Play my heart

Chapter VII

He makes pancakes for Dawn a week later. She's fighting with Adryan again, having taken Darren's side in their disagreement, so things are a little tense. However, Adryan remains the only one too stubborn to see Darren is right this time. Connor and Caesar have already agreed with him on the matter, but they won't stop asking why he's suddenly so concerned about it.

"He'll come around eventually," he assures Dawn, setting a plate with three pancakes in front of her. She stares at it blankly, unresponsive. Pursing his lips in a frown, Darren pours a generous amount of maple syrup on the pancakes. It's enough to make her look up at him, surprised. "It's the perfect solution for when you feel like crying, trust me."

He pours the rest of the maple syrup on his own plate, drowning the poor pancakes.

A meow gets Dawn's attention from under her chair, and she jumps at the sound. Darren grabs his fork with feigned innocence, as if he didn't just forget to tell her he had gotten a cat.

"This is an unexpected development."

He can't help but smile as he leans down to lift the cat from the ground. He's tried confronting Lee about it to give her back, but he runs away every time he sees Darren approaching. Honestly, kind of rude.

"It's... it was, uh, kind of a mistake. I mean, I didn't mean to keep her," he tries to explain, making things only more confusing for Dawn. Still, she coos at the small animal, cheering up instantly. Girls like cute things, Darren assumes, and hands the cat to her.

"What's her name?"

"Uh..."

His mind short-circuits for a bit. Stalling, he glances around; his eyes fall on the music sheet on the chair next to him, one of Paganini's Caprices he's been playing to keep his mind off things.

"Nini," he blurts out. "Her name's, um, Nini."

Dawn cocks her head to the side, not imagining where Darren got that from, and goes back to showering the kitten with affection. Meanwhile, Darren stuffs his mouth with far too sweet pancakes and answers no question about how he got the pet.

All his friends look at him a bit funny when, another week later, he actually jumps in the air after getting the competition's results. Out of excitement, he hugs Dawn and makes them spin on their spot until she's giggling and Connor and Caesar imitate them.

Hell yeah, first place.

Once they stop, he looks around and spots Lee a little ways over, bickering with the same small girl from the other competition (Lisa, if he remembers correctly). She glances at Darren and, finding him already looking at them, points at him and makes Lee turn around. Darren surprises himself smiling at Lee's scowl.

"Asshole," Lee says. "See if you're as happy when I beat your ass in piano."

Darren rolls his eyes.

"Don't forget our bet, yeah?"

At this, Lisa shoots a questioning look at her friend; he splutters some nonsense at both of them, going red, and throws his now neon orange violin case over his shoulder. He turns around and walks briskly out of the building, making Lisa run after him to catch up.

Darren ignores his friends' questions about the whole ordeal and keeps smiling to himself.

This time, things get better before they get worse. It goes like this.

Dawn meets him outside of the practice room, cupcake ready between her yellow gloves, late one evening. She's been swimming, if her wet hair is anything to go by, and Darren furrows his lips. Does she want to catch a cold? Because that's the least she will get if she goes on like this.