"Friends"

"Friends" Chapter 18

JIMMY'S POV

I woke up with massive headache. Hangovers are the worst.
I groaned and got out of bed.
I walked over to my suitcase and pulled out the bottle of Advil that I had thrown in there. I popped three into my mouth and then ran over to the bathroom sink and swallowed them with some water.
I sat on the end of the bed and set my head into my hands.
Her blonde hair.
Her perfect smile.
The way her eyes looked up into mine.
I couldn't get this girl out of my head. I tried to rub the picture of her face out of my eyes but I just couldn't.
All the sudden, I heard a vibration come from my night stand.
I walked over and saw that Drew was calling me.
"Hello?"
"Jimmy! Do you feel as awful as I do?" I pulled the phone away from my ear.
"Yeah... Stop screaming at me..."
"I'm not screaming you jerk, this headache is killer..."
"It really is... What's up, Drew?"
"Oh! So, Nancy will be coming by the house in about an hour but I won't be there when she gets there. I'll be there like thirty minutes after she arrives so can you please let her in and maybe keep her company until I get there?"
Shit. I leaned back onto the bed and closed my eyes.
"Wait, Nancy? Last night Nancy?"
"Yeah... I thought you'd be happy to see her again!"
"Yeah, I am.. I just.. alright. I'll let her in."
"Thank you, hun! Oh and Jimmy! By the way, she's single."
"Why are you telling me this?" I ran my hand through my hair.
"You know exactly why. Have fun!" She hung up and I set my phone down.
Should I really be thinking about another girl? I mean, I don't really know where Valerie and I are right now. I don't know what she wants but if it's not more than a friendship, I could be okay with that. I just need her in my life again.
Maybe I should get out there and try and meet new people. Maybe that's what I need.
I took a quick shower and then threw on some clothes that looked alright on me.
Before I knew it, I heard the doorbell ring. I ran over to it and slowly opened the door.
There she was. Standing in front of me wearing a blue dress that ended right above her knees. Her blonde hair blew in the wind and her lips were a light pink.
"Hi..."
"Hey there!" She reached up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "So good to see you again!"
Holy shit she smelled like a goddess.
"Yeah, you too!"
She pulled away from me and we walked into the house.
"I blame you for this awful hangover I have..." She laughed and I looked over to her. She was standing in the living room looking through her purse.
"You have one too? Aw man. I woke up this morning and it felt like a car hit me... And why do you blame me? It was your party!"
"I blame you because you're the guy who ordered seven rounds of shots!!" She pulled out some pills and put them into her hand.
"Oh, do you want some water?" I threw in a British accent and it made her laugh.
"Yeah, that would be great... And by the way! Being Irish isn't a good enough excuse for drinking that much... I don't even remember half of last night.. Thanks to your silly ass..."
"Well I can't help it... Birthday parties are for having fun!" I winked at her and walked over to the fridge and opened it.
"Do you know what I realized this morning?"
"Huh?" I grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge and handed one to her.
"This isn't the first time we've met." She put the pills into her mouth and drank some of the water.
"What do you mean?"
"You really don't remember?"
I shook my head and gulped down half of my water bottle. "I met you on the set of Fever Pitch once... It was really brief but I just remember you were so out of it... You hardly looked at me when I introduced myself..."
She let out a nervous giggle and looked down to the floor.
I knew exactly what she was talking about. During that entire filming of Fever Pitch, I was an emotional wreck... Hell, I may as well have been a teenage girl. I missed Valerie and what can I say? My heart was broken.
"Oh... I remember that. Yeah, sorry for being an ass.. It wasn't a very good time for me." I pointed to the balcony. "Want to to sit out there?"
She nodded her head and I led us outside onto the comfy chairs.
"So you're not always an ass?" She laughed.
"No, not at all actually. I just had a few bad months there..."
"Ah, I see... Well you did a fantastic job of not letting it show on camera. You have no idea how many professional actors I've seen who let their personal life effect their job. It is their job to not let that happen, but they're only human."
"Yeah, well just between you and me, for the crying scene, I didn't even have to try. It was how I felt at the time." I looked over to her and her blue eyes looked out to the skyline.
"Do you want to talk about anything? I think I'm an okay listener." Her eyes met mine and I honestly just wanted to tell her anything and everything I could. There was something about talking to her that was so exhilarating.
"I just have... I had some relationship problems..."
"Ah, I see... Care to share? I might be able to help since I don't know you or the girl that well... I'm impartial."
"Alrighty then... I've known this girl since I started SNL. She is the makeup designer. Anyways, we've always been best friends but I've always wanted more. All the sudden, things just started happening between us and we started dating. It was honestly the happiest month of my life... Then I started filming Taxi and Fever Pitch but she couldn't handle the fact that I was gone so often. So we broke up... I lost my girlfriend and my best friend."
"Wow, I'm sorry..." She leaned over and reached her hand over to mine. I looked down and I could feel my heart beat louder now. "Well I just want you to know, that if you ever need anything or ever want to talk to anybody, give me a call and I'm here."
I looked over into her eyes and all I wanted to do was kiss her.
Why was I thinking like this? I just couldn't help it. Her pink lips looked so nice.
"Uh.. thanks.." I smiled at her and tried to not look so infatuated.
"So," She took her hand off mine. "You guys still aren't talking?"
"Well, actually... The day before I left to come here, I called her because it was her birthday. We ended up hanging out just like old times and I realized how much I missed being with her. We said that we were friends again... I don't really know where we are but I'm kind of just glad to have her back in my life.... But none of that matters... Jeez, I feel bad for talking this entire time.. Tell me about you." I turned and faced her a little bit more.
"Let's see... I grew up in California.. I went to USC and studied sociology and cooperative education... I have been all over the place with jobs and such.. I was a flight attendant for a while... Can you believe that? Hello sir, would you like something to drink?" Her voice got very formal, like a flight attendant and she began to laugh.
I laughed along with her and just watched her talk.
"Anyways, Then I don't really know what happened but I met Drew and she convinced me to move to Los Angeles and get into film.. So I did. Here I am now!" She smiled and took a sip of her water.
"Wow.. That's awesome. So what about you? Do you have a special someone?"
"Oh no.." She shook her head.
"Why do you say it like that?"
"Well... All the guys I work with are selfish douchebags who just want one night stands and lots of money. They're all so serious it gets annoying at times! I like having fun with somebody... I like falling in loveeee. Plus, I have a thing for guys who make me laugh and none of the guys I work with do."
"Oh.. Yeah I totally get that. I could never be with somebody who was serious all the time.. I'd probably die." I took another sip of my water.
"Yeah.. I think that life is too short to be serious all the time.. Sit back and relax! Have fun." She smiled and threw legs up onto the table and crossed them.
"Jesus... Why didn't I pay attention to you when we met the first time?"
"I don't know Fallon! Your loss, I guess." She laughed and I couldn't help but watch her as she ran her hands through her hair.
"Yeah... It really was my loss..." I mumbled and her eyes shot over to me. Our eyes were glued together and she cleared her throat.
It felt like forever until she broke the silence.
"I... I uh think Drew is here. I'm going to go inside." She almost tripped as she stood up and opened the patio door. "It was nice talking to you."
Before she was halfway inside I stopped her.
"Wait, about the advice thing.. If I want to call you in the future, how should I do that?"
"Ohh.. Umm. Hold on, come here." I followed her inside and she walked over to her purse. She pulled out a sharpie and looked over at me. "Give me your hand."
She took my hand and began to write a number down. Her hand was holding up my wrist and I got goosebumps just from her soft touch. I saw Drew walk in out of the corner of my eye and I looked over at her.
She winked at me and then walked closer to us.
"Hi there guys... What are we doin?" She looked at Nancy and Nancy finished writing.
"Oh, just chatting..." She put the cap on the pen and threw it into her bag.
"Okay then..." She giggled at us and then hugged Nancy. "Are you ready to go shopping?"
"Yeah, of course!" Nancy picked up her purse and they both turned to face me.
"Do you want to come with us, Jim?" As Drew waited for my response, I couldn't help but stare at Nancy.
"Umm.. No I think I'm gunna jump in the pool and just try to relax.. My head still hurts." I nervously ran my hands through my hair.
"Alright! I'll see you later, ok!"
"Yeah, have fun."
I looked at Nancy and she blushed.
Did she like me too? Because I really think I liked her.
"Bye.." Her sweet voice made me smile.
"I'll call you." Drew smiled at me from behind Nancy and she knew exactly what I was thinking.
"Come on, Nancy!" Drew pulled Nancy by her arm and they were out the door.
Damn.. Those eyes.
I walked into my room, threw on some swim trunks and ran downstairs to her pool.

VALERIE'S POV

Even though Jimmy was gone, I couldn't get my mind off of him.
I loved all of our memories together...

"I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible..." I watched Billy Crystal on my TV screen.
"Ugh.. Jimmy, that's like one of the best scenes of all time!" I turned to Jimmy who was sitting next to me on the couch.
He was asleep.
"Jimmy!" I hit him on his arm and he woke up.
"What? What was that for?"
"This is a classic! I'm sharing one of my favorite movies with you and you're asleep!"
I got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen.
"Jeez.. I'm sorry, Val! I didn't know it was that important to you..." He followed me into the kitchen and I heated up some popcorn.
"It's fine, Jimmy. When Harry Met Sally is a classic! I just wanted to share it with you. I thought you'd like it." I took the popcorn out of the microwave and carefully opened it.
"Ok, well let's just rewind it! I wasn't asleep for that long, I swear."
"Fine... God you're a jerk sometimes..." I walked back into the living room.
"I'm sorry!!" He called out as he followed me.
"It's fine... Just watch it again."
We sat down and I rewinded the scene.
I pressed play and we both watched it. I felt his hand reach over into the popcorn bowl but I smacked it.
"Aye!"
"Watch it!" I pointed at the movie.
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan kissed and I looked over to Jimmy who was asleep, again.
"Oh fuck you!!" I hit him harder this time and laughed.
"I'm just kidding! I watched it!"
"I know you did..." I stuffed my face with a handful of popcorn.
"Why do you like that movie so much?" I looked over at Jimmy with my mouth full.
"Umm..." I chewed and swallowed. "I don't know... I just think it's a good, cute 'battle of the sexes' movie. I like how they were friends and then they fell in love... It's just nice." I smiled and turned off the TV.
"Do you think that would ever happen to us?"
"Hmm.. I don't know, Jimmy! I don't know if you could be as charming as Billy Crystal... Could you deliver a speech like that?" I popped another piece of popcorn into my mouth.
"Good point. May I try?"
"Give it your best shot!" I was excited to see him attempt to try this.
"Alrighty then..." He sat closer to me and looked me in the eyes. "I love it when you make food for me."
"Wooooow... Romantic, Jimmy.. Romantic..." I began to stand up when I felt him pull me back down.
"Wait, let me try again." His chocolate brown eyes stared into mine. "I love how you only have a dimple on one side of your face. When you laugh hard enough, you can see it. I love it when you yell at me in the makeup chair. I don't know why, but I do. I think it's so awesome that you're so passionate about movies like that..." He pointed to my TV. "And I love the fact that whenever I leave you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. It's nice..." I was so lost in his eyes until the last thing he said.
"You totally stole that last one from the movie!"
"But it's still true..."
I honestly couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.
"You really mean all those things?"
"Eh. sure. Why not?" He began laughing and I hit him on the chest again.
"Ugh, you're an ass!"
"No, you ahhhhh!!" He did his boston accent and I flipped him off.
I loved those little conversations we would have. I just loved it when he would make me laugh.

I really missed Jimmy and I wanted him to come home soon.
I hope he's thinking about me the way I'm thinking about him...