Emily
EMILY
INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT
The couple at a beautifully appointed table seem taken from some modern romantic fairy tale. She is attractive, sparkly eyed, elegantly dressed without being ostentatious. He is a picture of confident, manly, three piece suited success. He pours white wine into exquisite crystal wine glasses. In the candlelight, the wine glimmers like pale gold. The crystal reflects the gleam of polished tableware. The couple are obviously in love. They stare into one another's eyes, oblivious to the rest of the world. The man, JASON, raises his glass.
JASON
To you.
EMILY
No. To you.
JASON
To us.
They smile softly, click glasses and drink. They gaze into each other's eyes.
JASON
We are dangerous.
EMILY
You think?
JASON
Anything flammable should be kept at a distance.
EMILY
(melting)
Oh... it's so hard to believe we've only known each other a week. I feel like we've known each other forever.
A ruggedly handsome man passes up and behind the table. Emily's eyes are drawn to him. The man smiles at Emily.
JASON
Hello?
Emily pulls her attention back to the table.
JASON
A friend?
EMILY
I thought he looked familiar but no.
(and then:)
Oh, Jason, do you ever have a hard time telling people the truth about how you really feel about them?
JASON
Yes. Yes, I do.
EMILY
How do feel about me?
Jason's feelings render him speechless. He caresses Emily's cheek.
EMILY
I thought so.
She reaches into her jacket pocket. She pulls out a velvet jewelry box and places it on the table.
JASON
What's that?
EMILY
Darling, I bought this today.
She opens the box. A diamond ring twinkles in the candlelight.
JASON
Oh, my god.
EMILY
Jason, I'm going to be blunt... may I be yours?
JASON
Emily, I... I don't know what to say.
EMILY
Say yes and make me the happiest woman in the world.
JASON
This is awfully sudden.
EMILY
I know.
JASON
This is... out of the blue.
EMILY
Sometimes, darling, you have to go with what you feel.
She turns to a passing waiter.
EMILY
May we have a bottle of your finest champagne?
JASON
Emily, for chrissake, we've only known each other a week.
EMILY
Only a week. But a very long week.
JASON
Look, I like you. I do, but... but...
EMILY
What?
JASON
What kind of girl wants to marry a guy after only knowing him a week?
EMILY
Jason... are you saying no?
JASON
I... I... I gotta go.
He rises. He pulls money from his billfold.
EMILY
But - Jason, you can't, I've made all the arrangements!
JASON
Arrangements!?
EMILY
The church, the caterer. I've even been looking at houses in the suburbs.
JASON
Emily, if I wanted a wife and a house in the burbs, I’d have stayed in Cincinnati!
He heads towards the door.
EMILY
Jason, don't let it end like this! Jason, please, what will I tell mother!? Jason!
Emily’s face a mask of shock and disappointment. She bows her head, defeated. The couple at the next table are aghast. The handsome man now appears behind her.
SEAN
Jesus, Brown, are you proposing marriage again?
EMILY
(turning; breaking into a huge, happy grin.)
Hi, Sean!
SEAN
You’re crazy, you know that?
EMILY
Aww...
SEAN
You know what your problem is, don't you. You're afraid of commitments.
EMILY
I love you, Sean. I want you to bear my children.
SEAN
That a proposal?
EMILY
(rising)
God forbid.
The couple is glaring. Emily smiles reassuringly. The waiter enters with a bottle of champagne. Emily takes it and hands it to Sean.
EMILY
Champagne?
She turns and exits. SINGING BEGINS - Acapella male voices - ANYONE WHO HAD A HEART by Burt Bachrach.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK WEST - MORNING
Establishing shot. Central Park and the West Side glistens in the early morning sunlight.
INT. APARTMENT - BEDROOM - MORNING
Sunlight pours through a bedroom window. A digital alarm clock lies on the bare floor. It reads 6:29. Blink! - 6:30. The alarm blares. A hand fumbles out to bang the alarm into silence. A sleepy sigh.
CREDITS BEGIN AS -
EMILY BROWN, tousled and attractive, sits up and squints at the sunlight, then collapses again. There is no real furniture in her bedroom, just the mattress on which she sleeps. Walls are bare, the floor is bare. Laundered blouses are stacked against a barren wall next to a pile of dirty laundry. Yawning, Emily, rolls off the mattress. She wears a shapeless nightgown covered with bunnies. She lies on the floor a moment, looking undecided. She puts her hands behind her head. She starts a sit-up. She struggles up... up... this is the sit-up from hell. She makes it. She yawns. Enough sit-ups. Emily rises and trudges out of her bedroom.
THE LIVING ROOM
is as barren as the bedroom. The only furniture is a chair, a side-table on which an empty Hagen Daaz cartons sits, a color TV with VCR and cable attachment, an exercise-bike... that's covered with coats and jackets, and a work table on which rests a computer and stacks of newspapers and periodicals. Emily moves to the uncurtained windows and looks to see what kind of a day it is. Her view is a nice one - a view of the park from Central Park West.
INT. THE KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
Emily enters, still yawning. The kitchen is a mess. She opens the fridge. There is nothing in the fridge but a carton of o.j., a carton of milk, a carton of left-over Chinese food, some Skippy Super-chunk and a Godiva sampler of chocolates. Emily drinks from the carton of juice. She opens the freezer. She takes a jar of instant coffee from the freezer. She turns on the hot water faucet. She spoons instant coffee into a not-too-dirty mug that she grabs from the sink. She fills the mug. She goes to the fridge. She picks up the carton of milk. She gives it a sniff. She wrinkles her nose at how sour the milk is and puts it back into the fridge. She closes the fridge. She picks up her coffee and exits the kitchen.
INT. THE BATHROOM - MORNING
Emily, in a bathrobe, hair wet from the shower, picks up a mug of coffee and dashes the contents onto the steam-fogged mirror, clearing it.
INT. THE BEDROOM - MORNING
Drying her hair, Emily opens her closet. Her closet is stuffed with a row of conservatively cut suits, each the same. She lifts one from the rack.
INT. THE BEDROOM - MORNING
At the bedroom window Emily, dressed now, ties her ribbon tie by feel. She looks at her watch. She's late. She tosses a pair of high heels into her bag. She exits the room. ANGLE ON - Emily is wearing running shoes.
INT. APARTMENT LOBBY - DAY
Emily, carrying her briefcase and her bag, comes out into the foyer of her apartment building.
EXT. CENTRAL PARK WEST - MORNING
Emily comes out of her building. It's a beautiful day. She heads south town moving at a pleasant, steady pace.
EXT. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - MORNING
Emily stops and buys a WALL STREET JOURNAL at the newsstand on the corner of 81st and Central Park West.
We see now where the singing has been coming from - STREET PERFORMERS; four gay men who can best be described as a camp barbershop quartet, are at the corner singing for passersby in perfect four part harmony. We'll hear a lot of them - their voices provide the soundtrack for the story.
Emily hurries down the steps into the subway station at 81st street.
INT. THE DOWNTOWN TRAIN - MOVING - MORNING
The train is packed. Emily has a seat. Her nose is buried in the paper. A seductive giggle grabs her attention. She looks up. Inches away a couple stand. He is in a suit and tie, she is dressed like Emily. They speak in murmurs; are obviously very much in love. Emily stares...
SINGING AND CREDITS END AS -
EXT. SUBWAY STOP - DOWN TOWN - MORNING
Emily comes up the steps and joins the throngs of commuters that clog walks the crowded street.
EMILY (V.O.)
Okay, what did you think? No, not the mad gropers on the subway - me. Last night.
EXT. DOWNTOWN - MORNING
Emily enters a Starbucks.
INT. STARBUCKS – MORNING
One of a clamoring throng, Emily buys a coffee to go.
EMILY (V.O.)
Sneaky? Manipulative? Did I have you going? Well, don't worry, it gets worse.
EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN - MORNING
Emily is on the street again, coffee in hand.
EMILY (V.O.)
Come on. Let's go someplace where we really can be alone.
She hurries on.
EMILY (V.O.)
(a self amused giggle)
Seriously. I want to tell you all about me.
EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN - MORNING
Emily hurries along the sidewalk -
EMILY (V.O.)
Okay, to start! I work on Wall Street.
- past the New York Stock Exchange.
EMILY (V.O.)
Home of the New York Stock Exchange!
EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN – MORNING
Emily passes the U.S. Treasury Building.
EMILY (V.O.)
Home of hallowed institutions –
EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN – MORNING
Emily passes yet another stone edifice.
EMILY (V.O.)
- and great mercantile banks!
- and enters through the glass doors of a large office building.
INT. BUILDING LOBBY - CONTINUOUS
Emily crosses the lobby and joins a crowd of people pushing onto an elevator. She turns to face us.
EMILY (V.O.)
Bond trader! Investment banker! Venture capitalist to the world!
The elevator doors close.
INT. RESTAURANT - DAY
The restaurant is mobbed with a lunch time crowd of guys in suits and ties.
EMILY (V.O.)
Wall Street! Home of the great business lunch!
Emily, looking bored to tears, is sitting at a large table with four guys. The guys are all talking at once.
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