I Smile Back Page #16

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There is a crash of some sort in the next room. The kids are

calling her name. Laney does one more line and starts

cleaning up in a hurry. She realizes she doesn’t have much

time.

Pink (03/02/2014) 9191.

JANEY AND ELI:

Mom. Moooooooom!

BRUCE:

Laney!

LANEY:

One second!

JANEY AND ELI:

Mom!

Eli enters the bathroom first, followed by Janey and Bingo.

Laney pretends to be looking for something.

LANEY:

I lost my contact. Damn this floor

makes -it’s impossible to find-

Laney looks up. The three of them are staring at her. She

wipes her nose with her sleeve. There is blood on it. The

kids are visibly frightened as Bruce leads them out of the

bathroom by their shoulders.

JANEY:

Mommy! What’s wrong with mommy?

85 EXT. DRIVEWAY - DAY - CONTINUOUS 85

Laney runs out the front door and speeds off.

86 OMITTED 86

87 INT. DONNY’S OFFICE - DAY - CONTINUOUS 87

Walls covered with advertisements. Directly behind Donny is

a mock up of the spring ad campaign. A life-sized poster, a

caricature of Donny's father sitting on top of a cow. Arms

in the air, cowboy hat, two lassoed yogurt pops. “The Dairy

King Rides Again.” Donny is taken aback by the site of

Laney:
mascara running down her face, crusted blood on her

nose. She’s shaking.

LANEY:

I need something to calm down.

Donny hands her a tissue, then guides her into a chair.

DONNY:

What happened?

Pink (03/02/2014) 9292.

LANEY:

I don’t want to talk about it.

Laney wipes her nose, glances at the tissue. There’s blood

on it. She crumples the tissue into her hand.

DONNY:

I can’t give you anything, Lane.

What kind of person would that make

me?

LANEY:

Please Donny. Now isn’t the time

for moralizing.

DONNY:

But you were just in rehab

LANEY:

Well now I’m not. Please!

Donny's office phone rings but he ignores it. Instead he

wets his thumb, wipes the dry blood from Laney's nose, tucks

a piece of Laney's hair behind her ear. A tear runs down her

cheek.

DONNY:

It’s all going to be okay.

LANEY:

Not for me. But it is for you -

you’re about to have a baby!

DONNY:

We’ll figure it out.

Donny kisses the back of Laney’s neck. Then her mouth. He

slips his hand into her blouse. His cell phone rings. He

pulls it out of his pocket and looks at the Caller ID.

DONNY (CONT’D)

Hey Suze, what’s up?

Donny looks concerned.

DONNY (CONT’D)

Jesus! Are you at the emergency

room? Okay, take a deep breath.

What did the doctor say? Is he in

pain? I'm on my way. Everything's

gonna be okay.

Donny hangs up the phone.

Pink (03/02/2014) 9393.

LANEY:

How many people you going to make

everything okay for?

Donny shoots Laney a look of disgust.

DONNY:

This is my son.

He grabs his jacket and leaves. Laney opens Donny’s locked

desk drawer with a letter opener and rifles through the

prescription containers inside. She swallows some pills,

stuffs the prescriptions into her purse and leaves.

88 EXT. STREET - DAY - SAME 88

Laney is walking to her car. Across the street a neon sign

flashes:
EVERY NIGHT EIGHTIES NIGHT, THURSDAY IS LADIES NIGHT

1$ BEERS.

89 INT. O’SULLIVAN’S BAR - DAY - CONTINUOUS 89

Laney takes a seat, eyes the BARTENDER for a drink.

LANEY:

Beer.

A guy in a QUAKER STATE walks over to the bar.

QUAKER STATE:

No Springsteen on the jute box?

This is Jersey.

He glances at Laney.

LANEY:

Springsteen fan?

QUAKER STATE:

How could you tell?

Laney smirks, unimpressed.

QUAKER STATE (CONT’D)

Best musician on the planet. Put

Jersey on the map.

Laney lifts the bottle to her mouth. She recognizes the

pathetic pick-up attempt but she’s willing to play ball.

Pink (03/02/2014) 9494.

LANEY:

I’m sure Sinatra would argue. And

Bon Jovi, and-

QUAKER STATE:

Bon Jovi? All he ever wanted was to

be Bruce.

LANEY:

We all want to be something bigger

than we are I guess.

QUAKER STATE:

Yeah.

Quaker State moves closer.

QUAKER STATE (CONT’D)

What did you want to be?

LANEY:

Me?

Laney tries to make out the tattoo on his arm.

QUAKER STATE:

You see me talking to anyone else?

LANEY:

All I wanted was to get married,

have kids and live happily ever

after.

QUAKER STATE:

So?

LANEY:

So what?

QUAKER STATE:

So what’s a nice girl like you

doing in a place like this?

The pills have kicked in, Laney has that all too familiar

glaze.

LANEY:

Who said I’m a nice girl?

90 EXT. PARKING LOT/ALLEY - NIGHT - SAME 90

Laney’s cheek is pressed up against a brick wall. There’s

trash all around: garbage cans overflowing with debris.

Pink (03/02/2014) 9595.

LANEY:

Lick it.

QUAKER STATE:

Lick what baby?

LANEY:

My ass.

QUAKER STATE:

Your ass?

As he bends down to lick her ass, Laney shoves him in an

effort to provoke him. She’s looking for trouble.

LANEY:

No more f***er.

QUAKER STATE:

I’ll tell you when it’s no more.

Laney has succeeded in instigating Quaker State. He draws

back her head and smashes her face against the brick. As she

reaches for the wound he pulls her arm back. Laney chuckles,

inviting more pain.

LANEY:

F***.

He likes this.

QUAKER STATE:

That hurt?

LANEY:

Barely felt it. Is that all you

got?

Quaker State smashes her face into the wall one more time

which turns him on even more. He finishes and buttons up his

pants. She sinks to the pavement and watches as he dumps the

contents of her purse on the ground. He picks up the cash and

the two bottles of pills. He stashes the cash and one of the

bottles in his pocket, takes the lid off the other bottle and

pours the pills on Laney.

QUAKER STATE:

Want?

Laney can't move her lips. The gash on her cheek is throbbing

but she looks remarkably at peace. She got what she wanted,

what she’s certain she deserved.

Pink (03/02/2014) 9696.

Laney gives a feeble smirk before she falls into a fog, in

and out of consciousness. She tries to get up, falls down

again. Did someone try to help her up? Did she hear voices?

She loses consciousness again.

FADE TO BLACK.

FADE IN:

91 EXT. ALLEY - DAWN 91

As the sun begins to rise, Laney opens her eyes and takes a

second to place herself. She touches her cheek, feels around

for her bag. You can practically smell the alley- the piss on

the ground, the trash starting to defrost from the nighttime

cold. She sits up, reaches for her purse and all of her

belongings strewn around her.

92 EXT. PARKING LOT - DAWN - CONTINUOUS 92

Laney stumbles to her car. She looks for her keys but can’t

find them. She reaches for her iPhone. Her screen saver is

an adorable photo of Eli and Janey. We see Laney’s

reflection on the screen. Tears rolling down her cheeks. She

presses the button in her contacts that says, “Valley Cab”.

93 EXT. LANEY’S STREET - DAWN 93

Laney’s in the back seat of a taxi cab, her face black and

blue, dried blood. She’s a mess. We pass the same tall trees,

painted fences that we passed in the opening scene. The taxi

slows to a stop in front of her house. It’s early morning.

All the lights are off. Laney opens the taxi door.

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