7th Floor West | JF

Chapter 36

It was around 8am on a Thursday morning as I groggily woke up to the sound of rain pouring on my bedroom window. I slipped out of bed and grabbed my slippers and put them on, and I made my way down the stairs into the kitchen to grab something to eat. We had to be into work at around 10:30 or 11am, and so we had a lot of time until we had to leave. I took out the cream cheese and began to spread it on a plain bagel, and I began thinking about the past few months. I couldn't believe everything that had happened recently, and I looked up at a picture of Jimmy and me when we were younger. It showed me jumping on Jimmy's back, and he was piggybacking me around the front yard at our house in the Hamptons. I couldn't help but smile at the picture from our childhood, and I took a bite from my bagel. I continued walking around the kitchen and the living room looking at pictures from our childhood. I found pictures of me with Jimmy from when both of us were in high school and college, and I found my absolute favorite pictures of us. The first picture was of me and Jimmy when Jimmy graduated from high school. I couldn't help but smile as I saw the picture next to it, which was from the same day- it showed Jimmy holding his diploma and his cap, and he was laughing hysterically as I gave him a noogie. I softly laughed as I moved on to the other set of pictures from that collage, and it showed me from my high school and college graduations. Jimmy was hugging me in  both pictures from my graduation, and there was another picture from when I graduated from NYU- I had both my Honors sash and my NYU student athlete sash on top of my gown, and Jimmy had lifted me up and was piggybacking me as we both laughed- just like the picture from when we were younger.

I heard someone coming down the stairs, and I looked up to see Nancy turning down the hallway towards me. "Good morning Meg! You're up early!" Nancy began to make herself a cup of coffee, and I finished my bagel and joined her in the kitchen. "Any reason you're up so early?" Nancy asked me. I shook my head and said, "Eh, the rain just woke me up. I fell asleep right after the taping last night at the studio and I knew that I was gonna wake up early today." Nancy nodded and began to put cream in her coffee as she asked me, "What were you looking at over there?" I smiled widely and said, "My pictures with Jimmy. I just can't believe that I got lucky enough to have a brother like Jimmy." Nancy was smiling as she said, "He's a great guy, and I can't believe that I was lucky enough to marry him." Nancy and I continued to talk about how amazing and great Jimmy was for a while, and we didn't run out of things to say about him at all.

At around 9:30am, Nancy had already left for work, and I had already gotten dressed for work a little while ago. I was sitting downstairs searching some of today's top stories on the internet as I heard Jimmy coming down the stairs. "Good morning sunshine!" I said to Jimmy as he joined me in the kitchen. He chuckled and said, "Morning, Meg. You've been up for a while, huh?" I nodded and said, "Yeah, but I'm glad I got up earlier." Jimmy turned back to me and asked, "Why?" I smiled and blushed as I said, "I was reminiscing at some stuff from old times." Jimmy smiled as he got his coffee and said, "Well, take me reminiscing. We still have like a half an hour until we have to leave." I smiled and said, "Alright, let's go." Jimmy followed me over to the pictures on the wall, and I asked, "Do you remember this?" He laughed his perfect laugh as he said, "Yeah! That was from when I was in what, 10th grade? And you were in like 4th?" I laughed and said, "Yeah, and was jumping on you because you had been teasing me about Mrs. Leighton's class." He laughed again and said, "Well you complained every single day that 4th grade was the hardest thing in the entire world!" We laughed as we moved over to Jimmy's high school graduation pictures. "Saugerties High School, Class of 1992!" Jimmy exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. "The noogie picture is my favorite." I said, laughing. Jimmy laughed again, and we moved over to my high school graduation pictures, and I exclaimed, "Saugerties High School, Class of 1998!" Jimmy laughed at me and said, "Your NYU graduation pictures are my favorite." I smiled and said, "I was just looking at them!" Jimmy smiled sincerely and said, "You do know that in that picture I was trying to emulate the picture from over there, right?" I looked up at Jimmy in shock and said, "Really!? Woah! I would never have thought of that, I knew that they looked really similar!" Jimmy smiled and replied, "Yeah, that was on purpose... That NYU degree is doing wonders." He laughed as I hit him playfully, and he made his way upstairs to go get ready for work.

Jimmy and I got in his truck, and he began to drive us to 30 Rock. We began singing along to Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, and we were jamming. We were jamming hard. "Hey Jim?" I asked, and he looked up at me and said, "What's up?" I smiled widely and said, "You really are the best. I love you so much." Jimmy stopped at a red light and looked at me as he said, "Aw, Meg... I love you, too! You're the best sister I could ever ask for. I have no clue what I would do without you!" I grabbed Jimmy's hand and squeezed it as I said, "No way. Jimmy... You saved me." We pulled into 30 Rock, and I saw a tear escape Jimmy's eye. "I'm so glad that I could be that person for you, Meggo. I love you more than anything, pal. You're the best, and I'm so glad that I could be that person for you and that I could be there to help you." I hugged Jimmy and squeezed him hard, and he tickled my stomach, and I laughed as we separated. Jimmy swung his arm around my shoulder as we walked into work together, and I knew that whatever the day threw at us, we could get through it. We could get through it together.

Our last name is Fallon, after all.