Impractical Jokers, Practically

Chapter Four

I heard the sound of birds chirping as I woke up. I gently lifted my head and took in my surroundings. I was in my room, in bed, at home. I felt well rested. It was a new day. Now that the stupid Calvin guy is locked up, I could put this whole incident behind me.

The guys must be downstairs making breakfast, I thought to myself. I was slowly getting up when I heard a voice say, "Ah, ah, ah not yet. You can't get up yet. You have to earn it." I turned my head in horror. I recognized that voice. It was him again. Calvin.

Panicking, I look down and see I'm tied to the bed posts and couldn't move another inch. I was stuck. Calvin fucking tied me up in ropes. It's all happening, I thought to myself. Calvin then reached over and starting patting my head and staring at me with a crazy look. With his eyes staring intensely at me he said, "Now I got you right where I want you. All to myself." Laughing, he moved closer to me.

I started screaming. Screaming like my life depended on it. Because it does.

"Wake up, wake up. You're okay. You're safe. Alexa, it's me. It's me." I hear someone saying these calm words to me.

I opened my eyes and, not knowing what was going on, I abruptly sat up. I was still in my bed. I was shaking again. But looking down, I noticed that I wasn't tied up. I felt someone grab me and I was petrified. I starting screaming and crying in pain, "No, stop! Don't hurt me! Leave me alone! Don't touch me!" Whoever it was that was holding me said, "Alexa, no, I'm sorry. It's me. It's Sal."

Hands tilt my face to the left and I see that it is Sal. I feel relieved, it's only him, until I see the look on his face. He looks sad. He goes on to say, "I would never hurt you. I couldn't. Don't worry, you were only dreaming. It was just a dream."

I look around, noticing that Sal's right. Everything is all right. I grab him in a tight hug and don't let go. "You're safe. You're with me. You're safe." Sal is trying to calm me down and it's working. I slowly let go of our hold and he can see that I'm more relaxed. I'm still not talking, but I'm better.

Sal starts to get up off the bed and says, "I'll let you get ready. I'll be downstairs." With a smile, he leaves and I'm by myself.

I slowly get and I feel more comfortable. Everything really is okay. Calvin is caught, he can't hurt me again, and now I'm safe. Not to mention, it looks like Sal slept with me the whole night. I felt flattered. And shocked. He didn't have to do that and yet he did. He was being a good friend, I reminded myself. All of them were. I know now that anything that happens, my best friends will always have my back.

I can feel myself getting back to my normal self again. I'm not as numb or as in shock. As I start getting ready for the day, I remember we have interviews and press to do for the show. I put on a nice black shirt, skinny jeans, and my converse. I left my hair down in its brown, beachy waves. Next was makeup. I put a little bit on, to bring out my eyes. Satisfied, I left my bedroom and starting walking down the stairs towards the jokers. I stopped in the middle of the stairway. I could hear them talking.

"Ooh Sal, so you stayed with her? The whole night? That's just plain adorable." Joe was teasing Sal.

Sal said, "Stop it man. I was trying to keep her safe. I wanted to make sure she was okay." He sounded embarrassed.

"In all serious though, I'm glad she's alright. I hate to think of what would have happened if we didn't get to her in time." Q said, and with that, I knew it was time to join them.

I came down to the living room and nervously looked at my friends. Murr said to me, "You look nice." Figuring it was best to talk again, I said, "Thank you." Ah, my first words in 12 hours. If you don't count the screaming. My voice was a little raspy but other than that I sounded my normal self.

As Murr smiled at me and Joe and Q sound excitedly, "Hey you're talking!", I notice Sal looked pissed and glared in Murray's direction. Puzzled, I said to the guys, "Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. Sal, uh, what's--what's wrong?" Joe, seeing the look on Sal's face, said with a laugh, "I think Sal's hurt that he spent the whole night with you and you still weren't able to talk. And now suddenly, when ferret man here compliments you, you thanked him. Sal, don't be jealous." Stunned, I looked at Sal and noticed he was blushing. "Oh", was all I could say.

Q and Joe explained that they weren't able to come with us today. They had to go to an important meeting with one of our producers so it was decided that me, Murr, and Sal would do the interviews and ourselves.

As Joe and Q left the apartment first, and Murr went upstairs for a second, I knew I had to say something to Sal to make him feel better. "Thank you Sal for taking care of me and being there for me when I woke up. I appreciate it so much." I said with a kind smile. He slowly smiled back and looked happier than he was 2 minutes ago. Before we could say anything else, Murr came back and was ready to go.

~~~

While we were in Murr's car, I decided to check Twitter before we arrived at our destination. I scrolled through the usual mentions that me and the guys got when I noticed something peculiar. Some girl named Madison had tweeted at Sal, "Had a great time with you the other day." When I saw that Sal replied to this girl with a wink emoji face, I felt sick. Why did I feel sick? IT's not like me and Sal were even together. But why did he have to be with someone else? Hanging out with someone else? Flirting with someone else? Someone that wasn't me. I felt my eyes tearing up as looked towards Sal who was sitting in the passenger seat next to Murr. He totally had me fooled. I thought because of the way he cared for me last night meant something different but I guess not. I quickly brushed the tears away and sat up straighter. Well then fine.

~~~

We arrived at the studio where a bunch of press were conducting interviews. As soon as we got there, they ushered the three of us our appropriate seats in a private room. I sat in the middle between Sal and Murr. Our first interview was with E! news.

"Hi, Jokers! My name is Bellamy and I'm so excited to meet you and ask you these questions. Oh, it looks like we only have three jokers instead of the five. Joe and Brian left James, Sal,and Alexa to fend for themselves. Haha." Bellamy looked to be about 25 years old and had brown hair, green eyes, and a nice smile.

We all said hi and answered the usual questions. Everything was going well, until...

"So, Alexa, I got to ask: are you single? Because I know so many people that would love to go out with you. Including me of course." Bellamy said with a wink.

Before I could even reply, Murr jumped in and stammered, "Uh, what does this have to do with anything exactly?"

Bellamy continued, "Just trying to get all the information. Including the juicy details. So, Alexa, if you're interested and available, would you like to go to dinner with me?"

"Absolutely not." But it wasn't me who said that, it was Sal.

There was nothing but stunned silence. I glanced to my left and see Sal looking mad, to my right Murr looked confused, and in front of me, Bellamy ignored Sal and waited for my answer.

I started thinking to myself, Well what right does Sal have to be pissed? It's only one date. Besides, he was seemingly enjoying time with some Madison girl. Clearly, he doesn't care about me in that way. Anyways, Sal and me couldn't be together. It would ruin everything. Our friendship and the show. No, if I'm going to try to stop thinking about Sal, I might as well say yes to Bellamy.

The guys were still waiting for me to talk. Smiling, I say, "Yes, Bellamy, I'll go on a date with you. Tonight?"

Sal leaped off his chair and stormed out of the room.