Love Is Black And White

11. Orange Leaves

At our high school graduation, my friends and I promised to see each other whenever possible. 

But then life happened.

The miles were not to blame, we were not that far from each other. Jade and Kyle were at Yale; she was in law school and he was in medical school. Anna was studying journalism at NYU, and Will was in Boston, studying political science.

I blamed life. We were very busy, living it.

Around Thanksgiving, Jade invited us to watch her play. It was the first time we were all together after we started our new lives. That night, the little theater was the perfect setting for the reunion of old friends.

"Kyle!" I said when I saw him on the stairs next to the seats.

Kyle smiled as soon as he saw me. "Hey, man!" 

"How are you?" I asked after I hugged him, "Jade told me you're studying hard."

Kyle lowered his head and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, you know... Medicine, you lose your life to save others." He laughed.

"Excuse me..." A voice said to us. "Are you that famous writer Leon Bloom?" Will asked, laughing.

"Hey, Will!" I hugged him.

"What's that in your face?" Kyle asked before hugging him.

Will smiled confidently. "People respect men with mustaches!" He replied, curling the ends of his mustache with his hands, and we laughed.

While Kyle was talking to Will about his mustache, I looked around the theater, and smiled when I saw another familiar face. "And there is Anna," I said and laughed when she waved happily at us. "On the wrong side."

Anna walked towards us, smiling and apologizing to each person who was sitting in the row she crossed. "Hi guys!" She said excitedly, hugging each of us, "I missed you!"

"It's great to see you happy, Anna," I commented, smiling.

"Yeah," Will nodded. "It looks like you've been writing a lot of daily horoscopes." He teased her.

Anna glared at him. "Yes... And here's yours for today: You must shut up before you get punched." 

Will raised his eyebrows and we all laughed. 

While my friends were talking, I looked around the theater once again, and my eyes stopped at the edge of the red stage curtain, where two eyes were staring at me. The eyes I could recognize from among any crowd. 

Even with the rest of her face covered with the curtain, I knew Jade was smiling. She had this incredible ability to smile with her eyes. I smiled back and she closed the curtain.

The play was about the story of a peasant woman, and Jade was one of her sisters. It was beautiful and light, but also melancholy and tragic, as a marriage of the works of Shakespeare and Jane Austen.

Jade was great, as always. She hugged me tightly when we went to congratulate her backstage, after the play was over.

"You were fantastic!" Anna said, when Jade was hugging her.

"Oh my God!" Jade shouted, smiling, "I missed you so much!" She looked at each of us.

"Hey," Will said to Jade. "Let's go somewhere and celebrate,"

She raised her eyebrows, and smiled even more excitedly. "Great! Just let me get my things." 

For a few seconds, we watched Jade walking towards the other actors, in silence.