Meet Me After Class

Chapter 20: Field Trip

"No need to trouble yourself anymore, Edmund. It may seem to have taken me a while, but I do understand it all now," I said, my voice surprisingly calm as I read Anne Dunnings.

Sitting between the bookshelves in the awfully quiet Brown's, except for Nora Jones softly singing "Come Away With Me" from the speakers in the two corners of the shop, Adam and I had been rehearsing for the past thirty minutes now.

He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to run lines with me after school. Sitting cross-legged across each other with the script in our hands, we were almost halfway through Act 2.

There had been a few customers who walked in and interrupted us, but Adam was always quick to shift back into character as soon as the customer had left.

I still couldn't help but be amazed at how natural he was. Like he'd been acting for a long time.

He looked over at the script, then up at me, and said, "Do you really, Anne?" His eyes were fixed on me.

"Of course, Thomas and I have more in common than I led myself to believe. He is a stubborn man, and so am I. He wants to explore the world and be fascinated with all its charm as well as its ugliness. And so am I. And this marriage, this union that we're about to commit our whole selves to, scares me. It scares me more than anybody could fathom."

I looked down at the script in my hand, no longer able to hold my gaze without my heart beating faster than before. Adam and I had been hanging out ever since we were kids, and there was no way I couldn't win a staring contest with him. But it's different now. I had become more aware of the tiny gold flecks around the moss in the center of his eyes and the way they changed from dark to light, depending on his mood or the expression on his face.

Best friends or not, I couldn't change the fact that we had grown a lot. And the physical changes our bodies had achieved were something I couldn't really deny now. But there was no way I'd let that come in between us or our friendship. The physical reaction was just nature's way of telling us that we were no longer kids, and it shouldn't really bother me.

Should it?

"I agree with your take on the matter, Anne. But, quite frankly, that's not what I meant," Adam said, still staring at me.

I looked up at him to deliver my lines only to see him still staring at me. "Oh, Edmund, my sweet, sweet Edmund, tell me then. You have been a very sincere and truthful man from the very first time we met. Enlighten me. Be honest with me as you have always been. What is it you came all the way here for if not to talk about your friend's disposition on our impending marriage?"

Adam let out a small smirk, never breaking eye contact. He took a deep breath and finally looked down, skimming the script for his next line and seemingly taking a quick mental note of every word.

"Anne," his eyes bore into mine. "I'm leaving for Montreal tomorrow night."

What? Why? Will you be coming back the day before the wedding?"

"No." He slowly shook his head. "I won't be coming back for a very long time, Anne."

I bit my lip, feeling the emotions, when I was writing this scene. It was Anne and Edmund's most heartbreaking scene, and I nearly cried had it not been for Penny, who thoughtlessly barged into my room while I was writing it.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't say it. I won't say it."

"Well, then, at least do something about it, Edmund. I think I have the right to know, all things considered."