Page 119 of Only Lovers in the Building

Ben: We gave up.

Lily: It’s a shame, too! These are my top tropes.

Ben: What do you like most? The friendship graduating to a relationship part?

Lily: Yes! That part! I love it!

Ben: If you mess up the relationship, which isn’t hard to do, you also lose a friend. How do you recover from that?

Lily: I can’t imagine, and I’m glad you brought that up. This is another fine example of how tropes can trip you up in real life.

Ben: Keep your friends close and your lovers closer. Just don’t mix the two.

Lily: Give me a second. I need to write that down.

Ben: Write this down, too. Opposites attract is bullshit. You’re either compatible or you’re not.

Lily: Too compatible and you fall in a rut. There should be some tension.

Ben: We’re compatible. Where does that leave us?

Lily: Just friends?

Ben: [Laughs] Okay. Maybe.

Lily: Bobbi should’ve left Jack in the friend zone. Sometimes it’s for the best. Have you ever been friend-zoned, Ben?

Ben: Absolutely. Several times.

Lily: I’m shocked. Who would put you on the bench?

Ben: You might find this hard to believe, but I was once a bookish nerdy kid with acne and unruly hair.

Lily: Did you ever ride a skateboard?

Ben: Yes. Why?

Lily: No reason. I want a complete mental image.

Ben: Add this to your image. I had no date for my junior high prom. I was either the third wheel or the designated driver through high school until things picked up sophomore year.

Lily: In other words, you had a normal teenage experience.

Ben: Still hurts!

Lily: Oh God!

Ben: How about you? Did you serve any time in the friend-zone supermax prison?

Lily: As a matter of fact, I have. I’ll show you the mug shot later.

Ben: Tell me all about it.

Lily: He was a Wall Street type.

Ben: You and those finance bros . . .

Lily: For a while, they were my weakness!