Skin Hungry Read online

  Ruth: I wouldn’t say that. I can taste you right now. I mean. God, I didn’t mean – “Acquired” just makes it sound like you’re not – (quick beat.) I only just met you and already I think you’re lovely.

  Beat.

  Rowan: Damn Ruth, I wanna make out with you. I wanna make out with you all over your face.

  Ruth: Oh. ….Ok.

  Rowan: Really?! You consent then? Because in today’s world it is extremely important that I have your full consent.

  Ruth: I-

  He grabs her roughly by the shoulders.

  Rowan: RUTH LOOK DIRECTLY INTO MY EYES AND CONSENT. Ooh. Sorry. That was – I’m excitable I guess.

  He strokes her arms gently.

  Ruth: We’re talking about a kiss, right? Just a kiss?

  Rowan: Just a kiss.

  Ruth: Then… yes. I- (quick beat.) I consent.

  Rowan: Yeah, ya do.

  He cups her face. They kiss. It’s soft. It’s sweet.

  Scene FOUR

  The next morning. Jim is sitting at his kitchen table eating cornflakes and reading the newspaper.

  Ruth: Morning.

  She kisses his cheek.

  Jim: Morning.

  He kisses her cheek.

  Beat.

  Jim: You were out last night.

  Ruth: So were you.

  Beat.

  Jim: You don’t go out.

  Ruth: Neither do you.

  Beat.

  Jim and Ruth: Where were you?

  Jim and Ruth: You go.

  Jim and Ruth: No you go.

  Jim and Ruth: Well did you have fun?

  Jim and Ruth: I did. Did you?

  Silence.

  Ruth: Can I have a hug? You haven’t hugged me in... gosh, it’s been....

  Beat.

  Jim: Sure. Of course. Come here.

  They hug.

  Ruth: I missed you.

  Jim: Missed you too.

  Ruth: And not just last night. The past two months have been-

  Jim: We haven’t been connecting, I know. (he sniffs) Wait. What is…

  Ruth: (she sniffs) You smell different...

  Jim: So do you. (he sniffs) Is that…

  Ruth: Patchouli

  Jim: Pot?!

  There’s a knock at the door. They break the hug.

  Jim: Who is that?

  Ruth: I don’t know.

  Jim: We don’t get visitors.

  Ruth: I know!

  Beat.

  Jim: I’ll get it. Stay right there.

  Jim opens the door just a crack.

  Rowan: Oh. Hello. I must have the wrong- I’m looking for Ruth?

  Ruth runs to the door and flings it wide open.

  Ruth: Hi! Hi hi hi.

  Rowan: Oh snap, you’re in a bathrobe.

  Ruth: (a bit flirty)

  Yeah, well it’s early so…

  Jim watches her flirt.

  Jim: And you are?

  Rowan: Oh hey bro, You can call me Ro. (quick beat) Wan. I’m Rowan. Hahahahaha!

  Jim: What kind of a name is Rowan?

  Rowan: It means “little red one.”

  Jim Alriiiiiiight.

  Ruth: (to Rowan)

  What are you-? Why are you-?

  Rowan: I brought you some books to smell.

  He pats his backpack, which appears loaded.

  Ruth: Oh wow. That’s so…

  Jim: Weird. Why is this kid bringing you books to smell?

  Ruth: He’s just being sweet.

  Jim: She doesn’t have any money.

  Ruth: Yes I do.

  Jim: You do?

  Ruth: Of course.

  Rowan and Jim: How much?

  Ruth: Well-

  Jim: Don’t answer that! (to Rowan) Why do you want to know?

  Rowan: Why do YOU want to know?

  Jim: I’m her son.

  Rowan: Oh word? I’m her lover!

  Jim: Ew. Oh my god. Ew.

  Rowan: What. “Lover?”

  Jim:

  Rowan: (patting him on the back)

  I’m kidding, man. We haven’t slept together!

  Jim: Oh thank god.

  Rowan: Yeah no, just some deep kissing and heavy petting at this point, but we’ll get there.

  Beat.

  Jim: (to Ruth)

  What are you-? Dad has only - And this guy is- I mean – he’s... he’s younger than me.

  Rowan: Considerably.

  Jim: Excuse me?

  Rowan: I’m considerably younger than you, wouldn’t you say? (to Ruth) You know, you mentioned “the son” to me-

  Jim: “The son?”

  Rowan: But the math on this… doesn’t really compute.

  Jim: What. I’m 43. She’s-

  Ruth: Disclosing! We don’t need to be disclosing!

  Rowan: 43? Really?!!

  Beat.

  Jim: …Yes?

  Rowan: Bradley Cooper is 43.

  Jim: Your point?

  Rowan: That... Well, just that… I guess that there are lots of different ways to be 43.

  Beat.

  Jim: Oh, what a shmuck you are.

  Rowan: A schmuck! You don’t know me.

  Ruth: Don’t call him a shmuck!

  Jim: Yes, a schmuck!

  Rowan: Listen, I’m not interested in your mom’s money, bro. And I’m not looking to be your stepdad, bro. Yet. But I totally appreciate the overprotective thing you’re bustin, bro…

  Jim: Stop calling me bro.

  Rowan: K. I simply wanted drop these books off for your mom and tell her how special it was meeting her yesterday. (to Ruth) I don’t make new friends easily, so connecting with you meant the world to me. I’m just so thrilled to have a new friend.

  Ruth: Me too.

  Jim: A friend.

  Rowan: Well I guess if we want to be entirely accurate, she’s a FILF. You know, a friend I’d like to-

  Jim: Got it. Get out.

  Ruth: No. He’s staying.

  Jim: Momz…

  Ruth: This is my house and he’s staying.

  Jim: Oh, suddenly it’s “your” house?

  Ruth: It is my house. It always has been.

  Jim: Really? Who does the shopping? The cleaning? The bill paying? The laundry? The repairs? Who cooks the meals?

  Ruth: You know you seemed so desperate to move out a few months ago, so why are you still here?

  Beat.

  Rowan: I’ve been wondering the same thing. You know Bradley Cooper doesn’t live with his mom, yeah?

  Jim: Momz.

  Ruth: Why are you suddenly calling me “Momz?”

  Jim: Momz, I’m hitting Target on my way home from work today. They’re having a sale on Hanes and Maidenform, so I want to get us stocked up. Have you been liking the underwires you’ve been wearing or do you prefer the Soft Cup Contour?

  Ruth: Whichever is on sale is fine.

  Jim: Underwires or soft cups.

  Ruth: Seriously sweetie, whichever-

  Jim: UNDERWIRES OR SOFT CUPS JUST ANSWER ME!

  Ruth: SOFT CUPS! SOFT CUPS PLEASE!!!

  Beat.

  Jim: Great. Was that so hard?

  Ruth: No, it wasn’t. Thank you, Jimeny.

  Rowan: Like the cricket?

  Ruth: I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I know you’re going through it too and I… well, I love you baby. You know that. You can stay as long as you want to. You know that.

  Jim: Love you too. Need anything else?

  Rowan: Yeah… Tampons? Condoms?

  Jim: What are you getting at, punk?

&nbsp
; Rowan: Just that there’s some… intimacy happening here. You prolly wanna ask her bra size before you go off shopping for her skivvies, yeah?

  Jim: She’s a 34C, ya punk!

  Ruth: Alright now. Jimmy?

  Jim: Except in Victoria’s Secret! She’s a 36C there! They run small! Plus she has a wide ribcage!

  Ruth starts moving Jim toward the door.

  Ruth: Sweetie, thank you! Why don’t you head on out now. Thank you!

  Jim: You sure you’re ok with this guy?

  Rowan: She’s more than ok with this guy.

  Jim: I’m asking her, ya punk!

  Ruth: Enough with the punk stuff! I’m fine. Have a good day, sweetheart.

  Jim: But-

  Ruth: HAVE A GOOD DAY!

  She presses him out and shuts the door.

  Silence as she and Rowan stare at each other.

  Ruth: Well.

  Rowan: Well. (quick beat) You did say that was your son, right? Not your-

  Ruth: Yes, my son.

  Rowan: Huh. (quick beat) So you…? (quick beat) Huh.

  Beat.

  You got plans this morning?

  Ruth: (flirty)

  Now I do.

  Rowan: Well hold on to your hat, girl. ‘Cause things are about to get Lit! erary.

  He dumps the bag of old, sweet-smelling books on the floor.

  Ruth smiles.

  Scene Five

  Gina stands in her doorway.

  Jim: Hi. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. It’s my lunch hour and-

  Gina: I have to say, I’m a little surprised we’re doing this again.

  Jim: Oh yeah?

  Gina: …yeah.

  Jim: Why is that?

  Gina: Oh, um. Captain obvious over here, but… it didn’t exactly go well the first time.

  Jim: It didn’t?

  Gina: You had an inappropriate sexual response to the platonic touch I was offering you, then you propositioned me, leading me to beat you into the hallway with my Crate and Barrel throw pillows until I could safely slam the door in your face.

  Jim: Is that not how sessions usually end?

  Gina: I realize this may be a joke to you, but I take my work seriously.

  Jim: No, I know you do! And you should!

  Gina: This is a calling. A vocation. “I don’t do this work for money, I have to take money so I can do this work.”

  Jim: What does that-? Ok.

  Gina: “I am not a heated body pillow.”

  Jim: Of course you’re not.

  Gina: These sessions are about helping you “honor your yes and no.”

  Jim: What does that mean?

  Gina: You said you read the website. Did you not read the website?

  Jim: No, I did, I did!

  Gina: If that were true, you would know these things. (quick beat) You said you had a cuddling emergency, what is your cuddling emergency?

  Jim: I, uh – I’ve had uh- a big change in a… relationship of mine recently and it’s throwing me. I’m thrown. I thought everything would be better with this change, but I’m having a hard time letting go and that’s been a surprise to me, a really big surprise, because I was so desperate to get out for so long and now that I’m free, actually finally free, I don’t know how to deal with it and I find myself wishing I could go back to before, when -

  Gina: Shut up for a second.

  Jim: Ok.

  Gina: Sorry. You were just – you were babbling, and I have a hard time with that. I can only deal with bite size feelings and statements at once.

  Jim: …Ok. Are you sure this is your calling?

  Gina: You’ve had a breakup. Someone broke up with you.

  Jim: Not really. Um. She’ll… she’ll always be a part of my life.

  Gina: First love?

  Jim: …kind of? It’s complicated.

  Gina: I know all about that shit. Do you know I’ve been out of college for 14 years? 14 YEARS and my college boyfriend still weasels his way into my dreams to mess with me at night! Why am I still dreaming about him? He was a douche! It’s over! It’s been over! My subconscious needs to get the memo and move on!

  Beat. Jim doesn’t know what to say.

  Why are we in the hallway? Get in here. Let’s give you some consensual platonic touch to make you feel better.

  Jim: Great, thank you.

  Jim enters her apartment.

  Gina: Jim, from the moment we’re born, the need to be held is established. We’re born with it. We cannot thrive without it.

  Jim: Oh, are you giving a speech? Should I sit?

  Gina: Somewhere along the way, we are told that touch equals sex. Touch does not equal sex.

  Jim: I really am sorry about the erection thing.

  Gina: Don’t interrupt me.

  Jim: Sorry.

  Gina: A little girl is told not to hug people so much, because they might get the wrong idea about her. A father stops kissing and hugging his son at a certain age and starts giving him handshakes and back slaps instead. So they learn to do without. There is a veritable feast of human beings to connect with on this planet, so why are we all still starving?

  Jim: Well, I guess-

  Gina: That was rhetorical. Let me speak. A body pressed against another body doesn’t have to be sexual. It can be… “a beautiful massage for the soul.”

  Jim: That sounds wonderful.

  Gina: I am open to cuddling clients of all ages of legal consent, all ethnicities, religions, genders and sexual orientations.

  Jim: Great.

  Gina: What I am not open to are people who disrespect boundaries. Jim? In order to do this work, both you and I must have exquisite boundaries. Yesterday’s session was a total shit show. Truth be told, you were my very first client and I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing.

  Jim: Oh wow, you’d never know it.

  Gina: No?

  Jim: Yeah no, I felt closer and safer with you than I’ve felt with anyone in a… a really long time.

  Gina: (delighted)

  Really???!?

  Jim: Really.

  Gina: That’s incredibly sad, but really???!

  Jim: Yeah!

  Gina: Because that’s the whole point of the cuddling movement! To feel closeness. To feel connectedness!

  Jim: Well, I felt that with you!

  Gina: Great!

  Jim: Until you screamed at me, beat me and forced me from your home!

  Gina: Right.

  Beat.

  Well let’s- Let’s try again. I’m going to do a better job of creating the space and staying on script.

  Jim: Ok.

  Gina: Ok. So… I’d like to recommend we begin seated side by side with only our upper arms touching. Do you feel comfortable with that?

  Jim: I do.

  Gina: “Thank you for being honest with me.” Let’s settle in.

  They sit side by side and breathe.

  I’m glad you’re here today, Jim.

  Jim: Me too.

  Gina: “Thank you for taking care of yourself.”

  Jim: No no, thank YOU.

  Gina: I’d like to recommend we lie back and rest our heads on the pillows. Would that be ok with you?

  Jim: You know… um.

  Beat.

  Gina: Jim?

  Jim: Maybe… maybe not yet.

  Gina: Oh. Ok. “Thank you for knowing your limits.”

  Jim: It’s not a limit, not like a hard limit, I just feel like… easing in I guess.

  Gina: “Thank you for being clear with me.” Breathing in… And breathing out… Breathing in… And breathing out.

  Scene Six

  Ruth and Rowan are sitting on the floor, surrounded by books.

 
Rowan: Oh this one, do this one!

  He hands Ruth a book. She inhales its pages.

  Ruth: Dusty, papery must. …Slathered with inky poetry and – (she inhales again) …speckled with side notes of luscious leather.

  Rowan: Damn girl. You make me wanna read.

  Beat. He spots something on her shelf.

  No shit, Scrabble?! You got Scrabble?

  Ruth: Of course.

  Rowan: Can we play?

  Ruth: …When you grow up, young man.

  Rowan: ‘the hell?

  Ruth: I just don’t think you’re ready. To play with me, that is.

  Rowan: Oh really.

  Ruth: I have decades of devastation behind me. It won’t be any fun for you.

  Rowan: Get out the goddamn board. (Quick beat.) Sorry! That was so disrespectful. I just really wanna play with you. Can we play, Ruthie? Please???

  Beat.

  Ruth: “Ruthie.” Um. Alright.

  Rowan: YEAH!!!!

  Ruth: But! I warned you.

  Rowan: I’ve been warned.

  Ruth: Why don’t you start setting up the game while I get us some snacks.

  Rowan: (giddy)

  Snacks??? There’s gonna be snacks too?

  Ruth: Sure.

  Rowan: Score!

  Silence for a bit while Rowan sets up the board and Ruth gathers snacks and drinks.

  Rowan: This is so great! It’s so... I dunno...active.

  Ruth: Yeah?

  Rowan: Yeah. My last girlfriend and I didn’t really do much.

  Ruth: Your last- Wait. Am I your-? (quick beat.) Forget it. What um, what did you - you and your girlfriend do?

  Rowan: Sat together on the couch and stared at our phones.

  Ruth: What about when you went out?

  Rowan: Sat together at a bar and stared at our phones.

  Ruth: Ever go to the movies or-?

  Rowan: Sure. Sat together in the dark theater and stared at our-

  Ruth: Understood.

  Rowan: Don’t get me wrong. I love sitting. And obviously I love staring at my phone, but somehow when I’m with you…?

  He stands.

  I wanna stand. And I want to stare at something far more beautiful than my touch screen.

  He stares her down with intensity.

  Beat.

  Ruth: Well that’s a high compliment.

  Rowan: It is.

  Ruth: But sit your ass down, because I’m about to kick it.

  Beat.

  He slams his ass into the seat.

  Rowan: Let the kicking begin. Choose a tile m’lady…

  Ruth: “G.”