“Alright, boys, that is it for today’s meeting. You just have one interview left for the day and then you’re done until Monday, okay? Good. I’ll see you then,” Simon announces, clasping his hands together before leaving the room. A woman walks in, telling the band to follow her into a different room where the interview is set up.

“Who is the interview for?” Liam asks, always wanting to know the details.

The woman turns her head to address him more properly. “Another YouTuber, actually. He’s not British, but he lives in the UK now. The board has reviewed some of his videos, and they think that this interview could help your small come back.” Liam nods in satisfaction and the boys remain unusually quiet until they reach their destination. “Here you are. Paul will be by after to lead you to your cars.” She smiles warmly at the group before walking away.

When the boys walk in, none other than Caspar Lee is calmly waiting in a chair facing five other chairs. Three video cameras are set up in various locations to record both the YouTuber and the band at the same time. Security guards and a film crew stand by, watching as the boys all introduce themselves and takes seats.

Everyone in the room introduces themselves first and cracks a few jokes to get the tension out of the room. Then, with the cameras already rolling, the Interviewer starts. “Hi, my name is Caspar Lee and I am sitting with the absolute best boy band in the world.” Under his voice, Caspar mumbles, “Holy shit, I can’t believe this is happening.”

He means for that comment to have gone unheard, but the two boys closest to him, Louis and Liam, chuckle at his foul commentary. Caspar clears his throat and moves on to the questions, trying to turn red out of embarrassment.

Time passes and questions are asked and answered. Everyone in the room starts to pack up equipment as the YouTuber and the band take a group selfie that almost immediately gets posted to any and all social medias owned by the group. Caspar even walks with the guys with security to the parking lot.

“So Harry,” Caspar starts, turning to walk backwards and talk, “really funny story. I was just at a funeral, which in hind sight shouldn’t be funny at all, but – anyway – I was at this funeral and I could have sworn I saw you there with my best friend. Then I thought, no, it couldn’t be, why would Harry Styles, one of my idols, be at my best friend’s dad’s funeral? But he looked just like you! Weird, right?”

Harry’s eyes widen slightly, and he searches his whole head to find the right words to say. It was him at the funeral, but this just isn’t the time to tell someone that you were at their best friend’s dad’s funeral because you are secretly best friends with their best friend. Things don’t exactly work that way.

“Weird, indeed, but surely no one could have curls as amazing as mine,” he says, shoveling a hand through his curls for good measure.

Caspar laughs, finally turning back around to walk the right way after running into several people and inanimate objects, “I suppose not.”

~

“Who’s ready for some karaoke?” Darren shouts into the microphone, smiling at the loud cheers and applauds mixed with ‘welcome backs’ from the crowd that fill Pizzareality Wednesday night. After missing the previous two Wednesdays and realizing that wallowing in sorrow over her significant loss isn’t the way to handle this situation, she has decided that a night a work with friendly people and great food and entertainment will do her some good.

Her brothers, Blithe, and Caspar have shown up, choosing to stay in case she might need to leave at any given time. Even though she has assured everyone, including Jim and Ryan who had an appreciative understanding of everything that has happened, that she will be fine, they all want to be sure that Darren will have someone there for her should she breakdown, or even if she just doesn’t feel in the mood.

“Starting us tonight is Keith, singing If You Could Only See from Tonic!” Darren announces, making the small place once again rise in cheer. While Keith is singing, Darren smiles and chats with more people who decide to sign up to sing. Fortunately, no one brings up her father, and the night runs on smoothly.

As the time goes by, it is nearly 9PM, and Darren’s brothers announce that they have to leave and take Caspar with them. Blithe stays, now sitting alone at the bar where she chats up a bartender into giving her free drinks. Naturally, it works.

Later, while the pizza bar is still running strong, Harry and his friends walk in, semi tired from work but also extremely excited for pizza night. They wave at Ryan who stands closer to the stage the stage than he usually is and grab a booth towards the middle on the side. Madi sees them and immediately takes their usual order, not even having to ask what their specifications are for it. While the rest of the boys chatter amongst themselves, Harry takes the opportunity to slide out of the booth and walk over to karaoke sign-ups by the DJ.

He pulls a chair from the wall close by and takes a seat next to her while she goes scrolls through some things on her computer to compile the list of songs that will be playing next. Much to his dismay, he fails to surprise or scare her as she turns and shoots him a small smile, reaching past him to pick up her water bottle.

“Hi,” Darren says. “Back with the band, I see. Are you going to sign up to sing, or..?”

Harry looks down at the binder filled with songs and shakes his head. “Nah, I think I’ll pass for tonight, but I think Liam and Niall were planning on singing Drops of Jupiter or something like that.” Darren just nods and returns to the list of sign ups, scrolling up and down through the system, not caring if there is a quick and easy search bar to make things go faster. She needs to keep her mind occupied constantly. “So what are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m just going through the system and pulling up the songs for the sign up list. You could actually-”

A female cough interrupts Darren, making them both look up at the giggly blonde with a serious expression. Although neither of them is sure how that works, they both give their listening ears to her. “I need to leave now, Dee – early shift at work tomorrow. Will you be okay here with um…”

Darren takes her hands off of the computer for now and wipes the sweat off of her palms onto her jeans. “Right. Blithe, this is Harry. Harry, Blithe.”

“So you’re the infamous Harry… How… interesting,” she smirks as she shakes his hand firmly. Darren watches confusingly as Blithe leans down to whisper something in Harry’s ear. Harry simply nods at Blithe and shoots Darren a smile of assurance. With that, Blithe says her last goodbyes before heading off.

“What did she say?” Darren asks, biting her bottom lip nervously.

“She just wanted to make sure that I would look after you, but I told her she had nothing to worry about.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” he says. Darren nods her head at his answer. “So what exactly do you do?” Darren smiles at Harry’s curiosity, showing him how she scrolls through and puts the playlist together based off of the sign-up sheet. Harry listens to her as she shows him the ropes and watches as her eyes light up in devotion to her simple job. He can’t help but stare in admiration as she smiles, causing the corners of her eyes to crinkle, while talking about everything. And like all of the times before, her smile brings a smile to his face.

~

Even with her love of rain, Darren carries the umbrella over her head to redirect the raindrops to fall around her midday Sunday morning. As she approaches the section of the front entrance with an overhang, she closes the contraption and shakes off what she can of the droplets. With her dripping umbrella dragging behind her, Darren makes her way under the awning above the front door and knocks firmly three times.

Immediately, a male voice yells back, “One second!” Darren steps back a little, taken aback by the sound of glass shattering and solid objects dropping in thuds from inside. She can hear the sound of heavy breathing on the other side of the door now. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, the door swings open.

The man on the other side is not James – not even close. James is blonde with almondy brown eyes and white as the average white girl. This guy has hazel green eyes, and his brown hair is cut much Aaron Samuels from the movie Mean Girls. Even if he isn’t James, he is still easy on the eyes.

“Um… hi,” Darren says finally after examining this man who is, in fact, not her boyfriend. “I was looking for James. I’m Darren, and-”

“So you’re the bird?” he asks. Darren nods hesitantly, not fully comprehending his question because of the almost smug look on his face. He then sticks out his hand. “I’m Parker, James’ new roomie. I’ve heard lots about you.”

“I can’t say the same,” Darren mutters quietly so that Parker cannot hear. She clears her throat and forces a smile. “Is James here?”

Parker frowns. “No, he’s in America. I thought, you know since – I thought you would have known.”

Darren’s eyes widen at this new information. ‘America?’ Darren asks herself mentally. Suddenly, Darren wants to ask a million questions, but she doesn’t know what to say. To find out that her boyfriend has been off in America from someone who is most definitely not her boyfriend is outraging. She wants to know why, when, how, and what exactly is going on, but all she can do is stand there and stare at this guy hoping that he’s just playing some realistic joke on her.

“Hasn’t he tried to call you or anything?” Darren shakes her head. “Are you sure?” She shrugs. “It’s probably an unknown number because he left his phone here and has to use his mom’s phone to call.”

Darren just sighs. “I wouldn’t know; I deleted all of the missed calls, text messages, and voicemails since I turned my phone on a couple of days ago.”

“Too many sympathy greetings?” Darren just nods. “I heard about your dad, and I know the feeling.”

The two newly greeted strangers stand in silence at the doorstep, and only the sound of rain falling down at a steady pace fills it. Darren, feeling a great bit uncomfortable shuffles her feet awkwardly. In response to her little movement, Parker decides to finally invite her inside.

“You know, it’s not really my place to say why he’s there, but I’ll give you the number he’s using. You can give him a call if you want,” he suggests.

“Yeah… I’d like that. Thank you.”

Darren steps inside, acknowledging Parker’s warning to step around a puddle with broken pieces of what was a blue mug by stepping around it. Parker shuts the door behind her. He runs off to grab the phone off its charger while Darren stands awkwardly in the living room, holding one arm closely to her side. When he returns, he tells her that he’ll just call up his mom and ask for James before handing her the phone. Darren nods in agreement to the plan.

Once the phone is up to Parker’s ear, he gestures for Darren to take a seat to which she obliges. Now that they are settled, they just wait for someone on the other line to pick up the phone.

“Hello, Mrs. Cooper, may I please speak to James?” The charm and politeness surprises Darren, but she realizes this is only a normal thing for people to do when talking to elders out of respect and not wanting to get yelled at. Parker doesn’t speak for a few minutes, most likely as the phone is being handed off, so the room falls silent.

“James!” Parker finally says, looking directly in Darren’s eyes as he talks over the phone. Darren nearly tenses up, knowing that she will have to talk to him shortly. She waits patiently, listening to Parker’s side of the conversation. “Darren is here… At the flat, where else? You need to talk to her… She told me she had her phone off and deleted all of the missed calls… We all know you’re an arse of a boyfriend.” Parker shoots a wink at Darren. “Okay, yeah. Here.”

He passes the phone over to Darren, telling her that he’ll be in the other room and to just walk right in when she’s done. She says okay and brings the phone to her ear with shaky hands. “Hello?”

“Darren, my God, I am the worst boyfriend ever.” He pauses for a second, expecting her to make a witty and sarcastic comment in favor of his statement like she normally does, but she doesn’t so he continues. “I called and called but you never answered. I am so sorry, Dare. I am so, so, so sorry.”

Darren winces at the apologies. Lies. Every apology is a lie in her book. Why should people apologize? If they were truly sorry, they wouldn’t have done what they did in the first place. After every apology, down to every last sympathetic sorry that Darren had hated to hear, she cannot believe that her own boyfriend of over two years apologized to her. No, he should have known better.

When Darren stays silent, James continues. “I didn’t know that that would happen, and I had to fly out to America because of a family emergency that is way too complicated to explain and I left my cell at the flat and I am so-”

“Stop.” James stops his explanation to really listen to his girlfriend for once. “I… I can’t do this anymore, James. I love you, so, so much, but I really needed you to be there for me. You keep disappearing when I need you most, and I’m done with second chances because you never learn… You can’t learn, you never will.”

Darren can hear a small sob on James’ end of the line. “Darren, baby, please don’t do this to me. I can learn. I will learn. I love you… I love you so fucking much. I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”

Darren holds her hand over her mouth to keep her from sobbing, too, knowing that the tears are on edge. She shakes her head at his words, though she knows she can’t see him. She doesn’t know what to do. No, she knows what do, but she has two options, the hard one, or the one that will only screw her over in the end. Right now, she isn’t sure which option to take.

She loves James with most of her heart, but being with him only breaks it into pieces. If being with him breaks her heart, breaking up with him will only break it even more.

Notes

I know this is how you are all feeling about the Jarren situation ;)

Opinions on Parker? Do you like him, or is her potentially just as much of an ass as James?
What should Darren do, or what do you want her to do?
Now think like she would, what would you do if you were in Darren's shoes?
What do you want to see happen next that doesn't involve the Jarren situation?

I know this chapter is pretty bad, but after rewriting it several times I just decided to stop letting it bother me so much. Otherwise, I wouldn't have updated. Anyway, I think I nearly exploded when I checked how many subscribers and votes I had because 96 is the most subscribers I've had for any of my stories and 74 votes is the most votes I've gotten for a story written by me. So thank you all so, so, so much for that; I honestly don't care how much I say this, I would not be able to do this without you! <3 Please continue to comment and vote, an if you are new to my story, don't be shy to hit that subscribe button :)

~A