Page 99 of Something Cheeky

“Let’s take an hour break so I can chat with our design team. Thank you for your hard work!” He clapped his hands. “Be prepared for notes when you return.”

The tired and sweaty actors weren’t happy with their performance either. They quickly shuffled out of the room with their shoulders slumped. Hopefully the break would help.

Derek turned behind him, where Greg and the designers had observed the full run through of the show. Zoe waved at him and pointed to her phone to indicate she’d texted him.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. She’d sent him three.

Need to get back to costume shop. Come down later?

I missed you, too.

Wanna stay at my place tonight?

Like magic, her words soothed the disappointment of the designer run. He couldn’t think of a better way to destress than to spend the night in her bed. He could even put up with Mr. Bobbins’s glare to hold her in his arms.

He smiled at Zoe and mouthedYestwice in response to her text. Her red lips curled into a bright smile. She waved and left the room with TJ.

Derek invited the other designers to sit at the stage management table. Thankfully, Greg didn’t come down with them, but Th?o joined them.

“That was fantastic,” exclaimed Eugene Wang, his lighting designer. “I knew your retelling would be different but to see it come to life—wow!”

“It’s going to be amazing,” agreed set designer Amy Lê. “I’m a little emotional. I can’t believe even more people will learn the story of T?m Câm.”

The sound designer, a man of few words, nodded in agreement.

“Um, thanks, it was a team effort.” Derek flipped through his notes to hide his surprise. Maybe the rehearsal hadn’t been as terrible as he thought.

Eugene and Amy asked very thoughtful questions. Amy was almost ready for them to come onto the stage and rehearse on the set. She offered some ideas on how to use the wider space they’d have for dance numbers. Heather took copious notes during their meeting.

“Wow, that was awful,” Th?o groaned after the design team left. “It was as if we hadn’t rehearsed for eight hours a day, six days a week for two and a half weeks.”

“I know.” Derek sighed. “Maybe having an audience combined with all the changes confused them.”

“Are you sure we’ll be ready in time?” Th?o whispered as she glanced back at Greg, who hadn’t moved from his chair.

Derek bent his head closer to Th?o. “We don’t have a choice.”

“After you give the actors their notes, I’ll pull the sisters aside to work on their music while you focus on the other scenes,” she suggested.

“Derek,” boomed Greg, who had somehow snuck up on the three of them. “Can we talk? Alone?”

Greg looked pointedly at Th?o, who looked as if she might bolt. Derek placed a hand on her arm to steady her. Heather kept her head down as she scribbled something in her big binder.

“I’m meeting with my composer. We can meet at the end of the day,” Derek said firmly. He met his mentor’s eyes and dared him to push back. “We have a lot to do before opening night.”

Greg huffed, then laughed. “Finally, you’re becoming a real leader. I’ll come back to watch the end of rehearsal. We’ll talk then.”

“Thank you.” Derek hoped his tone didn’t betray his shock that Greg had actually listened to him.

“Look at you!” Th?o exclaimed after Greg was a safe distance from the rehearsal room. “Finally growing a pair.”

“Hey!” Derek feigned hurt. “After that stumble through the last thing I needed to hear was Greg’s criticisms.”

“Well, we’re proud of him, aren’t we, Heather?”

“Uh, I need a bio break.” But a smile slipped out onto Heather’s usual poker face. She winked at Derek.

If Derek had known it’d be that simple to get rid of Greg, hewould’ve stood firm sooner. Unless Greg was biding his time to give Derek worse news. He wouldn’t worry about that right now because after rehearsal, he was heading straight to the costume shop to kiss Zoe and take her home.

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