AN: As always, I own nothing except for the characters I made up in my head.
It was a couple of days before Zoey's 24th birthday and she was working the lunch shift. For whatever reason, it was a slow day. Zoey looked over at Isabelle, who was texting Jeff about whatever they texted about. "Party at your house this weekend, birthday girl?" She asked without looking up.
"It's not my birthday yet.. And, I guess but I don't know if I want a party this year.." Zoey explained.
Isabelle looked up instantly. "What do you mean you don't want a party? Are you and Jess having problems? Are you sick?"
"24 just doesn't seem that significant to me." Zoey shrugged. "Jess and I are fine by the way. Thanks for asking." She smirked.
"Not significant? Come on, it's the oldest you've ever been. It deserves a celebration." Isabelle said.
Zoey paused to think. "...Fine. ..But only a small gathering." She conceded.
Isabelle smiled in victory. "Small gathering. My place. You won't have to do a thing."
"Thanks Belle." Zoey smiled and gave Isabelle a hug.
It was then that a crowd came into the diner, followed by a couple of men in suits. Zoey and Isabelle waited to see where they sat down before springing into action. The group was big enough that one of the other servers hopped on it with Isabelle. This left the two businessmen with Zoey. She gave them a chance to look at the menu before she walked over to them with a friendly smile. "Hello, welcome to the Spotlight Diner. My name is Zoey. What can I get for you two today?"
The two men greeted her politely and told her that they needed some more time to decide after ordering their drinks. "No problem. Take all the time you need. I'll get those drinks for you." She smiled genuinely as she went to grab their drinks. She returned relatively quick with their drinks.
Isabelle then called Zoey over to her table. "What's up? Do we have a song request?" Zoey asked with a smile.
"We do." Isabelle confirmed.
"Awesome! What is it?"
"I will let our lovely customer explain." Isabelle supplied before one of the guys in the group spoke up.
"You see, my friend has been gathering up the courage to sing in front of people and he thought that it would be nice to sing with you. He's really into Broadway duets and 80's music." The guy said as he put his arm around one of the other guys.
Zoey smiled. "I would be honored. Is there a particular song you would like to do?"
The guy sat up slightly. "Can I have a minute?"
"Sure, you take your time. I have to get back to those two gentlemen, but just let me know." Zoey smiled as she walked back to her table.
"Have you two gentlemen decided on what you would like?" Zoey asked. The two gentlemen politely gave her their order and handed her the menus. "Alright, I will go and put those in. Let me know if you need anything else." She said genuinely before putting in the order to the kitchen.
Zoey walked over to the stage where the guy from the group was now sitting. "Did you decide?" She asked sweetly.
The guy nodded. "Something to Believe In from Newsies?"
Zoey thought for a moment before speaking. "Yeah, I can do that." She grinned and let the band know the selection. Thankfully they were all familiar with it.
A few more people came into the restaurant and a couple more waiters snapped into action. Zoey stepped onto the stage and faced the nervous guy who was staring at her. She gently put her hands on his shoulders to try to reassure him. "This is nothing to worry about. If the people make you nervous, pick a spot on the wall to sing to. Just remember to look away from it every once and a while. Or, if it will make you feel better, we can just sing it together." She said with a warm smile.
The guy nodded and gave Zoey a weak smile back. "Everything's going to be fine." He heard her reassure him once more. The musicians began playing and the butterflies started to swarm in his stomach.
Zoey was still facing the guy when she started to sing. She loved the rush that perfoming gave her. She always had. The stage had become her second home throughout her life. She had no idea if she would ever reach her dream of being in a Broadway musical, and not just be in the background. It didn't stop her from working toward it. She opened up her mouth to sing and everything seemed to flow. Part of the way through the song, her partner even seemed to loosen up a lot. He actually looked like he was enjoying himself and he had a great voice.
Before Zoey knew it, the song was over and they were taking their bow. "You have a pretty great voice. Keep it up." She complimented him. The guy's cheeks reddened slightly before complimenting her in return and returning to his friends. Zoey stepped off of the stage and went over to the kitchen window to grab the two businessmen's meals. "Here you two go. I hope everything is to your liking. Is there anything else I can get you?" Both men politely said no before Zoey walked away from their table. with her almost patented smile.
-1 hour later-
Zoey was cleaning up one of her tables and picking up her tips when she saw what looked like a business card laying there. She furrowed her brow as she picked it up and looked at it. '9MUSE Artist Representation' Her eyes widened slightly as she turned it over. 'Feel free to give us a call' was written on the back. Zoey could barely contain herself. She couldn't wait to go home and share the good news with Jess.
-2 and a half hours later-
Zoey was exhausted when she finally walked through her front door, locking it behind her. Jess was nowhere to be seen, but she just figured that he was at Truncheon. She sat down on the couch and took off her shoes. After sitting in silence for a minute or two, she rose from the couch and made her way to her and Jess' shared bedroom. She decided that she would take a shower and get the smell of diner food off of her. Zoey took a couple of minutes to choose pajamas that she found cute and comfortable. With that, she was off to the shower.
It wasn't long before she started to hear movement outside of the bathroom. She continued to shower at her leisurely pace, soaking up all of the relaxing hot water that she could. Once she was done, she slipped into her pajama shorts and a loose top. She exited the bathroom a few minutes later and walked into the living room, where she could see Jess in the kitchen looking into the freezer. Zoey silently walked over to him and put her arms around him. "Hey Zo." She could almost hear the slightly tired smile in his voice as he closed the freezer.
"Hey."She smiled and leaned her head to his shoulder. She could hear the quiet rhythm of his heartbeat before Jess slowly turned around and put his arms around her waist. Zoey lifted up slightly to give him a sweet kiss. "How was your day today?"
"It was alright. The book is in the editing process..." He trailed off. She knew that meant that he didn't want to go into much detail. She could tell that it was a point of annoyance.. "My day improved vastly just a minute or two ago though. How about you? How was your day?"
Zoey smiled. "Pretty good but there's always room for improvement." She winked with a little chuckle. "I got to sing today, so that was a highlight. Another highlight is that one of my customers gave me their business card and told me to call them. The business card was for a ... wait for it... talent agency!" Her smile grew as she searched Jess' eyes for a reaction.
Jess froze for a moment to gather his thoughts. 'That's wow, I'm happy for you. Do you know if this is legit? What happens now?' were some of the thoughts going through his head. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to be supportive since she was obviously excited. "Have you called yet?" His voice came out quieter than he intended.
Zoey paused for a moment before answering. "No, not yet. I thought that I would check them out first. Even ask you to go with me if I had a meeting. I want to make sure that this is real."
Jess felt a little more at ease. "Good. I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up and then find out that it's fake. or something like that." His arms tightened around her. "I love you and I don't want you to get hurt." He said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Zoey nodded as she got up onto her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I know, and I love you too Jess."
Jess guided her arms down to where he was guiding her into the living room. "How about a movie.?"
"That sounds great. You choose." She smiled as he sat her down on the couch and picked a movie.
The pair snuggled up together on the couch to watch the movie and it was a in no time at all that they were asleep from their busy days.
Months passed by and Zoey met with the casting agents she had met at the diner. Her and Jess both waited to hear something, anything so that they would know how to proceed. There was something different today. Zoey could feel it. She jumped a little when the phone actually did ring.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Zoey Anderson?" The male voice asked.
"This is her." Zoey replied with a gulp. This had been the call that they were waiting for.
"I have great news for you! We sent your tapes to different productions and we found a job for you! It's not a very big part, but everyone has to start somewhere." The agent explained.
Zoey was speechless. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening.. "What.. what show?"
"Chicago."
There was a brief silence before Zoey could speak. "Oh my God! Thank you thank you thank you! How long before I need to be out there.?"
"As soon as possible. You start rehearsals in two weeks." He explained before saying that he had to go and hanging up the phone.
That was when the panic started to set in. Zoey's fingers ran through her hair as her mind raced. 'I have to be in New York in a week. How am I going to do this? I don't have anywhere to stay... I can't just leave Jess.' She was so much in her own head that she didn't hear Jess coming through the door.
Jess' eyes widened at the sight of Zoey, who was pacing and running her fingers through her hair blindly. "Zo, baby. What's wrong? What happened?"
"Jess." She said, looking stunned. "I hum, I got a call from the agent. I got a job in New York It's for the show Chicago. I have rehearsals in a week..." She trailed off, losing steam.
"That's, that's great. Amazing even.. We should start packing, oh and looking for a place.." His mind was running one hundred miles a minute. They would get through this.
Zoey just looked at him with slight confusion. "Wait, what?" She stopped pacing in front of him. "What about your job? You love Truncheon..."
"I love you more." He said honestly.
"And I love you. More than anything., but I can't just let you uproot your life for me. What if this doesn't work out? I can't be the reason we might be homeless."
"Where is this coming from, I thought that this was what you wanted. It's what you've been working for... I don't care if we're homeless. I just want to be with you. I can write anywhere. That's not what we have to worry about. What I'm starting to worry about is that it sounds like you don't want me to be with you in New York..." His face was full of concern and slight hurt.
Zoey froze. Why was she resisting this so hard? New York would be an amazing opportunity for them. She guessed that she just didn't want any resentment if things went south. "Of course I want you to come with me." She reassured him, taking a step toward him.
"It's settled then. We're going to New York"
So, What do you guys think. Only one more chapter left! I hope that you all are having a wonderful day/night! -JenInWonderland