Page 21 of Something Cheeky

“Lingerie is not ordinary. Give yourself credit.”

“You know what I mean. Remember when my design professor gave me chicken wire, fabric scraps, and spray glue and told me to make a dragon headdress?” She flipped to a blank page in her sketchbook and tried to sketch it from memory.

“Oh God, for that weird play about dragons in space?” Derek groaned. “I know the point of the student playwriting showcase is to experiment, but that one was strange.”

“I thrived on the challenge! Nothing like making costumes on a tiny budget.” Zoe bit her lip as she tried to remember if it had a beard.

“You didn’t have to play said dragon,” he muttered.

“You were cute,” she teased.

“I was supposed to be menacing. Villain, remember?” He mimed the choreography from the play and stopped mid-move. “You think I’m cute?”

“Stop! As if you didn’t know half the underclassmen had crushes on you.” After their run-in earlier, she finally understood why. He was adorkable.

He shrugged. “I was too focused on my classes to notice.”

“How come you never dated anyone back then?” Zoe searched his eyes for clues, but he’d found some more napkins and wiped his shirt.

“Are we really going to talk about how uncool I was in college? I came here to discuss our future.” He actually looked offended about his single status during undergrad.

“I was only curious.” Zoe shrugged.

“You promised to hear me out, but why don’t you read the script and watch the private showcase we did for Prestige Rep? But you can’t show anyone.”

“I’ll lock my bedroom door before I watch it.” Zoe crossed her heart and grinned.

“I’m serious,” Derek said sternly. His eyebrows furrowed. “We can’t have the news leak until we’ve assembled the rest of the creative team and cast. You know the media will judge us harder because of who we are.”

“I swear on our secret handshake,” she replied.

“Not the terrible handshake.” Derek rolled his eyes. “I’m never going to live down that cast party, will I?”

“You can count on me to keep things quiet.”

“Emailing it now.” Derek pulled out his phone and tapped on it rapidly. “You can watch it at home after you change into some dry clothes.”

“You don’t want to be here while I watch?” Zoe’s face fell. Dinner had been awkward but she wasn’t ready for it to end. They had six years of catching up to do.

“No way. I’d be a nervous wreck hovering over your shoulder like T?m’s ghost did with the emperor.”

“Cinderella’s spirit was never anxious,” she reminded him. “Besides, in our version she never dies.”

“Maybe I need a fairy god and a magical singing fish to look over me.” He closed his eyes and pretended to make a wish.

“Give me some chicken wire and a few hours.”

They both laughed. Zoe was relieved that the weirdness between them had disappeared.

“Call me as soon as you finish reading and watching. Even if it’s late.”

Zoe shivered at the intensity in his eyes.

“Even if it’s two in the morning?”

“Trust me, you’ll want to talk about it.” Derek began bagging up their trash. “There, as if it never happened.”

Except for their soaked clothes. But no number of napkins could fix that.

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