Pretend You're Someone Else-Synopsis

Katrina D. Miller
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Pretend You’re Someone Else
Synopsis

A man hides a secret from his family and has no clue his son has the same secret.

Since celebrating his seventeenth birthday, Peter Anderson has been haunted by a painful secret that could come back to destroy him at any minute. Because of this, he lost his best friend, his boyfriend and was forced, by his father, into an early marriage to a woman he didn’t love.

Now at the age of thirty-five, Peter’s wife finally walked-out on him and their two children for an older man. Throughout their marriage, she knew that her husband preferred men, but only agreed to keep his secret if she could have his money. Being how Peter was the richest man in town, he couldn't afford to reveal his attraction to men, so he allowed his wife to do as she pleased.

Unknown to him, his past has finally caught up. After the divorce was finalized and Joy walked out of his life with ten-million of Peter’s money, he decides to slowly break the news of his sexuality to his children. Over the past eighteen-years, Peter kept in contact with his ex-boyfriend, Robert from high school.

The men now have sixteen-year-old sons (both the result of one-night-stands) who are, strangely enough, best friends. Peter never really worried that his son, Erich would be attracted to boys. Sure there were times that he questioned it, but quickly crossed it out of his mind. To him, his son was perfect and would end up marrying a beautiful woman and someday take over the family business.

Feeling quite chipper about his plan, Peter invites Robert and his son, Paul over to watch the Braves game. His daughter left with some girlfriends and wouldn’t be home until early morning. The time was perfect for him to gradually ask Robert back into his life.

Before the start of the game, Peter realizes that he forgot to stock up on beer. He asks Robert to go to the store with him and it dawns of both men that the two of them hadn’t driven together since they were seventeen.

Back at the house, the two men are seconds away from reconciling with each other, when they accidently walk-in on their own two kids in the middle of a heated make-out session. Robert can only stare in shock when the boys announce that they have been dating since they were thirteen. Peter has become so visibly upset that their children have the same secret that he and Robert have kept hidden, that he strikes Erich across the face and retreats up to his room.

Through the locked door, Robert yells that he will be taking Erich home for the night and suggests he call in the morning for an apology. Peter’s response is to ignore it. He cannot believe that Erich has fallen down the same path he did. He’s upset that his son will be miserable like he is.

After a twelve-hour nap, Peter awakens with no plans on telephoning his son. Downstairs he finds his fourteen-year-old daughter, Georgina in the kitchen stuffing herself with leftover chicken from last night’s disastrous party. For the first time, they have a father/daughter talk. Peter never really felt close to her because she came along during a drunken night with his wife. During the past year Georgina showed signs of turning into her mother. She lies, stays out late, steals and worst of all seems to be in a relationship with a boy Peter knows will end up breaking her heart. He knows this for a fact because the boy reminds him of himself during high school when he ‘used’ a girl to please his parents, while secretly dating Robert.

Throughout the conversation, Peter notices how upbeat his daughter is. She is giggling, laughing and constantly eating. Something has drastically changed and it’s not just her new angelic attitude. Without warning, she stands up from the table and tells him that she is headed out to the store and when she returns she needs to confess a secret. Peter hopes to God that she has broken-up with her good-for-nothing boyfriend. Before leaving, she quietly walks over to him and throws her arms around for a hug. Peter is taken back in shock. A strange calm flows through him and he knows that something life-changing is about to happen.

An hour later, his fears are confirmed. Georgina has been shot and wounded by her boyfriend outside of a drugstore; the cowardly boy quickly took his own life afterwards. At the hospital he is informed that his daughter is pregnant and has fallen into a coma.

In the waiting room he finds Robert and the kids. Peter tearfully apologizes to them and they forgive him and settle down for the night to await news of Georgina. Several hours pass and the doctor comes in. He leads Peter to his daughter’s room. Seeing her so lifeless and in pain, Peter feels that this is his ‘punishment’ for the horrible things he did in high school, not to mention his secret. He breaks down and Robert comes in to comfort him. On the way out, they pause in the hallway for a kiss, not caring if anyone is watching, including their children.

A few days slowly go by and no news of any doctor who can save Georgina’s life. Peter finds solace in Robert and they start dating again, but he knows that time is running out for his daughter. Peter has a choice, he must agree to take her off life support, or keep her on until the baby is born. So far every doctor that has examined her has said the exact same thing; there is no hope and she will be in a coma for life. Peter is convinced that there is a surgeon out there who can save her.

Finally, as the deadline looms up, a doctor is found. Her name is Stacey and she is one of the top brain surgeons in the world. Only problem? She happens to be the girl that Peter ‘led on’ in high school and threatened to kill when she accidently walked-in on him and Robert having sex at seventeen.

Peter remembered the incident quite well because it has haunted him ever since. It all started after scaring the girl away, the boys raced off to a local bar to ‘celebrate’ the occasion. Several beers and hits of cocaine later, Peter takes home a random girl. At this point he is so intoxicated that he believes the woman is Robert. They have sex and three months later, she returns with news that she is pregnant. Peter is forced to marry her and sticks around because he loves his son so much.

Now that Stacey has returned, he knows that karma has come back for him. He fears he's lost his daughter, his son has the same secret he has, Stacey is the only person who is willing to help Georgina and shockingly enough she is also Paul’s mother. Robert never really revealed the secret of the girl he had a ‘one night stand’ with in Atlanta all those years ago, the only thing he ever mentioned was that she was a waitress and a first-year med student.

Distraught at being lied to all these years, Peter breaks-up with Robert and tells him he never wants to see him again. The next day he meets Stacey at the hospital. It is an awkward reunion, but she lets him know that all is forgiven for the incident that happened in high school, it is also revealed that Robert was the one who called her up and told her about Georgina. They talk some more and she tells him that it was her idea not to tell anyone that she is Paul's mother. Peter starts to feel stupid about what he did, so he quickly says goodbye to Stacey and makes plans to meet her tomorrow with his decision.

Racing back to Robert's house, Peter hopes that his friend hasn't done anything to harm himself. He knows that when they broke-up at seventeen Robert tried to commit suicide, but Stacey ended up saving his life and took him back to her hotel room, which resulted in Paul being born nine-months later.

At the house, Peter finds the door locked and to his dismay no one is answering the door after several rings of the bell and ferocious pounding. Expecting the worst, Peter is about to flip open his cell phone to call the police, when he spots an old birdcage hanging from the rafters of the porch. He remembers as teenagers back in the seventies a spare key was kept in case they locked themselves out. Peter says a quiet 'thank-you' to God for Robert inheriting his parents house as he reaches in and clasps his fingers around the key.

Seconds later, Peter is running up the winding staircase into his friend's bedroom. Stumbling in, he finds Robert perched up in the bed rubbing his eyes, a mountain of tissues on the pillows. After inviting Peter into the room, he is shocked to discover that the room looks exactly the same as it did in '76. Not once in eighteen-years did his friend bother to replace the shag carpet, geometric wallpaper, the teenager decor, or the orange chenille blankets on the bed. Walking around in a daze, he begins to question Robert's sanity.

Peter is at loss for words, when his friend calmly explains that the reason he kept his room the same all these years is because he missed him and since he couldn't have him anymore, he found comfort in reliving memories of the two of them.

The two men settle down to talk and eventually Robert agrees to come back to him, he also lets Peter know that he will always return when they break-up. Peter wishes for them to be together for the rest of their lives, so he proposes. By doing this, he is telling Robert that he is no longer ashamed of being himself and 'the hell' with what others will think. Back at his house, Peter gives his fiancée a beautiful, vintage, diamond ring, to prove how much he loves him.

The next day, Peter and Robert are surprised when Stacey makes an unexpected visit to the house. She comes bearing bad news, Georgina might not make it through the week. Peter is so distraught, that he has a mini-breakdown. The two of them calm him down and they take a little walk to clear their heads.

Passing by the charred remains of Peter's childhood home, the three of them stop to reminisce. This is the exact same house where Peter suffered years of mental and physical abuse from his alcoholic father, not to mention this is where Stacey walked in on Peter and Robert having sex back in '75. Memories of the afternoon when he chased the girl through the mansion yelling, cussing and threating to kill her swarms his head. Peter still feels guilty and believes karma has come back at him through his children. Thus the old saying, "The sins of the fathers will be bestowed on the children."

Stacey tries to tell him that with faith Georgina might make it through the week and eventually give birth to her baby. Peter knows it's his only chance to become a grandfather, unless Erich decides to hire a surrogate mother. As they leave the house, Stacey asks if anyone ever found the arsonist who torched the place. With a sly smile, Peter announces he received permission and set it on fire himself. There were too many bad memories in the place.

A few hours pass, and Peter once again returns to the hospital with Robert and their kids. Stacey pulls Paul aside and tells him that she is his mother. At that exact same moment an orderly runs in the room. He has news that Peter's ex-wife, Joy has just been admitted and is in critical condition. With only minutes to live, Peter races with his son to see her. They find her surrounded by tubes and slowly dying. Knowing that she is going straight to hell, Joy digs up the courage to confess her own secret. The reason why she hated her husband with such passion is because his father, the man who started the town's only real-estate company, evicted Joy and her parents from their home when she was only sixteen. Forced to live in poverty, she vowed one day to get revenge on the man who ruined her family.

Peter feels incredibly sorry for Joy since she literally wasted her entire life trying to 'punish' him for something his father did. Every bad deed his ex-wife ever committed came back at her full force and now she was seconds away from spending an eternity roasting in hell. With one final act of desperation, she tells Peter that the man she ran off with isn't her lover, it is in fact her father. She never cheated on him throughout their marriage, she only pretended that she did to make him mad. It seems that she hatched a plan with her dad to divorce Peter and take his money, when that didn't work out, they became upset and were headed towards his house to literally steal whatever they could find, when their car hit an eighteen-wheeler, killing her dad instantly and sending her to the ER with only minutes to live.

With that said, Peter forgives Joy, while Erich becomes distraught that he had a grandfather out there he never knew about. Seconds later, Joy passes away from a painful death. Outside in the hallway, they are met by Paul who tells Erich that Stacey can take the place of his mother. Erich is overjoyed that he finally has a family and Peter finds this the perfect time to tell the boys that he and Robert are engaged. Since Peter is half Native American he can legally marry another man on his family's reservation.

Now that Peter believes his life has finally straightened out, he tells Stacey to keep Georgina on life-support for the rest of her life. Even if she never awakes, he doesn't have the heart to take her away. As the four men leave the hospital it suddenly dawns on them that the town has always known that Peter and Robert were gay, they were just 'blind' to seeing it.

The book ends with an epilogue of sixteen-years-later. Peter and Robert have been happily married the entire time and still live in their old house. Georgina gave birth to a baby girl five months after their marriage and Peter decided to give the baby to Erich and Paul to raise. The boys name her Sophia and keep her in Atlanta with them until she is five-years-old. A hate crime incident forces the boys to give her back to Peter and Robert. The men legally adopt their granddaughter and raise her to love and respect everyone.

During the final chapter, we find Peter lying in bed on a Saturday morning in November of 2008. Robert is downstairs preparing for Sophia's sixteenth birthday party. Erich and Paul have spent the night and both are still asleep as Peter continues to daydream about how perfect his life has become since forgiving Joy and being true to himself.

Robert suddenly opens the bedroom door and politely informs Peter that, "Their two daughter's have awoken," thus giving the reader a hint that Erich has had a sex change during the past sixteen-years, or has he? Perhaps it means something else entirely?