i don't really know what i'm doing.
we've done the hard part now. i might as well, you know.
i should be so lucky.
hi.
i thought i could give you a lift back.
yes. well, i'm coming over to your house to get some things.
you can make all the faces you want. my car. my car stereo. my compilation tape.
it's not like saying that at all, actually, rob. art garfunkel and marvin gaye make pop records --
-- whatever, and the israelis and the palestinians don't. art garfunkel and marvin gaye are not engaged in a bitter territorial dispute, and the israelis and the palestinians are. art garfunkel and marvin gaye --
-- and who says i like marvin gaye, anyway?
is that right? i'd like a word with him.
i remember the song. i just couldn't remember who sang it.
i can see why you prefer gaye to garfunkel. i get it, really. but there are so many other things to worry about. they're only records, and if one is better than the other, well, who cares, besides you and barry and dick? i mean really, who gives a flying fuck?
well, i liked you. you were a deejay, and i thought you were hot, and i didn't have a boyfriend, and i wanted one.
yeah, sure. more so then than i am now. that's life though, isn't it?
you really believe that?
and do you like it that way?
let's go in.
have you tackled the great reorganization yet?
you bet. i've been saying that for years.
i think you know that.
i'm sorry. i haven't been very fair to you. that's why i came here to the store this evening. i feel terrible, rob. this is really hard, you know.
what? gimme a fucking break. is that what you think? that your not big enough a deal for me? jesus, gimme a little credit, rob.
what were the others?
what's the obvious stuff?
i guess it's not that obvious, then.
what?
did you say something?
rob. don't be childish.
i am not living with him. i've just been staying with him for a few days until i work out what i'm doing. look, this has nothing to do with anyone else. you know that, don't you? i left because we weren't exactly getting along, and we weren't talking about it. and i suddenly realized that i like my job, and i like what my life is could be turning into, and that i'm getting to a point where i want to get my shit together and i can't really see that ever happening with you, and yeah, yeah, i sort of get interested in someone else, and that went further than it should have, so it seemed like a good time to go. but i have no idea what will happen with ian in the long run. probably nothing.
look. maybe you'll grow up and we'll get it together, you and me. maybe i'll never see either of you again. i don't know. all i know is that it's not a good time to be living here.
i don't know.
i suppose so.
oh, rob, shut up.
-- i don't fucking know what chance you fucking have!
okay, okay, we have a nine percent chance of getting back together. does that clarify the situation?
i'm too tired for this now. i know i'm asking a lot, but will you take off for a while so i can get my stuff packed up? i need to be able to think while i do it and i can't think while you're here.
fine. one.
nevermind.
just ask it!
is what better? better than what?
jesus christ, rob. is that really what's bothering you?
you really think it would make a difference either way?
well the answer is that i don't know either. we haven't done it yet.
i haven't felt like it.
no. i was living with you, remember? we've slept together but we haven't made love. not yet. but i'll tell you one thing. the sleeping together is better.
will you please just go?
hi. i've been looking for an envelope of my receipts from last month and i'm thinking i didn't take them with me. have you seen them around?
i'm sorry to call, but i need that stuff.
we'll talk some other time.
so, how are you?
i told you i slept with him.
is that why you wanted to see me?
oh, rob. what do you want me to say?
i can't do that.
you must have known it would happen. you couldn't have been entirely unprepared. like you said, i've been living with the guy. we were bound to get around to it sometime.
and anyway, i keep trying to tell you, that's not really the point, is it? the point is we got ourselves into an awful mess, rob.  are you there? what are you thinking?
we can meet for another drink if you want. so i can explain it better. i owe you that much.
will you call me?
call me at work. we can arrange to meet properly. i don't want this to be the last conversation we have. i know what you're like.
hello.
i figured it was. where are you?
i'm not -- hold on.
i'm not in love with ian, okay?
jesus. i do not know. i'll talk to you later.
i'm not experimenting. why don't you go experiment.
you don't ever think about other people?
i am fine.  i gotta go. goodbye.
yeah, i'm fine. i'm off the phone.
i'm upset, but i'm fine.
mmmm, no. not a good idea.
nothing to resolve, ian. let's get a drink.
c'mon, c'mon.
i called and called but you were out. i thought i'd be gone before you got back.
yep. i might have missed some stuff. i'm so used to some things being here that i don't even notice them.
he's at home. listen, i can't believe he went to the store. i'm mortified, actually. i'm really sorry. he had no right to do that, and i told him so.
i'm sure.
i don't really want to talk about it, to be honest.
you know what i mean.
fix it up. it'll make you feel better.
you know i didn't mind. and it's not as if ray's place is any better.
ray. i hate ian.
you make me laugh much more than ray does, if that's what you're getting at. but i already knew you could make me laugh. it's everything else i don't know about.
mmm hmm.
oh ho, so very infrequently.
time to go.
those aren't mine.
they're not really, though, are they? i know you bought them for me, and that was really sweet of you, but that was when you were trying to turn me into you. i can't take them, i know they'd just sit around staring at me, and i'd feel embarrassed by them and.  they don't fit in with the rest of what's mine, do you understand? that sting record you bought for me.  that was a present for me. i like sting and you hate him. but the rest of this stuff.  who the hell is nick lowe? or gram parsons? or the boredoms? i don't know these people. i.
i'm sorry to go on about it. but, i don't know, there's a lesson here somewhere, and i want to make sure you get it.
you're being deliberately obtuse.
well, think about it.
hello.
i can't talk right now.
pigsty.
pig died.
my dad died. my dad, my dad.
i'm sorry.
in a minute. when i get it together.
no. no. mom wants you to come to the funeral. it's on friday.
my dad liked you. and mom never told him we'd split, because he wasn't up to it and.  oh, i don't know. i don't really understand it. i think she thinks he'll be able to see what's going on. it's like.  he's been through so much, what with dying and everything, that she doesn't want to upset him any more than she has to.
i don't care. as long as you don't expect me to hold your hand.
look, are you coming or not?
liz'll give you a lift. she knows where to go and everything.  i don't have time to talk, rob. i've got too much to do.
are you going to lie in that flower bed all night?
you're soaking.
you're also an idiot.
thank you. i appreciate it. i can't reciprocate.
i didn't mess things up because i was scared. i slept with ray because i was sick of you. and i needed something to snap me out of it.
i don't want to go back.
c'mon.
i don't know. sometime. later. listen, rob, would you have sex with me?
i want to feel something else than this. it's either that or i go home and put my hand in the fire. unless you want to stub cigarettes out on my arm.
it'll have to be sex, then.
hello. it doesn't seem so long ago that i looked at you from here.
i knew there was a reason i wore a skirt today.
oh, rob, we're not going to go through that again.
yes, of course. there's nothing to worry about.
i lived with you. you were my partner just a few weeks ago and now you're worried i might kill you, and you're entitled to worry. isn't that a terrible thing? isn't that sad?
i'm too tired not to go out with you.
everything's too hard. maybe another time i would have the guts to be on my own, but not now i don't.
ray's a disaster. i don't know what that was all about, except that sometimes you need someone to lob into the middle of a bad relationship like a hand grenade, i guess, and blow it all apart.
i know it's not very romantic, but there will be romance again at some stage, i'm sure. i just.  i need you, rob. that's it. and we know each other and we care for each other, and you've made it clear that you want me back, so.
let's go home. okay?
want to know what, exactly?
it was like sex. what else could it be like?
what's the difference?
look, we're okay now. we just had a nice time. let's leave it at that.
well i was gonna lie and now i can't, because you'd know i was lying.
to make you feel better.
look, rob. if great sex was as important as you think it is, and if i was having great sex with him, then we wouldn't be lying here now. and that is my last word on the subject, okay?
i wish your penis was as big as his, though.
 like mexico. or jamaica. or new york, even.
i'll pay for you. even though you owe me money. we have to do something with the money i earn. i need to. i deserve it. you can just think of it as winning the lottery.
money does not matter. i do not care how much you earn. i'd just like you to be a little happier in your work, but beyond that you can do what you like.
how? how were we the same people?
because i'm not allowed to. i still do, after work. so, what? should we just break up? is that what you're saying? because if you are, i'm going to run out of patience.
but what?
you haven't changed so much as a pair of socks in the years i've known you. if we've grown apart, then i'm the one who's done the growing, and all i've done is change jobs.
i can't go to work with my hair dyed pink. and i can afford to go shopping more now, and i've met a couple people i like over the last year or so.
more confident, maybe.
less neurotic. are you intending to stay the same for the rest of your life?
yeah, you're alright. but you're certainly not happy. so what happens if you get happy? and yes i know that's the title of an elvis costello album, i use the reference deliberately to catch your attention. should we split up because i'm used to you being miserable? what happens if you, i don't know, start you're own record label, and it's a success? time for a new girlfriend?
how? what would be the difference between you having a record label and me going from legal aid to private practice?
all i'm saying is, you have to allow for things to happen to people, most of all to yourself. otherwise, what's the use?
hey, barry.
where's rob?
what are you talking about?
hi. what are you doing?
wanna go to dinner?
at paul and miranda's. paul from work.
i know. but you've never met. it just seems like a stone unturned in your relationship with him.
better hurry, though, paul. rob started a record label, so he's gonna be in the shop less and less.
"to each his own!" unbelievable! you! rob gordon said that. you even sounded like you meant it.
i tricked you into meeting some people you'd think were great. i thought it would be fun to introduce you to someone with a tina turner album and then see whether you still felt the same way.
i called dan koretzky because he --
yeah, and he said it's a good way to break out a record. especially for what he said, and i quote, "would be a highly anticipated event, locally." he helped me put out a press release.
just local, of course.
i had that idea when i was living with ian and it was such a good idea that i was annoyed we weren't together anymore. it might even be why i came back.
what do you ever do that can't be cancelled?
barry said its done.
yeah. his band is playing a set.
they'll go on early. nobody will even be there yet and i told them they can't play for more than a half hour.
we took care of that.
barry and dick and me. look in the bedroom.
that's okay. you seem pissed off all the time, though.
who's that for?
a drinking lunch on a school day. what a nice surprise.
are you worried about tomorrow night?
are you going to talk to me, or shall i get my paper out?
right.
what are you going to talk to me about?
ha ha ha. hoo hoo hoo.
i know.
i'm sorry. but two days ago you were in love with that girl who interviewed you for the reader, weren't you?
well forgive me if i don't think of you as the world's safest bet.
no. probably not.
don't sulk. what brought all this on?
very persuasive.
no. i don't think so. i'm just curious about how one goes from making tapes for one person to marriage proposals to another in two days. fair enough?
so?
about what?
i've changed my mind. that's the most romantic thing i've ever heard. i do. i will.
i mean, maybe you're right. but were you really expecting me to say yes?
well, you've asked.
thank you.
it's gonna be fine. these people are ready for anything.