[bass-heavy alternative music]
♪ ♪
narrator: Staying in a dead relationship
only delays happiness.
Breakups, no matter how emotionally difficult,
ultimately contribute to self-reflection
and personal growth.
- Breakup?
- Yeah.
narrator: Marcus had not technically cheated on Emily,
but in a grueling, 72-hour state of the union,
full of tears and mea culpas,
the painful truth of their fundamental disconnection
stubbornly persisted.
Now she wanted a divorce.
And Marcus didn't fight her,
perhaps knowing, on some level,
it was what he wanted too.
- We said 400, right?
- Plus 25 for each floor.
Plus moving blanket and dolly rental, so 550.
- [laughing] All right.
♪ ♪
narrator: As long as he didn't stand still
in this new and desolate silence,
a place where his thousands of doubts could fester
and intensify,
Marcus was fine.
Marcus was totally, 100% fine.
♪ ♪
- Next, add your kidney beans.
Kidney beans are an awesome source of protein.
narrator: Hell yeah. - And then last
but certainly not least,
add two tablespoons of peanut butter.
[video continues in background]
- What up, sis?
I thought
we could do some chili tonight.
This bad boy will be ready in about eight hours.
And I've got cheddar, I got chives,
I got sour cream.
I got all the fixings. - Come on!
Why my apartment look so nasty?
- I'm sorry. I'll--I'll clean it up.
- It smell like ass in here, man.
- Well, no, look, we can just air it out.
- Why, so you can kill all the birds in the neighborhood?
- It's chili, ain't gonna kill no birds.
- Did you take the bike
out of the hallway like I asked you to?
- Ah, snap.
I'm sorry.
I forgot. I'll do that in a second.
Let me just straighten up around here a little bit.
- Marcus, if you don't get that bike out of the hallway,
I'ma throw it out the fuckin' window.
- Okay.
- Why you messing me up?
You blocking my shot. - I'm not trying to--
- I'm trying to be on the co-op board.
- Okay, all right. Consider it done.
- I talk about it over and over again, you gonna leave
the bike in the hallway like that?
- So what, is that-- is that,
like, a no on the chili then?
Because I thought it would be nice
for you and me to have some chili.
- Marcus. - And there's--
there's peanut butter in it!
There's peanut butter-- that's the secret ingredient!
You ever think you were gonna have chili
with peanut butter in it?
- I love you.
But I was kind of thinking
about doing my own thing tonight, Marcus.
- Oh. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, cool.
Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Um, I--
I had plans after dinner anyway, so--
- Yeah, 'cause everybody eat chili before they go out, huh?
- Yeah, you know, maybe I'll just save it.
- Mm-hmm.
You gonna be all right tonight by yourself?
- Yes, yes, I'm gonna be fine. - Okay.
- I'm gonna be fine. There's plenty of shit to do.
- All right.
- You want some?
- It's my damn weed.
That's why I'm looking at you like that.
Where you found this at anyway? - By the food processor.
- Stop going through my shit.
- I'm sorry. - Mm-hmm.
You should have woke me up with this, I wouldn't have been mad
about the damn kitchen. - [laughs]
- Just get the goddamn bike out the hallway.
- All right, all right!
- Ugh, God!
- I love you. - Love you.
[bass-heavy music]
♪ ♪
- [groans]
[phones ringing, chatter]
- Buddy. What's up with all these boxes?
- Oh, yeah. I'm--I'm sorry, Josh.
I've just been dealing with a bunch of shit lately.
- Okay. I get it, but you--
You can't have these here. It's bad optics.
You're not sleeping in here, right?
- Dude, come on.
[phone buzzes]
[sighs]
Come on.
♪ ♪
[line ringing]
- My guy! - What's up, son?
- Shit, man. About to watch "Monsters Inc."
Might go crazy and do "Monsters University" when it's over.
I don't know, you know? You're welcome to come through,
you don't mind some action figures in your ass.
Hey, stop throwing stuff!
- You know, actually, I've never seen the sequel, so.
- Sequel's pretty lit, man. Wait a minute, bro.
What are you doing, man? It's Friday night.
You're single.
What the hell is your problem, man?
Go get some ass, Marcus. No kids' movies.
That's pathetic. All right?
Go get some ass, Marcus. I'm not playing with you.
- No, but-- - Do it for those
of us who can't.
It's ass time.
Can you say "ass time"?
- I'm not gonna-- - Ass time!
- No, hold on, not you.
You don't say ass time.
So cute, man. They're saying ass time.
Hold on. Stop!
Okay, you know what? Hold on.
Yeah, it is ass time now!
- Yo.
This nigga hung up on me.
[sighs]
Oh, Fredrick!
- Watkins.
- What do you think about putting together
a little office happy hour tonight?
- Oh. Uh...
Yeah. - Yeah?
- Yeah, I can see if anyone might be interested.
- Yeah. Why don't you send a memo?
- Sure. - All right!
Andy! Cocktail hour, man.
We're having a little Friday night drinky.
- Sorry, I have a dinner. - What?
- Looks like the interns are having fun.
- Oh, yeah, yeah. Alcohol's the only
way we can pay 'em. - Have fun!
- Andy, come on, hang out, man! - Hey, man.
I hate to do this, but I might have to get out of here.
- What? Freddie, come on, man.
The party's just getting started.
- Yeah, my boyfriend and I are
gonna see a scary movie.
- [sighs] Who wants to get hammered?
- Jenna! Yes!
- Let's raid Josh's bar cart. Hmm?
He's been gone since lunch. Let's party!
- That is an excellent idea.
Come on, Freddie. We're raiding Josh's bar cart.
- Yeah, I know. - He has all kinds of shit
up there and it's just sitting. Come on.
Come on-- invite your boyfriend.
- What? - Invite your boyfriend.
- No, what? - Invite your boyfriend.
Invite your boyfriend to the office
and we all get turnt together.
- Marcus, Marcus. - Come on, please?
Fredward. Fredrick.
- Okay! - Yes?
- Watkins. - All right!
- Let's do it. Yah!
[pop music, people talking indistinctly]
- I was like, you know what?
Fuck you, Anne.
I don't care if you're 18.
As long as you live under my roof,
you will not sell your body.
And then I stole her Adderall.
- Amazing. Can we have some?
- Of course.
Why do you think I brought it?
There. - Yes.
There you go.
- You want more? Yes, take more.
- I mean, it's just for purely professional--
professional reasons. - Mm-hmm.
- Want one, Marcus?
- All right, fuck it, yeah!
all: Yeah!
- Okay, Marcus. - Wow.
Just in case.
- Oh. Uh, sure.
- Gotta say, I am loving divorced Marcus right now.
["Closer" by Chainsmokers playing]
- ♪ Baby, pull me closer ♪
♪ In the back seat of your Rover ♪
♪ That I know you can't afford ♪
- Ooh, hey, okay. [laughing]
Whoa! - [laughs]
[text chime]
- Freddie, come dance with me.
- Absolutely.
[indistinct chatter]
- [laughs] - You know, maybe--
- Okay. I'm out, everyone.
- What? No! - Bye.
- I cannot believe you've never tried uni, dude.
Yo, bring that closer. - All right.
- Yeah. I just want to see your face
on your first bite.
Go for it. - All right.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Egh! Oh, wow!
- Mmm. - Yeah, man, what a taste.
- Yeah, baby.
Mmm. It's an aphrodisiac.
- Yeah. [phone buzzes]
[keyboard clacking]
- [indistinct muttering]
Yeah, it's so good to fucking see you, man.
- It's good to see you, man. - Been a fuckin' while.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- I'm sorry you're getting divorced though.
But I'm not sorry, because it means
that we get to actually hang.
- And, man, congrats on selling your company.
I don't--I don't think I've seen you since that happened.
- Yeah, I don't think so. - No.
- Who fuckin' knew, right?
I mean, I was a lit major like you were.
And then all of a sudden, Marcus, it just, like,
hits me, boom,
a dress shirt designed to be worn untucked.
- Nuts! - Yes!
- Nuts, man. I'm just--
I'm so glad someone solved that problem.
- [laughing] You know, you're such a dick.
- Yeah. - It's true.
- Mmm.
- So, um, how's the single life been?
- Oh, it's great, man. - Mm?
- It's great. I'm on all the apps.
I'm, like, just swiping up and down and left and right,
just swipin' all over the damn place.
- Yogi says that you're crashing with Ida?
- Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, tough
sleeping on a fuckin' couch, but, you know,
that is what it is, you know?
- Marcus, are you okay, man?
- You know, uh, I don't know, man.
Um,
I guess I'm just realizing how Emily, like,
held our life together in certain ways.
- Yeah. - And, uh, yeah,
it's just like it's-- it's--
- You'll get through it, man.
You'll get fuckin' through it.
- Hey. - Hey!
Yeah! Oh, my God.
Yeah, sit right here. It's okay.
Yeah, sit right-- just sit right here.
Yeah. This is Isabel.
- Oh, hey. - Isabel works at
Goldman Sachs-- - JP Morgan.
- She works at JP Morgan.
This is my buddy, Marcus,
and we were just finishing up.
And so-- - We were?
Okay, cool. - Should we get some sake?
- Sure.
- You look gorgeous, by the way.
- Thank you. - I'm gonna head out.
- You gotta go? - Yeah.
I gotta get out of here. - Oh, you sure?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- All right, man. - Hey, man.
- I love you. - Good to see you, brother.
- Good to see you too. - All right.
- Yeah. I'm here for you.
- Thank you for that.
- See you. I'll see you, Marcus.
Hello. Have you tried uni?
- I love uni.
[indistinct chatter]
♪ ♪
[line trilling]
- Hey!
- Ida, hey. Um, I tried, okay? I tried.
And I--I really need to come and hang out with you.
Can I come and hang out with you, please?
- Oh, my God. Fine, whatever.
- Okay.
- [crying]
- Hey! - Hey!
- Ah! - Ah!
- Hey. - Hey.
- This is Keiko.
- Hey. - Hey!
Thanks for having me.
I've always wanted to check this place out.
- Really? Why?
- Are you okay?
- Yeah, yeah. I'm great.
I'm just a little bit jacked on Adderall.
- What? - I have an extra.
Do you want one?
- No. We're good. We're gonna head out.
- Yeah. I'm gonna clock out.
So stay right there. I'll come find you.
♪ ♪
- Adderall, Marcus? You couldn't find a drug
that was, I don't know, illegal?
- All right, all right.
I know, I know.
I made a rash decision.
- You see her? - Yeah.
- I really like her. - Yeah, she's cute.
- So can you please not scare her off
by fuckin' embarrassing me? Let's just rein it back
a little bit, maybe tone it down.
- I'm totally reined in. I'm totally toned down.
- Hey! Back off, Men's Wearhouse!
See, this is... This is every time.
- All right. - Every single time.
- All right. - Sorry, bro, I'll be back.
- All right. Handle it.
Handle it!
[upbeat music playing]
[phone buzzes]
♪ ♪
- Tooth and nail, just to the bone every single day.
- Oh, oh. She's here.
That's her. Hey!
["Turn Me On" by Kevin Lyttle playing]
- Keiko, Ida, this is Mia.
Mia, this is my sister, Ida, and her girlfriend, Keiko.
- Thank you for letting me crash your party.
- No. I'm so glad you could make it.
I--I really wanted to see you.
Like, I really wanted to see you.
- Are you on something right now?
- Oh, just some Adderall.
- What, do you have a term paper due?
- [laughs boisterously]
- I mean, it's an entire floor at the fucking Dakota.
Who is this secret person
in this big-ass apartment by herself?
- Yoko Ono! [laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
What the fuck else was I gonna do?
- They loved you.
Uh! I needed this.
- Oh, yeah. You really need this.
[chuckles]
- Oh, shit.
Um...
Yeah, I shouldn't know this. Um...
Miranda got married in this same park
on "Sex and the City."
- Wow. Okay. - Yeah. Yeah.
It was--it was Emily's favorite show, so...
- Right.
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about all that,
by the way.
Your divorce.
- Ah.
That's okay.
It's for the best.
- You think it's salvageable?
- Um, nah, I don't think--
I don't think any of it's salvageable.
Why? I mean, do you--
do you want it to be?
- I don't know. It's your life.
- Wow. Okay.
No, I just--I just thought
after everything that happened between us--
- Wait, "everything that happened between us"?
I mean, it was just-- it was just a dumb night.
- Mia. - It was.
- Well, all right.
That--that dumb night
blew up my whole life.
- Marcus. - So--
What? - Really?
- No, I'm just--I'm just trying to be honest about what--
- Marcus, you can't put that on me.
Okay? Don't put that on me.
- None of it? - No. None of it.
- Not any of it? - No. That's your shit.
- Okay, so-- - That's not my shit.
- So all the calls, the texts,
the "come fuck me" looks, that was just--
- Yeah, well, I'm sorry if you got confused.
- Oh, man, Mia, don't do me like that, man.
- Because we're friends. - I was never confused.
- I have a boyfriend.
- Then why the fuck aren't you with him?
Huh?
Where the fuck is your boyfriend?
Why is it me standing here instead of him?
- Fuck this. - Yeah. You know what?
Yeah, fuck this.
- Yeah, fuck this. - You're absolutely right.
- And fuck you. - Hey, fuck you too.
- And stop fucking taking Adderall.
It's not 2004, dipshit.
- I'll do whatever the fuck I want.
I'm grown.
[phone chimes] What--
This mother--
You are fuckin' rich.
[grunts]
[indistinct chatter]
[upbeat music playing]
♪ ♪
- There was something there. I know it. I mean,
Mia is fucking gaslighting me
like I'm just some asshole.
- She's a fucking bitch!
- Well, I wouldn't go that far, but--
- No, no. She is a fucking bitch.
You can't say it, but I can.
- Okay. You know what? It's fine.
It's fine. She's whatever.
- Mm... [mouths words]
- Hey, thanks.
Oh, no, no, no. I got this round.
Here you go. Keep the change.
- Thank you.
- Um, thank you so much.
- Don't worry about it.
♪ ♪
- Should we get out of here?
- Uh...
Yeah. For sure.
- My place or yours?
- Yours.
- Okay.
I'm gonna get some potato skins to go.
I'm hangry.
- All right.
- Wow. So you're an editor?
That's so cool. Do you get, like, free books?
- Yeah, yeah. It's--it's the best.
- Oh, my God. That's, like, my dream.
I just want to get a one-bedroom
in a nice neighborhood and fill it with books.
- You know, honestly, me too.
- Hey, you have an ID on you, right?
- Uh, yeah, why?
- Oh, we just need to sign you in.
But it's no big deal.
- Why, I mean, what, do you live in,
like, a women's residence or something?
- [laughs]
Please tell me you're in grad school.
- Not yet.
I'm a senior.
- Okay. Um, I--I should go.
- Really?
Come on, it's not like I'm a teenager.
- Well, I mean, can I see your ID?
- I'm 22, dude.
[laughs]
- I mean, are you sure it won't be weird?
- No, it's only weird if you make it weird.
Plus, I'm an RA. I literally run my floor, so...
- Okay, but do you have roommates, or...
- No, no. Oh, my God.
Ew. [chuckles]
Let's smoke a bowl.
Okay? It'll help you relax.
[upbeat music]
- Oh, man, man.
- Hi.
♪ ♪
[door shuts]
Welcome to my humble abode.
- [chuckles]
- Here she is.
- Oh, yeah. Thank you.
- Oh, oh. Blow it into here.
- Oh.
Wow. That's--that's really wild,
because when I was in college,
we used a toilet paper roll
with a dryer sheet on the end.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- My dad told me that trick.
- Oh...
- Hmm.
- Hey. - Hey.
- Salut. - Salut.
- Is this like a dessert wine or something or--
- You know what?
Leave me alone with my wine.
- Can I--can I sit right here? - Yeah.
- Just on the-- - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- All right.
- You want anything else? You want some spuds?
- No, no, no. I'm--I'm good.
[both giggle]
- Do my feet stink? - No.
- The laundry machine's been broken,
so I ran out of socks.
Marcus. - Yes?
- May I have permission to straddle you?
- Yeah, sure.
[both chuckling]
- I took this seminar called Consent Can Be Sexy.
And I really think it works.
- Whoa.
- Can I take off your shirt?
- All right.
Oh, oh, okay.
- Wow! [giggles]
Are you sure you're an editor
and not, like, a CrossFit instructor
or something? - Oh, come on.
- [moans softly]
Hey.
You know what's, like, my favorite thing ever?
- What?
- Blowjobs.
- Oh.
Oh, really?
- You really turn me on.
May I put your dick
in my mouth?
- Uh...
Sure.
Goddamn skinny cut. All right.
- [moans softly]
- Oh. Oh, wow.
Ouch. Uh, okay.
Hey, can we--can we stop for just one second?
- Do you want to just have sex? - Ah, sure, yeah.
Okay. Yeah.
[both laughing]
Oh, yeah. Totally, good looking out.
Slipped my mind.
[chuckles]
All right. - [giggles]
[moans]
- All right. - [giggles]
[laughs and moans]
Yes!
Yes, put that cock right in there.
[squeals]
Oh, it's so good!
It's so big!
[moaning exaggeratedly]
I'm cumming! - Wait, what, for real?
- [screams]
- Did we just cum at the same time?
- If you say so.
- You totally found my G-spot.
- [pants]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
narrator: He did not say goodbye to Paloma.
Six years later,
he would pass her on the street
and recognize her carefree aura
and earnest smile.
But she would walk right past him
as if they had never met before.
♪ ♪
Marcus was just a tiny speck
in Paloma's long journey toward adulthood,
a speck that would grow smaller and smaller
until he was erased and forgotten.
["Like Lust" by Movement playing]
- ♪ Could you come on over ♪
♪ When it feels like lust? ♪
♪ Could you come on over ♪
♪ When it feels like lust? ♪
- I'm good. I'm good.
- ♪ Could you come on over ♪
♪ When it feels like lust? ♪
♪ ♪
- Hey! - My bad.
- [mutters angrily]
- My bad, y'all.
♪ ♪
narrator: Marcus wasn't sure how he ended up
at his old apartment,
the building that once held his dreams for the future,
the one he had shared with Emily until four weeks prior.
Maybe it was muscle memory.
Or maybe he needed to see it to make this all real.
A decade of his life was gone,
and with it, what felt like a hundred seasons,
a thousand holidays,
ten thousand meals,
twenty thousand "love yous,"
and just as many silent recriminations.
♪ ♪
- ♪ Could you come on over when it feels like lust? ♪
♪ Could you come on over ♪
♪ When it feels like lust? ♪
♪ Could you come on over ♪
♪ When it feels like lust? ♪
♪ Could you come on over ♪