Today is the Greatest Day

The Chicago Chapter Part Two

by Kat

Author's Note: Saw the season premiere of Felicity and Yes! She picked Ben! I made a new site called the Felicity and Ben Picture Gallery. Come and visit anytime.

Summary: "Today is the greatest day that I have ever known."
-Smashing Pumpkins "Today"
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the creators of Felicity or Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I got the Ferris Bueller movie script from The Ferris Bueller Page where I copied some scenes from it. Those scenes don't belong to me but the creators of the movie. Also there's a small reference to the movie Before Sunrise. My favorite romance movie of all time.

FELICITY: (voiceover) "Dear Sally, so there we were Ben and I, alone in the taxi after making a quick escape before Ferris' dad caught us. Remember when I told you how worried I was about spending so much time alone with Ben. Now I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever get a day to ourselves."

THE WHOLE GROUP IS SITUATED IN TWO TAXIS. FERRIS, SLOANE, AND CAMERON ARE IN A TAXI JUST AHEAD OF BEN AND FELICITY. BEN AND FELICITY ARE IN THE TAXI WITH BEN'S ARM AROUND FELICITY'S SHOULDERS.

BEN: "That was close! They almost saw us."

FELICITY: "I could still feel the adrelenine rush. Did you know that when you're scared the body sends out more adrenaline or something which lets you ready to run away or fight."

BEN SMILES AT HER WITH A LAUGH IN HIS EYES.

FELICITY: "What?"

BEN: "I'm just remembering when I kissed you and you ran away, saying, 'Flight reflex.'"

FELICITY BLUSHES AND LOOKS DOWN. SHE THINKS OF SOMETHING DISMISSES IT, THEN DECIDES TO TELL BEN ANYWAY.

FELICITY: "The reason why I ran off right after you kissed me was because it was soo much too fast. I suddenly experienced all these feelings I've never felt and it scared me like nothing before. More than going to New York by myself because I thought I had my reason, you. But when you kissed me I just felt I found something that made me so alive. . . I can't really explain it all that well."

BEN: "Yes, you can."

FELICITY: (takes a deep breath and let's out in a whisper) "I don't want to say it."

BEN: (looking directly at Felicity) "Because you knew in that moment that I was the one."

FELICITY LOOKS AWAY AND AT THAT MOMENT LOCKS EYES WITH FERRIS' DAD. BEN SEES THE CHANGE IN HER FACE AND TURNS AROUND.

TOM: "Oh Benjamin! I didn't know you were here."

BEN: "Just arrived today. How are you?"

TOM: "Not so bad. I can see you're doing well yourself there."

BEN: "Yeah, I am. This is my Felicity."

TOM: (smiles warmly at her) "Hello, Ben's very lucky to have someone like you."

BEN: "I was just telling her that."

TOM: "I expect the both of you to be at the house later on."

FELICITY: "Okay."

TOM: "The only thing I'm worried about is Ferris. He just got really sick today."

FELICITY: "I'm sure that it'll past quickly."

TOM: "I hope so."

THE TRAFFIC BEGINS TO MOVE.

TOM: "See you two later. You know our address, Benjamin?"

BEN: "Of course, later."

FELICITY AND BEN WATCH THE TAXI FERRIS' DAD IS IN MOVE AHEAD OF THEM. THEY SHARE A FEW SECONDS IN UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCE.

BEN: "I'd hate to be Ferris right now."

SLOANE SMACKS FERRIS IN THE ARM.

SLOANE: "Ferris! You know how ticklish I am! We almost got caught!"

FERRIS: "Almost."

FERRIS BEGINS TO TICKLE SLOANE MERCILESSLY. THEY DON'T NOTICE, FERRIS' MOM, GALE THROUGH SLOANE'S PASSENGER WINDOW. GALE IS SHOWING THE CALIFORNIA PEOPLE THE SIGHTS OF THE CITY. THE FAMILY'S TEENAGE BOY LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW AND ONLY SEES SLOANE LAUGHING.

TEENAGE BOY: "Wow! Maybe this city isn't so bad after all."

MOTHER: "Oh my! Kids like that have no future roaming the streets when they should be in school."

GALE: "I should say my son is home sick and he still insisted on going to school, but I told him he has to stay home and get better."

MOTHER: "Such dedication."

GALE SMILES PROUDLY.

EVERYONE IS AT WRIGLEY FIELD SITTING IN THE STANDS. FERRIS HAS JUST CAUGHT A BASEBALL AND DOES A LITTLE CELEBRATION DANCE. THE WHOLE GROUP MOCK CLAPS AT HIS CATCH.

BEN: "Nice catch."

FERRIS: "Why thank you, Benjamin."

FERRIS SITS DOWN WITH THE BASEBALL.

FERRIS: "I think I broke my thumb."

FERRIS WIGGLES HIS THUMB BACK AND FORTH TESTING IT. ON EITHER SIDE OF HIM ARE CAMERON AND SLOANE. CAMERON'S SCARFING DOWN NACHOS. FERRIS TURNS TOWARDS CAMERON.

FERRIS: "Do you realize that if we played by the rules, right now we'd be in gym?

THERE IS A BRIEF SHOT OF A HIGH SCHOOL PLAYING FIELD WHERE A BOYS' GYM CLASS IS DOING LAPS.

CAMERON: "Gym! Hah!"

CAMERON AND FERRIS BOTH LAUGH DELIGHTED AT THEIR LUCK.

JULIE AND NOEL ARE AT AN ART MUSEUM. JULIE IS STARING INTO A PAINTING. NOEL HAS JUST COME UP BEHIND HER.

NOEL: "Interesting."

JULIE: "Yeah, it's like they are two drowning victims holding onto each other for dear life. It's as if they're the only two people in the world and all they have is each other."

NOEL LOOKS DOWN AND READS THE CAPTION EXPLAINING THE PAINTING ON THE STAND IN FRONT OF IT.

NOEL: "It says here that the guy is a vampire and he's sucking the blood, her life, away from her neck.

JULIE BLUSHES IN EMBARRASSMENT.

JULIE: "People see what they want to see."

NOEL: "Or what they're going through."

THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER FOR A FEW MOMENTS IN THE ELECTRIC AIR THEN LOOK BACK AT THE PAINTING.

AT THE CHICAGO MUSEUM. FLOOR:

A class of kids are walking along holding hands. Among the second graders are Ben, Felicity, Ferris, Sloane and Cameron, holding hands looking like giant grade schoolers.

SHOT OF A MUSEUM. DISPLAY CASE:

Baby chicks are hatching in a huge, round incubator. Ben and Felicity are intently watching the process.

SHOT OF A MUSEUM. COAL MINE:

Sloane, Ferris and Cameron ride in the coal train in the coal mine replica. Ferris and Sloane are making out.

SHOT OF A MUSEUM. INDUSTRIAL DISPLAY:

Cameron operates a metal press to produce a tin ashtray.

SHOT OF A BLUE STAINED GLASS ROOM:

Felicity and Ben are sitting on a bench talking. The tips of their fingers are barely touching, just brushing contact at random moments.

BEN: "I know what I said at the taxi scared you at first."

FELICITY: "It didn't scare me. I was surprised that you said that."

BEN: "I know. I am too. I never thought I'd say something like to anyone."

FELICITY: "So what do we do now?"

BEN: "I don't know."

SHOT OF A MUSEUM HEART REPLICA:

A giant, walk-thru replica of a human heart. Ferris staggers out of it, clutching his heart, feigning a massive heart attack.

SHOT OF A GERMAN U-BOAT:

Felicity is examining the controls of the captured U-Boat. He checks to see if he's being watched then he presses a button and pulls a lever.

CLOSE UP SHOT OF A PROPELLER:

For the first time in forty years, the screw turns.

CLOSE UP SHOT OF A HUMAN FETUS IN A BOTTLE:

The famous stages of life display which features bottled fetuses. The ninth month. A tiny human being in a jar.

CLOSE UP SHOT OF SLOANE, FERRIS, AND CAMERON:

Sloane wants to cry. Cameron's stomach is in his throat. Ferris is lost in thought.

SLOANE: (remorsefully) "I wonder if he has a name?"

FERRIS: (blank) "Ninth Month."

FELICITY AND BEN ARE OUTSIDE SITTING BEFORE A MODERN ART SCULPTURE. THEY ARE TALKING INTIMATELY WITH EACH OTHER. BEN IS HOLDING FELICITY'S HAND IN HIS.

FELICITY: "I feels like we haven't had any real time to spend alone together."

BEN: "Yeah, who knew we'd be running into people."

FELICITY: (laughs) "It's like those kind of instances where when good things happen. They happen all at once."

BEN PUTS HIS ARM AROUND FELICITY'S SHOULDERS AND FELICITY LAYS HER HEAD ON HIM. THEY STAY THAT WAY ENJOYING THE QUIET.

BEN: (after awhile) "So where are we heading next?"

FELICITY: "New Orleans."

BEN: "Then I promise to make it up to you there."

THE SCENE FADES AS WE SEE FELICITY TAKE BEN'S HANDS IN HERS.

THIRD EYE BLIND PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND.

"But the plans I make still have you in them. Then you come swimming into view."

ADIA IS AT THE BACKSEAT OF A TAXI LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW. THEY STOP AT A RED LIGHT. ADIA NOTICES A CHURCH. SHE TAPS THE PLASTIC SEPARATING HER FROM THE DRIVER.

ADIA: "Could you drop me off her instead?" CABBIE: "That'll be ten bucks."

ADIA QUICKLY HANDS HIM THE MONEY.

ADIA: "Keep the change."

ADIA QUICKLY GETS OUT OF THE CAB BEFORE THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN. SHE WALKS PAST THE CHURCH TO THE BACK WHERE THE LAWN SLOPES TO REVEAL A RIVER.

FELICITY ARE AT THAT POINT IN CONVERSATION WHEN YOU BECOME COMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO TALK IN QUIET VOICES.

FELICITY: "I've been to New Orleans before. My cousin had her wedding there."

BEN: "That's cool."

FELICITY: "I was maybe about five so I was one of the flower girls. I remember crying because I tripped on my dress going down the aisle and my wiggly tooth came out."

BEN LAUGHS AND LOWERS HIS FACE TO HERS. HE RUBS NOSES WITH FELICITY AFFECTIONATELY MAKING HER LAUGH AS WELL. THEN THEY BECOME QUIET AS THEY BOTH STARE INTO EACH OTHERS EYES. BEN GATHERS FELICITY'S CHEEK IN HIS HAND AND GUIDES HER LIPS UNTIL THEY ARE MILLIMETERS FROM HIS.

BEN: (murmurs) "Don't worry I'll kiss you to make it better."

ADIA'S FLASHBACK:

IN A LAWN AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH:

Adia and Story are laying on their backs looking at the clouds passing by. Adia suddenly stabs her finger into the air indicating one.

ADIA: "That looks like a lamb lying on it's legs."

STORY: (thoughtfully) "I used to have a stain on the ceiling of my room that looked like that."

ADIA: "When I was younger I always saw monsters in cloud formations."

STORY: "Do you still see monsters."

ADIA: "They just come in the form of people."

STORY LAUGHS DELIGHTED AT THIS.

STORY: "You couldn't have totally lost your faith in humans."

ADIA: "If I say what I want to say I'll sound like a total cliché."

STORY PUTS THE BACK OF HIS HAND TO HIS FOREHEAD.

STORY: "Oh fuck the world, damn our generation. What the hell have we turned ourselves into."

ADIA: "Evolution righteously sucks."

A SALACIOUS GRIN SPREADS ACROSS STORY'S FACE.

STORY: "Then we should start procreating now."

ADIA: (mock serious) "No way I wouldn't feel right."

STORY: "And why not?"

ADIA: "We haven't been married yet."

STORY: (smiles) "You are so old fashioned at heart, but since we are at a church."

STORY GETS DOWN ON ONE KNEE AND TAKES A SILVER RING FROM HIS FINGER AND PLACES IT ON ADIA'S THUMB AND STILL IT IS TOO BIG.

STORY: "Adia will you marry me?"

ADIA PRETENDS TO SNIFFLE AND CRY DRAMATICALLY.

ADIA: "Yes, yes, I will marry you."

STORY SCOOPS UP ADIA INTO HIS ARMS AND SPINS HER AROUND IN CIRCLES MAKING BOTH OF THEM DIZZY. THEY COLLAPSE WITH THEIR BACKS ON THE GRASS LAUGHING. STORY TURNS HIS HEAD TOWARDS ADIA.

STORY: "You know I would marry you. I know that's a lot of romantic bullshit. But, there's no one's company I enjoy more than yours."

ADIA: "We're friends, that's different."

ADIA SEES STORY'S FACE FALL AND SHE FEELS SYMPATHY FOR HIM.

ADIA: "But if someone asked me right now who I'd want to spend the rest of my life with . . . it'd be with you."

STORY SMILES AND THEIR FOREHEADS TOUCH.

STORY: "And that's why I like being with you."

ADIA: "Why?"

STORY: "Because you have the power to break and mend my heart everytime and have me coming back for more."

THE SCENE FADES TO THE PRESENT WHERE WE SEE ADIA FINGERING HER RING THAT SHE USES AS A NECKLACE PENDANT. ENGRAVED ON THE OUTSIDE ARE THE WORDS "FREE LOVE." THIRD EYE BLIND'S "THE BACKGROUND" CONTINUES.

"The words they use so lightly I only feel for you
I only know this cause I am
way back down in the background."

FELICITY AND BEN ARE OUTSIDE TALKING TO EACH OTHER.

FELICITY: "I wonder what Adia's doing?"

BEN: "I hope the girl's okay."

FELICITY: "Me too, but doesn't it make you realize something?"

BEN: "What?"

FELICITY: "That our time together, this trip, is like fate. The guy told me when I took my passport picture that it was the best time of his life."

BEN: "There you go again searching for some cosmic meaning."

FELICITY: "That's what I just thought of right now."

BEN BECOMES QUIET AND THEN TURNS HIS HEAD TO FELICITY. FELICITY IS SHOCKED TO SEE THAT HE HAS AN UNCERTAIN LOOK IN HIS EYES.

BEN: "Do you think we'll have other's like this?"

FELICITY LOOKS BACK AT BEN THEN AROUND HER. SHE SEES AN OLD COUPLE BESIDE THE SCULPTURE. THE MAN IS HOLDING A CAMERA INDICATING TO HIS WIFE TO SMILE. FELICITY TURNS BACK TO BEN LOOKING DIRECTLY AT HIM, NOT SEEING ANYONE ELSE.

FELICITY: "No."

FERRIS: "Hey guys, why so serious?"

FELICITY AND BEN LOOK AT FERRIS THEN BACK AT EACH OTHER AND SHARE A SECRET SMILE.

SHOT OF A STATE STREET:

A parade is underway. Floats and politicians. Marching bands, drum and bugle corps, soldiers, school kids. Figure skating club in outfits and skates performing their routines on pavement.

THE GERMAN-AMERICAN APPRECIATION DAY PARADE IS WELL UNDERWAY.

FERRIS: "Ladies and gentlemen, you're such a wonderful crowd we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal favorites, and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today. Cameron Frye... this one's for you."

Riding atop on a float is Ferris. He's waving to the crowd. He and half a dozen homely German-American Beauty Queens. He's leading the girls in singing, "DANKE SHOEN".

SLOANE AND CAMERON ARE WATCHING FERRIS GO BY. THEY WAVE TO HIM.

SLOANE: "I love him."

CAMERON: "It's hard not to."

Cameron breaks a smile. As worried as he is about the day and getting caught, he has to admire Ferris for his lack of inhibitions. Cameron mumbles a few words.

CAMERON: "Stop...water...want..."

SLOANE: "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

CAMERON: "Huh?"

SLOANE: "Do you believe that you lived before?"

CAMERON: "Yeah. Sort of."

SLOANE: "Do you ever wonder what you were?"

CAMERON: "I don't have to wonder. I know."

Sloane looks at him with amazement.

CAMERON: "I was a tractor tire."

Ferris is on his knees, reaching down from the float, shaking hands with people in the crowd. Ben has just joined him.

FERRIS: "Guten tag, dude!"

Sloane and Cameron continue their conversation with Felicity.

CAMERON: "What were you in a previous life?"

SLOANE: "I'm not sure but I think I know who Ferris was."

CAMERON: "Hannibal."

SLOANE: "From the A-Team?

FELICITY: "No. The guy who rode the elephants into Switzerland."

Sloane laughs at this. They step out of the crowd and head down the street in the direction the parade's heading.

SLOANE: "I think if he was anybody, he was Magellan. You know, the guy who went around the world.

Cameron and Felicity nod.

SLOANE: "I could see him ignoring popular belief and taking off on some impossible mission.

CAMERON: "Yeah. As long as I've known him, everything works for him. There's nothing he can't handle. I can't handle anything. School, parents, the future. Ferris can do anything."

FELICITY: "He reminds me of Ben. Back in high school he was the most popular guy."

SLOANE: "It must be in the genes."

Ferris and Ben make a good duo. Ferris is playing "TWIST AND SHOUT" on the accordian. The girls on the float are singing.

FERRIS AND BEN: "Well, shake it up, baby, now!

GIRLS: "Shake it up, baby!"

FERRIS AND BEN: "Twist and shout!"

GIRLS: "Twist and shout!"

FERRIS AND BEN: "Come on, Come on, Come on, baby on! Come on, and work it on out!"

GIRLS: "Work it on out!"

SLOANE, CAMERON, AND FELICITY CONTINUE THEIR CONVERSATION

FELICITY: "I thought I knew what I wanted to do my whole life. To become a doctor, but it was really just something to make me parents happy. To feel safe about having a realistic goal, because I was really afraid of not know what was going to happen."

CAMERON: "I don't know what I'm gonna do."

SLOANE: "College."

CAMERON: "Yeah, but to do what?"

FELICITY: "What are you interested in?"

CAMERON: "Nothing."

SLOANE: "Me either."

They all laugh and walk on in silence. We hear "Twist and Shout" growing louder and louder. The song is taking over all the other tunes in the band. It's infecting the entire parade, until it ends in a rousing finale.

Cameron, Sloane, and Felicity join the rest of the crowd as the applaud loudly Ferris and Ben's rendition of Twist and Shout. The scene fades in a happy snow of ticker tape.

Today is the Greatest Day Continued...

Send comments to : Kat

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