Tenth Grade Drama class

During his tenth grade drama class, Andy had humiliated himself worse than any other time in school. Everyone was doing an act from a play for the class, complete with memorized lines, costumes and props. He had been assigned the gentleman caller scene from A Glass Menagerie with Amy, one of the cheerleaders, as Laura. He was sure the teacher had the best intentions in pairing him with Amy, but, being a geek, he was intimidated: He knew that his character, Jim, kissed Laura.

They learned the lines, and then they practiced during class time in the band room. She was a little aloof. After going through the lines, there was a pause when he was supposed to kiss her. Since they were just doing lines, he hadn't expected anything else. Amy said, "We don't need to practice the kiss, do we? Can we just do it when we act it out? Okay?"

Being the shy person he was, he agreed. Big mistake. First of all, she was one of the cutest girls in school. Secondly, when they presented their scene for the class, when it came time to kiss her, he froze. He must have sat there for two minutes, but it felt like two hours. He was only saved when the bell rang to end the class. He was utterly embarrassed. This was the next incident to rearrange in his mind.

Andy moved his memory to the practice in the band room; when he became aware, they were about halfway through the scene. When they finished and it was time for the kiss, instead of pausing, which gave her the opening before, he spoke up instead.

“I think we should practice the kiss, so that there is no stage fright or anything when we do the scene for class. Okay?”

When presented that way, Amy thought for a second and said, “Sure. That’s a good idea.”

He sat close to her, put his hands on her shoulders, looked her in the eye, and leaned in for the kiss. His lips tenderly kissed hers. He held the kiss for a few seconds, and Amy surprised him by kissing back. He stopped kissing and pulled back. She smiled at him, and his fear fell away.

“Once more just to be sure. Okay?” he asked. Without waiting for her reply, he closed again and kissed her a little harder. This time she kissed back immediately. He broke the kiss and grinned at her. Her indifference was gone. They just looked at each other without saying a word for a minute. They looked up at the clock and headed back to class.

Andy slipped his mind forward a week to the day of presenting the scene. After waiting through the previous scene from The Crucible, he and Amy went backstage while the techies moved the furniture on the stage for their play. He could feel his younger self was more confident, and during the scene, both he and Amy put a little more energy into the lines and acting than he remembered. He caught her smiling at him several times.

Then the end of the scene approached, and it came time to kiss. Just like in practice, Andy looked her in the eye, held her shoulders, and kissed her. Amy kissed back and then slipped her tongue into his mouth, playing briefly with his. He almost lost it completely, but managed to finish the kiss and end the scene. The class clapped more than just politely.

After the curtain closed, Andy said, “Wow. You really surprised me with the French kiss.”

“Well, in practice you were a good kisser, so I thought I’d just go with it. I never thought a brain would know how to kiss.” She smiled at him.

At this point, Andy’s adult consciousness faded into the gray limbo between memories. He wanted to go back, but thought it better to just leave things alone. Now he needed to go to the next incident he wanted to relive.