Chapter 3: Take Your Time

A week and four days had passed since the meeting. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and Natalie, Whitney, and Mallory headed to a cute little coffee shop to sit down and get to know each other better. The ladies picked a seat outside so that they could enjoy the weather, and they casually chatted.

"Well, our first official day of work is tomorrow!" Whitney exclaimed. "Did anyone have any good sketch ideas?"

"I was watching a documentary on the Wildlife Channel last night about how male seahorses carry the babies instead of the female. I was thinking about trying to write sketch about a pregnant male seahorse being mocked by his wife and friends," Natalie said.

"We should write a funny sketch about pregnant women!" Mallory said. "That has many possibilities for humor!"

"We should write that together," Whitney suggested. "Maybe after we get used to writing sketch comedy."

"Yeah, I'm really nervous. I don't want to write something that nobody thinks is funny. I don't think it would be too embarrassing though, the rest of the cast seems really nice," Natalie commented.

"Plus Jason and Matt are going to bring in a couple of sketches that they've been working on to see how we like them. That'll give us a feel for the material," Whitney said.

"Good," Mallory sighed in relief. "That way we'll know kinda what they're aiming for in humor."

"Speaking of Jason and Matt, what do you think about them?" Natalie asked Mallory. Mallory blinked.

"What do you mean, what do I think about them?" she asked.

"Well, you looked sad about Jason being gone. You know he's married, right? And you were shooting death glares at Matt for the whole meeting!" Natalie exclaimed.

"I was sad because Jason was the one who cast me and he seemed really nice," Mallory said.

"Yeah, I was talking to Stephen and he said that Matt said that Jason broke his wrist tripping down the stairs. Matt drove him to the ER, which was why he was late to the meeting," Whitney explained. "Wait a second, weren't you late too Mal? You walked in with him..."

Natalie raised her eyebrows suggestively. Mallory felt herself flush red with anger. "Don't you dare even suggest I would like that man!" she said angrily. Natalie and Whitney looked taken aback.

"Woah, okay. I didn't realize that would make you so upset!" Natalie apologized, hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

"Mal, what's wrong? You seemed really angry at that meeting. Were you angry at Matt?" Whitney asked.

Mallory told Whitney and Natalie the story about the day of the meeting and her close shave with death. They were both horrified.

"Matt nearly ran you over?" Natalie exclaimed. "But he seems like such a nice person! I'm sure he didn't mean to!"

"I know. The more I think about it the more I calm down. But then I get angry all over again. I'm sure I just need a few weeks. Matt's probably really nice and stuff. I'll just avoid him and watch him interact with others to see if he is actually nice or if he's a jerk in disguise."

"I don't think he's a jerk, Mal. But I don't know anything about him either. If you need time, then take it. I'm sure you'll see how nice he is," Whitney advised.

"Well now that you mention it, I ran across one of his old girlfriends the other day," Natalie said. "When I was leaving the studio after the meeting. She was a real nasty piece of work."

"Was she tall, with light brown hair and a lot of makeup?" Mallory asked. "I might have passed her on the way out."

"Yes, that's her!" Natalie said. "She asked me if I knew Matt Meese and when I said that I worked with him she got all angry and asked me a bunch of questions. She said they used to date before she dumped him. She said that she's planning on dating him again."

"Did she consult Matt about those plans?" Whitney asked. Natalie shrugged.

"Matt doesn't seem the type to date someone like her," Natalie said, wrinkling her nose. "I wonder how much of their relationship was mutual?"

"Well, his dating life is his private business. We shouldn't be poking our noses into it," Mallory said crossly. "Anyway, how have you and Stephen been, Whitney?"

###############

Matt groaned as he pressed "Deny Call" for what felt like the 600th time. After Mallory had left and he was heading out to his car after the meeting, he was bombarded by his old "girlfriend". Well, she considered herself his old girlfriend. They had never really had a relationship. Matt took her out on a few dates, but she had promptly run off with some other guy. Matt had never really liked her much anyway, so he wasn't sorry.

Apparently, she decided that she was 'SO SORRY FOR LEAVING HIM' and she 'WANTED TO GET BACK TOGETHER AS MUCH AS HE DID' (both of these are quotes from her mouth). Matt had promptly told her he wasn't interested and got into his car. Now she was calling him non-stop. As much as he hated blocking people (he just felt like it was so rude, and he was too polite) he went into Settings and blocked her number.

Finally, some peace and quiet without the ringing phone. Matt turned on the TV. He surfed the channels for a little while, but he found nothing good. Political scams, cooking shows, some sappy romance movie, a workout channel. He settled on the workout channel and sat watching that for a few minutes. Suddenly, inspiration struck. He whipped out his laptop and started writing down a sketch.

That Monday, he headed back to the studio. He got there early and had plenty of time to greet Jason.

"Hey man, how's your wrist?" he asked.

"It's totally fine. As long as I don't have to do any heavy lifting in sketches, I'll be okay. Hey, you like that cute girl I casted?"

"Which one?" Matt asked. "There are two that may or may not be single."

"Mallory Everton," Jason said. "She's got some real talent, and she seemed super nice."

"Very un-amusing coincidence," Matt said. "You know that blonde girl and the older lady I nearly killed last week?"

"Are you still all wound up about that?" Jason asked. "If you need someone to blame Matt, it's my fault. I shouldn't have texted you so many times. I could have called my wife, she would have left work."

"No, it's not your fault Jason," Matt replied. "But the woman I nearly ran over was Mallory. She's really upset about that. I've been trying to apologize but she finally told me to leave her alone." Jason winced.

"Maybe I can talk to her?" he suggested. Matt shrugged. Just then Whitney and Stephen walked in. "Hey guys! Ready for the first day of writing and acting out sketches?"

"Hi Jason, Matt!" Stephen greeted. Whitney was slightly wary of Matt, still unsure of his true intentions. But her worries melted away as he gave her a wide, sincere smile. He looked so excited about this, like a little kid. His eyes were lit up.

"Hey!" she greeted them both. They chatted while the rest of the cast came in. When Mallory got there, she and Natalie went and sat on the opposite side of the room from Matt. Whitney looked up from her conversation with Matt about college and winked at Mallory.

"Alright everyone!" Matt called for silence. He sat down in his chair. "So Jason and I promised that today we'd start working on sketches. We both brought in a few that we've been working on. Do you want to start, Jason?"

"Nah man, you start!" Jason said.

"Okay, well last night I was watching a workout channel when inspiration struck. I jotted down a basic script. James, why don't you read the lines for the main character, he's really the only one who talks. Can Stephen play the P90X grad and can... hmm, Mallory play the character that shows modified? Stacey and Jeremy, you play the extras, and who wants to be the pastor?"

"I might as well play the pastor!" Jason volunteered.

"Okay!" Matt said. "We'll just start with a cold-read. Let's go!"

By the end of the session, they had practiced and casted two entire sketches, both from Matt. They ended up changing around the casting for P90X, having Matt play the main character after discovering that no one else could do clap-push ups. They had Jeremy as the other grad, but left Mallory as modified. The other sketch they completed was Channel Surfing.

Mallory really liked Channel Surfing, but she wasn't sure about P90X. That sketch had kind of an arrogant tone to it. She knew she was probably over-thinking it. It was pretty funny, especially her part. But why would Matt cast her as that character? She told him to leave her alone! Was he making fun of her by giving her such a lazy part? She asked Whitney about it.

"Mal I think you're totally over-thinking it! I talked with him earlier and he does seem super nice and funny. He probably just wanted to give you a chance to show what you could do! Besides, If you weren't right for that part the group as a whole would have changed it!"

"So you're saying I'm perfect to play the lazy character?" Mallory joked. Whitney laughed.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" she said.

"Hey, the whole cast is going out for lunch today. Wanna come?" Stacey asked, coming over to them.

"Sure, we'll come!" Whitney agreed before Mallory could say anything.

All of Studio C made their way in separate cars to a pizzeria on the corner. They settled at a very long table, and began examining the menus. "Three large pizzas should work for all of us!" Stacey said. "I like three-meat pizza, anyone else?"

"I like three-meat," Jason said.

"Me too!" Natalie and James chorused.

"Does anybody else like pineapple and ham?" Jeremy asked. Whitney raised her hand.

"I like plain cheese," Mallory and Matt said at the exact same time. Mallory flushed red and stared furiously at her menu. "But I'll eat pineapple and ham too," she added hastily. She really wasn't a huge fan of pineapple and ham pizza, but she would have to eat it. The entire cast was making "I ship them" faces at each other. Mallory wanted to disappear into a hole forever.

On the other side of the table, Matt fought to keep a poker-face. "I still want plain cheese," he said. Jason nudged him in the side, but Matt kicked him beneath the table. Jason visibly winced. When Matt had the courage to look up from his menu, he swiftly glanced in Mallory's direction. She looked angry, her head buried in her menu. Her hair was falling in her face, and Matt fought the over-whelming urge to walk all the way to the other side of the table and brush it behind her ear. He couldn't let himself think like that. Not about someone who hated him.

At least ten minutes later, three hot, steamy pizzas arrived and everyone dug in. Nobody really ate the plain cheese except for Matt, which was a good thing because Matt ate ten slices! What could he say? He was a stress-eater, and he was currently very stressed out. He couldn't stop himself from sneaking peeks at Mallory. She was deep in conversation with Whitney and James. She laughed, and it sounded like music in his ears. Matt bit his lip and focused on eating another slice of pizza.

"You're paying Mal quite a bit of attention," Jason whispered in his ear smugly.

"Is it that obvious?" Matt mumbled.

"Only because I know you," Jason reassured him. "I'm sure she'll come around. She can't hate you forever. It's only been like a week. She just needs a little bit of time."

###############

Apparently, Mallory did not need just a little bit of time.

It had been three months.

Three agonizing months of Matt's failed attempts to interact with her. Three months of watching her laugh, chat, and bond with all of the other cast members. Three months of her shifting away from him and agreeing to perform sketches with him in great reluctance. Which was a shame, because the entire cast kept writing sketches and agreeing that Matt and Mallory should perform them together, either alone or with others. Matt would have been annoyed at the casts' obvious attempts to get Mal to warm up to him, but he found himself slowly sleeping into a deep pit of insanity, which some people call 'Love".

He couldn't help it. His brain screamed at him that it was not a logical option. Other than his "ex-girlfriend" who had been pursuing him to no avail for the past three months, Matt had only been in one other romantic relationship. One other romantic relationship that nearly ripped out his heart and shattered him to pieces.

Jason could tell Matt was lonely. He could also tell that Matt was scared. Really scared. For Matt, falling in love was something to be avoided at all costs, something that could only end in heartbreak. It was even worse, because the object of his affection didn't even like him.

Mallory could very confidently state that she didn't hate Matt. In those three months, her anger subsided and she didn't hate him as much. She still disliked him, and she found reasons to dislike him. When he played a jealous war-general in a sketch called "18th Century's Man" it only contributed to her negative opinion of him.

Sure, Matt was nice enough. He laughed and told jokes. He seemed pleasant and funny. But he didn't talk a WHOLE ton. Obviously, he threw his heart into his acting and sketch writing. But he felt... off. Mallory couldn't put her finger on it. An aura surrounded him that didn't sit right with her. By the time that she had stopped being angry and started being more uncomfortable around him than anything, she had been so used to avoiding him that she didn't even think about it.

She participated in sketches with him. But she always found herself subconsciously sitting on the opposite side of the room. During breaks between live shows she busied herself with costume changes or talked to other cast members. She always left either before or after him, and made sure she was never the only person in a room with him. Whenever he looked at her, her eyes hardened and wished him harm.

She knew part of it was probably just original dislike. Have you ever heard bad reviews about a movie before seeing it? Have you ever heard a lot of criticism and negative opinions about a movie or parts of it before you've watched it? And then you watch it, and even if it's a decent movie, you can only think about the negative things about it? That's kind of how it was for Mallory.

Matt's 'off-feeling aura' was there. Mallory wasn't crazy for noticing. The other cast members who didn't really know Matt didn't notice. He was a good actor, and his natural sense of humor and leadership allowed him to present himself as such a carefree and amusing person that it never occurred to them to realize that something was off. Except for Mallory and Jason. Mallory realized because she was subconsciously looking for ways to see through his disguise and see if he was really a nice person, and Jason noticed because he had known Matt for such a long time.

Jason decided it was time that he did something. It was time to seek help from the rest of Studio C.

A/N: The whole thing about Matt eating ten slices of pizza is actually a funny story. There's a Studio C live-event where the cast plays a game to see how much they know about each other, and one fact was that someone in the cast ate 10 (maybe that wasn't the exact number, but it's close) slices of pizza! And it turned out to be Matt! I was so surprised to hear that cuz he's tiny (he weighs 130 pounds). But he can also do clap push-ups with apparent ease and do shoulder angel gymnastics, so... Tiny but mighty!