In Which the Stars Align.

"Joey this is so stupid, why are you making me go?" The short girl asked. Joey chuckled, "Because you're so cute when you get mad. A way to get you mad is making you dress up. You look hot in that purple short dress. " Ariel rolled her eyes at his answer. "Awe, c'mon, babe." Joey gave his friend a begging look, like a puppy would for table scraps. "Fine. But only because I can't resist that face.", she took a deep breath, "So what's this party for?". Ariel was just visiting Joey at his college, she went to university at New York, NYU to be exact. But, she was a close friend to him and his family so Joey had to invite Ariel. She was always there when something major were to happen to him, so why not now? "It's just a freshman welcoming party thing.  Besides, showing up without a date is super stupid..." He took her fair hand, "And no one believes I know a super cute and short girl." Ariel pouted, "I'm not that short, I'm five two!" "Ariel, it's pretty sad you don't find that short. I'm almost a foot taller than you, if I grow one more inch then I will be. Now let's go downstairs, the party is just about to start." With that, he lead the girl down stairs.

        Ariel wasn't feeling good once she saw the scene. There was so many people, she squeezed Joey's hand, "J-Joey..." He smiled warmly, "It's okay, I'm here. Besides, maybe you'll meet someone." There was a wink at the last bit. "Haha, no." Ariel mumbled, "Even if I did, I'm only here for tonight and then I'd never see them again. That's just awful and stupid."  Joey let go of her hand, "Ari, have some fun." He then tapped his foot to the beat of the song, "Dance with me?" She striked her 'The Thinker' pose, "Hmm... I dance with you, then you'll embarrass me, but I will embarrass myself because I'm a bloody awful dancer. So... I guess so, but you have to promise me that you won't lose me in the sea of people here. Deal?" Joey laughed at this response, "Deal. There goes my plan of ditching you here to go get some wine coolers, huh?" This was teasing of course. "Let's go then." She smiled at her close friend and he dragged her to the dance floor.

        Darren didn't want to seem like a creep, but he was staring at the girl across the room. She was just so beautiful to him. Her burgundy hair in tight ringlets, just reaching her shoulders. Her fair skin, emerald eyes, curvy body. Damn, she's with some really tall dude..., he thought,And they're holding hands. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He saw them starting to dance on the floor. When Joey spun her, Darren felt a little bit of jealousy. He didn't even know the girl! But here he was, staring envy at the over tall man and pure lust for the short girl. The dark haired boy bit his bottom lip. I could ask her for a dance. He smiled widely. Waiting for the dance song to end, he stood up. Once it had ended, he walked with a faster pace, "Um, could I cut it? I don't want to be a horrible guy.. I mean, fuck," He then looked to the shorter girl, "May I have this dance?" This time he had a goofy grin on his face.  Ariel blushed, "Sure. Joey go meet someone." There was a soft smile on the girl's face, she grabbed his hand and Joey left.

         If you asked Ariel what anyone else in the room was doing besides her and Darren while they were dancing, she'd say had no clue. All she could focus on was the dancing they had done. Darren was in her trance, following every move to the quick, party song. "You're a great dancer!" She said loudly, so the curly haired boy could hear her. "You're pretty good yourself, cutie." He said with smirk and spun her. Ariel could feel her cheeks heat up, "Th-Thanks." "No prob." The song ended, and just as Ariel was about to find Joey, Darren held her hand, "Please stay, just for one more dance. I won't bother you again." This made the girl smile, he was actually asking her to dance, not the other way around. "Fantastic."  Once she had said that word, another song played, this one much slower. Darren put his hand around her waist, and other intertwined with her's. Her blush appeared again, but she went with it and put her hand on his shoulder and side stepped along with the song. As the song continued, she pressed her head against his chest. The feeling was sweet. She absolutely loved it. "What's your name?" Ariel asked softly. "Darren." "Ariel." "Like the Disney princess? That's totally awesome." Darren beamed. "Thanks, I get called 'The Little Mermaid' a lot." She mustered a smile at her infamous nickname. "Much like you, I think it's cute as hell." He said, as they still danced. The song then ended and he walked her off the dance floor.

        "Tell me about yourself, Ms. Ariel." He laughed. "I'm eighteen years old, barley and will be attending NYU in a week.  I'm twenty five percent of British.... Finds you adorable. Oh, and best friendish with Joey Ritcher, which was the guy I was dancing with, before you wanted to dance with me." Ariel explained, smiling. Darren felt his heart shatter into a million pieces, NYU.  Not Michigan. "Wait, then how did you get into here?" He asked curiously, smiling weakly. "Joey's a freshman here, and he wanted me to come, he's a scaredy cat." She giggled. "Hey, I know we just met but, could you keep an eye on him? I'll be so far away from him and he'll get in huge trouble without supervision." "Are you sure he's the one that need supervision and not me?" He teased at Ariel. "Speaking of Joey where the bloody hell is he?" She laughed. Darren was falling in love with that laugh, it was so sweet. "You sound like Ron Weasley! It's so cute. I have no idea. He could be on the porch?" Darren offered. "To the porch!" She replied, a gleam in her eyes.

        Darren might have felt bad. He wasn't exactly saying the truth about Joey might being on the porch. No one really went there during parties, at least that's what he heard. But, he just wanted to get Ariel alone. She was just perfect to him. "Hey, tell me about yourself!" Ariel smiled looking to him as they walked. "Um, I'm eighteen, attending Michigan as of now. Falling for your pheromones," Darren blushed a little when saying he was falling for her pheromones, "and um, will  be majoring in theatre." Ariel looked at him curiously, "Falling for my pheromones? Oh I'm majoring in theatre, too!" Darren chuckled, "There's the porch." He smiled took her hand and closed the door once they had gotten to the porch.

      Ariel would be lying if she said that she wasn't enjoying holding Darren's hand. Even if there wasn't anyone on the porch. She stared into his hazel eyes,  "H-Hey..." Daren laughed, "Hey." In that moment Joey's advice flushed into Ariel's head, 'Meet someone.', she did, and now all she wanted to to do was kiss him. That's all. Darren didn't know what to do. He had formed the biggest crush on this girl and he just met her. The curly haired boy stared the girl and slowly leaned in giving her a soft kiss on the lips. Ariel didn't have Joey on her find anymore. Just Darren and the way he was kissing her. Of course she kissed him back. As the kiss went on he slowly put his hands around her waist. When the kiss broke Darren had a smirk on his face, "I don't think this will help find Joey." This made Ariel laugh, "Possibly, but maybe we should find him." "Okay, only for you."

        Joey saw the whole thing, he was behind the bush beside the porch. Originally he was on the porch with a girl but she had left, her name was Lauren Bropez or something like that. But she had left to her dorm because she was tired but at least he got her number. When he heard someone coming he stayed on the porch, but when he heard the laugh that he grew up with he jump off the porch, because he knew there was a man with him and Joey would not want to be known as a cockblock. "Only for you." The tall boy repeated, this was a sure sign that he'd have to keep an eye on this other guy. How am I going to casually show up to the porch without looking like I was watching? Oh, I could just walk across to the front of the porch and it'd look like I wasn't here. He did as his thoughts told him to. "Hey, Ariel... Who's this?" He asked, intrigued he didn't really know the other boy's name anyway. "Darren, I'm Darren Criss."