Laughing into Love

Chapter 45: A Friends Talk

"Alright, that's a wrap on season 7! Congrats everybody!" Peter yells out after Murray's punishment came to an end. The three jokers managed to get an office of people together for Murray to present a sexual harassment seminar on. Except they made all the slides and it was horribly hilarious! Murray returns to the room he just filmed in, wanting to formally apologize to everyone there for going through what they just went through.

Everyone starts to hug and congratulate one another. Melanie makes sure to avoid Shelly, and walks over towards Casey and Sal who are mumbling about something, "congrats on another great one!" She smiles.

"Thanks!" Casey smiles happily and accepts the gesture, "few weeks off and we'll start season 8!" He turns his eyes to Sal, "damn, 8 seasons."

"It's crazy, right?" Sal smiles back. Melanie gives him a hug and moves to find Brian.

She catches him in a conversation with a few sound guys and when he sees her coming he excuses himself, "so, what do you wanna do to celebrate tonight? Bar? Club?" She asks as they hug.

"I kinda just wanna have dinner alone with you." He says into her ear. She looks at him with a smile and questioning eyes so he shoots back, "if that's okay with you?"

"Of course it is, I just figured you'd wanna go out with the guys or something. Get wasted" she replies.

"We have the wrap party in 2 days, I just wanna celebrate with my girl tonight." He pulls her into his side by wrapping and arm around her waste.

"Perfect" she beams, "come find me when you're ready to go." She walks away to congratulate more people on an amazing season.

An hour or so later, Melanie and Brian leave hand in hand to walk and find somewhere to eat. After dinner, they head back to Melanie's apartment to hang out. They sit on her couch with a bottle of wine and he hums out, "can't believe how fast this season went."

"Does it usually feel like forever?" She asks, this being the only full season she's been around for.

He shrugs and answers, "I guess not. I think I'm just excited to have off and spend more time with you outside the IJ world." He leans in to snuggle her neck.

She laughs and replies, "hey, I still have work." Reminding him she's Sal's assistant and not just primarily an IJ employee.

"True, but you could use a few days off, yah?" He asks, wanting to get away from city life for a bit.

She raises an eyebrow at him, "oh? What do you have in mind?"

He tells her, "I was thinking we could head up to the Catskills, spend some time on the slopes."

She smiles, loving that idea. But she decides to toy with him, "I thought you loved seeing me in a bikini? Now you wanna cover me up?" She refers to their conversation from the other week.

Brian knows she's messing, he answers in a low and what he hopes is sexy voice,  "but imagine making love next to a fire place on a bear skin rug." He runs a hand up and down her leg.

Chills run through her and she says, "deal, but no rug."

Her lips pull into a smile to match his and he agrees "deal! How about in February?"

She nods and says, "I'll talk to Sal tomorrow about some dates. You do still have a show in De Moines in February though, don't forget that!"

He chuckles from his stomach, "oh I didn't. Who booked Iowa in February anyway?" He rhetorically asks.

The two stay up most of the night just talking before they crawl into her bed to go to sleep. Brian wakes up first with a smile on his face as his girlfriend sleeps peacefully next to him. They didn't sleep together last night, they just hung out. He didn't feel pressured to stay over, he wasn't too drunk to drive home but it was just an understanding that he was staying over the night. He liked that, a lot, and moved to pull Melanie closer to him as she slept so he could be near her. When she does wake up, the two go out to breakfast and Brian drives her to Sal's house. Melanie and Sal are going to work through his weeks off, and schedule whatever needs to be scheduled. They kiss and he says, "call me when you're done, I'll come get you."

"Will do" she agrees, hoping out of the Jeep. She waves and walks up happily to Sal's door. She lets herself in with her key and finds Sal sitting on his couch watching TV, "ready to schedule?" She calls to him.

"Yea, come in!" He calls back, shuffling things around him so she could sit.

Melanie takes a seat and pulls out her laptop. She gets the calendar up and reminds him of the two Tendorloin shows and 3 solo acts he has scheduled already during his time off, "so, is there anything else you know of that needs to be penciled in before we start?"

Sal nods and says, "yea, I'm going on a vacation the week of Easter."

"Oh, fun! Okay." She pulls up Easter weekend on the calendar "week leading up to or week after?" She asks, noting it could be either. Sal and her take about 2 hours filling in his schedule and planning things out. He wants to add a few solo shows while he's off from filming and Melanie's going to have to call the venues and coordinate that over the next week. She pencils in the tentative dates he wants to work and when she's done, she turns and asks, "sooo, would it be terrible to ask for a few days off in February?" She bites her lip, afraid of his response. She never takes off work. Well, she only did the two times while things were bad with Brian but ever since she's been a rock.

Sal knows this, appreciating all the hard work she puts into her job to keep his life sane and he of course wants her to take time off, "that's fine, were you really nervous to ask me that or something?" He questions her.

She answers, "not to ask, just worried you'd say no, I guess."

"Am I that bad of a boss?!" He questions with over the top shock and awe.

She chuckles and shakes her head, "no, I just am excited to go somewhere with Brian and was worried the timing would be bad."

"So you guys are really good?" He asks, sort of changing the topic.

She smiles and nods, "we are, it's great."

He smiles and says, "good, I'm glad. But can I talk openly with you, as a friend and not a boss?" He asks now, his own attitude changing to be more nervous.

"Of course, please." She encourages him to do so.

He pushes his lips together as he thinks of how he wants to word what he wants to say. He slowly starts off, "so I'm so happy you guys are good, and you guys are happy. I just, Brian has a history of depression. Did you know that?" He asks. Melanie nods, having talked a few times with him about each of their times going through depression. Sal goes on, "well, I don't know how things are going to be with you guys dating now but in the past in between seasons he has really spiraled out. I just want you to know in case you start to see him withdrawing the next few weeks to not give up on him."

Melanie keeps a sincere smile on his face, happy to have a boss and a friend in Sal who cares about his friend and herself so much. "Thanks Sal, I appreciate you talking to me. I'll make sure to keep an eye on things." She assures him.

He smiles and nods, glad he got to talk to her. "So, come on, I need a hug." Melanie tells him.

He rolls his eyes but stands up. They hug each other and when they pull away, Sal says, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow at the party. Go enjoy some time off. Just let me know when in February and we will make it work."

"Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow." She nods and moves to get her phone out to text Brian.