Fresh Ink: An Anthology

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

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“Meet Cute”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“Meet Cute” Summary

At the Denver Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, standing in line with many others, are two girls, Nic and Tamia. Nic is Asian, and Tamia is Black. Both are in costume: Nic is a “gender-flipped” Sulu, who is male in the Star Trek franchise, while Tamia is a racially flipped FBI Agent Dana Scully, who is white in the X-Files.

Although strangers, the two girls begin to interact when a group of guys dressed as zombies make fun of Nic’s costume. Tamia defends Nic, insulting the boys’ intelligence, and they eventually leave the girls alone. The two bond over discussing their costumes. Nic notes that Sulu was the only gay character in the Star Trek franchise, and she wishes that there were more. During their conversation, the power goes out, and the two find an unlocked door and push through. They end up in a dark maintenance corridor, and the door behind them closes and locks them in.

In the dark, Tamia becomes increasingly anxious because the doors around them are all locked. As a “squelching” sound approaches behind them, they grab each other’s hands and flee out a door and onto a concourse. Nic looks down and notices that they’re still holding hands, and they quickly separate.

The two sit in the concourse, talking. Tamia reveals that she wants to do creative work to produce films that provide more representation, like their gender-flipped and race-bending characters. Throughout their conversation, they have a few awkward moments in which each girl considers the other, prodding for information about each other’s sexual orientation without directly asking. Tamia finally asks Nic, “Is gender-flipped Sulu gay too?” (31), but they’re interrupted by the squelching sound returning as a boy bursts through the door. The boy, Wesley Holmgren, is dressed as an amorphous blob and informs them that he’s a Megavirus. As the power returns, the three make their way back, and Wesley talks the entire time about viruses, so the girls are unable to talk to each other.

Back where they began, Tamia and Nic say an awkward goodbye and part ways. However, after talking with her brother, Nic decides to go back and find Tamia. When she finds Tamia with her friends, she works up the courage to ask for her phone number, and Tamia agrees.

“Meet Cute” Analysis

This story explores the difficulties of navigating feelings as a teen, particularly as a queer teen. Throughout the story, Nic and Tamia attempt to flirt with each other or gain further information about the other’s sexual orientation but repeatedly fail due to their uncertainty about how the other may be feeling. As the two flee through the corridor from the sound of Wesley’s footsteps, they hold hands, causing an awkward interaction when they make it to safety and are still doing so. After their time together in the concourse discussing their lives, Tamia works up the courage to ask, “Is gender-flipped Sulu gay too?” (30), meaning Nic, but they’re interrupted by Wesley’s squelching arrival. These interactions, which are typical of teenage flirting and discomfort with their feelings toward each other, are also atypical in that both of them being female presents further complexities. Their struggles to ascertain each other’s sexual orientation explore The Complications of Young Love as a theme that’s especially relevant for people with queer identities. Nic and Tamia battle with the additional layer of complexity that characterizes queer relationships. In the story’s conclusion, after Nic and Tamia part, Nic works up the courage to return and ask her for her number. Even after doing so, she asks Tamia, “Just to be clear, you understand why I’m asking for your number, right?” (37). This question is Nic’s veiled and self-defensive way of confirming that Tamia is queer without outright asking her, leaving room for ambiguity and an escape if she had misinterpreted Tamia’s feelings.

Additionally, the setting of the cosplay event in a convention center reveals the importance of art, in the form of film and television, to Nic and Tamia. They use cosplay to express their love of media while “bending” the characters to fit their own characteristics. The conflict at the start of the story between Nic and the boys in line reflects their ignorance as to why cosplay is important. She notes that they’re only dressed as “zombies,” and they criticize Nic for being female while Sulu is male. Their ignorance reveals their lack of understanding of being someone like Nic or Tamia, who are vastly underrepresented in popular media. However, Tamia’s desire to work in film to produce representative media for minorities conveys the overarching importance of a collection like Fresh Ink: to provide representation for those that find it lacking and to increase their love of art and their ability to relate to and learn from it.