Dancing For Love

Chapter 4

After rehearsing our dance routine over and over again because of the limited space in the studio we somehow made it work. Once dress rehearsal was over with, I had to get ready for the interview. Jimmy and Justin just finished doing the History of Rap 5.

The show went on a commercial break and I'm getting more nervous by the minute.

I sat in the makeup chair getting my hair lightly curled by Ali, our hairstylist. After a few minutes, I thanked Ali for doing my hair before she moved on to curl Sasha's hair.

Since I'm going for a natural makeup look I opted for clear lipgloss. After putting my makeup on, I doubled checked myself to make sure there's nothing out of place. Once everything looked good I sat down on the couch facing the tv watching as the show came back on with Jimmy doing the Thank You Notes segment. Some of the girls were getting ready, a few were nervous and it showed. "What do you think Jimmy is going to talk about?" Meli asked as she curled her hair. "I don't know. I mean, I am a surprise guest." I shrug, "I haven't seen him in so long. So we're probably going to catch up on some things." I looked up at the tv screen again to see Jimmy laughing at one of the jokes.

"You should bring up the letters we sent him and Chris Kattan. I want answers." She laughed, as she turned off the curling iron. I look at her through the mirror, "are you serious?" I shook my head. She turns around and shrugs, "what, don't you want to know why they didn't respond. Hell, if you don't ask..." I cut her off. "Fine I'll ask."

"Your dad let you watch SNL at that age?" Noelle looked up from her phone.

"Yeah, this was way before he fell down the religious rabbit hole. Blame Meli's parents for letting us stay up. My dad was a little upset, but was highly relieved when her dad told him that we only watched the "clean sketches". I air quoted.

"I don't even remember the first episode we watched. I only remember watching the Brian Fellow skit and Weekend Update where Jimmy was singing." Meli begins to laugh then smirked at me and I knew why.

"Meli, shut up. You better not say it." Everyone looked at Meli confused before looking at me.

"Fine." She pouts.

"Hey Noelle, if he ask about the team, do you want me to announce our move to New York?" I asked. She looks up from her phone again and looked at me. "Yes. Even though, we're fully not 100% moved in, but yes!" Without looking at the TV, Jimmy announced another commercial break.

A different producer from earlier knocked on the door opening it slightly before sticking his head in to tell me they're ready for me to come out. I gave him a head nod before I took a deep breath as I stood up. I walked over to my bag and spray two pumps of perfume before lightly tossing it back in my bag. All of the girls are dressed in their outfits, silently giving me nods of encouragement that I desperately needed. "Good luck out there, Amirah." Chanel shouts as I walked out of the room behind the producer who is navigating me towards the blue curtains.

As I walk up behind the curtain there was a man standing next to it, he simply told me after he pulls the curtain back that would be my cue to walk out. I nodded. A rush of nerves washed over my body when I heard Jimmy's voice. "So my producers told me there's a special guest." He starts off. I looked at the TV screen to see him looking at The Roots. "Did you guys know about this?"

Questlove, Tariq, Kirk, Kamal and James all shook their heads. James smirking at the camera as it pans to him. Jimmy looks at the camera again before someone who I assume is one of the producers at the table told him to cover his eyes.

"Wait what? What is going on right now, oh my gosh." He jumps back in his seat, giggling before he finally covered his eyes.

Jimmy clears his throat and begin to introduce me, "this next guest needs no introduction because I have temporary lost control over this show." He lets out a small laugh and the audience laughs along. "Seriously, I have no idea who this guest is. No one told me in the meeting there would be a surprise guest. So please welcome, my surprise guest." The guy pulled the curtain back I walked out smiling and waving at the audience as they cheer and applaud. I looked at The Roots smiling and waving at them. Judging by the shock looks on all of their faces tells me that they didn't know about this either. Since Noelle is really cool with The Roots, I'm pretty sure they knew I was going to be interviewed. If that's the case, I'm glad they're playing along. Finally looking at Jimmy who's still covering his eyes. I decided to walk over to him and give him a hug before I sat down in the guest chair.