The Theater Room

Chapter 11

Erin's POV:

*Thursday*

The week was almost over, and ever since Harry and I had our talk on Monday he has been nothing but nice to me. We've had civil conversation, and when Jackie tries to start crap in drama Harry stops her. I can't tell if he honestly has a nice side or if he just really doesn't want me to tell the football team he's in drama.. Either way it's nice having him not be rude.

"Okay so I'd like for us to do an exercise of sorts today.  Everybody group up in sets of two and come onto the stage." Canton says as she walks onto the stage. I look around and see Harry walking towards me. What the heck? "Hey do you have a partner?" he asks as he stops infront of me, "No I don't. Where's Jackie? Figured yall would be together." "Yeahh," he draws out and rubs at the back of his neck, "She's not here at the moment, so I figured i'd ask you. So do you want to be my partner?" "Second choice," I chuckle and he rolls his eyes and shakes his head but he smiles none the less, "Sure Styles, i'll be your partner." I reply and we walk onto the stage.

"Okay so turn facing your partner." Canton instructs and we all face our partners. "Okay so now I want you to look your partner in the eyes, and don't break eye contact or say a word." she adds and everyone looks at their partner. "I'm going to mention things I want you to imagine about your partner." she says and we nod, "Okay, no talking and keep eyes locked." she reminds us.

"I want you to think of your partner as a baby." Harry begins smiling and I find myself doing the same, and you can her stifled giggles around the room.

"Now think of them as a young child." I think of a young really curly haired Harry and I chuckle, his smile grows and I can only imagine what he's thinking.

"Now imagine them as a teenager and all the things they went through." I picture a fluffy haired lanky boy and grin but then I start thinking of all the possible things he could've gone through and my smile falters, and Harry's does the same.

"Now imagine them graduating college." I picture graduation day and him walking across the stage.

"Now imagine them getting married." I picture a wedding day and in it he's marrying Jackie, and it makes me want to gag but I hold it in. He on the other hand is all smiles. What is he thinking?

"Now imagine their married life, their children, and their family." I picture a divorced Harry and two kids. A boy and a girl. The boy looks just like Harry but has Jackie's black hair, and the girl resembles both parents but she has beautiful curly brown hair like Harry. They seem happy, but Harry seems slightly broken. Where'd that come from? I shake my head and study Harry's face but I can't tell what he's thinking about, his facial expression is unreadable.

"Now imagine them old and retired." I imagine an old Harry on a beach somewhere and chuckle. Harry grins and giggles and it makes me smile more.

"Now imagine them on their death bed." Immediately Harry and I's faces fall and we're no longer smiling, now we're both frowning. You can hear random sniffles from around the room and then I picture Harry dying then it hits me, what if he died young? I end up breaking eye contact and look away. Granted we're not really all that close but picturing him dying saddens me and I can feel my eyes getting watery. Who wants to picture someone dying? Definitely not me. I look back up at Harry and he holds a sad expression, he reaches to wipe me cheek when Canton starts talking again and I turn forward before he could wipe the tear that had slipped.

"Okay now give me feedback." She says .

"It was pretty intense." someone from across the room says and she nods, "Anything else?"

"I imagined Harry dying old, but it also makes you think.. what if he died young?" I say and Harry looks over at me and I can't read his expression. "That was the point. It was to make you feel that intense emotion, and that you should never take a day for granted." Canton says and we all begin to nod. That was a really good exercise to start with. Damn. "Okay now everybody separate up. Lets run a few scenes." Canton chippers and claps her hands and we all get ready for whichever scene she calls out.