If You Only Knew

Darren's POV

I don't know why I felt so giddy walking into the theatre today. Maybe it was the excitement of the show going up in just a few hours... Or maybe it was the thought of getting to see Kaley again.

"I had another one of those strange dreams again last night," Chris was saying as we walked down the hall. I was only half listening as my attention was focused on the door that we were nearing. I slowed as we passed by it, looking into the room and smiling at the girl whose eyes had flickered up and caught on mine. I lifted my hand in a friendly wave, which she returned, before I had completely passed the doorway.

"Kaley looks happy this morning," Chris commented, drawing my attention back to him. He had an I-told-you-so type smirk on his face.

"I'm sure that everyone is excited about the first show today," I replied, playing it cool. I refused to give Chris the satisfaction of me admitting that he was right about Kaley. Though I still hardly knew her, I was really starting to become rather fond of her. I felt good and relaxed around her. It felt... natural.

"Uh huh, sure," there was laughter underlying Chris' voice. "I'm sure that that's the only reason why she's so happy." He nudged me lightly with his elbow, trying to provoke me.

"Oh, shut up!" I laughed, pushing him away.

"Watch the coffee!" he exclaimed, holding his Starbucks cup out away from his body.

"Sorry," I replied lightly, though a smile was still flickering across my lips.

"Hmph!" Chris huffed, turning a cold shoulder on me. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Fine then," I remarked. "I won't invite you to come for ice cream with us today!" That caught his attention.

"You're going today?" he asked, surprise flickering through his voice as he turned back to me.

"Well, if Kaley agrees to, then yes," I nodded. "I'm interested in finding out more about her."

"You sure that you want a third wheel along with you two on your date?" Chris asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"It's not a date!" I sighed. "I told you, we're just friends."

"But you like her..." Chris persisted.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I mean, yes... But no... But... Oh, I don't know!" I let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know how I feel about her..."

"Relax, Darren," Chris placed a gentle, comforting hand on my shoulder. "Just take it one step at a time. Go for ice cream. Get to know her. Then figure out your feelings for her."

"Thanks," I gave him a small but grateful smile.

A small beep suddenly came from Chris' pocket. He took his hand off of my shoulder to pull out his phone.

"Ooo! It's from Leah!" Chris smiled. "Tanner, not Michele."

"Oh?" I tried to peek over his shoulder at his phone. "What is she texting you about?"

"Nothing!" Chris exclaimed defensively, pressing his phone to his chest so that I couldn't see the screen.

"This isn't the first time that she's texted you, isn't it?" I realized suddenly.

"You have your new friend, I have mine," Chris stated simply, turning suddenly and heading back the way we had just come.

"Where are you going?" I called out after him.

"I have business to attend to!" he replied, holding up his phone and slightly waving it at me over his shoulder, not once stopping nor turning around.

"Ok then," I sighed to his departing back.

I continued down the hallway alone, waving to Lea as I passed her by. Her deep brown eyes gave me an inquiring look as if to say "where's Chris?" but I just shrugged at her and shook my head. I was just as clueless as she was as to where Chris actually was, because, for once, I really didn't even know what he was up to.

I continued on, passing by my dressing room as I headed towards the make up and hair department. The first show didn't go up for another three hours, but I wanted to give the hair stylists as much time as I possibly could for them to take my crazy, wild Darren hair and turn it into the slick, stylish Blaine hair. Getting these curls to cooperate was no easy task.

"Knock, knock," I called out as I pushed open the department's door. The three older looking women in the room looked up and smiled at me, while the fourth, who was much younger, probably in her teens, squealed when she saw me.

"Ohmygoshyou'reDarrenCriss!" she exclaimed all in one breath, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Now, now, Taylor," one of the women, the tall one with the faded blonde hair, scolded. "Settle down. If you're going to act like this with everyone who walks through that door, then we may have to suggest that you be reassigned."

"Oh, no!" the young girl called Taylor panicked. "I'll settle down, I will. I promise." Then she very calmly turned to me and stuck out her hand.

"My name is Taylor Eberthorn," her smile was so wide that it very nearly reached from one side of her face to the other. "It is such an honour to meet you!" I smiled as I took her hand and shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Taylor," I smiled back. A small squeal escaped her throat as I spoke, her free hand quickly clamping itself over her mouth as if to try to cover the noise. I tried to let go of her hand, but she remained clinging to mine.

"Ummm, you can let go now," I laughed lightly. I could feel her reluctance as she finally did so, a light, dreamy sigh falling from her lips. She proceeded to then stare at the hand that I had shook, mumbling something to herself about never washing it ever again...

"Taylor, I think that you and I should take a little walk," the blonde woman said softly, slowly guiding the younger girl past me and out the door.

"That's the second one today," one of the other woman sighed, shaking her head. She was shorter, with deep auburn coloured hair. "Sorry about that. It's so hard to find good, serious help for these types of shows. You have no idea how many crazy Glee fans we've turned away. This is why I said that we should have hired assistants months ago, before all the crazy "I want to touch his or her hair" fans found out." This last comment was directed at her companion, a heavily tanned woman with extremely dark brown hair.

"And I never disagreed with that!" she exclaimed. "But you never did anything about it, and it wasn't my job to hire people!"

"Are you two fighting again?" the blonde haired woman was back. "I'm so sorry about all of this... Darren, right? We're usually a lot more organized than this."

"That's alright, Miss..." I paused, realizing that I didn't know her name.

"Camille," she smiled, shaking my hand. "Just call me Camille."

"It's nice to meet you," I smiled back.

"Such a charming young man!" she laughed, turning towards her companions. "That's Laura," she pointed at the dark haired woman.

"Laura," I shook her hand.

"And this is Zayna," she pointed at the auburn haired woman. "Zayna will be doing your hair and make up today."

"Good luck," I laughed, shaking her hand as well. "You're going to need it."

"I've had worse," she laughed, ruffling her fingers through my hair. "Yes, this will be no problem at all. When I am done with you, you will be a new man!"

And twenty minutes later, she was right. As I stared into the mirror, the man looking back at me was not Darren Criss, but rather Blaine Anderson, a stylish, hair-gel loving, ex-Warbler, someone who was proud of who he was and wasn't afraid of taking chances. Someone who wasn't afraid of asking someone out...

But I'm not afraid to ask Kaley out... I told myself. Or am I? No, I'm not! We're just going for ice cream, no big deal! Besides, she's the one who suggested it in the first place, not me. So I'm not really asking her out, I'm just taking her up on a previous offer. Yeah, that's it...

I sighed. Who was I kidding? I actually was nervous to ask her out.

But you're not "asking her out", I argued with myself. Because that would imply a date and it's not a date. It's just two friends going for ice cream... Ugh! Why do feelings have to be so complicated?

I looked at my reflection again, finding the courage there to leave the room and go find Kaley.

If Blaine can do it, you can do it. This was what I kept telling myself as I made my way down the hallway towards Kaley's workroom. I slowed as I got closer, taking deep, steady breaths. I wiped my suddenly sweating hands against my pants, wanting to look natural when Kaley saw me. Taking one last deep breath, I stepped into the doorway.

I watched as if in slow motion as Kaley's head turned towards me and a smiled spread across her lips. My heart suddenly did something funny in my chest and for a second I was breathless.

"Well, hello there, Blaine," she laughed. "You haven't happened to have seen Darren, have you?" I could tell that she was being silly, teasing me. "We've been wondering where he's at." She gestured to her left, my eyes following her directions, and I suddenly realized that we were not alone.

Chris sat perched on top of one of the tables, still sipping his coffee, with Leah sitting beside him, folding a pair of black skinny jeans that I recognized as mine. Chris raised an eyebrow at me, all the while smiling as he guessed at what I was about to do. Well, it was now or never.

"Actually, I have seen him," I stated, turning my attention back on Kaley. "He was looking for you to ask if you wanted to go for ice cream between shows today."

A sigh escaped from her lips and I wasn't prepared for her sudden response.

"I can't."