“So this isn’t your natural hair color, is it? Because I thought you said auburn and I’m not even sure this is a natural color,” Harry tells Darren as he closely examines a strand of hair.

It has been two days since Darren cried over James, and Harry only has five days left before he goes on tour. After Harry left, Darren realized that James isn’t worth giving up on everything, so she immediately got back into life, thought her smile still doesn’t seem to meet her eyes yet.

Darren shakes her head. “When I was fifteen, I decided to dye it this color, and I really liked it so I kept dyeing it the same way.” She scrunches her nose when Harry gives a short tug on her hair and slaps his hands away. She then tugs on a piece of his hair due to her belief that you have to get even. “What about you? Is your hair naturally this curly, because I’m pretty sure these aren’t natural curls.”

Harry gasps at Darren’s accusation. “How dare you talk about my curls that way!” Darren giggles. “My hair was straight, but it started to get curly – naturally.”

The two sit in the quiet talk of their favorite café for a few more minutes before leaving. They walk around the park for a while, making small talk, but both decide that this is getting boring and try to think of something else to do. Darren suggests that they go to they invade the playground, but Harry tells her that it would be a bad idea with him being photographed all the time. He can only imagine the headlines reading Harry Styles Terrorizes Children in the Local Park! Then, the fans would freak out and if Darren is caught with him, it’ll just be one big mess. Harry suggests bowling, but Darren says bowling is only fun with a group of people. That’s when Harry gets an idea.

“I could call up my band mates? They’ve been dying to meet you anyway. I mean, they know about you being The Raccoon, but they haven’t been properly introduced to you and vice versa and-”

“Sure,” Darren cuts him off. She can sense Harry getting nervous about this, and she’d be lying if she isn’t either, but he doesn’t need to know that. “That blonde one seems funny from what we talked about that night that we met. I can’t really put faces to names though. He’s, um, Liam? No, that’s not right…”

Harry laughs. “Niall is the ‘blonde one’. Of course, his hair color is a natural shade, but an unnatural color for him. He’s naturally brunette.” Darren throws her hands up in her defense, making Harry laugh. “So I’ll call them up now? I don’t think any of them had anything too important to do today.”

“Sounds great.”

~

Harry guides Darren through the back entrance of the bowling alley. A man, looking to be in his late 30s, early 40s, greets him when they get there, telling Harry that they’re just waiting on one lane to finish up. Darren soon learns that Harry had also made a call to reserve the whole bowling alley for privacy – a celebrity perk is what she calls it. Five minutes later, two other boys walk in through the back door. Both smile and greet Harry immediately.

Harry pulls Darren forward a little and gives her a push in their direction. “This is Darren. Darren, this is Liam and Niall.” Niall goes to hug Darren, but sticks one hand up to stop him and holds her other out to shake.

“I’m not a hugger, Blondie,” Darren tells him as he accepts her handshake in confusion. Niall smiles and tells her that it’s fine but to watch out for when Louis comes. Darren laughs and says, “Will do,” before greeting Liam with a handshake.

“It’s pleasure to meet you, Darren. Harry doesn’t stop talking about you,” Liam says. Darren laughs while Harry blushes and looks down at his feet. “Zayn said he was already here. Have you seen him yet?” Liam asks Harry.

“Oh, he’s been at the claw machine since before you guys got here,” the man from earlier tells them when he walks back in. “It’s all clear now, by the way, so you’re free to bowl.”

“Thanks, Chris.”

The four of them exit the small back room and make their way over to the conversation where Zayn is pushing his luck at a claw machine with stuffed animals in it. He looks to be extremely focused on getting the teddy bear right next to the drop box in the machine with his tongue sticking out and everything.

Harry leans against the machine as the claw is pulling the bear up, but the machine shakes, causing the bear to drop. Zayn hits the machine in frustration and turns to glare at Harry. Harry stands up straight and takes a step away from the machine, smiling sheepishly.

“Way to go, Harold.” The use of Harry’s full name lets him know that Zayn is definitely mad at him.

“It’s just a teddy bear, Zayn,” Harry rolls his eyes with a smile. Zayn just huffs. “Well, anyway, Zayn this is Darren. Darren; Zayn.”

Zayn brightens up and accepts Darren’s handshake. “It’s nice to finally meet you, love.” Darren nods and says the same to him.

“You know… it’s much easier to just stick your arm up the machine and grab the bear,” Darren tells him. Zayn frowns and tells her that his arm would get stuck, so Darren rolls he eyes at him being a wuss and sits on the ground next to the machine. She rolls up the sleeve of her left arm and sticks her arm up the machine. Soon enough, the boys can all see Darren’s hand in the drop box and she manages to bend it over and grab the bear and drop it down into the box. Zayn bends down and takes the teddy bear.

“Thanks,” he smiles. Darren tells him that it’s no problem. “Um… you can take your arm out now.”

Darren does some sort of cross between a laugh and a sigh. “Yeah, no, I can’t…” Zayn presses his eyebrows together. “Um… my arm is stuck.” Darren blushes in embarrassment as the four boys laugh at her. Harry, being Harry, takes out his phone to take a picture of Darren with her arm stuck. Darren sticks her tongue out at him and makes other silly faces as he continues to take pictures. Just as Harry is about to put his phone away to help Darren pull he arm out of the machine, the final band member arrives.

Louis runs – literally runs – over to the group in excitement. He grabs Harry’s shoulders and shakes him back and forth. “Where is she? I must finally meet this girl who is miraculously changing my Harold.”

“Hi!” Darren smiles enthusiastically at Louis, waving up at him.

Louis looks down at her, not taking his hands off of Harry’s shoulders. He turns his head back to his friend. “Why is she sitting on the floor?” he whisper yells as if trying to sound inconspicuous but while being completely obvious at the same time.

Darren laughs and looks down at her hand – the one that isn’t stuck at least. “I was just trying to get the teddy bear for Zayn,” Zayn waves the stuffed toy at Louis so he sees it, “but my arm got stuck. So now, I’m sitting, waiting for Harold to help me get my arm out.”

“Wait, so you stuck your hand up the machine… to get a teddy bear?” Louis asks her. Darren nods, and Louis turns his head back to Harry. “She’s a rebel, isn’t she?” Harry nods slowly, unsure of what to say. “Okay, I like her. You can keep her.” Harry thanks him sarcastically and moves away from Louis to help Darren get her arm out of the machine.

Harry sits down on Darren’s left and sticks his right arm up the machine to remove hers, but he only makes things worse. Darren looks at Harry with wide eyes when he takes a comfortable seat next to her – other than his right arm, which is also stuck in the claw machine now. Darren glares at Harry when he smiles innocently at her. The other lads catch onto what had happened and start laughing their asses off.

“This is too cute,” Liam chuckles, taking out his phone to photograph this memory with Darren still glaring and shaking her head and Harry still smiling like he’s an angel.

“How about some bowling, lads?” Niall proposes. The other three nod through their laughter and the four of them walk away.

Darren gasps at them all and starts to whine. “What about my arm? You can’t leave me here with him!”

“Hey!” Harry says, poking her side with a free finger.

Darren doesn’t laugh, and she goes back to glaring. “This is your fault.”

“I’m not the one who grabbed the teddy bear,” Harry points out.

Darren frowns. “You’re right; it isn’t your fault.” She then cups her friend hand around her mouth. “Zayn, this is all your fault!”

“What is?” Chris asks as he’s walking by. He slows down his pace and shakes his head and turns to where the kitchen would be. “Grace, grab the butter! We have a claw machine situation – again…”

~

In the last few days before Harry and the rest of One Direction have to head off to tour, Darren and Harry hung out in all of their free time possible. With just the rest of the night left, the two lay on top of Darren’s roof, staring at the stars. Well, Darren is staring at the stars. Harry stares at Darren, rather then the sky, out of the corner of his eye.

She’s a star in his eyes though. Darren has taught him things in these past two month that he will never forget; from how to smile and be strong – even when you aren’t – to letting go of it all when you realize that you have to take a couple steps back to take a few steps forward. Harry has learned that it’s okay to laugh and that you can’t forget the past, but you can always forgive it.

Just as Darren has gotten over her past with her dad, despite the tragic past between them, Harry has started to get over his past with Leanna. Leanna will always be there with him in memory, but Harry is focusing on what is now and now is getting better because of it.

“Thank you,” Harry says out of the blue.

Darren turns over on her side, giggling at Harry for his randomness, but she stops giggling when she sees his serious and thoughtful expression – it kind of worries her. “Why are you thanking me?” Harry shrugs and Darren grabs his hand. “You can talk to me about anything, you know. I’m a girl; we like to do that sort of thing.”

Harry laughs lightly at her reference to what he told her the night that she told him her life story. “Just thanks. For reminding me about happiness and forgiveness, things like that. And also for being there when all I really needed was a friend.”

Darren feels so touched by Harry’s words. Never in a million years, would Darren have imagined that she’d be teaching someone about how to be happy or how to forgive people, but she has. “Well, thank you, too, then. Because I couldn’t have done any of that stuff without you.” Darren squeezes Harry’s hand in hers, turning back to look at the stars with a smile on her face.

Harry smiles and shifts their fingers so that they’re laced together, more like a couple would hold hands. Then, he turns on his back as well to watch over the stars with her.

~

“Harry, it’s time to board the plane,” Paul tells Harry.

Harry nods at Paul, grabbing his carry on and following the other boys to board. He hands his boarding pass to the attendant who checks it before letting him on. When he finally get on the plane and has his carry on put away, the captain announces that they have five minutes before they have to put they have to turn off all devices. Harry pulls out his phone to text Darren to tell her that they are leaving.

To Daaarrrreenn:
Boarding the plane now. It’s going to be a long 3 weeks :(

From Daaarrrreenn:
Don’t be a shithead with all of your sad emotions. 3 weeks will come and pass quickly :)

To Daaarrrreenn:
Gee, thanks for making me feel better.

From Daaarrrreenn:
Whatever. Text me when your plane touches down in Ireland.

And tell Blondie that I want a rematch in bowling when you guys get back…

To Daaarrrreenn:
He looks forward to beating you again. I’ll be sure to text you the minute we land.

From Daaarrrreenn:
Be safe!

To Daaarrrreenn:
No promises ;)

“At this time, please turn off all cellular devices and buckle up your seatbelts. We will be taking off shortly,” the captain calls out. Harry turns his phone off and buckles his seatbelt just as the plane starts to move. He looks out the window just as the sun starts to rise in the sky, and for a second, he swears he can see a girl with red hair sitting on her roof. He touches the window, and he can almost feel her smile. He smiles back.

Notes

How did Darren and Harry get their arms out of the machine?
Will Harren get together soon?
What will happen when they get to Harry's hometown for the tour?

Just a heads up, but the next chapter or so will be going back to Harren text conversations rather than actual talking (there will be some talking, but mostly just texting/kik-ing). Please let me know what you think, vote, and subscribe! Thanks for reading!

~A