"This is he." I sat up in my twisted sheets and rubbed my eyes. "Hi! Okay, yes. Thank you so much. Okay, bye." I hung up the phone and stretched, walking into the kitchen. "Oh my gosh, that smells so good." I allowed my eyes to roll back for emphasis. "Someone's in a good mood this morning." Drew turned from the stove, glancing at me and back to the eggs, then back to me. "Oh, hey sorry. I can go put a shirt on if this is too weird. I just figured we were close enough..." I trailed off. Drew swallowed hard and looked back to my face. "No, it's okay. Damn, Fallon. Remind me again why you're still single?" I chuckled and sat on the couch, flipping on an old episode of How I Met Your Mother. "Hey Drew?" "Yeah, Jim?" I heard her call from the kitchen. "I got a phone call." "And?" "I got the part." She was squeezing the breath out of me before I could get another sentence in. She kissed me cheeks, forehead, and nose over and over. "JIMMY! THIS IS SO GREAT! CONGRATS!" I jumped off the couch and hugged her back, relieved. If I wouldn't have gotten the part, my flight back to New York would've been a long, depressing one.
My mind kept going back to the voice on the other end of the phone. Just thinking about my audition made me smile. If it wasn't for her, I know for a fact I wouldn't have received that acceptance call. "Did Nancy call you?" Drew pulled away from the hug, breaking my day dream. Nancy. Her name placed a smile wide on my face. I looked to my shoes and bit my lip. "Yeah, Nancy called." "I'm so happy for you! You get to be in a movie! With me!" She nudged my arm and went back to cooking breakfast. "You hungry?" "No, thanks though." I sat back onto the couch and made small circles on my leg, tracing the design on my pajama pants. "Jimmy Fallon? Or should I call you Ben Wrightman?" The call replayed in my head. I could hear her smile through the phone as she delivered the good news. "I look forward to bossing you around for the next six months." When she said that, I was more so turned on than worried about being bossed around.
"Hey Drew?" If I didn't ask, the crush was only going to get worse. "What are the policies on dating coworkers in Hollywood?" Drew raised her right eyebrow and pointed her finger between me and her. If she'd suggested us a week ago, I would've been implying her and I. But things change. "No, no. I'm just curious." She kept her eyebrow raised in question. "I'm serious! Pure curiosity, promise." I lied. I would totally date Nancy. "Well, it's never a good thing to date a colleague just in case it doesn't work out. But I mean, they are a bit more lenient in showbiz." She's right. What if it doesn't work out and I end up ruining the whole movie atmosphere?
I made a deal with myself right then and there. If she likes me too, we will see how things work out but I have to let her make the first move. If she doesn't make a move the entire time we're filming, I'll wait until Fever Pitch has been released to ask her out. For a 31 year old man, I'm such a wimp. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. 11:43. "Hey, what do you have planned today?" "It's Wednesday. You better get dressed, it's shopping day!" Shit.
I walked back to the living room an hour later wearing cargo shorts, a grey jacket and my worn out Nike's. I glanced in the mirror and rearranged my bed head, making it look worse than it did before. I sighed and walked to Drew's room where she was finishing up her eye makeup. "I respect that." She looked to me, confused. "Makeup. Take as much time as you need. Anytime I'd do drag at SNL, it was literally the most insane, carefully done thing ever." She giggled and put her eyeliner down. "You ready?"
We shopped all day long. I bought two suits, numerous shirts and shorts, a few jeans, and two pairs of shoes - dress and casual. This movie better make big money because after that, I was just about broke. We ate at a hole in the wall diner for lunch, my treat, and made it home just in time to catch the season premiere of Lost. Drew cuddled up by my side on the couch and I fell asleep before the sun had even set. It wasn't a heavy sleep though. I could still feel my surroundings and hear the TV but I wasn't fully conscious. My heart rate sped up and I felt myself breathing heavily. I was dreaming.
Drew shook me awake. "I think you're dreaming..." She looked to my lap. I covered myself with the blanket on my left and felt my face burnt and I laid my head onto the back of the couch. "I'm so sorry. I should probably go to bed now." Drew had untangled herself from me and was now on the opposite side of the couch. "Crazy dream, huh?" I put my knees to my chest and stared off into space. I could still feel my heartbeat in my ears. "Goodnight Drew." I went to my room and stripped down to only socks. I stood there for a second, letting the air conditioning cool me down and I wrapped myself up in the sheets, praying to pick up where I had left off with Nancy.
