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Over the last two entries I have posted the first two parts of my second play, "The Two Megans". Here is the third.


Scene Three Megan Ponces Apartment - KYLE ENTERS from the bedroom, in boxers. Throughout the scene he dresses in a nice, but now rumpled shirt, and wrinkled pants. MEGAN PONCE follows moments later, wearing just a nightshirt.

MEGAN PONCE
You have to go?

KYLE
Work tomorrow.

MEGAN PONCE
I know.
(pause)
You dont want to stay?

KYLE
(light)
Yeah, I dont want to stay.

MEGAN PONCE
(pause)
Dinner --

KYLE
Megan and Stephanie are like pouring booze into booze. By Stephanie...

MEGAN PONCE
You mean Rachel. I know.
(pause)
Its a long drive.

KYLE
Yeah.

MEGAN PONCE
I mean... now or in the morning.

KYLE
Its easier now.

MEGAN PONCE
Why were you acting so weird tonight? How did Rachel become Stephanie?

KYLE
Do you really think Im scared of committing?

MEGAN PONCE
To me?

KYLE
To anyone.

MEGAN PONCE
Thats not the point, Kyle.

KYLE
The morning has a routine. Waking up... quick breakfast... traffic patterns.

MEGAN PONCE
The drive.

KYLE
My drive.
(pause)
What do you call being with you for a year now?

MEGAN PONCE
Youre my boyfriend, you should be --

KYLE
I make the drive.

MEGAN PONCE
Sorry to put you out.

KYLE
Meet your family.

MEGAN PONCE
Three times. Once a non-holiday.

KYLE
Hang out with Megan Hanson.

MEGAN PONCE
And Stephanie the Libra.

KYLE
(quickly)
How many boyfriends has Megan had this year?

MEGAN PONCE
Since youve known me?

KYLE
Since weve been going out.

MEGAN PONCE
I dunno.

KYLE
There was that guy at Nickys house...

MEGAN PONCE
And the dude she met at the train station. The drifter.

KYLE
Didnt she go out with Ryans... brother?

MEGAN PONCE
Bryan.

KYLE
With the little soul patch.

MEGAN PONCE
Yeah, it matched her...
(flashes her public hair)

KYLE
No kidding?

MEGAN PONCE
(giggles, embarrassed)
Yeah, when he... when he... she said when he went down on her it was like the... she said it was like a big explanation point.

KYLE
Ex-cla-mation point?

MEGAN PONCE
Whatever. It was like a little hedge animal.

KYLE
I dont think I needed to know that.

MEGAN PONCE
Megan was going to shave it to make letters or symbols. Like a small j or... that yin yang thingy.

KYLE
I think that would be the end of the usable letters. j. And i, I guess. An exclamation point turned upside down.

MEGAN PONCE
For her birthday, he was going to grow one on each side of his chin. So he could make umlauts. She wouldda had access to a whole nother language.

KYLE
What a sweet guy.

MEGAN PONCE
She ended up dumping him, of course.

KYLE
Which is my whole point.

MEGAN PONCE
What point?

KYLE
Ive been with you a year, Megan.

MEGAN PONCE
Yeah.

KYLE
What do you call being with you for a year now?

MEGAN PONCE
Commitment?

KYLE
Goddamn straight!

MEGAN PONCE
(pause)
I know. I was kidding. About the fear.

KYLE
Do you think... do you... I should have control over who I fall in love with?

MEGAN PONCE
Sure.

KYLE
I want certain things. You want certain things. Those things have to match up.

MEGAN PONCE
I know.

KYLE
Do you want to be with someone you dont like? That youre not in love with?!
(pause)
Do you think... you can just... fall into love at a whim?

MEGAN PONCE
No. Thats why they call it falling.

KYLE
That doesnt mean I can jump into it, right? Do you think I can will it? That I can magically wish it?
(pause)
That Im able to touch you and make you what I wanted?

MEGAN PONCE
(hurt)
You dont love me?

KYLE
What? Oh, no, honey, I love you.

She doesnt buy it. He moves to her quickly.

KYLE
No, no, no, no, sweety, I love you. I love you.

He embraces her, close.

MEGAN PONCE
When we first when out...

KYLE
(kisses her face)
Dont worry, Megan... I love you.

MEGAN PONCE
You always look for something. That spark... that makes something... something for Megan... or something for me.


Kyle continues to kiss her face, lightly.


MEGAN PONCE (contd)
Megan looks for... a tight ass or a... brown eyes... straight teeth. Rachel looks for a pulse. And I look for...

KYLE
What do you look for?


He kisses her.


MEGAN PONCE
Our teeth never click.

KYLE
What do look for, Megan?

MEGAN PONCE
Our third date was a movie dinner thing.

KYLE
Thats right.

MEGAN PONCE
I remember because women remember these things... and I always thought a movie dinner date... is a bad first date. But a decent third one.
(pause)
And after the movie... when you were kissing me...

KYLE
I was kissing you after all our dates...

MEGAN PONCE
After the third date I was kissing you for real. With intent. And I was kissing you... and I noticed... that our teeth had never clicked. The way they do with nervous first kissers. Or any first kissers for that matter.

KYLE
Why do movies make a bad first date? Besides being predicable and boring?

MEGAN PONCE
(builds)
Theres so much ritual involved with movies. Do you start eating popcorn during the previews so its finished by the time the movie starts? At the start of the movie, so its that traditional popcorn and movie? Who picks the movie? Where do you sit? Up close? In the back? Do you talk during the movie? Do you watch all the credits? What if someone loves it and someone doesnt? So many decisions and judgments. So much pressure. For a first date.

KYLE
Theres always pressure on a first date.

MEGAN PONCE
(on a roll)
There should be conversation. The purpose should be seeing if you want to go on a second or third date. It should be somewhere interesting enough to tell a story about, but not distracting enough that you pay more attention to the situation than the person. Dinner is better, even though that has its own set of problems.

KYLE
I heard somewhere that most people that choke to death on food do it on first dates. They eat too fast, dont chew, and escape to the bathroom when they start to cough. And die alone, in a stall.

MEGAN PONCE
Everyones worst fear.

KYLE
Choking?

MEGAN PONCE
Dying alone.

KYLE
You would think that the first time you kissed, you would be careful. That there would be less of a chance of clicking teeth.

MEGAN PONCE
So youre saying that on later dates... when youre more comfortable, but not quite in synch yet... that there would be a higher chance of clicking?


They kiss.


KYLE
Our teeth didnt click on our third date?

MEGAN PONCE
Our teeth havent clicked ever.

KYLE
Thats what you look for?

MEGAN PONCE
When your teeth click... ten times out of ten. When Megan Hansons teeth click a hundred times out of a hundred. When Rachels teeth click a thousand times. How many times does it need to happen before it becomes something that always happens. Before its a ritual to get past. Before its fact.
(pause)
How many times does it have to happen before... when it doesnt... happen... that you wonder if its destiny? That its meant to be?

KYLE
You think because our teeth didnt click... God wants us to be together?

MEGAN PONCE
Didnt you tell me if the universe has as many stars as scientists say... so many stars... so many other planets... so many chances... that its so mathematically impossible for there not to be life on other planets... that if there wasnt... if we were the only ones... its proof of a divine being?

KYLE
What if our... mouths were built to be... compatible? From a natural selection point of view. What if our astrological signs match up? Or dont. What if...


They kiss.


MEGAN PONCE
What if our teeth didnt click together. And every boy I had kissed before... from Bobby Hanson in first grade... to Joel... they had.

KYLE
Your first kiss was Megans brother?

MEGAN PONCE
Megans first kiss was her brother. Bobby could kiss.
(pause)
Rachel taught him.

KYLE
Do you think Im afraid of commitment?

MEGAN PONCE
Goddamn it, Kyle, youre afraid of something. And every time we kiss...


They kiss.


MEGAN PONCE (cont'd)
Im afraid our teeth will click.


Kyle kisses her... longer...


KYLE
(quiet)
Would that make you stop believing in God?

MEGAN PONCE
If our signs dont match up are you going to break up with me?

KYLE
Are you a Libra?

MEGAN PONCE
No. But I dont think Stephanie is either.

KYLE
Megan. I want to tell you something.

MEGAN PONCE
Are you going to stay tonight? Fuck the doubt out of me? Make me call out His name? Make me believe?

KYLE
I think I want to. I think...

MEGAN PONCE
But what if theres a chance. A mathematical chance that the next time we kiss, our teeth will click. Would you stay then? Would you risk it all on that chance?

KYLE
(pause)
Yeah, Megan Ponce. Ill stay.



END SCENE THREE