Chapter Two
1994
Stevie giggled at her best friend, raising an eyebrow as she approached where he was lying on his lawn. "What are you doing, Darren? And don't say lying on the lawn, because I know you are."
"Waiting for you," Darren offered up smoothly, giving her a gappy smile. "So, how come you take forever coming back from school?"
Stevie sighed as she sat next to him. "It goes on forever?" She gave him a small smile. "I don't know...how come you don't come to my school, Dare?"
"'Cause I go to one that's just for boys," He reminded her, closing his eyes and basking in the rays of sunshine. "And you go to one for just girls...still, we can see each other after school and on weekends, right?"
"When else?" Stevie agreed, deciding to lay her head next to his on the lawn. She sighed peacefully. "So, whatcha looking at?"
Darren cracked an eye open. "I dunno 'bout you, but I saw a dragon breathing out popsicle sticks out of its nose."
Stevie giggled madly. "No you didn't!"
"I did too!"
Stevie scoffed. "Yeah, well I see something a lot better than that."
"What?"
Stevie paused for dramatic effect as she studied the clouds. "I actually see a lion flying to the moon."
"Oh my God," Darren sat up, eyes wide. "That is so cool! Disney should totally make a film about a lion flying to the moon, it would be so cool!"
Stevie also sat up, nodding quickly. "Oh my God, and imagine if we could go with that lion to the moon..."
"We could build fun schools up there," Darren continued dreamily, eyes glazing over. "They teach us how to walk without gravity and stuff, and do magic, so we can light fires without matches-"
"Why would we want to light fires?" Stevie pointed out.
Darren thought hard. "To keep warm, I guess. Do you think it'd be cold on the moon?"
"Probably," Stevie agreed, shutting her eyes. "It's really high and in space, so it's going to be really cold...if we go, we should bring blankets, just in case, since we don't want to freeze and die."
Darren hummed in agreement. "Definitely. Maybe I could persuade my Mom to let me bring the old one she keeps on her and my Dad's bed." Darren laughed to himself. "It has a Philippines flag on it."
"Philippines? What's that?"
Darren's eyes snapped open and he gaped at her. "It's a place! My Mom was born there, but then she came here and met my dad!" Darren shook his head at his best friend. "My mom said it's awesome, and special because she's from there."
"Oh," Stevie didn't really know what that meant, but decided to pretend she did. "Like...a country, yeah?" Darren nodded. "Oh, I get it." She grinned at him. "My Mom is from England, and my Dad is from Ireland."
"OhMyGod!" Darren squeaked. "My dad isn't from Ireland, but his family is!"
Stevie's mouth dropped open. "That is so creepy!" She exclaimed; eyes wide open again, she shuffled closer to her best friend. "We could be twins!"
"No we couldn't!" Darren argued gently, chuckling. "You're blonde and I'm dark-haired...and your eyes are blue, but mine are hazel...not to mention I'm seven and you're only six."
"First of all, six is not that little compared to seven," Stevie rolled her eyes slightly. "Second, not like twins that look alike but as in...act-the-same-kind-of-twins."
"Oooh," Darren nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Both our dads are Irish in some way, we've both got curly hair..."
"We both love Disney," Stevie added smartly. She sighed after a moment. "I wish you were my twin brother."
Darren bit his lip. "Why?"
"I don't have one," She shrugged slightly. "And you're cool. And fun. Plus, I have no one to play with when we're not out here."
"You can borrow my brother if you want," Darren offered. "Chuck is awesome...he could teach you to sing and play guitar, 'cause he's helping me." The older boy thought hard for a minute. "How about...you come 'round mine tomorrow or something? You know, for dinner?"
Stevie brightened. "Oh, that sounds nice!" She agreed before worry set into her again. "But what if your brother and parents don't like me?"
"Of course they'll like you," Darren scoffed, looking fairly assured. "Seriously. The problem is that they'll like you too much."
Stevie blinked, not sure how they could like her too much. "I...Is that a bad thing?"
Darren shook his head at her reassuringly. "No, of course not." He smiled at her. "I'll go ask them now, 'kay?"
2011
"So," Stevie started, her arms swinging loosely by her sides. "How's your parents? And Chuck? I heard his music on YouTube the other day." She smiled to herself. "He's...really good. I'm kinda proud of him, even though he's, like, three years older than me."
Darren laughed. "Yeah...my parents are good too; they're actually the same as they were before...umm..."
"Before you left for college," Stevie finished, going slightly red when he just nodded. "You know, you used to be able to tell me everything, Darren..."
"I know," Darren admitted, looking slightly ashamed. "But, Stevie, that was about six years ago..."
Stevie sighed. "Right." She put on a smile again. "You have no idea how excited I am, Dare, that I get to see you again." Darren smiled at her, reaching to hold her hand like they used to. "I...God, I missed you so much, y'know? It's been weird not seeing you or talking to you for six years."
"It kinda was," Darren agreed, leading her to sit on a Glee Club chair. The rest of the cast were in the dance studio, and since Ryan had managed to pick up on something going on between Stevie and Darren (the annoyingly knowing man he was), the two had been left alone to "catch up". "I guess I got busy, though, so it wasn't as bad after a while...Still," He grinned, eyes shining. "It's so amazing to see you again, Stevie...and how the hell did you get to come on Glee to dance?"
Stevie laughed the comment off. "With a lot of practice?" She offered, shrugging. "I love Glee...not just because you got on it, of course...and I knew I'd never get on here for singing or acting, so I decided to try dancing."
Darren frowned slightly, his forehead creasing in an adorable way. "Stevie, you're good at singing and acting. Why wouldn't you get on here if you auditioned?"
She went red. "Well...I'm too shy to audition...and I know Glee is a TV Show that celebrates differences...but I couldn't help but worry that I wouldn't be what they wanted..."
"Well, look at me," Darren pointed out. "I'm probably the opposite of Blaine...well, not completely, but...still." He gave her a reassuring smile. "Look at Heather, Stevie; she was brought on here to teach Chris and Jenna to dance, and has ended up being a well-loved regular for the past year and a half."
"Yeah, well," Stevie sighed. "She's clever, and she comes up with these one-liners and stuff..." She shrugged sadly. "I probably couldn't even make one person laugh, let alone an entire fandom."
"Hey," Darren frowned again. "Don't put yourself down. You're awesome in your own way, Stevie, and Glee is lucky to have you."
She went red at the praise, but didn't press the matter further. "Okay. Right. Anyway," She leaned forwards to rest her cheek on the palm of her hand. "Enough of me and how I got here. What have you been doing the last six years?"
"Being a Starkid," Darren said, thinking over the amount of time it had been. "You've seen our musicals, right?"
"A fair few of them," Stevie admitted, grinning unashamedly. Darren felt himself go slightly pink.
"Right...well, then you know I wrote music for some of them, right?" Stevie nodded eagerly. "And I did a few gigs on TV shows...and then I got on Glee."
"You forgot about your EP," Stevie added in smugly.
Darren stared at her. "Are you seriously one of my fan girls now? 'Cause if you are, it's gonna be pretty weird talking to you every day on set."
Stevie scoffed at his remark. "Please. Just because I checked up on my old best friend now and then, it doesn't make me a stalker."
"Of course not..." Darren gave another small laugh. "Well, anyway, I think I'm going to have to go to dance rehearsal soon, which means you probably will too."
"Oh yeah, I'm a dancer," Stevie slapped her forehead with the back of her hand lightly. "Duh."
The short man grinned affectionately at her. "C'mon, I'll walk you up there."
1994
Stevie couldn't help but tug her dress down self-consciously as she waited for Darren to come and meet her outside; what if Darren's family didn't like her? What if they didn't want them being friends anymore? What if-
"Wow, Stevie! You look great!"
Stevie's head jerked to look at her best friend nervously. "You think? My mommy told me to wear a dress, but I didn't know if it would suit me..."
Darren nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! If it were my mommy, she'd say you look...uhh...yeah, beautiful!" Stevie giggled, flushing bright red. "C'mon, my brother said if we meet him before dinner, he'll let us play on his guitar!"
Darren pulled at her hand, and she followed him on instinct; her nervousness started to return, and she anxiously combed through her hair as he dragged her through the front door to his house.
"Mom!" He called, his eyes sparkling with childish excitement. "Mommy, my friend's here!"
Stevie squeezed his hand just as a woman – Darren's mother – came out of the kitchen. She smiled kindly at the little girl, and Stevie gave her a weak smile. "So this is your friend?"
"Uh-huh!" Darren replied cheerfully, beaming up at his mom. "Stevie. I gave her the name Stevie, 'cause it's better than her other name."
Stevie gulped and let go of Darren's hand. "P-Please to meet you, Mrs Criss."
The woman laughed. "Sweetie, call me Cerina!" Stevie nodded quickly while Cerina turned to her son. "Have you made her nervous? What have you told her?"
"Nothing!" Darren protested, laughing along with his mother. "She's just shy, Mom. Like...really shy."
"There's no need for you to be shy, dear," Cerina said warmly, and Stevie took a step forwards nervously. "It's not like we'll bite your head off."
"Oh, no," Stevie agreed quickly. "Of course not. It's just that..." Your son is my best friend in the whole world, and I want you to like me. "I get...shy."
Darren's mother laughed. "And polite too, I see." Stevie went even redder, not used to compliments. "Tell you what, you two can do me a job-"
"Is it getting Chuck out of his bedroom?" Darren piped up, already bouncing on his toes out of excitement. "Can we? Because he promised us he'd show us that song on the guitar, and-"
"Alright, alright!" Cerina laughed, waving a hand at her son. "Go and find him before you start bouncing around and break something."
So, er...I don't know how long it's been, but I know it's been forever, so have some snuggly!baby!darren and his best friend :p
Reviews greatly appreciated!