I just have to start one scene. I have to hold on to one good idea from the weird idea-generating section of the performance and initiate a scene based off of it. I can do it. I can do this.

People are chatting and laughing farther back behind the giant house at the barbecue.

Once the team has arrived, Dawn leads us in some warm-up games. They involve a lot of making eye contact, spouting nonsensical phrases, and dancing. Somewhere along the way, being silly with these relative strangers, my shaky-nauseous nerves shift into the adrenaline-pumping, happy-making, performance kind that engulf me before a routine.

These are all really nice people and they’re so confident in us! We’re all chatting in the aftermath of our last warm-up when someone taps me on the shoulder. I almost stop breathing when I turn around to find Timothée Chalamet himself.

“Timothée Chalamet,” I blurt.

“You must be Jamie! Your dad talks about you all the time. It’s great to meet you.” Timothée Chalamet holds out his hand.

I nod and smile stupidly before reaching out to take his hand.

Try to be like Jamie.

“Hey hey hey, great to meet you,” I say. “Are you ready for us?”

“Yeah, um, are you all doing stand-up? There’s a lot of you.”

I smile nervously. “We’re doing an improv performance. This is my crew, Duck Waterfall.”

He laughs. “Okay, Duck Waterfall. Fantastic. Come with me and I’ll announce you. We have a little makeshift stage area set up.”

Timothée Chalamet leads us out into the heart of his barbecue. There have to be at least forty people lingering about around a pool and a bar area. The entire backyard is framed by an assortment of trees that provide a sense of privacy. At the forefront of the different socializing areas is a small, raised dais and that’s where Timothée leads us. There’s a microphone standing at the front of it.

He walks right up to it. “Okay, next up in the entertainment department tonight we have the next big improv comedy team, DUCK WATERFALLLLL.” He shouts our name like an announcer, like we’re super high in demand and people requested we be there. Aaron sets down the sign Dawn made along the front of the stage.

There’s a smattering of applause before Dawn takes the mic.

“Hey, y’all!” She rouses the crowd with her socializing powers. More people look up from their conversations to assess us. “We’re an improv comedy team and we’re gonna do a little long-form improv for you. Don’t be frightened; it’s gonna be a fucking hoot. We’re called Duck Waterfall. We feed off the pain of our insecure childhoods. Somebody shout out the name of something you loved when you were a kid.”

“FRUIT ROLL-UPS.”

“DRAGONS.”

“FLIP-FLOPS.”