Muse [h.s.]

35. cherry

Harry's POV
a year ago

"Don't you call him baby," I sing out, strumming the guitar in my hands. "We're not talking lately...Don't you call him what you used to call me.."

I sit on the front steps of the house I've been staying at here in Japan. I can smell the wet earth, the scent fresh after the rainfall.

It doesn't seem to smell like this anywhere else in the world after it rains. Droplets of water drip onto my toes from the roof above my head.

Rainy days here in Japan are beautiful, almost as beautiful as her.

I continue to strum the guitar, my fingers brushing against its delicate strings. I've already finished and recorded the song a week ago, but I have yet to come up with a name for it. Nothing seems to fit.

"I, I confess..." I continue singing. "I can tell that you are at your best. I'm selfish so I'm hating it.."

Jax and Lydia called me only last night; they were in Miami, helping Aurelia get things ready for the club she's set to open in a few months.

I heard her voice in the background — well, her loud laugh — she sounded joyous. I'm selfish, because the pit in my stomach grew at the sound of her laugh.

I wanted to be the one causing that beautiful sound — music to my ears.

She's doing well, very well, Lydia had said. She, Jax, and Brad often made trips down to Florida to help Ella out with her nightclub preparations, especially in these recent weeks.

"I noticed that there's a piece of you in how I dress, take it as a compliment," I continue singing as I look down at the ring on my finger, a depiction of the moon engraved on it. I had gotten it a while back, wanting a bit of Aurelia with me wherever I went.

I begin to sing the chorus again, making my way into the second verse. "I...I just miss...I just miss your accent and your friends. Did you know I still talk to them?"

The things especially that I'm grateful for are the friendships I've maintained with both Lydia and Jax. After Aurelia and I's breakup, they never showed any bias to either one of us.

They always pick up the phone when I call, and sometimes, they even chew my ear off for not calling — well, Lydia does.

I don't think I would be able to go through this without the two of them.

Lydia had also told me last week that Ella had returned from France again. She spent quite some time there; Jax had told me that she went to visit Lucien and his mother, Elise. Lydia wouldn't let me pry about Ella's dating life, but Jax, on the other hand — Jax does.

He had told me that Ella and Lucien apparently went on a date or two while she was in France, visiting the gallery Elise owned and seeing some of Estelle's paintings; I know that in particular must have been amazing for Aurelia to see.

"Does he take you walking 'round his parents' gallery?"

This song has to be one of my favorites off the album, if not my absolute favorite. There's a sort of vulnerability to it, especially since I included her voice on the end...it's my prettiest baby.

I was playing around while we were in France, while I first wrote this song; I was curious to hear the melody on the guitar, so I recorded it on my phone...I hadn't even noticed that Aurelia was speaking on her cell in the background, she was speaking in the exact key of the song.

I asked her permission, of course —well, I relayed it over to Lydia, who acted as messenger between us, since Aurelia and I haven't spoken since the night I left New York.