Scene Eighteen

Dance Like Nobody Is Watching You

Song 18 — “Dance Like Nobody Is Watching You”
▶ open on Suno ↗

Ozzy's house. The suitors sprawl over the wreckage, still there, still waiting on an answer. TELLY bursts in — road-worn, changed, home at last ahead of his brother. PENNY is on him instantly.

TELLY — I found him, Penny. He's alive. He's comin'.

PENNY — When?! Tonight?!

TELLY — ...Soon. Not tonight. He's got a last stretch of road. Somethin' about a raft and a sandwich and not eatin' it near a BBQ place, I didn't fully— (the suitors' noise rising)

PENNY — Telly, they won't wait. Tony wants an answer.

TELLY (careful, desperate) — ...you might want to think about playin' the strip poker.

PENNY (aghast)TELEMACHUS.

TELLY — No — hear me out—

PENNY (rising, a fire lighting, a slow clever smile — the trickster's daughter-in-law) — ...No. You hear me.

She crosses to a dusty DDR pad, kicks it flat, fires up the machine. The screen blooms: "DANCE LIKE NOBODY IS WATCHING YOU — EXPERT." The number kicks.

♪ Song 18 — “Dance Like Nobody Is Watching You”

THE REVEAL (cliffhanger into the finale)

The suitors lie defeated. The machine resets; "DANCE LIKE NOBODY IS WATCHING YOU" loads again, waiting. And into the doorway steps a HOODED FIGURE — road-worn, a raft-key in his hand. He looks at the pad. He looks at Penny. He steps forward.

FIGURE (quiet, under the hood) — ...mind if I try?

PENNY (something stirring, she can't say what) — ...you think you can dance like Nobody, stranger?

FIGURE (a familiar shifty grin under the hood) — ...lady, I invented it.

He steps onto the pad. Blackout. — straight into the FINALE.