Lux quotes from Life Unexpected

Cate

Lux...

Lux

Cate, what are you doing here? ... [shakes her head] Don't you people learn?

Baze

I'm you're daughter.

Lux

You're my what?

Lux

My room is amazing. (pointing at the poster on the wall) But who are the Spin Doctors?

Cate

Um...they, uh, they provided the soundtrack of your conception.

Lux

Hmm.

Cate

Sorry for putting that image in your head.

What's this?

Lux

It's what's most important, right? $3,200 cash. Rent for the bar. From Baze.

What, did he rob a bank or something?

Lux

I'm no expert on parents, but I always thought they just wanted their kids to be happy.

I do want my son to be happy.

Lux

You want your son to be you. You're not mad at Baze because he, because he made the building a bar, or because he can't pay his rent, or even because he had me and didn't tell you. You're mad because...because he looked at you and decided that he didn't want to be you. Now, I've only known you for a few minutes, and I've known Baze for less than two weeks, but I know he's twice the dad that you are.

Baze

Coffee three sugars.

Lux

Blueberry waffle slightly toasted.

Cate

(about the Santa letter that Lux wrote at age 8) Okay, I know that right now, this seems like a really big deal, and I am not saying that it isn't, but that letter...that letter was sweet. Anyone who reads it would see that.

Lux

It's not sweet. It's sad. While other kids were asking for Play Stations and Barbie dream houses, I was asking for parents.

Cate

Right, which is understandable, because that is what you wanted.

Lux

Right. But no one wanted me, and now the whole school knows that.

Cate

Lux--

Lux

No! Don't you understand what I'm saying? Not a single person ever, in 16 years, wanted me! Out of all the foster homes, out of all the parents that stood outside that chain-linked fence and watched us play like, like we didn't know what was going on, they picked out kids like we were puppies...or cars. But nobody ever chose me, including you. So...so don't tell me that this isn't a big deal, or that you understand how I feel, because you don't!

Baze

I shouldn't have yelled. I don't wanna be that guy.

Lux

You're not, Baze. You're not your dad. He's not all bad, though. Maybe he's just one of those old-school dads who can only show love by hitting you on the head or something.

Baze

Yeah, or he just likes hitting me on the head.

Lux

(referring to Jones taking her to see Tasha) You know, Bug never would have done anything this thoughtful.

Tasha

Not true. He would have driven you here...in a stolen car.

Lux

You're asking me out? Like on a date? Why?

What do you mean, why? Cause I want to go out with you.

Lux

Well what do you have in mind? I stand in the cheering section at one of your games? We share a milkshake at the Dairy Hut?

Don't hate on milkshakes.

Lux

You know what I mean. You're Abercrombie. I'm the foster-freak bong girl. There's an inherent compatibility issue.

Really? I thought it was a classic story. Boy meets bong girl, boy tries to kiss bong girl, boy awkwardly asks out bong girl.

Lux

Is this a sex talk?

Baze

It's...it's more of an anti-sex talk.

Abby

There are many other ways to get the same feeling without actually having sex. Um...flexible shower heads, vibrating back massagers, the spin cycle of the front-load washing machine. (Lux and Baze stare are her)

Fern

That's what this is really about, right? Cate not being there?

Lux

I say yes, and what? You send me away to live with someone else? I don't want to live with someone else. I want to work it out with Cate and Baze. I just...

Fern

Look, I'm the one who's going to decide if you stay together, but ultimately, it's not up to me. It's up to you. If you can't be straight with me, you're never gonna be straight with Cate and Baze, and then you'll be right back on my couch six months from now, so when you say that Cate wasn't there for you, tell her what you mean.

Lux

(long pause, turns to Cate) Where were you?

Cate

What?

Lux

I was out there my whole life. Where were you all that time? You never even checked. You never wondered what had happened, if I was okay?

Cate

I...I mean, I...I didn't really think that I had to worry, because they told me that you were gonna be adopted, that you were gonna have a better life. I really, I really thought that I was doing what was right for you.

Lux

It wasn't for me. If it was for me, you would have checked! But you did it for you. You did the right thing for you!

Baze

Lux, it's not all on Cate. I wasn't there exactly, either.

Lux

Yeah, but you didn't know, and nobody who knew you would have expected you to be there.

Cate

I was sixteen years old. You know, I didn't have anyone to turn to. You know my mother. She was drinking her way through another divorce. I even wrote a letter to my father, but when I realized that I didn't know where to send it...you know, that's when it hit me. I had no idea what a good parent was. There was just no way that I could be one. Not at sixteen.

Lux

Then...what about a few years after that, when I was three and stuck in a hospital where no one visited? Or two years after that, when my foster mother shoved me into a wall and told the social worker that I fell off a swing? Where were you? We used to make up these stories about why we were given up, because we didn't want to believe that our parents, our mothers, could hold us--their babies--and just give us up! But you did. You gave me away to nothing, like I didn't matter to you, because I didn't!

Cate

No, no, Lux. You do. You matter now.

Lux

No.

Cate

No, Lux. You matter. You do. You matter now, Lux!

Lux

No! (stands up) Now doesn't count! I...I'm sorry. I don't forgive you, Cate. I don't. (walks out)

Lux

I know I seem like I'm okay, but I'm more messed up inside than you realize. And the truth is, I don't forgive you. I don't know when I'll ever be able to forgive you.

Cate

Lux, you don't have to. You don't ever have to forgive me. I'm never gonna be able to forgive me. I just want a chance to make it right with you. Will you tell me what I have to do to make it right?

Lux

Let me come home.

Lux

How long has it been?

Baze

How long, how long has what been?

Lux

Since you've had feelings for Cate.

Baze

I just...I thought that if I gave it time, the feelings would go away. But after the last two days, I don't know if I want the feelings to go way. We felt like a family, the three of us, for the first time. It felt really good.

Lux

Just stop making excuses! You spend so much time denying it, and rationalizing it and, and talking yourself out if it, what if you just admitted it?

Cate

What would you like me to admit, Lux?!

Lux

That deep down, you're having doubts about Ryan because you know that you're meant to be with Baze.

Cate

Baze and I, we are not meant to be together. My soulmate is not some guy that knocked me up in the back of a minivan.

Lux

(referring to Cate) Are you really not gonna say anything? About how you feel? You're just gonna watch her get married tomorrow?

Baze

I'm not gonna watch anything. I'm going to steer clear of all things wedding. I don't wanna see it, I don't wanna hear anything about it.

Lux

So that's the kind of family we're gonna be? The kind that just sits around, lying to each other because we can't say how we feel?

Baze

Lesson numero uno: that's every family.