As Cool as I Am

In the quaint town that Lucy calls home, she is a lively young girl with a strong desire for adventure, thriving in tomboy activities. Her bond with her father, Chuck, is incredibly deep, even as his job in Canada often takes him away from her. In contrast, her relationship with her mother, Lainee, is more relaxed, provided the household remains tidy and Lucy follows the rules in place. Demonstrating a remarkable level of trust, her mother even allows her to drive the family car, a privilege seen as unusual for someone of her age. Each time Chuck comes back from his trips to Canada, only three times a year, Lucy seizes the opportunity to skip an entire week of school, while Lainee conveniently concocts tales about staying home because she’s unemployed.

However, the equilibrium of their household shifts dramatically with the arrival of Scott Booker, a recurring problem for Lucy’s best friend, Kenny. In a brief moment of weakness, Lucy kisses Scott but is left feeling humiliated when he dismisses her as a “bad kisser.” This once treasured moment of her first kiss has now transformed into a source of anxiety. Fortunately, Kenny is there to comfort her, suggesting that memories are fluid and can be altered. Inspired by this notion, Lucy wonders if she could convince herself that her first kiss was actually with Kenny. To solidify this new belief, she feels that a kiss from Kenny would help create a new narrative — thus igniting a friends-with-benefits arrangement.

As tensions simmer, Lainee finds herself developing a crush on an engaging speaker at her workplace. Eventually, her feelings lead her to an illicit late-night rendezvous, which Lucy unavoidably stumbles upon at 5:00 a.m. The situation escalates when Chuck returns home unexpectedly, prompting Lucy to reveal both her mother’s infidelity and her own kisses with other boys during her father’s absences. This confession is a desperate attempt to shield Chuck from the harsh truth about Lainee while also confronting her own evolving identity.

As the discord between Lucy’s parents intensifies, the struggles begin to take a toll on her. Seeking comfort, she sneaks into Kenny’s bedroom, waking him from his sleep as she climbs into bed. What starts as an innocent moment spirals into an intense encounter, but guilt quickly overwhelms Lucy, forcing her to flee through the front door where she unexpectedly bumps into Kenny’s mother. Afterward, she returns home only to be met with the startling noises of her parents’ intimacy upstairs. Realizing the weight of her actions, Lucy seeks advice from Planned Parenthood, obtaining a morning-after pill, a box of condoms, and birth control pills. Just as she hides the package in her dresser, her father calls for her. She heads downstairs to find Kenny waiting for her and is relieved to learn he understands the complicated situation they are in.

Later that week, in a twist of fate, Kenny’s mother invites everyone to Easter brunch, where she inadvertently reveals Lucy and Kenny’s secret relationship. Lainee and Chuck can hardly believe it, insisting that Kenny’s mother has to be mistaken. Tension brews beneath the surface as Lucy and Kenny take a reprieve, feeding leftover scraps to neighborhood dogs. It is during this moment that Lucy resolves to abstain from intimacy, a stance that Kenny supports.

When Lucy finally returns home, she is confronted by her father’s unexpected visitor, Scott Booker. What follows is a scathing exchange with Chuck that leaves Scott at a loss for words, exposing a side of her father that Lucy had never seen before. As she processes the turmoil of her parents’ rocky marriage, troubling questions arise regarding Chuck’s frequent trips abroad and Lainee’s seemingly indifferent behavior. The emotional void from Kenny’s absence weighs heavily on her, and she finds herself seeking distraction at a party, only for chaos to ensue. In the midst of this emotional upheaval, Lucy becomes determined to unravel the mystery of her father’s frequent Canadian escapades, uncovering truths that challenge everything she thought she knew about her family dynamics.

Last Updated: November 21, 2024 at 13:26