Rachel took in a ragged breath and straightened the hem of her black Betsy Johnson mini. She ran a hand through her side-swept bangs, self-conscientiously. The last thing she wanted to do was admit she was nervous, but as she got ready for her cue to walk on stage, she found that to be somewhat futile.
This was her first live interview, and to say that it had her stomach turning would be a major understatement. And to add to the insecurities that were already there, this wasn't just any live talk show. This was The Night Show with Danny Lovell. The highest rated variety show around.
Of course, Jesse had spent plenty of time naming all the reasons why she shouldn't be nervous. He had even had them delivered to her on a neatly printed list, attached to a bouquet of peonies, only minutes prior.
Rachel reached into her dress's conveniently placed pocket at pulled said list from her pocket to give it a quick read and hopefully slow her pulse.
Top 5 Reasons Why Rachel Berry Needs to Calm Down
5. Trust me, you look beautiful.
4. Danny's a cool guy. He's not going to throw you under the bus. (And that is strictly a metaphor, so breathe.)
3. Danny was my first show, too. I survived and many more before and after me have.
2. At the risk of sounding completely biased, people love you. Just take a deep breath, and be yourself.
1. More importantly than anything, I love you. I would never encourage you to do anything that would ultimately lead to your harm.
Bonus: You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful.
JSJ
"Our first guest is a rising, young starlet. Most of you know her as the ambitious and omni-talented Samantha Logan on the FOX show Making It. Please give a warm welcome to Rachel Berry!"
Rachel's head snapped up, and she remembered exactly where she was. With a renewed confidence, she stepped out from the curtain that had opened in front of her to an enormous round of applause.
She grinned easily, in a way that wasn't fake at all. She gave the audience a small wave, and continued walking over to her specified seat next to Danny.
She shook the hand Danny had held out for her and gave him a smile of his own. Then, she took her seat, adjusting her dress accordingly. She crossed her legs, like she had been told to do, and slowly she felt her nerves fade away.
"As you can probably tell by the audience, we are really excited to have you here with us tonight."
"Thank you," Rachel grinned. "I'm so excited to be here!" She rubbed her hands together excitedly, and bounced a little in her seat.
"You're just adorable," Danny laughed.
Rachel laughed, "Thank you!"
"So, let's talk a little about Making It. First of all, I love it. It's awesome. I Tivo it and watch it with my wife every Thursday."
"Really?" Rachel asked, letting true amazement slip through.
"I think it's hard to find too many people that don't. Do you watch it? I know that some actors refuse to watch their own stuff, but how about you?"
"I try to avoid it," Rachel answered honestly. "Most of the time, I can get away with not watching it."
"Most of the time?" Danny asked curiously. "Have you been forced to watch it?"
"Well, you know," Rachel said. "Things like premiere parties and screenings are inevitable, and then there's Jesse."
"So Jesse St. James – your boyfriend – is a fan of the show?"
"He claims to be," Rachel laughed. "I think it's safe to say he's a tad bit biased. But, he does like to turn the TV to it whenever it's on. He has no problem watching himself act, so he just doesn't understand why I prefer not to watch it."
Danny laughed. "He's a confident guy."
"To put it lightly," Rachel nodded.
"So, if I'm not mistaken, this is your first live show. Did you do anything to prepare for it?"
"Um," Rachel hesitated. "I drank lots of water, I bought like thirty episodes of this show off of iTunes and watched them on repeat for the past week, and I had people sporadically ask me questions about my life."
Danny waited for the audience laughter to die out a bit, and then commented.
"Wow, so you must not have been nervous about this at all."
"You didn't see me backstage," Rachel countered. "I was shaking like there was no tomorrow. I'm so nervous right now, the only thing stopping me from peeing my pants is the fact that I'm not wearing any."
The audience broke into a fit of laughter, and Rachel blushed deeply.
"I can't believe I just said that."
"Don't worry about it," Danny laughed. "In fact, a few years ago I think a certain male movie star said something to the same affect. Minus the dress part, of course."
"I really hope your referring to who I think you are, because he's never going to hear the end of it."
"Oh, I am. But, let's get back to Making It. For anyone who hasn't seen it, could you give a summary of it?"
"Of course!" Rachel smiled. "Basically, I play a nineteen year old girl – Samantha Logan – living in New York City, who's trying to make it on Broadway."
"Right," Danny nodded. "And your sort-of love interest is played by Sam Evans. I just love that guy!"
"Yeah, Sam plays Rick Bradford. Rick is Sami's best friend from high school, and he's always had this protective, um, attitude towards Sami. When the season starts, he's almost played out like a big brother character. Unlike Sami, he comes from a lot of money, so when she tells him she's moving out to New York to risk it all, he feels kind of like it's his duty to move with her and take care of her. He pays for the apartment they share, runs lines with her, etcetera."
"The chemistry is really there for the two of you. Was that hard to develop or did it just come to the two of you?"
"You've seen Sam Evans, right?" Rachel laughed, jokingly. "Seriously, though, Sam's a great guy. He's super easy to get along with. I think a lot of the chemistry, though, is due to the amazing writing we have. There's that constant adorableness that's there because they've grown up together, they know everything about each other, but at the same time there's that tension growing between the two of them due to Sami's growing obsession with becoming famous."
"Well, you play the part superbly. You're acting skills are seriously awesome. And, we haven't even gotten to talk about your singing voice. Man, you can belt it!"
The crowd cheered in agreement.
"Thank you," Rachel grinned. "Thank you so much! Singing has always been my number one passion, and I think one of the reasons I connect so well with Sami is because Broadway was my dream for as long as I could remember, but when I heard about this show that could combine singing and acting along with pushing current TV boundaries, it was impossible to refuse."
"Well, you are every bit as adorable and amazing as I thought you would be. Thank you so much for coming on. You're going to stay for our next guest, right?"
"I'd love to!" Rachel confirmed, realizing that she had no idea who the next guest was.
Danny gave a quick bid to commercial break, and then turned to Rachel when they were signaled that their mics were off.
"Great interview. You can come back, anytime," Danny stuck out his hand for Rachel to shake again.
"Thank you so much for having me."
"You were seriously nervous about coming on tonight?"
"Terrified," Rachel verified. "I was serious about that dress thing."
"This might sound really bad, but I'm glad to hear that."
Rachel raised a questioning brow.
"It's just, nowadays, it seems all of these stars are just so self-absorbed and overly-confident. It's nice to know there's still some out there with their heads on their shoulders. Make sure you stay that way, my friend."
"I don't think that will be a problem," Rachel assured.
"I'm really glad you're staying. It's going to be great having the two of you here."
"At the risk of sounding completely idiotic for asking, who –"
"And we're back in five... four... three..." the director called.
Rachel straightened her posture and gave up on finding exactly who she was about to meet.
"Our next guest is an extremely talented actor who's next movie, Inheritance, will be hitting theaters Friday." Suddenly, everything clicked, and Rachel knew exactly who would be coming through the curtain. "Everybody, please give a warm welcome to one of my personal favorites, Jesse St. James."
Sure enough, there was her boyfriend dressed flawlessly from head to toe in what Rachel learned was his signature brand – Armani. He saluted the audience, jokingly, and walked with confidence to the desk to give Danny a "man hug."
Rachel stood from her seat and waited to see what he would do. As soon as his focus shifted onto her, his face broke into a large smile. He walked over to her and wrapped her in a quick hug, taking just enough time to kiss her cheek and whisper "surprise" into her ear.
When he pulled away, Rachel couldn't help the wide smile that spread across her face. She took a seat on the near side of the couch, leaving the chair open for him to sit in. She was surprised, however, when he didn't sit. Instead, he stood before her.
"Scootch over," he laughed. "You should know by now that I don't bite."
Rachel blushed a little and gave him an exaggerated eye roll, but she complied.
Once the two of them were situated on the couch – Jesse with the placement closer to Danny, his arm thrown across the couch's back – Danny began to speak.
"Well, I feel loved."
Jesse and Rachel laughed along with the audience.
"Don't look at me," Jesse defended. "She's the one who didn't scootch enough for three."
"I didn't know I was supposed to!" Rachel countered. "Besides, I don't think there would have been enough room anyway, with your ego and all."
Jesse breathed in through his teeth, "Ouch."
"Hey, lovebirds, remember me?" Danny asked with a smile.
"Always, Danny-Dan." Jesse replied. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Let's start out with Inheritance. I've already seen it, and I thought it was almost perfect."
"Almost?" Jesse asked. "What was wrong with it?"
"The guy playing the lead just didn't do it for me. I think Zefron would have been a better choice," Danny pondered with a serious tone.
Jesse just rolled his eyes, far beyond used to Danny's joking ways. "Sorry to disappoint."
Danny laughed. "Just an observation. Honestly, though, this is an incredible movie. I laughed, I screamed, I cried, and I consumed an entire pint of ice cream when it was over."
"I think those last two are something you might want to see a therapist about."
"I'm just going to ignore you now. Rachel, would you like to summarize the movie?"
"I'd love to," Rachel smiled. She ignored Jesse's faux-shock glance. "Basically, Jesse plays the younger of two sons of a recently deceased billionaire. Jesse Eisenberg plays the older of the two brothers who, has spent his whole life learning everything there is to know about his father's company because it only makes sense that he'll be the one to inherit it. But, when the will is read, you find that their dad has left the company to this Jesse's character who, up until this point, has shown zero interest in the company. The rest of the movie deals with family deceit and drama over who really deserves to run the company."
"That seemed like a perfectly adequate explanation to me," Danny complimented. "Jesse, What do you think?"
"Couldn't have said it better myself," he gave Rachel a smile.
"I have to say," Danny commented. "I really like the two of you together. Your definitely a couple I want to see last."
"We will," Jesse said confidently looking straight at Rachel. He turned his glance back to Danny. "We will."
Chapter 1!
Wow! That was way faster than I told you it would be! … I guess I kind of lied …
I've had this written for a little while, and I figured I would hold onto it for a few days to build anticipation, but you all gave such amazing reviews for the last chapter of Reaching Potential, I figure you earned it:)
Just a few quick things:
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
Also, I do not own Jesse Eisenberg. (I am currently obsessed with him though... He so adorable! Plus, I think him and JGroff look enough alike to pass as siblings.)
Danny Lovell is not a real person! And the Night Show with Danny Lovell isn't a real show. (Stands to reason.)
I did, however, loosely base him on Jimmy Fallon (who I do not own) because I have a deep love for Jimmy Fallon that will probably never go away.
All this aside... Thoughts?