Sex with a Stranger

RUTH. It’s okay though because we’re going to be wearing these lemon dresses – they’re a bit like my maxi dress – the one with the animals on it – but they’re lemon – and they won’t have any roses on them so I think it won’t be too bad at all really.

Silence. She sits next to him.

What time are you going out?

ADAM. I’m meeting them at seven.

She looks at her phone and puts it down again.

Blackout.

Empty stage.

ADAM (offstage right). What shall we have for lunch?

A beat. RUTH comes on from stage left and crosses the stage to stage right.

RUTH. Did you call me?

ADAM (offstage). What shall we have for lunch?

RUTH. Erm. I don’t know. We’ve got ham.

ADAM (offstage). Yeah.

RUTH. And there’s bread.

He doesn’t respond.

We could use some of my cheese slices and do toasted sandwiches.

ADAM (offstage). What about a salad?

RUTH. Yep.

ADAM (offstage). We could get lettuce and stuff.

RUTH. Shall we talk about it when you’re finished?

ADAM (offstage). Someone was saying if you avoid mixing carbs and proteins you lose weight quicker.

RUTH. Who was saying that?

ADAM (offstage). I dunno.

RUTH. You don’t need to lose weight.

No response.

Well it’s always good to be healthy.

No response.

I mean, I could probably do with shedding a few pounds myself.

No response.

My trousers were really tight this morning.

No response.

Yeah. Chloe goes to the gym at lunchtimes.

A beat as she waits for a reply.

Blackout.

They’re looking round a supermarket. She has a shopping basket with just salad cream in it. He holds a bag of chopped leaves.

RUTH. Or an iceberg?

ADAM. It’s Italian. And it’s already chopped. Save you chopping it.

RUTH. Yeah.

He puts it in their basket. They browse.

ADAM. What else d’you put in a salad?

RUTH. Avocado?

They browse. Silence.

Dressing?

ADAM (negative). Mm.

RUTH. Are you all right?

ADAM. Yeah. I’m fine.

RUTH. Is there anything I can do?

ADAM. No I’m fine.

They browse in silence.

RUTH. Oo. Yeah. I might get a can of Coke.

ADAM. It’s full of sugar.

RUTH. I don’t like Diet, do I.

ADAM. Coke Zero?

RUTH. Yeah.

She doesn’t get one. They browse in silence.

I saw a man the other day who looked like Robert.

Cucumber?

Blackout.

In the queue for the till.

RUTH (whispering). ‘Six items’ means six items. That’s so annoying though isn’t it. Look at her. It just holds everyone up. It’s really selfish though isn’t it?

ADAM. Yeah.

A beat.

RUTH. If it said ‘baskets only’ I’d understand. But look at her. It’s disgusting. What does she think she looks like?

ADAM. Mm.

A beat.

RUTH. It says ‘six items only’. I can’t believe she’s even being served. D’you know what I mean? I can’t believe they’re serving her. It’s ridiculous.

Silence. They queue.

ADAM. Maybe the peppers count as one.

Silence. They queue.

Blackout

.

The streets. They’re walking with groceries. They both have a bag in each hand. On the first line, ADAM stops RUTH at a crossing from being run over. She smiles a thank you to him.

RUTH. I said what you said to say about Dan Fisher.

ADAM. Oh good.

RUTH. I said it in the group meeting while he was on reception – and I was cool and I didn’t get annoyed – I just said it like you said to say it.

ADAM. Good.

RUTH. Yeah. It was actually.

She goes to speak and a police siren approaches, passes, then departs. It’s too noisy to speak so they stand in silence, her looking to him and smiling. He smiles thinly back. When it’s passed, she speaks on. They remain stood still.

I mean I was talking to Soph about it at orchestra and she said I should’ve left it but—

ADAM. You had to do something about it.

RUTH. No. Thank you.

ADAM. He wouldn’t have done it if you’d been a man…

RUTH. Well…

They move across the road. She puts one of her bags into her other hand.

(Referring to his bag.) If you put that in that one, we can hold hands.

A beat. He does so.

Blackout.