If You Only Knew

Kaley's POV

I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate as I stared down at the sleeping form beside me.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," I was starting to freak out. Had I... Had we...

I quickly checked myself and was relieved to find that I still had all of my clothes on. I had broken my vow to never drink last night... Who knows what other vows I could have potentially broken.

"Kaley?" Leah's groggy voice tore my attention away from the man beside me. I looked over to find Leah slowly sitting up in the bed that was beside the one that I was in. She rubbed her eyes, wincing slightly, as she sat up. She was very clearly affected by her hangover as well.

"What's wrong, Kaley?" she asked, yawning slightly.

"Leah, I'm-" I started to say.

"Leah?" another groggy voice said and slowly another figure sat up in bed... beside Leah.

"Why are you yelling?" Chris asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I wasn't yelling, I- OH MY GOSH!" This time she really did yell. Chris' eyes shot all of the way open at her exclamation.

"What?" he asked, a hint of panic in his voice. "What's wrong?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?" she demanded, her eyes wide with shock. She suddenly turned back to look at me. "I'm not still dreaming, am I?"

"Actually, you're in my bed..." Chris laughed, and I suddenly became aware of our surroundings. The one thing that I hadn't noticed when I had woken up was that I was not in my own room.

The room in which we now occupied looked semi-like a hotel room, just more fancy and upperclass like. There was a large TV against the far wall, flat screen, of course, and a couple of dressers. There was a night stand between the two beds that held a plain looking lamp and a digital clock that read 1:47.

The bed sheets sprawled around me where a fine white colour and were surprisingly really soft and comfortable. There were two doors, one leading out of the room and the other to the bathroom... or at least that's where I assumed they led.

"That still doesn't explain why you're in the same bed as me, even if it is your bed," Leah's comment brought my attention back to them.

"You fell asleep on my bed when we brought you back here," Chris shrugged. "And then I guess I must have dozed off before we could move you both into the same bed."

"We?" Leah echoed. "Wait, if you're in bed with me, then that means that..." She turned back to look at me again, her eyes and mouth wide with excitement.

And as if on cue, the bed shifted behind me and I suddenly felt his warm breath on the back of my neck.

"Good morning," he whispered softly in my ear, sending chills running down my spine.

"Speak of the devil," Chris laughed. "Morning, Darren!"

"Morning," I could hear the smile in his voice. "That was quite a night last night, eh?" I slowly turned to look at him before answering.

"I- Oh!" I felt my cheeks starting to blush as my eyes trailed over his exposed chest. He looked down to see what had made me blush and sighed.

"Kaley, are you going to do that every time that I'm shirtless?" he asked, making me blush even more.

"N-No," I stuttered, looking away from him.

"Good," he laughed. "Cause that would make things really awkward when we go to the beach."

"We're going to the beach?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, we talked about this just last night," he gave me a funny look. "Don't you remember?"

"No," I replied, starting to panic slightly. "I can't remember anything from last night... aside from the fact that we went to a bar..."

"Really?" he sounded surprised and a little upset. "Nothing?"

"No," I felt like I wanted to cry. "I don't remember anything that happened. I don't remember talking about going to the beach... I don't even remember how I ended up here!"

"Well, it's a long story," he sighed.

"Cause it was a long night," Chris laughed. "We didn't get back here till almost three in the morning!"

"Please, I need to know what happened," I pleaded.

"Alright," Darren sighed, running his fingers through his curly hair. "This is what happened last night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darren's POV

~ Last Night ~

After our duet onstage, our little group retired to a table in the back corner, isolating ourselves a bit from the rest of the room. Kaley had a new drink in her hand and she was chatting animatedly with Leah, completely oblivious to the fact that I had almost kissed her just ten minutes either.

"Can I say 'I told you so' yet?" Chris asked me, drawing my attention away from Kaley.

"About what?" I asked.

"You and Kaley," he smirked. "You were totally going to kiss her."

"I was not!" I argued, slightly unsettled that Chris had noticed that. If he had noticed, who else had?

"I swear, your naitivity surprises even me," Chris sighed, looking up towards the Heavens. "And Darren, honey? I can tell when you're lying."

I rolled my eyes at him and turned away to find Mark sliding into the seat beside Kaley.

"Guys, there's a bar next door called the Arena and it is siiiiiick!" his words were slightly slurred. "You guys have to come check it out!"

I looked around the room, then pictured a crowded bar, and shook my head.

"Nah, I think it's more comfortable here," I told him.

"But they've got a daaaance flooooor," he persisted. "And they won't let you do shots here! I bet that Kaley would be fun to do shots with! Whaddaya say, Kaley? Wanna try your luck against the defending champ?" He nudged her slightly, making her giggle and making me feel an uncomfortable twinge in my stomach.

"No, I don't think-" I started to protest.

"Oh, come on, Dare!" Kaley exclaimed, starting to get out of her seat. "Live a little, right, Mark?" She giggled as he stood up beside her.

"Shall we?" he asked with a smile, offering her his arm.

"Let's do this!" she smiled back, taking his arm. "Imma gonna take you down, boy! Bring on the shots! Wooo! Come on, Leahs!" She linked her free arm through Leah's as Mark started to lead her away.

I sighed as I watched them walk away.

"Are you seriously just going to sit there feeling sorry for yourself?" Chris demanded, getting up from the table. "Come on, we're going to the Arena." He hooked his arm through Lea's, whom had stayed back to wait for him, and turned and followed the others out of the building. With a sigh, I reluctantly followed them.

Inside the Arena, the sound level increased tenfold. I slowly eased my way through the clumps of people, trying to find Kaley, and winced as someone suddenly stepped back on my foot.

"Oh, I am so- Oh my word! You're Darren Criss!" the young blonde in front of me exclaimed. Her face was coated with so much makeup that she could have passed as being a Barbie. Her bright, blue eyes stared at me with wonder and I found myself suddenly very uncomfortable under her intense stare.

"Sorry, but I'm looking for someone," I tried to excuse myself as I attempted to step past her.

"You've found her," she smiled flirtatiously, stepping in front of me.

"I'm sorry, but I'm with someone tonight," I sighed, moving to pass her again. "And you are not her."

"Wait!" she exclaimed, grabbing my arm. "My friends will never believe that I met you! Can I at least get a picture with you?"

"Uh..." I looked frantically around the room, trying to spot someone that I knew, but to no avail.

"Yeah, I guess I can take one picture," I sighed.

"Awesome!" she squealed, digging into her purse and pulling out a small, pink camera.

"Say cheese!" she said as she held the camera out in front of us. I smiled politely for the picture and just before the flash went off, I felt something moist touch my cheek.

Seriously! my mind screamed as the flash went off and I pulled away from her. I hurriedly wiped my face as I turned and walked away, partly disgusted.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't usually get this upset when people kiss my cheek for pictures... at least not when they ask if they can. I disliked when people would do it in the spur of the moment because what if I had turned my face suddenly? Plus, with this girl, I had very clearly told her that I was not interested, yet she continued to flirt with me.

I let out another sigh as I continued to walk away. Such is the life of a celebrity, unfortunately.

"Come on, Kaley! You can do it!" a familiar voice cheered to my left. I turned and followed the voice over to the bar where I found Mark and Kaley in the middle of a heated shots battle. I looked at the number of empty glasses on the bar and frowned.

This is not a good thing for a first time drinker, I thought as I moved closer to where Kaley sat, who was about to down another glass.

"Ok, I think you've had enough," I said, taking the glass from her hand.

"But-" she started to protest, reaching for the glass. I grabbed her hand with my free one as I set the glass down on the counter.

"No, Kaley," I said softly but sternly, pulling her hand away. "This isn't like you."

"Party pooper," she mumbled under her breath as she tore her hand out of my grasp and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting slightly. "I was totally winning!"

"You were not!" Mark argued, his words heavily slurred.

"Was too!" she argued back, pushing me out of the way slightly so that she could see Mark better.

"You gotta admit, this is kind of amusing," Chris commented from beside me. I just rolled my eyes at him as I watched the two continue to argue about who had won.

"Stop it!" Leah's voice suddenly snapped from somewhere behind us. Chris and I both turned around to look for her. She was a couple feet away, backed up against a table by a guy with wavy, black hair, who was clearly trying to put unwanted moves on her.

Within seconds, Chris was charging over towards them, with me following right behind him.

"Stop it, James," Leah said, trying to push the taller boy away from herself.

"Come on, Leah, babes, you know you want to be with me again," his words were dripping with seduction as he continued to close the gap between them. "All I want is one kiss, that one first kiss that you would never give me..." He grabbed her chin and turned her face towards himself, then started to lean down as if he was going to kiss her, all the while Leah struggled against him.

"Hey!" Chris snapped, grabbing the guy's, whom Leah had called James, shoulder and pulling him away from Leah.

"Hey! What's your problem, man?!" James snapped.

"My problem is that you're hitting on my friend when she clearly isn't into you," Chris snarled, glaring at the blue-eyed boy. "So back off! She's not interested."

"I just want what's rightfully mine," he snarled back, turning back towards Leah again.

"If you're talking about her first kiss, you're out of luck," Chris smirked. "She's already had her first kiss. And it was with me."

"You?" he spat, glaring at Chris. "But you're a freaking queer!"

I felt my blood starting to boil and I suddenly surged forward and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"Don't you ever call him that again!" I snarled, the front of his shirt twisting up in the clutch of my fists. "Apologize to him!"

"To that homo-explosion?" he laughed. "Ha! Fat chance!"

That was it. I pulled back my fist, ready to knock his lights out, but a gentle hand touched my shoulder, stopping me.

"Let him go," Chris said softly.

"What?" I snapped.

"Let him go," he repeated. "He's not worth it. His words are nothing but empty insecurities."

I reluctantly let go off him, though not without giving him a rough shove as I did so.

"Beat it, James," I snapped as he fixed his shirt. "You're not wanted here."

"This isn't over," he growled before turning and disappearing into the crowd of people.

"Are you alright?" Chris asked Leah as I slowly turned back to look at them.

"I-I'm fine," she gave us a weak, fake smile. "I think that I could use another drink now."

"Come on," Chris said, lightly guiding her back towards the bar. "I'll get you something to drink. It's on me."

~~~~~~~~~

"Wait, you mean James was hitting on me?" Leah gasped, her mouth dropping open.

"I guess that Kaley's not the only one having trouble remembering things from last night," Chris joked, earning himself a slight glare from each of the girls.

"Ok, so what happened next?" Kaley asked, turning her attention back on me. "None of that explains how we ended up here."

"I'm getting to that," I laughed. "All in due time. Ok, so after having a few more drinks to forget about the little run in with James, Leah decided that she wanted to go out on the dance floor..."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Chris!" Leah squealed, appearing suddenly in front of us as we sat at the bar sipping our drinks.

"Come dance with me!" she pleaded, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him to his feet.

"No, no, that's okay," Chris laughed, waving her away. "I'm not much of a dancer."

"But you dance on Glee ALL the time!" she argued with a huff.

"That's because it's my job," he sighed. "Dancing has never been my forte."

"Oh, you're no fun!" she huffed, turning away. "Kevin!" She went over to where he sat a couple of stools away.

"Kevin, come dance with me!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Sure," he laughed, letting her lead him out onto the dance floor.

"Chris, why didn't you go with her?" I asked, turning my attention away from the dance floor to look at him. "You're letting another guy move in on your girl!"

"She's not my girl," Chris sighed. "Well, she is, but she isn't... You know what I mean!" He let out an unhappy huff as he took another sip from his drink.

"And you're one to talk," he continued, pointing back towards the dance floor. "What's that you said about letting another guy move in on your girl?"

My eyes followed where his finger was pointing and I felt my heart sink as I saw Mark dancing with Kaley. Very closely.

"Well, unlike you, I'm actually going to do something about that," I said, getting up from my seat. "Here, hold this." I passed him my drink before heading out onto the dance floor.

The song Give Me Everything by Pitbull was blasting through the speakers as I weaved my way over to where Mark was grinding up against Kaley. A weird emotion washed over me as I watched them dance and I knew that I had to break them apart.

The song suddenly reached the part where it says, "Grab somebody sexy, tell 'em hey!", so I reached out and grabbed Kaley's arm and spun her towards me.

"Hey," I smiled as I pulled her closer to me. "Mind if I cut in?"

A smile spread across her lips as she looked up at me and said, "I thought you'd never ask."

I dropped her down into a sudden dip, feeling another sudden urge to kiss her, but I resisted. It was still a too public place.

I pulled her up sharply, her face stopping just inches from mine, so close that our noses almost touched.

"Dang, Darren! You really can dance!" she exclaimed, slightly catching her breath.

"You ain't so bad yourself!" I grinned, spinning her out and pulling her back in again, moving smoothly with the music.

"No, my dancing is comparable to a tap dancing cow!" she giggled. "Though I did learn this one move from my favourite StarKid..." She broke away from me suddenly, pursed her lips, stuck out the pointer finger on each hand, and proceeded to dance around, moving her arms up to down to the beat. I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing.

"Wow, whoever you learned that from must be a really goofy dancer!" I laughed.

"I prefer to just think of him as goofy," she laughed as well.

"You say he's a StarKid, eh?" I asked, joining her in the dance. "I wonder if I'll ever get to meet him."

"I'm sure you could," she giggled. "All you have to do is look in the mirror!"

"Oh, you think you're so funny, don't you?" I replied sarcastically.

"What can I say?" she shrugged, winking at me. "You must bring out the worst in me!"

"Ok, come here you!" I laughed, grabbing her from behind by the waist and picking her up slightly. This earned me a satisfying squeal from her.

"Put me down! Put me down!" she exclaimed through fits of giggles, lightly batting at my arms that were wrapped around her waist.

"What's the magic word?" I teased, swinging her slightly.

"Eek! Darren!" she squealed, grabbing onto my arms. "Don't do that!"

"What's the magic word?" I repeated, giving her a light squeeze.

"Darren, I swear if you don't put me down right now I'm going to-" Kaley began.

"Wooooo!" Leah suddenly yelled, drawing both of our attentions over to her. She was standing up on top of the bar, dancing to the music. Curious, I set Kaley down and we both walked over towards her.

"Leah, get down from there!" Chris' voice was slightly worried. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

"No, I'm not!" she giggled, downing the rest of the drink in her hand. "Waitor! Waitor! I need more!" She held up her empty glass to show what she meant.

"You'd better get your friend down and have her behave or else I'm going to have to ask you all to leave," the bartender scowled at Chris.

"I'm trying!" Chris snapped back before turning his attention back on Leah. "Leah, come on, come down, please! I'll go dance with you if you come down, okay?"

"How about you come up here and dance with me?" she giggled, continuing to dance on top of the counter.

"Leah, I'm serious," Chris sighed. "You're going to hurt yourse-" Just as he said that, Leah slipped and tumbled down off the bar.

"Oh my gosh! Leah!" Chris exclaimed, rushing to her side instantly. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?" she giggled. "That was awesome! Let's do that again!" She started to try to climb back up on the bar again, but Chris grabbed her and pulled her back down.

"I think that you've done enough table dancing for one night," he told her as he sat her back down on one of the stools.

"Man, this is so much fun!" she exclaimed, picking up a random drink from the counter top. "We should do this again tomorrow night! And the night after that!"

"No, Leah," Chris laughed. "We've got shows on Sunday. No drinking tomorrow night or else we won't be sober enough to perform."

"What about the beach?" Kaley piped in suddenly. "Let's go to the beach! People party on the beach, don't they?"

"I guess if you guys want to, we can," I shrugged. "I haven't been to the beach in a while. That sounds fun."

"Kaley, come dance with me!" Leah said suddenly, pulling Kaley back out on the dance floor with her. I just shook my head and laughed as we watched them dance... well, attempt to dance.

"Man, they are so wasted!" I commented. "We'll have to make sure that they get home ok."

"We can just get Steven to take them home," Chris suggested. "He's taken them home before, so he knows where they live."

"Except that I gave Steven the night off," I replied sheepishly. "I figured that we were going to be out late and I didn't want him to have to wait up for us."

"So, how are we getting back to the hotel?" Chris asked. "Or better question, how are we going to get them home?"

~~~~~~~~~

"Well, you obviously didn't get us home," Leah commented suddenly. "And I can dance, for your information!"

"Hush!" Chris scolded. "We're getting to that! Now, as you were saying?"

~~~~~~~~~~

When we finally managed to pull the girls off of the dance floor and get them outside, it was well after 2am.

"We could call them a cab," Chris suggested, digging in his pocket for his phone. "Where do you guys live?"

"We live in New York!" Leah giggled. "Duh!"

"Yes, we know that," Chris sighed. "But where in New York do you live?"

"We live everywhere!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms out and spinning around. This just made her dizzy and combine that with being drunk, she was soon stumbling all over the sidewalk, tripping over her own feet.

"Easy there, honey," Chris laughed, catching her before she fell. He put her arm around his shoulder to help support her weight. "Well, that was no help. What about you, Kaley? Can you tell us where you live?"

The only response that we got out of her was a slight groan. The alcohol was affecting the two girls in very different ways. Leah had started as quiet and mellow before evolving into wild and crazy, whereas Kaley had been the complete opposite. She had suddenly elapsed into the quiet, mellow phase, half passed out as she leaned up against me. I had to put my arm around her as well to keep her from falling over.

"Ok, never mind," Chris sighed, looking back at me. "Now what?"

"Well, we could bring them back to the hotel with us and maybe see if they can stay with Lea and Dianna in their room," I suggested. Lea had left a little while ago with Dianna, Mark, and a couple of other people, while Leah and Kaley had wanted to stay a bit longer.

"Ok, that could work," Chris nodded. "Come on, Leah, we're going to the hotel now." Chris slowly turned her around and started to lead her away down the sidewalk, with Kaley and I following right behind.

"You all, everybody," Kaley mumbled, half singing, as she stumbled along beside me. "You all, everybody. Acting like you're stupid people."

"What are you singing?" I chuckled, looking down at her. She looked up at me with half dazed eyes and gave me a crooked smile.

"It's Drive Shaft," she stated, as if I should have already known that. "You know, Drive Shaft? And Charlie?" I just shook my head, laughing slightly. She squinted her eyes at me and pursed her lips in a slight scowl.

"Don't you ever watch Lost?" she huffed.

"The TV show?" I asked.

"Duh!" she retorted. "What else would I be talking about?"

"Kaley, settle!" I laughed. "You're getting worked up over a TV show! It's nothing to get in a fight over!"

"Hmph!" she huffed, leaning her head back down against my shoulder. After a couple of seconds of saying nothing, I heard her quietly mumble, "I hated the ending anyways." I couldn't help but shake my head at this comment. She was too cute.

It ended up taking us longer to walk back to the hotel than we had expected, almost getting lost twice on our way there. But we finally found it, and as we headed for the entrance, I heard a sudden noise in the quiet night.

CLICK.

My head snapped towards the direction that the sound had come from, but I didn't see anything. It was too dark.

"Come on, let's get the girls inside," I said to Chris as I hurried Kaley through the doors.

Within minutes, we were up the elevator and standing outside of Lea's hotel room.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

There was no answer.

"Lea? Dianna?" I called out, pounding on the door a little harder. "It's Darren. Please answer the door!"

Still nothing.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were already asleep," Chris sighed. "They had a fair amount of alcohol tonight. I think we all did, really. I don't think that they are going to answer."

"Now what?" I sighed, turning away from the door.

"We could always bring them back to our room," Chris suggested. "There are two beds. We can put them in one and we could share the other... that is, if you don't mind sharing?"

"House keeping!" Leah suddenly announced, banging loudly on the door across the hall.

"Oh crap!" I exclaimed. "Our room, now!" I grabbed Kaley and hurried her down the hall to where our room was, Chris following right behind with a very giggly Leah. Luckily, our room was around the corner, out of sight, so as soon as we rounded the corner, I stopped and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Who's there?" a very angry voice demanded from down the hallway.

"Me-" Leah started answer, but was cut off as Chris clamped his hand down over her mouth.

"Leah! Shush!" he quietly warned, pulling her back farther away from the corner. She stared up at him, slightly annoyed, but her expression quickly turned from annoyed to awestruck. She slowly reached up and touched her fingers to Chris' lips and mumbled something.

"What?" Chris asked, taking his hand away.

"I got a kiss from Chris," she giggled. "I got a Chris Kiss!" She turned and looked at Kaley, who was half asleep on my shoulder, hoping that she would join in her excitement.

"Kaley, I got a Chris Kiss!" she exclaimed, tugging on Kaley's arm, trying to wake her up. "I got a Chris Kiss! I got a Chris Kiss!" Then she broke out into a fit of giggles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh my gosh," Leah exclaimed, burying her face in the pillow on her lap, embarrassed.

"That's all you can say?" Chris chuckled. "I guess my kisses must leave you speechless, huh?" Leah looked up at him and gave him a sharp glare, suddenly shoving him... off the bed.

"Hey!" Chris exclaimed from the floor. "What was that for?" Leah ignored him and looked back at me with a successful grin.

"So," Leah smiled. "You were saying?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on, let's get them inside before we wake up more people," I said to Chris as I started to lead Kaley a little further down the hallway to our room. I stopped outside the door and put the key in, pushing it open when it unlocked.

I carefully led Kaley into the room and gently helped her sit down on my bed. When I let go of her, she slowly laid down on the bed and let out a deep, relaxed sigh.

"Ok, I guess that they're getting my bed-" I started to say as I turned back to look at Chris, who had just walked in the door with Leah.

Leah let out a huge gasp and pointed at the other bed. Chris' bed. She suddenly bolted towards it, loudly exclaiming, "I want this one!", as she leaped onto it, bellyflop style.

"But that's my bed..." Chris exclaimed softly as Leah started to cuddle one of his pillows.

"Chris, it's fine," I chuckled slightly. "Here, help me move Kaley over there too." I turned back to Kaley, preparing to pick her up, when my phone suddenly started to ring. I pulled it out and looked down at the caller ID and swore.

"Crap, she's got to stop calling me!" I exclaimed, hitting the ignore button.

She can talk to my voicemail, I decided, sliding my phone back into my pocket. But that apparently wasn't good enough for her because seconds later, my phone rang again.

"Ugh! What? What do you want, Vanessa?" I asked angrily as I put the phone up to my ear.

"I need to see you," she pleaded. Her words were slurring slightly, which suggested that she may have been drinking.

"No," I snapped. "What part of we're done do you not get?"

"But, Darren, I miss you!" she whined. I rolled my eyes as I looked over at Chris and mouthed, "I need a minute." He shook his head and rolled his eyes, but gave me a dismissive wave, so I quickly slipped out the door so that we could talk more privately.

"Vanessa, I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say this!" I said as the door closed behind me. "We are over. Done. Kaput!"

"I made a mistake, Darren, honey," she sniffed, alerting me to the fact that she was crying. "I want you back."

"Well, I'm over you, Vanessa," I retorted. "I've moved on. And so should you. Move on to someone else like you always seemed to do when we were together."

She was quiet for a minute.

"Who is she?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" Her question caught me off guard.

"Who is she?" she repeated. "There's obviously someone else or else you would be back together with me by now."

"Has the idea ever crossed your mind that maybe I'm actually done with all of your crap?" I snapped. "And my personal life is none of your business anymore."

"So there is someone else!" There was a hint of anger in her voice. "Who is she?!"

"Vanessa, what part of none of your business don't you get?" I snapped again.

"I will find out who she is, whether you tell me or not!" she retorted.

"Stay out of my business!" I almost yelled into the phone as anger started to build inside of me. "And stop calling me! I'm done listening to you whine about getting back together because it's never going to happen! I'm done with this and I'm done with you! Goodbye, Vanessa!"

Without another word, I ended the call, sliding my phone back into my pocket before turning and heading back to the room. I slid the key into the lock and slipped back into the room.

"Ok, Chris, let's get Kaley- Chris?" I stopped in front of the beds to find Chris curled up beside Leah, fast asleep.

"Chris, wake up," I called out softly, moving around to the other side of the bed and gently shaking his shoulder. "Chris, come on! I need your help."

He didn't respond. I tried nudging him again, but all that did was make him groan and roll over. With a sigh, I went back over to my own bed where Kaley was still lying, fast asleep.

I smiled as I watched her sleep. She looked so relaxed and peaceful.

After a couple minutes of just watching her, I carefully scooped her up into my arms to move her further up the bed. I gently laid her down so that her head was now resting on a pillow.

A few pieces of hair had fallen across her face when I moved her, so I slowly crouched down and moved the loose strands away from her face, tucking them securely behind her ear.

Instead of immediately moving my hand away, I traced the side of her face, admiring how beautiful she was. She smiled at my touch, exhaling a happy sigh.

"Darren," she whispered, making my heart flutter. She was still asleep, so that meant that she was dreaming about me. The thought made me smile.

I stayed there for a couple more minutes, content watching her sleep, before I finally stood back up and moved around to the other side of the bed. It was too hot to sleep comfortably with my shirt on, so I slowly unbuttoned it and tossed it on a nearby chair before crawling onto the bed beside her.

"Goodnight, Kaley," I whispered, leaning over her slightly and placing a light kiss on her forehead. "And sweet dreams."