A/N: After much debate with myself, I decided that I wasn’t happy with my last chapter – at all. I had plans that were going to branch off from her dropping her phone, but I didn’t like how I was taking it with that. I’ve deleted the chapter and rewritten it a bit and steered the story into a different direction so that I can get to where I really want take this story. I hope you all can understand this and respect my decision to do so, and although this chapter still isn’t my best work, it’s taking my story back in the direction I want it to go.

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“Bye, Anne!” Louis yells as he walks out the front door. Anne yells a farewell back, reminding Louis not to get into any mischief. He only laughs, not making any promises.

Darren walks into the front entrance, her small duffle in hand. “Thank you so much for letting me stay for the night, Anne. I thought the rest of those loons had told you ahead of time.”

Anne laughs, recalling last night how the rest of the band didn’t alert her ahead of time that they would be having another guest. There weren’t enough beds in the house, but she gladly made room for her by making her own son give up his room and sleep on the couch in the living room. “It’s the least I can do for you, dear,” she tells Darren, pulling her into a hug. You’re welcome anytime.” Anne pulls back from the hug to see Harry standing there with a smile on his face.

Darren yells a goodbye one last time to the other members of the household as she walks out the front door toward the tour bus. Harry sets his bag down and wraps his arms around his mother. Having already said goodbye to his sister and step dad, his mother is the last person he will talk to before heading off to London.

“Darren seems like a great person.”

Harry chuckles loudly, still hugging his mother. “I know what you’re going to say, mum.”

Anne pulls back from his arms. “Do you now?” She cocks her head to the side. Harry nods. Anne folds her arms across her chest. “And what would I say?”

“Don’t let her go,” Harry mumbles. “This isn’t the same as last time, mum. Darren and I… we’re just friends.”

“I’ve heard that excuse before, Harry. Of course it isn’t the same as last time,” she tells him. With her arms still folded over her chest, she leans her mouth closer to Harry’s ear and whispers to him as if she were telling him a secret. “It’s much stronger.”

~

Darren taps on her drawn up knees rhythmically to the music playing through her ear buds. She’s had them in since the five-minute mark when the yelling over fifa got to be too much for her. Fortunately for her, the band decided not to annoy her, but that’ mostly due to the distraction of fifa.

Harry slides into the seat next to Darren, taking one of her ear buds out and putting it into his own ear. Darren turns so her back is up against the side of the bus. She rolls her eyes at Harry as he nods his head up and down obnoxiously to This Love by Maroon 5. He laughs and takes the piece out, twirling it around his finger.

“I didn’t know you liked Maroon 5.”

Darren shrugs. “I mostly like their older music, but they’re still a great band.” Harry nods, understanding what she means. “How much longer do we have?”

Harry checks his phone for the time. “About one and a half hours – give or take. We’re at the halfway point now, but I don’t know how much traffic there will be, especially since we a show tonight at the O2. Speaking of, are you coming tonight?”

Darren shakes her head, telling Harry that she can’t go to their show tonight. She explains that Jack is moving out, so she has to help him pack and head over to his new place with Ella to unpack there. Then, she needs to settle an argument over who gets his room between her and Finn. It won’t be pretty, and she intends to win. Harry just laughs at her and asks her about Saturday’s concert.

“Actually, yes. Emmy Lou and her friends scored tickets, and one of her friend’s mums didn’t want them to go without someone over the age of eighteen. They didn’t want any embarrassing parents, so I got appointed the job even though I really don’t want to go.”

Harry puts a dramatic hand on his chest. “What? I feel offended. Why don’t you want to go?”

“Several reasons, but mainly because of screaming fans. I almost lost my hearing at your last concert, and I’m not too keen on the pushing and shoving either. The girl next to me got pushed and her elbow went straight to my ribcage. Don’t worry about it though. I’m perfectly fine.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize it could be that violent. You know, I could always sneak you back stage so you don’t have to deal with the hazards of being in the audience,” Harry offers.

Darren weighs out her options. Being back stage will leave her with less of a chance to get hurt, but that’s all apart of a full concert experience. It’s not like this is a concert she actually wants to go to though. She just happens the ‘perfect’ chaperone for a group of three or four seventeen year olds whose mothers don’t trust them without someone over eighteen. The moms are counting on her to watch their daughters, but they are seventeen and perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. What their mothers don’t know won’t hurt them.

“Okay, I’m in.”

“Great! I’m pretty sure Eleanor is going to be there as well, so you won’t be alone. She’s been dying to meet you anyway so this is perfect.”

“Eleanor?”

“Oh, she’s Louis’ girlfriend. I’m sure you’ll get along just well.”

Darren just smiles and nods, not sure if she agrees. She doesn’t do well with meeting new people, and since when are people dying to meet her? Most people aren’t dying to meet her; most people want her to be dying – or dead rather – because she’s Harry’ not-so-mysterious claw machine buddy. It’s still a wonder to her how Directioners found out about her after only seeing a picture and a tweet.

Another half hour of sitting and talking passes before the bus comes to a stop at a gas station. A member of the boys’ security team tells them all that it’s okay to step out and get some air but to stay generally close to the bus and to take a guard with them if they want to get food. Darren ends up pushing Harry out of the seat and onto the floor so she can get out and stand in the outside air. She laughs at her work and walks off the bus only to get blinded by the sun shining outside.

Everyone runs around for a few minutes, enjoying the feel of freedom out in the open before having to get back to the solitude of another hour or so on the road. They play a short game of childish tag that was initiated by Louis before getting called to get back on the bus.

Inside, Liam and Zayn are looking at the poster Darren had covering her face when she ran into the area they were in post concert. When Darren boards the bus, they ask her who made it. She tells them that Emmy Lou had helped her with it, making sure that it was One Direction related and Darren approved. Of course, the condition to this is that Darren has to get it signed and return it to her sister so she can use it at their last London concert. The band obliges to signing it.

“Well, I quite like it. I can kind of see how it fits with everything. Did you choose what it says?” Niall asks.

Darren shrugs. “Sort of. Emmy just had me look at the list of your songs and I told her not to overthink it because I don’t honestly care – no offense. She told me that was perfect because it makes me sound like a really supportive fan or something because ‘Overthink’ is apparently the name of one of your songs or something. I didn’t really understand what she meant and I still don’t but it’s whatever.”

“Yeah, sounds like you,” Harry agrees, picking up the sharpie and writing his signature really big on the top left corner.

~

With the new One Direction album still booming through her car speakers, Darren happily pulls into a parking spot and shuts off the car as well as the CD. Emmy Lou and her friends had been singing so loud to the entire album on the way there that Darren doesn’t regret accepting Harry’s invitation to watch backstage one bit. These girls have given her enough of the screaming fan full concert experience.

Darren gets out of the car last following the rest of the girls to the back of the growing line. This line is much more rambunctious than the line she stood in back in Cheshire, and the fans here are a lot more elaborately decorated in merch – some even going as far to painting their legs with bright colors and writing things such as ‘I LOVE ONE DIRECTION’ on them.

“I’m so excited. I’m going to be breathing the same air as Niall soon!” Brenna, one of Emmy Lou’s friends, yells. The other girls start gushing about how they fantasize the concert to go. Darren feels as though she might puke by some of the things she’s hearing out here. Her phone vibrating from inside her pocket becomes a heavenly short distraction.

From Haaarrrrryyy:
We just got here for sound check. Meet me around back where buses usually park when you get here. Be quick though, because it’s only a matter of time before the fans know.

To Haaarrrrryyy:
Be there in a few.

Darren slides her phone back into the front pocket of her ripped jeans and turns to face the girls she’s chaperoning. “Well, I’m leaving now. Don’t get into trouble and if any of your parents call in my absence, I’m in the loo.”

“Oh, my God! Please tell Louis that I love him!” Haylee tells Darren. Darren had told Emmy’s friends about her plans to hang out back stage on the car ride to the arena. Of course all of them are caught up on the latest One Direction news, so they weren’t too surprised. Luckily, they weren’t jealous either, and they all not so discreetly cheered at the fact that they wouldn’t have a chaperone with them.

“Will do,” Darren tells her before walking off. Haylee almost passes out from excitement but keeps it together when Darren leaves. She very vaguely hears the words ‘Get some!’ coming from Emmy Lou’s mouth, but she just ignores her sister and keeps on walking.

One of the security guards Darren remembers from Holmes Chapel greets her when she gets to the back. He pulls open the fence just wide enough for Darren to get in and shuts it behind her. The guard points her over to the direction of the back entrance and tells her that a girl is waiting for her there. Darren thanks him and walks toward the back door, nodding at the guard who stands there and opens the door for her.

When Darren steps inside she is met by a brunette who looks to be just a few years older than her. The lady steps forward, smiling warmly, and holds out her hand. “Hi, I’m Eleanor.” Darren shakes Eleanor’s hand.

“Hello, Eleanor. I’m Darren.”

“Trust me, I know who you are,” Eleanor laughs. “And you can call me El. The guys are just making sure their mics are working right now, but I’ll show you backstage where we’ll be watching the show.”

Darren follows Eleanor down several hallways, wondering how a person can remember where everything is and not get lost in this place. After a bunch of lefts and rights, they walk through a door that leads them to the wings of the stage. Eleanor shows her a small area where there’s a couch and table with a few snacks where they will be sitting during the show.

“Darren!” Harry shouts, stretching out the extent of Darren’s name as he runs over to bury her in a hug.

“Ew, how are you already sweaty?” she asks, pushing against him. Unfortunately for her, his arms are wrapped securely around her shoulders, and he has his hands locked together behind her back. He holds her there, swaying her body back and forth in his arms and claiming that it has been far too long since they’ve seen each other even though it was just yesterday. After a couple minutes of her struggling, she finally breaks free, laughing at Harry’s childish ways. “Seriously, though. Have you ever heard of deodorant?”

“I though you said I was sweaty, not smelly,” Harry points out. He lifts his arm and sniffs his armpit to see if she’s right. He shrugs. “Besides, it’s not like I shoved my armpit in your face.” Darren takes a step back. “What?”

“This is usually the part where Jack or Finn would stick my head in their armpit for calling them smelly, so I’m taking precaution.”

Harry scoffs. “Please, Darren. I’m a gentleman. A gentleman would never do that.”

A member of the stage crew alerts everyone that the doors have opened, so the concert will begin in an hour or so. Another group of people rush in and begin directing the band to different areas for hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Harry waves to Darren, laughing as he gets carried away – literally. Stage crewmembers, security guards, and other various people rush in and out of the area, leaving Darren and Eleanor the only constants on the side of the stage they’re on.

Eleanor sits down on the couch and motions for Darren to take a seat as well. Darren smiles awkwardly and sits down, leaving a full cushion between her and El.

“So you’re Louis’ girlfriend?”

“Yeah, I am,” Eleanor answers, rolling her eyes. Darren is taken aback by her cold tone and eye roll. Up until this moment, Eleanor had been nothing but sweet and smiley, but now she’s turning out to be more of a Negative Nancy. “Look, Harry is basically my brother, and he’s been through a lot of shit in the past few years. You seem like the kind of girl who is really negative about everything. Harry doesn’t need anymore negativity; he needs people who really care for him and are helping him be more positive, so if you’re just going to put him down and hurt him, I suggest you leave now because I will find you, and I will not hesitate to ruin you.”

Notes

It's like nearly 10 p.m. here and I'm supposed to start getting to sleep earlier because school starts soon and my sleep schedule is really wonky, but I decided that I could spare one night to give you guys an update.

What does Anne mean by "last time"?
Why is Harren still a FRIENDship and will they finally become a RELATIONship?
Why is Eleanor being so cold?

If you don't know me by now, you have to know that I respect all ships and don't favor one over another. I've used Eleanor in stories (terrible ones) as a nice, typical girlfriend of Louis that befriends the main female love interest, but for the sake of this story, she doesn't get along with Darren. Making Eleanor dislike Darren has nothing to do with the fact that I do or don't like her.

Please leave feedback - do you think I did the right thing by changing this chapter? And thank you so much to all 115 of you who have subscribed. I honestly did not foresee the day that I would ever get 100+ subscribers, and it really means a lot to me that you all are reading this. i love you guys.

~A

PS: I know it's annoying of me to keep asking, but if you haven't already, please check out my new story called Mainstream. Details are in the previous chapter! x