14: Puzzling Pieces
“So thanks for breakfast, sir.”
Justin looked up from his meal companion, watching as she gathered her plate and half full glass of orange juice, moving towards his sink. “Stop cleaning up, weirdo, you’re a guest.”
“I don’t wanna be a guest,” Zooey smirked, turning on the water to wash her dishes. As many times as he’d been to her house, it sometimes felt like he belonged there, and she wanted the feeling to be mutual. “Even if you do share this house with your wife.”
“Barely,” he noted, commenting on he fact that Scarlett had been gone for much of their nearly 4-month-old marriage. “I think you’ve been here more than she has.”
“Sad.”
“But true.”
“You resent her for that?”
He shook his head, absently watching as Zooey dried and racked her dishes in the second sink. “How else would I be able to spend all this time with you?”
“True dat.”
He grinned in response. “What are you doing today?”
“Ummm. Well I have to be on set, we shoot the last scenes of our season finale today.”
“Exciting,” his eyes deliberately widened.
“Titillating shit,” she confirmed. “And then after that, provided we finish everything in time, I have to go to a Q and A at the Paley Center.”
“That place on Rodeo?”
“It’s on Beverly, but… yeah, in that area. I’m sure you’ve passed it like a billion times.”
He nodded thoughtfully and brought his own dishes to the sink. “Is it open to the public?”
“What, the Q and A?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not,” she smirked, “but… it’s open to you.”
“Yeah?”
“If you want to come, yeah. That’d be awesome.”
“I think it’d be awesome to see you at work. Get a better picture of what you do.”
“I think you’re just convinced that I don’t really have a job,” she chuckled. “But that’s fine, I’d love to see you there.”
“Then I’ll be there.”
“And just so you know, we are all super dorky and talk about things that no one in the world would actually be interested in.”
“Well obviously someone is.”
“They think they are. Until we start talking, and then they realize we, as writers, are all complete geeks.”
“I like geeks,” he promised with a genuine smile.
“Clearly.”
“So what time is this shindig?”
“My agent said it starts at… four, I believe. So be there on time, if you can, and I’ll try to do the same.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
____________________
“So it would appear that you’re kindasorta important,” Justin greeted Zooey as she came off stage from her Question and Answer session. He was admittedly fascinated with how many people were fans of her work, and knew exactly what she contributed to the show. In fact, it made him feel bad to know that he paid such little attention to what the writers brought to the table. “I like it.”
“Oh gosh, I wish. I’m just known as a bit of a recluse amongst the writing staff, so when they do see me, they tend to pounce.”
“You did well,” he grinned proudly. “I’m impressed.”
“Oh okay, I see what attracts you. You like women with power.”
“I like women with purpose,” he appended, following her towards the backstage area. There, they were met with Zooey’s colleagues “ most of whom seemed disinterested or put off when she spoke during the session. Now, they were suddenly very chummy.
“Zooey,” one of her bosses, Paul Lieberstein, approached the duo. “You do plan to introduce us to your friend, yes?”
“Umm. I hadn’t planned on it,” she retorted honestly. “But okay. This is Justin. Justin, this is Paul. He’s one of the head honchos.”
“Hi,” Paul offered a handshake to the superstar before him with a big smile. “Good to meet you.”
“You play Toby, right?” Justin recognized, returning the greeting.
“I do, yeah. Among other things.”
Justin nodded, realizing that many of the writers seemed to be onscreen talent as well. “Cool, cool. Nice to meet you.”
“What brings you here?”
“Well, Zooey told me about it, and I’m a big fan of the show, so I thought I’d stop by. I had literally nothing else going on today, I figured why not.”
“Very cool,” Paul beamed. “We’re all psyched that you’re here. If you ever wanna come by the set, or hang out for a table read, feel free.”
“I thought we weren’t allowed to bring guests,” Zooey inserted, confused by the invitation. When her dad was in town, she wanted to bring him by, but was told in no uncertain terms that he could not visit while they were shooting. “Besides,” she went on, “he has better things to do than sit around distracting everyone, don’t you?”
“No, no, that would be awesome,” Justin accepted eagerly. “If that’s all right with you, of course.”
“That would be fine with me,” she grinned awkwardly. “Whatever you want.”
“You could come see Zooey really at work,” Paul submitted tonelessly, as he tended to do. “By the way, Zooey, I got a chance to look at your script for next season’s premiere. Greg and I discussed it, we both liked it a lot.”
“A-a-are you serious?” she stuttered, stunned by this information. She thought for sure that Greg had her on his shit list ever since she’d asked for a producer credit. And Paul never seemed to really like her or her presence on the show, so to hear that they both liked her episode was a complete shock.
“Yeah, yeah, we talked over a few rewrites and a couple of line tweaks, but we thought you did a great job. It was fun, you had good character development, which, as you know, we’ve felt has been your main weakness lately, but yeah.”
“That’s… awesome,” she smiled genuinely, glancing at Justin, who looked on like a proud father. “Thank you.”
“Your work is good, Zooey,” he assured her with a nod. “I see a lot of potential, a lot of similarities between you and Mindy. Maybe you two can work on the Christmas episode, see what you come up with.”
“Is this… is this for real?”
“You know it’ll be Steve’s last one,” Paul reminded painfully.
At this point, her mind was blown. “You’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not,” he laughed, “I promise. We just believe you deserve this.”
That would be the first time she heard anything resembling praise come out of Paul’s mouth, but she took it at face value. “Thank you, Paul.”
“You’re welcome.” He offered a quick rub on her back and then turned back to Justin, who still looked on. “Justin, it was great to meet you, man.”
“You, as well.”
“Seriously, stop by anytime.”
“I will,” he nodded. “I will.”
“All right. Zooey, see you tomorrow? Six thirty?”
“Right. I’ll be there bright and early.”
“Good,” he finished with a smile.
And as he disappeared from their conversation, Zooey stared at Justin, absolutely amused. “He’s never been that nice to me before.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not even close. Like, he just said more nice things to me in four minutes than he has in an entire two and a half years.”
“Well that’s not transparent at all,” Justin smirked sarcastically.
“Right.”
“But hey, you just got yourself a season premiere.”
“I think you just got myself a season premiere,” she appended, almost irritated at the notion. “But I’ll take it.”
“You better take it and you better kill it,” he encouraged. “The truth is, very few things are fair about this town. Enjoy what little is handed to you.”
“Even if it’s through you?”
“Child, please,” he smiled, mocking the one and only Chad Ochocinco. “Especially if it’s through me.”
_____________________
A few hours later, Justin and Zooey were back at her house, drinking wine and putting together a puzzle, as Zooey so often liked to do. She loved being able to share that with him.
“Have you talked to Scarlett today?” Justin opened up the conversation to ask.
Sometimes, Zooey hated when Scarlett’s name was brought up. It ruined moments that shouldn’t have existed in the first place, and she felt as though she didn’t need the reminder. “Are you being a smart ass?”
“No, I’m genuinely curious,” he smiled innocently, pushing his glasses further on his nose. “Is that okay to ask?”
“It’s okay to ask.”
“It’s so weird that that’s even a question.”
“It is,” she agreed, taking a sip of her Merlot. “It just makes me feel… odd.”
“In what way?”
“I dunno. Maybe a better word is cruel.”
He tilted his head to glance at her curiously and then went back to the pieces he’d been examining. “What is this supposed to be a picture of?”
“It’s a duplicate of a Banksy painting called, ‘Grannies.’”
“’Grannies,’” Justin confirmed dully. “That sounds so interesting.”
“It’s a fun painting! It’s these two old ladies sitting in their chairs, they’re knitting these sweaters, and one of them says ‘Punk’s Not Dead,’ the other reads, ‘Thug For Life.’ I assure you, it’s awesome.”
“That does sound kind of awesome.”
“Trust me, dude. I will never lead you astray.”
“Where do you find these things?” he chuckled in amusement.
“I pay attention to the world,” she pretended to boast. “I could teach you… but I’d have to charge.”
“Figures. Nothing good is free.”
“I’m free!”
“You’re costing me more than I can afford, to be honest,” he replied cryptically. “But some things are worth the risk, I guess.”
Zooey got the message loud and clear, and she hated that he was in this position. She hated that she was in it with him. “I’m sorry, Justin.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m choosing to be here. I’m happy.”
“Really?”
“I mean, as happy as can be expected, I guess. I dunno.”
“To answer your question, no. I haven’t talked to Scarlett today. She texted me yesterday, and I told her I was on set, so I couldn’t really talk.”
“What do you guys talk about?” This had been the fourth time he’d asked this question, and he’d yet to get a satisfactory response. It was unnerving for him to know that his wife and his… friend were forging a relationship that he wasn’t a part of.
“Do you think that if you ask the question several different ways that you’ll trick me into answering you?”
“But why won’t you answer me? You’re my friend, not hers.”
“Justin.”
“What?”
“You sound twelve. And… we’re not friends.”
“You keep saying that.”
“You keep not getting it,” she tried to smile through her irritation. “You don’t fuck your friends. And certainly not when you’re married. So get over that whole… word.”
“Fine.”
“And we don’t talk about anything that you need to concern yourself with. She likes to vent, apparently, and I’m a good listener.”
“Yeah, but what is she venting about? Is it about me?”
“Some of it is. Some of it is about her job. Her upcoming commitments. You know she’s hosting SNL in May?”
“Of course I know that.”
“Well… she’s nervous. She thinks people are gonna compare her to you, and that scares her.”
“Are you serious?”
Zooey nodded as she pulled together an entire corner of the 1000-piece puzzle. “She has insecurities, and if she feels like she can trust me with them, then… so be it.”
“Does she say why she doesn’t wanna tell me these things?”
“Yep.”
He stared at her, waiting for the rest of her answer. “Okay, why?”
“Why are you trying to make me betray her?”
“Why is your loyalty not to me?” he shouted jokingly.
“Because I feel bad! I’m a terrible person “ we are terrible people “ and maybe this can, like, make up for some of the horrible karma we have coming her way. If I can help her in any way, and not add to the fact that I’m such a terrible person, then… that’s what I’m gonna do.”
He nodded softly, understanding that their relationship was surely taking its toll on Zooey. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. Just… please. Stop asking me about your wife.”
“Okay.”
“The fact that I have her phone number is weird enough to me. I don’t need you constantly analyzing it. Or making me analyze it.”
“Okay,” he repeated forcefully, finally seeing her point. “I won’t bring it up again.”
“Thank you.” As she took another sip of wine, her phone began to vibrate against the table, startling her. “Please tell me that’s not who I think it is,” she held up her phone for Justin to see the caller ID. “Please.”
“Ummm… it says, ‘Danny Chun.’”
“Oh, thank god,” she sighed, picking up the call. “Hey, dude.”
“Uhh, hey, Zooey.” Danny was one of Zooey’s coworkers. One of few that ever called her outside of work.
“Whattt up?”
“So I’m sitting here with Jen, she tells me Paul assigned you the Season Seven premiere. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” she remembered excitedly. “Apropos of basically nothing, too. I thought Paul hated me.”
“I did too,” he retorted dryly.
She wasn’t sure if that was a joke, but her happy tone remained in tact. “I’m super excited. He said me and Mindy could have at it on next season’s Christmas episode, as well. I’m seriously kvelling!”
“Wow, that’s… a lot of responsibility all of a sudden.”
“I know. But I’ve been submitting episodes repeatedly and never a bite, a word of encouragement from Paul. Nothing. So… this has me really optimistic for next season.”
“Right. That’s… interesting.”
Suddenly, Jennifer Celotta, another one of Zooey’s colleagues, came on the line. “Hey, Zooey, it’s Jen.”
“Hey, Jen.”
“So when exactly did Paul tell you this? Because he had been doing a lot of heavy edits on my draft for the premiere and all of a sudden…”
“Umm, it was… today. At Paley, right after the Q and A.”
“I see. When you guys were talking with Justin, I presume.”
“Yup.” Zooey’s happy mood had suddenly deflated, and she was getting pissed at all the saltiness and innuendo being thrown around.
“That’s… wow.”
“I mean… I don’t know what to tell you, Jen. He picked me. Get over it.”
“He picked you because he thinks you can get your ‘friend’ on board for the show.”
“I don’t give a shit why he picked me,” she spat back, standing up to her seniors for the first time… ever. “The fact is, he did. And if he didn’t think my script worked, he wouldn’t have bothered, so please, please get over yourself. Because I’ve been over you for a while now.”
“Zooey, you know you basically--.”
“I have to go,” she interrupted coolly. “Me and my friend are busy.”
“Zooe”.”
She hung up before either of them could say anything else, looking Justin square in the eye as she did so.
“What was that about?” he wondered cautiously.
“I don't like this savory smell of cooking wafting from the house next door,” she commented, hoping to change the ugly subject at hand. “It's cocky. Like, ‘Oh, look at me, I buy groceries and have a family.’"
“What?” he chuckled.
“I’m being random and awesome right now.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Unable to get it off of her mind, she just let it out. “Two of my coworkers are a pair of bitches.”
“I assume that’s why you just went off,” he chuckled nervously. “What happened?”
“They’re fucking mad because Paul gave me the season premiere, of course. They hate me, they always have, and now, they probably always will.”
“Some people just can’t handle others’ success.”
“That’s true,” she noted quietly, throwing her phone back to the table. “I mean… god. I love my job, but some of them make it so. hard.”
“That’s what she said,” he joked with a childlike grin.
“Good one.”
“I know that wasn’t appropriate, but… “
“’That’s what she said’ jokes are always appropriate.”
“You don’t ever get sick of them?”
“I do,” she admitted, “but only because so many people don’t use it correctly. It’ll be like, ‘Oh hey, your girlfriend looks hot tonight,’ and then some dumbass will reply with ‘That’s what she said!’ And they’ll look at me like they just made the greatest joke in the world, and I’m just like… No. That doesn’t work at all. No.”
“That’s pretty hilarious, actually,” Justin cackled loudly. “Like, they totally missed the point of the joke.”
“Right. That’s when it gets irritating. But otherwise, I still find them funny.”
“That’s good. I’m always scared you guys are gonna retire them, but they always find their way back.”
“You should see how many hours we waste sitting around thinking of ‘That’s what she said’s. It’s sad, really.”
“Are you serious?”
“We waste a lot of time on a lot of things, but that’s probably one of the things we’ve spent the most time on,” she confirmed for him. “It used to be Steve’s many malapropisms in a given episode, but now, it’s probably ‘That’s what she said’s and our favorite characters on Sesame Street.”
“Wow.”
“Exciting shit, I know.”
“What else, what else?” he seemed excited by the idea.
“Dude. I have to do commentary for the DVDs in a few weeks, I can’t give you all the secrets and behind-the-scenes info.”
“Rude.”
“Yeah, well.”
“You’re such a tease,” he insisted.
And then her phone was ringing again, halting their conversation once more. “Hold that thought.”
“God,” he sighed at the incessant interruption.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s my dad,” she noted, picking up the phone quickly. “Hi, daddy!”
“Zooey. Hi,” he answered, seemingly cheerful. “How are you, dear?”
“I’m good. I’m really good, actually.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I just got greenlit for another episode and a half. And they’re big ones, dad.”
“That’s fantastic, Zo. Really, really proud of you.”
She smiled in reply. “Thank you.”
“And everything else is good? Your friends, your finances…”
“Yes, yes. I’m good on all fronts. How about you? I haven’t heard from you in a few weeks.”
“I’m good, I’m good.” He was obviously grinning as well. “Guess what.”
“Ummm… I have no idea. You got a promotion?”
“No… not quite.”
“You got a new car.”
“Nope.”
“In the interest of time, can you just tell me?”
“You’re no fun,” he chuckled gleefully. “But all right. I’m getting married!”
“What!” she shrieked happily. “Oh, my god… wow. Is it Dianne? I wasn’t even sure you guys were still dating, she was noticeably absent when I was home…”
“No, no, this is someone new. We met just six weeks ago, but I’m certain that she’s the one, Zo. Her name is Kathryn, she’s a teacher over at Belmont, you’re gonna love her.”
“Oh! Well… wow. Okay.” Zooey wasn’t used to her dad doing anything impromptu, but she was certainly happy if he was. “Umm… when do I get to meet her?”
“At the wedding, I hope. April eleventh, right here at the house.”
“That’s in a month!”
“I know.”
“Dad, are you serious?”
“Very much so. I know it’s sudden, but… it’s what we want.”
“I see…” Her excitement for him quickly deflated into wariness.
“Don’t worry about me, kid.” He could read her tone like a book. “This is the right decision, okay?”
She nodded to herself and then answered him. “Okay.”
“So you’ll be here, right?”
“I will. Of course I will.”
“Good.”
“April eleventh.”
“April eleventh,” he confirmed. “It’s a Sunday, so… bring some friends, make a weekend out of it, all right?”
“Okay, dad.”
“All right, Zooey. I’m glad I got to hear your voice.”
“Me, too.”
“I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Hey, dad.”
“Yeah, babe?”
“I love you.”
“Oh god, I love you, too. So much.”
She smiled at his sincerity. “Congrats.”
“Thanks, Zo.”
She ended the call with a quiet longing for home and the comfort her father could always provide. And then she realized Justin was sitting there. “My dad.”
“I noticed.”
“He’s getting married.”
“Nice.”
“To someone he met six weeks ago.”
“Interesting.”
“Welrd.”
“You all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s fine. As long as he’s happy, y’know?”
Justin nodded. “At the end of the day, happiness is a choice, so…”
“Well… I choose to be happy for him.”
“That’s good.”
“I can’t wait to hear what Em says about this.”
“If anyone, Emile should understand,” he prophesized, finishing what was left of his wine. “Free spirits get each other.”
“That’s true. She’s probably the reason he’s doing this.”
“Or maybe he just met a lovely lady and wants to spend his life with her.”
Zooey looked down at the table, studying the many scattered puzzle pieces adorning it, wondering if and when they’d ever finish. And then wondered if and how she could put the pieces of her own life together. Sometimes, life just baffled her.
“Hey,” she began, looking at him tiredly.
“Hey.”
“How… do you like… Boston in April?”
He grinned, knowing that she was asking him to be her date to the wedding. “I like it if you’re there.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
This one's a little boring, but... necessary. My apologies. And just to clarify, this is not the last chapter! I am currently working on writing the last chapter, but I am a few ahead of you guys, so don't worry. The story is not ending today! I talk a lot, and I know that gets confusing, so sorry for anyone that was thinking I was bringing this to an abrupt end lol. -Ash
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