The Love of a Stranger

Practice Makes Perfect

He pulled me onto the couch where he wiped away any excess tears that had spilled and supportively held his hands by the side of my cheeks making me face him.

"Why didn't you tell me the truth in the first place?" he asked after a long moment of silence.

"I never wanted you to get included. I had only known you for about a day when I told you about my past. Me being me, I thought that what we had between us wouldn't last long so I didn't bother telling you the truth, but now, I love you more than I thought I would and I just couldn't deal with the lies. Now your involved and it's all because of me. I let bad things happen to good people, they even take the bullet..."

I held my breath refusing to cry, all I've done ever done is to cry, it's what started it all.

"Your mum is the one who should be blamed, you had no choice in the matter, it's not your fault I can promise you that." He pulled me into his chest, I relaxed and took a couple of breaths composing myself, I soon drifted away into a deep sleep and slipped into my dream world where everything was perfect and there was no such thing as reality. While I was sleeping I was accompanied by quiet humming that I could listen to for days. I forced myself into consciousness so I could hear it better but my eyes remained closed. The calming humming continued making goosebumps appear on my pale skin. His voice was what I missed the most, it sends you into a state of pure relaxation, relieving you of all stress and problems. I adored it.

"You have a beautiful voice Dan." I mumbled, I noticed how I woke up in a different position from when I fell asleep. I had moved - or rather Dan had moved me - up so that I had half of my body over Dan's, our legs in a tangled mess. He was lying down with his head leaning onto the arm of the couch with my head which was resting upon his chest listening to his beating heart while I could feel his torso rise and fall ever so gently.

"So do you." He whispered. My eyes shot open and I raised my head so that our faces were inches apart.

"At least you can use yours." I grumbled. He scoffed and rolled his eyes and intently stared back at me until an idea popped into his mind, scaring me when he jumped up from underneath me making me fall off the couch and landing on my bum.

"Do you know what?" He said jumping up onto his feet completely oblivious to me falling off the couch and now groaning in pain.

"Christ-what?" I replied rubbing my bum. He turned round and finally noticed me sitting on the floor. A smirk spread across his face which soon turned into laughter.

"It's not funny, it hurt!" He offered his hands which I gladly accepted. He deliberately pulled me up faster than I anticipated and our bodies collided...along with our lips. It was so unexpected, but it felt so good, it had been so long since the last time I had experienced this momentous feeling. He pulled away leaving me aching for more.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that again." He smirked. I wanted to say the same but not before he went back onto the subject before he kissed me. Sometimes I feel like I never get to say 'I love you' as much as I wanted to. Dan forcefully dragged me to the music room and sat me down onto the piano stool next to him, I looked at the keys and noticed that I was sitting right infront of middle C, and he sat down at the lower notes to the left of me.

"Play something." He asked. "And sing." he added at the end, I gave him a questioning look but he just nodded his head. But he knows I won't be able to play it all? I mentally went through my playlist until I picked out a song that I had recently grown attatched to. I gently placed my hands down in the right shape and on the right notes and began to play. It was a difficult song to play, but I just loved it.

"Come on skinny love, what happend here?" I sang immediately regretting my choice of song. Shit, maybe I shouldn't of chose this song, it's bloody hard to sing. My nerves settled in and the pressure to get this right began to build, but I closed my eyes and pretended I was playing to myself.

"And I told you to be patient..."

Breath

"And I told you to be fine..."

Breath

It eventually came to the point that after every line that I sung I would need to take a deep breath to sing the next. Dan sat in silence listening to me, I noticed his eyes were closed as if he was evaluating me. I was so close to finishing the song and I was breathing like I had just ran a marathon.

"Breath Laura, you're doing fine." he muttered loud enough for me to just barely hear, calming me down.

"Come on skinny loooooove" That big long note, the finale, the end. Thank God. I squeezed my eyes shut giving it everything I've got which, mind you, was barely anything. I opened them again and noticed Dan in the corner of my eye watching me, smiling. I lifted both my hands off the keys and my foot off the pedal, now for the explanation for my sudden performance. I dropped my hands onto my lap fiddling with them keeping my head down.

"So..." I droaned. "Why did I have to do that?"

"I wanted to push you to your limits. Your voice is too good to waste, just get a little practice every now and then and it won't be so useless. That was beautiful, what was that song called?"

I blushed and grinned uncontrollably.

"Skinny Love by Birdy, originally by Bon Iver but they're just as good as each other." I timidly smiled. He clasped the back of my head combing my hair with his fingers gently and pulled me closer to him kissing me on the head.

"Promise me one thing." He said sounding stern, his soft lips brushing against my head as he spoke. I looked up at him and nodded imperceptibly.

"Promise me that you won't run away again. I can't lose you again, I'm terrified that if you do I might not get you back."

"But m-my mum..." I stuttered, he interupted me before I could continue.

"I don't care about your mum, instead of blocking me out let me help."

I sighed knowing that by taking Dan's advice would put him in as much danger as I was already in, he obviously doesn't know what he's putting himself up for...but then again, do I? What else can I do? My mum is a very poweful woman, powerful meaning that she could sue a high-powered company within a click of her fingers, she could make her employees panic at the mention of her name - I should know I was once one of them but I was only part of the janitorial department, the only job that was available. I wasn't quite sure what the whole purpose of the business was, but it included tall, muscular men dressed in a security guards uniform, high-tech security cameras in ever corner of the room and a vault. The vault was what sparked my interest, I never got to go in it, or even see inside I only ever just cleaned around it and that still remains a mystery to me. After spending months and months there getting abuse off my mum and her co-workers, I left, mainly because the janitorial department closed down. They didn't need us they said, but I saw past their lies, they just didn't trust us. We were just a bunch of low-class people to them. They had planted this idea in their head that we were desperate, although it was true that some - including me - were desperate, we were content with life and we were grateful with what we had until they took it away from us leaving us jobless.

A/n: shit shit shit shit I know, I was a bit lost at this chapter, sorry. I'm stressed beyond belief right now and writing just makes me feel better so sorry if they reflect my dull mood. It would also help if you guys read my other fanfic that I've recently released. Thanks a lot!