Status: In Time
To Caress My Day
Chapter 71: Hotshot
Twigs, AKA Melissa, was in awe at where her boyfriend spent most of his time working, and was lucky enough to meet THE voice behind Mayor Adam West from the Family Guy television show. Seth placed his hand on the small of her back and led her right to the great actor himself, who stood up from the couch to greet them with a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Well well MacFarlane what do you have there? Another one of your many girlfriends, I presume?”
Seth immediately laughed the idea off very convincingly, unlike Twigs who tensed up next to him. “Ha, very funny. Actually this is Melissa, the cousin of a friend I went to high school with. He called and asked me for a favor to help show her the ropes into becoming a successful animator too someday.”
Twigs gave Adam West a sweet smile. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. West.”
“Oh no, it is nice to meet YOU.” Adam corrected, as he reached over to grab one of her delicate dainty hands to raise it to his lips for a kiss. Twigs blushed, and let out a small giggle. Seth was forced to hold himself back from smacking his co-worker’s hand away to keep him from touching his girlfriend.
“ANYWAY!” Seth announced in impatiently as he stepped forward to separate the two. “We better get back to the tour. I’ll see you later, Mayor West.”
“And you, Seth.” Adam said, waving goodbye to his employer and the young Melissa.
“He seems nice.” Twigs said as he led her away from the charms of a much older man.
“Yeah yeah, just don’t end up cheating on me with him, okay? I’d be so damn embarrassed losing to an old man.” Seth joked, making her giggle in response. He wished her amused reaction would have done the trick to help ease his sudden paranoia of her being unfaithful, but it didn’t. He frowned to himself, but she saw it before he could look away.
“Oh baby, don’t!” Twigs reassured him, wishing she could just kiss his worry away, instead of having to use simple words. She knew her lips would be able to erase all his doubts away, but she wasn’t in a place where she could use them. “I would never do that to you.”
“You better not, woman. Anyway, let me show you the booth. Maybe if we’re lucky someone will be doing voiceovers in there. If so, then on a serious note, try not to make a sound or else you’ll ruin the recording and then we’ll be forced to start all over again.” Seth warned her, earning an obedient nod from his girlfriend. He then carefully opened the door to reveal his co-worker, writer, producer, voice actor, and comedian Mike Henry working on the first episode of the fourth season of The Cleveland show. Seth smiled at hearing the familiar unique voice of Cleveland Brown and quietly led Twigs inside to stand against the wall beside him. The room was very bland where decorations were concerned. The walls were a light concrete grey color with random white stripes of different widths going down and across. The ceiling lights that illuminated the small room looked to be a small version of the rail track lights design. The carpet beneath their feet was a natural beige color, and standing on it in the center of the room were three music stands that each had three studio condenser microphones and studio headphones. There was also a glass window built in the back wall that revealed a separate room where the two guys sitting inside shot quick glances at them. Twigs assumed that they were the ones that worked on the recordings of the show. They managed to quickly wave at Seth before getting back to their current voice recordings.
Mike Henry’s back was to Seth and Twigs as he began to speak into the microphone as Cleveland Brown. “Well, we may have lost 77- nothing, but I peed on every toilet paper roll in that bathroom.”
Twigs covered her mouth to silence a laugh as she and Seth leaned against the wall together and watched as Mike Henry was told to read the line again. “Well, we may have lost 77- nothing, but I peed on every toilet paper roll in that bathroom.”
The two men in the room nodded in approval before telling him to go on. “Ah, the breeze feels good on my drunk hot face. Oh no! My face is cooler, but at what cost?”
Mike decided at that moment to look over his shoulder, and caught sight of both his co-worker Seth MacFarlane and a mystery woman. He flashed them both a grin and a wave, before he turned back to the two guys in the recording room. “Hey, do you two mind if I wrap this up a bit later? I seem to have visitors.”
They gave him the thumbs up of approval, before Mike hung up his headphones and came over to join the couple. He stuck his hand out to his employer. “Hey, Seth how are you doing since I last saw you five minutes ago?”
Seth shook his hand heartily. “Never better, man.”
Mike’s eyes drifted to the tiny and petite Twigs standing beside Seth. “And who’s your lady friend here?”
Seth placed what he hoped would appear to be a FRIENDLY hand on Twig’s shoulder, instead of the possessive one he’s used to doing. “This here is a cousin of a high school friend of mine back in my hometown. Her name is Melissa and she’s looking to follow in my animating footsteps, so to speak. I volunteered to show her the ropes and give her a tour of the place.”
Twigs held out her delicate hand to Mike. “Hello Mr. Henry, it is truly an honor to meet you in person.”
Mike quickly caught a glance of Seth sneaking what looked to be an intimate glance at the young lady behind her back. He also noticed his possessive hold on her shoulder that couldn’t be passed off as anything platonic. Mike’s mind began to race as various past conversations started to resurface concerning Seth’s romantic interest in some mystery woman that he refused to give anyone a name to, even to his closest friends. Sure, he would tell them a little of this and a little of that, but it was never enough information for any of them to go on. Mike had a feeling he NOW knew who this mystery woman was, and he heartily shook her hand. “Why thank you, it’s certainly nice to meet another aspiring animator too. So, are you liking the place so far?”
Twigs nodded. “Yes, it’s amazing. I can’t believe what your team is able to create! It’s truly inspiring.”
“Yeah and it takes a lot of hard work, young lady. I gotta tell you from what I’ve seen, it’s not going to be easy in the beginning. Seth had to struggle BIG TIME before he got where he is today.” Mike warned her, deciding to go along with their silly ‘we’re just friends’ act instead of calling them out.
Oh, I’m sure!” Twigs reassured him, before Seth cleared his throat to interrupt their conversation.
“So we better get back to the tour if you want to make it back in time to catch your flight tonight. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” Seth reminded her as he reopened the booth door for her to exit first.
“Would either of you two mind it if I tagged along? I don’t wanna pry.” Mike asked the two of them with an eager look on his face.
Seth looked to Twigs, who frantically shook her. “Oh no, of course not! Please, come join us.”
Seth escorted them through the building while introducing several people to her that just so happened to be passing them by. Their first stop was outside one of the many writers room, and she was introduce to four of the writers themselves: Alex Carter, Danny Smith, Tom Devanny and Patrick Meegan, as well as Alex Borstein herself, who was heavily pregnant. The well known actress, voice actress, writer, comedian and producer struggled to stand herself up as she instantly recognized who this young lady was and where exactly the young lady stood in Seth’s life. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, Melissa. Careful boys, big belly coming through.”
Everyone jumped out of the way as Alex enveloped Twigs into a warm hearty hug. Twigs received the hug appreciatively, but she wasn’t that stupid as to not suspect what was going on. Alex’s hug was more than just a friendly hug, and she felt that. It should have been a scary thing to discover that someone else might know about their relationship and that she wasn’t the mysterious Melissa, cousin to one of Seth’s childhood friends, to Alex Borstein. Alex had an idea about the woman beneath the disguise, and oddly enough it didn’t bother Twigs as much as she thought it would. Alex pulled away from the hug to desperately grab ahold of her upper arms. “Oh my god, you have to do me a favor! You HAVE to hook up with this towering idiot before he drives us mentally insane from all the long hours of endless work! He never pays us or lets us sleep, hell I haven’t seen my family in weeks!”
Twigs saw through her amusing lies, and feigned shocked. “Oh no, he does!?”
Seth rolled his eyes before placing his hands on Twig’s shoulders and steered her out of the room. “Oh whatever you guys! C’mon, it’s time to go and leave these workers to get their job done or else they don’t EAT TONIGHT!”
Everyone in the room howled in false retaliation as the three walked down the hall. The trio eventually ended up walking back through the hang out room where Mike almost got hit by a flying football which he managed to catch at the last minute. “Oh hey, Melissa do you see that old Santa Claus over there?”
Twigs turned around to see a plush Santa Claus figurine standing next to a pillar. “Yeah, I see him.”
“Well, this is what we do on our free time.” Mike aimed and then threw the football across the room at the jolly figurine and hit it dead-on on his round belly. Turning around, Mike shot her a cocky wink before confidently strolling away like a hotshot.
Seth playfully glared at his back for showing off in front of his woman, while Adam West stared at between the Santa and where Mike Henry had stood just moments ago in awe. “That’s not bad. That’s pretty good!”
Seth immediately laughed the idea off very convincingly, unlike Twigs who tensed up next to him. “Ha, very funny. Actually this is Melissa, the cousin of a friend I went to high school with. He called and asked me for a favor to help show her the ropes into becoming a successful animator too someday.”
Twigs gave Adam West a sweet smile. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. West.”
“Oh no, it is nice to meet YOU.” Adam corrected, as he reached over to grab one of her delicate dainty hands to raise it to his lips for a kiss. Twigs blushed, and let out a small giggle. Seth was forced to hold himself back from smacking his co-worker’s hand away to keep him from touching his girlfriend.
“ANYWAY!” Seth announced in impatiently as he stepped forward to separate the two. “We better get back to the tour. I’ll see you later, Mayor West.”
“And you, Seth.” Adam said, waving goodbye to his employer and the young Melissa.
“He seems nice.” Twigs said as he led her away from the charms of a much older man.
“Yeah yeah, just don’t end up cheating on me with him, okay? I’d be so damn embarrassed losing to an old man.” Seth joked, making her giggle in response. He wished her amused reaction would have done the trick to help ease his sudden paranoia of her being unfaithful, but it didn’t. He frowned to himself, but she saw it before he could look away.
“Oh baby, don’t!” Twigs reassured him, wishing she could just kiss his worry away, instead of having to use simple words. She knew her lips would be able to erase all his doubts away, but she wasn’t in a place where she could use them. “I would never do that to you.”
“You better not, woman. Anyway, let me show you the booth. Maybe if we’re lucky someone will be doing voiceovers in there. If so, then on a serious note, try not to make a sound or else you’ll ruin the recording and then we’ll be forced to start all over again.” Seth warned her, earning an obedient nod from his girlfriend. He then carefully opened the door to reveal his co-worker, writer, producer, voice actor, and comedian Mike Henry working on the first episode of the fourth season of The Cleveland show. Seth smiled at hearing the familiar unique voice of Cleveland Brown and quietly led Twigs inside to stand against the wall beside him. The room was very bland where decorations were concerned. The walls were a light concrete grey color with random white stripes of different widths going down and across. The ceiling lights that illuminated the small room looked to be a small version of the rail track lights design. The carpet beneath their feet was a natural beige color, and standing on it in the center of the room were three music stands that each had three studio condenser microphones and studio headphones. There was also a glass window built in the back wall that revealed a separate room where the two guys sitting inside shot quick glances at them. Twigs assumed that they were the ones that worked on the recordings of the show. They managed to quickly wave at Seth before getting back to their current voice recordings.
Mike Henry’s back was to Seth and Twigs as he began to speak into the microphone as Cleveland Brown. “Well, we may have lost 77- nothing, but I peed on every toilet paper roll in that bathroom.”
Twigs covered her mouth to silence a laugh as she and Seth leaned against the wall together and watched as Mike Henry was told to read the line again. “Well, we may have lost 77- nothing, but I peed on every toilet paper roll in that bathroom.”
The two men in the room nodded in approval before telling him to go on. “Ah, the breeze feels good on my drunk hot face. Oh no! My face is cooler, but at what cost?”
Mike decided at that moment to look over his shoulder, and caught sight of both his co-worker Seth MacFarlane and a mystery woman. He flashed them both a grin and a wave, before he turned back to the two guys in the recording room. “Hey, do you two mind if I wrap this up a bit later? I seem to have visitors.”
They gave him the thumbs up of approval, before Mike hung up his headphones and came over to join the couple. He stuck his hand out to his employer. “Hey, Seth how are you doing since I last saw you five minutes ago?”
Seth shook his hand heartily. “Never better, man.”
Mike’s eyes drifted to the tiny and petite Twigs standing beside Seth. “And who’s your lady friend here?”
Seth placed what he hoped would appear to be a FRIENDLY hand on Twig’s shoulder, instead of the possessive one he’s used to doing. “This here is a cousin of a high school friend of mine back in my hometown. Her name is Melissa and she’s looking to follow in my animating footsteps, so to speak. I volunteered to show her the ropes and give her a tour of the place.”
Twigs held out her delicate hand to Mike. “Hello Mr. Henry, it is truly an honor to meet you in person.”
Mike quickly caught a glance of Seth sneaking what looked to be an intimate glance at the young lady behind her back. He also noticed his possessive hold on her shoulder that couldn’t be passed off as anything platonic. Mike’s mind began to race as various past conversations started to resurface concerning Seth’s romantic interest in some mystery woman that he refused to give anyone a name to, even to his closest friends. Sure, he would tell them a little of this and a little of that, but it was never enough information for any of them to go on. Mike had a feeling he NOW knew who this mystery woman was, and he heartily shook her hand. “Why thank you, it’s certainly nice to meet another aspiring animator too. So, are you liking the place so far?”
Twigs nodded. “Yes, it’s amazing. I can’t believe what your team is able to create! It’s truly inspiring.”
“Yeah and it takes a lot of hard work, young lady. I gotta tell you from what I’ve seen, it’s not going to be easy in the beginning. Seth had to struggle BIG TIME before he got where he is today.” Mike warned her, deciding to go along with their silly ‘we’re just friends’ act instead of calling them out.
Oh, I’m sure!” Twigs reassured him, before Seth cleared his throat to interrupt their conversation.
“So we better get back to the tour if you want to make it back in time to catch your flight tonight. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” Seth reminded her as he reopened the booth door for her to exit first.
“Would either of you two mind it if I tagged along? I don’t wanna pry.” Mike asked the two of them with an eager look on his face.
Seth looked to Twigs, who frantically shook her. “Oh no, of course not! Please, come join us.”
Seth escorted them through the building while introducing several people to her that just so happened to be passing them by. Their first stop was outside one of the many writers room, and she was introduce to four of the writers themselves: Alex Carter, Danny Smith, Tom Devanny and Patrick Meegan, as well as Alex Borstein herself, who was heavily pregnant. The well known actress, voice actress, writer, comedian and producer struggled to stand herself up as she instantly recognized who this young lady was and where exactly the young lady stood in Seth’s life. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, Melissa. Careful boys, big belly coming through.”
Everyone jumped out of the way as Alex enveloped Twigs into a warm hearty hug. Twigs received the hug appreciatively, but she wasn’t that stupid as to not suspect what was going on. Alex’s hug was more than just a friendly hug, and she felt that. It should have been a scary thing to discover that someone else might know about their relationship and that she wasn’t the mysterious Melissa, cousin to one of Seth’s childhood friends, to Alex Borstein. Alex had an idea about the woman beneath the disguise, and oddly enough it didn’t bother Twigs as much as she thought it would. Alex pulled away from the hug to desperately grab ahold of her upper arms. “Oh my god, you have to do me a favor! You HAVE to hook up with this towering idiot before he drives us mentally insane from all the long hours of endless work! He never pays us or lets us sleep, hell I haven’t seen my family in weeks!”
Twigs saw through her amusing lies, and feigned shocked. “Oh no, he does!?”
Seth rolled his eyes before placing his hands on Twig’s shoulders and steered her out of the room. “Oh whatever you guys! C’mon, it’s time to go and leave these workers to get their job done or else they don’t EAT TONIGHT!”
Everyone in the room howled in false retaliation as the three walked down the hall. The trio eventually ended up walking back through the hang out room where Mike almost got hit by a flying football which he managed to catch at the last minute. “Oh hey, Melissa do you see that old Santa Claus over there?”
Twigs turned around to see a plush Santa Claus figurine standing next to a pillar. “Yeah, I see him.”
“Well, this is what we do on our free time.” Mike aimed and then threw the football across the room at the jolly figurine and hit it dead-on on his round belly. Turning around, Mike shot her a cocky wink before confidently strolling away like a hotshot.
Seth playfully glared at his back for showing off in front of his woman, while Adam West stared at between the Santa and where Mike Henry had stood just moments ago in awe. “That’s not bad. That’s pretty good!”