OOM: Serious Talk About Serious Things [Neil Simon's canon OOM]

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Juliet's finally getting what she wanted out of this vacation. Relaxation, sunshine, and great company.

She smiles, squeezing Shawn's hand and brushing his knuckles with her thumb.

Even though she's trying to enjoy the day spa and everything it has to offer, and trying to relish the whole 'no finger-to-the-temple-psychic-stuff' part of the deal, something else keeps picking and itching at Jules' mind.

"Are you awake?" she wonders out loud.

Comments

[psyched_you_out]

"Hrrmm?"


Translated, that means 'kinda.'

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

She squeezes his hand. "We should go back to the room if you want to sleep."

Plus it leads to Other Activities.

But that's not what she's thinking about. "C'mon, I need to talk."

[psyched_you_out]

"Is this the good kind of 'I need to talk' or the bad kind?"

... *is* there a good kind?

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"It's a life-just-got-weird-and-I-need-someone-to-talk-to kind of bad," she explains, extending her tanned legs out to their full length beneath the sunshine.

[psyched_you_out]

"Weird how? Like 'they cancelled two-for-one Tuesday at the Donut Hut' weird or 'dogs and cats living together' weird?"

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Time to pull out an Exasperated Sigh, Shawn.

"Weird as in my entire view of relationships has been changed by what I heard a couple of weeks ago."

[psyched_you_out]

Uh-oh, not the Exasperated Sigh.

"Well, spill."

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Crinkleface.

"The chief's getting divorced."

[psyched_you_out]

He frowns. "Well that's sad, but I don't see how it's a life-changing..."

And that's when his earlier suspicions come back to him.

"Wait."

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Full on pout! "Shawn,they're the only example I've ever had of a stable, normal married relationship, and now they're falling apart..." She trails off, raises an eyebrow. "Wait what?"

[psyched_you_out]

"Never mind, it's nothing."

That's what he's going to keep telling himself anyway.

He scoots closer to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

But he's pulled the trigger on her imagination now! She leans against his shoulder and says in the sweetest voice she can conjure up, "why are you lying to me?"

[psyched_you_out]

He sighs. That is one hell of a question.

"Because I don't want to upset you."

That, at least, is true.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Eyebrowing!

"Why would I get upset?"

[psyched_you_out]

"Because I think the Chief might be seeing my dad?"

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Dot. Dot. Dot.

"...How long have you been keeping this from me and when did this happen?"

[psyched_you_out]

He holds his hand up.

"I didn't start putting it together until you told me she was getting divorced."

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"Am I the only person left in the whole world that believes in love anymore?" she wonders. "How did that happen...and please don't tell me you told Carlton before me!"

[psyched_you_out]

"I'm still not actually sure, and I didn't tell anyone."

We really are talking sudden realization here.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

She nods. "I can't imagine Karen cheating on anyone. She's so...honest."

And it IS technically cheating.

[psyched_you_out]

"I'm sure they wouldn't."

He'll continue to insist this until he's told otherwise.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"Right. Your dad's so..and Karen's so....they're way too practical for any of this to apply to them."

Right.

[psyched_you_out]

"The last time my dad did something impetuous, saber-tooth tigers still roamed the tundra."

... Somehow this is meant to be comforting.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

She shakes her head. At least Shawn's not telling his father to 'suck it' in public. "I guess we should let them work out their own problems and worry about our own."

Like the one posed by Ken and Barbie.