If They Only Knew

(This chapter focuses on the events that take place during chapters 7-9 in the main story.)

If I'm being honest, it all started the very first day that we met.

Kaley had just moved behind the racks to hang up Darren's jacket when I heard a noise behind me. I quickly turned around to see what or who had caused it and an involuntary "Oh!" slipped from my lips. There standing before me was none other than my long time crush, Christopher Paul Colfer.

"Are you Kaley Grant?" he asked in his high, musical voice. I felt my heart start to hammer in my chest.

This cannot be happening right now, I gasped to myself. Chris is standing two feet in front of me and- Wait a second. Did he just ask me something? I quickly broke out of my thoughts and looked at him. A light smile hung on his perfect lips as he stood there patiently, waiting for my response, and I couldn't help but stare, his beauty ensnaring me. His light brown hair was styled perfectly (as usual), matching his stylish, blue-vested Marc Jacobs outfit which made his bright glasz eyes stand out even more than they usually did.

"That's not her," another voice sighed, making me suddenly aware of the other person standing just behind Chris. As his hand rose to scratch his curly head, it finally clicked in my mind who he was (yeah, it took me a couple of seconds). Darren Criss. The guy that my best friend was totally in love with but had just gotten her heart broken by.

"No, I'm not Kaley," I finally said, finding my voice again. "But she-" I quickly glanced back to where Kaley had gone and our eyes locked as I spotted her peeking out from behind the racks. She quickly shook her head, silently telling me that she didn't want to see him. I gave her a very subtle nod in return before turning back to the guys in front of me.

"But she's actually not here right now," I continued. "She had a rough night last night, so she's not coming in until later."

"Now what?" Darren asked, looking very upset. The question was directed at Chris who brought his hand up to stroke his chin as he thought. His eyes slowly trailed back over to me and realization suddenly flashed through them.

"Oh, where are my manners!" he exclaimed, walking towards me and holding out his hand. "I'm Chris Colfer."

Oh my gosh, what do I do? I started to panic as his hand reached out to me. And then an idea popped into my mind. It's now or never, Leah...

"I can see that," I replied, taking his hand. The initial touch slightly shocked me and I almost pulled my hand back in surprise. It was like that feeling when you touch metal and you shock yourself, but less painful and more exciting.

"I mean-I mean I know," I continued to stutter. "I know who you are." On a whim, I quickly took a small step back and bowed to him. Once I finished the bow, I noticed that Chris had a very surprised look on his face, and I almost chickened out of continuing, but I forced myself to keep going.

I quickly took a couple steps closer to him, so that I was almost uncomfortably close, and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I just want to let you know," I whispered softly. "Nobody has talent but you, none of the new artists."

When I pulled away, there was a huge grin on Chris' face.

"You've seen my Lady Gaga interview with Ellen," he laughed. I felt an identical smile spread across my own face.

"Maybe once or twice," I admitted, blushing slightly. "I told myself that if I ever got to meet you that I would have to do that to you."

"Well, I'm glad you did," he smiled. "It made my day."

"Well, that just made my day then," I replied. "This is so surreal."

"Umm, you can let go of my hand now..." Chris chuckled lightly. I looked down at our still clasped hands and quickly let go. It had felt so comfortable there that I had forgotten that I was still holding his hand.

"Sorry," I mumbled, hanging my head. "I honestly didn't mean to do that..."

"No worries," Chris smiled. "Miss...?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Tanner, Leah Tanner."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Leah Tanner," he said as he suddenly gave me a small bow. I was inwardly freaking out by his actions. He was even more adorable and sweet in person than I had imagined he would be! I took a small, unnoticeable breath to calm myself. Though I was freaking out inside, I made sure to keep my outward appearance calm and collected. I didn't want my idol to be weirded out if I started freaking out in front of him.

That would not be a very good first impression, I grinned to myself. Right at that second, Chris snuck a glance up at me and caught my smile, making him smile as well.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mister Chris Colfer," I beamed. Our eyes locked and I felt my heart skip a beat.

I couldn't look away from his beautiful, entrancing eyes...

But then Darren suddenly shifted, causing our eye contact to break. Chris blinked his eyes as if waking from a trance as he turned to look at Darren.

Did he feel it too? I wondered as Darren stepped towards me.

"Hi Leah, I'm Darren Criss," he said, extending his hand towards me. I felt a small spark of anger flare up inside me.

You just ruined the moment! I silently scolded him. First for Kaley, and now for me!

"Yes, I know who you are," I retorted, glaring at him. I didn't want to, but after a second, I slowly reached out and took his hand. "I'm Kaley Grant's best friend." I instantly let his hand go, watching it drop as I let my words sink in. His face paled and his eyes widened.

"Please, let me explai-" he started, but I quickly cut him off.

"You don't have to explain anything to me," I snapped. "Kaley's the one who should get some answers." I quickly lowered my voice before continuing.

"You hurt her, you know," I said softly. "Do you have any idea what it's like to meet your hero and then to have them basically rip your heart out and step on it repeatedly?"

My eyes slowly flickered over to Chris and I noticed that he was staring at me with an odd expression.

It's like how I felt when I found out that you were gay, I silently told him before my eyes flickered back to Darren, who looked like he was cringing.

"I feel horrible," Darren replied, hanging his head. "I was having a bad day and I took it out on her. I don't know what happened. I just... snapped, you know?" He sighed as he looked back up, running his fingers through his short curly hair.

"I never meant to hurt her," he continued. "Honestly, if there was any way that I could take it all back, I would. That was probably the cruelest that I've ever been in my entire life and I cannot stop kicking myself for my actions. When I realized what I had done, I felt sick to my stomach. I know that there is no way that I can ever make it up to her, but I'm willing to try. Could you give these to her when she gets in?" He held out a bouquet of flowers that I hadn't noticed he was holding.

I was just about to reply with something kind of rude when another voice entered the conversation.

"That won't be necessary," Kaley's voice announced from behind me.

Good timing, I thought as Kaley stepped up beside me.

"You must be Kaley," Chris was the first one to speak as he smoothly walked over to Kaley and held out his hand to her. "I'm Chris Colfer."

"It's an honour to meet you," she smiled as she took his hand. "You have an amazing voice and are so talented. Honestly, the majority of my favourite songs on the show are ones that you do because I just love hearing your voice."

"Oh, why thank you!" he blushed, making my stomach churn slightly. What was that? Was I jealous?

"You are too sweet," he continued, turning back to her. "But speaking of sweet people, there's someone here who would like to say something to you." He started to move away, but then he stopped suddenly and whispered something in her ear. He gently patted her shoulder and gave her a light smile before moving away, turning her attention to Darren. As Darren started talking to Kaley, I turned my own attention back on Chris.

Holy cow, he is so much hotter in person, I thought as my eyes ran over his chiseled jaw line. My eyes trailed across his facial features before slowly moving up to his eyes, which I suddenly realized were on me. I blushed as I realized that I had just been caught checking him out. He grinned at me suddenly, tilting his head to the side slightly as he stared at me, which made me blush even harder.

"Can I borrow that?" Chris asked, suddenly turning back to Darren and taking something from his hands. A notebook. He quickly jotted something down on it and then carefully ripped the page out. With another grin, he handed the page to me, which I slowly took with a slightly shaking hand.

"I look forward to talking with you girls again," Chris smiled, giving us a little wiggling fingers wave, as well as a slight, almost unnoticeable wink in my direction, before he turned and looped his arm through Darren's and proceeded to pull him out of the room.

Once he was gone, I finally remembered how to breathe again. It took me a couple of seconds before I was finally able to look down at the page that Chris had given me, and when I did, I nearly stopped breathing again.

"Kaley," I called out in a shaky voice. She slowly turned towards me and I noticed that her eyes were bulging and her mouth was hanging open in shock. It took me a second to realize that I was doing the same thing.

"Kaley, I'm gleeking out right now," I eeked softly, staring back down at the paper again. There, in my hands, I held Chris' phone number.

He gave me his freaking phone number! I wanted to scream and squeal and do summersaults all over the room. I quickly glanced over at Kaley to find her staring numbly at the paper in her own hands.

Darren must have given her his number too, I realized.

"Kaley?" I said again, trying to catch her attention. "Did you not hear me? I'm gleeking out!"

"Leah..." she replied slowly, turning back to me, a smile slowly creeping onto her lips. "I think I just gleeked all over the place!" My face lit up with a smile as I started to laugh at the inside joke between the two of us.

"If I'm dreaming, please don't pinch me," Kaley begged once we had stopped laughing. "This is too nice of a dream to wake up from."

I know how you feel, I thought.

"It's not a dream, Kaley," I squeaked. "It's real! It's all real! Kaley, we now have Darren Criss' and Chris Colfer's phone numbers!"

"Then why are we currently not frantically trying to add them to our phones?" she asked with a light smirk. I looked at her and our eyes locked. We simultaneously pulled our phones out of our pockets and quickly began to insert the numbers into them, briefly trading papers so that we could added the other's number too.

"I want that back," I said, pointing at the paper that was now in Kaley's hand. There was no way that I was going to lose that paper. At the time, it was just because it was from Chris and it was the closest thing to his autograph that I had. Little did I know that that paper would be the beginning of something beautiful.