Impractical Assistant

Chapter 15: The Woman who Joined the Men who Prank

"You'll be fine," David said, smoothing Lilly's bedhead down as best as he could. "It's only for a month. If you hate it, you can come back. If you love it, you can stay."

"What about you?" Lilly's voice cracked with sleep.

"I will be fine, Lilly" David smiled down at her. "Jackson and I are more than capable of handling ourselves. You've trained him well and I know how to get a hold of you." He looked her over and smiled gently. "I'll see you in a week, okay?" Lilly nodded, rubbing her arms. David brought her into his chest for a tight hug. Lilly wrapped her arms around him tightly as David kissed her head. "It'll all be alright my little monarch. I'm just a phone call away, wherever you are. Okay?" Lilly nodded, her face still buried in his chest. David looked up to where the four men were standing back watching the exchange. "You take care of her, alright? You take care of my Lilly."

"Of course, sir," Sal nodded. David and Lilly stood there for another few moments before David pulled back.

"Say goodbye to Jackson. I need to talk to these boys." Lilly nodded and flung her arms around Jackson's neck. David watched before sliding up to the men in front of him. "I mean it when I say take care of her. Make sure she takes her medicine. Make sure she eats; she forgets a lot of the time when she's busy and working a lot. Make sure she sleeps too. I've seen her go 72 hours without sleep in times of crisis and it wasn't pretty. Just...just keep an eye on her. She's like my daughter. She's all I have."

"We'll take good care of her," Murray said, firmly.

"She's in good hands," Q agreed hoarsely. David nodded before looking back to where Lilly was going over schedules and notes and contacts with Jackson who was looking down fondly at her.

"You do realize I've been doing this almost as long as you have, right?" Jackson teased.

"But not nearly as well," Lilly stuck her tongue out before turning serious. "Take care of him."

"Take care of yourself."

"I always do."

"Now that's a lie." Lilly chuckled along with Jackson. "Lilly?" She looked up at him, her blue eyes dark with sleep and her makeup from last night not completely off. Jackson opened his mouth to say something, but David's booming voice cut him off.

"Alright kid. Let's get this show on the road. LA won't come to us." David patted Jackson on the back before looking down at Lilly. "We'll see you in a week, okay?" Lilly nodded and curled her hands around her arms, hugging herself. She watched as David and Jackson pulled their suitcases out of the hotel to the car that was waiting for them. Sal stepped forward and put his arm around her, comfortingly, as the car towing her boss and her friend pulled away form the curb. Lilly sighed and leaned into Sal.

"You guys better not fuck me over." Her words sent a burst of laughter from the group and Sal patted her shoulder.

"We won't, Lil. We won't." The silence that fell over them was broken by a gruff, grumpy voice.

"Well if we're done with this sad fest, can we go back to bed?" The group turned to look at the bleary-eyed man leaning against the wall. Sal narrowed his eyes at Joe's bored expression.

"Dude."

"What?" Joe shrugged. "I'm tired. We have to get up and film in five hours. We have better things to do that this."

"Dude!"

"What is wrong with you?"

"Yes," Lilly held up her hands, silencing Sal and Q's next comments. "We can go back to bed. Sad fest is over."