Adjustments - Part 5 (Saturday Night 2024)
PAIRING - Dan Aykroyd x Reader
RATING - Explicit
SUMMARY - Kara finally goes out with Danny Aykroyd.
DISCLAIMER - This is a work of fiction based on characters in the film Saturday Night (2024). This is not intended to be an accurate representation of real events or the real-life people the film was based on.
Hours felt like a lifetime as the dress rehearsal finished up and the live show ran through. Kara was going through the motions, running costumes to cast members and giving her own performance of indifference when Chevy was near. She held onto her excitement for what awaited her after the show, keeping it as a reminder that she need not feel embarrassed about the Chevy debacle.
She had hoped in vain that the dissolution of her sexual relationship with Chevy Chase could pass by unnoticed by the cast and crew. But throughout the night, she found herself confronted with how silly of a thought that was. Instead, she encountered pitying looks from anyone who crossed her path. That only served to make her even more excited for the show to be over. Danny, at the very least, had not pitied her. He hadn’t mentioned her and Chevy’s ‘break-up’ (for lack of a better term) at all, but she could only assume he knew. She could only assume everyone on the show, from Lorne down to the most irrelevant NBC page, knew that she and Chevy Chase had stopped seeing each other as of a few hours ago when he was caught screwing his ex in the studio.
Finally the show wrapped, and Lorne called the entire crew to the stage. The host and cast had already waved goodbye to the viewers at home minutes before, which ended the broadcast. Now, without cameras running, Lorne gathered everyone at Home Base for a speech about the great work they’d done in 1975, and how it would continue into the new year.
Standing in the back of the crowded stage, Kara had her arms wrapped around her coworkers on either side of her. Franne to her left, Brenda to her right.
“Happy Holidays, and have a wonderful break!” Lorne finished up his speech.
The crowd cheered, Kara pulled her arms from the women at her side to clap. Everyone began dispersing, either making their way around to mingle with the rest of the crew, or leaving the stage in the pursuit of the last after party of the year. It was sure to be a big one, as Kara had heard all evening.
“I'm not going.” Kara repeated again to Brenda, who was talking her ear off about how great the party was about to be.
“C'mon Kara, you can't miss it!” Brenda insisted, grabbing onto her arm and practically vibrating the both of them in her excitement.
“I've got plans, Brenda. I can't-” Before Kara could finish her sentence, she spotted Danny's taller figure making his way through the crowd and towards the two of them. He was dressed in the same outfit she saw him in before the show, complete with his sunglasses. Seeing her attention shift, Brenda followed Kara's line of sight.
“I hope you don't mind if I steal this little lady away for our evening plans.” Danny told Brenda, stepping up beside Kara and wrapping an arm around her lower back.
A big, shit-eating grin took over Brenda's lipsticked mouth. She shot Kara a look that indicated her approval. Kara only rolled her eyes in response.
“Merry Christmas. See you next year.” Kara waved goodbye to Brenda, before allowing Danny to guide her through the crowd and out of Studio 8H.
On their way out, Kara knew she was about to be at the center of even worse rumours than before. Now she wasn't just the girl in wardrobe who blew Chevy at a party. Now she was the girl in wardrobe who blew Chevy and was quickly making her way through the entire cast. “Who's next?” They'd joke to each other. Kara had no doubt that by the time she returned in the new year, everyone down to the NBC Pages would have heard about her. But honestly? Who could care.
She let Danny pick the bar, and off they headed to the subway.
“I'm shocked you haven't bought a car yet,” Said Kara as they stepped onto the busy evening train and grabbed the nearest pole, standing opposite each other.
“What? Do you have a problem with mingling with the common man? Too good for it now that you're on a big TV show?” Danny teased, dipping his head to talk over the creaking sounds of the train.
The first thing Kara learned about the subway was that it was piercingly loud, always sounding as though the train was about to derail. The second, was that the stench that wafted from it was indescribable. It was for both of these reasons that she preferred to walk or take a taxi in most cases.
“You should be more careful, you never know who's gonna recognize that famous face of yours.” Kara teased, nodding at a group of what looked like college kids sitting behind Danny. They hadn't taken their eyes off of him since he and Kara got on the train.
“Am I embarrassing you?” Danny countered, leaning in closer as the train departed and the squealing of the rails drowned out all other noise.
The train lurched, knocking Kara off of her balance. She stepped back to catch herself, leading to the man sitting behind her grumbling some obscenities as she felt the back of her legs collide with his shins.
Danny reached around her, placing his arm around her waist and pulling her back towards him until their legs were touching.
“Careful,” His eyebrows knit in concern, “You still don't have your sea legs.”
Kara sucked in a breath, trying to regain composure in more than just the physical sense. “So how far is this place?”
“3 stops from now.” Danny squinted, peering over his glasses at the train line map on the wall.
“I bet it's where you take all the girls.” Kara teased with a small smile.
She would try anything to take the attention off of his arm currently wrapped around her and how close they now stood to each other. It was also an attempt to regain the upper hand; flirting was a game Kara was familiar with. A back and forth, each person hitting the ball into the others court until finally someone would concede.
“Actually,” Dan dipped his chin, bringing their faces ever closer, “You're the first.”
“Well, aren't I special?” Kara smiled up at him, meeting his eyes in the dimly lit subway car.
His glasses had fallen down his nose slightly, meaning she could see his eyes beneath them. She could only hold his gaze for a moment before it became too overwhelming, and she turned away again. Instead she focused on the college kids she'd mentioned earlier. They were whispering and nudging to each other now, all while continuing to stare down Danny.
“I think they're about to ask for an autograph.” Kara said in a hushed tone, subtly nodding towards the starry-eyed college kids.
Danny glanced back at the group quickly, trying (and failing) to be inconspicuous. He looked back at Kara with raised eyebrows, “Shit. They probably will.”
As the train screeched to another stop, Kara watched as one of the kids stood. The boy, who still had acne scattered across his face, wobbled over to Danny like a newborn doe. Anticipating what was certain to be an uncomfortable encounter, Kara grabbed Danny's hand from where it rested on her hip, and spun around to guide him out of the train car.
They were on the platform of the station now, still holding hands as Kara let the crowd ease them towards the stairs and up and onto the street above. Back in the cold, she took in a deep breath. She didn't think she would ever adjust to the stale subway air. It made her queasy when she had to breathe it in for too long.
“Are we close?” Kara suddenly remembered to ask Danny.
His eyes were downcast, looking at the hand she still held onto. He looked up then, at her. Streetlights illuminated off of his glasses, and she had to wonder if he could see a goddamn thing in the dark.
“Not as close as we'd be if we got off on the next stop,” He sounded as though he was trying to stay positive while still pointing out that Kara's choice was impulsive, and maybe even stupid. “But we can walk.”
“Yeah,” Kara agreed. “Let's walk.”
It was a few minutes walk from there. Kara began it on the verge of shivering, the biting New York breeze turning her bones to ice. But soon enough she was working up a sweat, the blood in her veins enough to bring her to a normal temperature.
Finally they came upon a rundown looking brownstone. To the left of the steps was another set of steps going down, leading to a brown door with a ripped green awning over top.
“This is it.” Danny introduced with outstretched arms, as if to say ‘ta-da!’. He dropped Kara's hand in favor of the gesture.
Kara followed him downstairs and into the bar. It was smaller than she anticipated, but looked otherwise like a typical bar. The actual bar area itself sat to the right, taking up the majority of the space. Booths and tables dotted the empty space on the left hand side, leading all the way to the back of the building. In the back, where the bar ended and gave more room for round tables to go across the floor from right to left, there was a stage against the back wall.
Patrons seemed few and far between on this evening, but the stage itself was packed. A full band was in the middle of their performance, the sound of a wailing guitar piercing Kara's ears even before she could spot the guitar player.
Danny looked back at her, “I love these guys!” He yelled over the band.
He led Kara towards the stage, until they reached a table positioned behind what Kara presumed was meant to be a dance floor. They were the only ones sitting that close to the stage. Every other patron had seemingly migrated to the front of the bar. She couldn't blame them, she couldn't even hear herself in this room.
On stage, a singer wailed into the microphone. His deep voice echoed through the room, each syllable vibrating through his throat with what sounded like great strain. On either side of him, the guitarist and bassist seemed to be trying to compete with his voice, playing as loud as they could manage.
Kara watched for a moment, before turning her attention back towards Danny. He’d finally discarded his sunglasses, placing them on the table in front of him. He was leaning forward with clasped hands, resting his left elbow on the table. His knees bounced, moving in time with the tapping of his feet. He was vibrating as hard as the singer’s throat; seemingly absorbing the energy and matching it tenfold.
Kara smiled fondly at the sight. She’d never seen Danny like this, so enraptured. She didn’t even know he liked Blues.
“You look like you want to be up there!” She shouted, leaning in to him to maximize his ability to hear her.
He looked slightly startled, seemingly having forgotten her presence after getting swept up in his excitement. His movement faltered, feet planting themselves still on the ground.
“Oh, uh. Yeah.” He agreed sheepishly.
As the singer paused, the guitar picked up in his place. It howled through a solo, the guitarist stepping towards the front of the stage as all attention was drawn to him.
“Do you play?” Kara shouted another question Danny’s way.
“Yeah, I-” Danny began to shout back, but was cut off by the song ending mid sentence. He coughed, and began clapping to keep up with the rest of the crowd.
Kara followed suit, clapping enthusiastically as the band gave a short bow.
“I play the harmonica.” Danny finished his sentence in a normal tone now that the bar had quieted down significantly.
Kara nodded, unsure of how to respond to that. Not that it wasn’t interesting that he played harmonica, but she really did not know enough about the technicalities of harmonica to comment any further.
“I’ve played drums before, but not well.” Danny continued, “Though it was good enough for Muddy Waters.”
Kara hesitated to react. She felt ashamed to let on that she had no clue who Danny was referencing.
“You don’t know Muddy Waters?” Asked Danny incredulously, apparently having seen through her act.
Kara slowly shook her head, feeling shy to admit to her ignorance even after being caught, “No, sorry.”
“He’s one of the greatest blues musicians to ever walk this earth.” Danny enthused.
Kara smiled, his excitement contagious. “When did he hear you play the drums?”
She could tell from his expression that this was a story he loved to tell.
“When I was growing up in Ottawa-”
“Ottawa?” Kara cut him off almost immediately, annoying as she knew it made her.
“Yeah, Canada.” Danny elaborated.
“Wait.” Kara frowned, leaning in to meet him with a conspiratory look; “You’re Canadian?"
She had always assumed from Danny's strange accent and the cadence with which he spoke that he was from somewhere in the midwest. She hadn't even considered Canada. He didn't sound anything like any other Canadian she had met.
“I’m a regular Canuck.” Danny agreed resolutely. “You didn’t know?”
“I thought you were mid-western!” Kara couldn't hide her surprise.
“Well, I'm not.” Danny shrugged as if he'd run out of things to say about it.
“Sorry, continue.” Kara waved away her aside.
“Right, right. So in Ottawa when I was growing up, there was this club not too far from where I lived. It was called ‘Le Hibou’, which in French means ‘the owl’. We speak some French up north, of course.”
Kara grinned, “I hear you aren’t unique in that aspect.”
“Ah, but we put our own spin on it.” Danny countered, taking another aside of hers in stride. He paused before carrying on with his story.
“It was run by this guy named Harvey Glatt, and he brought in every blues star that you could possibly convince to come through Ottawa in the 60’s. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters.”
He fixed her with a wink when he reached ‘Muddy Waters’.
“So one night I’m there, Muddy Waters is performing and his drummer left his drum kit. Muddy said ‘Anybody out there play drums? I don’t have a drummer’. And I walked onstage and we started, I don’t know, Little Red Rooster or something. After the song, Muddy says to me, ‘keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good’”
Kara was almost speechless at the story, smiling and giving him a simple but effective; “Wow.”
“So is that when you decided you wanted to be famous?” She asked.
She was teasing him slightly, but she was also curious. The concept of deciding to become a famous comedian was at the same time confusing and foreign to her. She spent a large amount of her time around the writers and performers that dominated her workplace simply trying to figure them out. Kara understood what motivated a person to become famous; sure, that was just human nature. Acting and singing came with artistic merits that she could understand made them worthwhile even without the perks of fame. But what would motivate someone to become famous off of comedy? It was an art form, she supposed. But one that required a lot of humility. And from her experience, the kinds of people who wanted to be famous were the exact opposite of humble.
“No.” Danny shook his head resolutely, a piece of his dark hair bouncing with him and onto his forehead as he did. “I've never wanted to be famous.”
“Right, and that's why you chose to be on television? Because you didn’t want to be famous.” She retorted sarcastically.
Another observation Kara had gathered from the performers she found herself in the company of; not a single one of them would admit that fame was the goal. No, if you asked them, they'd have you believe that they simply wandered into auditions for a television show with no ambitions of what that would mean for their life. Or worse, they'd claim that it was ‘all about the art’, and fame was an unexpected byproduct. She wasn't buying either act.
“Believe it or not.” Danny frowned, he was throwing up a white flag early.
“I'm gonna grab something from the bar. What can I get you?” He changed topics suddenly.
Sensing a change in mood, Kara dropped the prior teasing.
“I'll take a rum and coke.” She answered, having quickly ruled out tequila due to its mental connection to a certain other Saturday Night cast member.
As he got up and made his way to the bar, Kara sighed. She pushed too hard on the joke. Truthfully she didn't know Danny well enough to make any sort of presumption about his desire (or lack thereof) for fame. She was basing everything off of what she knew to be true about others. Chevy Chase in particular, who himself was a very different person from Danny. A person with such an incredibly inflated ego that it made him an outlier, even in terms of actors.
When he returned with her drink, Kara took an all-too-eager gulp. She was beginning to feel too sober for the events of the past few hours. A feeling she hated to admit she wasn't familiar with. Her workplace had a way of encouraging a reliance on drugs and alcohol to make it through the week. Whatever got the ‘creative juices’ flowing, some would say. Drinking away an uncomfortable feeling was practically instinct at this point.
“What about you, play any instruments?” Danny seemed to have let the previous teasing be forgotten.
He settled back in his seat, beer in hand. Typical Danny, his machismo couldn't be caught dead with anything akin to a cocktail.
“I play guitar,” Kara debated for a half a second before adding on; “I also sing a little bit.”
“Just a little?” Danny raised an eyebrow.
“I dabble.” Kara shrugged, playing off her obvious discomfort.
She could count on one hand the amount of people who knew this interest of hers. And half of those were people who found out on their own. Her dad, who of course bought her that first guitar when she was fourteen and had her mind set that she was going to be the next Joni Mitchell. Her roommate, who could hear her through their paper thin walls every time she decided to strum along while listening to the radio. The people she had actually chosen to tell this to could actually be counted on just three fingers; Her first boyfriend from high-school, the first guy she slept with on her summer abroad, and now Danny Aykroyd.
“You should play for me sometime.”
Danny smiled at her with such gentleness that Kara actually felt motivated to do exactly as he asked.
“Maybe sometime.” Kara smiled back at him. “But first, you've gotta show me those drum skills that impressed Muddy Waters.”
“I'd love to, but I'm afraid I don't have a drumkit.” Danny threw his hands up in a modest shrug of surrender.
Swallowing another swig of her drink, Kara responded “What about that one?” As she pointed towards the stage.
Danny hesitated “Well, I can't just-”
“C'mon, are you scared or something?” She teased, “I never thought I'd see Danny Aykroyd scared of doing something wild.”
“Do you really want to get kicked out of here?” He frowned at her.
Kara tipped her head back and swallowed down the rest of her drink. She slammed the glass down on the table, then cried out; “Live a little!”
Danny shook his head, “No. No, I'm not doing that.”
Kara scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. She pushed herself out of her seat, making her way back to the bar to order another drink.
She returned to the table, this time with a double rum and coke. When she approached, she was surprised to see Danny had left his seat. She pushed the surprise away, assuming he'd gone to the bathroom.
As she sat, a piercing squeal sounded from the stage, making her jump. With the stage lights now turned off, Kara had to squint to make out what was happening.
It was Danny, sitting at the drumkit. The squealing came from the microphone he was adjusting in front of him.
“Sorry folks,” He spoke into the mic “My name is Danny, and I'm going to be your entertainment hijacker for this evening.”
Some people chuckled at that, Kara being one of them. She knew he wouldn't hesitate to take her up on showing off. Yet more evidence that he had a slightly more inflated ego than he wanted to let on. But unlike Chevy, he wore it well.
“This one goes out to my lovely date for this evening.” Said Danny, before launching into a drum solo that all but rattled the entire building.
Kara cheered him on, while trying (and failing) not to dwell on his use of ‘date’. She had failed to figure out if this was what you could call a date or not up to this point. Danny didn't exactly make it clear with his offer, which according to all pretense was an apology. But now he was admitting it was a date, in front of the entire bar albeit.
The drum solo clumsily lost beat, as Danny gave a performance of thrashing around blindly. Kara cheered on anyway. It finally came to an end when the stage lights suddenly turned on, startling Danny into dropping the drumsticks. He awkwardly fumbled for them, then gave up and smacked his hands down on his knees. Kara had to bite back laughter at that.
Someone else took the stage, a skinny older man with greying hair mostly covered by a wide-brimmed fedora, dressed impeccably in a 3-piece suit. He took the microphone in the center of the stage, partially blocking Kara's view of Danny.
“Ladies and gentlemen, now that's why we don't quit our day jobs.” The man spoke, encouraging laughter from the small crowd of patrons in the bar.
He turned to acknowledge Danny, “What was your name again, son?”
“Danny Aykroyd.” He answered into his own mic, still sat at the drumkit.
“Ooh” The man cringed at Danny's answer, “Let's worry about that stage name first, then we can work on learning how to play.”
The crowd laughed again, Danny even seemed to be chuckling at that.
“It does take guts though, I'll say that.” The man continued, “Your date better be impressed by that.”
“I sure hope so.” Danny agreed into his own mic. He reached out to Kara, pointing her out to the man who was now focused on her.
“That's her? Oh boy,” The man took off his hat and held it to his chest. “Well, are you impressed?”
Kara nodded her head enthusiastically, she shouted; “Yes!”
“There we have it folks. Let's hear it for our aspiring musician, Danny Akerman!”
Kara laughed and cheered again, clapping and whistling louder than the entirety of the small crowd combined as Danny left the stage and approached her table.
“Wow!” Kara was grinning ear-to-ear as Danny came back to her.
“Thank you, thank you.” Danny reached for his beer, which he eagerly chugged down. He was glistening with sweat where the lights of the stage would catch him. It must've been thirsty work to bang on the drums.
“Now, why don't we give those lovebirds something to dance to?” Said the man on stage, before launching into song with his band now backing him, having taken the stage as Danny left.
Danny finished his beer, setting the empty glass down and wiping his lips with his sleeve. He then held out his right hand for Kara to take.
“Well?” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully.
She took his hand and stood, letting him guide them in front of the stage.
Kara swayed her hips to the rhythm, while Danny shimmied his legs in his frantic routine which she'd seen him break out at the cast parties. He danced around her with twice the energy of the song, practically bouncing off the walls. She couldn't stop herself from giggling at him, which made it all the harder to keep on beat.
By the end of the first song, she was running out of breath. As Danny continued to move around the dance floor area, she retreated to the table to have a drink and hopefully catch her breath.
She was two sips in before Danny's arm was around her waist and spinning her back around. He kept his arms wrapped comfortably around her as they now came face to face.
“Get sick of me already?” He leaned in to speak over the band which was continuing to wail away. His hot breath fanned over Kara's face, smelling strongly of beer.
Kara's heart felt like it was in her throat. She swallowed hard before responding; “I don't think I could keep up with your moves.”
“Sorry,” Danny smiled down at her, “Maybe I should slow it down for you.”
“Maybe you should.” Kara agreed, her heart racing worse than it did when she was dancing.
Danny moved slowly, swaying his hips to the right, then to the left. He pulled Kara with him, using his grasp around her waist. She followed his lead after a beat, giving less resistance to his grip. She draped her arms over his shoulders, settling into him.
“We aren't on the dance floor anymore.” Kara pointed out, watching him carefully.
Danny reached out his left hand to brush the hair away from her ear and leaned down to speak into it; “Is this slow enough?”
Kara felt like she couldn't speak. She moved in sync with him, her body tingling as he touched her. She was warm, but comfortably so. And the only thought she could seem to focus on was where she wanted his hands to wander to.
She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. He was staring down at her with lustful eyes. An expression she'd never seen from Danny, which excited her. She put her right hand on the back of his head, lacing her fingers through his dark hair. Then she pulled his head down towards hers, until their lips touched.
It was unlike any first kiss Kara had ever shared with another person. First kisses were typically hesitant, lips barely touching while they experimented with the feeling of this new person's mouth. But this was anything but hesitant. Instead, they clashed against each other in an almost violent pursuit. Kara moved to open her mouth, darting her tongue out to taste him. Danny opened his mouth in kind, just as eager to devour her.
He pushed her backwards, until her ass was touching the table behind them. She almost stumbled over her own feet following him. Their teeth clashed together as she laughed at their clumsiness, but their lips never left each other's. Danny put his hands on either of her hips and lifted her slightly, placing her on top of the table. He pushed forward, pulling her by the ass until she could feel his erection pressed against her.
“Woah now, I said DANCE!” The musician's voice startled them out of their embrace.
Kara pulled away to see all eyes on them as the singer addressed their embrace. She flushed with embarrassment. She knew they'd gotten carried away, though it was difficult for her to feel any bit of remorse about it.
Danny was still pressed against her, but leaning backwards with his head turned to see the stage again.
“You see the effect our music has on people?” The singer continued, receiving chuckles from a few patrons “But please, save that for the bedroom.”
Danny turned back to Kara. His eyes held their familiar warmth, now cooled from the previous lust. “Sorry,” He smiled sheepishly.
Kara swallowed, nervous now that he regretted the entire thing. “Do you want to go back to my apartment?”
His eyes lit up again. His fiery lust reignited by her words.
“Yeah. I do.” He agreed.
They called a taxi for the ride back to the apartment. Partly because they were both a little drunk, partly because they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They spent the entire drive wrapped up in each other, going at it hard enough to have the driver scolding them to ‘cool it’.
Kara had never felt this way before. Her desire was intoxicating and all-consuming; she needed him more than she needed anything. The whole ride she felt light-headed. Her heart hammered in her chest every time he pulled away to meet her eyes, his warm hands cupping her chilled cheeks. His eyes would meet hers for just a second and her breath would catch in her throat. Every moment was becoming more intense than the last.
By the time Kara had her keys in the door of her apartment, her patience was running thin. That proved itself evident when the key stuck to the inside of the old lock, and she wretched it violently, pulling the lock with her. It stuck crudely out of it's socket, key still jammed inside.
“Fuck.” She sighed, but pushed the door open anyway.
Under normal circumstances, she may have been more concerned. She lived in a decently safe building, but you never could be too certain with Manhattan. And calling a locksmith so close to the holidays was sure to be an ordeal she wouldn't enjoy. But right now all she could focus on was Danny's presence behind her. And what she intended to do to him the moment they were inside and alone.
“I've got a solution,” Danny said, crossing the small living area of her apartment to retrieve a chair from the small table in the corner of the room.
He pushed it up against the door, effectively jamming it shut with the chair pushed against the doorknob.
“It's not much for home security, but it'll do.” Danny assessed his work, looking pleased.
Kara hummed in response, waiting for him to turn his attention back to her. When he didn't immediately, she took matters into her own hands. She stepped forward, grabbing him by the shoulders. That captured his attention, and he turned back towards her. She stepped onto her tippy toes and moved her hands to the back of his head, pulling him down into a kiss.
He responded by wrapping his arms around the small of her back. Kara let out a contented breath, deepening the kiss. Danny followed her lead, turning the kiss from passionate to downright animalistic. Kara's hands tangled in his hair and pulled on longer strands, eliciting a breathy moan from him that spurred her on.
Danny pushed her backwards, towards the small couch in the room. His hands made their way to her ass and pulled her tight against him, until she could feel how badly he wanted her.
Kara pulled away from the kiss to pull her shirt over her head in a fluid motion, discarding it on the floor. Standing in front of him in just her bra and pants, she felt a sting of self consciousness under his gaze.
“Fuck,” Danny sighed softly, hands trailing upwards until they settled on her bra-covered chest.
She pulled him into another kiss, pausing to moan when he pinched her nipple through the bra. His right hand was in her hair, raking through it and pulling her head to the side to expose her neck to him. He trailed his lips from her mouth down her neck all the way to her collar bone, leaving small, teasing kisses along the way.
It took all the willpower she had left to stop herself from pushing him down and taking the lead. She couldn't wait to have him inside of her. The desire was starting to have a dizzying effect on her that had nothing to do with the two drinks she had.
Her hands were at his pants, fumbling with his belt blindly. She felt along the grooves of the leather belt until she found the buckle and undid it. She popped open the button on his fly, but her focus was stolen away by his hand under her chin. He tilted her head upwards and caught her lips in another deep kiss.
The sound of someone banging on the door startled them. They sprung apart, Danny's pants almost falling off and Kara's bra straps lopsided. The banging continued, followed by a cry of; “Hellloooo?”
Kara realized it was her roommate; Miriam Abrams. She didn't even realize she was out. But with the haze of lust finally clearing, she also realized she hadn't even turned on the lights when they came in.
Embarrassment flooded her. She really let herself get carried away. She was acting more like a horny teenager than an adult woman. Being with Danny had somehow overtaken her senses, putting her on a lust driven autopilot. An entirely different kind of heat flared in her face as she fixed her bra and retrieved her shirt off the ground.
“I'm sorry, that's my roommate.” Kara frowned uncomfortably at Danny, who was busy adjusting his own clothing.
“Kara! I can hear you!” Miri pounded on the door again.
Kara crossed the room and carefully removed the makeshift door lock, pushing the chair aside and opening the door.
As soon as the door moved, a very disheveled Miriam stumbled in. She went with the door, presumably having been leaning there before Kara opened it. Kara caught her as she careened for the floor, arms braced under her armpits and pulling her upright again. Miriam giggled like her inability to walk was the funniest thing in the world.
Miriam's bleary eyes somehow found Danny, who stood still as a statue by the couch.
“Who's your friend, Kara?” She grinned a knowing look up at Kara, still leaning against her in order to stand.
Kara glanced back at Danny, shooting him an apologetic look.
“That's Danny. We work together.”
The introduction, while not inaccurate, was cold. Kara knew as much, but the words came out of her mouth before she could second guess it. And now that she did have the time to regret her choice of words, she still couldn't come up with another way to introduce him. Danny was her coworker. He was also her friend, she supposed. And after tonight, her hookup? If it could even be counted that, considering the rude interruption that was currently ongoing.
“That's the famous Danny?” Miriam looked past Kara, incredulous at Danny's presence.
“Miri-” Kara attempted to hush her to little avail.
“Kara thinks you're funny!” Miriam yelled in Danny's general direction, breaking off into giggles as though she was the comedian in the room.
A glance back at Danny revealed that he was amused by this new revelation, smiling and shaking his head at the two women.
Suddenly, Miriam's giggles died off and a disturbed look overtook her. “I'm gonna puke.” She gasped out, before beelining to the bathroom with the same staggered steps she came in with.
Kara watched her go, eager to turn her attention back to the guest she had all but abandoned since Miriam's sudden entrance. This however, was short-lived as Miriam called out with her in a garbled wail;
“Karaaa!”
Following dutifully after her friend, she helped her find the rest of her way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.
After roughly 15 minutes of Miriam either throwing up into the toilet, or laying on the floor while she had a pause from retching, Kara was finally able to leave her side. It took some convincing, and then pleading as she grew more desperate not to leave Danny hanging in their living room. But Miriam eventually relented, allowing Kara to leave under the pretense of grabbing a glass of water for her.
As she entered the living room, she found Danny standing by the record player, eyeing the records haphazardly stacked on the floor next to it.
“You're really into Dylan, huh?” He remarked, glancing up as he heard Kara approaching.
She smiled as he held up The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. The cover photo of Bob Dylan cozied up to his ex-girlfriend Suze Rotolo in the West Village faced her, and Suze's eyes seemed to meet hers.
“He's one-of-a-kind. I used to say I moved to New York just out of the hopes that I'd run into him someday.”
Kara expected Danny to chuckle at that, but he didn’t. Instead he smiled softly at her.
“And did you?” He asked.
Kara shook her head, biting her lip out of habit when she was hit by a pang of embarrassment. “Not yet, no. I don't think we hang around the same circles.”
“Shoot.” Danny sighed, glancing back at Dylan's cover. “We should invite him to a taping sometime.”
Kara let out a breathy chuckle, “Yeah, I'm sure he'd be honored to receive an invite to Studio 8H.”
“You never know.” Replied Danny with raised eyebrows.
Kara stepped closer to him, taking the record from his hands and placing it (carefully) back onto the stack. She wanted to return to what they had started when they arrived at the apartment, but she couldn't find the nerve to. The liquid courage had worn off now, leaving Kara to rely on her own natural confidence. Instead, she stood close enough that they were almost touching, waiting in silence to find her next move.
“So, do you have any plans for the holidays?” Danny spoke up, breaking the tension.
It wasn't in the way Kara wanted, but it was some small relief to have the pressure of making the next move off of her shoulders.
“No, not really.” Kara admitted.
She hadn't put much thought into the break previously. She did have plans, and she was only now realizing she no longer had those plans. Chevy had invited her to join him on a trip to Mexico during the break.
“Nothing but sunshine, ocean and our non-stop steamy love making, of course.” Chevy promised earlier in the month, when he showed Kara his two tickets to Cancún. She supposed that second ticket would go to Jacqueline now.
“Lorne and Rosie are having this big Hanukkah slash Christmas dinner, you should come.”
Kara felt cold hearing Rosie's name. She'd assumed up until this very moment that whatever Rosie and Danny had, it was as over as she and Chevy were. But now that didn't seem like the case at all. If Danny was at the point of moving on from Rosie, why was he going to be spending the holidays with her and Lorne? Clearly the bizarre love triangle between them was ongoing.
“Yeah, maybe.” Kara shrugged noncommittally. She stepped back from Danny, putting some distance between them to match the newfound apprehension.
Danny's facial expression changed, dropping his warm smile in favour of something more neutral. His eyebrows knit together, like he was thinking about something. Maybe he was piecing together what Kara's reaction meant.
Kara swallowed, “Well, I've gotta take care of Miri. I'm sorry to cut the night short.”
“No, no. That's alright.” Danny insisted.
They started for the door together, Kara leading the way and Danny quickly catching up until he was passing her to get to the (still broken) knob.
He opened the door, but held onto the knob carefully, inspecting it. “If you hand me a screwdriver, I think I can get this back in there.”
Kara shook her head, “I don't have a screwdriver.”
“What?” Danny sounded outraged by her answer, “Who doesn't own a screwdriver?”
Kara sighed, “Don't worry about it, I'll call the super in the morning.”
Danny gave her a scrutinizing look, but cracked a grin anyway as he joked; “You hate the subway, you trust your safety. You really aren't from here, huh?”
Kara didn't laugh. She was tired, and frustrated by the seemingly neverending humiliation of this night. She just wanted Danny to leave, and the night to be over with. Left in the past, so she could pretend it never happened.
“I'll be fine for one night.” She insisted, when he didn't budge her tone grew harsher; “And besides, it isn't any of your concern, alright?”
Danny paused, holding her gaze. After a minute, it was broken by him reaching into the pocket of his jacket and pulling out his sunglasses. He put them back on, a shield between them both now that she couldn't see his eyes to make out whatever micro expressions of emotion they held.
“Alright.” He relented, “Good night.”
“Good night.” Kara responded weakly. Her vitriol now drained, leaving her feeling nothing but exhaustion.