Star Struck

Happy Tuesday, crime slicksters. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where the girls are hot, the drinks are cold, and the hardboiled-pulp-noir action is non-stop, right here, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 22 of SPIRAL, now that the three of them have been partying all night and doing drugs for a few weeks, Andy confesses to Dex that he has feelings for adult film star Savannah, a/k/a Shannon ...


EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD - NIGHT
The strip is clogged with traffic.
The CAMERA pans across nightclubs,
billboards, PEOPLE on the sidewalk.

Over the action, 80's "new wave" music,
something like A Flock Of Seagulls.

ANDY (V.O.)
Things started to get a little messy.
I mean, friends fight sometimes,
but we had fights like we were
lovers or something.
Sometimes I thought maybe it was
all the drugs we were doing.
But then I was too high most of time
to really think about it that much.

EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD / DEX'S JEEP - NIGHT
Dex's Jeep rolls through Sunset Plaza
with the top down.

ANDY (V.O)
Maybe it was because I was starting
to have some feelings for Shannon.
I knew it couldn't lead to anything,
I tried to ignore it,
but I couldn't help it.
I kinda felt like she needed me.

INT. DEX'S JEEP / SUNSET BOULEVARD - NIGHT
SUPER: "9:37"

Andy does a bump of coke,
then gives it to Dex.
They smile at each other.

ANGLE ON:
A billboard for the film "Johns,"
with a cute young Lucas Haas' face
smiling hopefully.

INT. DEX'S JEEP / SUNSET BOULEVARD - NIGHT
Dex points at the billboard.

DEX
I'd pay seven bucks to see male hustlers.

ANDY
You pay twenty bucks to do male hustlers.

Dex laughs.

ANDY
I'd pay a hundred to do Shannon.

The Jeep stops at a light.
Dex PUNCHES the stereo off.

DEX
What?

ANDY
I was kidding. It was a joke.

Dex stares at Andy,
who turns beet red.

Andy avoids his gaze
and looks out the window.
Dex can't believe it.

DEX
You're blushing like a school boy.
You've got the hots for her.
Boy, if she found out --

ANDY
I don't have the hots for her.
I said I was kidding.
It was a fucking joke.
Now cut it out

The light changes.
Dex hits the gas.
Andy PUNCHES the stereo back on.

ANDY
I'm not like everybody else.
I love her like she was my sister.

DEX
Well you know what they say,
"incest is best."

ANDY
Very fucking funny.

A beat.

Andy reaches down
and pulls out a six pack,
breaks off two cans,
hands one to Dex.

He POPS open his beer.

ANDY
Don't say anything about it
to Shannon, okay?