When Two Worlds Collide

Chapter 2

Andy took a deep breath before responding, "I mean, we kind of saw this coming, right?" His voice creeped higher than he had intended on the end of his sentence, but he kept his eyes locked on hers, trying to read her thoughts before she spoke once more.

"Yeah, I mean, Jake and Amy have been pretty flirtatious lately," Melissa smirked, her eyes falling from his and trailing down his just bulky enough biceps and following the encapsulating veins down to his hands. She stopped there for only a moment before forcing herself to find his eyes once more.

"Right," Andy smiled, watching her watch him and then motioning between them, "We can handle this. So…is this like something you want to…. I don't know, practice before we do it on set?" He pursed his lips together and released them along with a breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

Melissa thought for a moment before speaking. She didn't want to put him in any uncomfortable position simply based on her own feelings for him. She had no idea what was going through his mind. She knew he had just gone on a date with some woman a few nights prior and though he hadn't spoke on it since, she assumed that if he had wanted to ask her out, he would've done so. With that in mind, she spoke just above a whisper as her gaze met her knees, "No, we don't need to. It's ok…"

"Mel," Andy reached for and rested his hand on top of hers on her knee, "It's ok. We don't have to go into this blindsided and embarrassed in front of the whole crew and extras that night."

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable," she blurted out, "what with you dating that lady and all."

"What…who?" Andy stopped and thought a moment, only to remember the blind date Joe had set him up on that had gone terribly. Turns out, the woman was a big fan of Andy's from his SNL days, but she couldn't see past his job, continuously referred to him as a celebrity, and wouldn't stop trying to take selfies with him. "Oh yeah, her. That's a no go for me. She was a lunatic."

"You don't have to say that for my benefit," Melissa looked away from him again, staring down at the couch. She began picking fuzz off her sweatpants.

"That's it," Andy stood, grabbing Mel's hand and pulling her upright to, "Go stand over there," he motioned to the far end of his trailer by the TV and recliners, "Face away from me and close your eyes." Melissa followed his instructions but thoughtfully questioned his motives.

Andy took a deep breath and placed himself on the opposite side of the trailer, back by his bedroom door. He took another deep breath before speaking aloud again, "We're going to keep our eyes shut and move slowly backwards until we find one another. This is a trust exercise, focus on what we're doing and everything else should be cleared from our minds." He needed it more than he let on. He had pretty much fallen for this woman the day he met her, but he wanted to be respectful of her, so he maintained his composure around her and kept his feelings deep down inside. What she wasn't aware of was that he wanted this moment as much as, if not more than, she did.

"Alright, ready?" Andy called out.

"Ready," Melissa responded, peeking her eyes open but quickly closing them again. She began moving backwards, her arms out on both sides of her, feeling objects within her reach as she slowly paced in what she assumed was his direction.

Andy moved backwards towards her as well, his eyes opening and re-closing several times.

Within a few more steps, Andy and Melissa bumped against one another. "Ok, wait!" Andy voiced a little too excitedly. Melissa laughed, "Now what?"

"Don't open your eyes yet, I won't either. Turn around and see if you can find my face."

Melissa turned around slowly, her hands reaching out in front of her. She felt for Andy's arm and when her fingers found his forearms, they were warm under her touch. She felt her heart quicken with every centimeter she moved upwards, his whole biceps in her hands, followed up to his strong shoulders, along his collar bone, and finally landing a hand on each cheek. Her voice shook, "Now what?" She then felt Andy's hands against her waist, then her lower back, to her upper back. It felt like there was no space between them now and when Andy spoke the words, "Now open," Melissa took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she was met with the intense stare of his beautiful brown eyes looking at her.

Andy quickly broke eye contact and looked down at his arms, relishing in the placement they were in. Something he only experienced in his dreams was being this close to the woman his heart wanted to throw itself into.

Melissa's thumbs subconsciously slid back and forth over his cheeks as she followed his eyes down and back up. "Andy…I…" her train of thought vanished as Andy tipped his forehead to hers and stood there, unmoving, in silence.

The two stood there for only moments, but what felt like light years had passed. It was Andy who pulled his head away first and Melissa followed suit. Their hands slowly fell off one another and back down to their sides.

"Should we look at the script?" Melissa asked in a whisper as if they had to be quiet.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, let's do that." Andy responded. "It looks like for the first time…it…happens, I make the first move." He flipped his script open and found the scene where they were in the restaurant.

Melissa grabbed her script from the couch and flipped it open to the same page, reading out her line, "Look, there's the buyer. Or, uh, he's just actually saying hi to the chef. Why isn't he making the hand off?"

Andy looked at her as she delivered her line, almost watching too long after she had finished speaking. She cleared her throat and broke him from his gaze, "Oh, uh, right…Oh crap, he saw us…uh…" Andy froze, "Wait, let's make this lead up extra juicy." He laughed at his own choice of words, and thankfully, so did she.

"Juicy?" she laughed again as she tucked her hair behind her ears.

"What if, instead of kissing here, we just lean in close, make for a build up? That way, when we get to set, the actual build up will be normal and rehearsed and won't feel weird, but the kiss itself can still look awkward and unplanned like the writers wanted?"

Melissa nodded along as he spoke, he made complete sense. She knew he was a great actor, but this man really went above and beyond to put on a show for the people watching. "Smort…. noice…"

"Really?" Andy turned his head puzzled.

"I mean, uh, yeah, that makes complete sense," she tried to reign her emotions back in.

"Ok, so I'm supposed to pull you in quickly and kiss you without thinking…" In one fell swoop, Andy pulled Melissa against his body, wrapping his arms around her upper and lower back. He tilted his head as if he were going to kiss her but stopped mere centimeters before their lips touched. Melissa's arms found their way around him, her hands landing on the nape of his neck. Both breathed heavily as they stood in such an intimate way once more.

Melissa felt her legs go weak as he held her body against him. She could almost make out his own fast paced heartbeat where their chests touched.

Andy could smell the intoxicating scent of her shampoo and perfume, and it took everything in him not to throw her on the couch and have his way with her. They stood there moments more before Melissa stepped back first.

"Wow, uh, yeah, so that works. Should we do the next one where I make the first move?"

Andy hated that he had suggested waiting to kiss, but even the lead up felt like fireworks. He couldn't wait to get on set and finally follow through with their kisses. He shook himself from his thoughts and answered, "Yeah, absolutely." He stepped back and grabbed the knob of his bedroom door, closing it from the outside. He stepped forward about a foot, "This can be the hypothetical tree." He motioned back and then turned around to face her once more.

"Works for me, ok, let's do this." She motioned for him to turn back towards the door once more as if they were looking from behind it at the metaphorical bag by the bench. She looked away as she watched Andy turn back around in character, really zoning in on her thoughts as she awaited his first line.

"Hey seriously," he spoke, "we're cool, right?"

His scripted words could've fit their realistic situation perfectly, they both realized in that moment as they worked through the awkward feelings of their characters giving in to their feelings before they were ready to admit the truth.

"Yeah, totally, we're fine." She tried to keep her voice nonchalant as she continued to avoid holding eye contact with him.

"Gosh you know, I'm actually a little bit hungry, I never ended up eating at the dumb fancy restaurant."

"Know what I'm getting on my way home?" Melissa's eyes fell to her script and back up to Andy.

"Yeah, you're going to go to that polish place and get perogies, potato pancakes and a cup of hot chocolate."

Melissa's eyes broke from him again and she looked back over her own shoulder to the hot chocolate sitting on the table. Maybe she was morphing into her character for real.

She cleared her throat and nodded herself back into character, "That's exactly what I'm going to get."

"Yeah," Andy as Jake responded, "I will be having pizza, two slices of meat supreme from Toni's, served display temperature."

"Meat supreme is a million red flags and eating it cold is just insane," Melissa felt herself relax into her lines.

"It's not cold, it's display temperature…"

"Jake…" Melissa cut him off.

"There's a difference Amy…"

"No, Jake, he's looking at us…" Melissa shifted her voice to match the moment.

"Well, this is happening…" Melissa reached for and grabbed Andy's face as she had done during his trust exercise, pushing his body back against the door with a forceful thud. She stopped her face merely centimeters from him, just as he had done to her.

His hands found her midback and he held her firmly in them. He could feel her breath on his, becoming enveloped with her scent once more. His lips began to tingle, and he locked eyes with her. He looked down at her lips and subconsciously ran his tongue along his own. His stomach did flips as it fully set in for him just how much he had fallen for her.

"Mel…" he whispered.

Her eyes followed his tongue as it ran along his lips. When he spoke her name, she knew she couldn't resist any longer. Her lips met him with fiery passion. She immediately felt his hands shift on her back, pulling her in closer, if that was even possible. Their lips danced against one another, their tongues gliding against the other's.

If it weren't for a disruptive knock at Andy's door, things might have gone a lot further. The pair broke apart and Melissa's fingers found her lips, now plump and warm. She looked at Andy and then away from him, not sure how to process what just happened.

"Andy?" Terry and Andres' voices called out, "You in there?"

Andy looked at Melissa, taking her in. 'Holy shit, did that just happen?' Another knock brought him back to reality and he grabbed Melissa's arm and slid past her to open the door. Melissa remained out of sight as he spoke to the two men outside his door. She heard them make plans to go to dinner, just the guys, and her heart sunk knowing that this moment was over. 'Only for now…right? He kissed me back…that has to mean something…right? Oh my god, what if he was only playing his part…' Melissa shook herself from her thoughts and when Andy had shut the door and turned back to her, she blurted quickly, "I have to go, I forgot I had….plans!" She moved past him and grabbed her hot chocolate from the table, her script from the floor where it had been tossed in the midst of things, slipped on her shoes, and slid past him and out the door without another word.

"Mel!" Andy hung halfway out his trailer door, calling out to her. She vanished between trailers without looking back.

Andy ran his hand over his face and through his hair in slight frustration. He was pissed that they were interrupted and confused as to why Melissa had run off like that. He stepped back inside and closed the door, dropping on the couch and grabbing his phone from his pocket.

'Hey' he started a text to her, 'Sorry about them, maybe we can talk after we get back from dinner? I'll stop by your trailer when we get back.' He pressed send and threw his phone on the couch as he stood to go find a jacket to throw on.

And here's chapter 2! Let me know what you think! I am absolutely loving writing this!