Trembling With the Strings

Gracie’s P.O.V.
Since I was making amends with my brothers, I decided I should probably apologize for what I had said to Darius earlier. I had gotten caught up in the moment, and he had looked really hurt by my words. I didn’t want to push him away, but I seemed to be doing just that. I didn’t like it one bit.

“Darius?” I called out, checking every room I knew in that house.

After thirty minutes, I had come up with absolutely nothing. He wasn’t in the kitchen, the den, his father’s study… Nowhere! I sighed, sitting on the bottom step. Where could he be? Had he stepped out for a moment? I didn’t know, but I heard a delightful tune being played on the piano. I stepped into the auditorium-like room, immediately recognizing the Fazoili piano.

Darius turned to look at me, smiling softly and patting the seat beside him. I frowned, shaking my head. He stood and gracefully strode up to me, taking my hand gently and kissing it softly.

“Grace, we’ve been so caught up in life that we’ve been ignoring potential happiness.” I tried to tell him that I was perfectly happy, but he sent me a pleading glance. “I love to stop and smell the roses every once and a while. Would you like to join?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I started, looking him up and down. “But you’re wearing that?” He was wearing faded jeans and a simple, tight maroon shirt. “I mean, I thought you’re supposed to dress up at fancy places.”

He frowned. “What fancy place?”

I stood silent for a moment as if I had been struck dumb at that very second. “Aren’t we going out to dinner or something? I need to go change, too, because I don’t think the manager or whatever would like a girl in sweatpants in his diner.” I turned on my heel.

“Wait, slow down, would you?” He caught my hand yet again and twirled me around to face him. “We’re not going out to dinner. I’ve squandered too much money on you as it is,” he teased, smiling boyishly.

“Then where are we going?” I asked him. “Do I need to change?”

“No, you’re gorgeous as ever. I’ve got to say that my shirt is a nice touch, though it’s a little too big for you.” I blushed.

“It was just there, and I didn’t feel like digging through the dresser…” I mumbled, pouting.

“It’s cute. Besides, that’s one of the perks to being a woman, isn’t it? You can wear your boyfriend’s shirts, but we’d look like total faggots if we wore our girl’s clothes.” I made a face, and he laughed. “I’m getting antsy, love. Can we go?”

“Just where are we going?”

“Don’t you like surprises?”

“Not if I’m going to get eaten or something,” I mumbled dryly.

“What an awful joke,” he commented, taking my hand and leading me out of the house and into the driveway. “You’ll see when we get there. But Marcy wants to come, and she wants to bring some friends, alright? And Bryce’s going. And my other cousin, Troy. Oh, and Cam’s brothers, Max and Ron, want to go, too. Yeah, my friends are a different breed needless to say.”

“I thought this was a date,” I told him. “But now I’m thinking we need a guest list!”

“What? I’ve already wooed you beyond redemption, so I figured I could lay off the sappy stuff for one night.”

“If what you’ve been doing up until now was lovey-dovey, I’d hate to see your anger!” I told him, my lower lip pouting a little. “Honestly, I can’t recall just how many times you tried to kill me!”

“I was being stupid.” I gaped. “I know, and enjoy that because I’ll never say it again… I’m a freaking genius! There, balance is restored. Now, get in the car. We’re meeting everyone there.”

We fell into a comfortable silence as the car pulled out of the driveway. In lieu of conversation, I just listened to the unnecessary breathing of my fiancé while watching the scenery pass. I didn’t know what he had up his sleeve, but I half expected the car to sprout wings and fly away. Perhaps that may be a bit extreme, but he was acting so suspicious. Darius was the one who break the stillness.

“You trust me, don’t you?” His eyes remained firmly locked on the road.

I turned to look at him, smiling softly. “Of course I do. What’s all of this about?” He bit his lip as if he was trying to swallow words before they could form. “Don’t hold back on me, Dray. Tell me. Please?”

He sighed, nodding gently. “I just wish that would work with you.”

“What do you mean? Please is the polite way to get what you want. Since when do I not respond to ‘please and thank you,’ hmm?”

“I didn’t mean the manners part of that,” he mumbled, reaching out and turning on the radio. I covered my ears as incoherent screaming filled the car.

“My eardrums!” I shrieked, turning it down a good 35 decibels!

He chuckled, turning it down a little more. “I just… Sometimes I feel like you’re not putting your ‘all’ into this relationship. I know we had an odd start, but I like to think that you love me half as much as I love you. If you fell off a cliff you know that I would catch you in a heartbeat, but I’m not so sure about if I was the one falling. That’s not a fat joke on my part, either. I just mean that, if you had the ability, I’m not so sure if I would be caught in your arms or splattered on the filthy dirt.” He glanced over at me, a hurt expression plastered to his otherwise gorgeous face.

“Dray, don’t be silly,” I begged, blinking furiously as I tried not to cry. I was hormonal, surely, but the fact that my fiancé didn’t think I loved him killed me. “I’d grab your hand before you had time to even think about falling backwards.”

“I want you to trust me with your heart. I want to be able to carry it with me wherever I go, but you refuse to give it to me. I won’t break it.” Oh, the sap. “Yes, I know it’s sappy! But that’s not the point. You say you love me, but words can only prove so much. I want to be able to feel it, not just hear it.”

“Down go the walls,” I murmured, groaning softly as I closed my eyes tightly for a moment.

“I broke down the walls I built around myself. I did that a long time ago, all for the hope that I could fall so hopelessly in love with you. I want no one else to ever mean half as much to me as you do now. I want to move on with my life, forget about the boy I used to be. Don’t turn around, please. I want to move forward, and if that means being a total sappy wimp every now and then, well, that’s just fine with me. And, in retrospect, I wouldn’t ever break the walls for everyone else. Is it fine with you if I’m not Mr. Egotistical Tough Man all the time?”

“It’s perfectly alright with me,” I told him, smiling a little. “And you’re certainly not the boy I knew back then. I’m trying, Darius, I really am. I just need time. And when all I want to do is cry, you’re the one I’ll run to. I’ll put my pride aside. For you.”

He grinned, kissing me quickly before jerking the wheel suddenly. I let out a small screech as he sped past another car.

“Will you please tell me where we’re going now?”

“Not a chance, baby.”

“Boys, boys, boys,” I mumbled, listening to the screaming echoing in the car’s speakers. “For all I know we’re going to a head-banging concert!”