Author's Note: Thank you guys for all your reviews, I hope this fourth chapter is a nice late Christmas present for all of you. I wish you all the best and the greatest happiness in 2012!
As always, this is unbeta'd so excuse my mistakes :)
Chapter Four
The second time Lea jumped off the wall into Darren's arms she did so with ease and a huge grin on her face. Everything seemed brighter, the colors more vibrant, the air humming with promise.
He loved her, what could possibly be better? Of course she'd known and he had told her early on that he was in love with her and he knew that it was the same for her but they had never said "I love you", instead of "I'm in love with you"..just the fact, the three words, they'd never said that because the moment maybe hadn't been right. Now it was and she opened her arms and nudged her body off the edge.
He caught her and put her back on her feet like she was light as a feather – and she felt like it too.
"I love you", she said again, just because she wanted it to cross her lips again, wanted to feel it again, telling him, watching is eyes light up automatically and that amazing boyish, almost flattered and flustered grin pulling at his features.
"I love you", he said and took her hand leading her back to the car.
"What are we going to do next?", she asked him, letting herself drop into the passengers seat as he got behind the wheel.
"It's almost 6", he mused, more to himself than to her, "so we're going to go home now, change into our fancy clothes and drive to the San Francisco Symphony and see a violin concert with my parents"
"Uhh", Lea cooed, like an awestruck child, "The Symphony"
Darren chuckled and pulled out of the parking lot, driving them the twenty minutes home.
Back at the house, Cerina was already hurrying around the house in a bright green blouse and long black skirt.
"Darren", she called out when they just set foot in the corridor, "You're late, hurry now, we have to get going in ten minutes – Bill! Get ready!"
Lea almost hid behind Darren, slightly uncomfortable that they had delayed them like this.
"I'm sorry", she whispered, one leg already on the stairs to hurry into her dress.
"It's fine", he reassured, one pace behind her, "She always makes a big fuss and we end up being everywhere twenty minutes early, thinking we could have used that time at home.
"Darren", his mother called from the kitchen as if she had heard him, "Get dressed"
They hurried now, up the stairs, into his room, to their suitcases, giggling like kids.
"I feel like I'm thirteen", he said with a dramatic eye-roll, "betcha my dad will drive the car and we are gonna be sitting in the back like the kids do?"
Lea chuckled and held a greenish, light summer dress up to him for evaluation.
"That's nice", he said, "goes with my shirt"
He took his olive shirt out of his suitcase, swiftly changing into it and putting his suit jacket on top of it. They weren't super chic but would hardly be under-dressed on a regular Symphony night, as Darren promised.
Lea marveled at him for a second before stripping out of her own shirt and jacket, feeling his eyes on her as she slipped into her dress.
"You look beautiful", he muttered when she opened her messy bun and revealed now dry and curly hair, falling on her shoulders, her bangs to both sides of her face.
"So do you", she said, walking over to him and cupping his face with her palms, putting a small and tame little kiss on his lips that he happily leaned into.
"Are you ready?", he asked as they still stood close together in his old bedroom.
"Ready as I'll ever be", she smiled, "just let me get my purse and then we can get going"
They sat in the car exactly five minutes later, in the back-seat as Darren had predicted, watching Bill drive through the streets while Cerina asked them about their day.
"Have you said hello to Tran's Mom?", she asked her son.
"No, she wasn't in", Darren answered dutifully, while he took Lea's hand in his, "But Tran says hi"
"That's nice", she hummed, "He's such a good kid"
"Did you like your day in town, Lea?", Bill said, driving them back into the city.
"Yes", she replied, automatically sitting up straighter, "We walked through China Town and visited Stuart Hall, it was really great, I love San Francisco, it's one of my favorite cities in the world"
"But you two must be tired then", he said, "From all the walking around and here we drag you to a concert"
"No, no", Lea hurried, "It's fine, I mean, my feet are a little tired but I haven't been to the Symphony in ages, so I'm really stoked"
"And you will love it", Darren smiled quietly.
"We're going to see a violinist", Cerina informed her, turning back to them, "I wish Darren would practice a little more, maybe then he could play us a violin concert too, has he ever placed for you?"
Lea could practically feel her boyfriend squirm beside her.
"No", she said, looking at him, "I would love to but we're running on such a tight schedule on glee, we hardly have time to sleep..."
She let the sentence fade out, just implying that Darren was too busy to pick up the violin regularly beside his job because she didn't want to appear snotty, back-talking his mother.
"True", Cerina sighed, not seeming in the least bit offended which Lea noted gladly, "My busy busy son"
"What can I do?", Darren laughed lightly and put his hands on her back, sitting behind her and Lea smiled at his display of affection, she loved men that loved their families and Darren worshiped them.
"Have you ever been to our Symphony?", Cerina asked, turning to Lea, one hand patting Darren's on her shoulder.
"Only in New York", Lea said, "I've not even seen a Classical concert in L.A. yet"
"It's really beautiful", Bill said and repeated his son's promise, "You will like it"
She nodded and soon Darren leaned back to her, taking her hand again and it was just like he'd said; they sat in the back like children and while it was a little weird, there was also a great sense of security and shelter surrounding her.
She knew she was still nervous around his parents without any real reason, they were welcoming and helpful and genuinely sweet. She felt good, she just didn't want to disappoint them.
Around them, the sky darkened and Lea watched the buildings fly by in awe, still enchanted by the bay city. Bill had turned the music up a little, Best Of Frank Sinatra, which made her smile. They drove into a car park before Cerina told her they would have to walk the last five minutes to the Symphony – but not to worry, they were twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Just like Darren had said – he smiled smugly when they got out.
He quickly fell into step with his father, leaving Lea slightly behind with his mother but she didn't mind, she liked her and wanted to know more about her.
"Oh dear", the older woman said, looking down Lea's legs with her hand clasped to her chest, "How can you walk in these shoes?"
"These? Um..", the petite brunette gazed down on herself and her Peep Toe Louboutins, in glitter-dark blue, "I'm so used to these big shoes, I'm so short, so everywhere fancy I go, I feel like I need to stand a little taller"
"Darling, I'm short too but no army of thousands could get me into those shoes", Cerina laughed and linked her arm with Lea, after a little struggle to find where the hole to put it through was; Lea wore her dark knitted vest over her dress against the brisk air and was moderately shocked at the sudden touch but the second she realized what the shorter woman was doing, her heart leapt up with affection. It was such a warm thing to do, such a heartwarming gesture, like she properly accepted her in her company, proving physically that she had accepted Lea somewhat as her own. For a second it was hard to breathe.
"Wow", Lea gasped when she looked up to collect herself, faced with a huge round building, shining yellow and golden into the night falling over the city. It throned over the crossing and lit the street in a homey, welcoming, golden glow.
Cerina followed her eyes and then hummed in approval beside her, "We're here, beautiful building isn't it?"
The San Francisco Symphony had a two and a half story high rounded front, lined all the way with windows, granting full view of the people already inside. Lea could see broad stairways and huge doors as they were passing the crossing and then a voluptuous double sculpture to get to the entrance at the end of the circus-like window-front.
"Wow", Lea breathed again and Darren turned his head, smiling brightly at her, nodding a slight "Told you so"
"The building is called 'Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall' and was built in 1980, the sculpture we just passed is by Henry Moore", Bill said with his warm baritone and sounded a bit like a College professor, turning around to the women as well.
"It's amazing", Lea said, letting Cerina direct her up the stairs to the big entrance doors, "It reminds me of the New York one at Lincoln center, it's for the Philharmonic Orchestra, it has all these levels too but it's all square"
It was warm inside, warm enough for Lea to take off her jacket, revealing her low-cut dress, earning a couple of looks by elderly men standing by but she kept her eyes low, hoping the demographic was generally a bit too old to be knowing them from glee. It seemed relatively safe, though, nobody they passed gazed twice at them; well, her face at least, her décolleté did catch a few more wandering eyes.
Cerina had given her a little space to take off her jacket, albeit taking her own off but was quickly on her arm again, navigating them through the sea of people, no the lead of their little group as Darren and Bill had fallen behind to order drinks for the intermission. Darren's mother seemed very accustomed with the venue ans steered them swiftly through the winding levels, up a couple flights of stairs, smiling that content smile that looked so much like Darren's.
"Did you go to see The Philharmonic Orchestra back in New York sometimes?", Cerina asked with genuine curiosity, showing their pre-printed online tickets to the middle-aged lady guarding their four-person booth at the right side at the end of the concert room and Lea kept staring at her Louboutins, half worried the ticket-lady would recognize her, half sheepish because she didn't really have a satisfying answer for Cerina's question.
"Not half as much as I'd wanted to, or should have", she admitted, following her into the secluded booth overseeing the seats below and the stage, once again taken aback at the beautiful interior, "I went maybe five times in my life but I was so busy with Broadway, during school I spent most of the time on the Subway getting from workshops to Jersey and back and then when Spring Awakening got this big deal I hardly had time for anything else"
"Of course", Cerina said and nodded, gesturing apologetically, "I promise Darren told me all about your career but that must've slipped my mind, of course you were busy..He spoke so fondly of you, even before he was on the show, he always said; 'If they had taken me when I went out for it, I would be working with Lea now, she's amazing'"
"He really said that?", Lea asked, carefully peeking over the railing but then back to the other woman who nodded.
"You were his favorite", she said, "Chuck always asked him why he didn't like that blonde girl better -"
"- oh Dianna", Lea interjected, "She's so gorgeous"
"We all thought so too", Cerina said because what else should she say, Dianna was gorgeous, it was a fact, like winter follows autumn and autumn follows summer etc., "but Darren said you were more fascinating, more interesting and he didn't take anything from Chuck, but don't tell him I told you that, he made me promise"
"Oh no", Lea chuckled, her cheeks feeling red hot, feet tingling with pride, feeling so flattered and happy, "are there any other things I can't tell him you told me?"
"When he was six years old he ran out into the street pretending he was Genie from Aladdin and he tried to scoot down the street on one of our best Persian carpets", Cerina answered willingly but not without a peak to see if her husband and son were coming to join them yet, "He ended up sitting in the middle of the street and started crying because the carpet just wouldn't move, let alone fly"
Lea clasped her hands in front of her mouth, pushing down to keep her loud obnoxious laugh at bay, snorting into her palm, fully able to imagine Darren doing that, just that he was his full grown self in her imagination which made the whole thing even funnier.
"What is it?", a familiar smooth voice said behind them and Darren brushed his hand lightly over the small of her back, "I want to laugh too"
"N'th'ng", Lea uttered from behind her fist, taking a deep breathing trying to make her imaginary big Darren fly off on his carpet, out of her head.
Cerina didn't tell him anything either and after prying for some time he eventually gave up and joined Lea on the two seats in the front.
"Oh, this is my favorite part", Lea said when the instrumentalist got on the stage under polite applause and quickly tuned his violin with the pianist's help, "When they tune the instruments, it's best when it's an entire Orchestra, back during SA I always tried to be near the stage to hear them all tune, it gives you such a rush of excitement and it's almost better than the entire concert"
Darren smiled at her and it was the last thing she saw in bright light before everything was dimmed down but the stage and the violinist started playing.
For about one hour he lifted and crushed Lea's mood, took her on journeys in her head, oftentimes closing her eyes at the melodic and then at times slightly atonal runs and passages to sink into the vivid pictures in her head. She saw forests, Russia in winter, her and Darren, a mother and a child. Halfway into it, Darren took her hand.
She only noticed that it was intermission when Darren let go of her as the lights came back on, almost offending her in her trance state, still completely drawn into the stories the music had planted into her mind.
"You really loved this, don't you?", he said as they staggered out of the booth to get their drinks and she tried to stay close to him, while at the same time holding her hands tightly around her purse so she wouldn't touch him. She wanted to and she was emotional, so really, she needed to but she couldn't and so eventually she just clang to her glass of champagne, let Bill tell her about the Organ in the hall and the violinist and was happy when the second half began and the lights were low enough for him to take her hand again.
Towards the end the musician amped up the pace again, only to finish with a slow, melodious piece that seemed like the Soundtrack to a very peaceful dream and lea felt positively drained and tired when they let themselves be swarmed out of the hall with all the other people.
The drive back home passed her by in a haze, the only thing she remembered was Darren whispering how he was sure no one had seen them and it cramped her style a little bit how that seemed to please him greatly.
Yes, she was definitely not over the secret-relationship thing yet and she wanted to talk to him about it, she thought as she took the first turn in the bathroom. Cleaning her face off from the evening-out-make up, brush her teeth and get into Darren's old boxer shorts. She had her own for sleeping but she preferred hers just for sentimental reasons. Brushing her teeth she remembered in a flash how both Cerina and Bill had hugged her goodnight and she'd noticed immediately how Darren got to be the beast of a hugger that he was. The latter went to the bathroom after her and let her wait for a while to get cozy in the bed. She could hear him rummage around in the room while she tried to properly feel her feet. It had been a long day.
Finally, Darren slowly walked out of the bath and towards the bed, slipping under the comforter, eyes locked on her and when he lay down, he cradled her cheek like he always did, a lovely little gesture of showing her that it was their time now, her time to speak and somehow digest their eventful day, say things she still needed to say.
"So", she began, knowing it was her cue, "Today and tonight were magical"
"You think?", he asked quietly, their voiced fallen to whispers, "China Town and the concert? Even if we didn't find the hidden restaurant?"
"Yes", Lea reaffirmed, "It was a very good day, almost perfect"
"Almost?", Darren lazily raised an eyebrow, pausing with the little circles he drew next to her ear.
"It would have been perfect if I could've kissed you on the street and we hadn't been hiding", she said matter of factly, she kinda felt silly bringing it up again but she knew if she didn't she would harvest it until she would blurt it out eventually and maybe hurt him or herself in the process.
Back in LA she didn't really notice it so much. Sure, on set they had to be discreet because except for Dianna nobody knew. But they were together always none the less and since Lea cuddled with everybody nobody cared when she cuddled with him but here, where she really felt like his girlfriend, like they were a real item rather than a crazy experiment against better judgment, she wanted to live that and she was sad that they couldn't.
Darren sighed barely audible.
"Do you not want to talk about it?", she asked, scooping a little closer to him.
"No, yes, um", he said, "I mean, I know we have to talk about it, so yes, I want to talk about it, I just don't know what else to say"
"Like, what do you want us to do once we get back", Lea said, hoping that maybe he had changed his mind just a little bit, that maybe by the end of the year they could start telling people.
"We'll just do what we did before", he muttered, "People still think you're single and no one really knows about me.."
"They think you're with Mia", she stated, trying to keep any bitterness out of her voice, but still sounded slightly spiteful when she went on, "so we'll keep them believing so and I'll just talk about Cory some more, they will jump on that"
She waited for his face to twitch, knowing fully well that a very unreasonable part of him was always jealous of Cory, even when she told him a million times that she shouldn't be. It was kind of mean to pry on that but she wanted him to see why she found it so hard. She wanted him to be jealous too.
His face remained hard, though, except for his lips which became a thin line, on their own accord. She wondered if he knew what she was trying there.
"I mean, the media puts me either with him or Dianna anyway, so I can work with that", she mused on, not letting him out of sight, "It would make a nice decoy, don't you think? If people believed I was with Cory"
Darren didn't let his features betray him, he just stroked her neck and nodded slowly.
"It's a good idea", he said and she was a little disappointed, but only until he added the next part with an unconcealed grunt, "People would believe it, the way you're all over him all the time"
She licked her lips, weirdly triumphant at the sudden pointed distaste in his voice, it was childish but she was glad that she got at least a little reaction out of him.
"Well, I need to stay all over him", she said, her poker face in full effect, "Or else the decoy won't work"
"But you tell him that it's just a decoy", Darren insisted, now way more engaged in the conversation, "You tell him that you have a boyfriend that you want to keep a secret and he needs to do you a favor and not flat out deny that you two are together when people ask. But he can't say you are either"
"And Mia?", Lea asked, and now it was her shot to be jealous, knowing that the two of them were still friends after having broken up in the summer, "Everybody thinks she's your girlfriend, will she be okay just being your decoy? Because if you asked me to be you pretend-girlfriend, I'd punch you in the face"
"She won't mind", he said, with a light smile like Lea was over-reacting even thinking the punk singer would have any problem with it, "we were never that exclusive when we were really dating and for her it's good publicity, it's win-win"
"If you say so", Lea muttered, "but I swear to god, if she gets too close to you, I will forget my good upbringing, I'm still Lea from the block and you are mine"
He chuckled, his breath hitting her face, making her baby hair flutter around her temple.
"And you're mine", he said then the smile leaving his eyes and staying grimly on his lips, with a low groan swinging along in his voice, "and I want Cory to know that, you can tell him it's me, I want him to know that I'm around"
"You know that you have no reason to be jealous of Cory at all? He's like my big brother", she said, turning her head to kiss the side of his hand on her cheek.
"Maybe it's unreasonable, but it doesn't change anything, I try not to act on it but this jealousy is a part of me", Darren shrugged, "I will always get jealous, no matter what or how many times you tell me there's no reason to, I won't listen...plus I've read those interviews about how you would've gotten with him out of any of the glee guys"
Lea laughed, trying to quiet herself by turning her lips more into his hand, trying to muffle the sound.
"Do you know that ABBA song, where they sing about that normal, pointless day that's like all the other days, just that it's the very last day of her old life before she meets him on the next?", Lea said short-breathed, "That's what my life was before you came and when I said that about Cory I hadn't known you yet. You changed a lot of things for me"
"You changed a lot of things for me too", he whispered back and kissed her, gently at first but soon harder and more intense, effectively postponing their conversation to a later date again.
And this time they didn't have to stop kissing either, because it wasn't daylight and they weren't on a kiddie playground, this time he could run his hands over her, push down her shorts, touch her where he pleased and elicit little gasps and moans and then silence her with kisses while she buckled into him.
No one compared to him, she knew this with the certainty of life and death, no one had or ever would touch her like this, make her feel whole and beautiful like he did. When she was in his arms she felt safe and invincible and proud, so proud that she was his and he was hers.
And when she grabbed his hair, fistfuls of his hair with need as he thrust into her, she felt her cheeks flush red and hot and only when he kissed down her face and slowed the pace to gaze at her, she noticed that she'd started crying.
"Are you okay?", he asked and ceased moving but still staying deep inside of her.
"Just happy", she promised and ran a finger along the side of his face, "Don't stop"
He smiled then and did as he was told, praising her, celebrating her, worshiping her without words, lifting her higher than any vacation, any food or even music ever could.
Nothing could ever compare.
oOo
Reviews make baby Ellie happy.