Title: Additional Reporting By:
Chapter 2: Normal Like You
Summary: A chance meeting on an airplane puts two old acquantainces in an awkward situation. But they are determined to make the best of it. Plus, he charms her.
Pairing: Ramble On (Rory/Dave)
A/N: Everything about Art Alexakis and the running of Saturday Night Live is made up. I have never met Art and know nothing about him, other than the fact that it has come to my attention recently that he is conceited enough to cause Craig and Greg to leave the band. So I have formed my own opinions. My ideas about SNL, however, come from the short span during which I was obsessed with the show, with sources like Live from New York and all the anniversary books and shows. Anywho, thanks to all my readers and especially to my reviewers. Read on, please, and enjoy.
1.
She rushes around her apartment, half-dressed and barely made up. She is wearing jeans and her flirty lacy pink Victoria's Secret bra--the one Lorelai bought for her last Christmas, convinced that Rory should look nice for anyone who should happen to see her bra. It has, of course, been shoved in the back of her closet for over a year and is only now seeing daylight.
She stops, suddenly, in front of her hall closet. A jacket. She has forgotten she needs a jacket.
She mutters expletives and springs back to her bathroom, where she hurriedly makesup her second eye and touches up her lipstick. She stares at her hair in the mirror, longer and flowing and falling out of the curls she set it in an hour ago.She looks at the clock--one hour until the time printed on her ticket. And she still has to get into Manhattan, and the city traffic sucks on Saturday nights.
She strolls to her closet and picks out a white dress she's never worn before, tight and reavealing around the chest area and flowing down to mid-thigh. She starts to check the mirro, and then desides against it, knowing that if she does she'll be home for at least another forty minutes. As she checks for her shows, she rememberes that it is cold and she was planning on sandals. Sighing, she pulls her jeans up to her knees and slips on her knee-high black suede boots, and then lowers her jeans. She stands still for a minute, realizing she's added two inches to her height and she doesn't remember Dave exactly towering over her. She dismisses the though, knowing that any connection they have that's hindered by height is not a good connection.
She jolts forward, heading for her jewelry box. She decides on no necklace, because it will only draw attention to her cleavage and she's taking the subway. Instead she picks two tiny green stars hanging from ultra-thinsilver chains and inserts them into her ears.
Almost perfect, she thinks, trying to remember what's next. She suddenly rushes to her study and picks up a large black bag, like Ally Sheedy's in The Breakfast Club. She dumps it out in the middle of the floor, much like a scene in the movie. When she's done, she realizes that she hates this bag, and the notes for her novel are all over the floor. She mutters more expletives before heading to her hall closet and pulling out her bright red coat and a dark purple clutch. She drops her keys, subway card, ticket, and fifty dollars into the bag, before shrugging into the coat and leaving her apartment.
2.
He stands off to the side backstage, one hand wrapped protectively around the neck of his guitar. He is watching Art flirt with the host, a teenaged IT girl who is only a year or two older than Annabella Alexakis, Art's prized daughter. One eye is watching this grown man make a fool of himself, and one eye is scanning the crowd. He really wants her to be there, and hopes she shows up.
Just as he is thinking that, Rory rushes through the door. She stands there for a minute, breathing hard, and looks around. Dave smiles as her eyes find his, and he walks over to her, leaving his guitar behind. She is beautiful, wearing six different mismatched colors. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold, and her smile grows as he walks over.
"Cold out?"
"No," she says, brushing a few stray snowflakes from her shoulders. "You ready?" she asks, nodding to Art and the host.
He bites his lip, looking a little green around the gills for a few seconds, before nodding slowly. "Yes."
She leans closer to him, smiling, and for a half a second he thinks he will die of happiness.
"Is it your first time?" she whispers, her voice dropping even more on the last two words so he catches the innuendo.
He bursts out laughing, which causes Art to glance over with a dirty look.
So Dave leans closer to Rory, who still hasn't moved back. Her voice catches in her throat, and she feels slightly hypocritical because she is secretely here, seeing her best friend's ex-boyfriend.
"You first," Dave whispers, his eyebrows raised.
She sighs, moves back, and nods. "I have to admit, it is my first time being invited to SNL by a professionally unknown rock star."
Dave shakes his head. "Oh, come now. Be truthful. A pretty girl like you?" He shakes his head again. "I can't believe it."
She just smiles enigmatically, and pokes him directly in his chest. "Your turn."
But he doesn't understand, because she has yet to remove her finger, and the pleasant sensation in the pit of his stomach--and almost below--are hard to ignore. Luckily he is saved by Art, who whistles and points.
Rory promptly removes her finger, and Dave sighs, brought back to reality.
"The life of a backup guitarist awaits."
Rory smiles. "I'll watch you the whole time."
He grins. "I'll see how many times I can flip the bird to the camera for you."
"Yes!"
"Bye," he says, holding one hand out in a semi-wave.
"I'll see you after," she calls after him, watching as he grabs his guitar and disappears.
She slowly climbs the steps to the very top, and keeps her eyes on the music stage, ready for him to run on.
3.
They play old songs, but not too old--songs from when Craig and Greg were in the band, but after Scott left. Art is trying to drum up respect for his two new musicians, musicians who were paid to stand in the background after the others got fed up and walked out. Dave always hoped that Art would ask him to be one of his major musicians, if only so that Dave could turn him down; but Art never did, just using him as a background guy when everyone else tried out. Even though Dave can't stand Art in person, his songs are amazing, and it's a paycheck. Dave might make a living, but it's not so comfortable he can turn down such a steady job--when he tours, he tours with Art.
Their first song is newer, from 2000, an instrumental that Dave has always loved. Not only do the two guitars and one bass sound like eight more, but everything has its own part at first, and seamlessly comes together. It's the kind of song that gives Dave goosebumps when he hears it. He loves to play it, and he even loves the name, Halloween Americana. That's the proof he uses when he says Art's a genuis.
Dave doesn't look up during Halloween; he is too involved in the music. Rory, who is forced to suffer through what she thinks of as Saturday Night Dead with an insipid teenager who doesn't understand comedy, watches only his hands during the performance. They move with confidence, but still manage to convey an admiration for the music and a love for the guitar. She idly wonders what the hands would be like in bed--and then abruptly blushes, putting her own hands up to her face. If she didn't think it were rude, she would pull out her phone right now and call her mother. No, Lane. First, she would call Lane. She feels guilty every time she thinks of her best friend, wondering how she would feel if Lane went out with Dean and didn't tell her. And then she mentally corrects herself--she is not going out with Dave, who surely just took pity on her, his ex-girlfriend's lonely friend living in New York. Yes, that is all this is, a pity date.
Rory feels much better when she thinks this, and is only struck from this line of thought when Dave takes the stage again.
This time, the song is older, Normal Like You, a song about medical depression from '97. Dave doesn't like it as much, just like he doesn't like Art that much. He mechanically goes through the rhythm guitar part, keeping his eyes on the crowd and Rory, who is watching him with a serene smile on her face. He tries to arrange his fingers so he is flipping off the camera as much as possible, grinning at Rory when he does.
Art finishes up the song with a slight air of defeat, brought on by the words--back when Dave worshipped Art, he used to think the song said something real. It always started out with admonitions of being "normal", or medicated, and then slowly degenerated into "I can be normal like you," an admission of defeat. Now that Dave knows the real truth about Art, he understands why he never released the song as a single.
When Dave finishes, he sits backstage for a while, just waiting for his chance to run onstage when the show is over, so he can run into the audience and go out with Rory. He has already made up his mind to suggest food, or coffee, two things he always heard Jess equating with Rory, during that brief time when they were dating best friends. He hopes Rory will go with him somewhere. He doesn't want their date to be her sitting in an audience and him sitting backstage. How lame is that?
"Rygalski!" someone yells, shaking him from his reverie. He jumps up and runs onstage with the cast, standing off to the side next to the band as the girl gives her farewells. He only sort of pays attention to what she's saying, keeping his eyes on the audience and that one member he can't wait to greet. The cameras pull away, the music fades, and he sprints up into the audience.
"Hey," he tries to nonchalantly say, suppressing a smile even as Rory's grows bigger.
"You wanna go do something?" she blurts, surprising herself. She hadn't expected Dave would run up to her after the show, hoping there would be time for her to call Lane. But seeing him so happy to see her reminds her that she is just as happy to see him.
He falters for a minute, because she's taken his opening line. But then he grins and looks into Rory's eyes and nods, and she grabs his hand and they rush out of the building ahead of the crowd, ignoring Art's calls for Rygalski to go out and party with them.
chapter finis
A/N: Hey, if anyone wants to beta for me for the next chapter (at least) I would be totally and completely grateful...and the next chapter might get out faster. Grazie!