If You Only Knew

Kaley's POV

As soon as I saw his bare chest, I could instantly feel my cheeks flush with heat and I had to quickly pull my gaze away from him, looking down at the floor instead, as a small "oh!" escaped from my lips. I hadn't expected him to be shirtless.

It wasn't like I was a virgin to seeing guys shirtless. I had seen tons of my guy friends back home without their shirts on, but it was different when it was someone that you were crushing on. Seeing Darren shirtless sent my heart into a full on frenzy. It stopped for a second, then pounded rapidly against my chest, then it skipped a beat, and then it stopped again. From the quick sight that I had caught before turning my gaze away I could see that he had abs and they looked fine on him. I had to lock my jaw in place to keep it from dropping to the floor, as cheesy as that sounds.

"Oh, sorry," Darren exclaimed. "Ok, it's safe now." I slowly looked back up at him and was relieved to see that he had pulled on a white shirt. On the front, it had the words Bushy Hair printed on it.

"Born This Way?" I asked, pointing at his shirt. He looked down at his shirt and smiled. I have to admit, his smile gave me goosebumps and made my stomach do a flip flop. He had a really, really great smile.

"Yep," he nodded.

"Cool," I smiled back tentatively. Then we kinda stood there awkwardly for a second.

"Ummm, do you want to come in?" he asked, stepping aside slightly to let me in.

"S-Sure," I stuttered, moving to enter the room. As I passed by him, my hand lightly brushed against his bare arm and I felt shivers run down my spine.

Ok, I'm not going to lie, I was feeling a little starstruck being so close to Darren. He was, after all, my major celebrity crush. It was hard not to feel a little nervous and giddy around him, especially now that I was finally starting to get over what had happened the other night. Chris was right. Darren was a great guy and I needed to give him a chance. Everyone does have an off day once in a while and, after reading about what had happened to upset Darren so much, I think that I could cut him a little slack. I know I've snapped before and felt horrible about it afterwards.

"So what can I do for you?" he asked, turning towards me after only slightly closing the door, which I was thankful for. I didn't need any more rumors about me and Darren going around, especially not after the big one that people were still whispering about. Ok, I know it only started last night, but people seriously just needed to drop it. It was one mistake and people were twisting the story and making Darren seem like a horrible guy. I was doing my best to squash the rumors, but they tend to spread as quickly as fire and be just as dangerous.

"Kaley?" Darren's voice called my attention.

"Sorry," I smiled slightly. "Just a little lost in thought."

"That's alright," he laughed lightly. "So what can I do for you?"

"Just talk, really," I shrugged. "I happened upon this today..." I held up the magazine that I had been holding for him to see. His eyes squinted slightly as he looked at the cover, trying to read it. I could instantly tell when he knew what it said because his shoulders suddenly stiffened.

"I know this is probably the last thing that you want to see or talk about right now," I began before he could say anything, "But I felt that I needed you to know that I understand why you acted out last night. I understand, Darren. It's hard having your heart broken by someone that you love. Trust me, I know..." I felt a sudden sting in my heart as I thought about how Darren had made me feel last night.

"And while reading this article, I know, it's horrible of me to be reading this crap," I continued. "Well, I realized that though I had forgiven you, I was still mad at you and when I realized what had happened to make you act that way, I felt horrible about being mad at you for making me hurt when you were hurting all along. So I felt that I needed to come here and tell you that I'm sorry and that I really, truly do forgive you, from the bottom of my heart."

Darren didn't say anything for a moment. He just kind of stood there and looked at me, a surprised expression on his face. But that expression quickly changed into a smile.

"Thank you," he said softly. "That means a lot to me to hear you say that. I can see why Chris took such a liking to you and your friend. You guys really are such nice people. That's a rare thing to find in New York."

"Well, we're not from New York originally," I smiled. "We actually just moved here last year to, you know, pursue our dreams and all that jazz." Darren let out a light, warm laugh.

"Really?" he sent me a beaming smile. "So where are you from then?"

"Well-" I began, but was cut off by a sharp knock at the door, which was quickly followed by it swinging wide open.

"Come on, Dare, we've got- Oh! Hello, Kaley!" Chris cut himself off to greet me with a smile.

"Hi, Chris," I smiled warmly back at him. "Well, I should get going. It was good talking to you, Darren. I'm sorry again about everything that happened. I know it must have been hard to have Vanessa break up with you, but things will get better. But if you ever need an ice cream buddy, I know I great little parlor just a couple of blocks from here." I turned to leave, but was stopped as Darren grabbed my arm.

"What do you mean by Vanessa breaking up with me?" he asked very seriously. I felt the blood drain from my face.

"T-That's what it said..." I replied nervously, holding up the magazine again.

"May I?" he asked, softening as he noticed my reaction. He was gesturing towards the magazine. I nodded, allowing him to take it from my hand. He gently let go off my arm and flipped open the magazine. His brows furrowed and his eyes squinted again as he read. Finally, with a disgusted sigh, he tore his attention away from the magazine in his hands and looked straight at me.

"For the record, never believe everything that you read in magazine," he remarked, handing it back to me. "Vanessa did not break up with me. I broke up with her. And I wasn't crying over her in those pictures. I was crying over..." He stopped, his cheeks reddening a little, which surprised me. I had never actually seen him blush before. Then I realized why he was blushing, who he had been crying over. It had been me.

"I understand," was all I said, giving him a light smile.

"All performers onstage now!" a voice that sounded kind of like Ryan Murphy's called over the P.A. system. "And I mean now, Chris and Darren!"

"Oh snap!" Darren exclaimed. "Ryan's pissed!

"You'd better get going then," I laughed, shooing them towards the door. "The show needs its stars!"

"Yes, yes it does," Chris laughed as he scooted out the door. Darren followed after him, pausing slightly in the doorway.

"Thanks, Kaley," he said, turning slightly back towards me. "You have no idea what this meant to me." And then he was gone. I stood there for a second, a smile spreading across my lips as a warm feeling bubbled inside of me.

"Oh, and one more thing!" Darren's voice suddenly said, calling my attention back to the doorway. "I'll be sure to take you up on that ice cream offer sometime. I'd love to hear about this dream that brought you to New York from who knows where." And with another quick smile and a slight wink, he was gone again.

I slowly brought my hand up and placed it over my heart, feeling it pound rapidly against my chest. I don't think that I had ever felt this exhilarated in all of my life.

It took me a couple of minutes to finally urge myself to get going, telling myself that I probably shouldn't be in his room when he came back to change. That would be a little bit awkward. I left his room, closing the door gently behind me before carrying on my way. Leah was probably waiting patiently for me to return, excited to hear about everything that had happened.

We talked, I apologized, we laughed, I could hear myself sharing the event to Leah. He showed interest in my dreams and where I'm from, he agreed to go for ice cream... I stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway. He had agreed to go for ice cream!

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed out loud, starting to book it down the hallway as I began to almost scream Leah's name. I was soon crashing through the door to the laundry/costume room.

"Leah!" I exclaimed, almost out of breath.

"I'm here!" she said, appearing at my side. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Leah," I said through gasps for air, grabbing her shoulders and turning her towards me. "I think I just got a date with Darren!"