Brian Quinn One Shots

Noticing Me

Inspired by: Blue Sky by Feenixpawl

I take another shot of whiskey, my 5th of the night and grumble it down. I hear my name called over the loudspeaker and I know it's my turn to get up there. I get up on the stage and thank the small crowd for clapping for me. I'm not a fan of being in the public eye but I know this is what I have to do to get Brian's attention again.

Brian and I broke up 7 months ago, right before he went on the first impractical jokers cruise. We were together on and off for years, but this is the longest we've been broken up. He said he just wanted to be single on the trip and that pissed me off. Was I not good enough for him to commit too? Was there someone else going he wanted to hook up with? So many things crossed my mind. I ended up selling the ticket I bought to surprise him online and instead took a girls trip to Vegas. When we both got back from our "vacations" Brian told me he made a mistake and wanted to get back together. Except, he told me what happened on the cruise only after I told him what happened in Vegas. I hooked up with someone, he didn't. He said he'd have to think about if that changed things for him. It did. I tried multiple times to get him to talk to me but he always shunned me and avoided me. Even his friends slowly stopped talking to me. I don't know why he was so hurt, he was the one who broke up with me.

The tenderloins were headlining the show that night at a summer blow out down the shore. The afternoon was filled with comedians who signed up to win the contest that was being held. The winner would get to open that night for the jokers, and the audience would pick the winner. I never considered myself a comedian but I worked with Brian and the guys on the occasional skit for their show. My friends, and even Brian always tried to encourage me to get into stand up but I was never good being on stage. 10 minutes later, I tell my last joke and the crowd is eating it up. I put everything I had into this skit, knowing I'd have to win if I really wanted to grab Brian's attention. 2 hours later, as the sun begins to set the MC comes on stage to give the results of the contest. My stomach twists as I worry. There was a lot of good comedians up there today, any one of them could easily beat me. I start to think back to my time on stage and start analyzing the laughter I was getting. I'm so focused on it that I don't even hear my name called as the winner. It's not until the bartender I've befriended today nudges the cup in my hand that I come back to reality "huh?" I eye him curiously.

"You won" he smiles wide and continues clapping for me.

I look at him with a dumbfounded look then look around at everyone else clapping. I slowly start to walk back to the stage of the beach club bar and meet the MC in the middle "well, here we are! How do you feel?" He asks, then thrusting the mic into my face.

"I feel great, I worked so hard for this!" I honestly comment to him, to everyone.

"It showed, you had great material! I'm sure the jokers are going to love your opening." He says back. "Speaking of, you have about 5 hours till then, you want to give us a preview of what the crowd is going to get tonight?"

I grab the mic this time, all the drinks of the day hitting me at once "I don't want to give to much away but it's going to be very personal!" The crowd hollers, having no clue what I really mean and I smile, thanking them all again for choosing me.

As the day turns into night and the day crowd of beach goers slowly turns into night time crawlers I prepare myself for my opening act. I review everything twice, changing minor details up until the moment I'm introduced. I told the production crew I didn't want to meet the guys until the end of the show, as I was worried I'd be intimidated if I met them before hand. However, I really wanted to see Brian's face when I walked out onto that stage. I keep his stare from the moment I'm visible to him. He's off stage with his fiends to the right and as I walk into the light from the left his expression changes multiple times. I recognize confusion, anger, excitement, among maybe something new. I wave to the crowd, occasionally eyeing them but always going back to gaze at Brian. I spend the next 35 minutes reciting over the routine I worked hours upon hours on. I use a lot of personal stories, knowing the crowd would eat it up. They're there for the guys anyway, not me. At the end of my routine, I get a few people who stand to clap but it seems like the entire place is filled with claps and hollers. I wave and bow before exiting to the right.