Sharing Life Treatment

"Sharing Life"by Patrick May

In a cubicle at the end of the day we meet RONNIE, an average-looking accountant fresh out of college in Phoenix, AZ. He watches the clock, waiting for the day to end. He is invited to a party, the same party he’s been attending since college started. He attends, but just like the rest of his life, he is bored with it. His sole means of excitement consists of going onto travel websites, picking out expansive travel plans and then canceling the plans before he has to pay for them.

Ronnie attends a nationwide corporate training session in Dallas. He knows no one there and spends his first night alone watching travel shows on TV in his hotel room in a nice airport hotel.

His first day of corporate instruction he is introduced to CHARLIE, a twenty-something corporate accountant with an intriguing beauty and manner. Ronnie tries, unsuccessfully, to gain access to her world. She is not quite indifferent to him, but does not go out of her way to let him in.

Ronnie gets his chance when he sees Charlie doing homework from the training session with others from class in the hotel lobby. He runs to his hotel room to get his homework and in his rush he gets in an altercation with an OLD MAN and his WIFE. The altercation is resolved by hotel security, but by the time Ronnie gets back to the lobby, Charlie is gone. The next day Ronnie finally catches Charlie’s eye in the training session. They flirt non-verbally, but every time Ronnie gets a chance to talk to her something or someone interrupts one of them.

That night, Ronnie makes sure to bring his homework with him everywhere he goes on the off chance he can meet with Charlie. Finally luck is on his side. She invites him into her homework group in a way only she can. After the homework is done, she uses Ronnie to fend off the painful advances of BILL, a member of her group. After Bill leaves, Charlie tells Ronnie to walk her back to her room so he will “know where to pick me up tomorrow morning.”

The next morning Ronnie shows up and drives her to the conference center. He brings her breakfast. She makes fun of him good-naturedly. There is instant chemistry between them. Outside of the conference center she goes to her normal set of friends, leaving Ronnie to fend for himself. At lunchtime, she again uses Ronnie to fend off a pick-up attempt from Bill. They go to lunch together. Charlie receives a phone call that she hides from Ronnie. Bill follows them and shows up as they are leaving the restaurant.

Bill talks to Charlie alone. Ronnie minds his business but ends up making some smart-aleck remarks that cause Bill to want to fight. Charlie defuses the situation, but Ronnie has a new enemy. Ronnie drives Charlie back to the conference center and asks her to dinner. She agrees.
At dinner Charlie marvels at how Ronnie eats the same meals at the same times every day. She cuts his dinner short, interrupting his predictable life. “You’re taking me bowling.”

Ronnie and Charlie bowl. Ronnie loses badly the first game. Another mysterious phone call for Charlie. They place a wager on the second game, if Ronnie wins he gets a kiss, if he loses he does her homework. They battle evenly, but before the game is over Bill shows up, looking for a fight. Ronnie and Charlie both throw punches but decide to flee the bowling alley before the fight gets out of hand. They decide they want to get some beer and go back to the hotel to talk.

The quest for beer in a dry Texas county turns into an epic journey through several counties. They finally score a 12-pack and head back to the hotel. They stand on a balcony overlooking the airport and drink their hard-earned beer. Ronnie waxes poetic on the airport, “Every time a plane takes off or lands, someone’s life changes.” It hits both of them that this night is their last night together as the seminar ends tomorrow.

Ronnie talks of tragedy while Charlie wants to live in the moment. They dance together in the hotel room. She teaches him how to find the moment. He has never ‘felt’ a moment before. Now he understands.

Bill has managed to track them back to Ronnie’s hotel room. Just as Ronnie and Charlie are leaning in for their first kiss, Bill knocks. Ronnie takes out all of his aggression on Bill with a nice assist from Charlie. The ‘felt’ moment is ruined. Charlie goes back to her room, alone, due to another mysterious phone call.

The next day the seminar ends. Charlie asks Ronnie to take her to the airport. They decide to get one last drink before her plane takes off. While getting the drink, Ronnie tries to tell Charlie how he feels about her. In the middle of the conversation Charlie gets a call . . . from her boyfriend. Ronnie is crushed. Charlie makes him promise to try to find that moment he ‘felt’ the night before again. Charlie says, “Thank you for sharing your life with me, even if it was only for a couple of days.” Ronnie agrees, “I guess that’s better than nothing, right?”

Charlie goes her way, Ronnie goes his. When he gets home the first thing he does is get online to a travel site. He picks out the best vacation. When it comes time to book it, instead of hitting the ‘back’ button, he books it.