Concerto - A Sonata Sequel (Harry Styles FanFiction)

18. You. Harry. You-and-Harry

    "We'll take the bar, actually," I said in passing, striding into the heart of the restaurant.

    "Thank you," Jas said to Fade, flashing her a small, apologetic smile. Fade led the way. Her lilac-lacquered nail polish caught the light as she held out menus out for us once we'd been seated at the bar.

    Jas's mercy extended through the entrees, failing as I stalled, pushing my food around on my plate. She'd been far more patient than I knew her to be. She'd listened to me while I told her about class and elaborated on how Madame Dupond was helping me finish the piece that had kept the entire McKenney house away for the past few months. We both knew that I was doing everything within my power to skirt any subject that could lead to Harry. I picked up a single grain of rice with my chopsticks and paused at her exasperated sigh. My time was up.

    "What happened? Something happened and you're not telling me. I want details, now." She ordered, shifting around on her stool to face me.

    Ignoring her question, I picked up my glass of wine, taking a generous sip before steeling myself to handle the wrath of Jasmine McKenney.

    "Now, Dari, or I swear to God, I will make the biggest scene." She twirled a lock of glossy blonde hair around her index finger, leveling me with a challenging glare.

    "I saw Harry today." My words came out in a jumbled mess as I spoke into my glass of white wine, sounding more like "jawharytday".

    She rolled her eyes. "Try again."

    I couldn't stop my sigh, I already knew how she was going to react and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. Still, there was no avoiding the inevitable. "I saw Harry today."

    Instead of the overly-dramatic outburst of anger or ridiculously maternal concern that I'd been expecting, she simply took a calm sip from her glass. "And?"

    "And what? It was a fucking disaster. I still don't know whether I should scream or bawl my eyes out." I let out a nervous laugh, doing everything I could to try and mask the pain lurking just below the surface. Everything inside me ached. Renewed pain echoed throughout my entire body as the emotional scars that had never fully healed ripped open once more.

    "What did you do?"

    "What I always do," I muttered. The lie felt like lead on my tongue and I knew she'd caught my moment's hesitation.

    Blessedly, she chose not to reveal my fib. "And Harry?"

    "I didn't stick around long enough to notice much," I hedged, staring pointedly into my glass. I twirled the stem between my fingers, watching as the pale gold liquid swirled within, sparking in the dimmed lighting.

    "So, then what did you notice?"

    "He looks like hell." I took a swig from my pinot grigio, nearly finishing the glass. I motioned for the man tending the bar to bring me another. He looked to Jas and she ordered another as well.

    "Alcoholism will do that to a person," she said, shooting me a sideways glance as the man placed two new glasses in front of us.

    "So will guilt."

    "Sounds like he's hit the shit lottery," she laughed, her voice completely devoid of humor. "What are you doing to do about it?"

    Again, I refused to look at her. "About what?"

    I could practically feel her roll her eyes. "You. Harry. You-and-Harry."

    "There is no 'me and Harry.'"