Page 1 of Here for a Good Time
ONE
“Are you up?”
A dry, ragged grumble comes out of my phone’s speaker before Zwe’s empty shell of a voice mumbles, “No.”
“Can I come in?”
Another grumble. “It’s… one forty-seven.”
Whirling my chair around, I jump to my feet and, still feeling the buzz from my two post-dinner iced coffees, practically skip out of my office. “I know. But you won’t believe what I just did.”
“Unless it’sset the kitchen on fire,I don’t—” He pauses. “That better be a masked intruder knocking at my door.”
“I’m coming in! Be decent!” I say, hand already turning the doorknob. “And if you’re not, get under the covers.”
I leave Zwe’s bedroom door ajar behind me so that the living room light can stream in. Shirtless, he hauls himself up into a sitting position, both knuckles rubbing at his barely open eyes. “Please tell me you found out that the apocalypse has arrived and you’ve come to say a final goodbye. Because otherwise—”
I plop myself down at the foot of his bed, facing him. “What are you doing next Friday?”
“Obviously now hosting interviews for a new roommate,” he mutters, shoulders hunched. I can just make out the utter contempt that flashes across his eyes. Still grinning, I scoot myself closer across the duvet.
“Well, you’re going to have to push those auditions back three weeks, baby, because we’re going away!”
“My god, you areloudat twoA.M.”
“That’s what all my lovers have told me!” I yell, even louder.
His shoulders vibrate with his chuckle. “Okay, okay, I’m awake. Now, run this by me again? Is this the plot of your next book?”
I shake my head. “No, but it’s book-adjacent. I, your best friend on this whole entire planet, in this lifetime and the next, have booked us a two-week-long, all-inclusive trip to—” I scrunch my gaze up at the ceiling, concentrating to make sure I get this right. “— Sertulu. It’s this tiny island located near the Philippines, like somewhere to the right.” I point to my own right to really solidify my geographical description.
“What—” Zwe scrubs one hand down his face. “—is that? Are you sure that’s even a real place? Is this some PR trip Netflix invited you on? Or did you fall for an online scam where this place promised you that, I dunno, Michael B. Jordan regularly holidays there?”
“How dare you, I’m notthatgullible. And no, it’sverycool, I promise.” I unlock my phone, the contrast between the room’s darkness and the suddenly lit screen making me feel like I’m staring into the sun. “You’re not ready for this, I swear.” When the resort’s home page loads, I thrust the phone in front of Zwe’s face.
On reflex, he shields his eyes with the back of one hand. “Oh my god, have you never heard of dark mode? What are you, a boomer?”Through squinted eyes, he takes my phone, and pulls the brightness bar to its lowest before actually reading anything. “Since when did Ms. City Girl want to vacation on a remote island?”
“It’s at the sweet junction of ‘remote enough to feel peaceful’ and ‘notsoremote that we’re wiping our asses with leaves we’ve foraged ourselves in the jungle,’” I explain. “And naturally, I have booked us a suite at the island’s most exclusive resort. Well, it’s the island’s only resort. But it’s still the most exclusive! Doesn’t it look incredible?”
He’s still scrolling through the Cerulean’s website. Even when he’s 80 percent asleep, Zwe’s poker face is inscrutable. He scrolls, clicks, scrolls some more, clicks, clicks, scrolls, clicks, scrolls, scrolls—and finally hands the phone back.
“Poe, it’s three in the morning.”
I blink. “Yes.”
“You booked us a trip to—” He nods at the now-black screen. “There. At three in the morning.”
“Yes. I wasinspired.”
“By what? Did you start watchingLost?”
I put the phone down and smooth the front of my T-shirt. I’m on a high, and I will not be yanked back to reality by Zwe’s quips. “Ironically, by my writer’s block.” When I glance back up at him, a small smirk is toying with the corners of his lips. “What?”
“Nothing,” he says, but as soon as he opens his mouth to speak, the smirk reveals itself.
“What?” I ask, determined to get it out of him.
“You know I love you.”
