A/N: Hi! This is based on Speech and Debate, an off-off-Broadway show by Stephen Karam. (Disclaimer: I'm not he.) I don't remember the actual ages of the characters, unfortunately, except that Solomon might have been sixteen. Anyhow, for my purposes, Solomon was a junior, and both Howie and Diwata were seniors at the time of the show. Also, my memory is, as of yet, not perfect, and details may be wrong. Feel free to correct me. If anyone's seen the show, that is. :) Please review! Whether or not you liked it, I'd like to know why. Thanks!
TUESDAY, JULY 24
Hey, this is Howie, leave a message and maybe I'll call you back. "Hi Howie, this is Solomon. I was just calling to see what's, um, what's up, because I just got back from…camp and I was kind of bored and I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out or something. Um, bye."
You've reached Solomon's cell phone. Please leave a message so I can return your call. Thanks, and have a nice day. "Okay, you really need to change your message…it's, like, really weird. So I'll probably be hanging out by the river Thursday, if you want to show up. Yeah. Okay. Bye."
from: can u plz come 2 the river thurs bcuz solomon is and i rlly dont want 2 go alone.
from: was planning on drinking slowly but surely and seeing if it's true that that helps stave off a drunken stupor, but I'll sacrifice my scientific experimentation for you ladies.
Although I have been avoiding the park since I found out that Healy haunts it.
from: u stop calling us 'ladies'?!?!?!?!?!?
from: be stupid. See you Thursday.
THURSDAY, JULY 26
Howie sat in a tree, pretending to read Nietzsche. He had noticed that all the noble yet troubled movie youth seemed to read Nietzsche, so he had bought Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It was boring and wordy, so Howie googled it to find out the ending. He ended up liking the Nietzsche he found on google, and thought that all the 'God is dead' stuff was pretty solid. So here he sat, in the upper branches of a maple tree, looking over the top of Thus Spoke Zarathustra for Solomon and Diwata.
Diwata pulled up at 12:03, an hour and three minutes after Howie had arrived. He pulled the leaves more tightly around him, as if another branch would hide him better. Diwata slammed the door of her large red car and clicked the lock button, satisfied at the click of technology. Her orange corduroys clashed horrible with both her car and the heat. She swung a dirt-colored bag over her shoulder and looked, Howie thought, surprisingly normal. He assumed this was because he was too far away to see her very well, and also because she was wearing sunglasses. She strode to a plastic bench, looked to both her left and her right, and, seeing nothing, pulled out a notebook covered in construction paper and crayon.
Howie rolled his eyes and called out, "Hey!"
Diwata scribbled furiously in her notebook. Sighing, Howie tried again. "Hey! Diwata!"
This time, she looked up, bounced off the bench, and walked very quickly towards the tree. She peered inquisitively up. "Howie?"
He stared down at her. He had forgotten how much her voice annoyed him. "Hi."
"Are you coming down, or am I coming up?"
"Um, I was going to come down, but…"
Diwata waited. Another habit Howie had never come to love. "But you can come up. Actually, yeah, come up."
It was almost conspiratorial, the way the two of them waited for Solomon. Howie thought that it would have been much more so if they had waited in silence, but he couldn't be that lucky. "So what have you been doing with yourself?" she wanted to know.
"Nothing unusual," he responded. Diwata snorted. "What?"
"What do you consider unusual?"
"I don't know. Um, cliff-diving, scuba diving, baseball. You know." Diwata smiled. "Um, could you stop staring at me? It's really uncomfortable." Diwata had been staring at Howie, she knew, although she was a little surprised that he had noticed. She was just fascinated by how little he'd changed.
"I wasn't staring," she pointed out quickly. She guessed that she hadn't changed much, either.
"Um, yeah, you were."
"FYI, I was just…looking. There's a difference, okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
After a moment of silence, Diwata spoke again, this time staring hard at the parking lot. "Do you ever think we should have turned Mr. Healy in?"
This is why she has no friends, thought Howie. Awkward subjects are her crack. "I don't really think about it," he lied.
"Yeah, sure."
"You know, you really should figure out when to shut up." Howie didn't regret saying it, but he did regret his temper flare.
Diwata considered getting mad, but she didn't want to. She shrugged. "Whatever," she said, even though 'whatever' was not what she was thinking.
"Solomon's here." Howie instinctively closed the leaves around them. Diwata raised her eyebrows remarkably high and stuck her head out of the tree.
"We're up here, Solomon!" Solomon stepped out of his father's car. He was nearly bald.
Howie snickered. He jumped out of the tree, stumbling a little, and waved towards Solomon. Diwata climbed down, appearing feet first and complaining about scraping her knee. Solomon began to walk over, and finding a walk too slow, began a fully-fledged jog, arms pumping pompously at his sides. "Freak," muttered Howie.
Solomon reached them and smiled instinctively. "Hi." Howie reached out and rubbed his head.
"Where's your hair, man?"
Grinning strangely, Solomon said, "In the compost heap at camp."
Diwata folded her arms and tilted her head. "Well…?"
Solomon exhaled. "You really want to know?"
Howie sat down, cross-legged. "Only if there's kinky sex."
Diwata kicked Howie and joined him on the ground. Both looked up expectantly. Solomon's cheeks were slightly pink. "I didn't think we'd get to this so fast." He sat down, knees pulled to his chest. "Okay. So…"
To be continued, whether or not anyone reads and/or reviews. That said, it would be nice if you did review. Thank you kindly. (As opposed to thanking you unkindly.)