(un)natural sweetness
Title: (un)natural sweetness
Characters:
Lois: happy, but confused and searching, as of recent, in a sweet relationship with Nick
Mara: a good sweet relation to Lois, no, a great sweet relation, in a long-term sweet relationship with Rose
Setting: This is not your world. This is not my world. Nobody’s heard of sex here. Why would they? Forming sweet relationships is the norm when people find themselves in sweetness. Sweet relationships are negotiated among their members. Lois and Mara are in different sweet relationship to Mara and Rose which differs from Lois’ sweet relationship with Nick. In sweetness, you are accepted.
Scene 1 of 1
[All extras on stage. Round blue metallic coffee tables are arranged as if outside a coffee shop. Mara sits at the one located in the centre of the stage. She’s reading a book. All extras in groupings slightly further back in constant chatter and occasional laughter. Coffee cups and teaspoons cling clang.
Lois enters from the right. Mara looks up and waves in Lois’ direction.]
Lois: (Lois gestures and hugs Mara) Mara, love.
Mara: (Mara taps Lois’ back) Lois, you silly banana, where have you been, I’ve missed you like crazy.
[They both sit]
Lois: Work work work.
Mara: And Nick?
Lois: (hesitates) And Nick. And Rose?
Mara: She’s great, we’re great. Why the sense of urgency banana-lou?
Lois: (hesitates again) Can I get a coffee first?
(gestures to waiter) Is that okay?
Mara: (increasingly worried) Of course my Lou.
[A moment passes. The waiter brings an iced coffee to Lois. Momentarily, he eyes her suspiciously. Background chatter and laughter continue.]
Lois: (conspiratorially) The weirdest thing happened to me the other day.
Mara: What’s happened?
Lois: (pauses) Nick.
Mara: (accusatorily) What did he do?
Lois: (eyes the waiter) He did something to me.
Mara: (clutches book) What did he do, Lou? You can tell me.
Lois: It was totally consensual before you panic.
Mara: (relaxes hands) Alright, good.
Lois: (pauses as if to gather the right words) It’s been the most exciting, exhilarating even, three months of my life. Every day he does something that surprises me. That shows his kindness and honesty and a pure desire to connect, to get past what is a social mask or persona to allow me to see the realness behind it. Even the little things, like he admitted to me that his biggest insecurity are his thighs. It sounds trivial, but the way he told me – vulnerable, trusting – like he knew it wouldn’t change how I see him.
Mara: What are his thighs like?
Lois: Juicy.
Mara: Sounds beautiful.
Lois: The most beautiful. A work of art. Another example, right? He regrets not going to uni. Makes him feel less. He asked me why I am with him. He told me his parents, teachers, social milieu expected him to go straight to work, that he wasn’t smart enough to be worth loans and delays. He must have known I’d be judgemental about that! What he told me about his parents… Growing up… He wears his heart on his sleeve. He believes in us.
Mara: That’s really sweet.
Lois: It is, isn’t it. But that’s not what happened. The other day in moment of pure sweetness…
(looks around and says in hushed tone) he touched me.
Mara: (confused about why that’s a big deal) Okay…(?)
Lois: (continues) the way we only touch ourselves, if we do.
Mara: (surprised) Oh.
(hushed concerned tone) Why would he do that? Are you okay?
Lois: Yes, I’m fine. I don’t know why! I was taken aback at first, but not by his action, that felt natural, as weird as that is…
(Looks around again) by my reaction. Somehow him touching me brought a new meaning to bodily tension and release. It made it… I don’t know how to describe it exactly… about our relationship. Like the release was not just a response to stimulus but a response to emotion.
Mara: (plays with her book nervously) That is weird.
Lois: Right? And the thing is, that’s not where it stopped. I felt the urge to do it to him too.
Mara: (shocked) What? To relieve him?
Lois: Yes.
Mara: That’s so interesting. Why? To relax him?
Lois: No. That’s the weirdest part. Not to relax him – almost the opposite? It felt right not to do it efficiently. It felt right to linger in the frustration of unresolved tension. Not in a sadomasochistic way. In an unuttered agreement just between me and him that the tension that we were building in each other’s bodies somehow meant something. That the frustration itself was…part of it.
Mara: So, you’re frustrated with each other?
Lois: No? I don’t know. I don’t think so. There was a pleasure in the frustration.
Mara: That does sounds masochistic.
Lois: Are you judging me?
Mara: (puts down book and looks in Lois’ eyes) Not even a little bit. I am just trying to understand.
Lois: I know I’m not making sense. I haven’t gotten my head around it. I thought talking to you about it might clear things up more. Anyway, it lasted all night.
Mara: You’re kidding!
Lois: I am not!
(laughs then lowers voice again) And it was intense. I mean he brought my body to the point of relief and then let it cool down again and then build it up again and then let cool down and then he built it up. He somehow knew exactly when to stop, when to continue. He made me come with spectacular intensity.
Mara: Better than the normal way?
Lois: No, different. But it wasn’t even about the orgasm. It was about the fact that we did it together. I don’t know how to explain it.
Mara: Yeah, I don’t get it, I’ll be honest, but I am happy for you. If you both enjoyed it, that’s what matters. Like another expression of the sweetness between you. Do you think you’d do it again?
Lois: I know I will. Is that crazy? I feel like my brain, my body just work differently now. I catch myself thinking about it.
(Glances at waiter again) Sometimes at random times.
(Looks down) Not even in moments of sweetness. His thighs have gained a new meaning.
Mara: (Laughs loudly) That’s hilarious. Why do you look upset, banana-lou? It sounds like things are working out for you and Nick. It really sounds like you’re meant for each other.
Lois: If we can have half the sweetness you have with Rose, then I know we’ve made it.
(hushed voice again) Do I need to tell people?
Mara: Tell people what Lou?
Lois: That I’m different.
Mara: We’re all different, Lou. Don’t sweat it. Does it feel natural to you and Nick? That’s all that matters. That’s what sweetness is. Being yourself, with others. In each sweet relationship an essential part of you.
Lois: I couldn’t be without your sweetness, Mara. Not with a thousand Nicks.
[Muted laughter bursts and intensifies behind Mara and Lois. Lois looks around, pausing at each table, each with its own collection of people, joyful, different, some holding hands, some thighs, some a distance away equally as engaged in conversation.]
Lois: I’m so lucky to know you.
Mara: I’m the lucky one.
[Lights off, but chatter, laughter and clanging continue, then die off.]
End of Scene
