The night of the concert, Darcy gave in to his baser impulses and drove his car northwest. It would probably take him an hour to get to the concert, traffic being what it was despite the weekend, but he still got on the freeway and headed toward the Bowl. It was immature and stupid, and yet he was still going. He was using those two words a lot more often about himself than he liked.

But once he was on the way to the Bowl, he found himself justifying it. He hadn't been able to go on the same night as Charles and Caroline, and he'd chosen not to go last night with his mother. He loved and respected her, but a whole evening in a small group with her? While Gigi performed? No. Tonight was the only night left, and Fitz was one of his best friends. It made total sense for him to come tonight.

When he exited the freeway, it took half an hour to inch through the gate and another half hour to inch into a parking lot. He really should have hired a driver or taken a car service.

It was still light, though the sun sunk behind the hills. Darcy strode up the ramp that led to the Garden Boxes where his mother reserved a box for all of Gigi's performances. "Box" was a loose term. There were waist-high wooden dividers set up along the concrete terraces. They were tiny, most only allowing for four canvas folding chairs and two tiny tables. Often a box was split between two levels, making it difficult to get the tables level (they had adjustable legs) and meaning that two people had to crane their head to look up at the others while they ate.

Eating at the Bowl was a tradition for many. They would bring elaborate picnics and white tablecloths and good silver. Being the "talk" of the section was one of his mother's joys in life. Many people came as soon as the gates opened and ate and people-watched under the open sky for hours before the performance started.

That was not Darcy's idea of a good time. He felt claustrophobic in the small spaces. His long legs barely fit under the table, and then there was the awkward dance to get everyone's chair pointed to the stage when the concert began.

Since he hadn't come for dinner, most people were doing that shuffle now. Often people only needed two of a box's four seats, and so they shared with strangers. Now the polite rearrangements were happening as couples who sat across from each other switched places with others to be next to each other for the performance.

Finally he got to the far side where he spotted Elena and Fitz. It was obvious from a distance that they were having a good time. Darcy felt uncharacteristically self-conscious for a moment, but quickly brushed it aside.

"Fitz," Darcy greeted him, "Elena. My schedule changed so it looks like I'll be joining you tonight."

Fitz stood and shook his hand. "Hey, Darcy. Don't blame you, we've got it to ourselves tonight."

Elena smiled but didn't say anything as he got situated on her other side, trying to find a comfortable place to put his feet between chairs and table legs.

She looked like she'd been talking plenty a minute ago. Was she clamming up because of him?

"Any trouble parking?" Darcy asked finally. He kicked himself for not being able to come up with anything more interesting to say. He was an intelligent man, darn it, and not shy, whatever Gigi said. He just...preferred people he already knew. Like Fitz and Charles.

If only he could skip ahead to a time when he already knew Elena. Not that he was going back on his decision to avoid asking her out, but she was Gigi's friend now, too.

"No trouble at all," Elena replied hoarsely. "I Ubered here. Easy as pie."

"But how will you get home?"

She looked oddly at him. "I'll Uber a ride back, of course."

"Late at night? On your own? From a public venue?"

"Anything sounds bad when you say it in that tone of voice," she quipped. She coughed a little, raising a tissue to her mouth.

Darcy winced. "That doesn't sound good."

"It doesn't feel too good either. I have—uh—an allergy attack."

"That's rough. Nice of you to come support Gigi anyway."

She laughed and coughed again. "Well, unlike some people, I actually enjoy the company of others, even when I don't feel great. It's this weird human-interaction thing. You may not have heard of it."

Fitz laughed. "Darcy just hasn't mastered the concept in the wild."

"I'm not good with new people, that's true." Darcy relaxed in spite of himself. "I'm glad neither of you are acquaintances. And…" he hesitated, "as such, getting an Uber from here is dangerous. I would never let Gigi do it."

Elena raised her eyebrows. "If Gigi lets you tell her what to do, that's her problem. I'm not your sister."

"Still—"

"Hey, I know where you live. You're heading toward a car-keying if you keep this up. I'm breaking all kinds of rules these days." The threat was delivered with a smile. Was she flirting with him?

#

Elena smiled at the thought of inflicting a long, hideous scratch down the length of Darcy's car. She'd always rather wanted to key a car, since she was introduced to the crime in middle school. Darcy deserved it, too. Paternalistic party-crasher that he was.

And he hadn't so much as mentioned the rally, though Caroline must have told him she was there. Or had she? Maybe not. Either way, Elena was in no mood to deal with him.

She'd been having a surprisingly great evening with Fitz, a perfect distraction from last week. Elena had been sleeping badly ever since the rally, waking in a panic from dreams of rushing crowds or drowning.

Fitz was a great antidote. He was funny, charming, and seemed to know everything about the music industry in California. He wasn't as good-looking as Wick or Darcy (not that she was comparing), but she already felt like she'd known him for years.

Now, with him on her left and Darcy on her right, all the fun had gone out of the evening. With Darcy, she had to watch what she said. Why did he have to come tonight?

The Los Angeles philharmonic began to come onto the stage, and the noise from the audience rose.

Fitz leaned toward her. "Have you seen a symphony performance before?"

"No, I haven't."

Fitz began to quietly fill her in on the conventions- when the first violin would come in, the guest oboe, and the conductor's background. It might have been condescending from Darcy, but Fitz loved music, and his enjoyment overflowed. He told her when to clap, "wait for his hands to go down," and how the program order was decided. "It was a mess of prestige, preference, and performance. I wrangled the best spots I could for Gigi, considering she likes to get her part over as fast as she can."

As the performance started, Fitz leaned back again.

The symphony played several classical pieces-Elena recognized them from Fantasia-before introducing the first guest vocalists to huge applause. Every now and then Fitz leaned close to explain a behind-the-scenes tidbit, or just to comment on the piece.

Darcy, on the other hand, sat as if deaf and mute. Elena looked over at him several times, and caught him looking at her. It was just like he had done at the cabin, but even less welcome here. If he was a normal guy, she might think he was interested in her, but his frown clearly said otherwise. Besides, he would never date someone like her—immigrant family, poverty background (though really they had been incredibly lucky), and opposite politics. She chanced another glance at him and he was still frowning at her.

"Is something wrong?" Elena demanded. If he didn't want to be near her, he shouldn't have come tonight.

His eyebrows rose. "Of course not."

When Gigi was announced, several songs later, the crowd screamed in an entirely new register.

Elena jumped in surprise, and both men put a hand on her shoulder.

Darcy jerked his hand away quickly, but Fitz smiled. "Gigi's fans tend to have high voices."

"No kidding," Elena said. "That's some shrieking." She glanced back at Darcy but he'd returned to his deaf/mute act.

"I guess I haven't spent any time with Gigi in public," Elena said.

Fitz nodded. "It's actually getting much better for her this year, but she prefers to lay low."

Elena couldn't help wondering how Wick fit into that. He didn't seem the lay low type. In fact, the more Elena got to know Gigi, she couldn't picture them together at all. Wick was right, their relationship probably had been a big mistake. Despite Gigi's great success, and even her sad experience with drugs, she seemed young for her age.

As she swept into the stage now, in a fuchsia ball gown with her hair up, she looked like a completely different person.

She beamed at the crowd and the mike wire wrapped perfectly around her neck amplified her voice. "It's wonderful to be back in Los Angeles at the Bowl." She paused for cheering. "I've been traveling a lot this year, so I thought I'd start with a song to celebrate being back."

An even higher pitched scream of approval radiated from the audience.

The orchestra started one of her most popular songs, with the refrain even Elena knew, about the LA lights never going out.

Gigi's magnified voice rang in the huge natural stadium like a force of nature. Elena's mouth dropped open.

She turned to Darcy almost without thinking. For once he wasn't looking disapprovingly at her, but was watching the stage with a pensive expression. "Wow," she mouthed silently when he glanced her way.

He smiled, full of brotherly pride and some sadness too, and Elena almost forgot to dislike him.

Gigi did one more song, then came an intermission.

Fitz said, "That's it for her for now. She'll have one more, third from the end."

Elena needed a drink of water (and a restroom), so they all decided to work their way out of the stadium.

Fitz was only about Elena's height, but he was good at working his way through the crowd. He put a light hand on Elena's arm to prevent them getting separated, and steered them toward one of the less crowded bathrooms hidden behind a large souvenir stall.

Darcy had disappeared at some point, so Elena and Fitz browsed for a few minutes.

"I'm having a really nice time tonight," Fitz said. "It's been a while since I've been to the Bowl with a first-timer."

"I'm glad I could make it more fun for you. I definitely lucked out getting to attend when you could tell me all about it. Shame Darcy came," Elena added, before thinking better of it. She winced. She was annoyed that he was there, but she should be careful. Fitz might read more into it than she meant. "I don't begrudge him the space," Elena hurried on. "But he's always so...grim."

Fitz laughed. "Not grim. I would describe him as stoic."

"Is that better?"

He shrugged. "Darcy's a good guy. If you think the screaming for Gigi is intense, you should see the jostling that goes on when he enters the House restaurant in DC. I met him there once and it was...impressive. He inherited his money and most of his influence from his dad, and that could have made him a real jerk. But he lets most of it slide off. Maybe stoic is the wrong word. Guarded."

"Guarded like a prison," Elena amended. "And about as friendly."

Fitz smiled. "Yeah, he's not very good at making friends. How did he offend you?"

Elena shook her head. "It's very terrible. You know he vacationed in a cabin where I worked? Well, he stayed in every time I came to clean the cabin. What kind of psychopath does that? I'm not sure I saw him go outside the whole two weeks."

Fitz laughed. "Gigi said she met you at a party in Spear Lake. I didn't realize you worked there."

Elena grinned tightly. "Well, my secret is out. I'm a low-skilled laborer. A maid, even."

Fitz held up his hands. "I'm the last to judge. I washed cars for a year, bussed tables, even, literally, dug ditches."

"Poor Fitz."

"Yes, poor Fitz. I was surrounded by these monolith guys that had two hundred pounds on me. I was about as heavy as the shovel."

Fitz waved at Darcy further up the ramp as the crowd flowed back to their seats, but Darcy didn't see him. Fitz continued, "You know, Darcy was the one who interviewed and hired me to manage Gigi's jobs when she was younger. I had already transitioned to talent management, but that was my big break."

"Charles said something similar about his own career."

"Yeah, Darcy has a real knack for helping people find their path."

"Weird. He strikes me as non-intuitive to the point of handicap."

"Yeah, don't get me wrong, he can give a statue tips on posture... but I'm totally jealous of him in some ways." He glanced at Elena and sighed. "But I can't diss him even if I wanted to. Even this week, he's spent hours on the phone talking a friend through some kind of crisis."

"What kind of crisis?"

"I don't know, but he spent hours this week reassuring him."

Elena's lips tightened. Surely this wasn't Charles, right? Did Charles need reassurance on dropping Noa without so much as a text?

Fitz continued. "I don't have much in common with Darcy, but he's about as loyal as they come."

Elena snorted. She didn't admire the sort of loyalty that would lead him to do the things he'd done.

Back in their small space, Elena was even less inclined to talk to Darcy, but unfortunately he'd decided otherwise. He asked about her favorite musicians—that was allowable, considering they were at a concert—but he also asked how her job was going and what classes she would be taking the fall semester. Did she have plans for being an independent sports trainer? Did she—

"Are you trying to decide if I'm on the right career path?" Elena asked him. "Fitz says you like to meddle in people's lives that way."

Fitz shrunk comically in his chair. "I did not say that. She lies."

Even Darcy smiled. "I already know Elena likes to twist things out of context at times."

"Harsh," Elena said. "I would say I give things new context. So they can be understood better."

Fitz looked from her to Darcy and back again. "I feel like I'm missing some context."

Elena shushed them both. "The next song is starting."