If You Only Knew

Darren's POV

"You can't?" her reply caught me off guard. "But why not?"

"Darren," she sighed, beckoning me further into the room. "What would you usually do between shows?"

"I don't know," I replied, scratching my head as I thought.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "You don't have anything that you have to do between shows. I do. We've only got a few hours to freshen everyone's clothes for the next show, which means that I don't have any free time to spare. As much as I would love to go with you today, I just can't. I have to think about my responsibilities first."

"Can't Leah just do it by herself, just this once?" I knew that my question was kind of selfish, but at that moment I didn't really care. I had been looking forward to this outing and now it was being ripped away from me.

"You know that I can't do that," she sighed. "That wouldn't be fair to Leah, and with the time constraint that we have, we'll need all the time that we can get. Can I take a raincheck?"

"I guess," I sighed, feeling my lip pout slightly.

"No, you should go," Chris' voice suddenly piped in. "You go, and I'll stay and help Leah."

"You will?" we both turned to him, surprised by his offer.

"Sure," he smiled, leaning over and bumping Leah with his shoulder. "I don't mind helping this one with some laundry. As long as she doesn't mind..."

"I'm totally cool with that," Leah jumped in quickly, smiling at Chris. He gave her a quick, little wink, causing her to blush. She quickly brought her hand up to cover her mouth, giggling slightly.

Is he flirting with her? I wondered with surprise. I looked at their relaxed stances and how close together their bodies were sitting, noticing that neither seemed uncomfortable with being so close to one another.

"Besides," Chris continued, turning his attention back on me. "I have some free time since it's not likely that I'd be going with you. I know that you guys probably don't want a third wheel on your date."

"It's not a date!" I exclaimed, frustrated with Chris. Why must he continually insist on it being a date? He gave me a surprised look, raising his eyebrows at me as his eyes darted back and forth between me and Kaley and I instantly caught on to his meaning.

Oh crap, I thought as I turned to her. She had a kind of hurt, dejected look on her face. Had she thought it was a date?

"I mean, like, it's not a date date," I stammered, a little flustered. "If you call two friends going for ice cream a date, then sure, it's a date." Chris just rolled his eyes at my attempted cover up.

"I'm sorry, Kaley," Chris said, taking over. "I tend to label any type of outing as a date, a bad habit which Darren has been trying to help me break. And sometimes he speaks before he thinks, so him telling me off might have come across as rude, but please don't think that it was because of you. He's just trying to help me."

Just like you're trying to help me, I thought, smiling at him.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Kaley," I turned back to her. "I really wasn't thinking when I said that. I didn't realize how it might have sounded to you."

"That's okay," she smiled tentatively.

"So, ice cream?" I tilted my head slightly as I looked at her and was rewarded with a bigger smile.

"It's a date," she laughed, turning to Chris. "The friend kind of date, not a date date."

"Thank you for the clarification," he laughed, giving me a side glance. I mouthed the words "thank you" to him and he gave me a slight nod as if to say, "uh huh, you're welcome".

"So," I called Kaley's attention back to me. "Did you need any help taking clothes back to the dressing rooms?"

"I would love your help," she smiled at me.

"My help?" I acted surprised. "Oh, no I was going to go find someone else to help you..." I started to turn away as if heading towards the door.

"Darren!" Kaley exclaimed with a laugh.

"Yes?" I asked innocently, turning back slightly. She just rolled her eyes at me, crossing her arms over her chest while giving me a look that said "really?", her eyebrows slightly raised.

"I'm teasing," I laughed, turning the rest of the way back around. "Of course I'll help you."

"Leah, are all of Lea's clothes done?" Kaley asked, laughing slightly as she turned to her friend.

"Yes, Lea's are done," Leah laughed as well.

"Alright, then I guess we'll start with hers," Kaley decided, picking up a pile of neatly folded clothes from one of the tables. "Here." She handed the pile to me before turning and picking up another small pile. Then she walked over to a clothing rack and took two dresses off of it.

"Alright, let's go," she smiled, turning back to me.

"After you," I smiled, gesturing towards the door.

I followed her out the door, glancing back once at Chris, who was already deep in conversation with Leah. With a roll of my eyes, I continued following Kaley down the hallway.

"So, are you nervous at all for today?" she asked, briefly glancing back over her shoulder at me.

"For the show?" I asked. "Nah, I'm a theatre veteran. I'm used to being on stage."

"I'm a theatre veteran too, but I still get nervous before I go on stage," Kaley commented. "I'm always afraid that I'm going to forget a line or miss my cue or something."

"You do theatre?" I was surprised.

"I used to, before I moved," she replied with a shrug. "Mostly just musicals at my school or plays for my church. Nothing huge. Nothing Glee concert huge."

"Musicals?" I sped up till I was beside her so that I could see her face. "Do you sing?"

"Everyone can sing," she laughed. "But how well they can sing, well that's another story." I couldn't help but laugh as well.

"But to answer your question, yes, I can sing," she continued. "But I hardly sing around anyone anymore, with the exception of Leah."

"Why not?" I asked.

"You ask a lot of questions," she laughed.

"All the better to get to know you with, my dear," I replied, slightly referencing Little Red Riding Hood. She laughed briefly, but quickly became serious.

"It's just..." she trailed off with a deep sigh. "It's just that I'm afraid of being judged by people."

"Judged?" I echoed, furrowing my brows questioningly.

"I'm a very insecure person," she revealed, her voice soft and quiet. "You know how they say that you can get a thousand good comments, but yet it's the one bad comment that you get that you always tend to remember? Yeah, that's the story of my life."

"Oh? How so?" I urged her to continue.

"Well, I got the lead in a show once," she sighed. "And I found out that one of my supposed friends was complaining about it, saying that she was a much better singer and was better suited for the part than me. It was a real blow to my confidence, you know?" She stopped suddenly, turning towards me.

"Kaley, I-" I began, but was cut off as a door opened behind me.

"Oh, hello, Darren," a familiar voice exclaimed.

"Hi, Lea," I laughed, turning around.

"And who's this?" she asked, looking past me at Kaley.

"This is Kaley," I smiled, turning my body slightly to include her in the conversation.

"Oh, so this is Kaley!" she exclaimed, a smile spreading across her lips. "Chris was right! She is a cutie!"

I felt heat suddenly flush my cheeks, embarrassed by Lea's bold, outright comment. I turned to Kaley to apologize and was surprised to find that I wasn't the only one who was embarassed.

Kaley's cheeks were turning red.