After a few minutes, the same chic waiter guides two girl friends on a clearly friendly lunch to the other side of the hall. Girl A (Amanda) asks the waiter to set up for one more friend who will be joining them shortly. Girl B (Britney) sits beside Amanda as they begin to settle down. The waiter takes their order and leaves.
Upon leaving, the waiter clears the frontal view of Britney. Upon Britney’s straight gaze, she is now directly looking at the table of the professional guy and his gorgeous date. Britney, wearing glasses, immediately thought that it was David, their other friend’s boyfriend. But she wasn’t sure of herself since distance with her impaired vision might be playing tricks with her. She asked Amanda to verify if it was indeed David. Amanda turned her head to the right and indeed saw the man and the girl kissing each other cheek to cheek. If it was just an ordinary couple, it would ultimately look extremely affectionate, romantic and playful. But it wasn’t. Amanda tried to push David’s image aside and internally hoped that it wasn’t him. She was in denial.
Britney, looking worried, went to the bathroom. Amanda, with a better eyesight, tried to look at the couple again. She is looking to her right and looks at the mirror in front of her that reflects the couple’s images. She studies the man’s mannerisms and his angular profile. Slowly, Amanda realizes that it was indeed DAVID, their other friend’s boyfriend.
Amanda takes out her cellular phone to text him. She wants to confirm and in event inform him that she and Britney are seated at the opposite corner of the same restaurant. She wants him to know and hopefully explain what's going on. She sent the text.
Through the mirror, Amanda sees David pull out a cellphone from his jacket as she grows weak with affirmation that it was indeed him. David read the text with disbelief rather than remorse. The date asks him what was wrong. David then looks in front of him and sees Amanda looking through the mirror. He is aghast and shakes his head with disappointment. With this whole repertoire, Amanda is intimately watching.
Britney comes back from the comfort room and asks for more details. Amanda tells her that from the mirror, she was watching him all along. He has the same mannerisms and just to make sure she sent a text message to him. Britney looks at the pair again with disbelief. Amanda looks at the table. She couldn’t bear anymore to watch the charade.
David leans towards the girl and whispers something. They stand up and proceed to the exit, inevitably passing Amanda and Britney’s table. Amanda is furious and couldn’t manage to look up. She focuses her stare on her glass, although in peripheral vision, she sees the couple slowly pass them by as if Amanda and Britney were complete strangers.
Amanda is furious and cursing. Britney tried to calm her friend down. Amanda is cursing David as she gets her bag and pulls a bottle of anti-anxiety pills. She gobbles a couple, snatches her phone and goes out.
After a couple of minutes, Amanda goes back and Britney asks if she called Lisa already. Amanda said no. She called her mom to ask for advice. As soon as she finished her sentence the cheerful Lisa entered, smiling and saying her apologies for being stuck in traffic. She sits opposite Amanda and beside Britney. Britney smiles back and pretends that she didn’t experience anything upsetting. Britney also tries to be cheerful as possible and asks Lisa about work and anything under the sun. While Amanda looks worried and preoccupied. But Lisa somehow notices the difference among friends.
Amanda then looks Lisa straight in the eyes and tells her that she just saw David with a girl. She tells her how she confirmed that it was David. Lisa, still smiling, dismisses the narration because David as far as she was concerned is on an "Out of Town Business Trip". Lisa keeps on asking if it was really David whom they saw. Amanda tries to explain to her about the evidence, the text message, the mannerisms and even to the extent of reenacting David’s intimacy with the girl. Lisa slowly accepts the information. Britney just looks upset and wouldn't say anything to contest nor affirm. Amanda despite knowing the possibility of straining her friendship with Lisa insisted that it was no mistake.. Lisa who is too shocked to react just looks at Amanda who is currently fumbling for some anxiety pills to give to her.
Then, in a matter of seconds, two celebrity looking males, with cameras and lights, approached their table and told Amanda that she just participated in a Social Experiment initiated by Oprah Winfrey. It was staged complete with actors. Lisa knew, David knew and the gorgeous date knew. Britney knew of course and acted as the “passive” friend, while Amanda was completely clueless.
Oprah wanted to stage this social experiment to be curious on how a person would react if confronted by a cheating incident taken into a relationship context. People experience it. People have seen and read it, but how does one react to it? How would one react as a friend? To tell or not to tell? Are you an Amanda or a Britney?
Cause I am definitely an Amanda. An Amanda who would definitely love to decapitate David together with his cherry tart...anyhow, anytime.
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