SAME DOG, SAME TRICKS
A sociopath typically has a conscience, but it’s weak. Antonio knows that taking money from the women he dates, his family, the limited friends he thinks he has is wrong, and he might feel some guilt or remorse, but that doesn't stop his behavior. Nothing motivates him to be humble. He's naturally performative and always in character, that's what tricks his mind into thinking he's a writer when he hasn't touched his script in months. Being a sociopath lends to his false sense of self. It's why he can chide his father about his alcoholism, but it doesn't register in his mind that he himself is now a full blown stoner. Instead of facing me, the debt, the failure of A2FIT, his homelessness, the way his life has been stagnant for years, he simply finds a new target, a new human sex toy, another vice to cope with a very unfulfilled life. When I met him years ago during his separation and after his divorce, Antonio was still floating through life, at his grandmother's house without a plan. While I worked and when I slept, he would text constantly, Facebook incessantly, email nudes of himself, all in line with wanting to be seen and acknowledged. It's why he modeled and failed, it's why he's auditioning but unbooked. It's why he layers his lies in self pity to glean empathy from Stephanie. He needs an audience, new emotional sponsors that he can practice his stories on. His stale favorite is the time he was at a dinner party with Jay Z and Beyonce, but he casually leaves out the detail that he was working as wait staff at that Grammy after party. Or the house in Grand Prairie he claims to have designed and built, yet he didn't consider keeping after his marriage failed, so his grandmother could have a safer place to live in her golden years. That'd be too logical, possibly to selfless. The one thing that is constant about Antonio Aaron is that he is the same dog, with the same tricks. He's just clever enough to find new fools to give him bones.
