-
Aileen: Everybody just thinks I'm this bad shitty fucking person, and all I'm fucking tryin' to do is survive, you know?
Thomas: I know. I know what you do for a living. It doesn't bother me. I know you didn't dial it up on a goddamn telephone. That's where you landed. That's what you had to do. What you're feeling right now is just guilt, over something you had absolutely no control over. You know how many of us came back from the war? And almost killed ourselves because we felt exactly the same thing you do, right now.
Aileen: Yeah?
Thomas: Yeah. And they'll never get it. They'll never get it now, they never got it then, and they sure as hell won't get fucking circumstance!
Aileen: Fuck, man, circumstance, that's exactly it, that's exactly it. You know I feel like I never even had a fucking choice.
Thomas: You never did. But you gotta live. You gotta live.
-
Aileen: [points to the bartender] You owe me change!
[pause]
Aileen: Fuck it. I'm outta here!
Selby: Oh, are you sure-
[touches Lee's shoulder]
Aileen: [rises from chair and pushes Selby off] GET YOUR FUCKIN' HANDS OFF ME, YOU DUMB DYKE! I'm not gonna fuck you for a fucking beer, alright? So, stop wasting your fuckin' time!
Jesse Stern
Extended Reading