Brian Quinn: A New Man

Chapter 2

She stared at her reflection. Her long, brown hair cascaded down passed her shoulders. She knew that she needed to make changes in her life but moving to New York was pretty drastic, her parents and friends had said as much on her last night in Nashville. She needed a fresh start and they all said they understood that, but they didn't realize how big of a fresh start was needed.

She tugged at her white t-shirt then decided to tuck in the front to her size 12 jeans. Unlike some, she was actually very content with her body and size. She put on her white Kids sneakers and locked her condo behind her. She was leasing from an older couple who had moved to Florida and were very generous on leaving most of their furniture and allowing her to have a lower rent rate than most places in the city.

Her crossbody bag was quickly thrown over her shoulder and she unlocked her bike from its place on the front porch. She headed to the Staten Island Ferry, making sure she had plenty of time to arrive. Her journey from the Whitehall Terminal would allow her to take Hudson River Greenway into the heart of Manhattan in about thirty minutes.

The breeze from the ferry made the summer day feel a log cooler than it actually was. She thought about how different her life looked 6 months ago. She was married to an abusive man, was lying to everyone about pretty much everything, she'd given up on her career, and was scared for her life. Now here she was, her ex was in prison and it was the first day of her new job as an assistant makeup artist.

The ferry docked and she hopped on her Ice Green Adore C/B 16 bike. She found it easy to lose herself in the ride. She hadn't done much biking until recently when she came to New York the previous month. Eventually she'd get a Vespa, but this would work well for now, especially since she would be riding with the crew to set everyday.

She parked her bike in the bike rack of the garage and got in an elevator. A guy asked for her floor and she pointed to one that was already lit. When the elevator arrived at her floor she went directly to the TruTV offices and headed to the crew area in the back conference room. She found the lead makeup artist and they ran through the fairly simple instructions. She had plenty of experience as a makeup artist but because it had been nearly five years since she'd worked she was having to start at the bottom. She hoped that after six or twelve months she would find something with higher pay.

After the crew meeting, that basically went over the locations, equipment handling, cast interaction, and carpooling. Then the cast and producers joined the group and the meeting. She had seen the show Impractical Jokers a couple of times.

When the meeting was over, she was given permission to leave for the day. She wandered to the park and walked around before heading back to Staten Island.

Her evening was uneventful and consisted of a trip to the grocery store so she could make dinner. She was grateful for the quiet evening and slow first day. With her heart set on working in tv and movies she knew to be grateful when things were a little slower.

As she laid in bed she thought about her day at work. She flipped her tv on to TruTV and saw that a rerun of Impractical Jokers was playing. As she chuckled at the antics she started to notice how cute Q was. She watched three episodes and by the time she drifted off, in the middle of the fourth episode, she was excited for the first day of filming.