Choices

Damien gets hired to be a production assistant on a film shooting in Los Angeles and he chooses to leave school - and Kathleen. Kathleen tries to get him to stay but fails at convincing him.

Choices


DAMIEN:
I choose my art
I don’t choose you
We’ll live apart
And I’ll lose you
Life is give and take
But mostly give
I’m not making a mistake
It’s how I chose -
--Choose -- to live

This is what I want
This is who I have to be
You are who I love
But more so,
I have to love me
I have to listen to my past
Can’t change my mind so fast
We’ll always have what we had
Our memories can last

KATHLEEN:
Say “have”, not “had”
We’re not yet past tense
I’m not just a passing fad
Stop making so much sense
Don’t listen to your art
It’s only there to flaunt
Just listen to your heart
It will tell you what you want
It will tell you what you really need
Only love and companionship
Not fame to succeed

Finish what you started
We can’t end this way
I won’t accept us parted
Tell me that you’ll stay
What about your degree?
Wasn’t that one mission?
What about me?
Aren’t I part of the decision?

DAMIEN:
I am this
And you are you
We have connected
But we remain two
We each have to follow our destiny
Where we individually belong
Whether or not you can agree
I’m choosing for us
I’m choosing for me
You’ll see
I know I’m not wrong

KATHLEEN:
How can you be so certain?
Don’t you wonder what else is there
What’s behind another curtain?
What’s down another path?
Stop staring straight ahead
There’s life underneath and up above
Our lives are not math
There are no set solutions
Logic has no business being mixed with love

DAMIEN:
I’ve become a man
This is how I’ve grown
I can’t change my plan
It’s all I’ve ever known
I am only human
And I don’t want to change
I only play to win
And I can’t rearrange
My life for another
I got here on my own
I’ll go through it alone
We’ll always remember each other

KATHLEEN:
You’re not yet a man
You are still a boy
You say you’ve set your plan
But will it bring you joy
Like I can?
I have things you can use
Let me be your muse
Why doesn’t happiness inspire art like sadness does
Why can’t it stay how it was
How it is—

DAMIEN: (with KATHLEEN)
Goodbye, Kathy
It seems sad
Don’t stay mad
Don’t think I don’t give a damn
But I’m packing up
And ready to move
And ready to prove who I am

KATHLEEN: (with DAMIEN)
Damien, no -
I won’t let you go
We can’t end this way
Tell me that you’ll stay
You can’t change me and leave
Changed all I believe
I no longer know who I am