Set after "Dear Louise" ~~ previous / next
It's a little past two a.m. on Monday, and I'm looking for ways to rationalize skipping my 8 a.m. You know how I am with math, especially on Mondays.
Responding to your letter is the rational step from reading it five times through. You're a beautiful writer, Jeremy, and you work with beautiful people. Staring at my math book I'm able to instead imagine Dana dancing on the table in the newsroom in the middle of the night, and Dan and Stacey flirting over the written word, and Casey watching Dana as though she were the only one in the room.
And of course Natalie, and you, and a book of stamps.
Sports Night. The name itself gives me chills. To think that you really do work there now is incredible. I was a senior in high school when that show went on the air. Two years isn't awfully long in general, but these two particular years have been epic. And now, you work there. You sit in the newsroom and you see Dan and Casey in person. Although I am inclined to believe that it's Natalie you're watching.
Natalie sounds like a wonderful girl. She also sounds like someone you'd have to interpret, because if she's anything like you say, I would never be able to read her speech. I hope you get the opportunity to interpret soon, because I would really like to meet her. Not to mention Dan and Casey.
You were wrong, by the way, when you said Archibald Russel was a man I'd never heard of. I was watching the show the night he died. Mind you I wasn't reading the captions; I was only half watching while talking to my roommate's friends about her upcoming birthday plans. But I noticed the graphic and I thought for just a second about you guys behind the scenes, working to get that on the air just then.
I do that often, in fact: think about the people in the background, and not just on Sports Night. I've been hanging around the school's broadcasting station, watching these people running the shows you used to run, and I have to say, they're doing well for having lost you. Although they might do better to gain me, and I'm thinking maybe they'll do just that.
Speaking of that, remember Professor Bartlett? He told me to send his reguards. I believe his exact words were, "Tell your brother I've forgotten all about the eggnog incident, and congratulations on his new job." He hasn't changed and I'm sure you don't miss him any more than I enjoy being in his class; although, from what they tell me, I'm lucky to be hearing him through an interpreter. I'm pretty much the only person who's still awake by the end of the hour.
It's 2:18 now, and my math still isn't finished. Or, well, started. I thought I would order a pizza and get to work, but I'm not in the mood for Dominos and these equations don't look appealing to me. I'm more in the mood to meddle in your love life. For instance: Natalie.
You fell asleep while making her dinner? I'd like to hear more about this, because, to be honest, Jer, you look adorable when you're asleep. If she wasn't sweet on you before that, that's when it happened.
And you're asking now why I think she's sweet on you? Either that or you're planning on telling me how no one uses that phrase anymore, but shut up and don't change the subject. She's totally sweet on you, and it isn't just the stamps. I remember reading the letter you sent with the video of your first on-screen credit. She made you that care package, and if I know you at all, you still have the bag she put it in. Right next to the stamps. Which, by the way, leads me to believe that you're sweet on her as well. Not to mention the two of you are monumentally more interesting than math.
I want to hear more about Dan and Casey and this writer's block, too. It's silly, but I love to hear about their off-screen friendship. They act like friends on-screen, but so many people could pull that off and still hate each other that I like to hear from you that they really are the way they are. So. They really are?
I also like to hear you talk about Dana and Natalie and Kim and Elliot and the tech guys. All that kind of makes it feel more real, although it also makes me worry about my future in television. So much of what you describe to me is reliant upon sound. And so much of everything I see in the JMC building is reliant upon sound that it makes me wonder whether I'll have to learn to read speech at twenty feet looking at the back of someone's head. And sure I'm brilliant, but, geez. I don't have special powers. Let's dispense with that theory right now.
Well, hon, it's late, and if I don't order my nightly pizza soon, the delivery guy's going to assume the worst. Come see me if you ever have time off. Better yet, invite me to see you. And no, I will not stay out of trouble, Jeremy.
Love,
Louise