Transition: Chapter 20 (WRSX)

“You’ll never be on this show again, young lady,” Leida snaps, after a frantic cut to a commercial.

“Fine.” Jillian unclips the mike and flips it over her shoulder. She pushes herself out of the chair and begins to walk briskly toward the door. She’s past being angry; she’s mostly tired, and she desperately wants to be somewhere else. Back at the hotel. Anywhere.

“And if I have anything to say about it, you’ll never be on anybody’s show, ever.” Following closely behind as Jillian flees the studio, Leida nearly has to run to keep up with Jillian’s determined strides.

“And another thing...” Just as Jillian reaches for the studio door, Leida grabs her arm.

In a flash, Jillian whirls and knocks Leida’s hand away. “Keep your fucking hands off me, you bitch,” she snarls. Her face, mere inches from Leida’s, is contorted with sudden rage. “You touch me again and I’ll wipe up the fucking floor with you, I swear I will.”

The studio is deathly still. The crew stands motionless, glancing uncertainly at the two women and at each other. Sunshine sinks deeper into her chair and covers her eyes with both hands. Jimmy sits up alertly, licking his lips as he watches Jillian and Leida square off.

Leida slowly retreats, her eyes wide. Jillian’s hands curl into fists. The sinews in her forearms bulge ominously. Her eyes are cold, hard as glass.

“She threatened me!” Leida looks wildly around the studio at the seemingly paralyzed crew. “You all heard her! You’re all witnesses! She threatened me with physical violence! Isn’t anybody going to do anything?”

Nobody moves. A man on the other side of the studio clears his throat self-consciously as he glances around to see if anyone else is going to do anything. Once more, the room is silent.

Jillian looks around the studio. Half a dozen pairs of eyes stare back at her. Suddenly, she’s struck by the absurdity of the situation, and her anger drains away as quickly as it rose up. She takes a deep breath, then exhales slowly. Her fists uncurl, and she smiles. “Well,” she says lightly, “y’all certainly are a lively bunch.” She turns, opens the door, and steps out into the hallway.

“Jesus,” she can hear someone say, as the door begins to slowly swing shut behind her.

Then someone giggles, and somehow Jillian just knows that it’s Jimmy. The door is slowly closing, and she’s walking swiftly away from it, but the giggling keeps getting louder, it turns into a cackle, and by the time the door shuts and clips off the sound it’s risen to a hysterical roar, and Jillian can clearly picture Jimmy rolling off his chair as waves of laughter ripple though his ample frame...