Cheating

Sophie and Terrence in a hotel room, putting their clothes back on. Sophie checks her watch.

Sophie Shit.

Terrence Hm?

Sophie Gonna be late.

Terrence Only by 15 minutes.

Sophie He'll ask why.

Terrence Suspicious?

Sophie No, he'll just wonder.

Terrence What's the problem then?

Sophie Don't like lying.

Terrence laughs.

Terrence You don't like lying to him?

Sophie No.

Terrence Alright.

Sophie What?

Terrence What?

Sophie Why'd you laugh?

Terrence You're already lying to him.

Sophie I'm not.

Terrence You are. Not with your words. With your attitude, with your general, just...being.

Sophie You're not making any sense and I have to go.

Terrence Right. And you'll see him, kiss him hello and spend the rest of the day acting like there's nothing else going on. That's lying.

Sophie What, so I'm automatically lying as soon as I'm around him?

Terrence Not just then, all the time. Right now, he believes something that isn't true and everything you do backs up that belief, even when you're not around him. You're in a constant state of lying.

Sophie Are you trying to make me feel shit?

Terrence No, I'm just trying to keep you honest.

Sophie You just called me a liar.

Terrence Honest with yourself. Lying to other people is one thing. Lying to yourself, that'll mess with you.

Sophie You're married too.

Terrence And I'm fully aware that from the moment I wake up, to the moment I go to sleep, I am lying. When I buy a present for my wife, I'm lying to her. When I take my kids to school, I'm lying to them.

Sophie You do it because you love them.

Terrence I do. Doesn't change the fact that I'm lying to them. And the lie that I'm telling them is “Everything is normal.”

Sophie You're protecting them.

Terrence Come on, Sophie.

Sophie It's not like I get a kick our of lying to him. I'm not a bad person.

Terrence Of course not. And neither am I, we're just victims of maths.

Sophie Maths.

Terrence On one side of the equation, there's the pain we feel from the lying, the disloyalty, the betrayal of the affair. On the other side, there's pleasure we get from the affair itself. And it just so happens, for you and me, the pleasure outweighs the pain. That's all there is to it.

Sophie Sounds like a bad person to me.

Terrence If you want to give yourself that label, go ahead. I'm at peace with what I'm doing. Didn't you have to go?

Sophie Yes. Yes, I did.

Sophie walks to the door, opens it and walks into the corridor.

Sophie Don't call me.

Terrence Fine. I'll just wait for you to call me.

Sophie closes the door.