And Then There Was You

Harry rested his chin in his hand as he sat through the day’s lecture. Things seemed particularly boring today. He was growing tired of his demanding schedule and having to work all the time. His life wasn’t exciting. The only thing ever did was hang out with Liam and avoid Liam’s friends.

He sighed heavily, earning him a couple curious glances. He ignored them. His pen was tapping a ridiculous rhythm on top of his notebook as he waited for the lecture to end. The clock on the wall above his professor’s head indicated that there was only a couple minutes left.

"I've given you music in a really formulaic fashion. It's hard to understand how it works. But it's easy to understand how it makes sense to you. So, this semester, I would like you all to work on something that makes sense to you." The professor said, making his tapping cease.

Harry perked up at this idea. Finally something interesting to help him scrape through the rest of this endless semester.

"I'm giving you total creative freedom here. It can be anything. A concerto, a hip hop track, an acoustic guitar piece. I don't care. But along with this I want you to write a paper explaining why you wrote this piece and what it means to you." He said and then excused the class for the day.

Harry pulled his headphones off from around their place on his neck and slipped them over his ears. His brain was running through all the possibilities for his song. He recently got some new production software that he was dying to use.

He was silently humming a silent melody when he crashing into something solid. He closed his eyes at the impact, not really want to see the person he ran into. So he kept his eyes trained on the ground and mumbled an apology. If Harry had looked up, he would have seen a blue-eyed boy with feathery hair glaring at him as he walked away.

“Watch it!” He called after the curly haired bloke who nearly ran him over. The headphones on his ears prevented him from hearing his warning. “Wanker.” The blue eyed boy muttered and continued on to class.



"Harry!" Liam called into the flat when he returned from class for the day. Liam wasn’t surprised to find the flat lifeless. Harry spent most of his time in his bedroom alone.

"In here." Harry replied from his bedroom. Liam dropped his bag by the door and walked over to where Harry ad indicated.

He stuck his head in the door and smiled at the sight. Harry's room wasn't so much a bedroom as it was a melting pot of sorts. He had a twin size mattress that was shoved halfway in the closet, opening up the room for other things. His vinyl collection was on shelves that reached completely to the ceiling, covered an entire wall. His CDs were on the adjacent wall, followed by a modest bookshelf that had more trinkets than books on it.

There were multiple desks that held different computers and gadgets that Liam didn’t know how to use. He had speakers stacked haphazardly and boards with lots of buttons on it lying around in every available space. The look was completed by CDs littered every where, some open, some in teetering towers dangerously close to the edge.

Harry had his keyboard and other equipment jammed into his limited space. There was probably three feet to actually walk around in, the rest was taken up by his many possessions. Harry had his headphones on as he played at the keys; Liam watched the computer that was recording the notes he was playing. It was really cool to watch Harry produce his music.

"What you working on?" Liam asked, plopping back on Harry's bed.

"A project for one of my composition classes. I have to write a song." Harry informed him, not taking his eyes off of the computer. He slipped one of the earpieces to the side so that he could hear Liam. He laughed at his curly haired friend. His headphones were askew and his forehead was crinkled in concentration.

"Ah. That shouldn't be so hard right? You write songs all the time." Liam reasoned. Picking up a stack of Harry’s CD’s and reading over the band names. Most of them he’d never heard of.

"Yeah. But the whole thing is free game. I can literally do anything I want. I need to be good." Harry said, pulling his headphones off and setting them carefully on the keys. He rubbed his face and sighed.

"Got anything so far?" Liam asked, setting some CD’s aside that he wanted to listen to.

"Yeah. Wanna hear?" Harry said, turning back the screen and pulling up a window. Liam rolled his eyes at the jibberish on the screen that only seemed to make sense to Harry. After a couple clicks of his mouse, a beepy synth tune started.

Harry put his elbows on his knees and listened intently. His eyes fell closed and his head started to nod along. Liam smiled, liking what he was hearing. A sporadic beat started in along side the original melody. Harry's foot tapped along with that part. Another line of a more melody started playing against what was already going. At the same time, the synth started to get more discernable, which was contrasted with a fluid piano melody that floated over the electronic noise.

"Wow, Har. This sounds awesome!" Liam exclaimed sincerely.

"It’s rough." Harry shrugged and brushed of the compliment. "It's still missing something. But I don't know what yet."

"You're really good at this whole music thing, Harry. You make the rest of us look like bloody idiots." Liam sighed and laid back Harry’s unmade bed in mock hurt.

"No..." Harry said modestly, fiddling with a stray cord that was hanging from a soundboard on the desk.

"It's true.” Liam said, pulling out his phone. His phone was vibrating with a text message he just received. "Zayn wanted to go grab something from McDonalds. Thank god, I’m starving. Wanna come?"

"Since when do you hang out with Zayn by your own free will?" Harry smirked. Liam had countless rants about how much he detested hanging out with Zayn, yet he always seemed to be hanging out with him.

"You know how much he hates going to fast food places alone. I do it out of kindness." Liam said with a smile. Harry rolled his eyes. "Plus his bird, Perrie, is good friends with that cute girl next door.”

"The one with a curly hair that you have been stalking for four months?"

"Danielle." He said dreamily, ignoring Harry’s implications.

"Now you’re using him?" Harry teased him good-naturedly.

"Step one, hang out with Zayn. Step two; hang out with Zayn and his girlfriend. Step three, Perrie puts in a good word with Danielle and become a happy guy. I will sacrifice a Big Mac with Zayn for that kind of outcome." Liam informed him a matter-of-factly.

"Wow. I think I'll pass. But good luck." Harry chuckled, turning back to his computer.

"You sure? You hardly ever have any human interaction these days." Liam said, concerned. He hated that Harry never wanted to do anything.

"I'm working on my song. I don't want to loose my inspiration." He shrugged, not turning back to Liam.

"Right. I'll be on my way then.” Realizing that this argument was useless. Harry wasn’t budging. “I’ll be home later.”

Harry nodded but made no reply.



“Liam!” Harry said urgently, shaking his friend urgently. Liam woke with a start and saw Harry looming over him.

“What?” He complained, not appreciating being woken up so early in the morning.

“I know what my song needs!” Harry said excitedly.

“What?” He asked, not really caring.

“You! Liam! I need you. You need to play something for me!” Harry told him, shaking him some more.

“Right now?” Liam asked his friend incredulously. He looked at his alarm clock and groaned. “Harry. It is three in the morning.”

“I know! Now since you’re awake you can come help.” Harry insisted, pulling at the collar o his shirt. Liam never really had the heart to say no to Harry, so he climbed out of bed and followed Harry back to his room.

Harry slipped his headphones on and patiently waited for Liam to pull out his violin. When he was ready to go, Harry put his fingers over the keys. “Just copy me, okay?”

Liam listened to what he played and copied it. Harry grumbled and played something else for Liam to try. After a series of melodies from Harry, he let out a rare curse that made Liam jump.

"No...it just sounds wrong." Harry complained, pulling his headphones off harshly. Liam dropped his play position and sighed. "It's not you Liam. I just need something more sultry, you know?" Harry explained.

"What, like a bass or something?" Liam asked, shifting his weight on his feet.

"I don't know. I think that noise is too harsh. It needs to lull but it need to fill the space." Harry held his hands out, motioning around an object he couldn't specify.

"Like a cello?" Liam offered, slipping his violin back into his case carefully.

"Yes! Yes! I think that's what I need. You wouldn't happen to play the cello?" Harry exclaimed, jumping out of his chair, looking inspired.

"Uh, no." Liam laughed at the question. Harry obviously knew the answer to that question.

"Well...I don't know who I would ask…" Harry realized, his shoulders slumping.

Liam knew it was hard for Harry to approach people because he was so shy. He didn’t really have many friends because of it, which Harry was pretty insecure about. Not that he ever admitted it, but Liam could tell.

Liam bit his lip, thinking of a suggestion for him. He knew plenty of cellists from school, but he didn’t know of one that would be willing to do such an obscure task. Harry sat back down, looking over his papers. If he couldn’t make the strings work he would have to start rewriting the song.

"I know a guy!” Liam gasped, making Harry jump. “He's in chamber orchestra with me. He's the section leader. He's really good." Liam explained, taking pride in his idea.

"I don't know, Liam. I don't know how to ask someone to do this. It's not like he'll gain anything from it." Harry said shyly. Liam rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure he'd be happy to. Listen, I'll run the idea by him and give him your number, if he's interested, he'll call." Liam offered, smiling at Harry. Harry looked down at his papers then back to Liam.

"Thanks, Liam. You really are too good for me." Harry said with a chuckle. He accepted the idea, because it was a good one. "Sorry I don't want your violin..."

"Eh. I'm not offended at all. It's your music after all. I'm looking forward to the finished project." Liam chuckled.

"Thanks. Me too. What should we do if the fellow isn't interested?" Harry asked, fiddling his pen through his fingers and looking at him thoughtfully.

"Believe me, H. He will be." Liam said suspiciously. Harry raised an eyebrow at his best friend and look at him skeptically. Liam just sent him a wink and left the room, telling Harry he would see him when he woke up.