You Were M ine

__________________________

A full-length play

By Rachel Lynett

Contact:
Rachel Lynett
2569 W Orlando Dr Apt 9
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Rachel.lynett@gmail.com

479-684-7451
 CAST OF CHARACTERS, 1f, 1m

AISLING WEST, 35, not white, queer woman, curator at a mid-size gallery, eclectic hipster
who would never admit to being a hipster

NOAH QUINN, 38, not white, queer, trans man, English professor and writer, kind of
looks like every stereotypical "hip" professor

JACKS, 40, short for Jackson which is Jacks' last name and also their nickname. not a character
in the play but kind of is, JACKS is AISLING's spouse and NOAH's long term partner

SETTINGS

AISLING's studio apartment. Evening. The audience can see her kitchen, a piano in the
corner, art on the walls, fragments of life scattered around the apartment. Fall 2019.

Notes on style:
I tried my best not to dictate when an actor cries in this piece. I think that should be up for that
actor. But both characters do cry at least twice in the play.

Notes on style:
The missing periods are on purpose. Dashes appear when a character is cut off. A missing period
is when a character cuts themselves off.

Moments vs shifts vs pause:

I've been told I write dialogue like a character in a chess game. Intelligent characters constantly
having a battle of wits. Leaning into that, I'm attempting to use "moment" and "shift" instead of
"beat." For me, a moment is a chance for one or more characters to step back and reassess "the
board." It's taking a breath, planning out their next move. It's passive. Shifts are active. It's a
character moving a piece, closing in on "the king" of the scene. It's an active play for what they
want.
"It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well." -Taylor Swift "All Too Well"
 SCENE 1

It’s mid-evening. M aybe around 8 pm.

AISLING sits in her living room in her studio
apartment. Her whole apartment is visible to the
audience except her bedroom (we can only see
the door that leads to her bedroom). It’s messy
but a tidy kind of messy. She is drinking straight
from a bottle of Vodka and scrolling through her
phone. She’s been crying. She may still be
crying. There’s a knock on the door. She mouths
“fuck” and then stands up quickly. Probably
too quickly. Another knock.

AISLING
Yeah. One sec.

She mouths “fuck” again and puts the bottle of

vodka in the kitchen. She grabs a bottle of wine
and puts out two glasses. She collects herself.
Another knock

AISLING
Jesus. Alright.

She opens the door. NOAH stands awkwardly

in the doorway.

NOAH
Hi.

AISLING
Hi. Um, come in.

NOAH does. They kind of stand awkwardly for

a minute. After a second or two, AISLING sits
back down in her recliner. NOAH sits down on
a futon.

NOAH
I’ve never actually been inside your apartment.
 2.

AISLING
I know. The rules were
You know.

NOAH
Yeah.
It’s...um...nice.

AISLING
It’s small and, like, uncomfortably small. Jacks always said it was like living in brick
cottage.

NOAH
Yeah. I remember.

AISLING nods. She politely pours herself a

glass of wine and pours one for NOAH. She
extends it to NOAH.

NOAH
Oh. I’m
I’m not drinking.

AISLING
Oh.

NOAH
It’s not--

AISLING
You don’t have to

NOAH
I haven’t been drinking. I should say I haven’t been drinking after

AISLING drinks some wine from the glass. A

weird moment.

NOAH
Um. I don’t even
Where do people start with these things?
 3.

AISLING shrugs.

AISLING
When my mom died, we started with where. Where it would be.

NOAH
Right. Where.

AISLING
I think a church could be...horrible. I don’t think we should do that. To any of us.

NOAH
Yeah.

M oment.

AISLING
I was looking up natural burials. Before you got here. Like they wrap the body in a sheet
and then just like...you know...set you...well not you. Anyway, set the body in the
ground. I know we couldn’t bury the actual body because
Anyway it’s an option. We could bury something that represents Jacks.

NOAH
Right.

AISLING
I was thinking maybe their guitar. Or something.

NOAH
Yeah.

M oment. NOAH reaches for the wine.

AISLING
So much for not drinking.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Nothing. Sorry.
 4.

NOAH drinks the wine. AISLING pours herself

more wine.

NOAH
I have no idea how to do this. Like I’m not grown up enough for this.

AISLING
Same.

NOAH
I feel like this is something there should be a class for. How to bury the love of your life.

AISLING
No one would go. I’d skip that class. I skipped any class that wasn’t, you know,
uplifting.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Like, in grad school, I thought I’d be like, I don’t know, unique if I took Queer Theory
and all it made me want to do was cry in my car while listening to the Indigo Girls. There
is just so much sad literature out there about lesbians. Like the gays have these light
comedies about mixed misunderstandings. M eanwhile lesbians are jumping off roofs and
shit.

NOAH
Oh I used to love that movie.

AISLING
I was traumatized by that movie.

NOAH
A young M ischa Barton.

AISLING
She was obviously traumatized by it too.

They both drink.

 5.

NOAH
I think I hated it more that, like, every single lesbian movie I can think of, there’s like this
very cis boring guy who’s the love interest.

AISLING
Yes!

NOAH
Like in no world would a queer woman struggle between choosing the goddess Lena
Headey or... I don’t even know his name. But that guy.

AISLING
M atthew Goode.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Imagine Me and You, right? That was his name.

NOAH
What kind of last name is Goode?

AISLING
What kind of first name is Aisling?

NOAH
When Jacks first told me about you, I expected redhead Irish and like I don’t know
Not you.

AISLING
M y parents had an interesting sense of humor.

NOAH
I assumed it was a family name.

AISLING
Nope. I think the story is my mom was reading a poem and saw it there. M y dad said
yes because he always said yes. I mean, I’m lucky. M y brother’s name is Padraig.

NOAH
What?
 6.

AISLING
He goes by Pat.

NOAH
Yeah. I would too.
So your parents...your mom was just a big fan of Irish literature?

AISLING
Yeah. Well. Yeah.
I think it’s more that she was a fan of seeming a lot more...interesting than she actually
was. And that extended to how she named her children.

They drink again.

NOAH
I like the idea of burying Jacks’ guitar.

AISLING
Cool.

NOAH
Have you...um...talked to Jacks’ parents?

AISLING shakes her head.

AISLING
They don’t exactly...I’m sure they know but they’re
I think it’s fair to say they’re doing their own thing.

NOAH
I always assumed that they at least talked to

AISLING
Nope.

NOAH
Huh.

AISLING
They came to the wedding. And um...Jacks’ mom threw wine on my dress.

NOAH
What?!
 7.

AISLING laughs at the memory.

AISLING
Yeah. Like in the middle of her...I don’t want to call it a sp eech. It was more like a
dissent.

NOAH
So it just like spilled on you?

AISLING
No. She very intentionally poured it on my dress.

NOAH
Holy shit.

AISLING
It’s fine. The dress was like a hundred dollars. Jacks and I wanted to spend less than a
thousand on the wedding so we like...
It’s something Jacks and I laughed about for years.

NOAH
Shit.

AISLING
Jacks’ father was there but you know, stoic. Just like grimacing the entire time.

NOAH
Why’d they come?

AISLING
Who knows. After she, Jacks’ mom, poured the wine on me, they left.

NOAH
I guess I should be lucky I never met them.

AISLING
Yes. They are not nice people. I mean, I guess to some people they are. Like they spend
their Thanksgiving giving out food to poor people which is cool

NOAH
But couldn’t stand having a queer child?
 8.

AISLING
God. I remember when Jacks tried to explain nonbinary to them. I swear to God, Elinor,
Jacks’ mom, her face like started melting.

They drink again.

NOAH
Jacks asked me to meet Joel once.

AISLING
Really?

NOAH
Yeah. I said no. Jacks never asked again.

AISLING
Oh.

M oment.

NOAH
So. Okay. Um...we bury the guitar. Then what? Like do we invite people? Do we write
something?

AISLING
When?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
When did Jacks ask you to meet Joel?

NOAH
I...sorry.
Was that
I don’t know. Like four years ago.

AISLING
So right after our...the wedding?
 9.

NOAH
I...yes I think.

AISLING
We were married for four years and Jacks never once said anything about
We have been
I don’t know how to
Really?

NOAH
I didn’t mean to upset you. I--It was nothing. Jacks was just being Jacks.
I don’t even know that they meant it.

AISLING
I’m sure they did. You probably would’ve been more....
God, never mind.

NOAH
I honestly barely even know Jacks’ parents names. I didn’t know Elinor was Jacks’
mom’s name. I thought it was Elle.

AISLING
That’s her nickname.
Did Jacks talk about their parents with you?

NOAH
Aisling. I--
I know that this is hard. For both of us. I swear I did not meet Jacks’ parents. Jacks’
rarely even mentioned them.

M oment.

AISLING
I don’t know what I’d write. M aybe we do something small? Like at the lake or
something?

NOAH
Yeah, that’d be nice. So the usuals. M ikey, Tricia, Laney

AISLING
Who?
 10.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
I don’t...
I don’t know who those people are.

NOAH
You’ve met Laney .

AISLING shakes her head.

NOAH
I swear Jacks said Laney was over for some sort of Christmas exchange one year.

AISLING
Okay?

NOAH
She’s got a lot of tattoos. She’s tall. Like very tall. Like weirdly tall. I mean, I guess she’s
not that tall. But she’s like six two. And skinny. But like you would never think “oh she
should be a model” because she’s like an uncomfortable tall. I...
You’ve met Laney .

AISLING
A giant awkward woman? I have not.

NOAH
Huh.

They both drink.

AISLING
This is by far the strangest thing I think I will ever have to do.

NOAH
Yeah.

AISLING
Like, I think this is the most you and I have ever said to each other.
 11.

NOAH
No. There was that really awkward dinner where Jacks wanted us to meet.

AISLING
Yeah. And then Jacks talked the whole time. We barely got a word in. We’ve been talking
for a solid ten minutes now.

NOAH
Were you really sick or were you pretending?

AISLING
What?

NOAH
That night. Were you actually sick or did you just want to leave the dinner?

AISLING
Neither. Or both I guess. I was getting anxious and I had somewhere else to be so I...
I made myself throw up.

NOAH
Nice.

AISLING
Yeah. Not my finest moment.

NOAH
8 years. Holy shit. We’ve been in each other’s lives for eight years and ten minutes is our
longest conversation.

AISLING
Well. We’ve been orbiting each other’s lives. That’s not exactly--

NOAH
We loved the same person.

AISLING
We did.

They drink again. That’s the last of the wine.

AISLING picks up the bottle and inspects it.
 12.

AISLING
Well that sucks.

NOAH
I shouldn’t be drinking anyway.

AISLING
Well if you change your mind, I have another bottle. I bought a case. I haven’t stopped
drinking since

Her voice wanders off. They know what she

was about to say. She gets up and goes to the
kitchen. She opens a cabinet and pulls out a
bottle of wine. She opens it. NOAH pulls out
his phone.

NOAH
You were dating someone else, weren’t you?

AISLING
What?

NOAH
When you met Jacks.

AISLING
Oh. Um...yeah. Veronica fucking M adsen.

NOAH
I don’t know who

As AISLING talks she returns to the living

room and pours more wine in her glass.

AISLING
Right. She’s this super annoying local artists who is getting all this national attention after
this like bullshit exhibition she put up about her exes and her period. And like how,
somehow very conveniently, all her relationships begin and end with a...you
know...cycle. We had to put it up because of course we did. But there’s fucking section
dedicated to me. And it’s like, what the fuck.
 13.

NOAH
Wait. What?

AISLING
Yes! There’s this whole...it’s called Blood Cycles Us. Have you seen it?

NOAH
I have not.

AISLING
Okay. One sec.

AISLING pulls out her phone and googles it.

She passes her phone to NOAH. NOAH scrolls
through the pictures.

NOAH
Oh my God.

AISLING
Right? Okay. So the pictures don’t do it justice.
I mean, the concept of it is cool. It’s like this house made of pipe and drape. And some
parts have projections from moments she secretly recorded. Like, how the fuck is that
legal? And then other sections are just like text messages or emails or letters. But it’s
literally the size of like a tiny house. Like it’s a house. There’s a kitchen and everything.
OH! And if you turn on the faucet in the kitchen, it’s blood.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Not real blood. I want to say not real blood, obviously. But that was not obvious and we
had to put up a damn trigger warning.

NOAH
And you’re in this?

AISLING
Yes. I’m the bathroom floor. How insulting is that?
 14.

NOAH
What do you....
How are you the bathroom floor?

AISLING
When you walk in, like you have to see it but don’t actually see it because I hate that it’s
getting this much attention.
But when you walk in the bathroom, everything on the floor is me. Like texts from me,
letters from me. I’m a huge sucker for writing love letters. Like I just...
Anyway, they’re all cut up all over the floor. The whole fucking floor is covered by my
words, my gifts, melted of course. But it’s...all of it is me.

NOAH
Wow.

AISLING
I wanted to sue her. But what would that do? Plus, like it’s like fragments of me. Which
is even more infuriating. Like, even the letters are
Anyway. Sorry. Random tangent. Yes. I was dating someone else when I met Jacks.

NOAH hands AISLING her phone back.

NOAH
Did you ever...
As you know, I couldn’t really ask about you. So um...is there...did you ever

AISLING
Date someone else?

NOAH
Yeah.

AISLING
After Jacks, not really. I mean, I had a couple one to two night stands. When Jacks was
with you. But I...
I’m too busy for multiple partners.

NOAH
Oh.
 15.

AISLING
Did you.?

NOAH
Jacks was [enough]
No I didn’t. Just Jacks.

AISLING
You didn’t even sleep anyone else?

NOAH shakes his head.

AISLING
Wow. That’s admirable...I guess.

NOAH
I’m not saying that

AISLING
No I get it. Soulmates and all that.

NOAH
I don’t think
I think you’re right. Dating more than one person is a huge time commitment. I don’t
know how Jacks did it.

Shift.

AISLING
Were you ever jealous?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
I always wondered. Like if Jacks met you first. Could I have been okay with it? Like you
weren’t even at the wedding. And I just didn’t...that wasn’t my choice. I...wanted you
there. Or I thought you should’ve been there.

NOAH
I didn’t want to be.
 16.

AISLING
Right.

NOAH
And no.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
I wasn’t jealous. I don’t know how Jacks did it but I never felt...
I never felt like I...
There wasn’t anything to be jealous of.

AISLING
Wow.

NOAH
I didn’t
Fuck. I didn’t mean it like that.

M oment. NOAH reaches for the bottle of wine

and pours himself some.

AISLING
I was.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Jealous. I guess I had something to be jealous of.

NOAH
Aisling. I’m sorry. I didn’t...
I meant that Jacks never made me feel like I wasn’t...valued. I wasn’t saying

AISLING
Yeah. I get it.

They both drink.

 17.

NOAH
I thought you were absurdly good looking. If that helps at all.

AISLING
Yeah. Jacks used to joke they were only with me because of my looks.

NOAH
I know.

AISLING
What? Did they--

NOAH
Fuck. Sorry.

M oment. AISLING starts laughing.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
M aybe this is why Jacks kept us away from each other.

NOAH
Definitely.

AISLING
Jacks so good about not talking about you. Like you were with my spouse, my partner
for eight years and I don’t know your last name.

NOAH
Really?

AISLING
Yes. I have no idea. In my phone, your saved as Noah Something.

This makes NOAH laugh or something similar.

NOAH
I have no idea how to spell your name. It’s just Ash in my phone.
 18.

This makes AISLING smile or something

similar.

AISLING
I know you’re a professor right? Of...um...French?

NOAH
Literature.

AISLING
French literature?

NOAH
No. English professor. But I do speak French.

AISLING
Right. You and Jacks used to do that.

NOAH
Do that?

AISLING
You know what I mean. Whenever Jacks answered a call from you, they’d start speaking
in French and I knew it was you.

NOAH
Yeah. I always hated that.

AISLING
Really? Why?

NOAH
I don’t know. M ade me feel like...
I don’t know. Like what we were talking about was so secret. Like I was a secret.

AISLING
Well. You were for the first couple months.

NOAH
I know. Which fine in the beginning, maybe. But like six, eight years in, it got old.
Plus don’t you speak French?
 19.

AISLING
I took Portuguese and Italian. And I only took Portuguese because my girlfriend at time
was from Brazil and I thought it’d be sexy if I learned the language.

NOAH
Really?

AISLING
We broke up shortly after I almost failed Portuguese II. So I guess really I should say I
only know Italian. And French just sounds different.

NOAH
Yeah.

M oment.

NOAH
Jacks did a great job of keeping us from each other but I do remember them saying they
would never forgive you for dragging them to that Taylor Swift concert.

AISLING
What?! Jacks loved Taylor Swift. Jacks knew more lyrics than I did.

NOAH
Not according to Jacks.

AISLING
Jacks lied. All I had to do was put on Red and Jacks would stop whatever they were
doing and like rush in and start serenading me.

NOAH
Isn’t Red the sad one?

AISLING
Yes. Exactly. Very Jacks. I always had to be like “Are you leaving me?” And Jacks would
just smirk and say “you first.”

NOAH
Very Jacks.
 20.

AISLING
I’m guessing you’re not a big T-Swift fan?

NOAH
I am not.

AISLING
Fair.
You know, I know you and Jacks met a weird symphony-like open mic but that’s all I
really know.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Is that...is that not true?

NOAH
I mean...it’s not not true.

AISLING
I don’t

NOAH
We met in a bar. Um...we...are you sure you want to do this?
We can go back to funeral planning.

Shift.

AISLING
God, please. I can’t...
I don’t want to
I know you’re here to talk about the funeral. And we will get to that.
It hurts. Too fucking much. The love of my life. Of our lives. Is dead. Senselessly.
And I just...
I need a break. I need a time out. I need a moment. To get to know your Jacks. And you
can get to know mine. And maybe we’ll fight and maybe we won’t.
But I can’t. I just I’m not ready.
 21.

NOAH
It was an open mic night specifically for classically trained musicians. So I guess
symphony-like isn’t a bad way to describe it. It was basically like “Let’s get a bunch of
music nerds together and see who’s the best at Chopin.” Very pretentious.

AISLING
Of course.

NOAH
And Jacks was there. With their violin. And I was there with my cello. So I joked we
should double up. And Jacks, without missing a beat, said yes. I said we needed a pianist.
And, um, Jacks joked “Too bad Aisling isn’t here.”

AISLING
Really?

NOAH
Yes. And um anyway we found a pianist. Sorta. And uh long story short we didn’t end
up playing anything classical. Which, of course, pissed everyone off. We just kind of...I
think we ended up playing a cover of a some Yellowcard song.

AISLING
Yellowcard? Really?

NOAH
Yeah. A very, very bad cover.

AISLING
I remember that violin.

NOAH
Yeah. I was happy when Jacks accepted that they were more of a guitarist.

AISLING smiles or something similar in

agreement.

AISLING
We got in this massive fight one night. And I...
Anyway I picked up the violin and threatened to break it. And Jacks was like “Dare
you.” And the look in their eyes. It was so...haunting.
 22.

NOAH
Jacks ended up breaking it later right?

AISLING
Yes. Very calmly by the way. We had just seen Once and um that night we both went to
bed. And I...heard this sound. And it just was wild. And I got out of bed. And there was
Jacks standing over a broken violin. I said “Are you alright?” And they nodded, kissed me
on the forehead, and said “Let’s go back to bed.” So we did. And then we never talked
about it ever again. I still don’t know what made them want to

M oment.

NOAH
I hated Once.

AISLING
The movie or the musical?

NOAH
Both.

AISLING
You, sir, have no soul.

They laugh together. And then they drink.

NOAH
I was.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Jealous. Not sure why I lied before.

AISLING
Oh.

NOAH
It was hard to remind myself that I wasn’t an affair.
 23.

AISLING
Yeah.

NOAH
Sometimes it feels like we dated two totally different people.

AISLING
I think we did.

M oment.

NOAH
I really liked Next to Normal though.

AISLING
Oh. Yes. So good.

NOAH
Jacks and I went to go see it in LA.

AISLING
Yeah. I...remember when you two went.

NOAH
That was a good weekend.

M oment.

AISLING
I used to torture myself over this. Who do you think Jacks loved more?

NOAH
Aisling, I don’t--

AISLING
Between you and me. I always wondered...
I have wondered why Jacks just didn’t leave me. Like, you two met before Jacks and I
got married. It would’ve been easy. They could’ve just left me and been with you. And I
asked. A lot.
I thought one morning I would wake up and Jacks would just be gone. No note, no
warning. But I would just know they were with you.
 24.

NOAH
No. You were...You are...
There was no world in which Jacks would ever leave you. We had what? 8 years. You
had ten. Those extra two were always falling me around.

AISLING
Jacks never mentioned an open relationship until you. There was something about
I don’t know. I just...

AISLING drinks. NOAH doesn’t.

AISLING
Sometimes I feel like they’re haunting me. Like there’s this residue I can’t get off my
skin. Other times I feel like...like I’m alone. And they’re gone. To be with you.
I wanted you to come over tonight so I wouldn’t have to feel that. So I wouldn’t
That’s pathetic isn’t it?

NOAH
I came because I wanted to be closer to Jacks. And I always felt that even though Jacks
shared a home with both of us, this cottage was Jacks’ real home.

A heavy moment.

AISLING
One fucking drunk driver. That’s all it took. One idiot who decided “Fuck it. I can drive.”
Like...holy fuck you know?
And you can’t even be that mad because the fucking driver died too. So there’s this whole
other family mourning and sad and heartbroken and sitting in a living room telling stories
and just trying not to cry not to fall apart. And all I want to do is go over there and yell at
all of them. Because it’s not the same thing. Losing some jackass who chose to drive
drunk isn’t the same thing as losing a partner who was sober.
The same partner I’ve had for a decade. And I just...
I want to be a good person. I want to understand and empathize but I also
I need something else to happen. I need for someone to go to jail or some kind of
I don’t know. An apology. A something to fill this fucking emp tiness that I now have to
pretend like is just a part of me. That I have to just accept it.
And there’s no fucking manual on how to bury the love of your life who was also the
love of someone else’s life. There just isn’t.
When Jacks asked me if I could do this, if I could really do this, I said yes. Because I
loved Jacks. And we were solid. We were okay. We were...
But I didn’t think I’d have to plan their funeral with their boyfriend.
 25.

Their long term partner. Their fucking soulmate that isn’t me.
And I just...there’s no sane way to do this. All these friends, this whole life I wasn’t a
part of. How do I...
How does anyone reconcile with that?

AISLING gets up and goes to her desk. She

pulls out a stack of notebooks tied together and
hands it to NOAH. Really, she kind of just
drops it on his lap. NOAH opens it.

NOAH
Oh. I

AISLING
I wasn’t sure [if I was going to give it to you]
You should have that. It’s yours, I guess.

NOAH
Thanks.

AISLING
Yeah. Um...Jacks also really liked writing letters but wasn’t sure you’d be into it so they
just kept the letters in this...in these journals.

NOAH
Jacks never even mentioned

AISLING
Yeah. I caught them writing one once. If I hadn’t, I don’t think they would’ve told me
either.

NOAH closes the notebooks.

NOAH
This is...
Thank you.

AISLING
You’re welcome.

M oment.
 26.

NOAH
Did you two write letters? If you were both into it, I assume

AISLING
Yes. We mailed them. It was always a nice surprise to get a random letter in the mail from
Jacks. Or when they’d finally get one of mine.

NOAH
That’s sweet.

AISLING
Yeah.
I guess.

NOAH
Do you still have them?

AISLING
M ost of them. Some of them were burned. I um

NOAH
Yeah.

M oment.

NOAH
Did you know Jacks loved Frank Sinatra?

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Yeah. Like loved Sinatra. One sec.

NOAH pulls out his phone. He plays

Something Stupid by Frank Sinatra. AISLING
immediately smiles.

AISLING
That’s Sinatra?
 27.

NOAH
Yes.

AISLING
Jacks loved this song.

NOAH
Wanna...um...dance? Would that be too weird?

NOAH extends his hand. AISLING takes her

drink and then accepts. They dance together.
It’s sad and sweet. After the song finishes, they
stand awkwardly facing each other. M oment.

AISLING
Thank you.

AISLING kisses NOAH on the cheek and then

sits down and drinks more of her wine. The kiss
changes something in NOAH.

M oment.

NOAH
Do you still play?

AISLING
What?

NOAH
The piano.

AISLING
Oh.
Yes.

NOAH
You were like, I don’t want to say prodigy but
 28.

AISLING
I wasn’t. I was...
I am just good at it. Not great. Good.

NOAH
Jacks didn’t talk about you a lot because rules but they did mention you were great. Not
good.

AISLING
Yeah. I...
Jacks was just being nice.

NOAH
You got a scholarship or something, right? To some prestigious school?

AISLING
Sorta. I got into...
I thought I wanted to be...
Long story short, I was wrong. And...while I’m good, there are a thousand me’s out there.
Switched schools, switched majors. Went from music to art history. Haven’t looked back
since.

NOAH
And you have PhD right? I don’t even have a PhD.

AISLING
Don’t you need one to teach?

NOAH
M FA. It’s terminal so it counts.

AISLING
Oh...I...
Yes. I actually wrote my dissertation on the overlap of music theory and art history in
the post modern era.

NOAH
Fancy.

M oment.
 29.

AISLING
What’s your M FA in?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Your M FA.

NOAH
Oh. Translation.

AISLING
Also fancy.

NOAH
I’m lucky I got to teach literature. It’s otherwise a very expensive piece of paper.

AISLING
Yeah.

M oment.

NOAH
When I found out, about Jacks, I...um...punched my window.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
I do not recommend that. That glass is a lot stronger than it looks.

AISLING
Really? Your window? Your car window?

NOAH
Yeah. When you called, I was driving. So I...I pulled over.

AISLING
To punch a window?
 30.

NOAH
I was
Yeah. I pulled over to punch my window.

AISLING
Shit.

NOAH
Yeah.
I’m not sure how you kept from exploding in the hospital.

AISLING
It got to a point where I didn’t feel anything. I was...
I guess I was in deep denial. It felt like my body went into auto-drive, you know. Auto-
pilot. Whatever. I wasn’t me.
I’m sure I’ll be spending the next three years in therapy talking about that night.

NOAH
Yeah. I have my therapist on speed dial.

AISLING
M y therapist...obviously before Jacks died...she suggested I leave Jacks.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
She said that I needed to find someone who I was enough for.

NOAH
Oh.

AISLING
Yeah. We had to have a long talk about how polyamory is real. Probably the most
uncomfortable talk I’ve ever had with a therapist. Like you’re a trained professional.
M aybe you shouldn’t judge me.

NOAH
Yeah.
Would you... have? I mean, were you?
 31.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Nothing. Never mind.

AISLING
Would I have left Jacks?

NOAH
I shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t mean to--

AISLING
I don’t know. I was...
We were in a rough place.

NOAH
Yeah. I...um...yeah.

AISLING
I had threatened to.

NOAH
Oh.

AISLING
Jacks didn’t tell you?

NOAH
No.

M oment.

AISLING
Wine? I never offered you any when I got more?

NOAH
No, I’m alright.
Jacks said they thought that you were um...what was the phrasing again? “Irreparably
hurt.”
 32.

AISLING
I was.
But not by
It wasn’t because of you.

NOAH
I’m honestly not trying to--

AISLING
It’s fine. I just
Jesus.

NOAH
Long term relationships are hard.

AISLING
Yeah. Look I-- It’s not that
God, my partner died and now I have to admit I might’ve left them. What kind of person
does that make me? Am I monster for mourning?

NOAH
I wasn’t saying you were-- (a monster)

AISLING
I just...
Even if we had
M y heart literally feel likes someone ripped it out. M y chest is constantly killing me.
Constantly. I am in legitimate physical pain and I--

NOAH
I don’t think you were a monster. Jacks only told me you were hurt because I....
I was hurting too. Jacks joked we should’ve talked to each other about it. Start a support
group. You know, in that very shitty Jacks way.

Shift.

NOAH
I started to get into Rachmaninoff.

AISLING
What?
 33.

NOAH
The...um....composer.

AISLING
O-kay.

NOAH
I wanted to change the subject.

AISLING
Very smoothly.

NOAH
I’m not great at
Jacks and I weren’t sleeping in the same room anymore. Jacks would still come over but
not...we were separated, I guess. In our own weird way.

AISLING drinks.

AISLING
It’s really hard to love half a person.

NOAH
So, honestly, it must’ve been you.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Who Jacks loved more.

They both drink.

AISLING
I shouldn’t have asked that. It was a shitty question.

NOAH
I thought about it all the time too. Only when I thought about it, I figured I knew the
answer. I’ve always known the answer. It’s-- [you]
 34.

AISLING
Jacks adored you. There has never, ever been another you. Trust me. I know.
It kind of drove me crazy that someone I loved so much loved this other person. M ade
me feel like
So Johnny Depp. Before we all decided we hated him for totally fair reasons. When I was
in college, I saw this graphic of his face and a quote. And the quote was attributed to him
but I don’t know if he actually said it because the internet you know? And I never fact
checked it so this might be fake news but
Anyway it said if you love two people, leave the first one and be with the second one
because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn’t have fallen in love with the second
one.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
So, maybe, if anything, Jacks loved you more.

NOAH
You realize how absurd that is, right?

AISLING
In this moment, yes. Always? No.
I’ve spent my romantic life leaving one person to be with another person. I left my high
school girlfriend for my Portuguese girlfriend. I left my Portuguese girlfriend for Veronica.
And I left Veronica for Jacks. I always left the first person because I loved the second
person more so
It makes sense. It made sense to me.

NOAH
You can love two people. Wait. I
You realize that regardless of who Jacks loved more, they loved the both of us, right?

AISLING drinks.

AISLING
I think...
Grief has made me honest. And I...
It’s made me look at my life. And the situations I’ve put myself in. And I’ve realized--

NOAH
Situations?
 35.

AISLING
I think Jacks cared about me. A lot. And adored me and thought I was brilliant. And
there’s a level of comfort you get used to when you’re with someone for that long. And
you just kind of get used to each other you know. You fall into patterns. Like sex every
three days or having the same fights over and over again.
It just goes into autopilot. We’re just functioning at a certain point. And I...
Jacks and I had so much in common, you know? We both were supposed to be these
major classical musicians but neither of us wanted that. So Jacks started playing the guitar
and singing at open mics and I started finger painting, essentially. And then we grew up.
And we just...
We had each other’s backs. Sure we weren’t dating that whole time. But I’ve known
Jacks since I was 20. And we used to say we were meant to be and this how it was all
supposed to happen but--

NOAH
Aisling.

AISLING
Just let me finish. I just
Then there was you. When Jacks told me they had been cheating on me and didn’t intend
to stop, I just...
People talking about feeling the ceiling is crashing down on them but for me it was like I
was sinking. I was just literally melting away, ceasing to exist. I was losing my...me. I
was losing me. Losing myself. Because I’d built up me around Jacks. I’d defined myself
through the lens of Jacks. And I
I have to believe Jacks did the same thing too. So what if...what if
What if it was just too hard to walk away? From me.

She takes a moment. NOAH shifts.

AISLING
What if I was standing in your way? Out of selfishness really. So that’s why I was
thinking of leaving Jacks. Jacks and I had history but you two had...something stronger
than that.

AISLING gets up just to move around. She’s

just wandering around the apartment, not really
doing anything. M oving slowly. Grieving.
 36.

NOAH
Aisling, you can’t
I was always second place. I was. And I’m not say ing that to be
I had learned to be okay with it. M ostly.
But I--I wouldn’t be...I don’t know...respecting Jacks’ legacy if I let you believe you
were not the reason Jacks got out of bed every morning. Even the mornings they were
with me.

AISLING
Noah, it’s fine.

NOAH
Not if you believe Jacks didn’t love you more than anything. It’s not fine.
I know you and Jacks had a rule that they wouldn’t talk about me and we were supposed
to have the same rule when it comes to talking about you but I just...
I needed to know about you. It was driving me....batshit that I didn’t even know your
middle name.

AISLING
Do you now?

NOAH
No! I told you Jacks wouldn’t even tell me your last name. But whenever I’d ask, Jacks
would just say “she’s radiant.” And God. I swear the word “radiant” became like a trigger
for me.

AISLING reacts by smiling or laughing softly.

AISLING
Genevieve.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
That’s my middle name. Aisling Genevieve West.

NOAH
Your parents were nerds.

AISLING
Something like that.
 37.

NOAH
It’s a great middle name.

AISLING
Thanks,

NOAH
Avery.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Noah Avery Quinn.

AISLING
I adore the name Avery.

NOAH
It’s a good one.

M oment. It’s a really sweet moment. M aybe a

little too sweet.

NOAH
I’ve got a box in my car. I wasn’t sure if I should bring it in or not but um
It’s got Jacks’ stuff in it.

AISLING
I don’t--

NOAH
For the funeral. I thought we might combine and conquer.

AISLING
Oh. Yeah. Okay.

NOAH
I’ll be right back.
 38.

NOAH leaves the apartment. AISLING goes

over to the piano in the corner. She begins to
play something. Something that sounds almost
classical but isn’t. On the mantle of the piano is
a picture of her and Jacks. She stops to look at
it for a second and then turns it down. She starts
playing again. She stops. She wonders what’s
taking Noah so long. She gets up to look out the
window. She realizes. She sits back down at the
piano and plays some more. After a moment or
two, NOAH comes back in. AISLING doesn’t
immediately notice. She continues to play.
NOAH looks through the box of things. And
then turns to the notebooks. He opens it and
reads a bit while she plays. The moment is
almost transcendent. As if they’re experiencing
their grief privately and alone. Almost.
AISLING stops playing and set her head on the
piano next to the down facing picture. NOAH
stops on a page and looks over at AISLING.
AISLING turns from the piano to see the box.

AISLING
Sorry. I

NOAH
No, I get it.

AISLING
Is this the box? M ay I

NOAH nods. AISLING approaches the box.

Both NOAH and AISLING look through it.
Books, CDs, pictures. She holds up a picture
that immediately affects her. NOAH doesn’t
notice at first but then does.

NOAH
Oh.
 39.

AISLING
Oh?

NOAH
I...um...
It’s not what it looks like.

AISLING
Well tell me what it looks like then.

NOAH
Aisling.

AISLING
Because it looks like a wedding.

NOAH
It wasn’t a
It was just a party.

AISLING
A party where you both wore suits.

NOAH
Aisling, I--

AISLING
And at the end of the day, every wedding is just a party. What is--

NOAH
Aisling, I swear it’s not
That must’ve fallen in the box while I was driving. It’s not--

AISLING
Did you two get married?

NOAH
No.

AISLING
Noah. What is this?
 40.

NOAH
Aisling, we’re not
We didn’t
It was something stupid Jacks did because
Jacks and I didn’t get married. You and Jacks got married. You had the wedding.
You can’t be married to two people.

AISLING puts the p icture down. She returns to

her recliner.

AISLING
Did you two ever talk about it? Getting married?

NOAH
Only in the sense that we couldn’t.

AISLING
You could’ve. Before Jacks and I

NOAH
Aisling, please don’t
Jacks said they never wanted to get married. That it didn’t fit with their queer lifesty le.
And I...I was okay with that. I learned how to be okay with that.

AISLING
But then Jacks did get married. Four years ago. To me. So I’m trying to figure out
I’m not mad. I just
All I want to know is did Jacks ask you to marry them first? Because then that means--

NOAH
Aisling

AISLING
This doesn’t have to be harder than it already is. Just answer the question, Noah.

NOAH
I don’t think it would help anything.
 41.

AISLING
What the
Noah, did you marry Jacks before me or not? Actually were you both married at all?
Just tell me-- [the truth]

NOAH
All that matters, all that’s ever mattered, is you were the wife, the spouse. I was the
partner. That’s all that really matters.

AISLING
Not if it was luck of the draw?

NOAH
Aisling.

AISLING
What? Was I the consolation prize? Was I just...I don’t know. The more traditional
partner?

NOAH
Traditional?

AISLING
You know what I mean.

NOAH
I don’t actually. Aisling, it’s not--

AISLING
Fuck. Are you kidding?
What even was that then? The picture. What
When was that?

NOAH
Aisling. We were both struggling with being with Jacks. Why make it harder?

AISLING
Why make it...When was that, Noah? Was it before my wedding? Was it right after?

NOAH
Which answer will hurt less?
 42.

AISLING
The truth.

NOAH
That picture really wasn’t supposed to
I keep it in my car. It must’ve--

AISLING
Noah!

M oment.

NOAH
I was...um...jealous. Very, very jealous. I don’t know when Jacks asked you. I don’t. I do
know Jacks asked me before you got married so I have to assume it was around the same
time. And I said that I didn’t want Jacks to go through with it if they were only doing it
for me. And I--fuck. So I said no. And then next thing I knew you and Jacks were
engaged. And I just...I gave them an out hoping they wouldn’t take it. But they did.
And that has to mean something, Aisling. It meant something to me. It meant that at the
end of the day, Jacks wanted to be married to you. I didn’t even give a hard no. So if
Jacks asked both of us and only married one of us, does anything else really matter?

AISLING
To me, yes it does.

NOAH
It shouldn’t. I just...after you two got back from y our honeymoon, I told Jacks I needed a
consolation prize. As a joke. Well, as a---
It was one of those jokes that wasn’t a joke. And Jacks said nothing. Literally nothing.
And we just went on with our day because I didn’t want to ruin it. So I...I told myself I’d
let it go. But then like two months later, Jacks threw this...um...party.
Really, it was nothing.
And um...all of our closest friends were there. And we had a....we had a fake wedding.
Our friend, M ikey, officiated.
It was....it was small and silly. And it was just...
It was something Jacks wanted to do so I didn’t feel so
It was dumb.
 43.

AISLING
No, it wasn’t. That’s when you two got those tattoos isn’t it? The ones that were just
supposed to be for fun?

NOAH
Aisling.

AISLING
Fuck. How is there so much I don’t know? Like, how could...either of you do this and
not think to tell me? It wasn’t dumb. It wasn’t meaningless. And I bet if you tell that
story to anyone else but me you’d be glowing and excited because that’s how people talk
about their wedding day. It’s like you both thought that I wouldn’t figure out that a
tattoo on a ring finger meant something.
And okay fine it was on the right hand. But Jacks took off their ring , our ring, all the
time. You know what they could never take off?
Jesus fucking Christ.
How am I supposed to respond to this? How am I supposed to
Fuck.

AISLING moves to a different place in the

room. She needs a moment.

NOAH
It wasn’t

AISLING
It was. God dammit. Yes, Noah it was. You were married. You got married to Jacks. And
neither of you thought to tell me.

NOAH
Aisling, it really wasn’t--

AISLING
Just don’t, Noah. Because yes. Yes, it fucking was.

M oment. It’s tense and heavy.

NOAH
I like Dancing with our hands tied. Or, really Reputation in general.

AISLING
What?
 44.

NOAH
Taylor Swift. I did like Reputation. The album.

AISLING
You are very, very bad at changing the subject.

NOAH
I know.

AISLING
Did you tell people you were married?

NOAH
No. We
I didn’t.

AISLING
Never?

NOAH
Never. I--um--like I said it was
It felt more fun as a secret. Like it was something only Jacks and I knew.

AISLING
Of course.

NOAH
But it also wasn’t real. You and Jacks. You had that. You had the wedding and the crazy
story about the in-laws. And the tax benefits. I had a party in my backyard with some
friends where I played dress up. It’s not comparable.

AISLING
We filed separately.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
No tax benefits.
 45.

This makes NOAH smile or something just

because of its randomness. Or maybe it’s the
way AISLING says it.

AISLING
I think at the heart of it every good wedding is just playing dress up with friends.
I’m not mad that it happened. I’m mad it happened four years ago and no one told me.
No one invited me. I would’ve
I would’ve wanted to go.

NOAH
Really?

AISLING
Yes really. Sounds a lot more fun than my wedding. I don’t recognize half the people in
that picture. Jacks had another spouse, a husband, and friends, and is that a dog?
This entire other life that I wasn’t allowed to be a part of. And that fucking sucks.
Because every aspect of my life included Jacks. And I only got what? Thirty percent of
theirs?

NOAH
That’s how I felt. I guess the remaining 40% Jacks kept to themselves.

AISLING
You know, when Jacks died, I almost expected someone I’d never met before to walk into
the hospital and say that they had also been dating Jacks.

NOAH laughs in agreement.

AISLING
You too?

NOAH
I figured we were both on rocky terms with Jacks so why not substitute us out?

AISLING
God. I’m serious. I thought “well here’s where I meet Jacks’ real wife and children.”

NOAH
I still expect a love child or two.
 46.

AISLING
So fucked up.

M oment.

NOAH
What did you love most about them?

AISLING
The love children?

NOAH
You know who I meant.

AISLING
Jacks was the kind of person who could hear song and then just play it. And it...
I loved that they were able to do that in real life too. Like they’d hear someone going
through something or could tell someone needed something, and just found a way to give
them even a piece of what they needed. Like we were in Chicago for this conference I had
to go to and this woman on the red line was like bawling. All out crying. Just not okay.
And everyone else was “nope, not going near that.” But Jacks. It was like they could hear
the pitch of her sadness. And they knew. So Jacks just sat by the woman and took her
hand. Didn’t say anything. Just took her hand. And the woman started crying on Jacks’
shoulder. And it was this moment of just true human kindness and true empathy. On a
level I just don’t think I’m capable of. And I just watched Jacks and I just thought “fuck
this is the love of my life. This is who I’m gonna be with forever.” And then I started
crying. So I went to sit by them. And then three of us all kind had this moment of...I
don’t know...it feels really stupid to call it a moment of transcendence but that’s what it
was.

AISLING picks up the wedding picture (of

NOAH and JACKS) again.

AISLING
I guess a part of me really believes that Jacks could’ve loved both of us as fiercely and as
fearlessly as they claimed they did.

NOAH
But just a part?
 47.

AISLING
Yeah. Just a part.
Another part of me says you can’t love more than one person that fiercely and not lose
something. Not sacrifice

NOAH
I think Jacks found a way.

AISLING sets the picture down. M oment.

AISLING
What’s the dog’s name?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
In the picture.

NOAH
Oh. Socks.

AISLING
Of course.

NOAH
Yeah. We, um, adopted him from a shelter. He was already five when we got him. Had
been abandoned twice and no one else would adopt him because he was older.

AISLING
Cute dog.

NOAH
Died last year.

AISLING
God. Of course he did.

NOAH
Sorry. Um...
 48.

AISLING
No, it’s fine.

Shift.

NOAH
I’m sorry.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
We should’ve told you. I should’ve--

AISLING
Yeah. It’s fine.

NOAH
No, it’s
I just...Jacks wanted to invite you. I didn’t want to.

AISLING
Why?

NOAH
Because, like I said, what we had wasn’t real. It wasn’t...
I, selfishly, wanted something, something with Jacks, that was just mine. You reminded
too much of everything I didn’t have.

M oment. Tense and painful.

AISLING
What about you?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
What did you love most about Jacks?

NOAH
It’s dumb.
 49.

AISLING
Like your wedding?

NOAH
Aisling. I’m sorry that--

AISLING
What was your favorite thing?

NOAH
Jacks had this...um...
Even on the first night we met. There’s this pull. There was this literal and immediate
attraction. And I thought it was just me. But I watched all kinds of people just being
pulled in by Jacks’ magnetism. Like, people would listen to their every word. Jacks could
literally just sit in the corner of the room and it would re-orient itself so that Jacks was
the center of the universe. Not just mine. But everyone’s. And instead of being...I don’t
know...I feel like magnetic people tend to kind of be narcissistic. But Jacks would use
that space to lift someone else up. To highlight someone else. To show off someone no
one saw. The ability to share. To always be...a piece of something, even when the
universe is demanding that you be the center of it, is...was incredible.

AISLING
The dinner was my idea.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
The dinner. Where we met. It was my idea.

NOAH
The dinner where you made yourself throw up?

AISLING
I didn’t
Yes. That dinner.

NOAH
Jacks said

AISLING
I know what Jacks said. I basically wrote out the script for them.
 50.

NOAH
You told Jacks to say that there’s no anything without you?

AISLING
What? No. That’s not what I told Jacks to say. I told...
I asked Jacks to say that if we were going to do this, we should all know what we all look
like. To avoid any awkwardness.

NOAH
Awkwardness like this?

AISLING
Is this awkward? Or is this more like life-threateningly depressing?

NOAH
Am I depressing you?

M oment.

AISLING
Anyway. It was my idea. And I thought I could...stomach it. But I...when I saw you two
together, your spit fire with each other. I just...
I had to leave.

NOAH
You mean our awkward rambling because the sexual chemistry between the two of you
was literally heating up the whole restaurant?

AISLING
What? We weren’t--

NOAH
Yeah you were.

AISLING
No. It was the two of you who--

NOAH
You and Jacks were just...I don’t know. It didn’t help that you look like...well that. And I
just saw the way Jacks would look at you. And the way you looked back
 51.

I felt like the third wheel on a first date. And like the “we’re going to have sex in the car
because we can’t even make it back to apartment” type of first date.

AISLING
No way. That was you and Jacks.

NOAH
Jacks and I were wit. You and Jacks were fire.

M oment.

AISLING
We should at least plan something for this funeral.

NOAH
We can’t bury the body. The ashes with the guitar?

AISLING
I don’t like burying guitar anymore. I already lost Jacks. I don’t want to lose the guitar
too.

NOAH
Fair. Still want to do the lake?

AISLING
What do you want to do?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Those were all my ideas. What do you want to do?

NOAH
I don’t know.

AISLING
You don’t know?

NOAH
It’s...it’s not my place.
 52.

AISLING
What the fuck.

NOAH
I wasn’t the spouse.

AISLING
You literally were.

NOAH
No, not literally. Definitely not legally.

AISLING
You had a wedding right after my wedding.

NOAH
I had a party.

AISLING
Noah!

NOAH
It wasn’t the same thing. And I
Thank you for including me in this but...I wasn’t the spouse. I shouldn’t dictate the
funeral.

AISLING
Oh for fuck’s sake.

AISLING pours herself and NOAH more wine.

NOAH drinks.

NOAH
I won’t be able to
I shouldn’t drive when I’m
Could I crash on your couch?

AISLING
Of course.
 53.

NOAH
Thanks,

AISLING
Do you want to go to bed now?

NOAH
With you?

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Sorry. I misunderstood. I
No. I’m not tired yet. I just wanted to ask before

A moment.

AISLING
The other family. They have a body to bury.

NOAH
Aisling, we can’t

AISLING
I know. I won’t
I just...it’s all so unfair. Like even if Jacks had lived, they wouldn’t have
They were completely and severely burned from the accident. It was
Sorry.

NOAH
I can’t remember the last time I cried that hard. Or as much. I feel like even as I’m doing
the most mundane things, I’m crying. Like I was doing the dishes. And Jacks’ mug was in
the sink. And I just completely broke down. Like slid to the floor, couldn’t human
anymore. I just malfunctioned.
M y sister had to come in and move me to the bed. But then that didn’t work because that
was our bed, or at least it was when Jacks was there, and then I just sat on the floor.
And then dripped into it. You know, like just like became a part of it.

AISLING
I didn’t know you had a sister. Just one?
 54.

NOAH
Three.

AISLING
Oh.

NOAH
Yeah. I think it made the transition easier on my parents since they had a couple of
daughters. And my dad always wanted a son so

AISLING
Older?

NOAH
Older and younger. One older. Two younger. That sister was Sammy. Younger. But
barely. She’s like eleven months younger than me.

AISLING
Oh. You’re a middle child. That checks out.

NOAH
I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.

AISLING
It’s an observation.

NOAH
Just you and your brother?

AISLING
Yeah.
Are you close to your siblings?

NOAH
Some of them. M ost of them. M y two younger sisters, yes. M y older sister? No. But to
be fair she hates everyone in the family. No one’s seen her in years.

AISLING
That bad?
 55.

NOAH
She...
She converted to...um...some strict Christian religion. And my parents are atheist and like
the asshole kind so...she stopped coming around.

AISLING
The asshole kind?

NOAH
You know. There’s like the “I don’t believe in God but it’s okay if you do” atheist and
then there’s the “I don’t believe in God and anyone that does might as well think the
earth is flat because it’s that fucking dumb” kind of atheist. M y parents are the latter.

AISLING
How did you sister end up--

NOAH
M arriage. She married a very rich and very Republican governor.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Yeah.

AISLING
Wow.

NOAH
They’re both batshit. Seriously.

AISLING
Which one?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Which Republican?

NOAH shrugs or something to say “I can’t tell

you that.”
 56.

M oment.

AISLING
I want you to have input in this.

NOAH
The funeral?

AISLING
Yes. And maybe it’s not a funeral. M aybe it just a party in the backyard with some
friends.

NOAH
Aisling, I’m sorry that--

AISLING
That wasn’t a dig. Although it would’ve been a good one.

NOAH
You’d have it at my house.

AISLING
I would. We can’t have it here.

NOAH
What about the lake?

AISLING
Or what about the place Jacks called home 30 weeks out of the year.

NOAH
Twenty-six.

AISLING
30 sounds better.

NOAH
That wouldn’t be too--I don’t know---hurtful for you?

AISLING
You mean like finding out that my spouse was married to someone else too? That kind of
hurtful?
 57.

NOAH
I’m not sure what you-- [want me to say ]

AISLING
Sorry. Yes I’m sure. We should do it in your backyard. It looks really nice.

M oment. NOAH reaches into the box and pulls

out a piece of paper. He hands it to AISLING.
AISLING looks at it and then smiles. A sad
smile.

AISLING
How did you get this?

NOAH
Jacks always kept it in their back packet. Or wallet. Or just on them. And uh when they
left that morning, they had forgotten it. It was still in their jeans from the night before.
I told myself that had it been with Jacks, they wouldn’t have died.

AISLING
Always?

NOAH
Always. It was always somewhere on Jacks. I kept finding it in the laundry. And so one
day I finally read it. A Polite List of Demands.

AISLING
I wrote this when we first got together. Before [you]

NOAH
I know.

AISLING
(reading)
I demand that you come home before 2 am because I don’t like to stay up late.

NOAH
(from memory)
I demand that you love me forever and that if you cannot for any reason have the decency
to tell me.
 58.

AISLING
I stole that one.

NOAH
From where?

AISLING
Anna Karenina.

NOAH
Of course.

AISLING
Thank you. For this.

NOAH
Yeah. No problem.

AISLING reads a little more before folding it

and putting it in her pocket.

AISLING
We should do it at your house. If you’re comfortable with that.

NOAH
I...
Yes, I am. I just
Are you sure?

AISLING
I wouldn’t offer it if I didn’t mean it.

NOAH
Okay. When?

AISLING
I don’t know. Two weeks?

NOAH
Yeah. Saturday?
 59.

AISLING
This is morbid but I was thinking about doing it on a Thursday at 9:47 pm.

NOAH
The day and time [Jacks died]

AISLING
Yeah.

NOAH
Um, yeah. We should do that. M aybe tell people 9:30 but then make sure not to start
until 9:47 pm.

AISLING
Yeah. Sounds good.

M oment.

NOAH
I don’t know anything about your mutual friends either.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
You and Jacks’ friends.

AISLING
We had one.

NOAH
Just one?

AISLING
Just one. Well two. Because of like relationships. But Erin was our mutual friend and
then Erin married Erik so it became the two of them. But really just Erin.

NOAH
Wait.
Not Erik Rivers right?
 60.

AISLING
Yes. Do you know him?

NOAH
Yeah. Um...Jacks was friends with Erik Rivers?

AISLING
It’s weird when you say the full name.

NOAH
Sorry. I--what? How did I not
Erik Rivers...sorry ...Erik is the chair for the Romance Languages department.

AISLING
Oh yeah. God, this is small town.

NOAH
For snobs, yeah.

They both laugh.

NOAH
I kind of hate Erik Rivers.

AISLING
Yeah, he kind of sucks. But Erin is a perfect super goddess so we just..dealt with him.

NOAH
Okay but like
What? I can’t believe
Erik fucking Rivers.

AISLING
Are you okay?

NOAH
You know he’s trans right?

AISLING
Only because he won’t shut up about it. It’s all he ever wants to talk about. Ever.
 61.

NOAH
I know. But he like...
He outed me.

AISLING
Really?

NOAH
Sorta. He went on this long, long, long speech in a departmental meeting about how he
was the only trans person at the university. And I was like “well fuck do I say
anything?” And he kept going on and on about visibility and hiring diverse staff which I
totally agreed with but like dude you’re not the martyr for this movement. So he goes on
and no one stops him and so finally I stand up. It was like guttural. I didn’t even know I
was doing it. And...I just shouted “you’re not the only trans faculty!”
And then like people applauded. Probably for the wrong reason. But God.
He sucks. He sucks a lot.

AISLING
You shouted you were trans in a faculty meeting?

NOAH
I did.

AISLING
Then...didn’t you out yourself?

NOAH
Okay, fine. Technically. But still.

AISLING
He’s horrible. He told me once that an open marriage is just an excuse to be hedonistic
while pretending to be enlightened.

NOAH
God.

AISLING
Yeah I know. Erin punched him right after. Because again she’s a perfect human.

NOAH
I think I’ve met her. Is she a painter?
 62.

AISLING
Sculptor. But yes.

NOAH
Her last name isn’t Rivers though, right?

AISLING
Erin lies to people about her last name. She goes by Erin Amelia. Really her whole name
is a lie. Her real name Amelia Erin Park but she alway s felt like her names should’ve been
swapped so she swapped them.

NOAH
Brilliant.

AISLING
She’s amazing. You’d love her. You’d also ask every single second why she’s with Erik.

NOAH
People like what they like.

AISLING
I guess.
Erin likes incredibly dull men who have to hide behind a doctorate degree to seem like
they matter.

NOAH
A lot of extraordinary women like mediocre men. M aybe we were wrong about Lena
Headey vs M athew Goode. M aybe it’s harder choice than we think.

AISLING
I fucking doubt it.
Wait. Is Erik your, like, superior?

NOAH
M y superior?

AISLING
I don’t know the right word. You know what I mean.
 63.

NOAH
Sorta. He was.
I switched departments.

AISLING
After yelling you were trans?

NOAH
Couple months after that, yeah.

Shift.

AISLING
Do we get flowers? Is it weird to not get flowers?

NOAH
Jacks really liked dandelions.

AISLING
Right but how do we get a bouquet of weeds?

NOAH
True.

AISLING
Is there a funeral flower? I feel like there is.

NOAH
I assume it’s a white rose.

AISLING
Jacks hated roses.

NOAH
Tulips?

AISLING
Let’s not do flowers. I don’t think Jacks had an opinion on tulips.

NOAH
...that’s your favorite flower, though right?
 64.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Tulips.

AISLING
I mean, yes but...
Jacks got me tulips twice. Ever. The first time was when Jacks told me about you. The
second time was after we had a fight about someone I slept with.
After they told me about you.

NOAH
No.

AISLING
What?

NOAH
You didn’t.

AISLING
I don’t
What are you talking about?

NOAH
Did you sleep with Erik?

AISLING
No. Gross.
I slept with Erin. Twice.
A couple of times.

NOAH
Oh.

AISLING
Yeah.

NOAH
Shit.
 65.

AISLING
Yeah. Sleeping with your best friend is not advisable. Especially when you only did it
because your primary partner told you they wanted to spend full weeks with their other
partner instead of a couple days a month.

NOAH
Yeah. I’m [sorry]
And you and Erin are still friends?

AISLING
Best friends.

NOAH
And Erik?

AISLING
Doesn’t know. Can never know. It would destroy Erin.

NOAH
How did you two bounce back or was it just

AISLING
No, it was major. We just...
I don’t really know how we were able to stay friends. As close as we are. I think some
people are just meant to be in your life. And no mater how badly you fuck it up, life
steps in and just kind of goes “Nice try.” And then pushes you two back together.

NOAH
Did you love her? Do you love her?

AISLING
I do.

NOAH
Shit. I mean, well, maybe you two can

AISLING
No. It’s not
I love Erin. But it’s not that kind of love. Not anymore. It’s like a weird middle ground
love no one talks about.
 66.

Like a--like I know we could never be together and I don’t want that but you need to be
in my life and I will do whatever I need to do to make that happen kind of love.
I don’t know. I’m not explaining it right.

NOAH
No, I get it.

AISLING
She asked me. To leave Jacks. But I--
God. I really love her so much but just not...it’s different.
The kind of love no one sings songs about.

NOAH
Yeah. She sounds amazing.

NOAH goes back to the box and looks through

it. AISLING looks over at her piano. NOAH
notices.

NOAH
You’re better than you say you are.

AISLING
Isn’t everyone?

NOAH
No. They are many, many people who think they are much better than they are.

AISLING
That’s the litmus test, though, isn’t it? Like if someone says “I’m the best at xxx” they’re
either trash or they’re Kanye.

NOAH laughs. He wasn’t expecting that.

AISLING
You know I’m right.

NOAH
I...you are
I think we can all agree Graduation is the best Kanye album.
 67.

AISLING
Um what? Better than My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy? I think not, sir.

NOAH
You seriously believe Monster is a better song than Stronger? Stronger is iconic.

AISLING
I...first, yes of course it is. But so is Power, Lost in the World, Who Will Survive in
America. The entire album is iconic. Not just one song.

NOAH
Graduation is not just one song.

AISLING
I’m sorry. I’m having a hard time believing you like Kanye? Like Kanye West? Is there
another Kanye I don’t know about?

NOAH
What? Why is that hard to believe?

AISLING
You? You who tried to name drop Rachmaninoff earlier.

NOAH
I also mentioned Yellowcard.

AISLING
Yellow--
They’re not in the same universe!

NOAH
I--I feel like you think I’m kind of a snob.

AISLING
You admitted to being a snob.

NOAH
Okay. But we’re both snobs. Like we’re both sorta full of ourselves.

AISLING
I am not.
 68.

NOAH
You’re--
Aisling. Your name is Aisling.

AISLING
I didn’t choose that.

NOAH
You could go by a nickname.

AISLING
What’s a good nickname for Aisling?

NOAH
Ash.

AISLING
Right. Because that’s all you could spell.

NOAH
M aybe Ling.

AISLING
Ling is a horrible name. Like...it’s a horrible nickname. No offense to anyone out in the
universe with the actual name Ling.

NOAH
Lyn?

AISLING
Ew. I knew a Lyn once. She was...well she was like the kind of cool that’s annoying.
Like we get it Lyn you have a lot of piercings and can quote Sexton. Good for you.

NOAH
High school or college?

AISLING
Obviously college. No one that can quote Sexton is cool in high school

NOAH
True.
 69.

M oment.

NOAH
I still like the idea of getting tulips. Not for Jacks. For you.
There should be pieces of us there too.

AISLING
So what will you have there? Notebooks?

NOAH
Um

NOAH reaches into the box and pulls out a

harmonica.

AISLING
Oh.

NOAH
Yeah. We could set it next to the tulips.

AISLING
I didn’t realize that was yours.

NOAH
Ours. M e and Jacks. We shared it.

AISLING
And I get tulips? That’s like super meaningful.

NOAH
So are tulips if you think about it. About when you got them.

AISLING nods.

AISLING
I guess.

NOAH
You could put something else.
 70.

AISLING
No. Tulips are great. M aybe I’ll play or something.

NOAH
You definitely should.

AISLING
I don’t want it to be too morbid.

NOAH
M e either.

AISLING
Like I’m going to cry. I know I am. And I know you will too. But I don’t want
I want to feel like we’re celebrating Jacks. I know everyone says that and it’s so fucking
cliche but I...it would be nice to kind of remember the good things.

NOAH
Yeah.

AISLING gets up and goes into her bedroom.

NOAH shifts through the box. AISLING
returns with JACKS’ guitar. It’s sacred to both
of them.

AISLING
I think this should still be there.

NOAH
Yes.

AISLING
We just won’t bury it.

M oment.

NOAH
Did Jacks have a favorite outfit or something? Like a favorite flannel shirt?

AISLING
You’re asking like you didn’t know.
 71.

NOAH
I feel like I should ask “Did your Jacks have a favorite shirt?” I feel like we loved different
people. Sometimes. Kind of.

AISLING
Only kind of. I think Jacks wanted us both. Like if it had been up to Jacks we all
would’ve been dating each other.

NOAH
Jacks never really offered that option.

AISLING
How would you have [responded]
Never mind. I don’t know that I [could’ve done that]
Not that I’m not [attracted to you]
Anyway, there was that one jeans jacket. You know the one. That jeans jacket and those
black skinny jeans.

NOAH
Oh my God you’re right.

AISLING
I’m surprised Jacks wasn’t wearing it that night.

NOAH
M e too.
Shit. Yeah.

AISLING
I have the jacket. I don’t have the jeans.

NOAH
I have the jeans.

AISLING
So we bury that together in your backyard.

NOAH
Aisling...I...
Are you sure?
 72.

AISLING
Yes. Because that means that if I want to visit Jacks, I have to also visit you.
This...keeps us in each other’s lives.

M oment. AISLING moves to the recliner and

drinks.

NOAH
Were you drinking something other than wine when I got here?

AISLING
What?

NOAH
Okay. So. Aisling. You have a studio apartment. Like there’s vodka
There’s been vodka on top of the freezer.

AISLING
Oh fuck. Really?

She looks over. How did she not notice that

before now?

AISLING
I thought I put that in the freezer. Not on it.

NOAH
Yeah. Do you have water or something that’s not

AISLING
Yes. I also have coffee.

NOAH
Coffee and water would be great.

AISLING gets up.

AISLING
I have one of those Brita thingys so tap
 73.

NOAH
Yeah that’s fine.

AISLING pours NOAH a cup of water and

hands it to him. He nods a thank you. She goes
back into the kitchen and starts making the
coffee.

AISLING
Are you a coffee snob like Jacks was?

NOAH
I don’t...I mean...why?

AISLING
So you are. Okay. Well I ran out of the “good” coffee but I do have Starbucks. Which I
know you’ll hate. Because of how horrible it supposedly is. But I really like the breakfast
blend and I always keep a little bit hidden and it’s all I have so

NOAH
That’ll be fine.

AISLING
Okay cool.

AISLING finishes up making the coffee. NOAH

watches her. He’s not sure why. There’s
something different about her now. She turns
and sees him. He looks away.

M oment.

AISLING
What’s your favorite?

NOAH
What?

AISLING
Coffee.
 74.

NOAH
Oh. Um I really like Central American coffee. The medium softer blends.

AISLING
Jacks liked the really acidic stuff. They never admitted it was acidic but it was.

NOAH
Yeah I know. Jacks’ coffee made so sick. I just...
I told Jacks I only drank tea for like a year after that. When they caught me drinking
coffee, it was like...

AISLING
Like cheating.

NOAH
Yeah. Huge fight.

AISLING
I get it. I just admitted to literally hiding coffee.

It’s quiet. Like a comfortable quiet that’s too

comfortable.

NOAH
The coffee smells good.

AISLING
Yeah. Thanks.

NOAH
So guest list. Do we invite people from work?

AISLING
I don’t really...Jacks was a composer. Who counts as from work?

NOAH shrugs.

NOAH
I don’t know. I feel like there should be more than ten people there. But also maybe not.

AISLING
Yeah. I don’t know either.
 75.

Shift.

NOAH
Do you think we would’ve been friends?
Outside of Jacks.

AISLING
No.

NOAH
Really?

AISLING
How would we have met?

NOAH
You’re a curator. You work with the art school at the university.

AISLING
I don’t. Risa does.

NOAH
What?

AISLING
I only work with
I mean unless you’re secretly really into contemporary and post post modern artwork we
wouldn’t have even met. I live at my job. I don’t do anything else. Like I just...I know
that’s not healthy but who in the arts get to go home at 5 pm every day? And it’s so
underfunded and we’re all just running around hoping to stay open for just one more day.
Besides we probably wouldn’t have been just friends. We might’ve been
I mean, maybe we could’ve been--

NOAH kisses AISLING. She kisses him back.

They kiss for a moment. It’s a long moment.
AISLING pulls away first.

NOAH
Sorry.
 76.

AISLING
No I--fuck.
It’s fine. I
I’m going to check on the coffee.

AISLING moves into the kitchen. The coffee’s

done. But she doesn’t say anything. She collects
herself in the kitchen. NOAH shifts.

NOAH
I shouldn’t have--

AISLING
No. Don’t. Do that. It’s not like I didn’t want [you to]
God I don’t know.
It’s just messy. And our emotions are high. And we’re just lonely, you know. And--
Fuck.

NOAH
Right. Just...lonely. And sad.

AISLING
Yeah. Super sad.

A moment.

AISLING
Do we really want to be those people? The ones who miss somebody so much that they
get with someone else just because of shared knowledge? We’d be a dating a ghost.

NOAH
Yeah. I--
Sorry.

AISLING
No, I
I get it. I mean, Jacks knew what they were doing by keeping us apart but I
I don’t know.
How do you explain that to your kids? “M om and dad feel in love with because their
shared partner died.”
 77.

NOAH
Kids? I thought you--

AISLING
And then what? How do you explain that to your friends? How do you--
You don’t. You just deal with the grief in a healthy way. And that’s not immediately
sleeping with someone who’s probably the only person in the universe who understands
what you’re feeling.

NOAH
Kids?

AISLING
I obviously was thinking long term.

NOAH
Obviously.
I thought you didn’t want kids.

AISLING
I don’t.
That’s not the point.

NOAH
Kind of is. If there are no kids, there’s no one to explain it to.

AISLING
Fine. Friends then.

NOAH
Is your only hesitation that you don’t know how to explain it?
Aisling, I--

AISLING
No.
Yes.
Kind of.
I don’t know.
I’m grieving. And I haven’t had sex in two months so I’m experiencing a lot of confusing
and conflicting emotions right now.

NOAH
Two months?
 78.

AISLING
Yes, I told you. Jacks and I were

NOAH
I didn’t know that included sex.
Aisling, I think we could--

AISLING
I don’t want to be those people, Noah. I’m queer but I’m not that queer.

NOAH
I don’t know what that means.

AISLING and NOAH share a sweet moment.

But then it gets heavy so AISLING leaves the
room. NOAH looks over the piano. He sees the
picture turned down. He picks it up. AISLING
returns with blankets. He doesn’t notice at first.
She clears her throat. He sets the picture back
on the piano, standing the picture up this time.

AISLING
For the couch.

NOAH
Yeah. Thanks.

AISLING
Yeah. The coffee’s done if you want it. I think I’m going to head to bed. We’ll keep
talking about the funeral in the morning?

NOAH
Yeah. Thanks.

AISLING
Yeah. Noah, I don’t want to
I’m just not sure.

NOAH
I get it. For the record, I am. I think I am.
 79.

AISLING
Noted. For the record.

AISLING lingers.

M oment.

AISLING
It’s weird to ask you if
Do you want to...sleep in the bed with me right?

NOAH
I

AISLING
You’re right. It’s weird. Never mind.

NOAH
Okay.

AISLING
Okay?

NOAH
Okay.

AISLING
We’re just lonely.

NOAH
Right.

AISLING
That’s it. It’s not...this isn’t
We’re just two people who really, really miss the same person.

NOAH
Okay. Sure, I just--

AISLING
The same person we were both apparently married to.
 80.

NOAH
Aisling.

AISLING
I know. I figured if I could piss myself off again, that would make this easier.

NOAH
Did it?

AISLING goes over to NOAH and kisses him

on the forehead. She lingers. Another moment.
Something physical and sweet happens that’s
not a kiss. AISLING moves away.

AISLING
You’re pretty incredible.

NOAH
You too.

AISLING
I mean, I can
I can see why Jacks loved you.

NOAH nods or something similar.

AISLING
We’ll finish planning tomorrow.

NOAH
Yeah.

AISLING
Good night, Noah.

NOAH
Good night, Aisling.

She leaves the room but leaves her bedroom

door open. NOAH looks down at the blankets
and then at the open door. Lights out as he
stands.
 81.

END OF PLAY.