Secrets of the Past

Do You Come Here Often?

"What are you waiting for?" Sal asked. "Her friend just left."

Brian turned to look back at him. "What?"

"You keep looking at that girl at the end of the bar. Why don't you just go say something?"

"I'm not gonna ditch you for some broad."

Sal snickered. "Since when? You never pass up a chance to get your dick wet. We've been friends a long time. I know how you are. It's fine. I'm a big boy. And," he said, looking down at his watch, "I think I'm gonna go. I didn't realize how late it is."

Brian looked at his own watch and was surprised to see it was nearly 11:00. They had to be on set at 9:00 the next day. "Shit. I guess I'll join you," he said, glancing down the bar again to the girl with long dark hair and dark eyes.

"No," Sal said. "Go talk to that girl. At least say hi, maybe buy her a drink, try to get her number. Just turn on the old BQ charm. You'll be whining about it for weeks if you don't do it and I don't want to have to deal with that shit."

Sal paid his tab and stood to leave. "Good luck buddy," he said, patting Brian on the shoulder. "Not that you need it."

Brian finished his drink in one gulp. He was sweating. Why was he nervous to talk to this chick? He never had a problem talking to women. As he made his way down the bar she looked up.

"Hey," he said, taking a seat on the stool next to her.

"Hey."

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"Sure," she said, smiling at him.

"I'm Brian," he said, motioning for the bartender.

"Giovanna."

"What can I get ya?" the bartender asked.

"Jameson," she said.

"Same for me."

"Do you come here often?" As soon as the words escaped his lips he knew he sounded like an idiot. What the fuck?! he thought to himself. "Jesus Christ that was awful," he said, running a hand through his hair.

She chuckled. "It's fine. And no, I don't come here often. What about you?"

"Occasionally. I like it because it's quiet. Usually a small crowd. You can actually have a conversation without screaming."

"That's always a good thing. What happened to your friend?"

"Ah, we have to be to work at 9:00 tomorrow."

"You work together?" she asked, taking a sip of the whiskey in front of her.

"Yeah, we're on a tv show."

"Oh really? What show?"

"It's called Impractical Jokers."

"Never heard of it."

He smiled. "I'm not surprised. It's on basic cable. So what brought you in here tonight? Why this bar?"

"My friend got a promotion today. We came out to celebrate. We both work in Manhattan but live here on the island. What about you?"

"Just needed to unwind. Been a rough day."

"Must be hard work, acting," she said with a smirk.

"Well first of all," he said, mock outrage in his voice, "I don't act. It's a hidden camera show. And second, it actually is hard work."

"How hard can that be?"

"Well, we have to shoot at a different location every day, the times fluctuate, we can work 8-10-12 hours a day. And there's a lot of down time. It just gets to be tiring."

"How long have you been on tv?" she asked.

"We're in our third season right now. I can't believe you haven't heard of it," he said, grinning at her.

"I don't watch a lot of tv. I'd rather be out living life."

The conversation and the alcohol continued to flow for another hour before she looked at her phone to see the time. "Shit. It's almost 12:30. I should get going."

"I should get home as well. I'll walk you out." He paid the tab and followed her out into the warm night air. "So any chance I could see you again?"

"Let me see your phone." He handed it to her and she added herself to his contacts. As she handed him the phone she flagged down a taxi. "Talk to you soon." She gave him a wink and was off.

He stood there, watching the car drive away. He was intrigued by her. She was beautiful and sexy and had a wicked sense of humor. She hadn't talked a lot about herself during their conversation. He had asked, but she always seemed to very smoothly change the subject. He wasn't sure why that was but he wanted to find out. Taking himself out of his thoughts he headed for his car.

The next morning he picked up Sal and they headed to the set. "So how did it go after I left? Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, for over an hour."

"And?!"

"And what? She was nice. We had some drinks, talked, laughed..."

"Did you sleep with her?" Sal interrupted.

"No. We didn't even kiss."

Sal's mouth fell open. "Brian Quinn didn't make a move? Is this the end of days?"

"Fuck you. I like this girl. I didn't want to fuck it up. If she wanted to kiss me she would have done it."

"Wow, who are you and what have you done with the real Q? Since when do you wait for the girl to make the first move? Did you at least get her number? What's her name?"

"Her name is Giovanna. And yeah, I got her number. But I don't know how long I should wait to text her."

"Seriously, who the fuck are you? I haven't seen you act this way over a girl in forever. Don't think about it. Just text her later when we have some down time."

"I guess," Brian said. "I don't want to seem TOO interested, ya know?"

"Whatever dude. I think you should just go for it."