Yes & I Love You (Say Everything #1) - Roni Loren Page 0,22

some of Fitz’s advice could help. His group could be doing more to build buzz and get seen so they could land better gigs. So after leaving the theater, he’d bought a video camera and tripod with what little money he had saved in his account so that he could start filming their performances like Fitz had suggested. Tomorrow, he was going to start a social media campaign and try to get influencers in to see their shows.

Influencers.

Fuck.

He usually made fun of that word. Now he was actually using it in a career plan. He was so far out of his depth that he should’ve bought a snorkel instead of a video camera.

He tried to shake the dread that had overtaken him and hurried to the bar’s storeroom, which his improv group facetiously referred to as backstage, and pushed open the door. The other members of Hail Yes were already there, six people crammed into a space that could barely tolerate four. Everyone looked Jasper’s way when he walked in.

He lifted his palm in defense when Leah sent him a dark-eyed glare and Monique flipped him the middle finger as a greeting. “I know, I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“And now he rolls in,” Danica said as she rubbed some kind of hair product into her blond pixie cut. “Always just late enough to make us worried but not late enough to justify killing him.”

“Speak for yourself,” Church said, wiping his bald brown head with a towel. “I’m capable of murder. You made me sweat.”

Jasper rolled his eyes. The sight of his friends never failed to fill him with this odd sort of familial affection. He’d missed the hell out of them in LA but hadn’t expected them to welcome him back when he came home. He’d been the reason they’d lost their gig at the Lagniappe Comedy Theater. They should hate him. Instead, they’d forgiven him and let him back in. Of course, that didn’t mean they didn’t continuously give him shit about the great abandonment.

“Church, don’t blame me for your overactive glands,” Jasper teased as he tossed his backpack on top of a keg in the corner and set down the bag with the camera equipment. The stitch in his side throbbed, and he pressed his hand over it, trying to catch his breath. “A cool breeze makes you sweat.”

“Don’t be jealous of my shiny glow,” Church said with a smirk, looping the cloth around his neck and eyeing Jasper. “Speaking of sweating. You okay, man? You look whiter than normal. And that’s saying something.”

“Yeah,” Barry said, looking up from scrolling through his phone. “You look like shit.”

Jasper wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, finding his skin clammy. “I’m fine. Three cups of coffee followed by a six-block jog probably wasn’t the best idea.”

Jasper shut the door behind him, trapping the group in the sour-smelling storeroom. Everyone was wearing their standard “college frat party” clothes tonight. Jeans with T-shirts or untucked button-downs. They tried to vary their outfits across performances but match each other in tone. Tonight was casual night. Other times, they’d dress up in black suits Blues Brothers (and sisters) style. Other times they did boring office wear, khakis and polos. He’d found that changing the outfits could influence what scenes they ended up doing.

“And sorry I’m late.” Jasper unbuttoned his dress shirt. “I stopped on the way to buy a video camera. I thought we should start recording some of our performances.”

“Recording?” Antonio asked as he applied another layer of deodorant beneath his shirt, the snake tattoo along his side dancing with the effort. “Why?”

“Yeah,” Monique said, pulling out her signature red lipstick, which had given her the nickname Monique the Mouth. “What about the ephemeral nature of improv? Only those who are here get to see it and that show never exists again?”

She’d spoken it in a spooky tone that made Jasper snort. He tugged off his shirt. “I know I’ve said that in the past, but I thought it could be a good way to build some buzz, get more people into shows. We aren’t leveraging social media. More exposure could give us a shot to level up and out of here.”

“The Shifty Lizard not fancy enough for ya, Hollywood?” Danica asked, tone wry.

Jasper pulled a fresh T-shirt from his bag and yanked it over his head. Ahh, something that didn’t smell like coffee. “Well, I know changing clothes next to a case of Jägermeister is pretty damn glamorous but