Origin Story

Chapter 2

***Mal***

The audience erupts in cheers and I turn off the lights for the final time. I'm blown away, I'd always kind of assumed that a college sketch comedy group would be kind of silly but their show had been amazing.

"Well," the other tech says to me, "that's all for us, I'll see you at the after party though Mal!" And with that he scampers off to find his friends in the cast and crew.

I do a final check of my equipment and shut everything down before going downstairs in search of Whit. It doesn't take long before I spot the short haired brunette. She's talking to a boy I recognize, Stephen, and waves to me once she spots me. Stephen excuses himself and Whitney walks over to me.

"Hey Mal! What'd you think of the show? Did you like it? How'd I do?" Whitney can't stop smiling as she peppers me with questions.

"You were so great Whit!" I assure her, "and the show was great too, all your hard work really paid off!" She beams at me.

"Thank you!" She's practically bouncing, "you're coming to the after party right?"

"Sure, if I'm invited."

"Of course you are, we really appreciate your help, plus you can meet the rest of the cast and crew."

"That reminds me actually, you guys still need someone to do lights and tech right? In general, not just for this show?"

"Yeah, oh do you want to do it? Oh Mal that'd be awesome!"

"I was thinking about it yeah. I'm majoring in film and theater I should probably involved in something theatre-y and plus then I get to see all your shows for free." Whit grins, she asks me a few more questions and explains more about Divine Comedy as she leads the way away from chattering throngs of people to the after party.

***Matt***

I'm on cloud nine right now. We've been working on "Cougar King" for months and now it's all over. It went great too, I know I made a few mistakes but everyone's assuring me that nobody noticed besides me. I was so worried leading up to tonight, we were trying to find someone for lighting up until the last minute, thankfully Whitney realized she knew someone, Mamarie maybe? I haven't met her though, maybe she'll be at the after party.

I'm in between Nick and Gregory as we walk to the after party. They're talking but I'm not really listening. I'm still going over the show in my mind and I'm already brainstorming ideas for future shows. We could do something with the whole Twilight craze, or maybe another Disney movie like The Little Mermaid.

I'm shaken out of my thoughts when we enter the room where the after party is already happening. There's a table with snacks and drinks, posters for the show on the door and balloons in the corners of the room. That's all there is to it, the main thing revealing that this is the after party are all the college students chattering in small groups, half of them wearing Divine Comedy shirts. I wave and smile to people as I weave through them on the way to the drink table. A few offer me congratulations and I return the praise.

I take a water bottle from the table then I take my phone out having heard it ding. It's just a text from my manager at the museum, something about scheduling. I'm typing out a response and hear someone come up to the table next to me.

"You're Matt right?" I look up and find myself face to face with a beautiful girl I don't recognize. She's wearing dark jeans, a white t-shirt, and has curly brown hair.

"Yeah, yeah hi!" I shove my phone in my pocket hastily and hold out my phone, "I'm sorry I don't think we've met, you are?"

"I'm Mallory," she says with a smile, "and no we haven't met, I'm friends with Whitney though, she asked me to help out with lights and stuff tonight." She rakes a hand through her hair and picks up a water from the table.

"That's right! I knew she said she found someone. Thanks so much for doing that by the way we were all freaking out since our old guy quit."

"Of course! I'm glad I did, I got to see the show and it was incredible, you were amazing by the way." She grins and I worry that I'm blushing.

"Thank you, the whole team was really great, everyone's been working so hard all semester and–"

"You don't like compliments do you?" She's looking at me inquisitively with a small smile. I laugh nervously.

"No, um I guess not huh." I smile and she returns it.

"It's not a big deal, being humble can be a good thing but you're a talented man Matt, you're going to get a lot of compliments in your life." She's so nice, and she's beautiful, I'll need to have one of the guys ask Whitney if she's seeing anyone for me.

"Thank you, that's awfully kind of you." She nods and takes a sip of her water. I'm about to ask her a question, just something mundane to keep the conversation going but I'm cut off by Scott making an announcement, Jeremy standing silently by his side.

***Mal***

"Hey, everybody," I turn to see a tall man making an announcement from the center of the room, "thanks so much for coming, we were wondering if anyone is interested in playing a group game." His words are met with a general chorus of approval. "Um cool...which game?" There are a few laughs at that but people are happy to help.

"How about bus stop?" says one guy.

"Truth or dare!"

"Charades!" A few more suggestions are made, Natalie suggests the quiet game, but eventually we settle on bus stop. I remember this game from acting camps and classes growing up, the objective is just to make the person before you laugh, a double edged sword because most of the people in the room are trained to be funny and to not break character.

Whitney is up first and Stephen is the one trying to make her laugh. I roll my eyes, this shouldn't be hard Whitney is always rather giggly when Stephen is around anyway. While Stephen breaks out his jokes I sneak another glance at Matt. I'd realized he was attractive when I saw him earlier but now that he's sitting next to me I realize just how handsome he is. He's wearing jeans and a divine comedy shirt and smiling as he watches the game. I wonder if he's seeing anyone, I checked earlier and no ring but maybe he still has a girlfriend. I'll have to ask Whit, who, like I predicted, is soon out. Then it's Stephen's turn to not laugh.

Matt hops up to try and get Stephen to laugh and I watch him with a smile. I can already see Stephen starting to crack as Whit comes over and sits next to me. Matt is using a strange voice and speaking formally as he hovers around Stephen's shoulders.

"That's one of Matt's characters," Whitney explains, "it's supposed to be a super smart baby named Spencer, usually we use a doll but I guess he has to make due without props." I nod not taking my eyes off the performance and I'm laughing too a second later when Stephen bursts out laughing. Scott picks blonde man named Jason to go next and try and make Matt laugh. I know there's another Jason in Divine Comedy that I've met, but I don't think I this guy.

"Oh this'll be over in a heartbeat," Whitney's commentary continues from beside me, "I've never seen anyone break as much as Matt does with Jason." I keep watching them, Jason is mere inches from Matt's face as he rattles through impressions. The two don't break eye contact the entire time, Matt obviously struggling to keep it together. I think I see the corner of his mouth twitching but before I can even be sure Matt has burst out laughing and Jason takes his spot victorious.

"Alright, good job Jason, any volunteers to go next?" Scott's scanning the audience for raised hands and before I even know what I'm doing—

"I'll go."