CHAPTER 8 – "TRIPS"


ITALY
DECEMBER 2013

(Scene: Bar. Ted and Robin are drinking and laughing, continued from the previous chapter.)

Future Ted (voice-over, VO): Kids, when you love someone, you simply don't hurt them. Back in late 2013, your dad was an idiot who didn't know that.

Robin: So, Ted, how long are you gonna sit here with me before you excuse yourself and leave?

Ted: (chuckles) What, what're you talking about? I don't wanna leave.

Robin: Yeah, you do. And if you don't, well you should.

Ted: Robin…

Robin: Look, I was having a bad night, but I'm fine now. Tracy is waiting for you back at the hotel. Now don't mess this up with her because of me.

(Pause)

Ted: (sighs) I guess you're right. I should probably get going. (gets up)

(Freeze Frame)

Future Ted: …is what I should've said.

Ted: 10 more minutes. (smiles)

Future Ted: …is what I ended up saying.

(Another round of beers arrive for Ted and Robin)

Future Ted: And those 10 minutes became 20, and those 20 minutes went into an hour. Before I knew it, it was way too late and I found myself back at the hotel room.


(Scene: Hotel Room. Tracy is sleeping when Ted walks in, late at night.)

Ted: Are you sleeping?

(Tracy makes a moaning noise)

Ted: Oh good, you're up. (takes off his coat)

Tracy: (groaning) Did you just wake me up to ask me if I was sleeping?

Ted: I did no such thing! (starts to change his clothes)

Tracy: (covering herself under the blanket) You smell like beer and cigarettes.

Ted: I'm not even in a 10-foot range of you; how do you do that?

Tracy: (still covered) Because that's how bad you smell, Ted.

Ted: Yeah, I went to a bar and had a drink with Robin. You know what's funny about Italian bars? They are—

Tracy: (pulls the covers off of her) Wait, what?

Ted: (smiles) You're up!

Tracy: Okay, I don't wanna sound like one of those really creepy, annoying girlfriends but why did you lie to me?

Ted: (sarcastically) I did no such thing!

Tracy: Did you think I wasn't gonna let you go if you told me that you were actually going to see Robin?

Ted: (chuckles) Were you…gonna let me? Just for future reference.

Tracy: (stares at him) You're not sleeping in this bed tonight. (covers herself up again)

Ted: Come on. I wanted to be honest with you. It's why I'm telling you this now.

Tracy: Yeah, now after you already lied and told me you were going to see Marshall.

Ted: Robin was freaking out, alright? (sits on the edge of the bed) I've literally never seen her like this. She feels so confused about Lily having another baby and since she can't have kids of her own, she just felt overwhelmed.

Tracy: Ted, I love that you and Robin are really close. I don't mind it of course. It's healthy to have friendships that are this nice and amazing. But why did you feel like you had to lie to me? We were in the middle of a fight when you literally just walked out the door and didn't look back.

Ted: I did however send you a Love Emoji in a text an hour ago. Don't I get points for that?

Tracy: Well I hope there's a bed Emoji 'cause you're gonna need one to sleep on tonight. (goes under the blanket again)

(Ted gets up)

Future Ted: And that was it. That was our big fight. No screaming, no threatening, no real back-talking. Just a few jokes and sarcasm hidden behind truths. But you know what? That still hurt more than any real big screaming fight I'd ever had with anyone. I can never forget how your mother forgave me for lying to her that night. We went on for about 5 days of just pleasant conversation and me sleeping on the couch in uncomfortable positions. In a way, that was my punishment. And on the sixth day…


SIX DAYS LATER

(Scene: Airplane. Ted and Tracy are taking their seats.)

Ted: (looks around) Any ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends gonna be joining us for the trip back?

Tracy: I'm guessing not since you insisted that we don't go back on the same flight with Robin and Barney which makes zero sense since we are going back to the exact same place.

Ted: I just thought…you know, you wanted some time away from all that. You know, Robin and all that stuff.

Tracy: No, that's exactly the point, Ted. You don't wanna talk about Robin, you don't wanna talk about that night that you left me to be with her, you just wanna make jokes and try to clear the air. If it's killing you that much, let me tell you yet again: I am fine with Robin. I love her like my sister—she is a strong and amazing person. It's you, Ted, who's weak and not manning up to his feelings.

(An old couple from across the aisle stares at them)

Tracy: We're practicing a Greek play.

Ted: (looking at Tracy) Fine, you're right. You want me to admit it? Fine, I'll say it. I'm weak to the floor when it comes to Robin. But how can I tell you that? I don't think about her that way anymore because her window is closed—

Tracy: But if her window was open?

Ted: (interrupts) But you can't ask me what if she comes back to me again. You don't get to play the "What If" card because that's not the way relationships work. I'm with you not because I'm not with her or anyone else. I'm with you because on the day I lost her, yeah I found you. And there hasn't been a single second where I haven't been so grateful.

Tracy: Ted…

Ted: If I could just so easily go back and forth in time, I would go back to at least a few days before I met you. And I would tempt fate into bumping into you earlier because any extra day with you is something for me.

(Tracy smiles at him)

Ted: And I hope that our next trip to Italy would be much, much better.

(They both chuckle, then kiss)

Old Man: (to Old Woman) I think I've seen that play before.

Old Woman: Are you going to the theater with another woman?

Old Man: Yeah, because if I'm gonna be cheating on you with another woman, I'm gonna want to go to the theater with her too. Idiot.

(Ted and Tracy laugh to each other)

Ted: That's gonna be us someday.

(They look at the old couple again)


FIVE MONTHS LATER
FARHAMPTON INN

(Flashforward to May 2014, Tracy is waiting in the waiting room/bar when Ted walks in.)

Ted: Hey beautiful.

Tracy: Hii.

(Ted sits next to her at the table)

Ted: (smiles) God, you look great.

Tracy: What? Come on.

Ted: You do!

Tracy: I've been in the car all morning. I just ate a croissant crumb…that I found in my bra. I'm disgusting.

Ted: Yeah, I saw you do that and it was super hot.

(They laugh)

Tracy: Come here.

Ted: Come here.

Tracy: Come here.

(They kiss)

Ted: Hey, you want to hear something funny? One year ago, almost to the minute, I was sitting at this very table right in that seat. (points)

Tracy: Oh yeah, I can see it. Nursing your gin-and-tonic with three extra limes, doing the crossword, probably being all showboat-y about it.

Ted: (chuckles) I wasn't being showboat-y about it!

(The conversation keeps going, just fading out as Future Ted narrates)

Future Ted: Kids, I learned a valuable lesson on that trip to Italy in 2013. Never lie to your mother. Ever. In fact, on every trip I took with your mother ever since I met her, something memorable happened. On our one-year anniversary at the Farhampton Inn, we bumped into two amazing people.

Old Man: (walking by with his wife) It's these two!

Old Woman: No way!

(Ted and Tracy turn around and smile)

Ted: Heyy!

Tracy: Hii!

(The couple just keep walking, and Ted and Tracy smile)


2015

(Flashforward to sometime in 2015, on an airplane. Ted and Tracy are holding hands smiling.)

Tracy: I can't believe it.

Ted: I know.

Old Man: It's them! (pokes his wife) Honey, look, it's these two again!

Old Woman: No way!

Tracy: Oh, hiii!

Old Woman: What are the odds?

Old Man: You're going to practice another play in Argentina?

Ted: (chuckles) No, actually, we just got engaged recently.

Old Woman: Oh congratulations!

Ted: Yeah, we're keeping it low for now 'cause we're visiting some friends who are going through a nasty divorce.

Old Woman: You have friends in Argentina?

Old Man: Would you leave them alone, woman?

Ted: (chuckles) We never officially met. I'm Ted. (offers a handshake)

Future Ted: And kids, that's how your mother and I met Mary and Alan Gale, the couple we would meet on almost every single trip we would ever take.


Messy, right? It's starting to get a bit tough to be creative, but I'm doing my best and hopefully I can improve by next chapter. Any criticism is welcome so please tell me what you honestly thought of this chapter! Thank you so much.