🎲 "Backgammon" – An Excerpt
🎲 "Backgammon" – An Excerpt
Revisiting Story #1, Backgammon, a love story about control, secrets and betrayal originally posted in February, 2024 (and an update on the development of the screenplay with Remy Bazerque!)
The following is an excerpt from Backgammon, a story posted in February, 2024. It was the first in the 100 Stories series. It’s about a high schooler who learns how to break into homes as a prank and becomes obsessed with it. This leads to a complex relationship with a classmate. A love story about control, secrets and betrayal.
Some of you may know that this is being developed into a screenplay with . Coming soon: a published first draft, and a chance to weigh in with your own thoughts and notes! Probably some tough sledding ahead for me, but let’s see where it goes. 😬
The full story here:
Excerpt from Backgammon
Rafael is being interviewed about a surprise romantic relationship that's developed with a classmate whose home he breaks into. What Rafael presents as a "hook-up" belies an intensity of feeling he seems oblivious to. The classmate Lea, has been extremely guarded with him sexually, a response to him that confuses and pains him despite his display of adolescent bravado for his interviewer.
How would she respond when you asked to go up to her room?
She would say what do you think is in my bedroom that’s so magical? I said nothing really. It’s just strange that we didn’t go up there. I told her we could have sex on a mattress.
She had a lot of secrets I think. I mean I know she had a lot of secrets.
What do you mean?
I don’t know why she wouldn’t take her clothes off or even face me. I asked her if she had scars or something. I was serious. I wanted to know what it was. But she was better at not answering than anybody I ever met.
I told her I wouldn’t care if she had scars. Which was crazy, because no doubt I would have cared if she had scars. 100 percent. 200 percent. Anyone would have cared. Kind of a deal breaker, but that’s not why I wanted to see her body. I wasn’t going to say maybe look over at me once in a while as a courtesy. [laughs]
Then one time before everything happened she rolled away from me onto her stomach, and I could see the bottom of her back poking out from her jacket. She always wore a leather jacket even in the house, and I could see where her t-shirt had lifted up, and I pulled up her jacket and shirt so I could see more of her.
She reached back for a second and grabbed my hand, and I thought she was going to stop me, but then she didn’t. She held it for a second and put my hand down on her back and held it there. More than a second. It was for a long time. I started to wonder if she’d let go.
I was looking at her back, and I told her I liked her back, and I did. Maybe it wasn’t her back. I told her I’d just wanted to look at it for a second. You can’t believe this conversation, but it made sense at the time. I can’t believe it, but I actually thanked her for letting me see her back.
Why do you think that is?
No idea. She said “victory, Rafe” to me sort of laughing at me, but she didn’t push me away. She said I should probably go, but it wasn’t an order for once. You know how when you have a girl you know you have her?
I was thinking the opposite. That she had you…
The hidden scar--so resonant of all we know about living. Terrific, Adam. Can't wait to read the screenplay! xx ~ Mary