Sonata (Harry Styles FanFiction)

24. Say It Again.

"I had no right saying those things about your family. I don't know what you went through and I never will, not fully. I can only hope to try and understand but in order for me to do that you have to open up to me."

"What makes you think that's ever going to happen? I've known Jas since I was fourteen. Even she doesn't know everything that happened."

"I'm not asking you to tell me every dark memory, I'm just asking you to have a real conversation with me. No fronts, no bullshit. Just real, genuine conversation. Do you think you can do that?" His tone was gentle, one large hand coming up to cup my cheek, pulling me away from the distraction t

"Darien?"

"Okay," I whispered, my bottom lip trembling with useless emotion. There was a reason I had so many "daddy issues". I didn't deal with my shit. I compartmentalized everything. If I didn't have to deal with something at that exact point in time it got boxed away and labeled "DO NOT OPEN" with red tape. I wasn't sure how much tape I was ready to cut into just yet but I figured the "conversation" box couldn't be as bad as Pandora's so why the hell not.

"Okay."

Harry Styles

She was silent for several moments and I couldn't help but marvel at the fact. Darien Grace was never silent. She always seemed to have something to say... but then again, she usually chose the topic. I could tell from the uncomfortable twitching in her fingers and the way that her eyes were cast to the ground that she was in uncharted territory. She was out of her depth and she was shutting down. I couldn't let that happen. I needed her to talk to me. I needed to keep her talking. Talking was good— talking meant that our mouths were too busy to be otherwise engaged.

Ever since the dinner from hell at the McKenney's, I'd been avoiding her. I'd crossed so many lines and I had allowed her to do the same. Darien wasn't the type of girl to give up on anything, especially when she knew that she was close to winning. I knew that avoiding her wouldn't work forever; we'd have to deal with each other eventually. She was in my class for fuck's sake. Maybe that was the reason that I'd come here tonight. Subconsciously, I'd wanted to see her— I'd come here in hopes of running into her. But why? I didn't know; I couldn't explain it. I just knew that I needed to see her. She'd been circulating through my mind since the moment I met her. She kept me awake at night. She was the reason I hadn't been on a single bloody date since the first day of class. She was driving me to the break of insanity and the truly terrifying part about all of it was I wouldn't change. She'd turned my world so far upside down that righting it now just felt wrong.

"Why did you come here?" she spoke so suddenly that I jumped. Her eyes were refocused on the wall ahead of us, her fingers limp along the keys.

'What?"

"Why are you here? We've already established that you can't play for shit, so why bother trying?" Her voice was gradually regaining some of it's normal confidence, but there was still a serious edge to it that I wasn't used to hearing. I couldn't tell her the truth— that I'd come here to try and get my mind off of her, only, I hadn't thought through the fact that playing the piano only made it worse. I couldn't even really listen to music anymore without thoughts of her surfacing. She haunted every moment of my day. Her wild aquamarine eyes with their wicked glint and that damnable smart mouth.

"I needed to get my mind off of a few things," I muttered, pulling a hand through my hair, pushing a few stray strands up and off of my forehead.

"So you decided that you'd come and struggle to play the piano? Brilliant idea, Professor," she mocked.