Yellow Dress, Act 2, Scene 4: square eyes; or “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

(Sean and The Man stand at odds.)

The Man:
Tell me about Seth.

Sean:
I thought this was about Cody.

The Man:
Something tells me he is
An important piece of the puzzle.
He was there when you first met Cody
For the first time, was he not?

Sean:
Yeah.

The Man:
Were he and Cody friends?

Sean:
Of a sort. They had that
Typical sort of camaraderie
Jocks tend to have with each other.
They were both on the wrestling team together.
You’d see them all go out to dinner after practice
Or they’d host parties for one another
And they’d get shitfaced drunk
and secretly compete to get into
the pants of any girl they could find.

The Man:
Even Cody?

Sean:
Especially Cody
they kept a tally and Cody
OOH Boy
Cody set all the records.

The Man:
How did Seth do in this Tally?

Sean:
The funny thing about Seth is:
He fell woefully behind.
Cody once told me he
Only managed to bag
about three girls in a year.
And every one of those
were questionable.
The girls were either
too drunk to say no
OR
he was too drunk to
remember it happened.

Seth:
Why did such a big tough guy
have such a hard time with the ladies?

Sean:
Who knows?
The dude was scary looking,
and angry, and also kinda dumb.
I can think of a million reasons
why the girls wouldn’t go for him.
But to be perfectly honest
I think the reason for such a low score
had more to do with his own
inclinations than with the ladies themselves...
If you catch my meaning.

The Man:
Aha.
I see.
And do you have any proof?

Sean:
A straight man secure in his sexuality doesn’t feel the need to beat the shit out of a gay man for staring at his ass.

Seth:
So you did stare at my ass.
Did you have the hots for me?

Sean:
What did you say?

The Man:
Did you have the hots for him?

Sean:
Nah.
Fuck that asshole.
Hope he rots in hell.

The Man:
Hmm.
Funny you say that.

Sean:
What’s so funny about it?
Did something happen to Seth?
Last I heard he was in ICU with a stab wound.
Did Cody do something Seth somehow?
Is that why he’s in trouble?

The Man:
You sure do have a wild imagination.
What makes you think
I’d know anything
About Seth’s Condition?

Sean:
I’m starting to wonder if you are him.
You look just like him you know that?
Certain angles...
I swear to god you could be his twin.

Seth:
How does that make you feel?
Does it turn you on?

Sean:
No.
It scares me.

(Seth/The Man moves closer to Sean)

Seth:
You sure about that?

Sean:
No.

(An almost kiss.)

Yes.
You scare me.

(The Man turns and walks away from Sean)

The Man:
Tell me about the day you fell in love with Cody.

(A fast transition.
Cody enters with a sketchpad.
He and Sean sit on one of the benches.

Sean reviews the sketches.)

Sean:
Mhmm...

(He flips the page)

Okay.

(He flips the page.)

Interesting.

(He flips the page.)

Oooooh.

(He flips the page.)

Whoa.

Cody:
And that’s it.

Sean:
I see!

Cody:
So...?

Sean:
You’re getting much better.
Your line work is much clearer
and your concepts are...
God I love your style.
Very Tim Burton.
With a touch of Jhonen Vasquez.
Fuck me.
The Captain of the Wrestling Team
draws like Jhonen Vasquez.

Cody:
Whose Jhonen Vasquez?

Sean:
Really? Invader Zim?
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac?

Cody:
I wasn’t allowed to watch cartoons as a kid.

Sean:
You missed some great shit.
It’s the square irises that give it away.
And the corruption of innocent imagery
into something darker.
Like the little girl that looms
In the background of all your sketches.

Cody:
You noticed her?

Sean:
Dude she’s in like every sketch in this book.

Cody:
Yeah, I dunno...
She’s the one character I can’t get out of my head.
I think she’s based on some girl I knew
as a little kid. Like, I can remember her face
and playing with her in the woods behind my house.
But I can’t remember her name
Or how I met her
Or what ended up happening to her.
I remember a time when she was there.
And I remember a time when she wasn’t.
But I don’t remember what happened in the middle.

Sean:
So you draw her as a way to remember?

Cody:
Sure. You could say that.

Sean:
Do you ever wonder if you made her up?

Cody:
All the time.

Sean:
Your own little imaginary girlfriend?

Cody:
Nah man. Not like that.

(They stare into each other’s eyes for a long time.

A silence that is only slightly awkward)

Sean:
Do you remember what happened the day we met?

Cody:
The day I stopped Seth from kicking your ass?
I asked if he was telling the truth.
I asked if you were gay.

Sean:
Why did you ask me that question?

Cody:
Because.
If you are gay...
You have the right to say it
Without retaliation.
We should all have the right to be ourselves.
Unequivocally.
Without compromise.

Sean:
So how about it?
Are you being your true self,
Cody Mason?
Unequivocally?
Without compromise?

Cody:
This isn’t about me.
I asked you first.

Sean:
How about this?
I’ll show you mine,
If you show me yours.
Okay
Here we go.
Yes. I’m a little gay.
I like drawing dicks
Because I like dicks.
I also like drawing fucked up shit
Because mind is a bit fucked up
But that’s beside the point.
I am Gay.
I didn’t want to admit it for the longest time
Because I didn’t want it to define me.
But guess what...
It doesn’t define me.
We are so much more than
who we want to sleep with.
And yet I would be lying to myself
If I didn’t admit that
who I want to sleep with
Has had a major impact
On how I view the world,
Ya know?
It’s allowed me to see through all the bullshit.
It’s allow me to see
All the little pigeon holes
That we’re all pushed into.
And I get to say
FUCK THAT!
Right?
Fuck you and your box and the horse you rode in on.
And that feels so good.
It feels so fucking good.
So... Cody Mason...
I showed you mine.
Now you show me yours.
What is your true self?

Cody:
Now hold on a minute...
I never said I would.

Sean:
Fuck, Dude.
I bare my heart to you
And this is how you respond?

Cody:
It’s not that easy for me.
I like the pigeonhole.
I like the box.
There are things that
I’ve gone through tha
I couldn’t even begin to
Describe to you. I just...
I’d hate to see
What happened to me as a kid
Happen to anyone else.
That’s why I asked you
What I asked you that day.

(Sean pulls Cody into a hug.
He whispers in Cody’s ear.)

Sean:
Whatever happened to you,
It’s over now. Alright?
And if you ever...
Ever...
Need to talk about it.
I’ll always be right here for you.

(Cody vanishes.
Sean is left alone hugging air.
He realizes this and let’s his arms drop)

The Man:
Did he ever tell you what happened to him?

Sean:
No he never did.