Heavy Heart

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Daria mumbled into Harry’s chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her. They lay in her bed at Shackleton, Harry having spent the night after her meltdown the day before. He gingerly stroked her tangled hair, the sound of his heart beating almost lulling Daria back to sleep. She always felt so safe with Harry’s body curved around hers, their fingers intertwined as they dreamed. Waking up to the soft sunlight pouring through the window blind was enough to make her wish it was night again, simply so she could spend a few more hours with her body pressed to his.

In moments, he would have to get up and leave in order to catch the plane out of London-Heathrow to Charles De Gaulle in order to make it in time for sound check that afternoon. It wasn’t much later than 6:45, the alarm on Harry’s phone having gone off to wake them. Olivia slept in the eight-man, cuddled up with Ivy watching Netflix on her iPad to let Harry and Daria have some alone time together. Daria’s heart sunk at the thought of the warm space next to her when he left.

“How fast can you pack a suitcase?” Harry asked after a long pause.

Daria sat straight up in bed, looking at him with glassy eyes. “What?”

Harry sat up on his elbows, attempting to toss his curly mop out of his eyes. He looked so adorable having just woken up, his eyes still heavy with sleep and hair completely disheveled. “I’m asking you to come with me.”

“I don’t have a ticket!” Daria protested, placing her hands on his chest and pushing down just ever so slightly, playfully shoving him deeper into the mattress. “You’re being ridiculous. Don’t get my hopes up like that.”

“Maybe you do have a ticket,” he countered. “Go look in my jacket.”

Daria got up from the bed immediately, going to the pocket of his jacket only to find an envelope, folded rather sloppily in half. When she opened it, she found a British Airways ticket for later that day marked with her name. She snapped around to look at Harry, who had his trademark smug, brilliant smile plastered to his face.

“I wanted to tell you yesterday at the match but that didn't exactly happen the way I planned,” he explained, finally running his hands through his hair to try to fix it.

“But my schoolwork,” Daria muttered, glancing to the stack of books on her desk. The thought of leaving it behind again, just after Dr. James had completely torn her apart was enough to make her want to bury herself in text.

“Just one weekend away, then you can get back into your schoolwork, I promise. You can’t leave Europe and not have seen Paris.”

They both stared at each other stunned, surprised at Harry’s words. That was the first time one of them had mentioned the fact that she would eventually be leaving. In a little over a month, Daria would be headed back to Connecticut and the status of their relationship would be entirely up in the air. It had certainly been on Daria’s mind in the past weeks, but it was the first it ever came out in the open.

And, if simply to avoid the awkwardness, Daria retrieved her bag and started packing. Because Harry was right: she needed to see Paris. And what better way to see Paris than with him, with an opportunity to watch him do what he loved?



“You’ve got to be joking,” Daria breathed, standing outside the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy, the venue for the benefit concert. The structure was enormous, covered in grass and concrete stairs, and a large geometric sculpture adorning the roof. It was unlike anything she ever saw, which was something coming from the girl who saw the Backstreet Boys live at Madison Square Garden. While she stood outside, completely enamored, the rest of the group pressed forward into the building.

“Cool, huh?” a heavily accented voice came from beside her. She turned to see Zayn, his hair swept to the side and hiding his blonde streak, the way that drove his stylist crazy. “If by cool you mean excessive.”

“Do you think you can play soccer on those walls?” Daria asked in an awed voice, earning a chuckle from Zayn.

“Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll challenge you to a match,” he teased, extending his arm for her to loop hers through. “Come on, little one. There’s a show on tonight and I hear you’ve got some excellent seats.”

She sat as the boys practiced their stage layout, reading a pamphlet on the benefiting organization Action Against Hunger. Deeply immersed in the information in front of her, she almost forgot she was backstage at one of the biggest venues in the nation. It wasn’t until a voice rang out on the speakers, pure and baritone. She glanced up to see Harry singing into his microphone whilst the other boys chased each other around with microphone stands. Her heart skipped a beat upon hearing his singing voice live for the first time; she was stunned.

“What do you think?” Harry asked as he came off stage with the boys.

“You’re fantastic,” she complimented, going to him and planting a sweet kiss on his lips. “I’m never going to stop asking you to sing now. You’ve asked for it.”

Suddenly, the doors to the backstage burst open. “Sorry I’m late!” a beautiful girl exclaimed, rushing to the group. “My flight out of Brighton got delayed and it was an absolute disaster. I thought for sure I was going to miss this.”

Immediately the boys went to greet her, and Daria stood awkwardly not knowing whom this girl was. It wasn’t until Louis kissed her that she realized this was the infamous Eleanor Calder, Louis’s longtime girlfriend. Her eyes were the brightest eyes she’d ever seen, reflecting the light of the stage in their shimmering irises. The hair she had up in a bun cascaded into perfect waves as she took it down, letting it settle around her shoulders. Even her smile was beautiful, pleasant and inviting. She looked perfect with Louis, the luster of their personalities meshing together seamlessly.

“El, I have someone I want you to meet,” Harry interjected, taking her by the arm and leading her to where Daria uncomfortably stood. “This is Daria.”

Eleanor’s face brightened, glancing between Harry and Daria. “The Daria?”

“The one and only,” Harry clarified proudly, kissing Daria lightly on the temple. Daria gave her best smile to Eleanor, the girl she heard Lou mention so affectionately on so many occasions. Her beauty truly stunned Daria, intimidating her just slightly. It was clear that Eleanor was not a girl that meant to cause intimidation.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Eleanor sighed, wrapping Daria up in a hug. She reacted the way she always did when a stranger hugged her, by all the muscles in her body contracting and her spine straightening in defense. “I hear you’ve finally tamed our Hazza.”

Harry turned a deep shade of vermillion, running his hand through his hair nervously. Daria opened her mouth to ask what Eleanor meant by her statement, but the stage managers came and scooped the pair up and started to guide them away from the boys and to their seats. What exactly did she mean, tamed their Hazza? Daria didn’t realize that the Harry she didn’t know had needed to be tamed. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it then; it appeared it was nearly time for the doors to open and the concert-goers to flow in, and even more so for the boys to start.

“Good luck,” Daria murmured in Harry’s ear, kissing him once more before she and Eleanor were escorted away. He stood with the boys, his smile stretching from ear to ear, clearly excited to do what he did best.

The pair was seated in the front row among other ‘people of importance,’ such as Simon Cowell himself. She though that by that point, her tendencies toward being star struck would have faded. But Daria cowered behind Eleanor at the sight of him, though her new friend insisted that he really wasn’t that scary in real life. Eventually, if she was dating Harry that is, she would have to formally meet him. But in the atmosphere at Bercy, she was already overwhelmed as it were.

The other acts were fantastic, including a variety of artists she was familiar with and others she wasn’t. Her particular favorite was a full figured songstress by the name of Estée Croft. She’d heard whisperings among the boys that she and Liam had been spending time together after Simon signed her to the label. But with those boys, nothing was ever sure.

Finally it was time for their boys, those crazy men in their lives, to perform. When they entered the stage with no shortage of extravagance, the crowd went wild, and Daria even caught a glimpse of Simon bobbing his head along out of the corner of her eye. Eleanor squeezed her hand reassuringly as they watched the performance, Daria’s heart beating out of her chest. It was absolutely exhilarating to watch her boyfriend do what he loved, to see just how good of a time he had on stage with his best friends. When their eyes caught sight of each other, he didn’t once look away.

When the performance was over, Daria and Eleanor met them in the back, the authority to do so held in the badges around their necks. Daria couldn’t keep her mouth shut about the performance, much to Eleanor’s chagrin. She’d been to tons of their performances, and she’d reached a comfortable point with them. But she watched Daria ramble on amusedly while they waited for the boys to arrive.

"The lights were ridiculous!” Daria exclaimed, taking on a bit of a British accent from having spent the concert giggling with Eleanor. “Did you see that stage set? And their outfits? They all looked so, well, dreamy I guess. Oh my god I sound like a Directioner. Tell me to stop, please get me to stop.”

“Daria, stop,” Eleanor commanded with a chuckle. “They’re coming.”

The boys were rounding the corner to them, dressed once again in their street clothes. Zayn’s hair had changed back to his stylist’s preference, the blonde streak as prominent as ever. Finally, last of all of them was Harry, laughing and smiling and happy as could be. Daria raced to them, catching each one up in a hug.

“You guys are amazing, seriously,” she complimented excitedly. “I should have started listening to music from this century ages ago.”

That earned a laugh from the group. Harry shook his head and took her in his arms, kissing her cheek lightly. “I’m glad you could finally see us perform,” he chimed.

“Finally took her nose out of her books for long enough!” Niall teased good naturedly, though his words stung her. He had no way of knowing she was going through a tough time with her academics, though it was her own fault. To the rest of them, she was Harry’s bookworm girlfriend who got too drunk with them on occasion. But inside, her stomach churned, remembering the stack of homework on her desk. The level of excitement tamed, bringing her down to just a slightly elevated level.

“Can we go back to the hotel now?” Louis asked impatiently, pulling the hood up on his jacket. “It’s going to take ages to brave the storm out there and I’m exhausted.”

“Storm?” Daria asked. “What storm?”

It was quickly revealed to her when Louis opened the doors, a roar of squealing girls filling the room. There was a sea of them just out the door, blocked by a line of security men and a large fold-out fence that hadn’t been there before. The Directioners had flocked from all over France and the surrounding area, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boys.

They screamed out things to each of the boys, waving hands for them to shake and items for them to sign. The boys graciously met with some of them while she and Eleanor hung back, trying to guide them to the car at the end of the never-ending crowd. Girls shouted love notes to their boyfriends, which in any other circumstance Daria would find horrifying, but at that moment, she found it amusing.

Until something rang directed only to her, louder than all the rest, in a girl’s best English.

“Go die you ugly slut! Harry deserves better than you!”

She couldn’t see which girl it was through the crowd, but it didn’t matter. The realization came to her that all the girls were staring at her with the same hateful eyes, shaming her for taking their Harry off the market. Immediately, he turned away from them angrily, going to Daria’s side.

“Come on guys, let’s go,” he summoned, the rest of the group trailing behind. Eleanor tried to keep up with the pair, attempting to tell Daria encouraging things, but Daria was in another place. That was her first encounter with the fans, and it appeared the fans wanted her gone. And fast.