If You Only Knew

Darren's POV

"So that's what happened last night," I said as I finished my recounting of the previous night, leaving out some of the more personal thoughts and interactions. The girls were both silent, still trying to process everything that I had just told them.

I watched Kaley's brows knit in thought as her mind went over my words. I watched her intently, hoping for some sign that she remembered something from last night, but at the same time, I dreaded that she would. What if she didn't feel the same way about me? How would she react?

I waited patiently for her to say something, but it was actually Leah who spoke first.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For standing up for me against James. Who knows what could have happened if you guys weren't there."

"We'll always be there for you," Chris smiled, placing his hand over hers and giving it a light squeeze. "That's what friends do." Leah gave him a heartwarming smile in return as she placed her other hand over top of his.

"Then I'm glad that I have such great friends like you," she said, not taking her eyes off of Chris. Her eyes seemed to light up when she looked at him and I found myself looking back at Kaley, hoping to see the same thing when she looked at me.

But I didn't. Instead, when Kaley looked up, her eyes were wild with panic.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed softly, quickly pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"What's wrong?" I asked, gently touching her shoulder to draw her attention to me.

"You said you heard a 'click', right?" she demanded, only briefly looking up from her phone.

"Umm, yeah..." I replied, not sure why she was so concerned about it. "Why?" She looked back down at her phone and let out an unhappy sigh.

"That's why," she said, passing me her phone. I took it and looked at the small screen.

It was open to a celebrity news type website and on the top of the page there was a large, dark picture of the four of us heading into the hotel. Underneath the picture was a caption that read: Goodbye Vanessa, Hello New Girl!

"Oh no," I groaned, showing the screen to Chris and Leah.

"What does the article say?" Chris asked.

"I'm not sure if I really want to know," Kaley mumbled, burying her face in her hands.

"I do," Leah stated. Kaley looked up and shot her a small glare.

"Oh, come on!" Leah exclaimed. "You can't tell me that you aren't curious!"

"Fine!" Kaley huffed, turning back to look at me. "What does it say?"

I looked back down at the screen and, taking a deep breath, I started to read.

"Darren Criss, though having recently broken up with long time girlfriend, Vanessa Peterson, was seen out partying last night with an unknown female, along with best friend and co-star, Chris Colfer. The two Glee stars were caught entering their hotel building late last night, each with their own lady on their arms, neither of whom we have been able to recognize.

When questioned about this incident, Peterson, Criss' ex of one week, claimed that she "had known that he had been cheating on [her] for a while ", which was one of the main reasons why they had broken up, but that she "could never figure out who the other girl was".

Is this the girl that broke the two apart? Or is she a new girl completely? What has happened to the beloved man that we all thought we knew? There's only one thing that we know for sure: all of America will be dying to know 'Who is Darren's New Girl?'"

As I finished reading the article, the first thing that I wanted to do was chuck the phone out the window. But, since it was Kaley's phone and not mine, I carefully set it down on the bed beside me.

"Well, that's just great!" I huffed, running my fingers through my hair. "Not only will everyone think that I cheated on Vanessa, but now they'll also think that I'm sleeping with someone that I'm not!"

"You think you've got it bad?!" Kaley exclaimed suddenly. I turned to look at her and was surprised to find her glaring at me.

"You're still America's favourite break out star," she snapped. "I, however, am going to be seen as 'the girl who broke you and Vanessa up'. I'm the little seductress who stole you away from her, even though it's not true. But the truth doesn't matter to people. What people love is gossip, and now I'm going to be in the center of it all!" Tears were starting to trickle down her face, which she quickly tried to wipe away.

"Kaley, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" I tried to comfort her, reaching out to give her a hug.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, pushing me away before quickly dashing into the bathroom and locking the door behind her.

"I'll go talk to her," Leah said softly, getting up and going over to the door. As she quietly spoke to Kaley through the door, I turned back to look at Chris.

"What do I do?" I sighed.

"Just give her a little bit of space," Chris replied softly. "It's a lot for anyone to process. She's never been in the spotlight, never been exposed to things like paparazzi or being in magazines. She's scared, Darren, and rightfully so."

"But we didn't do anything!" I argued. "I didn't sleep with her and she didn't break me and Vanessa up!"

"But that's not what the public's going to think," Chris sighed. "If people find out who she is..."

"Ok, I get it," I sighed, burying my face in my hands. "So what do I do?"

"We'll just have to try our best to keep her out of the spotlight," Chris said softly. "And keep people from finding out who she is." He motioned towards the phone still lying on the bed beside me. I carefully picked it up and looked at the article on the screen again. I sighed again, shaking my head as I exited out of the web page, and suddenly, I found myself staring at myself.

On Kaley's home screen, there was a picture of me. It was a picture from one of the photo shoots that I had done on a beach. I was slightly turned away so that my back was to the camera, some water and sand just visible in the background. I was shirtless and my head was tilted down slightly... almost like as if I was looking at something on the ground, or as if I was just lost in thought.

I found myself slightly entranced as I stared at the picture. A weird feeling started to bubble inside of me.

I'm on her home screen, I realized with a smile. Maybe she does have feelings for me too.

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

Kaley's POV

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Kaley? It's me, Leah," her voice was muffled through the door.

"Go away!" I cried.

"Kales, I'm not leaving till you let me in," she stated firmly. With a sigh, I reluctantly got up and unlocked the door before returning to my vertical fetal-like position on top of the toliet. The lid creaked as I sat back down and brought my feet up to rest on the edge of the lid. I buried my face in my knees as the door opened and Leah slipped in.

"Kaley, it's going to be okay," she said softly, trying to comfort me. I felt her hand gently touch my back as she crouched down beside me.

"It's all just gossip," she continued. "You know it's not true, I know it's not true, the guys know it's not true. And anybody who knows you will know it's not true!"

"It's the people who don't know me that I'm worried about," I sniffed as I looked up at her. I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks, but I didn't care enough to wipe them away. "They're all going to judge me without even knowing me! And you know I hate feeling like I'm being judged! I know that I act like I don't care sometimes, that it doesn't bother me, but it does! I'm sensitive, Leah! I can't take that kind of humiliation!"

"But is that any reason for you to snap at Darren?" Leah asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"No," I answered, hanging my head. "I guess I get kind of defensive and snappy when I'm scared. I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me that. Tell him that!" Leah said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. I let her lead me back out of the bathroom and back over to the boys. Darren looked up from something in his hands and smiled tentatively at me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's okay," he replied, standing up and pulling me into a hug. "I understand."

"I'm just so scared," I could feel the tears starting to roll down my cheeks again. "And I don't know what to do." Darren pulled away from me and looked me straight in the eyes.

"You won't be in this alone," he stated, his eyes full of honesty and determination. "We're in this with you, no matter what happens, okay? You don't have to do this alone. We're all in this together." A small giggle escaped my throat.

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"High School Musical?" I giggled. "We're all in this together?" He rolled his eyes and shook his head at me, but he couldn't stop the smile that was sneaking onto his lips.

"Fine," he chuckled. "In the words of Zac Efron, yes, we're all in this together. We're here for you. I'm here for you." His fingers slowly laced through mine and I felt my heart start to swell.

"Thank you," I whispered as I went back into his embrace.

"Oh crap!" Leah suddenly exclaimed. "Kaley, what's today?"

"Umm, the twenty-eighth?" I replied after a moment's thought, breaking away from Darren to look at her. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Our rent is due today!" Leah exclaimed, quickly standing up. Unfortunately, she was still a little hungover, so she got a little lightheaded from her quick movements.

"Here, we'll help you get downstairs," Chris laughed, taking her arm to stabilize her. "Dare, do you want to call Steven and have him come get the girls?"

"But do you have to leave now?" he sounded disappointed.

"Unfortunately, yes," I nodded. "Mrs. Porter is the meanest and strictest landlady you could ever get. She expects payment by three or else we could risk losing our apartment. Which means," She let out an unhappy sigh. "That we have to leave now if we want to make it home in time to pay our rent."

"Alright," Darren sighed, pulling out his phone. "I'll call Steven." He turned away as he put the phone up to his ear, so I slowly made my way over to the window, gently pulling back the curtain to look outside.

The beautiful, sunny sky betrayed how I felt inside. I felt torn and scared and like I just wanted to go crawl up in a hole and stay there forever.

Streams of people hurried up and down the sidewalks below, all of them oblivious to my internal turmoil. Where were they going? Did they read that article? Were they going to judge me?

"They kind of look like ants down there, don't they?" Chris commented suddenly, coming to stand beside me. A small grin crossed his lips as he stared out the window with me.

"You don't have to worry about what people might think, Kaley," he said softly after a minute. "What they think doesn't matter. All that matters is what you think... And how you feel."

"I feel scared," I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself.

"That's not what I meant," Chris chuckled slightly. I looked up at him and he jerked his head to the side slightly. My eyes followed his lead, quickly falling on Darren.

"Darren?" I asked. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Everything," Chris smiled, turning his attention back out the window.

"What do you-" I started to say.

"You like him, don't you." He was stating it rather than asking it.

"Of course I do," I replied. "Darren is a great friend and I-"

"You know what I mean," Chris cut me off.

"He would never go for someone like me," I replied softly.

"You'll never know if you don't try," he stated.

"Where'd Leah go?" I asked, changing the subject as I turned back to face the room.

"Bathroom," Chris chuckled. "She had A LOT to drink last night."

"Ok, Steven said that he would be here by the time we get downstairs," Darren announced, turning back to look at us as he slid his phone back into his pocket. "Are we all good to go?"

"We are now," Leah stated from the bathroom doorway.

"Alright, let's go!" He led us out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. Thankfully, no one else was in ours, so we had an uneventful trip down to the main floor. But once the doors opened, chaos broke loose.

We were suddenly blinded by multiple flashes of light and the ominous sound of clicks rang through the main foyer.

"Close the door!" Darren nearly yelled at Chris, who was standing closest to the buttons. He hurriedly punched the button but it was slow to respond, allowing a couple more flashes and clicks to echo into the small elevator.

Finally, the doors closed. My heart was pounding so loud that I thought that they would be able to hear it through the metal doors.

"Now what?" Leah was the first one to speak.

"Parking garage," Darren told Chris, who quickly punched the G button. As the elevator came to life again, I slowly detached my fingers from where they were clenched in Darren's shirt, which he had put on earlier when he was narrating the events of the previous night to keep me from blushing every time that I looked at him.

"Sorry," I mumbled, dropping my hands down to my sides.

"It's alright," he chuckled. "I don't mind."

The doors slowly opened as we hit the ground level and there, waiting patiently for us, was none other than Steven.

"I saw the crowd of camera-wielders outside and I figured that you would prefer it if I picked the girls up down here," he smiled, slightly nodding his head to us.

"Thank you, Steven," Darren smiled, pressing a hand to the small of my back to direct me out of the elevator. "That was very considerate of you."

"I don't envy you young folks," Steven commented as he led us over to the waiting limo and opened the door for us. "I personally never look good in pictures. I would never be able to handle people always taking photos of me and digging around in my personal life."

"I second that," I mumbled as I slid into the limo. I expected Leah to follow right behind me, but it was Darren who came in next.

"I figured that I should find out where you live so that we don't have a repeat of last night happen again," he smiled as he slid into the seat next to me.

"Oh, trust me, that's not going to happen again," I remarked. "I don't think I'm ever going to drink ever again."

"You never know," he laughed. "You said that you would never drink and then bam! Last night you were an alcoholic!"

"I am not an alcoholic!" I snapped.

"Sorry!" he winced. "I was just kidding. Too soon?"

"You think?" I rolled my eyes at him as I slouched back in my seat. Leah and Chris soon joined us in the limo and shortly after we were pulling out of the garage.

I couldn't help the temptation to look out the window as we drove past the front of the hotel. There were swarms of photographers and journalists lined up outside the front doors. A couple were actually being shooed out of the doors, most likely the ones who had caught us off guard in the elevator.

They need to up their security, I grumbled to myself, watching as some of them noticed our departing vehicle. They pointed their fingers, then their cameras in our direction, and I was immediately thankful for the dark, tinted windows. Nonetheless, I still found myself leaning back, away from the window.

"They can't see you, you know," Darren commented.

"I know," I replied, turning to look at him. "But it feels like they can... Darren they got pictures of us, and not just blurry, dark ones. They've got real pictures, pictures that can identify me. And it probably didn't help much that I was clutching onto your shirt. My life is officially over!" I buried my face in my hands. It felt like the weight of the world had just been dropped on my shoulders.

"Kaley, you're overreacting!" Darren exclaimed. "I'll tweet something out on Twitter about you guys just being our friends. The fans will, or at least should, believe me over what the magazines say. Okay?"

I slowly looked up at him and nodded, "Okay."

"Here, I'll do it now," he quickly pulled out his phone and started to punch in his message to his fans.

"There," he declared, turning the screen towards me. It read: Don't believe everything that magazines say. I'm not with anyone & neither is Chris. We were just hanging out with our friends. Chill guys.

"I hope that works," I sighed.

"It will," he smiled. "Trust me."

"I do," I gave him a tentative smile back.

"Here we are," Steven announced as the dark window separating us rolled down. I looked out the window and was surprised to find that we were already home. A part of me wished that we weren't. I didn't want to leave Darren's company yet.

"Bye, Leah," Chris waved as she got out.

"I'll talk to you later?" I asked as I started to scoot towards the door. "Text me?"

"Of course," Darren smiled as I got out. "But you may need this then." He put something in my hands and I suddenly found myself holding my phone.

"Thanks," I smiled, taking a step back from the limo, gently closing the door as I did so. Within seconds the window rolled down.

"Oh, and Kaley?" Darren called out the window as the limo started to roll away. "Nice home screen."