Yeah, I was afraid of that. Oh well. 🙂
So now that we're this far in I can spill some of the background stuff, I've been keeping to myself. So, you can infer from the first tickling scene between Todd and Diane that the two of them were getting answers out of Logan (aka Wolverine) about Roxi's involvement, with Barton's help. We'll see that in the next book, but it proved to be a critical moment. When Diane goes to get answers, I originally (we're talking the original drafts) thought she wouldn't bring Todd or any of the other boyfriends because they might allow their emotions to get the better of them, she needed some guys to help her that would always trust her judgment. That's when I remembered that Barton and Donnie were good friends to the Sigmas, and thought they'd be perfect for Diane to call on to help her out. There's intimidating him into giving up Roxi, and then there's the "stairwell scene" as I call it, where afterwards, they discuss what Logan told them and why Roxi did what she did.
It was from this that I then decided that Barton and Donnie would run the auction's IT, that gives an even stronger reason for them to be there. But the problem was, it was taking way to long to build up to when the tickling at the auction actually starts. So, to add a little something spicy to it, I wrote the scene where Diane has Megan, Margot, and Stacie tickle her feet for Barton as a way of bringing him in as a friend of the Sigmas, basically everything that wound up as Interlude 1 of the first book. It was a nice little break, but the only reason that the scene was about Barton was because he happened to be the character that I had running the auction at that time. However, I didn't just write the scene, I added a little conclusion that they dated for a little while afterwards, that Diane took his virginity in fact, but that in the end they decided to remain friends because she was too ticklish for a guy who loved to tickle so much.
But then a strange thing happened as a result. See, the characters don't do what I tell them to do, the characters tell me what they're doing. If they're not doing what I want, I need to alter the situation, otherwise they don't feel real any more. So this is when Barton and Diane started to have separate ideas for the story than I did. When I revised the stairwell scene, Barton sends Donnie on ahead, then hugs Diane and says, "I let you down, chief." (This moment originated his nickname for her) Diane makes a few jokes about his many conquests, but he says, "Truth is, every woman I've ever been with has lived in your shadow."
Then, the scene where the Chameleon is tickling Diane in her office was under different circumstances - it was about the revenge plot, not about the hack, it actually occurred after. Barton arrives when Diane is done to talk with her, which is essentially the orchard scene except it was just on campus and the pair sitting on a bench behind the Sigma house. Diane finishes it up with the same line as in the final version, "I'm shutting this down. You've been overindulged and are going to be insufferable for the next few days." There was a sense in her line that this was a relationship so familiar she wore it like an old coat. I realized these two were much more than friends, and with every revision, Diane and Barton's scenes became more emotionally intimate. Finally a scene came (I can tell you this because the plotline has changed, so it's not a spoiler) that Barton called up Diane, thinking something he heard couldn't be true. When she instead tries to justify it, he tries to get her to see reason, but she feels betrayed, and Barton says that he always feared the day would come when he'd have to choose between how he felt about her, and being her friend, and that doing the latter meant calling her on her bullshit. Diane is outraged that he would ever side against her, but later on she realizes he was right, leading to a scene similar to the one they had over the phone, after he sang his apology song, where she promises that Sigmas make the rules and she will never let anything come between what they have.
But, even that wasn't enough. Diane and Barton with every revision told me they weren't happy with where their storyline ended. Every time, they would force themselves closer and closer, despite my best efforts, despite the fact that this iteration of the story was about 90% done for the WHOLE THING. They finally convinced me to just give it a try, and let them be together. And that convinced me. I had to essentially rebuild the entire story as a result, but they had shown me the story was that much better for them being on a journey that finished what they had started freshman year and winding up in each other's arms. Tens of thousands of words were thrown out to accommodate the change, but Diane and Barton wanted this so badly I couldn't deny them.
So that's the background of how Diane's storyline became what it did. 🙂
