DAVID

David is inspired and based upon two different boys I dated when I was younger. When I was writing the character of David I realized that these two boys had a lot more in common than I thought and when put together they would become an interesting character to stir up conflict in the play. To be specific, I took the mental abuse I suffered from one of them and the more physical (anger issues) abuse from the other, it became a pretty haunting combination. 

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David in Act 1 is this kind, but insecure young boy. He's clearly crushing on Lily and cares deeply for her, but when it comes to the Mr. E situation he's a bit blind in noticing what's going on. At this age, he idolizes a man like Mr. E and we find out later this is most likely due to the way his father treats him. Mr. E talks about how his father practically treated him like nothing and abandoned him. David in a way feels like this bonds him to Mr. E, considering his own relationship with his father isn't very healthy either. He in a way, blindly looks up to Mr. E to the point he can't even tell that this is the man hurting the girl he likes. However, when Mr. E is found guilty, there's no question that this was enough for David to reconsider whom he chose as a role model. 

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When David gets to high school we slowly see this darkness creeping into him. He's similar to Jake, but a bit better at keeping things under wraps so as not to expose himself. We see evidence of this when he yells at Lily in the hallway right before asking her out. He in a way coerces her into this relationship and Lily being the people pleaser she is, says yes. It's clear he knows she's not sure about being with him, but he believes he can change her mind and make her happy. It's up to intepretation if this is really his intention, but we can't forget the way he words his proposal to her (to be his girlfriend). He specifcally says, "You're the one thing I always wanted." Are any alarm bells ringing at the fact that this is hard foreshadowing to the next two scenes? Yes, absolutely yes. 

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Apart from his insecurities, David seems to think that he needs to be physical with a girl in order to be together truly. When he tells Lily he wants to get to know her more in "that" way, he changes the way he talks to her in a sense of respect. Regardless of Lily clearly being uncomfortable, saying she's not ready, and even backing away from him, David knew that he was walking away that day getting what he wanted. He forgot almost every hard thing Lily has been through purely for the sake of focusing on what he wanted. There was no "us" in this decision and sadly Lily is caught on the end of it all. It's mentioned on the story that he pulled this not only once, but twice. What do we think went down the second time? I have an answer, but I'd like to leave it to interpretation because clearly something big enough happened to cause David to keep making Lily "try again." 

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The scene after Lily is at David's house, he appears so territorial about her even with someone he's friends with (Matty in this case). It could be argued his jealousy and insecurity comes into play here, making him think Lily doesn't want to be with him anymore so she's looking for ways out, and maybe she is. He's simply outraged by the fact she won't hold his hand in school, but not even because he misses her, but for appearances. If we remember from the end of Act 1, Lily mentions how his parents were always keeping up appearances but not a good example behind closed doors. David is practically following in his parents footsteps and continuing this cycle of abuse that was exposed to him. However, when it comes to the end of the fight scene, all David can do is cry. He's lost the one person who truly cared for him, even if it wasn't in the way he wanted. He's wanted to be with Lily all this time, but he ruins it for himself and ends up breaking down in front of everyone.​

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We don't see David again until the end of Act 2, but it's clear that there is some part of him haunting Lily for a portion of her life. He started off as her best friend, but ended up as this scar in her life that Lily will always remember.