Play my heart

Chapter XI

The first week of recess is closer to torture than it is to a vacation. Adryan makes a point of interrupting all his activities—practicing, napping, reading, horse riding, napping—with unrelenting texts and a string of around fifteen pictures every time, demanding his opinion on each of them. He's actually designing jewelry for Dawn, the hopeless romantic, and Darren would much rather have nothing to do with it. As it is, though, his best friend doesn't get the hint, so he reluctantly helps him pick the perfect design.

The gift arrives that Saturday, while the four of them are hanging out at Adryan's place. He's been pacing nervously around the room for the past hour, so it's a relief when the butler comes in with a black velvet box in his hands. After ushering the butler out of the room, Adryan opens the box and his face shines with childish excitement. He takes the silver necklace out of the box and proudly showcases it for his friends.

Darren can only stand a brief look at it. He can already see it around Dawn's pale neck, catching the light as she moves, making her smile fondly as she brushes her fingers over it. He's suddenly nauseous.

Only once Connor asks when Adryan is planning to give it to her, do they find out Adryan hasn't thought about that at all. He puts the necklace back in the box, deadly pale, and swears them to silence. Darren rolls his eyes.

Tuesday greets them in a luxury ski resort, where they're spending the rest of the week. Darren looks out of the window, sipping from a cup of tea, and watches Connor teach Dawn's best friend how to ski. Caesar stands at his side, looking off into the distance and not paying attention to them. Further down the hill, where Darren can't see them, Adryan must be losing his patience trying to teach Dawn.

He still hasn't given her the necklace, which makes Darren's begrudging help with it feel pointless.

Later that evening, he finds a guitar laying around and takes it to one of the living rooms. Dawn's the only one there, staring numbly at the fire in the chimney. He sits on the sofa next to her and drags his fingers over some soft chords, until he remembers a melody calm enough to make her company.

She smiles at him and his thoughts turn to mush, but the music keeps going, unwavering. Despite not needing to, Darren keeps his eyes locked on the guitar, tired of all the jumps and spins his heart does when he looks at Dawn. When will it stop that? When will it understand these feelings are going nowhere?

Once the melody is over, he extends a hand toward Dawn, who raises a brow at him.

"You have to pay your musicians, you know."

She stifles a laugh. "Oh, I was just here to turn the pages of the score, but since you don't have one..." she trails off.

An idea he hates pops into his mind. "That's okay. You can run some errands for me."

After sending her out for some coffee, he takes out his phone and gives Adryan a call. The most selfish part of him wants to drown every word before they leave his mouth, but he's been fighting that part for too long now. With little explanation, he tells Adryan to meet him in the same place he sent Dawn to.

"That's it," he says to himself when he hangs up.

He takes a deep breath as his eyes start to sting. A bitter smile tugs at his lips, and a hollow snicker goes after it. It had to be done, he reminds himself, pressing his eyes shut. Adryan would have never given Dawn the damn gift without a little push.

It feels final, somehow. He knows Adryan too well, and Dawn, too. The necklace is a promise, and she's gonna take it—she might act like it's a bother or a lot of responsibility, but still. She'll accept the promise and his last, stupid hopes will crumble into nothingness. It's pathetic.