Page 132 of The Fine Art of Faking It
“But I broke up with him,” Eden reminded Bruce.
He waved away her words. “All part of the plan, my dear. You wouldn’t have realized how wrong you were until you got exactly what you thought you wanted.”
Her jaw dropped and Bruce gave her a wink.
“Diabolical,” Davis whispered.
Bruce resumed his unofficial master of ceremonies role, leaving Eden blinking in shock. “If you’ll notice, there’s a collection jar at the back of the room. The Beautification Committee performs its essential community services at no charge…”
“Come on,” Eden whispered, tugging Davis off stage.
The change in his pickle jar rattled as he hurried down the steps after her. Rather than rejoining the crowd, Eden jerked her head toward the hallway.
They pushed through the door, leaving the winter wonderland behind them for the energy-efficient LED-lit hallway.
“What are we doing?” Davis asked as Eden linked her fingers with his and pulled him further into the belly of the school.
Fifteen years later, and these halls still smelled like desperation and homemade deodorant.
“Living out our high school fantasies.”
“I don’t know what your fantasies were, but I’m fairly sure we could be arrested for mine,” Davis pointed out.
She towed him down the hallway, change jingling.
The first classroom they passed was lit up and Eden came to a screeching halt outside the door. “Are those—?”
“Our parents,” Davis observed. His mother and father and Bryson were seated in the front row of the classroom. Lily Ann and Ned were sprawled out in the back row. The front of the room was occupied by most of the Beautification Committee. Ellery was lecturing about something on a whiteboard under the title Feuds Are Bad. She didn’t seem happy with the answers she was getting from her pupils.
“Are they re-educating our parents?” Eden asked.
Just then Lily Ann spotted them in the hallway. She fluttered up to the door, abandoning her desk. “Get us out of here, Eden!” she shouted through the glass window. She tried the doorknob, and it rattled but didn’t turn.
“Are they locked in there?” Eden asked, trying the knob on her side.
Ellery pushed her way to the door, hip-checking Lily Ann out of the way. “Everything is fine! All under control. Go away!” she yelled over Lily Ann and now Tilly’s screeches. Ellery yanked the window shade down.
“I don’t even care if that’s considered abduction. They’ve already committed arson. Might as well work their way through the felony As,” Davis admitted.
They continued their stroll down the hallway they’d last walked together as teenagers. The lockers, then a dingy school bus yellow, were now partially hidden under a colorful mural of flowers, doves, rainbows, and peace signs.
She tried every door they passed. One opened in her hand, and she stuck her head into the room. “Whoops! Sorry Phoebe. Franklin. Didn’t know this room was occupied,” Eden said shutting the door with a decisive click. “Looks like our favorite town grandparents are enjoying some private time,” Eden said sheepishly.
Davis smothered a laugh with a cough.
“A ha!” Eden said, triumphantly turning the door knob on the Household Management and Partnership classroom.
“Have a couples roll-playing script you want to work on?” Davis asked, stepping into the room. It was much the same as it had been fifteen years ago with lab tables.
She turned to face him, ran her hands down his shirt, and let her fingers linger on his belt buckle. “I was thinking maybe we could practice the fine art of make-up sex.”
Davis felt his blood empty from his head. He dumped his pickle jar on a nearby lab table and grabbed her hands. “Eden, I…” He had no words. Hadn’t he fantasized about a moment like this for most of his senior high career?
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She locked the door and pulled the shade, enjoying the tangible nerves that Davis was firing off behind her. “I have twenty minutes before my volunteer shift in the inclusivity room,” she told him.
Eden turned on the salt lamps at the front of the room before returning to him.
