The date

           A man stands in the middle of a bedroom, alone. He stands still, but his eyes move fast, looking left and right. He walks towards a chest of drawers, gets a shirt out. He takes off the one he’s wearing, stained with sweat, and puts on the clean one instead. He then walks into the adjacent bathroom, spreads foam on his face, and starts shaving, inflicting himself multiple cuts because of his shaking hands. He splashes water on his poorly-shaved, bloody cheeks. He takes a look at his messy hair for a second, groans, and rushes out without fixing it.




         The front door opens softly. A little light turns on, and the same man enters the room, followed by a tired-looking woman. Both are widely smiling. His shirt is now stained with sweat and coffee, too. The woman is carryig something in her arms, wrapped in a blanket. They whisper a few words to each other, and the man takes the little package from her arms, after what she lies down on the bed. He carefully crosses the room, removes the blanket, and puts a little baby in bed. He looks at it for a minute, sighs, and lies next to the woman.

The roommates

Two roommates... And a cat

The cat jumps on the window sill and curls up in the sunlight, filling the room with the sound of its purring. The attic flat, barely large enough for the two beds and the little sink in the corner, is in a meticulously planned mess. On his side, the floor is covered with pieces of charcoal, pencils, paintbrushes. Surrounding a poster of the Rolling Stones, a few sketches are hung on the wall, but most of them are piled up under the bed base. He is silently working on a new  one, throwing pieces of rubber to make the cat skedaddle. The Eiffel Tower appears in the window frame, swarming with tourists on this summer day. She is playing a cheerful piece of music to accompany his work, sat on her baseless mattress. Her side is neater than his; apart from a vintage poster of the Moulin rouge, she doesn’t have many belongings. A guide entitled ‘Playing the guitar for dummies’ is open at her feet, and she keeps playing.

After there has been a fight

The cat slowly crawls out from under the bed, looking left and right in the empty room, before taking its place on the window sill, silently. The Eiffel Tower is barely visible through the storm coming to an end outside. Rain still pounds on the glass, and wind howls in the beams. The mess in the room has gotten worse; several sketches are scattered on the carpet, some of them have been stomped on. A tin of paint is on the floor, surrounded by a large, Duck Egg Blue-coloured stain. The vintage poster has been torn in its middle and only claims ‘Rouge’ anymore. The guitar is in the corner, near the sink, facing the wall. The music guide is nowhere to be seen.

After he has moved out

The cat slowly wakes up from its nap, stretches, and looks outside the window. The street is silent, the Eiffel Tower quiet, the weather dull. A lazy leaf comes flying around, carried by the wind. The cat jumps off its perch onto the dry stain left by the paint, and begins a sinuous walk around the room. The nearest bed is empty, deprived of bedsheets. The wall above it appears clearer on the spots once covered by sketches. The cat rubs its head against the naked mattress and turns around to go and curl up on the other bed. She is lying there, feet against the poster covered in duct tape, head upside down. She is softly playing the guitar, not paying any attention to the music guide open next to her. The cat falls asleep again.

Secrets:

Jane can't cook
Jane leaves the kitchen, wiping her forehead with a kitchen towel.
Behind her, plates are piled up, ready to fall, dripping on the floor.
A big cake-shaped piece of coal is smoking in a corner.


David cheated on the test.
A teacher is standing in front of a class, a pile of copy in his hands.
He circulates, giving them back to the students, and gets to David.
A big A is written on the paper. David stays silent and looks down.


John hates Mary.
Mary walks into the fast-food with her friends.
She orders fries at the counter, where John works.
John hides with the fries, spits in them, and hand them to Mary with a smile.

Elena is jealous of her sister.
Elena gets to the front door and finds a letter on the floor, addressed to her sister.
She looks around, opens the envelope, and sees little pink hearts drawn.
Elena walks to the kitchen and throws the letter away.


Chris just kissed Sergio's girlfriend.
In a nightclub, Chris kisses a girl and walks away.
He meets up with his friend Sergio, with whom he shakes hands.
Sergio has an arm around the girl Chris just kissed.

Sam is very angry with her mother
Sam is sitting at the kitchen's table.
His mother walks in, pours a glass of milk for Sam and gives him a kiss on the head, while he stays silent, then leaves the room.
Sam violently knocks the glass over.

George thinks his friend John is a loser
George is walking in a street, when he sees his friend John walking towards him.
He jumps behind a wall until John walks past, not seeing him.
He looks at his friend walking away, sighs, and rolls his eyes.

Sandra, Jane’s mother, thinks her daughter is a slut
Sandra walks in the house, wrecked by the previous night's party.
She finds Jane on the sofa with a boy lying next to her.
Sandra sighs, shakes her head, and walks away.

Henry, Roger’s father, believes his son is a prudish virgin
Henry looks at Roger, sitting on the sofa next to his girlfriend.
Roger is sitting straight, at a good distance from the girl.
Henry frowns and takes a sip of whisky.