I WAS GOD ONCE

SEPTEMBER 28, 4:22 PM, FRIDAY

        "Keaton wants me to bring outfits for the performance," Adam said, leaning against one of the makeshift make-up mirrors backstage.

       "Do you have anything?" Edward asked him. Adam shrugged.

       "My father isn't much taller than me but he's... Not what I would call... Fashionable at all, and he doesn't really have anything that would it this purpose."

        The backstage of the school theatre was big, and treated with a sort of irritating reverence by all the drama students that Edward had to beg his way back there, and even that hadn't worked. Adam had insisted he was allowed to be back stage because he was helping with the performance, and that had finally, somewhat, settled the other students. Today, Adam wore his yellow jacket around his waist and a blue button up with its sleeves rolled to his elbows.

         He tried to imagine Adam in an ill-fitting suit and withheld a smile.

       Mary and Kayla worked still on the stage, talking quietly together. They'd bought new clothes for the back stages assistants, black shirts and pants, and then new paint that they most definitely could have gotten for free from the art room, but Edward didn't ask anything about that.

        "This is the last room, really, that I guess I could show you," Adam sighed, sticking his hands into his pockets. Edward had gotten tired of sitting on his knees, bent over the mural, and Adam had offered to show him backstage. The lights did not seem to work in several of the rooms to their fullest extent, and it was even hotter in the back of the stage than it was anywhere else.

        "How was the theatre at your old school?"

        Adam shrugged, "It was tiny, actually, compared to this. It was the stage at a church. All of our performances were uh, bible related, and it was usually kind of uncomfortable because there was this huge crucifix behind us on the stage, so like, this pitiful, dying Christ was watching us at all times..."

        Edward snorted. "You seem too shy to be someone who likes drama so much,"

        Adam glanced aside, that shyness showing again. "It's fun," He said absently. "Oh, hey. Have you found a date for the dance, yet?"

        Edward pretended to take interest in the messy costume room. A chalkboard was against the wall with a schedule for the performance faded upon it. Clothes were piled here or there or hung on a steel rack. There was a mannequin, half bodied, with a hat on her head and a coat slung over her shoulders in one corner. He thought of his father, and felt suddenly embarrassed.

        "No, but I- I don't really plan on going, it's-" He searched his mind for some lame excuse. "... Probably too crowded."

         "Oh,"

        "Yeah. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask, actually, you said you wanted a tutor?"

        Adam smiled faintly, "Yes, if you have the time, I guess..."

        "How about..." His father's punishment would last a week, and included no dance. Edward considered the future. "Uh, well, the Saturday after the dance. Or that Sunday. Anytime in the afternoon. I- my house is kind of crowded, so, it's not a good place to study, so-"

         "How about my house?" Adam placed his hand on his chest with an excited grin. Edward shrugged, glancing aside but having to smile as well.

        "If you'd like, or we could go to a park,"

        "How fancy,"

       "I mean, uh, well, it's not like- it's not, a, uh, date but-"

        "My mother loves company, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind me having someone over... And she's been berating me about my grades in that class."

       Edward smiled, feeling heat rush in his cheeks, his neck. He went to the chalkboard so Adam might not notice. It's too hot in here, he thought.

         "If that's what you'd like, then sure. Maybe an hour and half, two hours a day, it's up to you..."

        "Sure!" He heard Adam clap his hands together once. "It's settled, then. Oh, here. I should give you this," He took his satchel which hung on his shoulders and crouched to open it. He dug through it until he found a random paper. "I'll give you my house number,"

        "Number-"

        "Yeah, so you have it, you know. Just in case. And so we can plan for tutoring. I mean, if you don't mind,"

       "Of course not,"

        Adam grinned, found a pen from his bag and wrote quickly. When he finished, he rose, threw his bag back over his shoulder, and held out the paper. Edward took it. When he turned it over, he saw the number was written in the corner. The paper was a flyer for the dance.

       "Just in case," Adam said again smiling still.