Nothing Ever Changes, a short script
Illustration by Aimee Lew
Nothing Ever Changes
Outside a pub. Tom is smoking, Emily sees him.
EMILY: Shitsticks.
She attempts to duck past unseen but he spots her.
TOM: Emily!
EMILY: Tom, hey. What you doing here?
He goes in to hug her.
EMILY: Oh, we’re hugging.
TOM: Nice to see you too.
EMILY: Sorry, I... I just thought you were in London.
TOM: I’m back for the weekend. Joe’s birthday. Thought I should.
EMILY: Oh right. Course.
TOM: It’s good to see you.
EMILY: I sort of just assumed you wouldn’t be here.
TOM: Well, I am.
EMILY: Like a bad penny.
TOM: What?
EMILY: Nothing.
TOM: Did you want me not to come? I can leave if you’re...
EMILY: No, no no, it’s urm ... it’s nice to see you.
Beat.
EMILY: You’re smoking again.
TOM: I am. Now seemed as good a time as any to smoke myself to an early death.
EMILY: That’s not funny.
TOM: Yes it is.
EMILY: Maybe a bit.
TOM: You used to like my jokes.
EMILY: I used to do a lot of things.
TOM: So what? The whole time you were just faking laughter?
EMILY: Amongst other things.
TOM: That’s not funny.
EMILY: Yeah it is.
TOM: Maybe a bit.
Beat.
EMILY: You should really quit you know.
TOM: Nothing ever changes.
He puts out his cigarette.
EMILY: It never made you look cooler you know.
TOM: Who said I wanted to look cooler.
EMILY: You did. In the way you walked and spoke and dressed and -
TOM: Alright -
EMILY: I’m just saying, it just made you look posher.
TOM: I have it on good opinion that isn’t possible.
Emily laughs, despite herself.
TOM: What’s in the bag?
EMILY: Joe’s present.
TOM: Fuck.
EMILY: How haven’t you changed at all?
TOM: I didn’t think we were getting him presents.
EMILY: Yeah, I know it’s a strange thing to do on someone’s birthday but call me a radical.
TOM: Shitsticks.
EMILY: I have never met someone so terrible at buying presents.
TOM: I got you that -
EMILY: Candles don’t count.
TOM: Why don’t candles count?! You love candles. Or were you faking that too?
EMILY: Wouldn’t you like to know.
TOM: Christ was our entire relationship a lie?
EMILY: Only the good parts.
TOM: Can I put my name on the label?
EMILY: What?
TOM: The label - Joe’s present.
EMILY: Not sure that works anymore
TOM: What do you mean?
EMILY: “Hey Joe, Happy Birthday. I know Tom dumped me and we haven’t spoken since but we still thought it would be a fun idea to collaborate on a present!”
TOM: I don’t see anything wrong.
EMILY: You wouldn’t.
Beat.
TOM: I’ve missed it here, you know.
EMILY: Yeah, because your swanky London bars are nothing to this dump.
TOM: You too good for it now?
EMILY: I’m pretty sure everyone over the age of eighteen is too good for it now.
TOM: Some of the best nights of my life were at this pub.
EMILY: A damning insight into your tragic life.
TOM: Come on you have to admit, everything was easier back then.
EMILY: Was it?
TOM: Yeah! Right?
EMILY: I don’t know, I guess I don’t remember it quite the same way you do.
TOM: But like, all we had to worry about was who was getting off with who.
EMILY: No, Tom, that was all you had to worry about.
There is tension, Tom doesn’t take well to being called out.
TOM: All I’m saying is there’s nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia.
EMILY: Nostalgia for the pub we only went to because they served us underage.
TOM: We came here on our first date!
EMILY: Did we? What was I thinking?
TOM: You really fancied me.
EMILY: Yeahhhhh doesn’t sound like me.
TOM: Jokes on you, you loved me once.
EMILY: Yeah. (Beat) Well - we all make mistakes.
TOM: You really don’t remember?
EMILY: Sorry, no. I guess it was a long time ago now.
TOM: Yes.
Awkward silence.
EMILY: So, how you doing?
TOM: Well, I urm... I got engaged Em.
EMILY: What? Amazing, congratulations!
TOM: Yes thanks, I was going to tell everyone tonight.
EMILY: Who’s the lucky lady?
TOM: Her name’s Annabelle, I’ve been seeing her for a while.
EMILY: I’ve never heard of her, how long’s a while?
TOM: Eight months.
EMILY: Eight months? Is she dying?
TOM: What?! No.
EMILY: Are you dying?
TOM: I guess it’s all be a bit whirlwind...
EMILY: Tornado.
TOM: I understand if this is difficult for...
EMILY: Fuck me Tom, don’t flatter yourself. I’m fine.
TOM: You are?
EMILY: Yeah, it’s great news. I’m really happy for you.
TOM: Oh. Thanks I guess.
EMILY: You’re welcome I guess. We should go in! Tell everyone!
TOM: We actually just bought a house together too.
EMILY: Oooh very grown up.
TOM: Yeah, two bed in Greenwich, really nice area.
EMILY: God bless gentrification.
TOM: And I got promoted last year.
EMILY: Check you out.
TOM: So everything’s, well it’s all coming together really.
EMILY: Clearly, I’m happy for you.
TOM: And Annabelle’s got a great job too so it’s nice because you know we’re both doing well.
EMILY: Sounds ideal.
TOM: Yeah it really is.
EMILY: Tom?
TOM: Yeah?
EMILY: Are you alright?
TOM: What do you mean?
EMILY: You’re being weird.
TOM: No I’m not.
EMILY: Yeah you are. You’re doing that thing you do when you’re - you are happy aren’t you?
TOM: What sort of bullshit question is that?
EMILY: It’s just - maybe I’m overstepping - but -
TOM: Yes. I think you are.
EMILY: Fine, just making sure you’re okay.
TOM: Well I am. I am okay. I’m better than okay. Didn’t you hear? Everything’s going great. What reason do I have to be otherwise?
EMILY: I know, it’s just, that isn’t necessarily how that works, you don’t always need a reason, I know you Tom remember- you don’t always need a reason and well, I’ve seen you do this before you...
TOM: I, what Emily?
EMILY: Never mind.
TOM: I’m sorry but just because your life isn’t going as you’d hoped doesn’t mean you get to psychoanalyse mine.
There is a long pause while Emily processes and Tom immediately regrets - not that he can admit it.
EMILY: I’m gonna go inside. I’ll meet you in there, you know, when you’ve decided to be less of a twat.
She heads towards the entrance before turning around.
EMILY: Also, while I do enjoy the narrative you have decided to believe that you dumping me completely ruined my life, if you’d bothered to ask you would know that actually everything is pretty great. Right. Yes. Inside.
She carries on.
TOM: Em!
EMILY: Yes?
A long pause. Tom psyches himself up.
TOM: I should have asked how you were doing.
EMILY: Yeah. You should.
TOM: So?
EMILY: So what?
TOM: So, how are you doing?
EMILY: God Tom, seriously?
TOM: Yes, seriously. I’m sorry Em. Please I... I want to know.
Emily sighs.
EMILY: Oh god, I don’t know, well - I quit my job.
TOM: You quit your job? Why?
EMILY: Because I hated it.
TOM: That’s not new you always hated it.
EMILY: Hence why I quit?
TOM: So, if you’re not teaching - what are you doing?
EMILY: Tom we don’t have to do this let’s just go inside.
TOM: I want to know.
EMILY: Well...well I got an internship.
TOM: An internship?
EMILY: Yeah, at a publishers.
TOM: Holy crap! That’s awesome.
EMILY: Yeah it is.
TOM: That’s - that was what you always said you wanted to do.
EMILY: It was.
TOM: And now you’ve just gone and done it.
EMILY: I have.
TOM: That’s mental.
EMILY: It is.
TOM: Christ.
EMILY: What?
TOM: I don’t know I just don’t think it had occurred to me that that was an option.
EMILY: What was an option?
TOM: You know- actually – you know -
I wish, I wish I was brave enough to do something like that.
EMILY: You don’t need to be, remember. You’re already happy.
TOM: Yes. Right.
EMILY: Come on, they’ll be wondering where we are. I think we’re pushing even fashionably late at this point.
He lingers.
TOM: I miss you Em.
EMILY: What?
TOM: I know it’s been weird since we... I miss having someone to talk to.
EMILY: Tom you have loads of people to talk to.
TOM: I know but.. it’s just...
EMILY: Annabelle for example!
TOM: I guess, it’s different.
EMILY: Different can be good.
TOM: Not if you peaked when you were seventeen.
EMILY: No one peaks when they’re seventeen. Not even you.
TOM: You mean I’m not the exception?
EMILY: You never were as special as you thought you were.
TOM: You can blame my parents for that one.
EMILY: Oh I blame your parents for a lot of things.
Tom laughs.
EMILY: Change - it’s good Tom, healthy. Everything can’t stay the same for ever.
TOM: Can’t it?
There’s a moment of empathy between them, that Tom helplessly misinterprets. He leans in to kiss her. Emily rejects him, sympathetically.
EMILY: What are you doing?
TOM: I... I don’t know.
EMILY: Tom?
TOM: I don’t think I’m okay, Em.
EMILY: No shit.
TOM: I think I need help.
EMILY: Yeah, I think so too.
They stand awkwardly for a moment. There is a sense that a weight has been lifted. Emily holds her hand out and they walk inside together.
THE END.
Amy Yeo is a script writer with a particular focus on life-affirming subject matter, having completed an apprenticeship with the BBC. She has previously reached the quarterfinals of the Screencraft Pilot Competition, and the above script, Nothing Ever Matters, was short-listed for the UK Film Festival.