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THE LUNCHROOM Episode Eleven "Slow Fuse" Teleplay by Edward Drogos, Bruce Snyder, Vincent Biga Story by Bruce Snyder Created by Bruce Snyder EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Bruce Snyder EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Vincent Biga STORY EDITOR Melinda Waterman CONSULTING PRODUCER Edward Drogos CONSULTING PRODUCER Max Majernik CAST LIST Will Cooper................................. Joel Mayberry............................... Brian Vandele............................... Brock Warner................................ Reicther.................................... Casey Jennings.............................. Chris Hughes................................ Stacy Cifaretto............................. Mr. John Parker............................. GUEST CAST LIST Kate Davidson............................... Cathy....................................... William Reicther............................ Sarah Thorman............................... Waiter...................................... Kate's Mother............................... Brenda Cooper............................... Jennifer.................................... Copyright © Bruce Snyder FADE IN: INT. HALLWAY – AFTERNOON Stacy is standing by her locker. Chris runs up to her through a bunch of other kids who accidentally hit him with their overstuffed backpacks. CHRIS Stacy! STACY Oh hey, Chris. CHRIS I want you. STACY Huh? CHRIS I need you. STACY Me? CHRIS I'm in love. STACY Well – CHRIS Have dinner with me. Tonight. STACY Dinner? CHRIS Please. STACY Well – CHRIS You pick the place. Someplace romantic. STACY Chris I – CHRIS I can't do it with Kate alone. Stacy looks blank. STACY What? (beat) Chris, exactly where is this conversation going? CHRIS Well. I was hoping you would double date with me and Kate tonight. STACY OHHH. Double date! CHRIS Yeah. What did you think I was talking about? STACY Nothing. (thinks) Well, I'd love to go Chris but, I can't. For one, I don't have a boyfriend. Two, I've already made plans. CHRIS Damn. I guess have to find someone else then. STACY Why do you need some one there with you? CHRIS Umm, well... It's just that... I've never been on a date before and I'm kinda scared of messing it up. STACY Oh... (thinks a second) I was kinda scared about moving in with Brian and coming to a new school but I turned out fine. CHRIS So your saying that I should suck it up and go alone? STACY More or less. Chris thinks a second. CHRIS Yeah... I guess I can do this. Thanks Stacy. STACY Glad I could be of help. Stacy walks away. CHRIS (quietly) I could do that... But I'm not going to. Chris walks off. Chris turns a corner and bumps into Kate. She smiles right away, Chris blushes. KATE Oh hi Chris, ready for our date tonight? CHRIS Oh yeah, you better believe it. KATE Great, pick me up around six? Chris nods and Kate walks off. We stay on Chris as Kate walks away. CHRIS Oh fuck, I can't do this. CUT TO: OPENING CREDIT SEQUENCE: Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar" plays over the credits. FADE TO: INT. ANOTHER HALLWAY - SAME TIME Brock is putting some books away and putting more into his backpack when he glances over to see SARAH THORMAN talking with a friend by her locker. Brock closes his locker and stares at Sarah, psyching himself up to go talk to her. He takes a few steps forward towards her when her boyfriend SCOTT GREENBERG walks behind her and puts his arms around her shoulders. Sarah laughs and turns around to greet him, not noticing Brock, who is stuck, frozen in the middle of the hall blocking everyone's path. BROCK Damn. CUT TO: INT. LUNCHROOM - SAME TIME Joel is sitting at a table, Chris runs up. CHRIS It's Joel! JOEL It's Chris. CHRIS Joel, you're my last hope. I need some one to go on a double date with me and Kate. JOEL Why can't you go by yourself? CHRIS Because. JOEL Because why? CHRIS Listen, Joel. I've never been on a real date in my life... my conscious life that is. I'm terrified about not knowing what to do or say. How to act or if I'm being annoying. JOEL Well I can give you the answer to last one now, but why don't you get someone else to go with you? CHRIS You're the only one I know of who has a girl. JOEL She's not exactly my girl – CHRIS Please, Joel. Joel thinks for a second, looking a little uncomfortable. JOEL I was actually planning on going to the movies with Will, Brian and Casey– CHRIS Oh fuck that. I mean you and Will go to the movies all the time. Come on I need your help. Pause. JOEL I'll ask Cathy and see what she says, I'll call you later. CHRIS Thank you Joel. You're a sainted man. Chris begins to run off. CHRIS (yelling back to Joel) I've gotta find Kate and tell her you're coming. CUT TO: INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - SECONDS LATER Chris runs down the hallway, before slightly bumping into Kate. CHRIS There you are. KATE Oh, hi Chris. CHRIS Kate, there's been a slight change of plans. Kate looks worried. KATE We're still on for tonight right? CHRIS Yeah but now it's a double date. Joel appears. He sees them and ducks behind a locker. KATE Oh? CHRIS A friend of mine was going out with his girlfriend too but he's a little nervous around her and I said we would go along and help, you know, break the ice, I hope that's alright. Joel who isn't too far away hears this and looks outraged. KATE Yeah of course, if its helping out a friend I don't mind. CHRIS Great, I'm going to go get ready, I'll see you in a little bit. KATE Okay, bye. Kate walks away. Chris breaths a sigh of relief and looks back to Joel giving him the thumbs up. Joel smiles and gives him the finger. CUT TO: EXT. REICTHER'S DRIVEWAY - AFTERNOON Reicther is walks down the sidewalk after work and turns into the driveway of his house. He stops to see his father, WILLIAM loading equipment into the back of his behemoth pickup truck. REICTHER (walking over) Whoa. What are you doing dad? WILLIAM Just getting my hunting supplies packed up. REICTHER Are you putting them away? WILLIAM I'd never put my guns away. No, I'm getting ready for the hunt. REICTHER Oh, your going hunting. WILLIAM We're going hunting. REICTHER We are. When? WILLIAM Tonight. William sits down on top of cab of his truck. WILLIAM (CONT'D) You know, there is nothing like the father and sons first night hunt. It is a memory you will remember for ever. REICTHER What is so memorable about night hunting? WILLIAM Your senses. At night you have to rely on your most basic senses. That's what makes it exiting. The vibrations of a elks footsteps, the putrid breath of the bear, the smell of the... REICTHER Okay, okay. I get it. Reicther starts to walk inside. WILLIAM You better be quick, we're leaving in a half-an-hour. Reicther goes inside as William gets a can of beer from his backpack and starts drinking. CUT TO: INT. SCHOOL LIBRARY - SAME TIME Brock walks through a row of books over to a group of tables for studying. He has a couple of books under his arm as well as his heavy backpack dragging on the floor. When he gets to the tables he sees Sarah, sitting there studying. Brock quickly looks for an exit, but - SARAH Brock! There you are. BROCK (voice a little shaky) Here I am. SARAH Come sit down. He drags his backpack over and sits down at Sarah's table. BROCK So, what are you still doing here? I wouldn't think you would need extra study time. SARAH Oh yeah, it's that research paper for Mr. Ball. He gets so pissy if you don't use books from the school library in your report. BROCK Yeah, I'm working on that too. SARAH Good, we can help each other then. She smiles kindly at Brock and gives him a book to look at. Brock smiles back and feels happy for a moment while putting out his books and notebook on the table. SARAH (CONT'D) You know what's funny, Scott had to do this same report for last year. Brock comes crashing down at the mention of Scott. BROCK What? SARAH Mr. Ball gives the same research paper topics every year. We're doing the same one. Isn't that funny! BROCK (annoyed) Yeah, I didn't know he was older than you. SARAH Yeah, he is. I guess with age comes responsibility, because he wouldn't let me use his paper for help. She laughs and Brock looks depressed. BROCK You can look at my notes. SARAH Oh, that's sweet. Sarah continues to makes some notes on her paper while Brock searches for something to say. BROCK Do you have plans for this weekend? SARAH Uh, yeah actually. Scott is taking me to this hot air balloon show. His father owns his own, and Scott says that he'll take me up in it. BROCK (pathetically) Sounds great. SARAH Yeah, Scott is so amazing... Brock jumps up and grabs his bag, startling Sarah. BROCK You know, I think I have enough information about this. I think I should go. SARAH But we only started. It took Scott four weeks to do his report. BROCK Well fucking congratulations to fucking Scott fucking Greenberg. Brock leaves with Sarah looking puzzled. CUT TO: INT. CHRIS'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - LATER Chris is lurking in the hallway. He moves slowly down the hall, glancing down the stairs making sure no one is around. After making sure the coast is clear he goes into his mother Elizabeth's bedroom. INT. ELIZABETH'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS Chris walks quickly over to his mother's vanity mirror. He is looking for something that could help him look better for his date. There are only perfumes on the counter so he opens one of the drawers. It is filled with makeup and other beauty products. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. KATE'S DRIVEWAY - LATER Chris is standing at Kate's front door. KATE'S MOTHER answers the door with a screaming baby struggling in her arms. CHRIS Hello Mrs. Davidson. KATE'S MOTHER You must be Chris. Kate will be right down. The baby lets out a very loud wail. KATE'S MOTHER (CONT'D) Please excuse me... She walks off leaving Chris to wait. A second latter Kate comes to the door. KATE Hi. CHRIS Hi, ready to go? KATE I wouldn't be standing here if I wasn't. Chris nods, as they walk to the van he realizes he was supposed to laugh. CHRIS Oh. (begins to laugh) I get it. KATE You know, Chris timing is everything. Chris smiles and they get into the van and it drives away. INT. VAN - MOMENTS LATER JENNIFER, Cathy's mom is sitting in front driving, Joel and Cathy are sitting in the middle seats and Chris and Kate are sitting in the back seats. JENNIFER Where am I going anyway? CATHY Were going to the restaurant by the mall, I'll call you when were ready for you to pick us up. JENNIFER Alrighty. Jennifer drives and turns on the radio. She puts on a station with loud rap music on it. Chris, Joel, Cathy and Kate look at one and another. CATHY Mom, what are you doing? JENNIFER What do you mean? CATHY The music... JENNIFER Oh, isn't what you kids listen to? CATHY No. JENNIFER Oh. (changes the station) How about this. (Gomez's "Nothing Is Wrong" comes on the radio) CATHY Better. They listen and look out the window as the sun goes down. FADE TO: INT. WILLIAM'S PICKUP - SAME TIME William is driving and Reicther is sitting next to him looking uncomfortable in his hunting outfit. William rolls down the windows and takes a big breath of air. WILLIAM Smell that fresh air. REICTHER What? Since William is going 70 m.p.h., the wind noise is more than pronounced. WILLIAM I said, smell that fresh air. Yeah, that's what's hunting's all about. REICTHER I thought it was about killing bambi. WILLIAM What was that, son? REICTHER I said, you don't have to explain to me! William smiles and slaps Reicther on the back. CUT TO: INT. COOPER VAN - ABOUT THE SAME TIME BRENDA COOPER is sitting in front driving. Will and Casey are in the middle row of seats, Brian is in the back leaning forward so his face is almost even with Will and Casey's. WILL (sarcastically) If you guys wanna back out and see "Raise Your Voice" now's the time. BRENDA You guys could see "Shall We Dance" I'd like to see that movie. WILL Of course you would, its one of those movies that will be on Lifetime within a year. BRENDA What's wrong with that? WILL Lifetime sucks, its always about a girl who's been raped, a retarded girl, a girl who kills some one or a mixture of the three. BRIAN Don't forget about the dying girl with leukemia. BRENDA You don't have to watch them. WILL Yes I do, you force us to watch it when were eating dinner. BRENDA That's because I've been watching it and want to see how it ends. WILL What if I was watching something and wanted to see how it ended? BRENDA You'd be shit out of luck. There is a short pause. WILL What about a choice of car music? BRENDA Oh yeah, you'd loose that one too. CUT TO: EXT. RESTAURANT - EVENING Jennifer drives away leaving the foursome standing outside. Chris pulls Joel to the side and whispers to him. CHRIS I have something to ask of you. JOEL Haven't I done enough? CHRIS This isn't for me it's for Kate. A while ago she was depressed and a little suicidal... JOEL A little suicidal...shades of gray, Chris. CHRIS I just want to make sure that things are happy and there is no reason for her to be upset. JOEL So what do you want me to do? CHRIS Just stay happy, keep her happy. CATHY You guys ready? Chris and Joel look over. CHRIS (to Joel) Will you? JOEL Yeah. (to the girls) Ready. Chris and Joel escort their dates into the restaurant. INT. RESTAURANT - A LITTLE LATER A WAITER has just shown Chris, Joel, Kate and Cathy to their table. Chris notices that Joel pulls the seat out for Cathy, but Kate has already sat down. WAITER May I take your drink orders? JOEL I'll have a Coke. CHRIS Coke. CATHY Coke. KATE Waters fine. The waiter nods. WAITER Three cokes and one water, I'll be right back. The waiter walks away, everyone opens their menus and begins to look through them. A moment passes with no one saying anything. CATHY What are you going to have? JOEL I was thinking about a steak, but it seems a little expensive... KATE A slab of bloody dead cow meat, sounds lovely. Everyone looks at Kate. She looks up. KATE (CONT'D) I was only joking. Everyone nods. The waiter walks up and sets their drinks down. WAITER Have we decided yet? CHRIS (quickly) I'll just have a salad. KATE Same for me. WAITER (to Joel) And for you? Joel catches Chris's eye, and he looks meaningfully at Kate. JOEL I'll have the salad too. WAITER Okay, three salads, and for you... CATHY (embarrassed) Um, Chicken, Wild Mushroom and Tomato Ragout. WAITER Oh, good choice. Alright, my name is Kyle, if you need anything. The Waiter walks off, leaving the group. Chris and Kate look happy but Cathy looks a little perturbed at Joel. CUT TO: EXT. WOODS - EVENING Reicther and William have set up a little camp in the middle of a clearing. William readies his gun as they speak. WILLIAM Now, these will be our tool of choice. (he hands one to Reicther) Night Vision Goggles. Put them on. They do. REICTHER'S POV Everything is in shades of green, black, and white. REICTHER This is weird. WILLIAM Well get used to it. Reicther takes them off. BACK TO THE CLEARING William still has his goggles on. WILLIAM (CONT'D) Now, our pray for tonight's hunt... mainly small creatures, rabbits, raccoons, possums, squirrels, and... William fires a shot straight up into the air, making Reicther jump onto the ground covering his head. A few seconds later a dead duck falls a few feet from Reicther's head. WILLIAM (CONT'D) Fowl. CUT TO: INT. STADIUM MOVIE THEATER - ABOUT THE SAME TIME Will, Brian and Casey are all in the top row watching the movie trivia. Brian has a huge container of popcorn. CASEY Brian, give me some popcorn. BRIAN No. CASEY What? C'mon, give me some popcorn! BRIAN Go buy your own. CASEY We didn't all get twenty dollars from our moms! BRIAN Its not my fault I have good persuasion skills. WILL Clam down ladies, no need to get our menstrual cycles going. BRIAN He started it. CASEY Ass. WILL Hush children, it's starting. The lights go down and the movie previews begin. We see a black and white shot of a woman slowly taking her clothes off. After a couple of seconds she begins to walk over to a handsome man. Suddenly "Fresh 'n Clean Toothpaste" pops up on screen. Brian bursts out laughing while Casey and Will just look confused. While Brian is laughing he spills his popcorn. CASEY Oh holy karma! Look what happened. How unfortunate. BRIAN Fuck you. I'll be right back. Brian gets up and leaves. We see an under water shot on screen, we can only see water, nothing else. WILL I bet its some kind of shark or submarine flick. Suddenly we hear Sponge Bob Square Pants laughing. INT. RESTAURANT - A LITTLE LATER Kate, Chris and Joel are eating their salads while Cathy eats her big platter of chicken. She looks angry at Joel when she takes a big bite in front of Kate. KATE You know, I am a vegetarian, but I was just joking about the slab of dead cow thing. Chris smiles weakly. CHRIS That's alright, I love salad. There is a short pause. JOEL Me too. Cathy looks like she could kill Joel for that comment. They all eat in silence for a moment. KATE Oh my god! CHRIS What is it? KATE (picking something up with her fork) It's terrible! JOEL What is it? A finger? KATE Ham. There is a piece of him on Kate's fork. CATHY You've got ham? KATE I thought that there wouldn't be any meat in this. CHRIS Yeah, they must have made a mistake in the kitchen. JOEL Yeah, don't worry, it wasn't your fault. Joel summons the waiter over. WAITER Is there a problem? CHRIS Well not really a problem... JOEL Yeah, because there is no reason to be upset, but... KATE There is ham in my salad, and I didn't order that. WAITER Oh, I'm very sorry miss, I'll take it back and remove it. KATE That's okay, I'm not that hungry anymore. He takes her plate and Chris and Joel comfort her. CHRIS There wasn't that much ham was there? KATE No, I just think it was a mix up. CATHY Yeah, Kate. You can't kill yourself over a slice of ham. Chris and Joel shoot a look at her, Cathy shrugs not knowing what she said. CATHY What? The waiter comes back up to the table. WAITER In hope to fix our mistake, we would like to offer you dessert, on us. (to Kate) What would you like miss? KATE Oh, no thank you, I don't eat sugar. WAITER Okay. Chris and Joel look at each other. CHRIS I'm fine. JOEL Me too. WAITER (to Cathy) That leaves you.. CATHY A little sweetness would no nicely now. I'll have a Double Chocolate Pecan Ice Cream... three scoops. WAITER My favorite. And he walks off again. Cathy glares at Joel who is paying attention to Kate. CUT TO: EXT. WOODS - LATER It is very dark but we can make out Reicther and William among the trees. They are crouching on the ground stalking their pray. They whisper. WILLIAM Okay, I know we've gone around in circles, but I think we've cornered him. Here. William hands Reicther the gun. REICTHER Oh come on, I can't. WILLIAM Yes you can! You have to do it sometime. William forces the gun in Reicther's hands. REICTHER Now what? WILLIAM Put your goggles on. Reicther does. REICTHER'S POV Everything is green again, and we now see the pray. A small shivering rabbit. WILLIAM (CONT'D) Okay, I'm taking off the safety. (click) Now put the end on the log and steady your shot. Through Reicther's eyes, we see him look down and put the gun on the log, and line up the target with the scope. WILLIAM (CONT'D) Now, shoot. Reicther stares at the tiny rabbit. Seconds pass and he doesn't do it. WILLIAM (CONT'D) Shoot! Reicther hesitates and quickly swings the gun slightly to the left, taking the rabbit out of the scope and FIRES into something dark. The rabbit runs away. BACK TO WOODS As soon as the shot fired a alarm begins to go off and lights flash. REICTHER What the - ? Taking their goggles off they see that William's pickup truck was just to the left of where the rabbit was. They walk closer to the truck and thanks to the flashing headlights see that Reicther fired his shot into the front tire. William examines the deflated tire. WILLIAM (CONT'D) God Dammit, Reicther. He takes the gun away from Reicther and shuts off the alarm. Reicther looks happy the rabbit got away. CUT TO: INT. STADIUM MOVIE THEATER - BATHROOM - LATER Will and Casey finish and go over to wash their hands and dry them. Will goes to put the paper in the trash can but when he opens the lid he sees paper stuffed to the top. WILL Oh, it's full. Casey goes to the next one over. CASEY No it's not. You can still throw it in. WILL But look... (he opens it) It's filled to the top. CASEY So... you can still fit it in there, with it closing. WILL But it's filled to the top, therefore it is full. CASEY But you can still throw more in, isn't it still usable. WILL But the lid still opened and closed with out trash falling out. CASEY So when is it full it's... Wait, wait, wait. We have been in here for a very long time talking about when a trash can is officially full. Now normally this fucked up conversation would occupy most of our evenings, but since we don't want Brian to get any weird ideas, let's settle this now. WILL Well how? CASEY Stand over there. Will walks to the other side of the room. CASEY (CONT'D) I'll hold the flap open and you throw the paper towel in. If it bounces back out, it's full. If it stays in, it isn't. Okay? WILL Okay. Will takes the shot, but it is so off that it lands on Casey. CASEY You are so fucking sad. WILL What? I could've sworn I had game. Wait, let me try again. He gets another paper towel and throws it. It lands in the opening and stays in. CASEY Ha, I win. WILL Look at me care. Will walks past Casey and out the door. EXT. STADIUM MOVIE THEATER - MOMENTS LATER It is dark and Will, Brian, and Casey step out of the theater. WILL You know you hear about it, but when you actually see two puppets having sex it's really different from what you pictured. CASEY That was the greatest. Will looks around. BRIAN So where's your mom? WILL Don't know. (he checks his watch) She knows the movie's over. CASEY (looks around) Is this the right exit? BRIAN I guess. Well, lets walk around there. Maybe she's waiting in the east parking lot. They walk down the sidewalk. CASEY Where the hell's the east parking lot? BRIAN The other way from the west parking lot. They continue walking. FADE TO: (SONG BEGINS: "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd softly plays in the background.) EXT. RESTAURANT - ABOUT THE SAME TIME Chris and Kate come out of the front door chatting and laughing. Joel and Cathy exit a few feet a part and not talking. Cathy turns to Joel. CATHY You know, I was actually looking forward to this date with you. And even after I found out it was a double date, I never thought I was just there so people wouldn't look at the three of you. JOEL What are you talking about? CATHY You spend the entire date talking to Kate. You didn't talk with me at all. JOEL Yeah, but if I didn't she'd die. CATHY Joel, I think you are overstating your power over women. JOEL No, you don't understand - CATHY No, I think I understand very well. Cathy walks away as Chris walks up to him. CHRIS Joel, my man! Thanks so much for this tonight. I really wasn't sure about Kate, but thanks to you, I really like her. And what's more, I think she likes me! JOEL Well I'm very happy for you. Yeah, you know it doesn't say much for you that you need someone else to help you date your girlfriend. And on top of that, Cathy is pissed because I had to pay attention to Kate. And I like Cathy too. Pause. JOEL I like her a lot, and now I don't know what's going to happen. (pause) I don't even know if I'm going to get a ride home! Joel walks off, exasperated. CHRIS ...But I got the girl. FADE TO: EXT. BROCK'S HOUSE - BACKYARD - SAME Brock is standing in the middle of the yard. On the ground is small pile of papers. We notice that they are pictures, all of Scott Greenberg. They seem to be both from school newspapers and from different yearbooks. Brock reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter. He bends down and lights the pile on fire. He stands and watches it burns for only a few seconds before turning around and heading inside. We focus on the burning pile before... FADE TO: EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - LATER THAT NIGHT Reicther and his father William are walking down an empty country road. They have all their equipment on their backs and William looks angry. REICTHER Everything but a spare tire. William freezes, overtaken with anger. He gives himself a second and keeps walking. Reicther follows, smiling. (NOTE: The song gets louder) FADE OUT. (The song continues over the Credits) END OF EPISODE Reluctantly
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