Q & A with Nico and Amy

 

Is there anything you don't know about each other that you want to talk about?

NICO: [he laughs and shakes his head, no] I already know she has a boyfriend. Besides, I know I'm really not her type.

AMY: Things have been different since [she presses her lips as if she'd rather not say, and then she sighs] since Eli's been so....I don't know..I had no idea he'd be this way about...[She almost heaves a sigh] with Junie. I mean, I didn't know. [She looks as if this is all his fault, not hers. She looks angry as she hugs herself] Maybe..maybe our love had...had an expiration date.

NICO:[He looks at her as if she's being a child in all this] Now don't you go blaming him, I think it was over a long time ago, and you just didn't want to face it. You didn't think you'd meet anyone. That's it. Yeah, it's expired all right. [He shakes his head at that.]

AMY: I dunno. [she looks as if he might cry, but she doesn't.] I know he means well, but I don't know we just don't have the connection. [she sighs and looks at Nico. Amy licks her dry lip. Although she nurses her bottom lip in thought.] We were good, but it didn't happen overnight, you know..with Eli. Not really. We've known each other since, I dunno..middle school. I wanted to believe he was the one, but it took work and well, it's like I know we have this goodbye thing that we both wait for. It's not like we...we've never done it. You know. But I've just gotten used to how it is. At the end. Kissing. At first it was so new and then later it got old. I guess. [She sighs then] I don't mean for it to end this way. But he knows it too. I know he does.

NICO: Don't you think it'll be that way with us, too? [He looks at her out of the corner of his eye as if she might have been using him for an excuse].

AMY: [looks at  him as if it would never happen.]

NICO: You don't really know me. [He stares at her hard] I don't look like your family's type. Besides, I like to buck dance.

AMY: [She looks at  him as if he's talking about a strange sex life, perhaps]

NICO: [laughs and points his finger at her] I knew I'd get you on that one. I come from a whole different world. A world where everyone wants to be the same, and they'll go out of their way and make life hell for you until you realise you are the same. And then you're stuck. [He's straight-lipped yet a little sad] You don't want to go out of your way to be any better. They call it unity, but the truth is they want to drag you down as far as they can. And if you don't, well, they'll kill you. 

AMY: What's Buck Dancing?

NICO: [shakes with laughter] I thought you'd never ask. [He grins from ear to ear] My grandma used to play the fiddle, and she knew an awful lot about the Tennessee walk. It's not exactly tap dancing, but you gotta keep up with the music. It's not that I've ever been in a competition, but sometimes when I got nothing to do, I remember. Maybe I do the soft shoe for her, or maybe it's just for me.