn’t think she’ll see it in the right light.  

*they get home and everyone decides to go to bed early.  erin and roommates have work in the morning and noah has a flight to catch.  everyone goes to bed.  erin comes up to noah and says goodnight, he stands.  her eyes look sorry for what she said.  they hug tightly, she pulls back and kisses him on the cheek.  then on the lips.  they kiss again and again.  he holds her tightly not wanting to let go this time.  I can never say it right when I’m with you, he whispers.  I know. she whispers back.  I love you.  she whispers almost inaudibly into his neck.  they hold the hug until her roommate walks by to go to the bathroom.  they awkwardly detach. she says goodnight.  he says goodnight.

Noah has to catch a train at 2.  Erin wakes up late and is concerned about what time Noah has to leave. he tells her he has two hours.  she apologizes for sleeping in so late.  he tells her it’s okay.  he couldn’t imagine anywhere else he’d rather be. they shower separately, and eventually head to the train station.  While sitting, they ask somebody to take their picture.  They hug and kiss.  Erin starts crying and Noah tries to soothe her.  He’ll write an email when he gets to London.  She’ll call when she gets back to the States.  They hug again and he whispers to her. they let go and he boards his train.  She stands for a while, watching the train.  Noah watches her walk away from a window inside the train.

*In the morning erin walks noah to a taxi.  let’s talk more often, huh?  yeah, definitely.  they smile and they hug, unmentioning of last night. he wants to say something, but can’t find the right words.  she doesn’t want him to, she’s not ready for them.  “erin,” he says.  she looks up at him, their eyes meet. “be happy.”  “I’ll try.”  she says.  “me too.” he says.  She leaves and he watches her go until a taxi pulls up next to him.  

They wake up early to get Sara to the airport in time for her flight.  In the car, sara gives him a cd that she made called “see you soon.”  Noah is surprised, but plays it off.  They pull up to the departure gate. They kiss and say goodbye.  she promises to call when she lands.  Noah drives back as the sun starts to rise. he puts in the cd and listens to the first track.  cut to black, continue song, roll credits.