Dear Stranger

Chapter 6

"You would never believe what happened on Monday last week" you said to Lauren.

You were on a girl coffee date with her since you haven't seen her for a while. Your time with her, just like with Joey or with your other "real friends", was something precious to you. You couldn't imagine living without it.

"Does it involve magical creatures? It's always funnier with magical creatures" Lauren said before she took a sip of her drink. "Nope, sorry. I was going out to an event with Ricky and in the garden of my building, I bumped into Darren" You explained. "See? Now he's following you everywhere. Told ya you guys will get along after all" Lauren smiled. "No we're not. But anyway. It was so weird. He had a bouquet of roses and-" "Roses? Ok I'm sorry I didn't know you guys were a couple now" she joked. "Oh shut up!" you chuckle.

That was a good joke. Darren and you dating. Haha. "He told me his GPS fucked up and I gently took him out of the residence" you continued. "Aw poor Dare. He wanted to give you flowers and there he was, totally being fired by the love of his life" Lauren added and shook her head. "Ok, you guys have to stop with the whole love of your life thing between Darren and I. It's not gonna happen. Deal with it! I think we both made it really clear" you insisted. It was getting annoying. "Just look at the situation for a second. The guy comes to your residence with a bouquet of roses and when you ask him why, he tells you his GPS fucked up. If it wasn't Darren, you would have totally thought it was a huge romantic plan" Lauren points. True.

"But it was Darren. So it's impossible. You should see what kind of ambience we're working in the studio. You could probably hear pins drop. And when we talk for more than 10 minutes in a row, we end up fighting" you answered. Her only answer was Lauren shrugging and changed the subject.

It wasn't that the ambience was awful. It was just very professional. No smile, no jokes, no fun. Just writing and playing and creating 100% of the time. Not that it wasn't what you were supposed to do, but...whatever. And then another Monday came.

Week number 2. You took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. You put your hand on the cold handel and push the door open. Darren was already there, a guitar on his lap, playing a few random chords. 'He's a jerk but gosh, he's fucking hot' you thought. His head was down and his dark curls were hanging around. You could spot the stubble on his cheeks. And that shirt... Oh boy, that fitted him so well, like it was painted on his body or something. He looked up at you and pushed his glasses back on his nose.

"Hi" he said and took you back into the real world. "Uhm... Hi" you say weirdly. 'Come on y/n!' you scold yourself and take your coat to put it over the first chair you could find. You looked back at Darren who was looking at you up and down. Like a reflex, you looked down at your t-shirt and skirt, searching for any kind of stain made of toothpaste, jelly or any bagel leftovers. But nothing. You raised back your head to him and ask "What?". He was now looking away, what was happening? "N-nothing" he stuttered and went back to his guitar. You raised your eyebrows and moved on.

All day was filled with instruments sounds, vocal arrangements and ink on papers. Everything was fine, until... "What are you doing? I thought we were going to do that one on piano" you say and turn around to point the piano behind you before looking back at him. He put the strap around his neck. "No, we're not, a guitar melody will be better" Darren affirmed. You sighed. "The song will be more powerful if we do it on piano. It will be more sentimental, exactly the point of this song" you explain. You put your hands on your hips when he started to play a few random chords. Was he even paying attention to what you were saying? "Darren" you call out. No answer. "Darren!"

"What?!" he answered almost roughly. "We should do it on piano!" you repeat. Now it was his turn to sigh. He took off the guitar and put it on the table. He came closer to you and put his hands on his jeans. His eyes were reflecting annoyance. "This is getting odd" you whine. "What is?" Darren breath out. His voice was low and sounded calm, even if he didn't look like it. You rolled your eyes "You not listening. We're supposed to be a team" you answered loudly. "Then if we're a team, why don't you listen to me as well? Why don't we discuss this instead of you just trying to impose your thing?" he responded as loudly. "Because you're a jerk! I can't discuss with you" you tease. He came closer, apparently mad. He chuckled nervously. "I'm the jerk when you don't even want to talk with me?" "Yes you are" "You're a bitch" "What? Are you k-"