What I Like about You, Baby

ex-lover 1
ex-lover 2

1 you smell damp, is it raining?
2 nice and dry in here
1 two hundred seats not even half full
2 Japanese film week?
1 funny how Americans dislike subtitles
2 you said this one’s a film noir?
1 what I like about you, baby, is you’re rock bottom
2 and what I like about film noir is –
1 no one ever reads a book, no one ever cleans their teeth, no one is ever happy except pouring a drink
2 and they pour lots of drinks
1 is there a way to win? no, baby, but there’s a way to lose more slowly
2 oh stop
1 remember that one we saw where the guy lost his gun?
2 lost what?
1 we saw it here, I’m pretty sure
2 here? impossible
1 the first time we came here, yes
2 all those years ago? oh no
1 it was Japanese film week then too, I remember
2 I think not, no
1 it had those old-fashioned subtitles, yes
2 wait a minute, was there a phone booth?
1 subtitles went by too fast
2 I remember a scene in a phone booth, everyone sweating, crammed in a phone booth
1 that was a different movie
2 but remember phone booths?
1 no it wasn’t he lost it, someone stole it from his jacket on the bus
2 stole what?
1 his gun
2 you always liked really different movies than me
1 hard not to like classic film noir
2 I just remember the heat, that summer wasn’t it the hottest on record or something?
1 you mean in the movie?
2 the reason we went to that movie was the heat, to get out of the heat
1 no, it was fall, I’m sure it was fall, I’ve always associated us coming here with leaves falling
2 really?
1 yes, leaves falling and that haiku poem about having no home
2 what poem?
1 was it a haiku? Rilke? no, I don’t know, I lost the book
2 anyway, the phone booth scene was the best part
1 that was a different movie
2 I don’t think so
1 I’ve been remembering that fall, we used to meet in movie theatres
2 we met in the underpass
1 your parents didn’t like me
2 we met in the park
1 what was that movie, I adored that movie, not the film noir, the other one
2 the love suicide?
1 lovers running in a field
2 and the raspberries stain her dress
1 just the slide of those facts
2 was it a joke, were we mad?
1 sometimes love is a mess
2 but a solid mess
1 I brought my service revolver
2 who paid for the hotel?
1 that night, was it a joke?
2 you pointed it at my heart
1 I remember the smell of leaves
2 I’d do anything you said
1 we met anywhere it was dark
2 there were headlights going by
1 you had your mother’s credit card
2 you said love should be damnation
1 you said I’m doing this for you
2 there were headlights in your eyes
1 the chill smell of leaves
2 just the slide of these facts
1 was I wrong, were you laughing?
2 you had it wrapped in a fancy napkin from the hotel
1 it was all so weird and simple
2 you were maybe a bit off-balance then, a bit delirious
1 a bit deformed
2 or was that love?
1 can love deform?
2 some sort of shadow invading your soul or –
1 the fact is
2 we had a pact
1 there’s just her running in a field with the light behind her
2 we could never agree
1 not much dialogue at all
2 on who would go first
1 and the light is coming out of everything
2 and he lifts his gun and shoots her through the heart
1 the fact is
2 a movie’s just bright things and dark things changing places
1 subtitles went by too fast
2 so what about the phone booth scene?
1 that was a different movie
2 I’m going for popcorn
1 quiet, it’s starting