Give Me Love

Chapter 5

“It’s nice to see you again, I can’t believe it. You look amazing.” I replied.

“You two know each other?” Lorne asked.

“It’s a long story, but yes we know each other.” Andie smiled.

“Great! Well, A.D. are you willing to spend the day with Andie?” Lorne began shuffling some papers around on his desk.

“Yep, no problem.”

“Alright, great. Let me know what decision you make by next week, and have a great show tonight.”

“Thanks, I’ll see ya.” I got up and walked into the hallway, waiting for A.D. and Andie to come and get on the elevator. Andie had on a white shirt paired with a blue pencil skirt that hugged every curve. Her hair fell in tight curls, moral to the story is, she’s stunning. When I first met her, she was just a girl in my eyes, but this wasn’t that girl. This was a woman.

“It’s so good to see you!” She exclaimed, giving me a big bear hug.

“You too! You look so different, you look amazing.” I smiled.

“Thanks, I thought I’d change things up. I like the dark hair on me.”

“I like it, too. It’s mature.” I nodded as we stepped onto the elevator. A.D. stood on the other side of Andie, while I stood to her left. The ride back to the 6th floor was quick, and she was off to the writer’s room with A.D. I headed back to my office where Hannah was working diligently. I have the best staff on earth.

“What you up to, pal?” I asked her.

“Just forwarding some e-mails to you, the writer’s meeting is over but Ms. Fey called and she wants to do lunch soon. She tried your cell, but it went to voicemail so she told me to relay the message. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

“No no, you work hard enough. I’ll hop on the computer and get to work, thanks Hannah.”

“No problem, Jimmy.” She smiled and waved as I went into my office. I sat in my chair and pulled up my email, scrolling through all the miscellaneous things. I was so unfocused now. I was surprised Andie was here for one, but I couldn’t get her out of my head. Her face, her body, everything. She was so young, though. I forced the thoughts to the side while doing my work, or at least tried to. It was almost time for the monologue rehearsal, so I headed over to the studio and the monologue rehearsal crowd cheered.

“Hey guys! So glad you could make it, I hope you can hear me. It’s not that many of you, but I’m glad you’re all here because we have a lot of joke we gotta test out. You guys ready to help me out here?” They cheered again. “Great, best crowd ever thanks!”

A.D. was sitting on the guest couch with Mike and Andie talking.

“Alright, you guys ready?” I asked.

“Yeah, just remember for the third joke change the wording. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.” Mike patted my shoulder and they headed to sit in the studio audience. I began running through my jokes, pitching them to the audience, who laughed at most of them. It was always hard to cut jokes if they laughed at everyone. But there were fewer laughs for different ones, and A.D. took notes.

After the rehearsal, A.D., Mike and I sat in my dressing room sorting through jokes with the cue card guy until Andie walked in.

“Oh I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” She asked.

“No no, come on in. We just finished.” I assured her.

“Yeah, I gotta go get some things from my office.” A.D. walked on, Mike followed. I sat on the couch in my dressing room, watching Andie marvel at all my photos.

“Those were the good old days, huh?” I said.

“Looked like it, this is cool.” She said, still observing the room.

“Thanks, I wanted it to be exactly like this.”

She turned around and formed a smile in my direction. “It’s so good to see you.”
“Yeah, I was surprised to see you. Tell me what’s been going on!” I patted the spot next to me, where she sat seconds later.

“I don’t know, I got my bachelor’s at NYU. Still debating on the master’s. But, yeah I’ve been back and forth from here to Pittsburgh since my mom moved there to be closer to her family. I live in New Jersey with my Aunt still, but hopefully I get a job soon so I can move to the city.”

“Wow, things sound like they’re going good! And yeah, whenever you start the apartment search I’ll help you definitely.”

“I could use it!” She smiled again and no one was talking. I wondered what she was thinking. I wonder what she would think after I asked her this.

“Hey, you wanna do something tonight? Go get some drinks?”

“Sure!” She nodded.

“Great, well meet me here after the show then.”

“Alright, I’m gonna go into the audience. Knock ‘em dead, Jimmy.” Andie gave a thumbs up and walked out of the room.

After the show, I went back to my dressing room and Andie wasn’t there. I had time to change shirts and put some jeans and sneakers on, so I did.

“Can I come in?” Andie knocked.

“Yeah, come on in pal. I’m just getting my stuff together. Did you like the show?”

“I loved it! I didn’t know Cameron Diaz was so tall in person!”
“Yeah, she’s so cool. You ready to go?”

“Whenever you are.” She nodded.

We headed to this bar a few blocks down the street, where me and the guys would hang out every once in a while. We sat at a table pretty secluded from the front, because I didn’t want anyone to speculate anything about us. We ordered beers and talked more about each other.

“So Nancy has a boyfriend? I have to meet this guy.” She giggled.

“Yeah, he’s really good with Winnie though. She knows how to pick them.”

“Well what about you? You seeing anyone?” Andie asked before sipping from her bottle.

“No,” I sighed. “Apparently I’m not really a catch anymore.” He chuckled slightly.

“Oh you’re kidding. You’re great.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll just let the right girl come to me. I don’t have time to be out searching for a girlfriend, I have so many other things to take care of.”
She nodded, agreeing. “Well, you’re a great guy. You’re the perfect catch. And if women can’t see that then they suck.”
“Oh man, you’re just saying that.” I laughed.

“No, really. You’re amazing.”

I felt like kissing her right now. It’d be inappropriate and it’d make things weird, I just kept my lips to myself.

“Thanks, you’re pretty amazing too.”