Chapter Three

Darren got behind the wheel after they had helped finish cleaning up the breakfast table and got their things for the day. Lea had thrown over a black, big, woolen jacket, pretty oversized but also low key and tied her hair in a slick bun, put one of his black beanies on top of it and a pair of sunglasses to hide most of her face. Like this, it would take people a while to figure out that she looked kinda familiar.

Darren wore his blue beanie and hadn't shaved and his rimless glasses weren't as attention grabbing as his black-rimmed hipster ones.

If they stayed away from too populated street corners, Lea doubted that someone would take notice of them, after all, no one knew they even were in San Francisco.

When Darren pulled out of the driveway, Lea took out her phone from her purse and opened her twitter account.

"What are you doing?", Darren asked curiously, driving the car out of the one way street.

"Just tweeting that I'll spend the day snuggled up on the couch watching TV", Lea said, "Decoy, you know"

"Sneaky", Darren smiled, "So when people see you in that magical Chinese restaurant today they will think, 'NO, it can't be her, she's in Los Angeles watching The Real Housewives reruns until her head turns blue'"

"The Real Housewives has high entertainment value, I don't appreciate you making fun of me for acknowledging that", Lea she bristled at him mockingly, "These women have real hard and heavy problems"

"Sure", Darren mocked her right back and continued imitating a high-pitched, snobbish woman, perfect with facial expressions, "Oh no, my pink purse doesn't match my red shoes but they're Louboutins and I want to wear them but the purse is Louis Vuitton and my friends haven't seen it yet, so I have to use it but woe is me, my life is horrible, what do I do?"

"See, just like I said", Lea chuckled, "Hard and heavy stuff, important questions in matters of life and death"

"Yeah, totally", Darren laughed, "Babe, could you get my phone and call Tran and put him on speaker phone?"

Lea couldn't help but chuckle a bit, reaching for his blue canvas bag on the backseat.

"What's so funny?", he asked.

"You called me 'babe'", she stated, while focused on opening his phone directory, "You almost never called me 'babe' before"

"You don't like it?", he asked in a way that she knew he would never call her that again if she said no now, well, except maybe to tease her.

"I do", she said, "It's just a little new, that's all, it's funny though, we're almost at two and a half months and we still haven't established nauseating nicknames for each other"

"What, like Pookie, or something?", Darren snorted, "Pookie-bear, Honey-bunch, Sweet-cheeks"

"I like Sweet-cheeks or Baby-cakes", Lea mused, "I should call you Baby-cakes"

"Way to undermine my masculinity, hun, Bravo!", Darren said into Lea's flare of laughter, "No really, I bow to you, I feel like a thirteen year old girl right now, that's very sexy"

He retreated to being pouty and didn't speak to her for the next couple of blocks. At first Lea played along and acted nonchalant, gazing out of the window at the Urban scenery, the Victorian row houses they were passing and, down many streets, past other houses that got steadily bigger until she was bored with that.

"Pull over", she said but he just pulled another pouting grimace at her, "Darren"

Something in her voice made him comply and he pulled into a free parking space, turning to look at her, eyebrows raised, lips pursed and eyes curios.

"Come here", she said and waited out his mocked hesitation, knowing full well that the promise of her own raised eyebrows and 'come hither'-glance would do its job and make him lean in eventually.

He took his time though, but not more than she had anticipated and finally bowed his upper body over the stick, close to her face, until she could feel his breath on her cheeks.

"You don't feel like a thirteen year old girl to me", she whispered and then enveloped his lips in a kiss that would make him glad he was already sitting, cupping his face with her hand while the other snaked over his thighs and stayed there.

A few seconds in, he pushed his face into hers in response, opening her lips with a few little nibbles and grabbed her hair, trying to pull her even closer. She moaned a high-pitched sound and his breath hitched in his throat, sucking a bit of her own air out her her lungs, making her slightly dizzy.

After some breathless minutes he pulled back and she winced in protest but he gave her one of those looks that said that it was time to slow down, after all they still had the entire day in front of them and they were in a car in a city where people could theoretically see them and it wouldn't have been the wisest choice for Lea to just straddle him and take him on the driver's seat.

"Okay", Darren huffed and – as he did so often – rubbed his eyes and temples with both his hands, "Masculinity fully restored"

She couldn't help but chuckle at that, especially faced with the grown bulge at the head of his jeans, imagining that to be a little painful under the rigid fabric.

In an effort to look a way, she glanced down onto her own lap and found Darren's phone still sitting there, waiting to be used.

"Who did you want me to put on speaker phone?", she asked, her mind wiped completely blank.

"Tran N", he replied, ruffled through his hair and took a deep breath before starting the car again.

Lea complied, pushing dial and speakerphone and held it in the air between them.

"Yo, Darren man", and enthusiastic male voice called from the other line, "What's up? You in town?"

"Yeah but incognito, don't tell anyone", Darren said, navigating through the thickening traffic, "Listen, pal, can I park behind your restaurant?"

"Sure thing, I'll keep the gate open for you", Tran said, "Will you come by later?"

"I will, we just have to do some stuff and then I'll see you", Darren said, "But really, dude, incognito, no one must know, alright?"

"Got it, bro", Tran said and hung up.

"So we're dodging the car park?", Lea asked, tucking his phone away again.

"Yeah", he affirmed. "Plus Tran's parents restaurant is right in the middle of China Town, so we can start to work our way from around there"

They drove for another ten minutes and then through a couple of streets that looked like they'd driven through a portal straight to Hong Kong until Darren pulled into a narrow backstreet, made a hard left and drove onto a a spacious lot behind what Lea estimated to be Tran's parents restaurant.

When they got out she read the sign hovering over the back door "Thai, Viet, Chinese Specialties, Dim Sum, Sushi – Nygyuen's Deli"

"They have really great food", Darren informed her and locked the car, making his way around it to wrap an arm around her shoulder and kiss her head.

But more than that and a tight squeeze before he let go again wasn't in the cards, because they were making their way into the open now, where they couldn't be seen touching in any kind of intimate way.

Lea was pumped for their quest and the first couple of blocks, she was on a high, trying to remember where that magic restaurant had been and Darren kept telling little stories about the history of China Town, took her to and fro a couple of markets but after having walked almost three hours, Lea got slightly impatient.

"Meh", she said crankily and decided to just stop walking in the middle of the street. Darren took a few steps until he realized she wasn't walking beside him anymore.

"Meh?", he repeated her questioningly when he closed the distance between them again, "What is it?"

"My feet are tired and I'm hungry and I don't think we will ever find the magic restaurant", she huffed with resignation.

"Do you wanna go back to Tran's and have dinner there?", Darren asked her softly and she could see that his whole body was aching to touch her but he had to hold himself back, knowing there were so many people around them.

Finding the way back to the restaurant would have taken Lea hours but Darren swiftly lead her through side and backstreets, around buildings and past gardens and in under half an hour, they were back – but at the front side of the joint.

Darren smiled at her and then nudged her gently inside. She was welcomed by a wall of scent of pine and exotic food and her stomach growled approvingly as she propped her sunglasses on top of her head.

"Man", the familiar male voice of Tran called from the back of the nearly empty restaurant and a chubby guy of approximately Lea's height made his way toward them, giving Darren a tight bear hug and then turning to Lea – and his face turning ashen.

"That's not Mia", he stage whispered to Darren who laughed quietly in response.

"No, it isn't", he said, "That's my friend Lea, I'm showing her around the city"

Lea said Hi and held out her hand for him to shake with a giant smile, Tran took it but still seemed a little starstruck.

"I thought you were taller", he muttered and then seemed to catch himself, "So, um, you guys hungry?"

"Very", Lea smiled and let the guys lead her to a table a little in the back where they would have some privacy.

Tran produced two Menus out of nowhere and then excused himself and asked if he could borrow Darren for a second. This gave her time to glance over the menu, though utterly at a loss of what to order. Whenever she peaked up from behind it, she saw Darren and Tran engaged in a lively conversation.

"What was he on about?", she asked her boyfriend when he sat back down with her.

"He wanted to know if we were a thing", he said and smirked at her over his own Menu.

"And?", she inquired, "What did you tell him?"

"I said we were just friends", he answered dutifully and although she knew that she was supposed to be happy about that, because he stuck to their story and hadn't told, she still felt a pang. Just a general taste of unpleasantness that she couldn't let the world know that he was hers. And not Mia's or whoever other girl people thought he was with.

"Was that alright?", Darren asked her, noticing her chagrin.

"Of course", she said quickly, "Just sometimes I wish we didn't have to hide like criminals"

"Yeah, but imagine what the other option would mean", he argued, "No privacy, even more photographers, everyone all up in our business..."

"Sure, I know", her voice came out more like a sigh, "but it's still unfair, that I can't even hold your hand on the street"

"You know, one day maybe when things aren't as crazy anymore we can", he said earnestly, "But this is too big for me, okay? Like, I don't want to put any more strain...on this relationship and I don't want to share this yet, I want you for myself for a little longer"

"It's fine, really", she said, "We're on the same page I just..I need to remind myself from time to time, I don't want to risk anything either"

There was a little silence between them because going deeper into the topic didn't seem all the way appropriate right then and there and so they resolved to going back studying their Menus.

"Let's just get some Dim Sum", Darren said after a while, "The vegetarian plate and a bit of everything"

"Sounds good", Lea nodded, putting her Menu down, she was horrible with choosing, she would've sat there and deliberated for another hour what to get.

Darren waved Tran over and ordered and the three chatted for a bit, time passed quickly that way and when Tran returned with a little wagon load – literally, he pushed in the food on a serving-trolley, she was surprised how this hadn't taken longer.

"So, I'll be in the back, dig in, guys", Tran said, "And call me when anything is up"

"Thanks, mate", Darren said and started opening the lids to the little boxes of delicious smelling food.

They did dig in and even though she couldn't hold his hand over the table, it was still nice to just be with him like that, sit over dinner and just talk about anything and everything, in his home town, where he grew up.

Where so many things had shaped him into the marvelous man now sitting in front of her. It gave her heart a little jab of love to hear him talk about the city and his time in High School, she learned that Tran had been his friend since Middle School and they had lived through some pretty crazy stories. Getting to know that side of Darren was just so precious to her, she knew him in LA, she knew him at work, she knew him with Joey and some of the other Starkid friends she'd met but this Darren was again slightly different and intriguing, his speech changed a little bit, it got more layed back, a little lazier and almost reminded her of Dianna.

"What?", he asked her after a while when he noticed her eyes locked on him, with a smile that must've been dopey.

"Nothing", she said and took anther bite of her veggie rice noodle roll, "You just look so happy, that's nice"

"I am happy", he said and his foot wandered up her leg a bit, "I'm happy we could make this happen; that you're here"

"Me too, God, this food is delicious", she exclaimed and then took a beat because she had a very important question that suddenly hit her, "So..um, do you, like, think your parents like me?"

Darren chuckled as if it was a stupid question entirely.

"Of course they like you", he said, "How could they not?"

"Well, your father for one seemed a little unease with the thought of me giving him grandchildren", she said, an eyebrow raised.

"Trust me, he'll be the first to want to hold our baby, when we have one", he smiled and just like that, her heart leapt out of her chest, flew up to the ceiling, jumped back into her chest and beat on hard. He'd said 'when' not 'if' and 'ourbaby', as if it was an inevitability that they'd start a family eventually, rather than a possibility.

"You think?", Lea was not ready to drop it quite yet.

"Of course", he said again, "All they ever wanted for me was a nice, classy girl with a good upbringing, a strong sense of family and ambition, musicality and a broad horizon..you're all of these things"

"Oh", she said, beyond flattered because she thought she was not half as good as he painted her, of course she'd gotten a good upbringing and her horizon was quite broad but..she was not half as classy or sophisticated as she thought she had to be for him, "You really think that?"

"Why are you so self-conscious?", he asked her flat out with a bit of an amused look on his face.

"No, I mean..", she stammered, "I just..Just sometimes I feel pretty inadequate next to you, you're so smart and I'm just Lea from the Bronx"

Darren didn't even try not to laugh at her.

"You're not even seeing yourself clearly", he said and shook his head, "You're not 'just' anything, do you have any idea how intimidated I was by you when we first met? I couldn't even properly talk to you the first couple of days because I was constantly in awe of you and I'm not any smarter than you, I just take a little bit more time to think before I talk, which is not to say that this makes me better, au contraire, I think it's very admirable that you wear your heart on your sleeve like that"

"Are you kidding me?", Lea said, "You just said 'au contraire' and 'admirable' in the same sentence and you didn't think about it for a second, you're just smarter than me"

"You shut your pie-hole", he mocked, "I'm not smarter than shit"

Lea burst out laughing now but she still silently disagreed with him, she would let it lie though, because he wouldn't be argued with on that matter.

"Well, still -", she started but was cut off by her phone ringing on the table with a text message. She reached for it and automatically chuckled.

"What is it?", Darren asked between two bites of his fried shrimps.

"Naya, she wants to go to the Spa with me, since I'm just 'uselessly vegetating on the couch', as she puts it", Lea replied with a smirk, "What now?"

"Tell her 'Sorry but I'm on a secret trip with my secret boyfriend'", Darren joked, while chewing.

"I think I'll just write that I'm in weekend hibernation and I don't want to leave the house", Lea mused, "but then she might still wanna come over..I need something ugly to keep her away from me"

With that she typed a quick response and smiled when she pressed 'send' and put the phone back on the table.

Darren took it almost from the air, curious as he was and started reading, soon bursting out laughing.

"Sorry, I can't, am in hibernation and I have -", and that's when he almost spit his food, "mean diarrhea"

Lea shrugged with a like-a-boss-attitude.

"It's good that this is a text because you're a horrible liar", Darren noted, something Lea protested instantly.

"I'm a fantastic liar", she argued.

"No, you're not, you only think you are because you're a good actress but when you lie it's all over your face"

"Just for you", she said decidedly, "Just because you can tell when I'm lying doesn't mean others can and you're so crazy attentive that you just notice but others don't"

"If you say so", Darren said with a playful eye-brow raise and their little teasing banter continued over dinner and the baked bananas they had for dessert.

Darren hugged Tran tightly, almost lifting the shorter, round man off his feet when they said goodbye and promised to call the next time he would be in town for longer so that they could go "hit the bay".

Towards Lea, Tran remained slightly weary with nerves, obviously afraid to make a fool of himself but she tried to ease his tension by pulling him in a tight hug as well, which took him a second to register until he squeezed her back happily.

Tran led them through the back door, to the lot where their car waited for them and soon they were already back in the calming San Francisco traffic.

It was around 4 pm when Darren turned down the radio and stopped singing along.

"I would like to show you something", he said and turned to her slightly, eyes jumping from her to the road.

"Okay? ...Is it scary?"

"No", he chuckled, making a left, taking them out of the city center, "More nostalgic than anything else"

Lea was always down for nostalgia, because it meant more intel on him and so she took the twenty minutes more in the car in stride and sang to some more songs with Darren. Really, she could just drive all through the states with him, just singing along to Oldies and 90s songs and Katy Perry and Blink 182 and Lady Gaga and his Disney collection.

Halfway into "Reflection" from Mulan, Darren pulled into a parking lot and ushered her out of the car, glancing around to find the lot and the road deserted, safe enough to taker her hand and entwine their fingers.

They were walking around a tall building that seemed posh and elite and Lea wondered what nostalgic value it had to her boyfriend.

That was until the came to an halt in front of a black sign saying "Stuart Hall For Boys"

"That's your old school", she stated, "that's where the picture of you and your brother is from, the one from the kitchen"

"Yeah", Darren said and soon pulled her on, around the building, telling her some story about how they used to race each other all through the halls until someone actually broke a leg.

Finally they reached a 6'6 feet high brick wall and without warning, Darren pulled himself up and offered his hand to pull her up too.

"What?", Lea said incredulously, "I'm sure that wall is there for a reason..I would rather not get arrested for trespassing private school grounds"

"Oh come on, it's Saturday, no one's there", he laughed, towering over her, "plus I'm an alumni, they wouldn't mind me going down memory lane for a little while"

Lea nodded wearily and took his hand, looking for a grip for her feet and joined him on the broad wall for a while, now overlooking a spacious playground, perfect with swing set, teeter totter and climbing play system and a little merry-go-round.

"Pretty", she acknowledged.

"The play-system is new – but the merry-go-round, man, good times"

Swiftly, he brought his legs over to the other side and jumped with ease, landing with poise and turned around when she clumsily brought her legs over to the other side.

He chuckled a bit at her effort and then extended both his arms upwards, ready for her to jump into them.

"I can't", she winced, "I'm scared"

"Come on now", he mocked, "I got ya"

"I'm too heavy", she insisted.

"Shut it", he was relentless, "Get your butt down here, come on Sweet-cheeks"

With a little shriek she pushed herself off the wall and fell right into his arms, his hands securely holding her at her ribcage and he softly put her on her feet, inches in front of him, bodies touching at length.

"Hi", he hummed and held her gaze.

"Hi", she muttered breathlessly and sooner than she could have anticipated, he pushed her against the wall and planted a hungry kiss on her lips, hands quickly wandering down her body, to her backside, pulling her towards him so her hips were propped against him, away from the wall where the rest of her body was trapped by Darren. But trapped in the most beautiful way.

She gasped involuntarily and felt his smile and his stubble against her lips, one hand automatically twirling his thick hair and he hummed in approval.

"Oh", she breathed when he paused, "We must never not do that okay? Like, we never stop randomly making out, okay?"

"Never", he promised, kissing her neck gently, "When we're seventy, we'll still sneak away from our grandchildren, leave them to their picture iPads and make out somewhere and they'll find us and be like 'Ewww'"

"Ewww", she repeated him senselessly meaning quite the opposite but all too soon, Darren pulled away again, resting his head on her shoulder, pushing her hips against the wall again, away from him.

"You're such a tease", Lea aspirated, nibbling at his ear in her reach.

"I'm still learning, okay?", he said, truly apologetic, "I need to find the appropriate time to stop to not hurt"

"How does this hurt?", Lea asked surprised.

Instead of answering Darren propped her up again, lifting her to her tiptoes and pressed his whole body flush against her, his knee pushing her legs slightly apart so that his bulged front touched her just where it burned in her too and it suddenly made sense.

He stared at her, eyes dark, trying to breathe evenly.

"I think I get it", she muttered and her eyes fluttered shut, leaning in, initiating the kiss now, reaching to pull him closer this time.

"Lea", he said in meek protest, "Honestly, it hurts"

"Sorry", she grabbed him again.

"You're still doing it", he followed her movement.

"I know", she kissed the sensitive spot beneath his ear.

"Let me go", he sighed and it sounded nothing like 'Let me go'.

"You let me go", she said, feeling his hands tighten around her.

"No", he breathed raggedly but eventually let his head fall back again, out of her lips reach and held her in place, a little away from him, she squirmed and tried to get closer again but he was so much stronger than her, it was useless.

He looked up at her and chuckled at her pout.

"I'm sorry", he said.

"You know this is hard for me too", she said, "Just because I don't have something to show for it, doesn't mean I don't struggle to keep it in my pants as well"

She looked down between them to emphasis and he laughed again, his raw, hoarse laugh.

"I know baby", he said, finally letting her go and stepping away, wincing slightly at the movement, "I just need a second, okay?"

She nodded and touched his hand in passing when she walked to sit on the swing set, walking probably not by much less uncomfortable than it was for him.

She swayed back and forth lightly, watching him tentatively walking a few steps, putting his hands on his head, probably taking some deep breaths. He walked a while like that and when he strolled back over to her, his face still twitched slightly with every step.

"Everything loose again?", Lea joked as he set down on the swing beside her.

"Hardly", he joked back and they laughed lowly.

"So this is the playground baby Darren spent his afternoons on?", she asked him after a while.

"Yeah", he said, taking her hand again, so they swung back and forth in the same rhythm.

"I bet you were the king on here", she estimated.

"Well", he shrugged, "I was a funny kid"

"No, I was a funny kid", Lea argued, "and nobody liked me"

"I can't imagine that that's true"

"It is, though", she insisted gravely, "They didn't like it that I always spoke my mind and that I had my own opinions and stuff and they were mean"

"But not all of them?", he tilted his head with a sly smile.

"No, not all of them but enough", she said, almost spiteful, "They took every chance to get at me, my clothes, my way of talking, my hair, even my last name"

"What did they say?", Darren asked, unable to disguise his genuine curiosity for politeness.

"I won't tell you", she huffed, "I never told anyone who didn't already knew"

"Oh come on", he sighed, "It can't be that bad, full disclosure, remember?"

"If I tell you I have to kill you"

"Lea"

"Darren"

"Come on tell me", he said urgently, "You can't tease me with something like this and then not say it, that's just cruel"

"Fine", she resigned, "but you must promise to never tell a soul, I don't want this to catch on and you must not laugh"

"Okay", he nodded with serious pursed lips.

"They called me..", she took a deep breath, "Lea So-fatty and..So-farty"

Despite his best efforts he snorted, face contorting with trying not to open his mouth and he surprisingly succeeded.

"Asshole", she grumbled.

"No", he gasped, "I mean, this one year at band camp everyone called me something like this and I just find it funny"

"What did they call you?", Lea demanded to know, "Come on, own up, I wanna laugh to"

He stopped laughing and turned to her with a serious expression, holding a hand out for her to shake.

"Darren Piss, nice to meet you", he said and she managed to not burst out for exactly four seconds. But then it was already over, her swing crashed against his, rocked by frantic laughter.

"'Cause that makes us Lea So-farty and Darren Piss", Darren hooted, unnecessarily explaining the humor, "The mayors of Urine Town"

"That's not even very funny", Lea blurted under tears springing to her eyes, holding on to his knee to steady herself, rocked again and again by laughter.

"It's not funny at all", he chimed in, followed by a loud, throaty laugh, "It's rather a bit..sad"

Lea laughed even harder and then, because it was the strongest thing she felt, swapping her body like a Tsunami wave, being the only thought she could think, so loudly that she couldn't keep it inside, she said between laughs; "I love you"

Darren stopped laughing.

The absence of his low registered huffing disturbed her and only then did she realize that she had said her thoughts out loud, dropping the L-bomb on them out of the blue.

She automatically sucked in air in shock and met his widened eyes, the ghost of his smile still on his face. They were both aware that this was the first time they had uttered these words to each other.

"I love you too", he said then, his voice higher, softer, in awe.

And suddenly everything seemed even better.

He loved her. Loved. Her. How odd.

How amazing.

How utterly perfect.

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