Unity | Harry Styles AU

XVIII: a therapy session

Derrick offered to take me out to dinner so we could catch up on what he had missed. At 7:30, I was sat down in a booth at the Scaddabush restaurant awaiting his presence.

Sure enough, he came and sat down in front of me just minutes after I had arrived.

"Hey you." He smirked as he adjusted the collar of his white and black striped dress shirt.

"Hey." I sighed. I tried not to seem down in front of him, but I was anything but happy.

"Aw, are you upset? Don't be." He cooed. His voice was not as deep as Harry's, but it was still reassuring.

"I'm not upset." I lied with a smile on my face.

"You are, though." He replied.

As a waitress walked past our booth, Derrick tapped her shoulder to grab her attention.

"Could we get two bowls of strawberry ice cream? One for me and one for the lady?" He said charmingly. The waitress nodded and headed over to the kitchen to tend to his order.

"Dessert cures everything." He said.

"Guess so." I smiled.

"Care to tell me what's on your mind? It'll make you a downer all night if you don't let me help you." Derrick said.

"It's.." I struggled to put it into words without blatantly admitting what was causing my blue mood.

"My best, best friend who moved to London for school," I began to lie to him. He listened attentively.

"She's gifted. She's excellent. And she called me a while ago saying that she had met someone. I was so happy for her. That is until she told me that someone was her... Calculus teacher– who is.. fifteen years older than she is." I continued.

Derrick furrowed his brow. "Go on..."

"They were.. You know, sleeping together. She thought it was serious because she was under the impression the feelings were mutual. She told me he had asked her to move in, she met his mom at Christmas, he took her out often... It was everything you would find in an ideal relationship. It was the happiest she's ever been. I have never seen her so stress-free in all our years of friendship." I stopped for a moment to breathe. Derrick still listened attentively.

"He treated her well for the time being. Then just yesterday she calls me and tells me that he wanted whatever was between them to be over. He wanted her to forget about everything and end the relationship; whatever it may be, completely. It was like he wanted her to just leave behind everything they've built together. The bond, the feeling..."

"Wait-"

"Now I'm questioning myself." I ignored Derrick's command. "Was what we had all a façade? Was I over exaggerating and taking his kindness and mistaking it for affection?" I gasped for a second when I realized I was no longer talking about this said friend in London.

"That's what she told me yesterday." I cleared my throat.

"She fell into some sort of trap and she had mistaken his infatuation for love. When in reality, he probably sleeps with younger woman all the time and probably kept her around because he pitied her. She was a good student after all. Too good, maybe." I exhaled. I had been speaking a lot. Too much.

Derrick continued the conversation.

"Or maybe, he came to realization that it's kind of against board rules at every school there is to have a teacher/student relationship. It's a felony, Alaska. It's incredibly wrong. Your friend's teacher probably doesn't want to lose his job. That's what I think at least." Derrick said.

I sipped my water and shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe."

"This happened to your friend?" Derrick questioned. His tone was making me anxious. Was I that bad a liar?

"..Yes. Anyways, she told me yesterday that she had her heart broken for the first time and she was so devastated because she devoted herself to him." I sighed.

"She was way in over her head." Derrick responded. "This sounds harsh but, he didn't ask for her devotion. You should never rely on someone else for happiness. People leave, and when your "happiness" leaves, you're left with nothing." Derrick explained.

"It doesn't make sense though. It was so sudden. It was all perfect until that one day." I said.

"It takes less than an hour for someone's life to change. In one hour, you can lose a loved one, you can get into an accident, you can get news that you've gotten accepted into a university... You can fall in love in one hour, but you can also fall out of love in one hour. Sometimes not even. Sometimes it can take only minutes depending on the circumstance I guess."

"People's minds can change, it may be a shock when they tell you, but it isn't a shock to them. They've known inside of them that their mind has changed for a long time. Some people are just better at wording it than others." Derrick continued.

"What should she do? It's hard seeing such a bubbly girl devastated like she is." I sighed. I had so many emotions inside of me right now. It felt odd to be describing myself and then making a character portray my qualities to another person.

"Gee, I almost think you're talking about yourself." He chuckled. I did not. "You should tell her that you can't change peoples' minds. If you don't like it, change it, but if you can't change it, change the way you see it. She should see this as a lesson learned. Now she knows what not to look for in a guy." He chuckled. I furrowed my brow.

"..Like?"

"Well for starters, someone who's around their age, and someone who isn't their teacher." He laughed. I tried to laugh too but stopped because it sounded forced. Because it was.

"Folks, your ice cream?" The waitress interrupted with two bowls of strawberry ice cream in hand.

"Finally. Thank you." Derrick smiled as he took a spoonful into his mouth.

We sat in silence as we ate our desserts. I tried to take in the advice my "personal therapist" had just given to me. I had a hard time doing so.

Not because it didn't make sense, but because it made all the sense in the world, and because I knew he was right about all of it.

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Dreadfully short chapter, I know and I'm sorry. I update very frequently however so more chapters will be posted soon.

Little disclaimer that since this book takes place in an alternate universe, any "laws" or rules in this book have been molded in the slightest to suit the needs of this fanfiction. This book is purely fictional. Please don't take any of them as a fact because it's most likely not 100% true.

Thank you for your understanding :)

Yours truly x