"Friends"

"Friends" Chapter 40

VALERIE'S POV

It was a few days after I saw Jimmy and I was still furious at him. What the hell was he thinking? He doesn't still have feelings for me, there's no freaking way. It has been 10 years, 3,600 days, 86,400 hours, and 5,184,000 minutes... There is no way that he still has feelings for me. Even though it's been a week since he told me, I still can't get it off my mind. I'm really dreading these next two weeks to come... I start work this morning and I know that I am going to see him... We are starting on the Christmas SNL. I am going to try everything in my power to stay away from him but we have a big group meeting with everyone apart of SNL this morning, including host and musical guest so this should be... awful. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to be back and I can't wait to get back out there, I just really wish Jimmy wasn't there. I don't know what I am going to do.

Gio is still in Fulton... Still trying to sell our house. It shouldn't be this hard to sell a four-bedroom house with a large back yard and a pool! We were both frustrated and I hadn't talked to him in a few days.

I woke up early, put on my best outfit, a tight gray skirt with a tight black top that ends right below my belly button and some high black heels. I take a glance in the mirror and it looks kind of revealing, so I grab one of Gio's plaid shirts to throw over it if I get cold in the building or feel uncomfortable. I grab a coat, my scarf, and my makeup kit and head out the door.

The doorman opens the large door and I step outside. It feels so good to be back. There's certain energy in the air and I feel so pumped up. I decide to take a cab to work, since it is so far and it's my first day back. I will figure out the subway route tomorrow.

The entire drive there, I impatiently look out the window and I cannot get this dorky smile off my face. I'm just so excited. I see all the hotdog stands, roasted nut stands, crazy tourists, and annoyed New Yorkers just making their morning routes.

The cab finally pulls up to the tall building in front of the skating rink and I can hardly contain my excitement. I pay him and hop out of the cab onto the New York sidewalk. I walk into the side door and look up to the lighted NBC STUDIOS sign. I walk through the revolving door and step on to the black marble. It feels so fucking good to be back.

I show my ID card to the guy behind the desk and explained to him that I was new. He wrote my name down and let me up.

I finally got up to the floor and the doors opened. It even smelled like it used to...

I walk down the hallway and make my way to the makeup room. I finally get there and I see a woman sitting there, looking at her phone. She has blonde hair and is concentrating very deeply on something. I walk in and set my heavy kit down on the table. She looks up to me and smiles.

"Oh my goodness! Are you Valerie Stokes???" She stands up and takes a step towards me.

"Yeah I am." I was going to correct her, but I didn't feel like it.

"Oh my gosh, its so great to finally meet you!!!" She reaches her hand out and I shake it. Her grasp is firm and she shakes my hand hard. "I'm sorry... I'm Maty. I am the current makeup designer... Its so exciting to have you back here! You're like a legend... Lorne and Tina always talk about you."

"Oh awesome! You have no idea... It's so great to be back here... Quick question... Is the meeting still in room 108?"

"Yeah it is! We actually have like thirty minutes until its time to be in there... Do you want to go get some coffee?" She picked up her black purse off the ground and set it on her shoulder.

"Yeah sure! Why the hell not?" I smiled at her and we walked out of the room.

We ended up walking down a few blocks to a coffee shop that I had been to hundreds of times before. We walked in and the smell of French press entered my nose.