Don't Wave No Goodbye

When Darcy shows up at Nick’s that evening, Pixie, Greg, Fiona, and Dan along with a handful of people Darcy’s never met before are already there, standing around drinking and laughing while Azealia Banks raps obnoxiously through the speakers in the background.

“Darcy!” Pixie shouts immediately, moving people aside to greet the girl with a hug and managing not to spill a single drop of the strong smelling alcoholic drink she’s nursing. She kisses Darcy on each cheek loudly. “You alright?"

Darcy grins at the younger girl fondly. “Good, great. Yourself?”

“Just dandy. But look at you, you’re glowing! Ah, Nicholas was certainly right!” Pixie’s looking at her with that knowing smile and although she knows that Pixie’s not the type to ever judge, Darcy groans loudly regardless.

“He told you, didn’t he? Ugh, he couldn’t keep a secret if his bloody life depended on it,” Darcy grumbles lowly, ducking her eyes as Pixie laughs.

“I think the whole thing is just darling, I do,” Pixie amends, throwing one arm around Darcy and leading her around to where Henry and Aimee are mixing drinks for each other. “And don’t you worry; my lips are sealed, yeah?”

Darcy sighs. “I’m going to kill him, I really am.”

“We talking about Grim? What’s he done now?” Henry asks, perking up in interest before handing Darcy a glass filled with indistinguishable liquid, nodding at it. “Try it! My new concoction, think it’s quite good myself.”

“That’s because you have zero taste buds,” Aimee says dryly, shuddering at the thought of the drink. “Don’t drink it, Darce, you’ll get hairs on your chest or something. Have this one instead.”

Wordlessly, Darcy accepts Aimee’s drink and passes Henry’s back to him with apologetic eyes. Taking a quick sip, Darcy’s pleased to find that the beverage is rather fruity and sweet, with an underlining of strong alcohol that gives quite a buzz at the end.

“Mmm, brilliant!” Darcy comments, raising the glass up in approval as Aimee grins and nudges at Henry in victory.

“Yeah, whatever, you lot are just weak,” Henry grumbles, taking a swig of his own drink and trying not to scrunch up his face when the alcohol burns at the back of his throat.

“And why are we talking about killing Grimmy? Not that I’m not all for it, the bastard woke me up first thing this morning knowing that I’d have a killer hangover,” Aimee complains, still looking a bit rough from her previous night but that never stops her from joining in on another party.

“Nothing, nothing,” Darcy says quickly, shooting Pixie a look and she just widens her eyes innocently and downs her drink quickly. “Where is the charming bastard anyway?”

Henry whips his head around, looking over the half a dozen people chatting aimlessly in Nick’s living room. “I dunno, he was around before. He’ll show up in a minute anyway, when not being the center of attention gets to him.”

Darcy grins at this. “Too true. D’you know he broke into my kitchen this morning just to invite me to this?’

“Did you leave your spare key in an obvious place?” Pixie asks sympathetically and Darcy nods, laughing. “God, he did the same thing to me when I moved into my new place. It’s just easier to give him a key, really. That little shit has such a way of worming into your life and making it impossible to live without him.”

“It’s gonna be a bit sad to leave him,” Aimee says in agreement, her expression falling at the thought and it was strange seeing Aimee show an emotion that wasn’t impossibly nonchalant. “I got offered this job back over in New York and I think I might just take it.”

“But you only just moved over here!” Henry blurts in shock, both Pixie and Darcy nodding in stunned agreement.

Aimee nods. “Yeah, yeah, and I’ve loved it here but it’s not really where I thought I’d be. And New York’s my home. It’s not like I can’t come visit, right?”

“Does Nick know?” Darcy asks suddenly, realising the radio DJ would be more than a bit upset to have one of his best friends move away from him again, especially since she’d only really just moved over, into his life and into his house.

“Didn’t really know how to tell him,” Aimee gives a little shrug. “I mean, nothing’s set in stone yet but yeah.”

“You coward, you just know he’s gonna be guttered,” Henry replies, jabbing a finger at Aimee and she all but growls at him.

“He hates living by himself, he doesn’t function well on his own,” Pixie agrees, shaking her head sadly while Aimee looks a bit like she’s just entered an ambush, looking mutely furious.

Darcy waves them off, giving Aimee a smile. “Nick’s a grown-ass adult, he’ll get over it. Anyway, I think we should drink to your exciting new career opportunity!”

Aimee looks like she could kiss Darcy there and then, and both Henry and Pixie share a guilty look that they’d so quickly brushed off Aimee’s achievements with their concern about Nick. The four of them top up their drinks and raise them together, the glasses clinking against each other loudly.

“To Aimee, for being the best bitch at everything she does!” Henry toasts, and the four of them all laugh before downing their drinks quickly. Henry’s eyes are watering once he puts his glass down, the strength of his mixed drink finally getting to him. “God, I need some fresh air, excuse me!”

Aimee points at Henry’s retreating figure with a look of amusement. “I think I’ll tail him and make sure he doesn’t pass out from the fumes of his own breath.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Pixie agrees, looking on with concern until she spots Alexa Chung and rushes over to greet her, leaving Darcy standing alone.

She walks around Nick’s living room, winding around the groups of people she doesn’t know as they chat away about various unknown bands and the like until she spots Greg James, Annie Mac, and Finchy all sitting together on the couch. Greg catches her gaze instantly, smiling brightly as he waves her over. It’s already a tight squeeze as it is but they all bunch together determinedly to give Darcy enough space to shimmy in beside them.

“Hiya, alright?” Darcy asks happily, throwing her arm around Annie to give her a half hug. She’d grown to really like the now pregnant DJ, the two of them often finding each other in the green room just before Darcy’s due to go on air once Annie’s finished with the Nickstape.

“Good, darling, just good! You’re looking very bright,” Annie greets, but she’s looking at Darcy with her usual smile and so Darcy knows that the woman isn’t implying anything.

“It’s just nice to have a bit of a relaxing weekend, I guess!” Darcy answers with a simple shrug and both Finchy and Greg both snort in amusement.

“Yeah, if you consider a Grimshaw house party a relaxing weekend!” Finchy laughs, taking a swig of his beer. “Trust me, the karaoke will be coming out in a moment and nobody will be safe. There’ll be nightmares for weeks.”

Greg nods enthusiastically. “It’s true, that’s why Tina isn’t here. She sung Rihanna once during a sing-off with Grim and he plays it constantly on the Breakfast Show. But I hear her therapy is going grand.”

“You two are ridiculous,” Darcy says through a laugh, Annie joining in quickly. “And please Fincham, you’d be the first one up to do a bit of karaoke. I’ve heard your rendition of One Thing, it was quite beautiful really.”

“That high note gets me every time,” Annie continues, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye as Finchy glares at her through a grin.

“’tis my ringtone. Oh, and my alarm!” Greg says, waving his phone around in Finchy’s face. “You wanna hear it?”

“No, no, no, put that away!” Finchy cries, trying to snatch Greg’s phone off him but Greg’s far too quick and jumps off the couch, disappearing through the small crowd of people with a loud laugh while Finchy hangs his head.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Nick Grimshaw and how every bad thing that ever happens to me usually happens because of him?” Finchy comments with an exaggerated look of pain.

“Oh bollocks, you love the lad, you do,” Annie trills with a knowing look that makes Finchy grin. “Although he can shove it if he really thinks I’m naming my babe after him.”

“No, he’s not really wanting another Nick Grimshaw to be in the world, is he?” Finchy asks with a look of horror and Darcy laughs, reaching over to grab Finchy’s beer and take a sip, sticking her tongue out at Finchy when he glares at her.

“I think one is enough,” Annie says with a decisive nod, grabbing the beer of Darcy and handing it back to the pouting Finchy who gives an appreciative smile.

“Look at that, you’re already in mum mode!” Darcy observes with a playful smile and Annie just beams, looking down at her stomach which is barely even showing and giving it a gentle rub.

Nick had been absent from his own party for the last twenty minutes due to Lex managing to get free from where he’d been locked away to keep him from causing trouble, and it had taken far too long to get the overly excited pup to settle down and stay where he’s meant to stay. By the time Nick got back downstairs, the party had already taken off and there were a lot more people here than there had been.

Somehow Nick manages to hear the polite knock on the front door over the sweet sounds of Calvin Harris, and he rushes over to the door to find Harry standing there, looking rugged and exhausted as anything, but still excited to see him.

“Hey, popstar! You made it!” Nick cheers, bringing the teenager in for a hug which Harry practically falls into.

“Yeah, well, I can never say no to a Grimshaw party now, can I?” Harry grins. “Hope you don’t mind, but I invited the rest of the lads along too. Jetlag’s a bitch but we’re all far too hyped to go home just yet, y’know?”

Nick makes a face. “I hope that when you say the lads, you mean Liam, Niall, and Zayn?”

Harry doesn’t hide his laugh at Nick’s hopeful tone. “Of course! …And Louis, too.”

“Ugh. Really Styles? You invited that monster to my house. The house in which I live in. The house which has remained until this day a Tomlinson free environment?”

“You won’t even know he’s here! I couldn’t invite the rest and not him. Come on, Grim, be nice? For me?” Harry looks up at Nick with those large doe eyes and that ridiculously adorable pouty look that Nick can never say no to, no matter how much he wishes he could.

“Fine, fine, just know that I hate you,” Nick sniffs, glaring as the young boy gives a little cheer.

“You’re the best, Grimmy,” Harry tells him earnestly, leaning in for another hug with Nick effectively manages to avoid, pushing Harry away with a playful grin.

“I’ve already said yes, no need to suck up, you little ass kisser,” Nick teases before seeing the rest of the One Direction boys heading towards the front door.

“Grimmy, it’s been forever, mate!” Liam calls, looking genuinely pleased to see Nick and Nick remembers why Liam was always his favourite, after Harry of course. Niall and Zayn chime in with a greeting also, flashing those million dollar smiles that girls were just crazy about while Louis shuffled inside after them, looking cold and uninterested.

“Good to see you lads again!” Nick says, his tone friendly but he gives Louis a look to let him know he’s less than impressed about having him in his house.

Louis mutters something nasty under his breath that has all the lads looking on tensely until Liam stamps on Louis’ foot with an unapologetic smile and asks Nick how the Breakfast Show is going. Nick grins widely at this and wonders how exactly he’s going to break the news to Harry that Liam’s taken over in being Nick’s absolute favourite.

The One Direction boys all move inside to where the party is when more guests arrive for Nick to greet and quickly meet up with Rita Ora and Jessie Ware, all becoming involved in a conversation about whatever popstars talk about. Nick watches on for a minute with a grin before finding his way to the kitchen, needing a strong drink of whatever’s going to stop himself from seething over the fact that his least favourite person is in his house, currently looking around the living room like it’s all beneath him.

“Spoilt little shit,” Nick mutters to a bottle of Jack Daniels when two arms circle around his waist and someone’s hugging his back tightly. He turns slightly to find Darcy grinning up at him. “Oh, hello! You made it!”

“’Course I did! I got a personal invite and everything, I was hardly gonna snub it, was I?” Darcy says with a laugh, selecting a clean cup off the counter and placing it beside Nick’s as he mixes them drinks.

Handing her a drink, Nick flashes her a smile. “You having a good time, then?”

Darcy nods happily. “Yeah! I’ve only been here a little while, but it’s been great!” She stops a minute, wondering why Nick looks so odd and she narrows her eyes at him. “Why are you looking at me like that? What have you done?”

“You might hate me,” Nick starts off, looking around helplessly. “But I got a text from Harry earlier asking if I was around and then I told him about the party and now him and the boys are here. It wasn’t really intentional and I – "

“You’re such a moron,” Darcy cuts him off with a fond glance. “I don’t care, Grim, this is your party and you can invite who you like! I’m alright now, remember? I just suffered a temporary lapse in judgement and now we’re all good.”

Nick gives her a look. “Are you sure, or is that the alcohol talking?”

“Excuse you, I’ve only had a few. I’m perfectly okay, thank you very much. In fact, to prove to you, I’m going to go chat with them right now,” Darcy says, snatching up her drink and walking away determinedly as Nick watches on with an impressed smile, shaking his head at his friend before grabbing his own drink and moving out of the kitchen to mingle.

It’s hard to miss the way Harry lights up like a Christmas tree when he sees Darcy making his way towards them, and immediately moves to hug her before he can stop himself. “Darcy, good to see you!”

Darcy’s still a little stunned that she’s got an armful of international popstar, but manages to laugh it off easily. “Yeah, you too! I thought you were off around the world and whatnot, doing what famous boy bands do?”

Harry laughs at this. “Well yeah, we were, we only got in an hour ago.”

“An hour ago? Christ, you must be exhausted! How are you still standing right now?” Darcy asks, looking shocked at this because if she’d only stepped off a plane an hour ago, there’s every chance she’d be tucked up in bed by now. Maybe that was her old age talking.

“Honestly? I’m running on fumes, but hey, alcohol and party vibes always help, right?” He flashes her that charming grin, dimples and all, and she feels herself smiling back at him as moments pass, neither of them looking away until there’s a well-timed cough of someone clearing their throat pointedly. Harry responds instantly. “Oh, right! This is my band! You’ve met Louis, but this Niall, Zayn, and Liam! Boys, this is Darcy!”

Darcy turns to smile at them all pleasantly. “Louis, nice to see you again. And hello, Niall, Zayn, and Liam! Ya alright?”

Louis grins and gives a little wave in response, while Liam and Zayn both return the greeting. Niall however, opts for wrapping up the radio DJ in a large hug, laughing loudly in her ear as she belatedly hugs him back.

“’ello Darcy! I’ve heard lots about ya, nice to finally get to put a person to the name,” Niall greets warmly, finally releasing her and stepping back with a wide grin which Darcy can’t help but return, instantly putting Niall right up there with some of her favourite celebrities she’d met.

“Erm, no, no, don’t listen to a thing Niall says,” Harry says awkwardly, and Darcy realises Harry’s turned a nice shade of pink at Niall’s words. Niall glares at his friend, giving an annoyed ‘hey!’.

“Seriously, crazy Irish bastard, talks a lot of bollocks,” Harry continues and Darcy can only laugh.

Darcy ignores Harry, looking over at Niall with a smile. “I just hope it was all good things,” she tells him, and he smiles brightly at her.

“Trust me, it was,” Niall responds, giving Harry a smug grin which the younger boy just sighs at before turning back to Darcy.

“So erm, could I get you a drink or something?” he asks as the other boys seem to disappear, returning back to their previous conversations and leaving the two to it.

“Well, I kind of already have one,” Darcy begins, looking down at her cup thoughtfully. “Nick made it, but it’s pretty terrible. So if you think you can do better, go for it.”

Harry nods at this, grinning widely as the two of them head off to the kitchen. A few drinks later finds them both lying on Nick’s back porch in the cool evening air, looking up at the smog filled sky of London in a bit of a daze.

“You should’ve been a bar tender, I mean really, your drinks a flawless!” Darcy gushes, rolling onto her stomach so she could look down at Harry who’s still got a faraway grin on his face.

“You think? I have always had a flare for taste,” he bullshits, laughing at himself and smiling wider when Darcy joins in.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Darcy confirms with a serious nod. “Becoming a successful and internationally known popstar was really the wrong career choice. You should’ve got a doctorate in drinks mixing or something because that’s some real talent to go to waste.”

“Stop it, you’re just saying that,” Harry giggles, waving his hand around dismissively and Darcy grabs it, holding it close to her face.

“No, no, no, you’re so good at it, ridiculously good, I will never be able to drink another alcoholic beverage that hasn’t been made by you ever again,” Darcy rambles, feeling overwhelmed by the alcohol in her system and the feeling of being snuggled up to an attractive boy under a brilliant starry sky. Her words sound eloquent to her, and possibly to Harry too, and she just moves in closer when the air causes a slightly chill.

“Cold?” Harry asks, already moving into a half sitting position to shrug off his jacket and hand it over. “There ya go.”

Darcy takes it gratefully, unable to hide a shiver and she slips into the warm jacket happily. “Such a gentleman, do you even have any flaws at all, Mr. Styles?”

Harry laughs loudly, sounding young and beautiful. “’Course I do. I’ve got many.”

“Nope, I refuse to believe it. You’re like some weirdly genetically modified creature, made to make every other man on this planet look absolutely hopeless,” Darcy says seriously, moving to lean against Harry and he quickly throws an arm around her.

“I have four nipples?” Harry says after a moment, like he’s really been thinking hard.

“Ooh, deal breaker,” Darcy teases, sticking her tongue out at Harry. “Is that seriously the best thing you can think of? That’s nothing, god, you’re too attractive and too young, this is so bad.”

“You think I’m attractive?” Harry asks quietly.

“Well duh, how could I not? Stupidly so, and it’s so annoying,” Darcy sighs, the filter that would usually stop these types of sentences from falling out of her brain out of order due to her alcohol consumption. “It’s so bad because I’m too old to be interested in someone like you, god you’re a fucking popstar for Christ’s sake and half the earth’s population is desperate to drop their knickers for ya and here I am mooning over you like some dumb school girl. It’s awful, it really is.”

Harry inhales, his chest rising against her as he readies himself to speak when Rita comes flying out of the house, eyes alight and a cheeky grin strung across her face.

“Harry, there you are! Come, come, we’re starting karaoke and you and I need to blow this place up. Up, up, come on, you promised me ages ago we’d sing together and here’s our chance!” she begs, hopping around the two of them in excitement.

Darcy laughs at this, moving to sit up and when she glances over at Harry, he’s giving her an unsure look like he’s asking for permission to leave. It’s such an absurd idea, that he has to ask her for anything, and she shoos him away quickly, telling him it’s fine and that she was meant to go find Greg a half hour ago as he’d challenged her to a drinking game earlier.

Harry gets to his feet, dusting off his hands before helping Darcy up too. “You look good in my jacket,” he tells her, voice low and inviting, before he’s giving her that grin and dashing off after Rita.

It takes a minute for Darcy to realise that she’s most definitely not over her silly infatuation with a teenage pop sensation and that only fires her on more when she tracks down Greg and leads him over to the kitchen, quite ready to drink him under the table and drink herself dumb until she doesn’t even remember what happened tonight.

Unfortunately, Greg’s pretty trollied as it is and can only take a few shots before he’s turning green and heading for the sink to puke his guts out, leaving Darcy to drink alone while listening to Rita and Harry completely slaughter a Justin Bieber hit.

The night continues on and Darcy ends up being roped into karaoke, ending up singing what Nick continues to exclaim is the song of the century, Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’ with a very trashed Finchy, the two of them giggling helplessly throughout the entire song. She dances with Zayn and Niall respectively, and even lets Henry mix her another one of his deadly cocktails which she downs without protest, leaving Pixie, Alexa, and Aimee all cheering her on in surprise.

The night begins to slow, with people finally deciding it’s time to leave and as the crowd thins out, Darcy makes her way out to the backyard once again, flopping down on her back on the grass, staring up at the sky which wavers in front of her eyesight. She’s drunk, but not drunk enough to separate her from her consciousness completely, and she hums in content, still warm inside Harry’s jacket.

She drifting in and out, the sounds of someone changing the party tunes to something a little more sombre coming to her attention, and the clatter of mess being tidied away in the background. A body falls beside her, warm and heavy, and she knows without opening her eyes who it is.

“Harry,” she whispers, lazily opening one eye to see him staring back at her serenely.

“Darcy, hi,” he whispers back, like it’s some big secret and suddenly she turns to look at him properly, both eyes wide and blown.

He’s got eyes so green, it’s impossible to think of a colour so intense, like the depth of a pool and flecked with gold. They’re kind of perfect and they’re the type of eyes you want to stare at forever.

“I could drown in those eyes,” Darcy says softly, and Harry smiles wider.

He blinks, once, twice, looking younger by the second and so, so vulnerable. He holds himself like he’s afraid and it’s so endearing that she just wants to hide him away and keep him safe. But there’s the other side of her, the more dominant, that watches as he breathes slowly and hums to himself, and can only think how good it would feel to ruin this.

Harry’s beautiful in all the ways someone can be beautiful, and it makes Darcy yearn to just reach inside him and mess him up, drive him like a car crash and walk away from the mess at the end of it all. He slips his pinkie finger around hers and for something so small, it certainly feels so intimate.

He leans in, careful at first but picking up confidence along the way, and she welcomes his lips easily, melting into him like she has no other choice. Darcy can’t help but peek, he kisses so beautifully and with his eyes closed, and it feels better than one could imagine. She’s the first to pull away, noting the lust blown up large in his eyes and she smirks at him, testing.

“I don’t live far from here,” she tells him simply, and he knows exactly what she means without anything else having to be said.

Darcy wants to be wanted, thrives on it, and he’s beautiful enough to give her that. He helps her up, both of them colliding together with hushed laughter and they sneak out the back way, away from the watching eyes. Darcy’s last real thought is how she hopes Nick hasn’t seen them leave together because she feels like she'll never get the sound of him saying ‘I told you so’ out of her head.