A/N: Hello everyone! So I am in fact obsessed with Studio C! If you don't know what Studio C is, I recommend you go check them out on YouTube. They are an absolutely hilarious family-friendly sketch comedy group. Anyway, the main OTP in the Studio C fandom is Mattory (Matt Meese and Mallory Everton) and I ship it soooo much! I've had a plot for a fic in my head for a while now, but I never found time to write. I recently read 2 very good Mattory fics that motivated me to write!
Anyway, for the purposes of this fic, I changed a few things. Although Whitney and Mallory are still kindergarten friends and did attend BYU, they never ran in to Matt on campus and never made friends with him. They did not help him found Studio C, but became part of the cast. Also, I don't know a whole ton about Mormons, but I know enough to make this fic accurate, hopefully. Also, the order of some of the sketches might be rearranged for the purposes of this fic.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! I already slipped in references for 2 Studio C sketches in this one chapter. If you can find both of them I'll give you a shout out in the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 1: First Meeting
Matt Meese was driving down the Utah roads, full of excitement. His dream ever since he had been in highschool was to create his own sketch comedy TV show. He had attended college at BYU and after graduation, his friend Jared Shores had offered him the chance to follow his dream. It had been about eight months since graduation. Matt (along with Jared and his best friend Jason Gray) had selected a cast, found a studio, and were ready to start writing sketches. Today would be "Studio C's" very first meeting. Matt was looking forward to meeting the cast members that Jason and Jared had picked out.
As he was driving along, Matt's phone rang. It was Jason's ringtone. He glanced over at the passenger seat, where he had left his phone when he started driving, but his phone wasn't there.
"It must have fallen onto the floor at some point," Matt thought. "I'm sure Jason's call isn't that important. I'll wait until I get to the studio to answer. Wouldn't want to have an accident."
After a while, the ringing died down. A few seconds later, his phone rang again. Matt ignored it. After a third time, however, he started to worry. Jason always complained that Matt worried too much, but that's just the way Matt was. The phone stopped ringing. After a few minutes of silence, Matt heard the "ping, ping, ping" of multiple text message alerts, all from Jason. Now Matt was really worried. Jason didn't text a whole lot, and he never sent multiple texts in succession.
Looking ahead, he saw that the road was perfectly straight, very vacant, and the stoplight was green (well, Matt didn't see green because he was colorblind, but it was a color he normally associated with 'green'). Matt slowed his car down a bit and ducked down to grab his phone. He fingers searched around until they wrapped around his phone case. He grabbed the phone and sat back up as quickly as possible, looking ahead and realizing to his horror what was about to happen.
When he had ducked down, the light had quickly changed from yellow to red, and a woman with blonde hair was currently holding an old lady's groceries as they crossed the street together. And Matthew Meese was about to hit them. The blonde woman looked up and her face immediately changed to an expression of pure fear as Matt slammed on the brakes, tires screeching as he slid across the asphalt. He managed to stop the car mere centimeters before hitting the women.
"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US!" the blonde woman screamed at him. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE YOUR DRIVING! YOU'RE GOING TO GET SOMEONE INTO A CAR ACCIDENT!"
"I'm so sorry!" Matt tried to apologize. "My best friend was calling me and-"
"And what? You decided it was okay to potentially KILL people in order to talk to your friend? You make me sick!"
"Honey, we're both alive and that's all that matters. Don't take your rage out on this man, or you'll ruin your day. Plus, my milk will get warm," the old lady said, taking the blonde lady by the arm. The lady sucked in a deep breath and shot Matt a look that could freeze a hotdog. He opened his mouth to apologize profusely and explain, but the blonde woman and the old lady walked away quickly and managed to get to the other side of the street before the light turned green again.
Matt felt incredibly guilty, but the two women had disappeared from his view and a car behind him honked angrily, telling him to get going. He rolled forward, heading down the street. Still, the thought that he could have killed someone haunted his mind. He felt sick. His phone pinged several more times and reminded him why he had ever dared to take his eyes off of the road in the first place. He pulled into the parking lot of a fancy bisque restaurant. Matt pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen.
He saw a notification for three missed calls, and about thirty-three text messages. He hurriedly unlocked his phone and went to messages. They were all from Jason. He opened them and scrolled through.
"Matt, bro, I know you're probably on the way to the studio but I need you to call me back, this is kind of an emergency."
"But DON'T FREAK OUT I'm fine!"
"Well I'm kind of not fine but don't have a heart attack or something."
"I kind of tripped down the stairs and broke my wrist"
"I can't drive with a broken wrist"
"Can you take me to the ER?"
"You'll have to do the meeting without me..."
"Matt?"
"Matt?"
"Meese?"
"Helloooo..."
Matt let out a sigh of relief, thankful that his friend was not more seriously injured. He texted Jason back.
"I can take you to the ER. I'll be there in 10."
He'd have to be slightly late to the meeting, but Jared would understand. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed to Jason's house. When he got there, the blond man was waiting outside. He climbed into the passenger seat and struggled to buckle his seatbelt with one hand.
"Are you okay?" Matt asked immediately. Jason waved off Matt's concern.
"I'm fine, I just fractured my wrist trying to break my fall. It barely even hurts," he said. He looked at Matt. "Are you okay? Because you look pale. You weren't that worried about me, right?"
"Of course I was," Matt said. "After all, you're very delicate. Good thing you have me to put you back together." His attempt at a joke fell flat because of his monotone voice and his completely emotionless face.
"No seriously, are you alright?" Jason blurted out. 'I can tell you're upset Matt. You don't get upset often."
Matt sighed. After a long pause, he said, "I nearly killed two people today."
"What? What happened?" Jason exclaimed. Matt told Jason all of the details of the last half hour. Jason put a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I know you feel awful Matt, but at least they're both okay. I shouldn't have texted you so much, I knew you would panic. This is my fault. I could have called an Uber. Or an ambulance."
"For a broken wrist?" Matt asked dryly. "It wasn't your fault Jason. It almost wasn't my fault either. I mean, clearly it was but I was so worried about you. I panicked. The whole think was a giant accidental mess."
"See? This is why I chastise you for worrying!" Jason joked. "But the good news is nobody got hurt. It's all in the past now. So don't let it ruin your whole day. You're about to host the first meeting for Studio C! You've dreamed about this forever, man! Don't let yourself get lost in the guilt just yet, you'll ruin this day for yourself and everyone else!"
"You're right," Matt said. "It's all in the past now."
###############
When Mallory Everton woke up that morning, she was beyond excited.
About a week ago, she had been selected as one of ten cast members for a new sketch comedy TV show. The show was called "Studio C" which she was confused about until she was told it was the name of the studio that they were going to perform in. She was also excited because her best friend since kindergarten, Whitney Call, and Whitney's husband, Stephen Meek, had also made the cast list. Today was their very first meeting. She would be meeting her fellow cast members, as well as the head of the show, Matt Meese, and the producer, Jared Shores.
She got out of bed quickly (a rare occurrence), took a quick shower, messed with her hair, and picked a cute but modest outfit from her closet. She hummed as she made herself an omelet for breakfast. She glanced at her watch. She had about two hours before she had to leave for the studio. She watched a few episodes of her favorite show before she decided to walk to the grocery store and pick up some more eggs.
Mallory headed out the door. The local grocery store was only fifteen minutes away. She enjoyed the beautiful weather as she walked. The sun was shining brightly, but a cool breeze prevented it from being too hot. Halfway there, Mallory realized that she had forgotten her phone. Oh well, that shouldn't be a big deal. She reached the grocery store and did her grocery shopping quickly. She was walking home when she saw her elderly neighbor, Ms. Davis, heading along the street with a bag of groceries.
"Hello, Ms. Davis!" she called. The old lady turned around to see who had called, and beamed when she noticed Mallory.
"Hello, my dear. Nice to see you today! Were you grocery shopping too?"
"Yes ma'am. I needed more eggs and today seemed like such a great day to take a walk. I see I'm not the only one who had the idea."
"It is a gorgeous day out," Ms. Davis replied.
"Here, let me take your bags," Mallory offered. She grabbed the plastic grocery bags before the lady could protest. Ms. Davis smiled and walked side by side with Mallory, who rearranged the two shopping bags in her hands. She wondered how many grocery bags it was physically possible to carry at one time.
They walked down the street, chatting. Ms. Davis told Mallory about her new granddaughter, and in turn Mallory told Ms. Davis about her new job as a sketch comedian.
"Oh that's wonderful, dear! And you're so pretty too! Just right for the camera!"
Mallory blushed. "I'm not that pretty," she responded humbly.
Just then, they reached a crosswalk for a normally busy road. Mallory saw the symbol that showed it was safe for pedestrians to cross and she continued walking. She heard the noise of a car and thought nothing of it. She randomly glanced to her left and then froze in sheer terror, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open.
A car barreled towards her and Ms. Davis. She saw the man behind the wheel sit up, holding a cell phone in his hand. Suddenly, the man looked up and slammed on the brakes. His tires skidded and Mallory saw her life flash before her eyes. "This is it," she thought. "We're going to die. And Ms. Davis' granddaughter will never know her grandmother." That thought made Mallory tear up. However, the car slid to a stop mere centimeters away from her. The driver rolled down his window and she could see his features clearly.
His face was lean and handsome. He had brown hair that was swept to one side. Some of it was falling into his eyes. He was breathing fast and he looked apologetic, but Mallory was far too angry to care. He could have killed her! But more importantly, he could have killed Ms. Davis! Ms. Davis had children, grandchildren, and a husband who all loved her and would be devastated if she died! That was all Mallory could think about, and she was so mad that she thought she might explode.
"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US!" Mallory screamed at the man. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE YOUR DRIVING! YOU'RE GOING TO GET SOMEONE INTO A CAR ACCIDENT!"
"I'm so sorry!" the man quickly tried to apologize. "My best friend was calling me and-"
Mallory fought the urge to throw up. He nearly killed two people because of a phone call? How many more peoples' lives did he risk every day, digging around for his phone and texting while he was driving?
"And what? You decided it was okay to potentially KILL people in order to talk to your friend? You make me sick!" she spat.
"Honey, we're both alive and that's all that matters. Don't take your rage out on this man, or you'll ruin your day. Plus, my milk will get warm," Ms. Davis advised her, taking her arm and squeezing it. Mallory sucked in a deep breath before shooting the man the most hate-filled look she could possibly muster. The she turned on her heel and marched away, making sure Ms. Davis could keep up with her. She didn't stop walking quickly until she turned a corner and was out of the man's sight. Then she slowed.
"I can't believe that man! The nerve!" she huffed. Ms. Davis shook her head.
"He looked very sorry, guilty, and miserable," Ms. Davis said. "He was clearly just as angry at himself as you were at him, darling. Maybe his friend's phone call was an emergency or something. Either way, he didn't mean it."
"One emergency isn't worth creating another for," Mallory spat, grinding her teeth together.
"Mallory Everton, you look at me," Ms. Davis ordered, stopping short. Mallory turned to face her. "What happened today was an accident, and nothing more. No one was hurt or killed. You are going to take a deep breath and let it go. Then you are going to go to the first meeting for your sketch comedy show, and it's going to be everything you've ever hoped. Do you understand me?"
Mallory took a deep breath and let it out. When she was angry, she tended to stay angry for a very long time. She was extremely stubborn that way. But when she was angry, she usually made herself and everyone around her miserable. "I understand," she said. "I'm sorry I got so angry."
"That's okay, I completely understand," Ms. Davis said. "It was very frightening and it was rather careless of that man. But let's forget about it and enjoy the weather as we walk home, shall we? It's all in the past now.
"Right," Mallory said. "All in the past."
