interview today. Let me come meet you now.” He shuffled away, leaving me standing there with plastic machetes in my hands.
Asher walked up to me. “I eavesdropped, sorry. What are we supposed to do now, boss?” He wrinkled his brow and awaited my response. The team needed me to look coolheaded and collected, not panicked and vomity.
Think, Melody, think.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Fuck fuck fuck!
Wait.
I had an idea! A terrible one, though. But at least it was a feasible one. Ugh, a truly terrible, feasible one. And it meant I’d have to do something I never, ever wanted to do. I bit my lip and weighed my options before requesting a group video chat with Candace’s husband, Wil, and Nolan.
“Hey, Mel, what’s up?” Wil was at the gym, in the weights area.
Nolan picked up, too. “Uh, hi, Melody?” He came into view with the shower behind him, tucking in his towel around his waist. I hadn’t talked to him since the humiliating parent brunch.
“Wil? Nolan? Um, hi there! Wil, meet Nolan, he works at my company. Nolan, this is Wil, he’s my best friend’s husband. Sorry about the group video but I’m crunched for time. I need a huge favor from you both, and I might get fired if you don’t help me, but no pressure. And I’d owe you both big. Like many-years-of-future-babysitting-for-Wil and a-year-supply-of-P.F.-Chang’s-dinners-for-Nolan kind of big.” I took a deep breath in and out.
Wil asked in a whisper, “Oh wow. Is it illegal?”
“Of course it’s not illegal!”
Nolan asked with a giant smirk, “So what exactly is happening here? Is Melody Joo actually asking for . . . help?”
I pursed my lips together and hesitated. “I . . . I am. I’m asking for your help. Please.”
“If it’s shady or embarrassing, can I wear a disguise?” He tilted his chin up, pondering the situation.
I tapped my finger on my bottom lip. “Hmmm, yes, you can. I know you are both busy on weekends, but I need you to dress in costume as characters in my game. Like, in an hour. I thought of you two because, without sounding too weird or pervy, you guys have physiques that women should flock to, and the male stripper talent I’d recruited fell through. The only thing you’ll need to do is stand in the booth with me, and be all friendly and smiley with people, with your shirts off. Could you do that?”
“Oh . . . so you’ve checked out my physique?” Nolan teased.
“But we’d have pants?” Wil asked in a panicked tone.
I laughed. “Yes, Nolan, no shame in admitting this given my current predicament. And yes, Wil. I picked out tasteful long cargo shorts, don’t worry. They have more coverage than what you’d wear to the beach. We’ll give you sunglasses and give you different hairstyles, too, if you want. PLEASE, can you guys help?” Please say yes. Please say yes.
If it hadn’t been for their stunned blinking, I would have assumed my phone had frozen. Honestly, I had no idea how they’d respond. How would I react if either of them asked me to show up to a trade event in less than an hour, dressed like a stripper? It would’ve taken at least thirty minutes for me to stop laughing hysterically. And then the remaining thirty to go through a wide range of feelings about what I should do, simply because someone I trusted and respected had just asked me to parade around at a convention in stripper garb.
Nolan finally broke the silence. “I’ll do it, but you have to cosplay too.”
Wil quickly added, “Yeah, I’ll do it if you cosplay. In three months I’ll be busy changing diapers, so this is probably my last chance to do something exciting like this! Let’s make it count!”
I’d planned on wearing a black fitted Seventeen Studios T-shirt to match the rest of my team. If they wanted me in costume, too, then I’d need to find an outfit like one of my female characters, to be true to the game. The women in the game wore more clothes than the dudes.
My heart soared as I agreed to their demands. “Okay, I’ll dress up too! It’s a deal then? Can you two get to the Seattle Convention Center in less than fifty minutes? We can expense your transportation. And you get free lunch!”
Wil nodded. “I need to hop in the shower first, and I’ll head straight there.”
“Well, I’m already showered.” Nolan accidentally dropped his towel but then pulled his phone up just in