"Friends"

"Friends" Chapter 37

VALERIE'S POV

We finished eating our dessert and the waiter brought the check. I went to reach for my wallet in my purse.When his voice stopped me.
"Hey, hey... It's on me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
"No, I can't let you do that!" I reached over to grab the check from his hand but he pulled it away.
"Yes you can, come on." He put his credit card inside of it and before I couldn't hand him some cash, he handed it to the waiter.
"Fine. Fine." I stuffed my cash back into my wallet. "Okay, but the next dinner is on me."
"There will be a 'next dinner'?" He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Yeah, why not? We're cool, right?" I pulled out my lipstick and my mirror.
"Yeah we're definitely cool. You know what's cooler than being cool? ICE COLD!!!!"
I laughed at him and held the mirror up to my face.
As I put my lipstick on, I could feel Jimmy's eyes on me. I really wasn't used to having a guy stare at me so much. Gio looks at me, but not the way Jimmy does.
We left the restaurant and began the walk back to the hotel. We both had our hands in our coat pockets, because it was so cold. It was about 11:00 and I was getting sleepy. We were about halfway there and my feet were killing me. I had to get my mind off the pain.
"So! Have any ideas for the Christmas SNL? Any sketch ideas?"
"Hmmm... Not really. Justin and I will probably just do the usual, like Barry Gibb. Maybe we could get Rachel on and we could do Sully and Denise... That would be fun. Or even Horatio!!! We could do the Jeffery's sketch! Gosh, I forgot how much fun we used to have doing all of those." I could hear the excitement in his voice. "Hey, remember when I dared you to kiss Kattan? Gosh that was funny..."
"Okay, that was not funny! We were all so drunk that night... Ew and he had bad breath!!! Don't even get me started." I giggled. "You were the one that had a huge crush on Maya, remember?" Jimmy went silent. "Remember??" I repeated myself and looked up at him. I couldn't tell if it was because it was cold or what, but his face was red.
"Oh come on, you know that you were the only person I was crushing on at that time."
"No I was not... Remember when you had a thing for uhhh... What's her name?... Gwyneth Paltrow? YES! AND you got to kiss her!!! I remember that you freaked out over that!"
"I did not freak out over that..." His face was turning redder with each step we took.
"You soooo did!" I poked him on his arm and he smiled down at me.
"Whatever... If I had a crush on any of our guests, it would have definitely been Justin."
"Haha oh yeah! Remember when Lorne gave y'all the cutest couple award for that season? That was so funny."
"Yep! Hey, we proudly earned that, okay! It's still hanging on my wall in my apartment." He sniffled and we continued walking. I could see my hotel in the distance. We were only a few blocks away.
"How is that apartment of yours?" I honestly don't know why I said that... I was just trying to make conversation.
"I hope its okay!" He let out a nervous laugh. "Right now, I'm actually living with Justin."
"FINALLY!!! You guys' relationship finally moved to the next step! Good for you!!" We both laughed but then his face turned serious.
"Yeah, him and Jess decided it would be the best thing for me... I really needed someone around. I couldn't make any decisions on my own and it was really bad. Since I have been living with them, I feel good. I am so much better now. I have learned to get used to not seeing Winnie all the time and I have grown as a person. I know a lot more now than I did a year ago... Even ten years ago... Things are finally looking up. I feel like the new and improved Jimmy." He proudly looked up to the starry sky and smiled.
"Well good for you. If there's anybody in this world who truly deserves happiness, that's you, Jim."
"Really?" He slowed down and looked at me. "You mean that?"
"Of course I do." I looked up into his eyes and he bit his lip.
"Wow, that means a lot to me..." He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side. We kept walking down the street together. "I was in such a bad state of mind... Do you know what I actually told Jessica when I came home from the hospital? I told her, 'They should have just let me die'... Can you believe that? Gosh, that doesn't even sound like me." I glanced up to his eyes and he was on the verge of tears. "But I'm okay now."
I didn't know what to say to him. I wanted to hug him so much but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate.
"I'm glad." Was all I could get out.
We finally got to my hotel and the doorman opened the door for us. I didn't even realize he still had his arm around me...
We walked into the heated lobby and I stopped walking and turned to him. There were a lot of people just hanging out in the lobby and as soon as we walked in, it seemed to get quiet.
"Well, I guess I should go up. Thank you so much for dinner."
"Anytime, Hey listen. If you ever feel lonely or just want someone to wander around with, just call me, okay? I am always available. Well, I actually got a different number, so let me give it to you." He pulled out his phone and I unzipped my purse. I grabbed my phone and completely forgot I turned it off. I turned it back on and handed it to him.
"Just put your number in, and I'll put mine in there too..." I grabbed his phone from his hand and typed my phone number in. I saw his facial expression change when I went to give him his phone back.
"Here... Gio called you like eight times and you have a ton of texts from him..."
"Oh shit... I was supposed to call him when I landed and I forgot. Eh, he can wait." I smiled at Jimmy and put my phone into my coat pocket. "And the same thing goes to you... If you ever need anything, please. Call me."
"Thank you, Valerie. I think you owed this dinner to us..." I looked at him weirdly and blushed. "And by us, I mean New York City and myself." He chuckled and I pushed some of my bangs that had fallen out of my ponytail behind my ear.
"Thank you again, Jimmy."
For some reason, I just didn't want to say goodbye to him. He took a step towards me and suddenly everything around us just seemed to disappear. It felt like it was just Jimmy and I. The lighting was dimmed and he had a deep passionate look in his eyes.
"There is actually a reason why I sat here earlier and waited two hours for you to come down." He slowly brought his hand up to my jawline and stared at my lips. I looked into his sensual eyes and couldn't help but stare. I felt a little bit breathless. "Valerie..." He looked into my eyes and his lips seemed to move so slowly. "I still have f-"
"Hi there Mr. Fallon?" Our moment was ruined. His eyes shot over to the girl standing next to us. He brought his hand down from my face and smiled at the girl. Suddenly we were back in that lobby again and I realized what had just happened.
"Can I please get a picture with you? I am a huge fal pal!!" I couldn't even look at the girl, I just watched him.
What was he about to say to me? I really needed to know.
I saw him lean in for a selfie with her and then they continued to talk.
I felt all those feelings again, just like earlier on the way to the restaurant and I had to get away from all the people.
"Jimmy... I need to go." His eyes shot over to me.
"It was really nice meeting you..." He smiled at his fan and then she ran off.
"What are you talking about? Val, I really need to talk to you."
"No, I think it's just best if we talk some other time. My feet hurt and I need to go to bed..." I tried to avoid looking at him.
"Well Ummm... Jessica and Justin are cooking tomorrow... I don't know exactly what... But it will be good! Please," He bent his knees and tried to get me to look at him. "I just... I need to talk to you more... Will you come tomorrow?" My eyes finally met his and he looked so desperate.
"Fine..."
"Fantastic! Good. This is great!" He clapped his hands together and smiled. "I will text you the address, okay?" I nodded my head and began to walk away. "Wait!" He ran around and stood in front of me. " Can an old pal at least get a hug? You know I'm all for hugs." He had his arms stretched out in front of me.
I couldn't help but smile. I took a step forward and wrapped my arms around his torso.
"See? There we go..." He rubbed my back and I could feel his breath on my neck. "Just like old times." I pulled away from him and smiled.
"I will see you, Jimmy."
He let go of me.
"I will text you, okay?" I walked past him.
"Okay, JIMMY!" I could hear him laugh as I walked away.
I made it back up into my hotel room but I kept on wondering what Jimmy was going to tell me... I took of my coat and sat on the end of my bed. I couldn't help but wonder... Did he still have feelings for me? No... There was no way... It has been ten years. He can't still have feelings for me.
Even though there was a part of me that didn't want anything to do with him, romantically... Even though there was that part of me that was so in love with Gio and only wanted him... There was another part of me that wondered... Maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe I was meant to be back in the city and maybe he was meant to be in his situation. Was there some ultimate force that was pulling us back together? There will always be that romantic part of me that hopes and believes in a happily ever after.

What if I already had my happily ever after?
What if Gio was it?
What if this was my life? Sitting in our Studio apartment together on a Sunday morning, reading the weekly newspaper and playing Mancala.
Maybe this was it.

I felt my phone vibrate. A part of me wanted it to be Jimmy but when I looked down to my screen and saw Gio's face staring back at me.
I exhaled and picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Valerie!! Oh my gosh.. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Why didn't you pick up? I called you a thousand times! I thought something happened to you!" He didn't sound concerned, he sounded pissed.
"Sorry, Gio."
"You know what? Don't say sorry to me, I don't want a fucking apology." My eyes widened and I shook my head. What was wrong with him? "Where were you and why didn't you pick up?"
"I'm sorry as soon as I landed I went to the hotel and..."
"And what?"
"I fell asleep! I literally just woke up a few moments ago. Stop yelling at me!"
"I'm sorry... Baby. I was just worried."
"It's fine, Gio... Listen, I am really tired and I just really want to fall back asleep... One last thing before I go, any news on the house?"
"Oh, no. Nothing, baby."
"Okay. Well, I will talk to you soon, okay?"
"Okay. Bye." I could still tell he was mad.
"I love you." He hung up the phone and I just looked at my phone.

What the hell was his problem?

I changed into my pajamas and cleaned my day off my face. I looked up into the mirror. I guess I had aged too. When I was with Jimmy tonight, I felt like the young, carefree me again.
I walked back into the big bedroom, fell on to the bed, and let the feather comforter engulf me.
I had just dozed off when I felt a vibration from somewhere in the bed. I jumped and sat up. I felt around the large king-sized bed and finally my hand hit my phone.
I held it in my hand and looked down at my screen.
It was a text from Jimmy.
I unlocked my phone and saw that he sent a picture. I clicked on it and the picture filled my screen. It was a picture of me and him from when we went to go see Grease one night at midnight, years ago. I giggled at how young we looked. He had his arm thrown around me and I had my arms wrapped around his thin waist. His hair was spiked up and we were both mid-laugh.
This was like the perfect Kodak moment. We were timelessly happy.
I exited from the picture and saw that there was a text with it.
It read:

I found this on my phone the other day. Look how good and how happy we were. That's what I missed. I missed us.
(What I don't miss is the lesbian haircut that I was sporting, but you know, I was a fool... Hey. don't laugh at me. You were the one who put up with me)
Goodnight Val, I will see you tomorrow!

J

That night, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
Maybe it was because I was back in my city, but I believe, it was because I had Jimmy back in my life.