Don't Wave No Goodbye

So the days carry on and turn into weeks and suddenly Darcy’s not the new girl anymore, she’s just Darcy and she fits into the Radio One Crew so effortlessly, it’s like she’s been there her whole life.

She’d finished her show for the day and found herself chatting away to the blokes of Rizzle Kicks on their performance in the Live Lounge, complimenting them on how well they sounded and somehow ending up in a conversation about the Bermuda Triangle.

“I’m just sayin’, it could be a giant magnet. Think about it, sucks all the ships and planes and stuff down and makes all the technology go all messed up. It’s a legit theory, ya know?” Jordan insists, ducking away when Harley goes to give him a playful swat.

“Man, you don’t even know what you’re saying right now, get out of here,” Harley answers with laugh.

Darcy grins at this. “I don’t know, he could have a point! No way to prove it though, unfortunately.”

“See? She gets it!” Jordan says happily, slinging an arm around Darcy. “You get it!”

“It’s alright Jordan, I feel ya. Anyway lads, I should probably let you get on with your day, but lovely chatting to you! Don’t be strangers, yeah?” Darcy says finally, bringing the two in one at a time for a farewell hug.

“Nah, ‘course not. Not to our favourite radio host, we couldn’t,” Harley says, patting Darcy on the shoulder before leaning in to whisper conspicuously, “But don’t tell Grim, yeah?”

Darcy laughs before nudging his shoulder. “Get out of here, you two! And stay out of trouble!”

The two head off with a wave and loud laughter, and Darcy smiles to herself before digging around in her bag for her phone. Two texts from her producer, Claire, about the meeting she’s due to attend in fifteen minutes, and five silly observations Nick made on his way to the coffee house between finishing his show and heading to the Radio One offices for a production meeting.

With a grin, Darcy makes her way towards the offices herself and is about to reply to Nick’s texts when she bumps into something, or rather someone, solid.

“Oof, sorry! Wasn’t watching where I was going - ” Darcy looks up to see a familiar dimpled smile. “Harry Styles, what a surprise. What’re you doing here?”

Harry grins, looking delighted to bump into her of all people. “I’m here to meet Grim, he’s late for our lunch date.”

“That’s all rather romantic,” Darcy teases while Harry makes a face. “Ah well, he should be around here somewhere. Enjoy your lunch!”

Darcy’s about to make a dash for it, away from the stupidly gorgeous teenage popstar who she most certainly does not find attractive in any way, shape, or form, when he’s speaking again.

“Would you like to come?” Harry pauses, speaking again before she can answer. “Ya know, to lunch with Grimmy and I? I know he won’t mind, and you’ve finished your show, yeah?”

“Oh, well, thank you,” Darcy begins awkwardly. “But I really can’t. Meetings and stuff about tomorrow’s show.”

“Oh,” Harry replies, visibly disappointed before another smile lights up his face. “Well, Grim just text me saying he’s in the offices so I guess I’m coming with you.”

Darcy smiles at this. “Right this way, popstar.”

Harry groans, giving Darcy a dirty look which looks just precious on his features. “Don’t tell me you’re going to start with all this popstar business too.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Gives me such joy to know how much you dislike it,” Darcy answers playfully, before reaching out to tug on Harry’s sleeve as a gesture to follow her up to the offices.

“Clearly you’ve been hanging out with Grimmy far too much,” Harry grumbles, lagging a step behind as Darcy leads them up the stairs to where a bunch of corporate offices and the break room were located.

Darcy immediately spots Finchy, gesturing wildly to the Breakfast Crew with Nick, Fiona, LMC, and Ian all watching with bored disinterest, and Dan being the only one paying any sort of attention. In fact, Darcy could easily see Nick tapping away on his phone under the table and she would bet her entire career he’s tweeting ridiculous stuff about Finchy which would get him in trouble within the following hours.

“Maybe you’re right, popstar,” Darcy chuckles before patting him on the shoulder. “Here’s your stop, kid. Enjoy your lunch and for the love of everything, tell Nick to quit picking on poor Finchy so much, the poor lad looks like he’s about to tear his hair out.”

“Noted,” Harry responds before the rest of her words sink in. “And who are you calling kid?”

“Hey popstar, lookin’ fresh as always!” Nick greets, poking his head around the door. “And Darce, this is a pleasant surprise!”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “A complete serendipitous moment indeed.”

“You, my dear, are delicious. Stop that,” Nick pretends to smack his lips loudly. “Anyway, Haz, ready for lunch? I’ve got like five more minutes of lecturing, then I’m all yours!”

“Hey!” Finchy calls out from inside the office room. “I can hear you!”

“Can you hear yourself?” Grimmy shoots back with a grin. “I’m kidding Finchy, your voice is sweeter than syrup. Be with you in a moment, ‘kay?” With that, Grimmy slips out of the room to shut the door behind him, turning back to wave at Finchy who looks like the epitome of unimpressed, with a hint of resignation.

“Darcy says you need to be nicer to Fincham,” Harry says, cocking an eyebrow.

“Does she now? Please, he loves when I’m like this. Keeps him on his toes, and everything,” Nick explains before waving the topic away. “Anyway, Finchy aside, where are we going for lunch? I’m starved, I can feel my stomach gnawing away at itself. I might die. Tomorrow’s head line: popular radio DJ eaten alive by own stomach. No survivors. It would be a tragedy; Oprah would do a cover story on my life and everything.”

Harry narrows his eyes at his friend slowly. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a bit of a diva, Grimshaw?”

“Yes, Darcy’s told me three times this morning. And that was only on air. But really, I’m starving here!” Nick whines, looking over at Darcy who’s trying her best to hold in a snort. “I see you, giggle guts. You coming for lunch then? We’re leaving in five, be ready!”

“Can’t. Got boring work stuff to do, Claire’s really cracking the whip,” Darcy explains with an apologetic smile before turning her attention to her buzzing phone. “Shit, she’s getting wired. I better go before she blows this thing up completely.”

“No, don’t go! Come to lunch with us, that’s much more fun! Work, boo, lunch, ya!” Nick tries.

“Yeah, right, okay. You can tell Producer Claire exactly why I can’t go to her important work related meeting because I have to go have lunch with a diva and a popstar instead,” Darcy says, rolling her eyes.

As if on cue, Claire suddenly pops around the corner with a frantic expression. “Darcy? Is your phone even on? Come on, you’re late!”

“Darcy can’t attend the meeting today, she’s has prior engagements that require her presence,” Nick tells her informatively, flashing Claire that perfect Nick Grimshaw smile.

“No, no I don’t. He’s being a brat, I’m all yours,” Darcy explains, throwing a glare at Nick who looks positively ruffled while Harry watches on quietly with a shit eating grin on his face.

Claire looks between the three of them before shaking her head. “I seriously don’t care. Either you’re coming or you’re not, what’s it gonna be?”

“Claire, how often do you think Darcy gets the chance to go out on a lunch date with international popstar, Harry Styles from One Direction? How great of a link do you think that could be on tomorrow’s show? And here you are, wanting to deprive her of that one in a lifetime opportunity? You should be ashamed of yourself, really,” Nick rants, and now all of the Breakfast Crew are watching on with entertained smiles.

Now the thing about Producer Claire is that she’s a hard bitch to get past, very work orientated and likes to have everything running smoothly. She could look into the eyes of a puppy and with a straight face, tell said puppy it’s not trying hard enough and that ratings are through the floor. But the secret about Producer Claire is that despite how hard she comes off and how heartless she pretends to be, she, like many others, physically cannot say no to Nick Grimshaw, no matter how annoying or ridiculous he may be. An added bonus is that she always had a secret liking of One Direction, Harry in particular, and seeing him stand there watching her with a patient expression is all a little too much.

“Fine, fine!” Claire says finally, waving a hand around as Nick lets out a cheer. “Okay, we can push the meeting back. We’ll meet up later this afternoon and go over everything, I have somewhere I need to be in a half hour anyway. But don’t forget!”

“Producer Claire, I think you may be my favourite of all the producers!” Nick declares, moving over to Claire and holding her face in both his hands before delivering a noisy kiss to her forehead while she tries to bat him away and not crack a smile while doing it.

“And what about me, then?” Finchy asks, the rest of the Breakfast Crew filing out of the office, obviously giving up on the idea that the meeting is ever going to be finished.

“Finchy, you’re not my producer, you’re my friend, we’re like brothers,” Nick says dramatically before scooping Finchy up in a hug, the smaller man trying to fight off the overly affectionate radio host with a smile.

“Get out of here, you giant tosser,” Finchy laughs. “And I’m making the meeting twice as long tomorrow as punishment!”

The rest of the Breakfast Crew all groan at this while Nick just laughs, grabbing Harry and Darcy and leading them back down the stairs to freedom.

“I might actually kill him,” Finchy says once they’re out of earshot. “Like I know I promised myself I’d wait until the show had been on air at least six months, but I think I’m going to do it.”

Fiona pats Finchy’s shoulder with sympathetic nod, while the rest of the Breakfast Crew try not to laugh, knowing that underneath it all, Finchy may just be Nick Grimshaw’s biggest fan.

“Not if I get to him first, you won’t,” Claire mumbles before heading back to her desk, muttering about damn popstars and ridiculous quiffs.

“She loves him, she totally loves him,” Ian comments, causing everyone to have to bite down on their bottom lips to keep from laughing while still being in earshot.

Down in the parking lot, Darcy ‘s trying her best not to kill Nick Grimshaw herself as they wait for their cab to pull up to take them to Primrose Hill. “I cannot believe you, Grimshaw. It’s like you’re trying to get us both fired, only everyone loves your stupid face and so it’ll just end up with me being jobless. Your friendship is a curse.”

Nick makes a ridiculous offended face. “Is that anyway to thank someone for just getting you out of what might have been the most boring meeting of all century? I think not.”

“I still have to go to it, just later on! And it’s probably going to be ten times worse thanks to you!”

“And my friendship is a blessing, lady,” Nick continues as if Darcy hadn’t even spoken.

“A curse. I must’ve done something bad in a past life to deserve this fate,” Darcy grumbles.

“Children, can we behave for once, please,” Harry begs teasingly, only to receive two matching glares.

“Oh shut up, Styles,” Nick and Darcy murmur at once, only to look at each other with large grins and like that, their friendship is mended again. Harry can only shake his head in disbelief.

Nick looks at his watch impatiently before giving out a loud sigh. “What I don’t get, popstar, is why we’re waiting for a cab when you drive yourself round in a fancy Audi! I’m mystified!”

Harry gives a wry grin. “Because I didn’t want to cause a security threat at the Radio One building? And I’m doing you a favour, trust, you cannot be papped in that shirt again.” Nick looks down at his worn Dr. Dre shirt in confusion.

“What are you talking about? This shirt is my favourite!”

“We know!” Harry and Darcy answer together, causing Nick to pout. “You live in that shirt, Grim, the thirst is real,” Darcy continues, grinning when Nick sticks his tongue out at the two of them.

“Whatever, this shirt is ballin’ and you two are jealous,” Nick sniffs, waving them off before spotting the black cab pulling into the parking lot. “Have we decided where we’re eating yet or what?”

Harry taps the screen of his iPhone with a frown. “Well I just googled a list of good cafés in Primrose Hill, but none of them look all that great.”

Nick waves his arm dismissively. “Nah, who cares, pick one and we’ll take it for a test drive,” he comments before gesturing for Harry and Darcy to get into the cab.

The three of them end up in a small café in the outskirts of Primrose Hill, away from the city bulk and the numerous amount of people who’d be able to recognise Harry, and possibly Nick, upon a quick glance. Nick and Harry both go for wine and after a minute of gentle persistence, wear Darcy down enough so she orders a glass too.

“This place is truly appalling,” Nick grins the minute the hostile looking waitress is out of earshot, and Harry kicks him under the table, ignoring Nick’s yelp of pain.

“Be nice. We’ve only been here five minutes, you might find yourself surprised,” Harry counters, and once again Darcy finds herself completely overwhelmed with how kind Harry Styles is. He’s almost a complete opposite of Nick, wanting to see the best in everything while Nick’s just happy making snarky insults at anything and anyone.

Nick huffs slightly. “They only have five wines available, Styles. Five.”

“You’re starting to sound a bit like Lou, ya know?” Harry’s smile widens when Nick scowls at this, looking positively outraged at such a comparison and Darcy hides her laugh behind the badly laminated menu.

“Please, that spoilt tossbot wouldn’t have even stepped inside after seeing the font used for their name,” Nick retorts, before quickly donning that charming smile as the unimpressed waitress returns with three glasses of wine and asks them if they’re ready to order.

The three of them order what they consider the least unappealing meal on the menu before sending the waitress on her way again and Nick takes a sip of his wine before scrunching up his nose in distaste.

“As expected, awful.” Nick takes another swallow regardless, allowing the sickly acidic taste to linger on his tongue.

Darcy tries her own and makes a similar face. “Not the greatest. However, considering I have to put up with a grumpy Claire this afternoon, I’ll welcome anything alcoholic.”

Harry laughs at this. “I’m sure she’s not that bad! She’s always been very lovely to me.”

“Because you’re Harry Styles of One Direction, she’d do your laundry if you asked,” Darcy rolls her eyes before making a face. “But you’re right, she can be quite nice when the time calls for it. And she’s technically supposed to be somewhat of a boss to me which explains the work relationship. Something someone can’t understand.”

Nick looks up from where he’d been inspecting his trouser leg. “Oh, feeling the shade, Darce! Please, it’s not my fault that Finchy can’t control the heart eyes when I’m around!”

“Think it’s around the other way, mate,” Harry pipes up with a grin.

“Quiet, you,” Nick grumbles but his eyes are bright. “So popstar, when are you off to conquer the world with those curls of yours then? It must be about time for you lot to take off and squeeze the young female population of their parents’ hard-earned cash, innit?”

As always, Harry takes every one of Nick’s friendly insults with a smile. Darcy can only imagine the bickering and fighting that would occur if Louis had been where Harry’s sitting right now, and knows for certain that it would not end well.

“We’ve got a few things lined up here and there, few award shows and stuff, plus album promoting, but it’s getting close to Christmas so we won’t really be doing too much until the new year,” Harry explains, sipping on his own wine without the theatrics.

“How is your new album going, anyway?” Darcy asks, more out of politeness than any sort of curiosity but she likes the way Harry’s eyes light up when he talks about something he’s passionate about and bringing up the album causes Nick to be able to use all his casual sex jokes he’s been working on that have the three of them in stitches by the time their food comes out.

The food itself isn’t half bad and Nick’s hungry enough to spend more time scoffing it down than complaining about it. The rest of the time is spent just chatting away about mindless things and Darcy finds it strange how easy it can be to forgot that she’s dining with the British nation’s favourite radio DJ and one fifth of the biggest boy band around right now.

Harry’s attractive; that much is obvious and even Darcy can’t deny that he’s positively gorgeous. With those green eyes and silky curls and that defined torso that could go on for days, it’s not exactly hard to see why he has half of the world’s population falling for him. But looks aside, there’s just something really lovely about Harry Styles and it begins to annoy Darcy that she can’t quite figure out what it is. In the end, she decides it has to be something about how real he is, how he’s more human than half the people Darcy know who aren’t even famous at all.

He asks about your day because he wants to know, he asks if you’re alright because he cares enough to want to find out, and he spends all his energy focusing on everyone else rather than himself just because he cares. He’s nice, and that’s dangerous for someone like Darcy. She doesn’t do nice, she does brief, casual, and meaningless, and nice could make her want something she can’t exactly handle.

It almost feels like a blessing when Claire texts her asking to be back at Radio One in half an hour for the postponed meeting and she tries her hardest to convince herself that Harry didn’t look at all disappointed when she declares she has to leave.

Nick makes a face at this. “Already? Bah, that’s rubbish!”

“Yes, well, I can’t piss her off anymore if I still want to have a job next week, can I?” Darcy replies with a grin before making a grab for her wallet to pay for her third of the meal. Harry’s hand darts out quickly to snatch it away, a playful look on his face.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got this,” he tells her cheerfully.

“Oh no, Harry, I couldn’t – "

“You can, and you will. Hey, it’s the least I can do for playing part in almost getting you fired now, right?”

Darcy laughs at this. “Fair enough. Well, thank you. And thank you both for the lovely lunch company!” Darcy says in farewell, taking back her wallet and collecting up her things as Harry says goodbye and Nick promises to see her tomorrow. With one last wave, she takes off around the corner to flag down a cab while Nick turns to look at Harry with a look of mock offensive on his face.

“How come you never offer to pay for my lunch, popstar? I’m almost certain you’ve come close to getting me fired on a number of occasions!” Nick accuses, narrowing his eyes when Harry lets out a loud laugh.

“Oh please, you’re about as close to getting fired as I am. Besides, we're not boyfriends, remember?” Harry teases, laughing when Nick flicks his napkin at him.

“Ooh, crushing blow, Styles. And at one fifty-six on a Monday afternoon, this is just too much. I thought what we had was special! I’m off to go write sad poetry and listen to Adele, goodbye forever,” Nick cries dramatically, holding his head with an over exaggerated expression while Harry continues to laugh.

“You’re so weird,” Harry says fondly, shaking his head. “Anyway, what’re you doing for the rest of the day?”

“Nothing that can’t be put off in favour for something better,” Nick answers easily.

Harry nods, standing up and stretching before fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. “Come back to mine. I’ve got like half a season of the Great British Bake-Off to get through and it’s not the same without your hilarious commentary.”

“Well, I am hilarious!” Nick preens, following Harry to the counter to pay for their meal and Harry grins.

“Seemed like a better word than witty,” Harry answers, which is followed by him ducking out of the way of Nick’s hand as he goes to cuff the younger boy round the back of the head. For all the flack Nick Grimshaw gets for hanging out with an international popstar much younger than he is, it was times like this that made Nick remember why he just didn’t care. Harry, the boy outside of the fame and money, was just fun to be around and Nick just liked that the kid never let him get away with half of the dumb stuff he tries, and remains his loyal friend through all of the dumb stuff he actually achieves.

He even forgives the little brat for conveniently forgetting that he’d invited Louis Tomlinson over for the very same Great British Bake-Off marathon. Even if he hates him for a little while regardless.