Seth & D (PDF)

Seth & D

OVER BLACK:
We hear a basketball BOUNCE, BOUNCE, then CLANK off a rim.
YOUNG GUY
Dude you are such a faggot.
EXT. BASKETBALL COURT- DAY
SETH- morose, heavyset, mid 20’s- tracks down his missed
shot. He grabs the ball, dribbles it, and shoots: another
brick. The Young Guy laughs.
YOUNG GUY (O.S.)
Seriously you’re wasting your time.
Just do it. Just kill yourself.
Seth jogs towards the ball, ignoring the Young Guy- D- who
smokes a cigarette under the hoop. D is gaunt, pale, face
almost sinister. He wears jeans and a black t-shirt.
Seth lines up a shot-D
Your shot is so ugly-SETH
(under breath)
Shut up.
Seth swishes it.
D
Yayyy! He did it!
A JOCK walks over from the other side of the court.
D
(to Jock, sarcastic)
You see that? He did it!
JOCK
(to Seth)
You want to play threes?
SETH
Uh, yeah. Sure.
Seth grabs his ball and walks to the other side of the
court, where other JOCKY GUYS warm up. D follows.

2.
D
Oh my God we’re so fucking fucked.
EXT. BASKETBALL COURT- MINUTES LATER
Seth catches the ball in the post, defender playing tight on
him. He backs down, looking to make a move.
D stands right near him, being no help at all.
D
Don’t fuck this up! Don’t-- wait-Seth goes up for a shot, hesitates, tries to pass to his
TEAMMATE in the corner and sails the ball out-of-bounds.
Seth gestures apologetically to his mildly annoyed teammate.
D
Oh man he’s pissed. He hates you.
It’s clear nobody else on the court can see or hear D.
EXT. SIDEWALK- DUSK
Seth walks down the sidewalk with D sitting on his shoulders
and wrapped around his neck. Seth is worn down, this
piggyback ride clearly not voluntary.
INT. SHOWER- NIGHT
Seth showers. D stands in there with him, fully clothed.
INT. BEDROOM- NIGHT
Seth lies in bed, lights off. The bedside clock reads: 6:48.
D sits in a chair next to Seth, just staring at him.
Seth’s phone VIBRATES. D jumps to look at.
D
Oh shit it’s Elise!
They watch the phone VIBRATE. Seth goes to pick it up-D
You’re gonna answer? Not a very
good idea...
Seth agrees, lets it VIBRATE.

3.

D
You really are a huge pussy huh.
Seth glares at D, grabs the phone, answers:
SETH
(into phone)
Hello??
ELISE (V.O.)
(over phone, filtered)
Hey. It’s Elise. You have my
number, right-SETH
Heyyy, no, I knew it was you.
How’ve you been?
ELISE (V.O.)
Been good! You get my message? I’m
back in LA for a few days-SETH
Oh sorry I got it. Was going to
respond, just- I don’t know, sorry.
D smiles at Seth, mouths "smooth."
ELISE (V.O.)
Okay well do you want to meet for
dinner? I know you love that sushi
placeSETH
I... Yeah... Tonight?
D makes a nervous face at Seth.
INT. SUSHI RESTAURANT- NIGHT
Seth sits next to ELISE (25, glasses, attractive confidence)
at a sushi bar. D sits on the other side of Seth and tugs at
Seth’s shirt- which is wrinkled, like Seth himself.
SETH
Sorry I was late. Had a super big
project at work and-ELISE
It’s fine. Kinda surprised you made
it at all... Did you just wake up?

4.
SETH
What? No.
ELISE
(smiling)
I mean you look like it.
SETH
Is it my hair? Sorry, it’s
just a little longer than
usual and-ELISE
Don’t apologize! I don’t
know, you just look tired.

D
She knows you’re lying.
You suck at lying. But who
cares? Just say you took
a nap... Except it’s weird
you’d lie about it. So now
you’re caught up in this
innocuous lie. All because
you’re self-conscious about
the fact you nap about
three hours a day now.

A SERVER brings them beers and sushi plates.
ELISE
I got you the Philly
roll, I remember you were
obsessed.
SETH
Oh yeah. Thanks.

D
Although, three hours a day
is a shit-ton of napping.
If Elise knew that, she’d
finally know...

Seth takes a HUGE SIP OF HIS BEER. As the beer goes down,
D’s voice gradually becomes more faint.
D
(fading away)
She’d know that you’re empty to the
core... that you’re worthless...
D’s voice muted, Seth sets down his beer and eats a Philly
roll. He chews and smiles at Elise, already feeling a buzz.
SETH
Wow. I forgot how much I liked
these... This was a great call.
Elise smiles back at him. D impatiently checks his watch.
INT. BAR- NIGHT
Seth and Elise sit in the back of a dive bar, empty
cocktails scattered on the table. They’re laughing.
SETH
I wouldn’t say it was a disaster.
ELISE
So okay.. my clothes were ruined,
we were stuck in that hot-ass car
the whole night...

5.

SETH
Maybe I’m just thinking about how
we passed that time in the car.
She laughs and shakes her head.
SETH (CONT’D)
Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy
that as much- more even- than me.
She smiles, and then her smile fades.
ELISE
So Seth, you know I’m seeing
someone right?
SETH
Oh yeah? Like I thought I may have
seen something on the ’Book. That’s
great, you like him? Is he cool?
ELISE
He is, yeah. I like him a lot.
SETH
Good.
The conversation pauses.
ELISE
But I’m so happy we could see each
other tonight! It’s been great. I’m
gonna hit the bathroom, then we
should get going.
SETH
Okay!
She walks off to the bathroom. Seth feels someone hovering
over his shoulder. It’s D.
SETH
Where the Hell did you come from?
D
I’ve been here the whole time.
Seth stands, starts to pace around, starts grabbing
half-finished beer bottles and cocktail glasses off random
tables and chugging them down.
D finds an unfinished vodka drink, hands it to Seth and sits
down at the bar.

6.

Seth finishes one more floater just before Elise walks out
of the bathroom.
ELISE
You ready?
Seth- super drunk- nods.
EXT. APARTMENT- NIGHT
Seth and Elise approach an apartment building.
ELISE
This is Tina’s place.
SETH
Okay.
ELISE
Good seeing you. And sorry if-Seth grabs Elise’s hands and goes in for a kiss-ELISE
Whoa- Seth what the Hell?
She shoves him away.
SETH
I’m sorry... Just... Why the Hell
did you even call me tonight?
ELISE
Because we were once friends before
anything else. Remember?
SETH
Oh, so we’re bros now? Cool. Down
to hang tomorrow? Play some PS4?
Crush some protein shakes?
ELISE
I don’t know what your deal is
right now, but I’m gonna go... Take
care. I mean it.
She enters and shuts the door. D stands behind Seth, shaking
his head as Seth stumbles down the sidewalk.

7.

INT. BEDROOM- DAY
Morning light streams in. Seth- hungover, miserable- rolls
around in bed. D- in great spirits- does sit-ups on the bed,
slapping Seth each time he comes up.
SETH
Stooooooop!
He blocks D with his pillow, then looks at the alarm clock-SETH
Oh SHIT! Why- why’d you not wake me
up sooner!?
D
I’m not your alarm clock dude.
INT. VIDEO EDITING BAY- DAY
Seth sits in his editing bay, still hungover, rushing to
edit a promo on the computer. D feels great. He drinks a Red
Bull with his feet on Seth’s desk and obnoxiously sings
Smash Mouth:
D
(singing)
Hey now! You’re an all-star! Get
your game on, get paaiid! Hey now!
You’re a rockstar! Get-(talking)
Hey can I see the keyboard for a
sec? Thanks.
D takes control of the keyboard, opens the internet and logs
on to Seth’s Facebook.
SETH
Dude I need to get this work done.
D
It’ll just be one sec!
(scrolling timeline)
Man, looks like Travis is crushing
his job! Another vacation bonus?
And he’s with a hottie?? You gotta
admit, it seems he’s made much
better life choices than you.
Seth rolls his eyes. D clicks on Elise’s profile. Seth
watches in passive curiosity as he scrolls through Elise’s
pictures of her having fun with her NEW BOYFRIEND.

8.

D scrolls further into the past, to goofy pictures of Seth
and Elise at the zoo, Seth in good shape and with an
unrecognizable joy about him.
SETH
That’s enough.
Seth’s supervisor CHAN (40s) enters the editing bay and sees
Seth on Facebook.
CHAN
So I take it you’ve finished the
promo?
SETH
(startled)
Oh, yeah, just a few more graphics,
I’m almost-CHAN
Just get it done. We need it ASAP.
SETH
Yep.
Chan exits. Seth glares at D and gets back to the promo.
EXT. PARK- DAY
A bunch of HAPPY PEOPLE enjoy the sunny day at the parkdudes throwing frisbees, girls tanning, children playing.
Seth watches them all from a bench as he eats his PB&J
sandwich for lunch. D sits next to him.
D looks at Seth, thinks, then:
D
You don’t want what they have.
They’re dumb. Everyone out here is
fucking dumb.
SETH
They just seem like better, more
well-adjusted humans than me.
D
"Well-adjusted" is just another
term for ignorant. Those flies
buzzing around that dog shit right
there? Pretty well-adjusted.
(beat)
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