D and L lounge in the grass by a skate park sometime in the late afternoon, on an unseasonably warm California autumn day. They take photos of each other taking photos of the other, both calling the other unoriginal and stupid for doing so. Their conversation is little more than a series of spirited insults and hyperbolic complaints about the person across from them.
A boy, 8 or 9 years old, astride his bicycle, rolls by.
BOY: I bet you’re boyfriend and girlfriend.
(Simultaneously)
D: Um, no.
L: No, we’re not!
A beat.
D: A long time ago.
BOY studies the couple quizzically, not moving from his spot. An older girl in her early teens walks towards them.
GIRL: Why aren’t you girlfriend and boyfriend anymore?
D: (Decidedly, as if an obvious fact, though most certainly a lie) I live in Illinois.
L laughs incredulously and turns to D.
L: (Dismissively, but without malice) So the distance, is that the only reason why we’re not still together?
