Lost for Words

Hey, what's the story?

My alarm didn't off.

You're lucky Steve wasn't here when you walked in.

I did cover for you earlier.

Oh my savior.

Maybe the 10th time I'll get cake.

Oh sure.

- What kind of cake? - Oh, coconut.

Tell me what?

You like coconut.

I love coconut.

Who do you think eats all the bounties

out of the celebration box?

Every box, every Christmas.

They call me the bounty hunter.

Hi.

Can I please return this jumper?

And they do, they go very, very nicely.

I've got these as well.

But I only caught three diseases this year.

- Only three? - Yeah.

Which is really good.

Proud of you.

Come on, chop, chop.

Okay, that's fine.

You wanna see something cool?

Always.

Check this out.

Okay.

- Okay. - Turn around.

- What is it? - What is it?

It's only the most revolutionary clothing

technology known to man.

And we've got this in our little store.

Watch this.

Ready?

Okay.

Wa, wa.

- So? - So it folds clothes.

Yeah, I can do 35 in one minute.

If that's not dripping with efficiency

I don't know what is.

Time me.

Ready?

I don't have my phone.

Just count.

Okay, one, two.

To yourself.

You distracting my perfect technique.

Okay, one.

Hmm, you're on the open tomorrow at 8:00 AM, yeah?

Yeah, I know.

And thank you again for covering.

I appreciate you.

Well, Lana, I'm gonna be real,

as a friend. I know you hate working here.

- I don't. - Don't argue with me.

It's supposed to be a part-time thing.

Turned into a full-time thing.

And selfishly, I love working with you,

but you really need to get your shit together.

I know, I know.

There's just too much going on right now.

Well, when do you, your life to start?

Because it could be tomorrow.

Come on, get your arse in gear.

I love you.

- Fuck off. - Okay.

See you later.

You're in my spot.

Sorry.

I'll leave.

I'm kidding.

Hey Lana.

It's Tom.

Of course it's you.

How have you been?

Oh, can't complain.

Is this the part in the conversation

where I say, how long has it been?

You say a decade and we laugh.

Let's start with a brief overview since college.

Hi, I'm Tom.

I used to be in musicals at school.

Now I work in an office.

I have a mortgage that scares me.

And I ironically listen

to the Backstreet Boys far too often.

I'm Lana.

I work in fashion,

but I take photos when I can.

And I don't know what else to say.

Fashion nice.

What do you do in fashion may I ask?

Um, I, I work in a, a clothes shop down the road.

Which shop?

Wood Editions.

I think I caught that backpacking once.

Let me ask you something.

Honest, expert opinion.

What are your thoughts on these?

Nice, classy.

Classy.

Lovely.

And these in or out?

In most definitely.

Good, good.

You know what I need?

- Huh? - I need a really nice suit.

I can help get a suit.

But do you remember the uniforms

they used to make us wear at school?

Mm.

With the ties all long and thin.

The top on always having to be done up.

I remember feeling like I was gonna suffocate.

They so tight in the neck.

Yeah, they used to, to count the lines on them.

If it was less than seven, detention.

It was you girls, I felt sorry for the most.

No short skirts.

Couldn't dye your hair.

No makeup.

It was ridiculous.

Why did they make us jump through the hoops anyway?

Well, technically, I mean, supposed to promote equality.

Yeah, that's what they tell you.

Sure.

But really it's to suck all the creativity out of you.

Get you prepared for obey rules and orders.

You think?

Very rarely.

So I guess it worked.

What?

No, it's just been a while.

You look different.

You look the same.

Just a little more mature I suppose.

Are you saying I got fat?

No, no, just mature.

Oh, mature much better.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You know I go to bed whenever I want now.

- Oh. - Mm-hmm.

The other day I ironed a pair of my own trousers.

It would be weird if you were ironing someone else's.

I remember you at school you know?

You were cute.

Always polite if I remember correctly.

I'm not always polite.

Nor should you be.

You know, I saw Mr. Redbrand the other day.

Our, old drama teacher.

Do you remember when he would make us

read our scripts out loud?

Go up into the storage cupboard and drink.

Yeah, he would always stink of whisky.

He'd literally wander back there

nodding along like he was paying attention, down shot,

walk out again as if nothing happened.

Poor guy had a problem, didn't he?

Still nice guy.

Used to study bugs as a hobby.

I remember this one time we were in Spain

and I, I saw a flash of color by the pool.

I swam over to it

and found this huge beetle with a rainbow like coating.

I showed my dad it was dead.

And he didn't know what it was

so we emptied out his matchbox, put it inside,

took it home, gave it to Mr. Redbrand.

A few days later he tells me it's a rose chafer.

Even wrote a little summary about it.

And a poem too, which is a bit weird.

So a nice guy.

Mm, but he definitely fancied you.

Oh my God.

I can't believe I just said that.

You just ruined Mr. Redbrand.

Oh, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

He was, he was genuinely sweet.

You know, I used to, I used to sit near him at lunch

and he was always talking about his wife.

You know what I have a craving for the other day?

One of those rice puddings they used to give us.

Do you remember those?

Strange, isn't it?

We can have the fancies of foods now

but all we really want is the comfort foods we had as kids.

Like those pizza rolls.

Remember those?

And you'd have to run from class

'cause for some reason they'd only make a few dozen.

Do you think if they made a cafe now

that served all the same stuff we had as kids

people would go?

Maybe for nostalgic reasons.

One taste in you're back.

Did you really like those rice puddings?