Love on the Run

EXT. BUS STOP - EARLY EVENING

ZOEY sits under the small shelter at the bus stop. She is soaked and cranky. She scans the plastic bus schedule and notices that she has to wait nearly an hour for the next bus.

ZOEY:

Oh, God. Kill me now. Another hour in the

rain? Swell.

ZOEY sees a Ford Taurus make its third slow pass of the stop. It backs up and the passenger-side window comes down. A voice yells out to her.

MATTHEW:

Excuse me, I'm a little lost. Can you give

me some directions?

ZOEY rolls her eyes.

ZOEY:

Directions? Sure. Take a left at Albuquerque.

She smiles in spite of herself.

MATTHEW:

Oh, right. Looney Tunes. That's clever. Look,

I'm trying to find he nearest on-ramp to the

highway. This construction's got me all turned

around. With this rain, I - owe, damn it!

He spills coffee and sets the cup down in a hurry. ZOEY stifles a laugh.

ZOEY:

Is it warm?

MATTHEW:

What, the coffee? Is that a joke?

ZOEY gets to her feet.

ZOEY:

Your car, moron. Is it warm in there? I'm

not gonna yell directions to you in the rain.

MATTHEW:

Oh, right. Sorry. Come on in.

MATTHEW opens the car door and ZOEY gets in and throws her bag in the back seat.

CUT TO:

INT. PARKED CAR - NIGHT

There is a brief moment where they take each other in. MATTHEW smiles at ZOEY'S beauty and catches himself.

MATTHEW:

So, uh, now that you're here-

ZOEY:

Zoey.

ZOEY takes his hand and shakes it.

MATTHEW:

Zoey. Now, that you're here-

ZOEY keeps shaking his hand.

ZOEY:

You're really bad at this. And you are?

MATTHEW pulls his hand away.

MATTHEW:

Oh, right. I'm Matthew. Nice to meet you.

ZOEY looks out the window and smiles.

ZOEY:

The pleasure's all yours. The highway

on-ramp is three lights up on the right.

She stares straight ahead.

MATTHEW:

Really? Thanks. You're a life-saver,

Zoey.

ZOEY:

You don't want me to leave the car.

MATTHEW:

What?

ZOEY:

You don't want me to leave the car.

Otherwise, you would have taken it out

of park and asked where you could drop

me off.

MATTHEW:

Oh, hey. I'm not trying to kidnap you or

anything-

ZOEY laughs and brushes her wet hair out of her face.

ZOEY:

Relax, cowboy. I can see pervs coming a

mile away. You don't strike me as a

weirdo. Plus, you're a wimp. I could

totally take you.

MATTHEW:

What? No way.

ZOEY:

Yes, way. I get a good vibe from you,

Matthew. So what's our deal tonight?

MATTHEW:

Well, like I said, I'm trying to find the-

ZOEY:

Liar. Just drive already.

MATTHEW:

What? I'm not a liar.

She reaches over and puts the car in gear.

MATTHEW:

Hey!

MATTHEW steps on the brake.

ZOEY:

I've seen you around here before. You work

nearby, I'm pretty sure. Plus we're friends

on Instagram, jackass. So what's the real

reason you've been doing laps around the

block?

MATTHEW steps on the gas and the car pulls away from the curb.

MATTHEW:

Fine. What's the difference? I need to brake

into the office where I work. My boss is

trying to frame me. If I don't do something

about it, he'll fire me Monday morning. Still

want to be my friend on Instagram?

ZOEY:

Braking and entering? You? You'd better take

me along.

MATTHEW:

What? Why would I do that?

ZOEY:

You're obviously an amateur. You'll probably

walk around putting your grubby fingerprints

on everything. Plus, I know how to watch your

back, too.

MATTHEW:

What makes you think I need your help?

ZOEY looks directly at him.

ZOEY:

Why did you ask me to get in the car then?

MATTHEW:

It was raining and I was lost and-

ZOEY:

And now I found you. Red light! Jesus!

MATTHEW slams on the brakes.

MATTHEW:

Sorry. I just got caught up.

The light changes and MATTHEW steps on the gas.

ZOEY:

Or did you pick me up because I'm hot?

MATTHEW:

What? No, I-

ZOEY:

You want to peel my wet clothes off right

here, right now, don't you?

MATTHEW:

What? I, uh-

ZOEY:

And so you should. Packages like this don't

show up on your doorstep every night. Meow.

Red light! Shit!

MATTHEW slams on the brakes again.

MATTHEW:

What's your deal, lady?

ZOEY:

I'm your new partner in crime, chucklehead.

Now, get your head out of the gutter and

ZOEY (CONT’D)

focus. Now, what exactly are we stealing

tonight?

MATTHEW:

A computer hard drive tower.

ZOEY:

That's a new one. Wahoo!

MATTHEW reacts in surprise.

MATTHEW:

What the hell was that for?

ZOEY:

We're on an adventure, sourpuss! Live a

little.

ZOEY tickles him and he coasts through an intersection.

MATTHEW:

Stop it! You're gonna make me piss myself!

She tickles him more.

ZOEY:

Not until you howl for me, Matthew! Aroo!

MATTHEW is laughing so hard he has tears on his cheeks.

MATTHEW:

Okay, okay. Aroo! Listen to me, I'm howling!

Aroo!

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE HALLWAY - NIGHT

MATTHEW and ZOEY are sneaking through a dimly lit hallway. MATTHEW stops at the door to the office and takes out a credit card. He tries to jimmy the lock but it won't budge.

MATTHEW:

They make it look so easy in the movies.

ZOEY caresses the keypad of the secured entry.

ZOEY:

Hey, how many numbers for this?

MATTHEW:

Four. But I don't even know one of them.

ZOEY:

Most busy people like to keep things like

this simple and easy to remember. One, two,

three, four.

Red letters appear on the small screen reading: ACCESS DENIED.

MATTHEW:

One, two, three, four? Are you kidding me?

ZOEY:

Pay attention, hot stuff. You might learn

something. Four, three, two, one. Open sesame.

ZOEY turns and winks at him as the door unlocks and the screen reads: ACCESS GRANTED.

ZOEY:

Admit it, you're impressed as hell. You

totally want to be my baby daddy now.

MATTHEW rolls his eyes and grabs her hand.

MATTHEW:

Come on.

They enter the office.

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE CUBICLES - NIGHT

They sneak past rows of empty cubicles. MATTHEW motions for ZOEY to follow him into his cube.

MATTHEW:

This is it.

ZOEY:

How do you live like this?

MATTHEW:

I don't. I just work here.

ZOEY:

Yeah, I've heard that one before.

MATTHEW crawls under his desk and pulls the cables from the back of hard drive tower and slides it out.

MATTHEW:

I kind of feel like Indiana Jones right now.

ZOEY:

And I feel like your baby sitter. Let's

shake a leg, already.

MATTHEW pauses from wrapping his coat around the tower to respond.

MATTHEW:

Nice. Any sign of the guard?

She pokes her head around the corner.

ZOEY:

Coast is clear, captain.

They both stand up.

MATTHEW:

Whew. Okay, we're halfway home. What's

wrong?

ZOEY turns her head and her face scrunches up.

ZOEY:

Oh, God. What's that smell? I think I'm

going to sneeze.

MATTHEW:

What? No! Hold it in. We're almost in the

clear. We can make it. Come on.

He grabs her hand and they slink out of the cubicle.

ZOEY:

Oh, man. My nose tickles something fierce.

MATTHEW:

I forgot. It's Friday. They shampoo the

carpet and let it dry over the weekend.

A flashlight beam reflects off a glass frame on the far side of the room.

MATTHEW:

Shit! Get down!

ZOEY holds her hand over her mouth and looks slightly frightened for the first time. The beam passes quickly around the room, pauses above their heads and them disappears from the room. The sound of keys can be heard fading down the hall. MATTHEW stands up and looks around.

MATTHEW:

Man, that was close. Are you okay?

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