A woman with curly hair and glasses, Jennifer, walks into her bedroom and looks at the bookshelf for something. She scans the many books until she comes across the book she’s looking for; her high-school yearbook. She takes it off the shelf and looks at it before opening it. She opens it and skims through it, remembering all the people she once used to see every day. She then stops at a page where her and her three best friend Milo, Nicki, and Danny are posing for a picture at prom. She smiles.
A man with tied up dreadlocks and glasses on, Milo, walks into the room and sees his wife sitting on the bed, flipping through the book.
Milo: *playfully* Getting ready to claw the eyes of your enemies?
Jennifer deadpans; “haha”.
Jennifer: I’m just looking through our yearbook, preparing myself of the people that used to go to high-school with us before our reunion this weekend.
Milo: Are you nervous?
Jennifer: *flips through pages* A little. I mean, it’s been 10 years already.
Milo: So? You’re still hot as ever.
Jennifer: *raises eyebrow* Oh? You thought I was hot when we were in high-school? Didn’t you have a girlfriend ten years ago that wasn’t me?
Milo: *cheeky* I mean, ten years later I’m married to you, right?
Jennifer closes the yearbook and rolls her eyes. She gets up from the bed and puts the yearbook back on the shelf. Milo gets ready for bed.
Milo: Seriously though, there’s no reason to be nervous.
Jennifer gets into bed next to Milo.
Jennifer: I don’t know, we left high-school in a weird way. You were dating Diana, I was dating Craig… she was my enemy, he was yours…
Milo: I mean, we were both young and dumb… and probably desperate.
Jennifer nudges Milo.
Milo: The past is the past, babe. You don’t know where these people are now.
Jennifer: *soft* Besides Craig, who’s in jail now…
Silence. Milo sighs to break it.
Milo: What I’m saying is that we aren’t there to compare each other and see how successful we’ve become in the last ten years. We’re honestly there to just see old friends and have a good time, babe.
Jennifer: I know. You’re right.
Jennifer fluffs up her pillow and begins to get comfortable. Milo stares at her.
Milo: What else are you worried about?
Jennifer: *playing dumb* Whatcha mean?
Milo: Pep…
Jennifer shoots back up to face Milo.
Jennifer: You know everyone is going to ask about Gwen.
Milo: *confused* What?
Jennifer: People are going to ask about Gwen, Mi. You know it.
Milo: Pep, Gwen died in 2008. We were just sophomores when that happened, I doubt people remember Gwen being my girlfriend.
Jennifer: You got the smartest girl in our grade, who also happened to have cancer, pregnant at 15. I doubt people forgot about that.
Milo: Pep, you were also my best friend, I think people who don’t even matter will remember us as inseparable as teenagers.
Jennifer: Not unless you have some secret crazy admirer who’s using the reunion as some way to take you home at the end of the night…
Milo: *laughs* You have to stop watching Lifetime movies in between Micah’s naps, babe.
Jennifer sighs and turns over to go to sleep. Milo tries to comfort Jennifer.
Milo: I’m kidding, but seriously – you don’t have to be worried. I won’t allow you to have a bad time there, Pep. We’ll dance the night away, have a couple of drinks here and there, and introduce my wife, Jennifer, to everyone who comes up to me.
Jennifer: *turns around* Really?
Milo: Of course. If anything, I’ll be the luckiest guy at this reunion because I get to call you my wife.
Jennifer: *soft* Aww, Milo… *playfully pinches Milo’s cheeks* You have to stop watching Hallmark movie in between grading papers, babe.
Milo tackles Jennifer in the bed and tickles her; she’s heard laughing loud and telling Milo to stop. He laughs as he finally leaves her alone. Jennifer is straightening out her frizzy, curly hair.
Jennifer: Why do you love making my hair more of a frizzy mess than it already is?
Milo: Because it’s been my thing since we were kids. Remember that time I messed up your hair when you were talking to that guy you liked in elementary school?
Jennifer: Oh, you mean when I practically chased you all the way home and your mom wouldn’t let me in the house because you started crying for your life?
Milo: *exaggerates* You were a scary ass kid, Pep!
Jennifer: Yet you loved to test me!
Milo: What can I say? I loved to live on the wild side.
Jennifer: The only wild side you used to live when we were kids was you going home a minute after your curfew.
Milo: *deadpans* Someone had to be the responsible one between us.
Jennifer: That surely changed when we were teenagers.
Milo look at Jennifer with a semi-serious look on his face.
Jennifer: *backtracks* I mean, you were still responsible taking care of Milo Jr.
Milo: *smiles* Thank you.
They both look up at the ceiling in silence.
Milo: Remember our graduation day? How my mom was holding Milo in the audience and he just wailed out a cry when my name got called?
Jennifer: Remember it? I lived it. It was the loudest baby roar in the auditorium.
Milo: *laughs* He was so small. God. Where does the time go?
Jennifer: To believe that Milo is only two grades away from being in high-school scares me. Like, for him to go through all the crazy shit we went through. Hopefully his experience isn’t so wild.
Milo: Nah, he’s a good kid. If anything, he got that quality from Gwen.
Jennifer: Hey, you’re a good person too.
Milo stays silent. He’s deep in thought and Jennifer turns to face him in his deep thought.
Milo: I don’t know how I graduated high-school while taking care of a baby all at the same time.
Jennifer: You had people who loved and cared about you.
Milo: Yeah, but, it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. I’m thankful for having a roof over my head but, it was just hard living in the same house as the man who didn’t even acknowledge me or hi grandson.
Jennifer: *concerned* He was mean to Milo?
Milo: I mean, he would tell him that he was too busy to hang out or play with him. Then my mother would come in and try to make things better by offering to spend time with him instead.
Jennifer is empathetic to Milo. She doesn’t break her attention away from Milo while he speaks.
Milo: I’m just glad I’m where I am at now. Shit’s still not easy, but it’s easier than it was.
Jennifer: *smiles* And you’re an amazing father as well.
Milo looks at Jennifer and smiles. He kisses her gently on the forehead.
Milo: *rehearses* “Hey, yeah remember me? Milo Kamalani? Beanie, geeky music kid? Ahh, so you remember Jennifer, my best friend. Yeah, she really is hot, right? Oh, you wanna see what’s up with her? I heard she’s married, bro. Yeah, sorry – she has two kids and still look that good. How do I know this? She’s married to me.”
Jennifer laughs and kisses Milo.
Jennifer: *rehearses* “Oh, hey girl! Yeah I was the girl that accidently set your ponytail on fire in chemistry class… Oh, really? You saw Milo and you think he grew up to be good looking? You know that you once called him gay for being a creative guy, right? Well I gotta break it to you, hun, Milo is actually my husband and girl, does he get creative in the bed-“
Jennifer stops once her and Milo see their bedroom door open and 12-year-old, Milo Jr., stand there in his pajamas.
Milo Jr: … Get a room… or a different house.
Milo Jr. walks out of the bedroom and shouts out that Micah is crying, which makes Micah cry even more. Milo gets up out of the bed first to tend Micah; Jennifer sits in the bed, smiling, happy this is where she is ten years later.
— The End —
Letters From Liz. 