Rekindled

If Love Be Rough With You...

"Thanks!" I shouted to the cabbie as I threw some bills at him. "Keep the change!" He picked up the money confused as I shut the door and sprinted into 30 Rock and managed to slide into the elevator right before it shut. I hit the button for SNLs office floor and tried my best to fix my hair and straighten out my blouse while waiting to get off on my floor. I heard a few snickers but did my best to ignore it until the door finally opened on my floor. I pushed my way past all the people, mumbling faint excuses before taking off down the hall towards the writing room. I was already twenty minutes late and it was only the second day of work. Not the best impression if I ever wanted to make it back to host again.

I ran past an office and I heard my name being called out. "McConall!" I heard the familiar deep register of Jimmy's voice call out for me. "Hey! Come here!" I stopped in my tracks and caught his door jam and looked in. "Hey, Fallon. I'm running late! I can't really stop and chat." Jimmy pushed his chair out from his desk and spun it to face me. He motioned in with his hand. "Hey. Relax. Breathe." He gave a slight chuckle. "We havent had the creative meeting yet so you're fine." He wiggled his finger towards his body. "Come here." He said as he spun his chair to face his desktop computer. "I have this sketch idea. I want to see what you think about it."

I looked up at the clock on his wall and then back to him. He motioned me in again. "Jeez, McConall. Look around you. Does anyone look like they're in a hurry. You're not late to anything. We've got time. Now, are you going to stand there all day or are you going to take a look at this sketch I wrote for you?" He asked as I was taken aback. I walked in and stood behind his chair as he looked up at me over his shoulder. "You wrote a sketch for me?" Jimmy smiled up at me and nodded. "Yeah, your little medley inspired me the other day. I think I came up with a pretty good one." I squinted at the screen and tried my best to make out the words but I forgot my contacts this morning so it was completely pointless. Jimmy looked up and then moved his mouse and pat his desk. "Here. Sit down. I'll explain it."

I hopped up on his desk and faced him as he sat back in his chair, tapping on the arm in a rhythmic beat. "So, hit me, Jimmy. What you got?" Jimmy scrolled up and gave a bit of the smile. "Well the gist of the sketch is its Beauty and the Beast. Which, thank you for the inspiration." I smiled and bowed my head towards him. "No problem." Jimmy chuckled and continued with the general idea. "Okay, so you know the ending? The Beast is dying and Belle goes and cries over him?" I nodded. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I've watched the movie so much that I wore out the first two tapes that I had when I was younger. "Well, that's how the sketch is going to start. You'll be Belle and you're huddling over the Beast, crying. Mourning. Then, just as in the movie, the transformation is going to start. The Beast will turn into the Prince." I nodded along to his descriptions. So far so good. "That is where the comedy comes in. You're going to be all charmed and in love with the Prince because you love him for who he is, like you're supposed to be. But instead of the happy ending, the Prince is going to look at you and go on and on about why he cant be with you. All these excuses. You're too short, you're not his type. Things like that. So he ends up leaving you even after you've accepted him for who he really is."

I closed my eyes and tried to picture it in my head. "So.." Jimmy asked after a few moments. "What do you think?" I opened my eyes and smiled. "I like it. I think the audience will like it. If its done the right way, it'll get a good response." Jimmy nodded and brought the mouse back and clicked a few times. "But." He added nonchalantly as he placed the keyboard on his lap, propping his feet on his desk and typing away while he watched me out of the corner of his eye. I scoffed and looked down at my jeans immediately spotting the coffee stain from my frantic breakfast earlier. I tried to subtly rub at it while I confirmed his suspicions. "But, I'm not exactly sure I'm the Belle you need for this sketch." Jimmy chuckled as he hit the backspace frantically and then finished his thought on the page before leaning back in his chair and delicately tossing the keyboard back in front of his computer. "Well, you're the host and you need sketches." He watched as I started rhythmically kicking the drawers on the side of his desk. "Just because I'm the host doesnt mean I should be Belle in this sketch. I dont even have brown hair. You could ask Tina or Maya. They're both beautiful and they'd be perfect as Belle. I can be on the side. I can be Lumiere or Mrs. Potts when they turn into humans again." I had licked my thumb and was still working on the stain when I felt Jimmy's hand rest on my knee.