Chapter Text
You’re nervous, and rightfully so. It’s your first day working on a television set, you weren’t even looking for this type of job but you somehow landed it with no trouble. Sure, it’s really only stuff like running errands and doing odd jobs but you decide to be optimistic. You just moved to New York from your hometown and the only job you thought you’d score is a waitressing gig in some run-down diner. You have been watching Impractical Jokers since the beginning and love it, you never even thought you’d get to meet the guys and now you’re working on the same set with them.
You arrive on set early and immediately they put you to work; setting up stations, moving equipment, anything that needed an extra pair of hands. Most of the morning you spend taking in the entirety of the situation. You try not to get in anyone’s way as you walk around set, in awe of all that it takes to film just one challenge. Today, they were filming in an apartment but you’re not sure what specific challenge they’re doing.
The guys start arriving shortly after, first Murr, then Joe, then Q, and Sal arrives last but not late. As he navigates the set, his face is buried in his phone but he manages not to runs into anything. Q is over on the other side of the room, talking to a few of the crew members; Sal takes a seat next to him without any thought and neither one of them seem disturbed. Eventually, they begin to goof around and talk. You watch them carefully, wondering what it would be like to know someone that well. Being in a new city with no friends has really got you thinking.
You’re shaken from your stare when one of the makeup artists comes up to you and asks you to go quickly wash some brushes in a nearby sink. You obviously can’t say no, so you tear your eyes away and try to find a sink. You noticed there are two to pick from, there’s one in the kitchen which near the area where Sal and Q are sitting and there’s one in the bathroom. You take a deep breath and soon your feet are taking you to the sink in the kitchen.
You’re even more nervous now but you still don’t know why. You don’t expect them to know you and jump up and say hello; then again, they do usually know everyone on set. You feel like the black sheep in that moment. You play it cool and begin to fill up the sink with warm water while gently place a towel next to the sink and lay the brushes on it. Your hands are wet and slick and you drop the bottle of soap, causing the sound to echo loudly around the empty apartment, some of it even spills out around you. You don’t look to see if anyone is staring, it’s embarrassing enough. You scramble to pick up the bottle, clean up the soap, and immediately start your job. You didn’t want to catch anyone’s attention but it just so happens that you did and you don’t even know it.
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Q and Sal sit comfortably on a couch and have settle down into a silence, soon both are on their phones as if a conversation never started. Out of nowhere, a giant thud breaks Sal away from his phone and he looks up to see some girl scrambling to clean up the new mess she just made. He watches her, and smiles at how distressed she looks. He thought it was kind of cute, they were pretty casual here and she was acting as if she just spilled something on the floor of the oval office.
“Whatcha staring at?” Q asks resting his chin on Sal’s shoulder and laughs.
“Get off me.” Sal shrugs his shoulders and gives Q a look. “I’m not lookin’ at anything.” He says quickly burying his face into his phone once more, but now he’s not really paying attention. He just doesn’t want to have to look at Q. “I was looking out the window.” Q rolls his eyes and chuckles, not believing a word of it since the window was behind them.
“Really? ‘Cause I think you were looking at her.” Q nods his head in the direction of the girl at the sink. Sal scoffs, not taking his eyes off his phone screen. “Who is she anyways?” he receives no answer. Soon after, Joe plops down next to Q and places his arm on the back of the couch.
“What’s happenin’ guys?”
“Sal was staring at the new girl.” Q leans over and whispers to Joe.
“I was not!” He realizes it came out way louder than expected and repeats it in a calmer, softer tone. “I was not staring at the new girl.” He said before putting his attention back into his phone.
“Who is she?” Joe asks and Q shrugs.
“Who’s who?” Murr quickly joins the guys on the couch and takes a seat next to Sal.
“The girl at the sink. None of us have seen her before.” Q explains and points inconspicuously.
“Sal was staring at her.” Joe adds
“I WAS NOT.” Sal repeats, this time even louder than before. It seems as if the entire room goes completely silent. All three guys laugh at how defensive Sal is being.
“Really convincing buddy.” Joe laughs and Sal rolls his eyes.
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Behind you, you can hear all four guys talking and laughing on the couch. You can’t hear what they’re talking about, you just know they’re there. You soon get the feeling that they’re staring at you. You wonder, were they laughing at you for dropping the soap? Maybe they think you look ridiculous washing brushes in a kitchen sink? Maybe you’re just being paranoid about all of it? These thoughts motivate you to finish faster and soon you quickly gather the brushes to take them back to the makeup artist. Before you turn the corner, you manage to look over your shoulder and see that everyone but Sal is laughing; he doesn’t look amused.
You don’t realize how long you’ve standing there staring. You suddenly realize that the rest of the guys notice what you’re doing and before you know it, Sal looks over and catches you staring. Your heart immediately starts pounding as you look like a deer caught in the headlights. It’s so blatantly obvious what you were doing. After a moment, he smiles at you but not just any smile. It looks like a ‘let’s get to know each other,’ flirting smile; you don’t know what to do. You panic and turn around quickly, practically running to the room to drop off the clean brushes. You can’t help but think at how red your cheeks are and how stupid you must have looked. You lean up against the wall, trying to regulate your breathing while keeping yourself busy with the next task. There was no way you were going back out there.
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It isn’t long before the guys are on to the next joke. But if Sal knows any better, they’ll be back to teasing him shortly. They always tease him about women and dating, but he felt he was doing a hell of a lot better than Murr or Q. Okay, so maybe he was looking at the new girl; but he wasn’t staring. “She did have a nice ass” he thinks but then shakes his head. “Dude, come on, seriously?” he always seems to argue with himself when it comes to a girl, especially right now with this particular girl. “This is your chance to do something different for once, man. What would Joe say… ‘Be confident, Sal. Just go over there and start talking to her. Say anything, just start the conversation.’” He rolls his eyes, thinking how ridiculous this all was. “What does he know… oh yeah… he is married.”
“Sal… Sal? Earth to Sal!” He hears a loud voice and snapping in his ears. He turns towards the guys with a dazed look on his face.
“Jesus Sal, where did you go?” Murr asked.
“We’ve been talking to you for five minutes without realizing you weren’t even listening.” Q shoves him playfully and laughs.
“Were you day dreaming about your life with your new girlfriend?” Joe knocks his elbow into Sal’s side.
“Will you guys stop it, for fucks sake.” He’s sterner than before so the guys back off a little but of course, not completely. They all occupy themselves with their phones and occasionally chime in with comments on posts they see.
Sal see’s the girl out of his peripheral and it looks like she’s getting ready to walk away. He wants to go over there and talk to her but he can’t move. He’s always been shy and he hates that the guys give him shit for it. He tries to work himself up to going over there but by the time he does, she’s gone. He tries to not look disappointed as he sits further back into his seat.
“The one that got away, huh buddy boy?” Q smirks.
“I swear. to. God.” Sal grits through his teeth.
“Alright, alright. Don’t get your dick twisted.” Joe says defensively. Sal goes back to his phone, trying to keep himself together until he feels Q elbow him hard.
“Don’t look now, but I think you’ve got an admirer.” He says trying to hold back a laugh while speaking in a sing song tone.
“Do you guys ever qui-“Sal looks up and turns his head, Q’s right. She’s looking right at him, neither one of them move.
“Do something, Sal. Don’t just sit there.” Joe coaxes. Sal does the only thing he can think to do in that moment, smiles. But she doesn’t smile back. “Go over there, man.” Before he can decide what to do, she’s gone.
“She ran away. She didn’t walk, she ran.” Sal said with disbelief, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.
“So, run after her.” Joe suggests. “How far could she have gone?” the guys laugh at the obvious joke of the apartment size.
“I don’t know…I don’t want her to think-“
“Dude, where are your balls right now? Did you leave them with your mom? Maybe you traded because right now you’re acting like a pussy.”
“You know what-“ Sal practically jumped off the couch and followed the hallway to the backroom but not before turning around and giving them all the finger.
“Now why did you have to do that?” Q sighed. “Now he’s gonna be pissy with us all afternoon.”
“Maybe so, but it got his ass off the couch, didn’t it?” Joe said shrugging his shoulders. “Once he gets her number, he’ll forget all about it.”