Rat Pack Complications

Chapter 1

'Who's Got The Action?' By Dean Martin plays.

A girl rummages through the cabinets in an apartment. She pulls out a plate, some silverware. She hurries to the fridge. She grabs the toast and puts it in the toaster. As she hurries to get her breakfast together, she glances at the clock. She bounces up and down in place waiting for her toast. It's done. She butters it and takes the plate.

She swings her backpack over her shoulder and stops the Dean Martin record that has been playing. Time seems to stop as she looks at the camera.

"Hi, my name is Adley. This is my apartment. As you can see, it's small, but nice. Open concept. Always good. My roommate is a designer. That's why the place is minimalistic, but has pops of color."

Adley heads out the door, unlocks her car, and gets in.

"I'm headed to class. I'm a film student. I love writing."

Adley drives to school. She parks and gathers her things. She walks to her class.

"You should probably know--"

She opens the door, walks to her desk, and sits down.

"--I love Frank Sinatra, pretty much all of the Rat Pack, and anything Old Hollywood. If I could live in that era I would. But for now, studying the greats is good enough for me."

The professor walks in and the class settles down.

INT. APARTMENT - LATER

Adley sits at the barstool, her work spread out all over the counter.

Adley's roommate walks in.

"I'm leaving now. I'll be back on Monday remember?"

"Right! Have fun at your parent's!"

"I will, thanks! Don't do anything too crazy while I'm gone!"

Adley's roommate winks. Adley rolls her eyes and smiles. Her roommate leaves.

Adley focuses back on her work. She ruffles through some papers with notes scribbled all over. She types on her computer. Adley stops, stares at her computer. She sighs and shuts the lid. She picks up her stuff and goes into her room.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Adley walks into her bedroom with her pajamas on and a toothbrush in her mouth. She opens a notebook that says journal on the front, etched into the leather by hand, and writes some things down.

"I always journal before bed. Helps me remember how far I've come. Helps me get great story ideas too."

She gets up and walks back into the bathroom.

When she comes out again, she turns off the light and gets into bed.

INT. KITCHEN - MIDDLE OF NIGHT

Adley groggily walks out of her bedroom. She fills up a glass of water. She sits at the bar and stares at the clock, half asleep.

Suddenly, Adley hears a very strange noise coming from behind her. It sounds like something from a video game, but also really loud, and kind of like something is being torn.

Adley spins around. Her eyes go wide.

In the middle of the open space in the apartment, a giant hole appears from nowhere. It looks like the portal from The Avengers.

Two men step out. One is tall with dark hair. The other is short with very blue eyes. Both are wearing nice suits.

Adley clutches onto her glass of water for fear of dropping it. Her mouth hangs open. After a few seconds, she realizes she has forgotten to breathe this whole time. She takes a breath and manages to speak.

"Oh. My. Gosh. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?"

The short man steps forward. Both look as shocked as Adley.

"Uh. Where are we?"

Adley gives them a confused look. "California? Is that what you were wondering? I know who you are and you shouldn't be here."

The tall one speaks to the short man. "I told you we shouldn't have listened! What does Sammy know about science anyway?"

"Ah shut up."

The tall man frowns, but then wanders around the living area of the apartment, taking in everything like a small child would looking at a large Christmas tree in the city.

The short man scratches his neck. "Uh. We don't exactly know what just happened to us... but, uh..." He looks around. "This doesn't exactly look like anything normal."

Adley stands up slowly, puts the glass on the counter, and stretches out her hand. "I'm Adley."

"Frank Sinatra. That's Dean Martin." Frank points a thumb to Dean behind him.

"I know who you are."

Frank lets out a nervous laugh. "At least we aren't in the past."

Dean interjects. "How could we be? This place looks futuristic."

Adley scrunches her face. "Whaa?"

Frank spots the couch and sits on it. Adley sits in a chair near the couch.

"What happened? How did you get here, I mean?"

"Well, we were touring this abandoned place in Vegas. We're looking to buy another hotel, you see. There was all this junk in a back room."

"It wasn't junk, Frank!"

"Anyway, the tour guide was acting all strange when we asked about it. He wouldn't let us move it if we bought the building. So later after the tour, we snuck back in. That is, me, Dean, and Sammy. Dean and I were looking at a large glass tube when Sammy found some sort of control panel. He pressed some buttons, even though we persisted he not touch anything. Next thing we know we're here."

"Wow."

Dean finally wanders over to the couch and sits next to Frank.

"How are you gonna get back?"

Frank's eyes go wide. Dean raises his hand to his mouth and starts biting a nail.

Adley sighs. "I'll try to help as best I can. For now, welcome to the future."

Frank and Dean give small, sad smiles.

"What time was it when you left?"

Dean looks over to the clock on the wall. "About what it is now."

Adley stands up. "Well, my roommate is gone for the weekend, so one of you can have her bed. The couch is free too. You should get some rest. We'll try to figure something out in the morning."

Frank stands up and mutters "Thanks."

Dean asks, "What day is tomorrow?"

"Saturday. Oh and that door leads to the bathroom. Just knock on my door if you need anything."

Dean nods and lays down on the couch.

"Goodnight, guys."

Frank and Dean echo. "Goodnight."