She didn’t look at AJ as she said it, but AJ knew she was protecting her. Dani wasn’t warm and fuzzy; she didn’t use terms like “work wife” or celebrate Galentine’s Day. But AJ had never seen her pass up an opportunity, large or small, to help another woman in comedy.
“Something else, then,” Grady pushed. “Something with the horses. You could do the horses, but with sheep.”
Dani frowned. “That’s pretty undercooked.”
One of the reasons Grady wasn’t in charge was that he liked to leave a lot of room in his sketches, which the cast loved but the producers hated. Every second ofSNLwas scripted and the script was law. Hosts and actors had been banned from the show for so much as ad-libbing.
Grady didn’t like being told no. “These things always work themselves out.”
Dani looked at him over her glasses. “Right. Because we stay here until threea.m.all week…working them out.” She pivoted to AJ. “Age, what’ve you got?”
“Now I kind of wish we’d done sheep in the original,” AJ muttered. She got a few laughs and noted the usual bristle among her mostly male senior colleagues. She was also aware of Noah sitting up when she spoke, and of feeling that, with him present, she had another ally in the room.
“I did have one idea: ‘The Club.’ You know how inThe Contract,Nathan is always reading in his room…what if we did a book club with a bunch of other hit men?”
This got a few twitters and a bunch of nods. Noah chuckled.
“What would they be reading?Hunger Games?” asked another senior writer, Sebastian, adjusting his glasses.
“It’s played out,” said Dani. “Also anachronistic.”
“I was thinking Jane Austen,” said AJ. “They all show up in some back room with their weapons, and you think they’re going to play poker, then they whip outPride and Prejudice.”
“Yes,” said Dave. “And every time Mr. Collins does something, they start swearing in Italian.”
“Or when Wickham is revealed, one of them shoots a hole through the ceiling,” said Noah.
“Exactly,” said AJ. “I was thinking they could all stare out the window when they talk about Darcy’s letter, and we could play that pensive piano theme from the movie…”
“Great,” said Dani. “Run with it. Dave?”
As Dave pitched his idea about Noah being a judge at the Westminster dog show, AJ began to mentally outline her sketch. Despite her self-consciousness, she wanted to do her best for Noah. It meant something to her, getting to collaborate with him again. Even from offstage.
Noah’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
“This isn’t an idea per se,” he was saying, “but I’d be open to doing something about my family.”
“ ‘Scrooge McDrew’—your ghost ancestors teach you the meaning of Oscar season,” said Dave.
“Wow, you had that ready to go,” said AJ, and she got a laugh from the room.
“That sounds like it could be fun,” said Dani. “Noah and Dave, why don’t you team up?”
“What up, Scion of Darkness,” said Dave, sending Noah a long-distance fist bump, which Noah reciprocated. As the conversation moved on, his eyes darted to AJ, who realized she was staring at him and looked away. She gave herself a shake.
This was going to be a long week.
AJ came in thenext day around fivep.m.The sketch lineup still hadn’t been posted, but AJ had gotten a decent enough response in the pitch meeting to justify starting on “The Club.”
She nestled into the coffee-stained couch in her and Dave’s office, donned her headphones, and began to google famous hit men. Then she searched “noah drew girlfriend.”
This wasn’t AJ’s first rodeo. Lucy Parker had turned out to be the first in a line of short-term girlfriends, ranging from models to Oscar nominees. Never anyone shorter than five foot eight. Never anyone longer than three months.Interesting.Noah did not currently appear to be attached.
Innocently, AJ cleared her browser history. Noah and Dave were scheduled to brainstorm further on the “Scrooge McDrew” sketch—they might turn up any minute.
Consequently, AJ had put more effort into her appearance today; she’d showered and even run a brush through her hair. She also hadn’t drunk as much last night—she hadn’t felt the urge. She might not look like a celebrity, but it was encouraging what a little rest and hydration could do.
She didn’t get much work done, apart from falling into a wiki tunnel about Bugsy Siegel. Despite her noise-blocking accoutrement, she was aware the second Noah’s footsteps began stomping down the hall.
