PH4 – The Living Room

Sonny watches from the couch as Carly comes down the stairs. He is nursing the drink he poured just a half hour ago, after he had left her. She walks towards him and throws her purse, brush and gloves loudly onto the table behind him. He can smell the scent of his shampoo on her and wonders how he can ever erase the images of her that are now flowing through his mind. Images of her in his bed, in his arms, the look on her face when he had taken her. He does not acknowledge her, but waits patiently hoping she will soon leave.

“I changed the towels, the sheets,” she says. “Everything’s exactly like it was before this.” Sonny nods but still does not face her, he can’t. “This never happened. You hear me? It never happened. Nobody knows except the two of us and we won’t say anything. Right Sonny?”

“Why shouldn’t I? Hmmm?” Sonny hadn’t meant to engage her. Why wouldn’t she just leave? Ending the betrayal if at least they could not change it. But somehow, she always knew what to say to goad him into response. She wouldn’t be ignored. “Why shouldn’t I tell Jason exactly what you are, Carly? About the whore that you are?” He rises from the couch and turns towards her. The folds of his silk green robe fall open with his movement revealing the smooth planes of his stomach and chest. Carly can’t help but follow the movement of his hands as he adjusts the garment.

“You know there’s nothing about me that Jason doesn’t know.” Carly tries to put up a brave front, but the slight quiver in her voice belies her words.

“Well he doesn’t know this, sweetheart! Jason has a right to know about this! About you! He loves you! And your kid! You threw him away tonight. You know that don’t you?” Carly shakes her head in denial. “You don’t know that, Carly?”

Carly could see it – she could actually see it; the life she had planned with her and Jason and Michael falling apart. The dream of the three of them together blown into a million pieces because she made one stupid mistake. No, she thought, because of Sonny. Sonny did this. Carly, refusing to be cowed by Sonny’s words goes on the attack. “And what about you? Huh, Sonny? What about you? You’re supposed to be his best friend, and this is what you do? You take advantage of his woman the moment his back is turned? Jason – “

“Advantage?” Sonny laughs. It is a harsh cruel sound that seems to surprise even him. “I didn’t go up those stairs by myself, sweetheart!”

“Jason is loyal to you. He loves you. You tell him this -- you’re going destroy the best thing you ever had? Destroy Jason? And for what? Because you hate me that much, Sonny? You’ll lose him, just the same as I will!”

“Don’t you think I know that? But you know what?” Carly throws her hands in the air as if to say “whatever,” and begins to stuff her brush in her purse. Sonny walks around the couch and grabs her by the upper arm. “No, no, no, no. Look at me when I’m talking to you.” He waited until she stopped messing with her purse and looked him in the eyes. Sonny finally continues, “And I want you to hear this, Carly.” He paused and held her gaze captive in he steely glare. “I’d rather lose Jason if it meant freeing him of you, than allow you to continue ruining his life. He deserves better than you!”

“And you!” she yells trying to wrest herself free of his now painful grasp.

“He deserves better than both of us!” Sonny shakes her and then releases her just as abruptly. He returns to the bar and takes a sip of his drink. He turns back to her and continues, “You’re a two-bit tramp. And I’m worse than you are – a trap door that leads to a black hole. Jason needs us like a heart attack.”

Carly shrugs and tries to laugh off the painful effects his harsh words had on her. She closes her eyes, sighs and slowly lets the tension out of her body. When she opens her eyes, it is to find Sonny watching her, his gaze taking in her every movement. Her smile, however brief, falls from her face. Holding his gaze, Carly makes her way towards him in slow measured steps. Sonny watches her, unsure of her and of himself. He questions what he was feeling at this moment but does not want to analyze it to closely. He stands there waiting for her, knowing he should look away but not wanting to.

Carly’s so close now she can smell the liquor on his breath: brandy. She takes her free hand and runs it down his chest through the opening of his robe. She drops her voice to a whisper, looks him full in the face and says, “I guess there’s no love lost between us? Huh, Sonny?”

Sonny knocks her hand away as if he’s been burned. He moves towards the couch in an attempt to put some distance between the two of them. “What’s it going to take to get you to leave? You want to make it official?” Sonny turns motioning towards his desk. “There’s money in the desk drawer, help yourself. Money’s all you care about anyways.” Carly takes a step backwards as if she’s just been hit. She mentally shakes herself and brings her emotions under control.

“No. You better keep your money. It’s all you got. But you’re right, you know? You are worse than me…. You’re the lowest.” With that last parting comment, Carly gathers her purse and gloves from the table and heads towards the door. She opens the door and as she is about to walk through, she pauses and looks back at Sonny who is standing over the bar sipping his brandy. She shakes her head and leaves. Sonny barely registers the door closing, and yet somehow he knows the exact moment she has left him. Suddenly the room feels empty, he feels empty and more alone than he has ever felt in his life. Without warning, Sonny takes the glass in his hand and throws it at the door across the room where she had last been standing. The glass shatters and all that is left are the broken pieces strewn over the floor. Shattered. Just like his life, he thought. Just like his life.