Peter, have you seen Catherine?
The ladies went to powder their noses, didn't they.
Yeah, typical girls — going to the bathroom in a group…
Hey, there's Catherine again… at the bar… But wait, she looks like she's drinking punch…
Yeah right, Catherine drinking alcohol… you really need to stop. You know she hates that. And judging by how fast she's drinking, I'd say it's just fruit juice, see…
Come on girls, let's go dance again!
Marc, come here please, I'd like to take a little break.
Okay, is something wrong? Do you want to go outside?
No, no, everything's fine. I just want to be alone with you for a few minutes, that's all.
Where are you taking me?
You'll see… surprise… close your eyes… come on, play along please. Go in and stay there, don't move.
…
Okay, you can open your eyes now.
???
You're not saying anything?
… Cathy, what are you playing at?
Come here, next to me.
Cathy, put your dress back on right now, please.
What? Don't I turn you on?
You're gorgeous, you know that, but this really isn't the time to pretend we're at the beach. Put it back on.
No, I'd rather you take off your jacket and that tie that's way too tight.
Stop it, get dressed right now, you're ridiculous. Someone could walk in.
Marc, stop being such a killjoy, come with me on the mats. I locked the door anyway.
Absolutely not. You stop this stupid act right now or I'm leaving and I'm letting you here in your underwear.
But look, I found us a quiet spot to make love.
A quiet spot? To make love? Are you kidding me? A gym mat storage room is what you call a romantic spot? I love your sense of romance.
Nobody will come, don't worry. We're going to have a nice moment.
A nice moment, yeah right… Cathy, you drank, didn't you? Peter was right.
Just one little glass… to give myself courage…
So you need liquid courage to spend time alone with me now? That's just great.
No, it's Melanie who…
I should've known she had something to do with this, that idiot. Now we're leaving.
Marc, kiss me.
Hey, what's gotten into you? No, look at us — you're half-naked, drunk, in a dusty storage room. This is not okay.
Marc, it's spinning!
What? Come on, we're getting out of here, this place is creepy.
My head's spinning…
You can't even stand up now. Brilliant. Put your dress back on and lean on me. We need to get outside so you can get some air, then we're going home.
Marc, where were you? Cathy, are you okay?
Peter, please help me get her into my car. You were right — it was punch she downed in one go. Since she probably hadn't eaten much and isn't used to alcohol, it hit her in five minutes flat.
But why would she do that? She never drinks.
I'll explain later. Go get Melanie — I need to talk to her.
*************
You're back already, kids? It's barely midnight…Oh Cathy, are you not feeling well?
She drank some punch a bit too fast, so I thought it was best to bring her home. I'm sorry, I didn't see her do it.
Don't blame yourself, Marc, it's not a big deal, we've all done it. But what got into her?
That's something you can ask her tomorrow. Do you have some aspirin? She needs to take some before going to bed and drink some water.
Take her up to her room please, I'll bring it up.
Marc… are you mad?
Be quiet, you need to rest. Are you feeling nauseous or not?
No, it's spinning, I just feel really tired.
Here, drink this sweetheart and finish the whole glass please. Marc, are you staying the night here?
No, I'd rather not.
Okay then. Thanks for bringing her back, I'll take care of her now. Are you going back to the party?
No, I don't feel like it. Eli, I'm really sorry, I honestly thought it was fruit juice.
Hey Marc, it's fine. She was bound to get drunk one day or another — it'll teach her a lesson!
************
The next day
Marc, what are you doing?
Checking my car fluids.
I thought you'd come over. I waited for you.
…
Marc, can you stop what you're doing please? Can we talk?
I don't really feel like it, to be honest.
You're mad, I get it. I was stupid, it was really dumb, I admit it, I ruined the evening. I'm sorry, okay? There. You happy now?
No, I'm not happy. And I don't want your apologies. You did ruin everything. So I'm sorry, but unlike you, I had time to think last night, and I'm done. I can't take this anymore.
You're done? …Done with what?
I'm ending this relationship. I can't do it anymore. We take one step forward and three steps back. It's going nowhere. We're wasting our time, we don't understand each other, we can't move forward together. So I'm stopping. That's it.
Marc, no, you can't do that.
Yes, I can. And as weird as it sounds, I'm doing it because I love you, okay?
But if you love me, you can't leave me.
Yes, I can. Yesterday, you put yourself in danger. You didn't even realize it. I'd had a drink too, I was happy to be with you. You were so beautiful in that dress, damn it. Yes, I could have given in and gone along with your stupid plan. I can't stop thinking about it. Do you realize that?
But I wanted us to make love yesterday, so you wouldn't have done anything wrong.
Of course I would have! What would we have looked like this morning? What kind of memory would we have had of such an important moment for us?
…
Exactly. You'd have nothing, and I'd be left with the guilt of having taken advantage of you when you weren't fully yourself. Great way to start a relationship.
Yes, but luckily nothing happened, so you don't have to beat yourself up like that. You were the perfect gentleman: you said no, you brought me home, you took care of me. I'm sorry, Marc. I can't do more than that.
Yeah, but I want an explanation. You put on a striptease for me in some creepy gym storage room after getting drunk, so I have the right to understand what the hell was going on, don't I? What did you and your friend Melanie imagine? What was the plan? Jump me on gym mats so it's done and we never talk about it again?
You're angry, aren't you?
Yes, I'm very angry. And for good reason, don't you think? My girlfriend has to get drunk just to dare to be alone with me — doesn't that bother you at all?
No, Marc, that wasn't it… really. Don't take it the wrong way. It shouldn't have happened like that.
But it kind of did. You did plan for us to meet there to have sex, didn't you?
Yes.
On gym mats?
Yes.
But how could you even imagine something like that? You tore me apart over my weekend in a seaside house, and I'm supposed to be thrilled about a luxury gym storage room?
Marc, please, hold me. I need it.
Talk to me, please. I can't stand walking on eggshells all the time. I thought we'd settled this.
Yes… but no.
Why no? We said we'd wait until we were ready, so it would be something special.
Yes, but Victoire…
Victoire??? …Victoire??? What the hell does she have to do with this again? You still don't trust me, is that it?
It's complicated!
What's complicated? I had a hookup before our relationship, that's it. It's over, I'm not proud of it, but it has nothing to do with us. And I haven't seen her since. So stop dragging her back into our relationship.
I panicked. I know we agreed to wait, but when I saw her throw herself at you and kiss you, I freaked out. I thought that sooner or later, you might be tempted by another girl instead of me, playing the princess.
So that's it. We're back to the same thing. You don't trust me. Fuck, that hurts to hear.
I'm sorry, but I did it for you!
But I don't want you to do things for me. I didn't ask for anything. Stop thinking for me with your brilliant friends and talk to me instead. TALK TO ME!
Do you think it's easy for me? I feel completely out of sync with my friends. I don't know why I can't take that step, but I don't want to lose you because of it.
But it's exactly your weird behavior that's making you lose me — that's what you need to understand. If I never stayed with a girl more than three months before, it's because I didn't feel right with them, sex or no sex. I didn't want more. I liked them, we had good times, but that was it. With you, it's different.
But why would you stay with a girl like me, all uptight and repressed?
Because I love you, obviously, you idiot! I LOVE YOU, Cathy. I'm crazy about you. I always want to be with you, hold you, kiss you. And yes, we're not having sex right now — but it would have come.
Don't speak in the past, please, Marc.
I'm sorry, Cathy. I'm really furious… at you, obviously, for pulling something like that, but also at myself for not managing to reassure you about how strong my feelings are.