INT. GROCERY STORE – DAY
ALINA (22F, tired, going through it) browses the smoothies & juices in the produce section. She keeps raising her hand to grab something but hesitates, and never does.
TIFFANY (O.S.)
Alina?
TIFFANY (22F, naturally pretty, put-together in a way that makes you feel bad about yourself) is all of a sudden right beside ALINA.
TIFFANY (CONT’D)
Oh my god! It’s been forever!
Tiffany goes for the hug.
ALINA
…Tiffany! It’s been.. so long!
TIFFANY
How are you?
FREEZE ON ALINA’s surprised face.
ALINA (V.O.)
It is never my intention to lie.
CUT TO:
INT./EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD/HOMES – MANY YEARS AGO
Photos of 8-year-old ALINA and TIFFANY play in a slideshow, followed by photos of ALINA growing up over the years.
ALINA (V.O.)
And why would I lie to Tiffany?
Someone I once trusted with
anything. But after spending four
years of high school and four years
of college apart, we no longer know
each other entirely. Tiffany has no
clue about the mall-shooting
nightmares that keep me up at night
or the nine-month bender I went on
sophomore year, and I have no clue
when she got bangs or where her
brother lives now. But we always
catch up here and there and
maintain the sort of intimacy that
doesn’t go away after two people
figure out the world together.
BACK TO:
INT. GROCERY STORE – DAY – MOMENTS AGO
TIFFANY releases ALINA from the hug.
ALINA (V.O.)
So-
TIFFANY
How are you?
ALINA (V.O.)
Becomes a complicated question. And
the thing is: I lie all the time.
Inadvertent, white lies, all the
time.
INT. LIVING ROOM – EVENING
ALINA sprawls out on the sofa watching TV in a dark living room. She’s on the phone.
ALINA’S MOM (O.S.)
(on the phone)
Did you take the chicken out of the
freezer?
Panic.
EXT. CAMPUS QUAD – DAY
ALINA walks to class through a crowded quad when she is accosted by a perky VOLUNTEER.
VOLUNTEER
Have you registered to vote?
Ugh.
INT. KITCHEN – EVENING
ALINA fixes herself a PB&J. Her DAD enters, just arriving home from work.
ALINA’S DAD
Did you walk Sully?
Oops.
ALINA (V.O.)
I always say-
INT. LIVING ROOM – EVENING
ALINA, still on the phone, leaps up from the sofa and runs to the freezer.
ALINA
Yes…
EXT. CAMPUS QUAD – DAY
ALINA
(duh)
Of course.
INT. KITCHEN – EVENING
ALINA
(mouth full)
Sure did.
ALINA (V.O.)
You aren’t lying if you’re not
trying to deceive, right? These are
small, aspirational almost-truths
that couldn’t possibly be lies
because they will all but certainly
become true.
INT. KITCHEN – EVENING
ALINA hovers over a bowl of frozen chicken breast, aggressively spraying it with hot water.
ALINA (V.O.)
I will take the chicken out.
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
ALINA frantically types away on her laptop, and alternates between squinting at her screen and her driver’s license ID number.
ALINA (V.O.)
I will register to vote.
INT./EXT. BACK DOOR – MOMENTS LATER
ALINA rushes SULLY (dog) outside for an overdue walk.
ALINA
(whispers)
Come on!
ALINA (V.O.)
I will walk Sully. Does it really
matter if it’s this moment or the next?
I am not saying I am perfect.
INT. DINING ROOM – NIGHT
ALINA and her MOM slurp bowls of instant ramen together.
ALINA (V.O.)
There have been nights when my mom
has come home to chicken bricks,
and we have instant ramen and fried
eggs for dinner. It’s at that
moment I’ve become a liar. Never
because I want to be.
BACK TO:
INT. GROCERY STORE – DAY
ALINA (V.O.)
So when Tiffany asks-
TIFFANY
How are you?
ALINA (V.O.)
In the way that old friends must, I say:
ALINA
I’m fine.
ALINA (V.O.)
I will be fine.
Minh Pham is a 22 year old queer Vietnamese American and recent graduate of Virgina Tech. She is a professional consultant based in Chicago, IL who writes in the evenings after long days of toiling away in the corporate machine. Minh has a passion for comedy, and the stories she wishes she could have had when she was younger.