Page 34 of Absolute Certainty
SAHAR
I love getting what I want ??
Side note: I’m almost done. I have the last act left, and all of this hurts so much more after I’ve read the whole thing. Henry’s spiral in the penultimate had me straight up clutching my chest. It was so rugged and vulnerable and raw.
God,he said aloud. This woman was dangerous for him. He was a moth to her flame. The fact that she cared about these characters as much as he did made him feel…lighter.
She didn’t owe him any of her support, so the fact that she was giving it freely made him feel like his insecurities could temporarily get lost. Kick rocks. Step on LEGO.
JAY
His breakdown is a scene I plan on keeping, even with the changes. I hope it’ll hit twice as hard if we push him a little more and have him see Katherine again on top of all this shit.
SAHAR
100%. It’s so important. And it’s also a brilliant culmination of all the little ways he kept cracking before. I kept thinking to myself, he’s going to do it. He’s going to break the laptop. And then he did it!?!? Jay, I swear I gasped out loud, and Willa came into the room because she thought something had happened.
He couldn’t believe that someone appreciated his words this much.Sahar, of all people.How she saw every little detail he wanted the audience to see, how she could read the underlying emotions of the characters, even without the performances that would eventually elevate the words on the page.
JAY
That scene was cathartic to write, too.
Do you want me to send you updates on the rewrites? I can shoot over the first two episodes.
SAHAR
PLEASE.
And I can imagine. I’ve always wanted to break a laptop lol but like then miraculously get everything back.
JAY
There you go. You see the vision.
And you got it.
Setting his phone down on his bedside table, Jay kicked off his socks and lay down fully. Adjusting his pillow, he lifted his arm above his head and stared at the ceiling.
He was glad he had bought tickets forMidnights at Pemberleywhile he and Eloise were watching the movie. There’d only been a few seats available for a Saturday matinee. Most of them were too far, and if he were going to support Sahar, watch her in her element, then he’d go all out. He’d be as close as possible. He chose the nearest he could, third-row orchestra.
She deserved that.
10
JAY
When Sahar and Willa came in on Saturday morning, Jay had been on the phone in the breakroom. So in tune with Sahar’s voice, he could hear her husky laugh while the aggressively irritating hold music played on a loop. He wanted to go out to say hi, but a part of him was stupidly nervous about seeing her before the show.
He had a couple of hours left until he was off anyway; he’d text her from inside the theatre.
Only the universe decided that the two hours should feel painfully slow, loud, and demanding, with people screaming left and right.
He hated weekends.Loathed.He had yelled at a man who tried to hit on their new hire, Sally, and then ten minutes later, he had to kick out another for attempting to steal the vinyl records on display along the shop’s wall.
Sometimes, hell on earth was smack dab in the middle of a coffee shop on the corner of 45th Street.
It was days like today when he most ached for a film or TV show of his to do well enough that he wouldn’t need a second or third job. Now that Alex was doing a lot better mentally, he could startapplying for other positions, too. He should start looking again. Get the fuck out of here and onto something better.
