If They Only Knew

(This chapter focuses on the events in chapter 20 of the main story).

Leah's POV

Our time together seemed to pass by way too quickly. Before we knew it, it was nearing time for the second show.

"Thanks for staying and helping me," I said as we walked down to the dressing rooms with the last of the clothes. "It was really nice just getting to know you. I've always thought that you would be an interesting person to know."

"Did you now?" Chris grinned. "Well, that's sweet of you to say. I think that your a pretty interesting person yourself." He gently bumped me with his elbow, making me giggle.

Why did he have to be so darn cute?!

And so darn unavailable, I reminded myself sadly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Chris asked, noticing the change in my expression. I froze for a second, not sure what to say. I obviously couldn't tell him the truth about why I was upset, so I had to come up with an excuse fast.

"I just had so much fun hanging out with you," I sighed. "I'm sad that it's over."

"Hey, it's not over!" Chris exclaimed. "We're friends now! And I'm here for two weeks! We'll have plenty of time to hang out between now and when the show ends! And hopefully even after it does..."

He trailed off with a hopeful tone to his voice, which made my heart skip a beat. Chris wanted to hang out with me more!

This is just so unreal! I thought. Who'd of ever thought that I would become friends with Christopher freaking Colfer!

"Maybe one of these nights after the show we could get together and watch a movie or someth-"

"Colfer!" a voice echoed down the hallway. We both stopped and turned towards the voice to see Ryan Murphy storming towards us.

"Have you seen Darren?" he asked, glancing behind us as if he was looking for the man in question.

"N-No," Chris shook his head, confused. "He went out with Kaley a few hours ago. I thought that they would have been back by now..."

"Kaley?" Ryan blinked with surprise, apparently recognizing her name. "Wasn't she the girl that-"

"Yes," Chris cut him off with a nod. "She is. Darren apologized and they're friends now."

"Well, I don't know how great of a friend she is if she makes Darren late for the show!" Ryan grumbled under his breath as he turned away. Chris and I exchanged a worried glance.

Where are they? I wondered, quickly pulling out my phone and dialing her number. After a few rings, it went to voicemail.

"She's not picking up," I frowned.

"Darren either," Chris said, lowering his phone as well, a worried expression crossing his face. "I hope that nothing happened to them..."

"I'm sure they're fine," I said quickly, not really believing my own words. I glanced down at my phone, firing off a quick text of "Where are you?" to Kaley.

"Well, I should probably go get ready..." Chris commented absentmindedly, turning away and heading back towards the dressing rooms again, his head lowered as he stared at his phone. I frowned, slightly upset that our time had been cut off so abruptly.

But there will be more times to hang out, I reminded myself, continuing on down the hallway to deliver the last few costumes to their designated dressing rooms. Once they were delivered, I slowly made my way to the stage. I glanced down at my ring watch, which I thought was totally epic and way better than the lame, normal wristwatch that Kaley wore 24/7, and saw that it was 6:50.

I wonder if Darren and Kaley have shown up yet... I mused. My question was quickly answered by Ryan's loud voice echoing down the hallway.

"Darren Criss!" his voice sounded very angry. "Do you realize what time it is?!" I slowly crept forward, peeking around the corner to see Ryan standing in front of a determined looking Darren and a very scared looking Kaley. Darren suddenly started walking away from Ryan, Kaley quickly moving to follow, but was suddenly stopped by Ryan. Darren seemed to pause for a moment, but Kaley shooed him away before turning back to Ryan. I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen. Part of me wanted to intervene, but the other part was too scared to.

A sudden hand on my shoulder made me jump.

"Spying, are we?" Vicky chuckled as I spun around to face her.

"It's Kaley," I replied quickly, flashing a quick glance back around the corner. "Ryan's mad and I want to help her, but I don't know what to do."

"Kaley?" Vicky frowned. "Don't worry, I'll handle it. You go help the actors with their mic packs." She quickly moved past me and headed towards Ryan and Kaley. As I turned away to go to the stage as instructed, I heard Vicky's voice call out, "Kaley!" I smiled, knowing that I did at least help in some small way.

I passed through the doorway to the stage, quickly making my way over to where the mic packs were sitting.

"Can I get some help?" someone whispered in my ear. I smiled as I recognized the voice, quickly turning to face Chris.

I almost dropped the mic pack that I was holding.

Chris was in a nearly skin-tight black jumpsuit. The dark leather outfit clung to his skin tightly, accentuating his gorgeous body. I couldn't help how my eyes trailed down his body, not missing a single thing that his outfit showed off. And when I say that they didn't miss a thing, I mean they didn't miss anything.

"Enjoying the view?" Chris chuckled, snapping my attention back up to his eyes. I could feel my cheeks flush with heat, quickly averting my gaze to avoid his laughing eyes.

Great, he must think that I'm such a freak! I panicked inwardly. He totally knows that I was checking him out!

"Could be better," I replied calmly, more calmly than I felt. Yet somehow I managed to pull off a nonchalant tone to my voice, playing it off as if I could care less about what he was wearing.

Care... less... wear... less... my mind suddenly started to picture how that body looked without that tight outfit on.

NO! Stop! I scolded myself, blinking quickly to erase those thoughts from my head. I can't think like that! Come on, Leah! Be professional here!

"Oh," Chris replied softly, looking away for a second, he seemed almost... was that disappointment? No, it couldn't be. Before I could puzzle over it further, he suddenly looked back at me with a smirk on his lips. "So, are you going to help me?"

I looked down at Chris' hands, which I now realized held a mic pack. I nodded, quickly setting down the one that I'd been holding and taking the one from him.

"Turn around," I said, earning myself a sly grin from Chris. I just rolled my eyes at him until he obeyed. Once his back was turned to me, I blushed again.

Why is everything coming out so wrong right now? I whined.

"I have to unzip you a bit to get the mic pack into your mic belt," I told him cautiously. "Is that okay?" I noticed Chris tense for a second, before he stiffly nodded. I carefully reached up and started to pull the zipper on the back of his outfit down. My stomach did crazy flip flops as I exposed the bare skin of his back.

Oh my gosh, this is the first time that I've ever seen his bare back! I realized, trying to control my racing heart. And it was perfect. Perfect and flawless. I'd never considered backs to be beautiful before. I guess that there's a first time for everything.

"Umm, Leah?" Chris' voice broke through my thoughts. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope!" I replied quickly, carefully lowering the zipper a bit farther until I could see the mic belt. I slowly clipped the mic pack to the belt, being careful not to touch his back. I don't know if my heart would be able to take it if I did.

"There, all set!" I said, zipping him back up, careful not to catch the mic's wire as I did so. I handed him the headset to put on, which he did before turning back to face me with a smile.

"Thanks, Leah," he grinned. "What would I do without you?"

"Go on stage with your mic pack in your hand?" I joked, making him smile. His eyes suddenly flickered to something behind me.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," he commented. I turned around to see Darren heading towards us. He smiled at us as he passed by, stopping at the table and picking up a mic pack.

"Be careful," Chris warned him. "Ryan's on a rampage looking for you."

"He already found me," Darren frowned, glancing back over at the door that he had just passed through. "And Kaley too..." He sighed as he looked down at the mic pack in his hands and absentmindedly wandered away, most likely to find someone to help him with it. I was about to call out to him to tell him that I could help him, but someone else beat me to it. I smiled as I watched Kaley move towards Darren and took the mic pack from him.

I guess Vicky was able to "save" Kaley from Ryan after all, I thought to myself with a grin.

"Whatcha smiling about?" Chris asked, making me turn my attention back to him.

"Oh, just picturing how dorkish you'll look dancing in that," I teased, gesturing towards his outfit. "I mean, one pieces are so out of fashion!" Chris frowned and pouted his lip, which looked adorable.

"I don't get to choose my outfits," Chris whined. "Cause if I did, I most certainly would not pick something this tight! I mean really! This things is really tight!"

I'm not complaining, I thought with a smirk. If anything, it could be a little tighter right about-

"Stop gawking at my amazing body and give me a hug for good luck!" Chris snapped me out of my naughty thoughts. I smiled, eagerly complying with his suggestion.

"Good luck!" I mumbled into his chest as his arms squeezed around me. "Don't mess up!"

"Oh, thanks for that!" Chris exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "That isn't going to psych me out at all!"

"I'm teasing!" I giggled, pushing him away. "Go! Wow your fans!" He smiled and gave me a slight bow, as if to say "As you wish", before turning away and going to take his place behind the curtain. I watched him go with a huge smile on my face. I could still feel the warm, ghosted presence of where his arms had been around me.

As I turned away to leave the wings, I noticed that Kaley was standing still, as if frozen in spot, facing the stage. With a slight chuckle, I walked over to her and placed my hands on her shoulders, quickly leading her away from the stage and out into the back hallway. I turned her around to face me and found that she wore a dazed expression on her face. Her eyes were glazed over, unseeing.

"Hello, earth to Kaley!" I said, snapping my fingers in front of her face. That seemed to bring her back as she blinked suddenly. Just for good measure, I decided to add, "Are you in there, Kaley?"

"Oh, shush," she laughed, batting my hand away, returning to her normal self.

"You okay?" I asked, laughing slightly. "You looked as if you had just been tasered with a stun gun."

"I think I might have been," she replied almost seriously. I tilted my head and gave her a questioning look, indicating for her to continue. She smiled slightly, looking up at me with a slight twinkle in her eye as she said, "I just got my first ever hug from Darren Criss!"

"And I got one from Chris!" I exclaimed, happily. "It looks like we are well on our way to making them fall in love with us!"

"Yeah, right!" Kaley laughed, picking up on the joking tone that I had used. "That'll be the day..."

"Yeah..." we both sighed as we turned to head back down the hallway to the laundry room.

That would be the day, I thought to myself. The day that all of my dreams would come true. Can you imagine it? Me and Chris. Chris and Leah. Leah and Chris. Chris and Leah Colfer. Leah Colfer... It has a nice ring to it... If only it could come true...

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Chris' POV

This was getting out of hand. Of course the second that I had seen Leah standing by the mic table I was going to go over and see her. She was my friend. Why wouldn't I go see her? What I didn't expect was how my heart skipped a beat at her reaction to my outfit.

I had leaned down behind her and whispered softly in her ear for some help. I could see it through her body's reaction that she recognized my voice, as her shoulders instantly relaxed. She turned around to face me with a smile on her lips, which quickly changed to a very surprised expression as she saw me.

I watched as her eyes widened and trailed up and down my body, very blatantly checking me out. I don't think that she realized that she was doing that though, or else she would have been blushing hardcore by now.

I love it when she blushes, the thought unwillingly popped into my mind. I quickly pushed it away, almost missing how her eyes had stopped on a certain area of my body. I could almost feel the heat starting to rush to my cheeks when I realized what she was looking at.

"Enjoying the view?" I chuckled, trying to draw her attention away from body and back up to my face. Her eyes snapped up to meet mine before instantly looking away as a red blush blossomed on her cheeks.

So adorable, I sighed inwardly.

"Could be better," she suddenly replied, oddly calm. She finally looked back up at me with an expression that matched her words. All trace of her being embarrassed was gone from her face.

She's pretty good at covering her emotions quickly, I noted to myself. She suddenly blinked, as if she had gotten lost in her thoughts for a second. Had she been thinking about me? What did she mean by "could be better?" I knew that I wasn't the most attractive or toned guy out there, but I was pretty proud of how in shape my body she not like how I looked? Maybe I wasn't attractive enough for her to like me...

"Oh," I replied softly, quickly looking away for a second.

Why do you care? a part of me questioned. Why should it matter if she's not attracted to you? Didn't you say that you're not into her? Or are you?

I don't know... I frowned inwardly. Stop it, Christopher! You need to be professional here! I quickly covered my emotions and looked back at her with a slight smirk.

"So, are you going to help me or not?" I asked, motioning towards the mic pack that I still held in my hands. She quickly nodded, taking it from me.

"Turn around," she ordered. I couldn't help myself. I gave her a sly grin, making her roll her eyes at me, before I turned around.

"I have to unzip you a bit to get the mic pack into your mic belt," she said slowly. "Is that okay?"

I suddenly involuntarily tensed up. If she unzipped me, that would mean that she would see my bare back, my bare skin. I didn't like anyone seeing my bare body, making sure to keep fully covered whenever there were photographers around. Although I was happy with my body, I was still a bit self conscious about it. I wasn't the kind of person to just pull off my shirt and show off my abs to the world. But this wasn't for the world. This was for Leah.

Realizing that she was still waiting for my response, I stiffly nodded, though my thoughts were still in a panicked frenzy. What would she think of me? Would she think that my skin was too pale? Too ugly? Blemished? Would she be repulsed by me? Turned on?

Wait, what? Why would I care about that?

I suddenly felt the zipper on the back of my costume start to lower. A cool breeze swept through and blew against my exposed skin. The zipper stopped for a moment, making me panic slightly.

Oh no! I could feel my heart starting to speed up. What did she see? Is she repulsed by my back? Why did she stop?

"Umm, Leah?" I called out cautiously. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope!" she replied quickly, as the zipper started to lower again. I recognized that tone to her voice. That was her slightly embarrassed tone. Why would she be embarrassed?

Because she was staring at my back, I realized. She wasn't repulsed by it! She was checking it out! That's why she sounded so embarrassed!

I couldn't help the smile that trickled onto my lips. Leah just couldn't stop checking me out...

Out of nowhere, I suddenly got hit with a very funny feeling.

Oh crap! I thought, my eyes widening with panic as I felt Leah working carefully to get the mic pack into the mic belt behind me. This can't be happening right now! Think about dead puppies! Old, saggy women doing gymnastics! Mark wearing a dress!

By the time the zipper was done back up on my outfit, I had successfully avoided what could have been a very awkward situation.

"There, all set!" Leah announced, handing me the headset, which I put on before turning back to face, glancing down quickly before I did so to make sure that everything was all good down below.

"Thanks, Leah," I grinned. "What would I do without you?"

"Go on stage with your mic pack in your hand?" she joked lightly, making me smile. I loved it when she was playful like this. This was the girl that I was attracted to.

No! I'm not attracted to her! I argued internally.

You keep telling yourself that, my other half smirked. We both know that you didn't suddenly get excited there for no reason.

I needed something to take my mind off of my thoughts. Fast. That's when I spotted him walking into the wings.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," I commented, watching Darren walk towards us. He smiled at us as he passed by, stopping at the table and picking up a mic pack.

"Be careful," I warned him. "Ryan's on a rampage looking for you."

"He already found me," Darren frowned, glancing back over at the door that he had just passed through. "And Kaley too..." He sighed as he looked down at the mic pack in his hands and absentmindedly wandered away, most likely to find someone to help him with it. I turned my attention away from him and looked back at Leah, who was smiling as she watched Darren, who had now been joined by Kaley.

"Whatcha smiling about?" I asked, making her turn her attention back to me.

"Oh, just picturing how dorkish you'll look dancing in that," she teased, gesturing towards my outfit. "I mean, one pieces are so out of fashion!" I frowned and pouted my lip at her insult.

"I don't get to choose my outfits," I whined. "Cause if I did, I most certainly would not pick something this tight! I mean really! This things is really tight!" I caught her smirk as her eyes gazed over my outfit again, suddenly getting that feeling again...

"Stop gawking at my amazing body and give me a hug for good luck!" I said quickly, pulling her attention away from my body again. She smiled and easily moved into my embrace, which felt so good. I had never felt this comfortable holding anyone in my arms before.

"Good luck!" I heard her mumble into my chest as I squeezed my arms a little tighter around her. "Don't mess up!"

"Oh, thanks for that!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes at her as I pulled away slightly. "That isn't going to psych me out at all!"

"I'm teasing!" she giggled, pushing me away. Why did that sound make my insides melt? "Go! Wow your fans!"

I smiled and gave her a slight bow before turning away to go 'follow her orders'. I quickly took my spot behind the curtain before quickly glancing back to watch Leah walking away with Kaley.

Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't ignore the slight ache in my heart as I watched her walk away.

What is wrong with me? I panicked as I turned to face forwards again. Why am I feeling like this? I can't be falling for her!

... Can I?