Darren woke up early on the following Sunday to the sound of raindrops falling against the glass pane of her window. Even though she loves rain, she doesn’t risk another fall from her roof. Instead, she decides to sit on her window seat with her head resting on the cold glass. Her eyes are shut; her mind lost in wonder, caught in the classic rock that plays on softly in the background.

For a moment she could have sworn she heard the sound of gravel crunching together under the rubbery tires of a car with a soft engine, but when she opened her eyes, she saw nothing. The only sound she was left with was the music, only the music.

She kept her eyes open as she glanced out at the park across the street. There were many people who still chose to be out on their daily walks this morning, but all were prepared with umbrellas and the appropriate clothing for the weather. Cars were moving slowly and carefully as the rain was flooding the streets of London. At the sound of three short knocks upon her door, Darren turns her head. Finn stands at her doorframe with two mugs of steaming liquid in his hands until Darren notions for him to come in. He walks in and hands her a mug of what turns out to be hot chocolate with a bunch of mini marshmallows before he takes a seat next to her on the window seat.

“Hey,” he says.

Darren removes her face from her mugs and wipes her chocolate-stache with her sleeve. “I’m going to have to assume by the hot chocolate that you want something.” She takes another sip. Finn looks at her in mock disbelief and shakes his head only to a few seconds later smile innocently and nods. “And because it is April Fool’s Day and this drink hasn’t killed me, I’m going to also assume you need help with a prank.” Finn opens his mouth to speak. Darren cuts him off. “Well, thanks for the cocoa, but I’m not in the mood for pranking people.”

Finn gasps and puts his mug down on the hard wood floor next to the window seat. “Not in the mood for pranks?” He stands up for more dramatic effect. “Not in the mood for pranks?! I feel like I don’t even know you anymore. You’re always up for pranks and trouble, Darren. I guess you’re just too hung up over some boy who is supposedly your ‘best friend’ that likes you that hasn’t called you – or whatever! – to do something you normally love to do.”

Darren scoffs. “It’s not because of ‘some boy’.”

“Please, Dare. It didn’t happen often before, but I know when you’re hung up over someone. This is the worst case really. You’ve done nothing but sit around and be sad. You’re like one of those stupid princesses who depend on their prince coming. This isn’t a fairytale; Prince Charming isn’t going to come to you. And this isn’t you.” Darren sits there in stun, letting her brother’s words sink in. Finn shakes his head one last time. He picks up his mugs and heads for the door, stopping when he gets there but not turning to face his sister. “I’m leaving in five minutes after I gather all of our built up supplies. If… if you aren’t coming with me, then fine. I guess you aren’t as strong as everyone thinks you are.”

With that, Finn left, leaving Darren to figure out what to do. Only, it wasn’t that hard. No one implies that Darren is weak. This “princess” doesn’t need to wait for Prince Charming to come around on his horse. Matter of fact, it’s about time Prince Charming was paid a visit.

~

Finn was wandering around the local Target to pick up some other highly needed supplies while Darren was stuck in the office supply aisle trying to calm down a seventeen year old who just happened to be the biggest Harren shipper Darren had ever met. She wanted so badly to tell her about what a douche bag she thinks he is, but she didn’t want to get into boiling waters with Harry’s fans. They don’t like her very much as is. Except for this girl apparently.

Darren just smiles and nods while grabbing the last thing on her mental list and setting it carefully into her overflowing basket. She turns to face the poor girl who is still ranting on and on about how cute she and Harry are together. Gag. “Look, it was really nice meeting you, but I really have to get going now.”

“Aw, okay,” the girl says, disappointed. “Awesome meeting you! I can’t wait to tell my friends.” The girl squeals her last words as she runs off giddily in the other direction. Darren just shakes her head, laughing slightly under her breath. Then, she starts walking over to check out where Finn should be meeting her to pay for their items.

After standing off to the side for a few minutes waiting for Finn, Darren receives a text from him telling her to get in a line and he’ll be there shortly. So she gets in line starts to take things out of the basket to put on the short conveyer belt. When one of her items rolls off and onto the floor, the man in front of her her kindly picks it up for her. She puts the basket on the designated basket spot on the floor and turns to the man.

“Thank you,” she says, reaching out to take the roll of tape.

“Darren?” the man asks. Darren furrows he eyebrows as she looks at the man who has pulled the tape back out of her reach. He looks familiar, but she can’t put her finger on how he knows her. “It’s me – Jared.” And suddenly the eyebrow piercing and ridiculous amount of seemingly pointless tattoos make sense.

“Holy shit.”

Jared laughs. “She remembers!” He hands back the tape and she sets it down with the rest of her stuff at the end of the conveyer. There are two people in front of her, including Jared, still so she turns back to Jared. “This feels like some sort of reunion, but someone seems to be missing. Where’s Blithe?”

“Home, probably. I’ll tell her we ran into each other today.” Darren smiles, but she’s secretly hoping this conversation will end soon. Jared is a former friend of hers and Blithe’s back when they attended Miss Merriweather’s. Jared was attending one of the public schools in the area. The three had met at a party during their 10th year, becoming quite the trio of friends after that. That, however, was a part of that dark side of Darren’s past, the part she does not wish to revisit.

Jared moves up to pay as the lady in front of him finishes, but he carries on the conversation. “We could do one better than that. A couple of us guys are here in the city visiting – sort of like a reunion. We’re having a ‘small gathering’ down by the river Friday night, if you catch my drift. I’m sure everyone would all be thrilled to see the two of you there.”

Darren knew exactly what he was saying, but she, on the other hand, would not be thrilled. “Actually, Friday doesn’t work for either of us. I’m visiting my brother and Blithe has to watch one of her neighbor’s kids that day.” Her words are sure, and she doesn’t hesitate for a second in her lie.

“Well that’s a shame,” Jared tells her. He picks up his items and the lady starts ringing up Darren’s basket contents. “If anything cancels, though, you should swing by.”

Darren smiles and lies straight through her teeth. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jared smiles back and waves an awkward goodbye. Just as Jared exits the automated doors, Finn walks up just in time to place his half of the items on their mental list down. Luckily, no one was behind Darren, so there were no other customers to get pissed off at the cut.

“Who was that guy you were talking to?” Finn asks, swiping his card.

“It was no one. He just picked up a roll of tape I had dropped. That’s all.”

~

With four band mates by his side, three cups of coffee, two radio interviews, and one long and boring tour meeting taking up just a little over half his day, Harry was exhausted. Harry couldn’t think of anything better than to take a nap, so when they were dismissed at promptly 2:27, he hurried out to his car as fast he could without slipping and splashing in the water that covered the streets.

He approaches his apartment slowly with a tired look in his eyes. The sound of the rain beating down against his car only makes him wearier. Nonetheless, he pulls into the driveway, gets out, and locks the car. This time he doesn’t care to take some cover from the pouring rain. He instead takes his time to enjoy the cool water, thinking he’ll just dry off and change into comfier clothes when he gets inside. Only… someone else had different ideas as to what Harry should do when he got inside.

Instantly, tape – everywhere. Harry, blind to the sticky material with his head down, is caught in a web of the stuff as he takes his first step in. Fortunately, no tape gets wrapped about his hair, but he does struggle for a few minutes trying to rip the stuff off, cursing slightly under his breath while he’s at it. And even when he does manage to shake the last bit off his hand, he looks up. More tape. Harry recognizes the tape as clear packing tape, usually used when taping up boxes to ship off. The tape, isn’t just carelessly strewn, however. All of his furniture and other somewhat small decor are wrapped intricately in the packing tape.

Then, color. Small squares of bright and pastel color catch his eye. Harry carefully walks forward, arms out in front of him to prevent another web incident. He takes one of the colors, a post-it note, and examines the neat handwriting on it. ‘TABLE,’ it reads. They’re labels. He starts to collect more and more of them: COUCH, LAMP, PICTURE FRAME, TV REMOTE, VASE… All caps, no other words other than one or two words that label an object or item of furniture – all of it. Or so it seems.

Every last piece of his belongings is wrapped up in packing tape and labeled, excluding a few of items that appear to have been too small. In addition, his landline remains untouched by tape, but the edges of a bright pink sticky note peak out from the sides of the phone on the receiver. So he walks over, picks up the phone, and plucks the note from where it is stuck.

‘x ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS CALL x’

He flips the note over.

‘C’mon, popstar, do you really need that many hints?’

Harry was about ready to call the police, thinking someone had broken in. When he read the note he actually smiled slightly at first, chuckling under his breath. Then, after two weeks of hesitation, he gulps back his fear and dials the number. The phone barely rings once before she answers.

“Took you long enough. Like the new décor?”

Harry chuckles. “I don’t know if I want to be relieved or ticked off or worried right now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Well, you see, there’s this girl… and I should’ve called her a long time ago but I was afraid of what would happen if I did but she seems to be taking it just fine. That’s pretty relieving. But I think she’s just a teeny bit mad at me because I got home to find most of my house covered in tape, which ticks me off just a teensy bit.”

She laughs. “Just a ‘teensy bit’?”

“Okay, maybe a bit more than that,” he laughs with her. “But I’m also kind of worried…”

“Why is that?”

“Because even though I should’ve called he a long time ago, she hasn’t left my mind.” Harry’s tone of voice goes serious. He’s no longer screwing around. “As you may be able to tell, I kinda like this girl – like, a lot. She’s my best friend, though, and I’m worried she doesn’t feel the same way.”

Two beeps sound in his ear. As Harry pulls the phone back, he already knows he’s been disconnected from the call. He sadly puts the phone back on its charging station and sighs. A part of him felt like he knew this would happen, but another, much stronger, part of him had hoped he would be proven wrong. Harry stands next to the phone for a few more seconds before he pulls his feet away from the spot to go find dry clothes. He glumly changes into a random pair of sweatpants and a dry t-shirt, both of which he found just lying around on his floor. All he wants to do is lie in his bed, but the tape found its way to his bedroom. Lying on tape doesn’t sound very appealing at the moment, so he just walks back into the main area of the apartment where he is met with yet another shock.

There Darren stands, water dripping from her body into a small puddle on the floor. Harry stands still, jaw dropped slightly as he tries to rack his mind to see if this is real, if she’s really standing here before him. And he knows she is when her figure moves toward him, with little steps becoming larger as she gets closer. When she’s within reach, no thought goes into the event. His arms find their way around her waist as hers wrap up around his neck.

Within mere seconds, their lips meet. The kiss is short, but gentle and passionate as two long time lovers seeing one another for the first time in a long time. Too quickly, it seems, they pull back, foreheads resting against each other.

“My house is covered in packing tape,” Harry says. Darren pulls back in a hearty laugh. Harry tries to keep his seriousness but fails when he lets a smile unleash. Oh, how he’s missed that laugh. So instead of trying to playfully scold her for what she so obviously is responsible for, he says, “Maybe we’ll just have to work on getting all the tape off of everything for our first date.” He then bites his tongue as he waits for her answer.

More surprises. Darren’s cheeks heat up, tinting themselves slightest shade of pink, and even though it embarrasses her she keeps her head up. “Why don’t we start now then?”

Notes

Here's the thing… It is just past 10PM where I live and I have yet to complete my Spanish and Biology assignments. But… it's been exactly a month since I last updated and since then I've mostly neglected this site altogether, yet I feel like I kind of owe it to all of you to just finish this damn story already, especially those of you who have been reading from the beginning, or to those of you who weren't afraid at one point or another to tell me that this story has you on the edge of your seat and wanting more.

With that in mind, this chapter is all sorts of whack. The tense isn't consistent, there are most likely more than a handful of mistakes and errors, and yeah, it's a bit cheesy. At 10-somethingPM, this looks pretty darn good to me though, so forgive me for the most probable poor quality of this chapter.

In other news, I think there are just two chapters left. There will be no epilogue. And I do have some story goals, so if you still love me enough, please help me out a little here. Obviously the story is coming to an end, but before it ends, I really want to reach 100 votes. And a few more comments won't hurt. Before this story ends (and trust me, I'll get it done), tell me what you loved or hated about it - any of it, from start to where it is now. Any feedback is truly appreciated. I love you all, and thanks for sticking with this story for so long. Almost done, guys. x

~A