Longuyland

“Jonah, I swear it isn't what it looks like!”

I spoke quickly as I swung my apartment door open. He stood with an over night bag in hand. I was caught off guard. I hadn't seen him so relaxed in weeks. He was always at his office in a suit and tie, but today he wore dark washed fitted jeans and a dark gray v-neck. His Ray-Ban aviators hung from his shirt and his hair was in a casual mess. “Okay” He said as he walked into my apartment.

Since I had Friday's off this year, we planned to leave early to Long Island to avoid the evening rush. I had my things packed and ready to go, but I wasn't sure how everything was going to play out since Jonah had texted me the link to the gossip site earlier this morning.

“Look, Daniel's just a friend. In fact, he has a girlfriend...not that it matters nowadays, but still!” I continued to talk without taking a breath. Hoping that I could spit out the story fast enough for this whole thing to be over. Jonah put his bag down and stood leaning against the back of the couch. He folded his arms and continued to watch me as I pleaded my case. “Honestly, you know how it is, pictures can be taken out of context!”

Jonah smirked and, without saying a word, continued to stare at me. “It was just a friendly tap on the arm. I know it looks more suggestive in the picture, but I swear! It really wasn't!” The only reaction coming from Jonah was his smirk turning into a wide grin. I stopped throwing my hands around and looked at him.

Jonah's grin grew into laughter, “Why'd you stop? Keep going, this is cute.” He left one arm folded while the other rested on his face.

“What are you talking about?” I was confused. “Why are you laughing?”

“The fact that you think I'm upset by the picture.” He moved his hands down to hold either side of the couch that he'd slightly been sitting on.

“I guess...I just...” My mind drifted off for a nanosecond. A glimpse of what Connor's reaction would have been flashed through my mind. This would've been the part where he walked away after shutting me out. He would've refused to listen to me. It was only then that I realized why I'd been talking so quickly. It was a defense mechanism. I was trying to make amends before Jonah could say anything. I was so use to having a time limit before the bomb exploded.

I looked at Jonah, who went back to a simple smirk, and suddenly had a deeper appreciation for him. He must have known what was going through my head because he opened up his arms gesturing for me to come in for a hug. “If you were trying to make me upset you're gonna have to try a hell of a lot harder than touching another guy's arm.” I leaned in and gave Jonah a hug. My head nestled just below his chin and he leaned down to kiss it.

“I thought that's why you sent the picture.” I spoke quietly feeling a little embarrassed that I assumed such a thing about Jonah when, up until this day, he'd never given me a reason to do so.

“I sent you the picture because” he leaned away so that he could look at me, “I wanted you to see how misconstrued this industry is. I hate that I'm in it, but it comes with the territory.”

“I didn't even know that they knew who I was.” I furrowed my brows.

“You haven't noticed, but I have. The closer we're getting to the premier date, the more interviews that I'm having to do, the more pictures of my face that are being plastered up around the city, the more I'm starting to notice the hidden cameras.”

“Have they been following you?”

“They're usually camped outside of our building. It's a hot spot since so many shows record there. The photographers are always bound to catch a celebrity coming in or out. When I was a writer for the sketch comedy show the die-hard fans would recognize me by name and ask for my autograph. And when I started working as the head writer for the Late Night show, people started recognizing me by face from the bits I would do on-air. But this, having photographers follow me, is something that just started happening since my interview with E!” He sighed and curled his lip in. “I guess it's only going to get worse from here.”

“This sucks” I huffed.

“Tell me about it. I've gotta get rid of my side chicks now.” Jonah looked at me from the corner of his eye, waiting for my reaction.

I pushed him away, teasingly, and he laughed as he tried to catch his balance while avoiding toppling onto the couch.

I grabbed my things from my room and Jonah and I set out on our way to Long Island.

After a long train ride over we met Casey, Jonah's older sister, outside the station where she picked us up. After a warm hug we threw our things into the car and headed on our way.

“Welcome to Long Island” Jonah said as he turned around to look at me. He and Casey were sitting in the front while I'd opted to sit in the back.

“Or, Longuyland, as mom likes to say.” Casey said to which her and Jonah both laughed.

“Oh Lynn, you're gonna love Longuyland!” Jonah said in a thick New York accent. His voice was an octave higher as he imitated his mother.

Casey continued to laugh, “Jon does the best impression of our mom!”

We pulled into a quiet little neighborhood. The houses all had a good sized yard and looked exactly how I'd always thought homes in the North East would look.

Before we could even get out of the car Jonah's mom came outside. She looked exactly like Casey, only older.

“Jonah? Is that you?” She squinted her eyes, pretending like she didn't recognize him. He got out of the car and opened his arms wide to give his mother a hug. “This can't be my Joni” She said as she looked over at Casey. “Last time I saw my Joni, he was this tall!” She gestured a few inches above her head. “He use to love coming to see his motha” She said in a thick New York accent. I giggled to myself as I realized Jonah's impersonation of her was pretty spot on.

“And who is this” She smiled as she teasingly pushed Jonah's shoulder.

“Mom, this is my girlfriend...”

Before he could finish she cut him off, “Oh, this must be Sofia!”

“Sofia?!” I furrowed my brows and angrily looked at Jonah.

“Oh my god, she's totally kidding!” He held back a laugh, but turned back and gave his mother a stern look. “Mom, that's not funny”

“I'm kidding! I'm kidding!” She waved her hand around. “What, I can't tease Lynn a little? She's gonna have to get use to it if she's gonna be a Cohen one day”

I looked over at Jonah, his cheeks were flushed.

“Well, now I know where you get your sense of humor from.” I laughed.

“Of course he gets it's from me!” She said matter-of-factly. “I'm the funniest person he knows.” She finally opened up her arms to give him a hug. She was tiny compared to him. Her head just barely rested on his chest.

“No mom, I'm definitely the funniest person in this family.” Casey called out as she walked around the car towards us.

“Come on guys” Jonah looked at both of them disapprovingly, “I've made a whole career out being funny. I'm pretty sure I win.”

“In that case...” Casey mumbled mischievously.

Jonah's mom and Casey walked up on either side of me and wrapped their arms around my shoulders. We began walking towards the house as they whispered to one another. “Should we start with the childhood pictures or the home movies?”

“This was such a bad idea!” Jonah shouted in from the background.