"Theatre Class"- Jlaire Fanfiction

Claire sat in her class, front row, notebook open and totally bored. She thought that when she signed up for 'Intro to Theatre' that she would be reading through scripts, examining writing styles of the famous playwrights, or maybe performing a monologue on occasion. She certainly did not expect to be lectured at for two and a half hours at a time, once a week, on a school night. She REALLY didn't expect to have to read 2-3 chapters in a textbook each week outside of class. Claire loved learning the history of theatre, but she was a performer at heart and sitting for hours on end was starting to get on her nerves.

She sighed, glancing at the clock as her professor droned on about Stanislavsky. She wanted to get back to her dorm and get at least some homework done before class tomorrow. Her teachers hadn't been lying when they said college was harder than high school. Here Claire had to actually work at being smart. Her professor just didn't seem to understand that Claire wanted some sleep tonight.

Claire was driven from her thoughts by a loud thunk on one of the desks behind her. She risked a glance behind her to see what it was, and it was a boy. He was around her age, and he was asleep. The boy had dark hair and was wearing a blue sweater. He honestly looked like he hadn't slept in a few days. She had seen him around campus a few times, almost always trailed by a shorter, red-headed boy whom she would assume was his friend. Right now, he was resting his head on the desk in front of him, wrenched over at an almost impossible angle in order to get there due to his height. She giggled, turning back to her notebook covered in doodles. Claire had been meaning to approach the boy at some point, mostly because she thought he was cute. Maybe tonight was the night.

After half an hour more, the professor had decided he'd tortured them enough and let them go at the 'early' hour of eight thirty. She packed up her things, throwing her bag around her shoulder as she stood up. She turned, noticing that no one had woken their sleeping classmate, so she made her way to his desk.

She grabbed a pen from her bag, she used it to poke him once, twice, a few more times until he finally swatted it away, groaning as he ran a hand through his hair before lifting his head off the desk. His eyes caught hers, dazed and obviously sleep-deprived, but still brilliantly blue. She had never seen such bright blue eyes before, and his felt as though they were seeing right through to her soul.

He was dazed and tired and his words came out in a sleepy haze as he smiled up at her, "Do I uhh… Do I know you?"

"Oh, uh… no. No, you don't know me but I figured you wouldn't want to spend the night cramped up in a little desk." She fumbled through her sentence, a blush hitting her cheeks as the embarrassing nature of what she had just done hit her. He looked at her, eyes still weary but holding a look of awe, like she was an angel or something.

When he had found his voice again, he cleared his throat, "Oh, yeah." His hand found its way to the back of his neck, scratching nervously. "That probably would be best." The nervous chuckle that came from him made her heart twitch in her chest.

She smiled at his response, rocking nervously back and forth on her feet. She let the silence consume them for a moment, thick with nervousness and a strange tension as it lingered. "Well, I uh… I better get back to my dorm then…" she let her sentence trail off as she threw her thumb over her shoulder.

"Oh," his face fell, realizing that she was probably right. For a moment he looked deep in thought.

"Well, I'm just over in Heartstone if you want to walk with me?" She suggested as her face continued to burn.

His face lit up as she said this and he noted, "Yeah, it is kind of dark out, I would appreciate knowing you got back safe." She thought it was kind of odd that he had to add an explanation to this. It was as if he was reasoning with himself, giving an explanation as to why it was a good idea. He took a second to think before standing up quickly and grabbing his things saying, "I mean, I'd like to walk you home."

The smile he gave her made her heart flutter. They began to make their way towards her dorm, making light conversation as they went.

"You're Claire, right?"

This caught her off-guard, how did cute boy know her name? "Uh… Yeah, how'd you know?"

He laughed at that, "I saw you in a production on campus, you were really good."

Her face began to burn even brighter, "Well… That's not completely and totally embarrassing at all." She used her hand to move her hair behind her ear as they walked. She could spot the smile on cute boy's face.

"No no no! You were so good, I swear!" He held his hands up in front of him in a sign of embarrassment before brandishing one at her, "I'm Jim by the way."

She took his hand, shaking firmly while laughing, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Jim. What's your major, by the way?"

Their conversation continued in a very easy and lighthearted manner as they continued to walk. They reached their destination she motioned toward the building, "Well… This is me. I guess." She really didn't want their conversation to end, she was enjoying herself for the first time in a while, but she wasn't able to admit that to herself just yet.

They stood there in front of her building in complete silence yet again. The silence and tension lingered in the air for another moment or two before they broke.

"This might soun-"

"Well, goodni-" Both had started speaking at the same time, they both laughed.

"Sorry, ladies first." Jim conceded. He mussed his hair once again nervously.

"Okay… well, I was going to say this might sound completely insane, because I just met you, but would you like to come up? I can get you the notes you missed during your nap?" She tried her best not to sound too hopeful.

His face lit up with a smile, "I would like that."