Page 16 of Something Cheeky

“Something Cheeky saved me after what happened during senior year.” She bit her lip and shook her head to rid herself of the feelings those memories brought up. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished.”

Zoe’s professor hadn’t left her with any other option but to quit theater. Removing herself from the situation entirely had been the only way to escape the controlling and power-hungry man.

“You should stop by for a tour. My workroom is ten times swankier than our college costume shop.”

“Anything is an improvement over that basement.”

“No windows and it was freezing from November through April.” Zoe shivered and frowned in surprise. Her body hadn’t forgotten. “It’s really hard to sew when you’re wearing your winter coat and gloves.”

“All that lake effect snow piling higher and higher after the plows came through?” He shuddered. “It gets cold in New York City but not like in Syracuse.”

“Remember our first Halloween at CNY College? It snowed so hard I could barely see in front of me!”

“Don’t remind me. We went to the party dressed as Mulan-Ping and Li Shang as a romantic couple. And I got trashed.” He shook his head disapprovingly at his younger self.

“You also dared me to find our way back to our dorm in the snow.” Zoe barely knew her way around Syracuse during her first semester in school. Derek didn’t either, even though he’d grown up in a small rural town thirty miles away.

“Like I said, I was drunk,” he reminded her. “You didn’t have to accept the challenge.”

“You knew I can’t resist a dare. I got us back, didn’t I?”

She wasn’t sure how the habit of daring each other to do things started, but she could never turn down a dare from him. Growing up with an older brother and several older cousins had given her a competitive streak.

“Via the most roundabout way ever,” he said, rolling his eyes. “What if we’d gotten frostbite?”

“So dramatic. If it weren’t for me, you would’ve puked in the dorm stairwell and not in a random snowbank. I saved you the hundred-dollar cleaning fee.” Zoe tossed him a smug smile.

“You win,” he conceded. “Again.”

“I always win.” She didn’t bother hiding her smirk.

“It’s rude to gloat.”

“Remember that the next time you do it,” she teased, poking his arm.

Derek chewed on his bottom lip, a sign that he was overthinking something. She used to tell him girls fell for that nerdy, thoughtful look. But for some reason she didn’t say it today. He’d forgiven her for ghosting him, but she wasn’t sure if they were back to teasing each other about their love lives yet.

“How did it go last night?” Zoe changed the subject right as Derek shoved a pork belly taco into his mouth. Ever since Derek brought up the musical yesterday, she’d thought about it nonstop.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. He chewed quickly and swallowed before adding, “Oh, this is so good.”

He gestured for her to taste hers. She unwrapped her takeout order. Her stomach grumbled as the smoky, spicy smells hit her nose. They’d arrived at the Wharf right when everything was closing. On a Sunday night, their only remaining choices were either tacos or greasy burgers.

“I’m having regrets about not getting those.” He pointed to her bulgogi with kimchi tacos. “I got these pork belly ones last night and couldn’t stop thinking about them.”

Zoe picked up one of her overflowing corn tortillas, but she couldn’t take a bite. A nervous energy skated over her body like some sort of shield. Her brain needed more information to process instead of the crumb Derek had dropped in the boba café.

As much as she loved her boutique, a tiny part of her missed the creative chaos of a stage musical. It was magical how a group of people took words from a page and turned them into a beautiful, emotional production for complete strangers. Designing lingerie didn’t fulfill her creative well in the same way.

“You okay?” Derek’s face was shadowed with concern. “Eat. You won’t regret it.”

“Last night’s meeting was about the show, right?” she tried again. Zoe’s stomach did a tiny flip. She was afraid to say “Vietnamese musical” aloud as to not give it too much hope. She had no idea how far along in the process he was.

“This musical is going to blast the doors wide open for us.” He threw his hands out. “T?m Cámwill change theater for all Asian Americans. Imagine our stories as part of household conversations.”

Zoe bit her lip. It all sounded too good to be true.

“But I can’t do this without you.” He grabbed her hand. His eyes blazed with excitement. “Please tell me you’ll design the costumes forT?m Cam. I need you, Zoe.”

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