back to you || crisscolfer

Chapter 2

Chris sat on the bathroom floor, staring at the unlocked door. His black blazer was lying next to him, wrinkled, with his thick-framed glasses neatly placed on top of it.

The room was quiet and the lighting a bit dusky. The only sound, a peaceful, melancholic music, was coming from the cell phone he was holding in his left hand.

Chris sighed and leaned his head against the sink behind him. He was getting frustrated, Darren had been away for almost half an hour. Maybe he wasn't even going to show up. After all, it had been slightly random for him to ask him for a drink and act so incredibly kindly in the first place. He had probably just felt guilty for not keeping touch with him. Or worse, he had felt sorry for him after seeing him wandering around the place, alone, like a lost puppy. 

Chris sighed again. Why did he never learn? A guy like Darren – charming, social, extremely fascinating – was never good news. He had too much going on in his life, and he was only capable of maintaining his oldest, most important relationships. The ones he couldn't live without, the ones he cherished the most. And Chris definitely wasn't on that list. Not anymore.

After the fifth sigh he finally got up, dusting his pants. He lifted his jacket from the floor, slipping the glasses to the front pocket and took a quick look at his reflection in the mirror. As he was walking toward the bathroom door, annoyed and ashamed, it opened wide. Chris stared, confused, as Darren stepped inside with two glasses and a bottle of champagne in his hands.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get back here. There were just so many people I needed to say hi to, and I really didn't wanna seem rude."

He put the things down and locked the door, then turning to Chris.

"Going somewhere, Colfer?" he asked, smiling teasingly.

Chris chuckled nervously. "I, uh... I didn't think you'd be coming back."

"What? Of course I would! I made you a promise, and you know what my promises mean to me."

Chris coughed sarcastically. "Sure."

Darren puckered his brows. "Look, I know there are a lot of things we need to discuss, but you have to understand that right now, there's a whole bunch of people, who'd kill to celebrate with me tonight, sitting in that auditorium while I'm here with you. Because I chose to be with you. So, maybe you could just cut me some slack here, huh?"

"Oh, wow." Chris looked at him, stunned. He had always known that fame tended to go to people's head, but never had he even imagined that it'd have such a notable, poor impact on Darren, whose down-to-earth attitude he had once so greatly admired.

"Oh, my God," Darren mumbled all of a sudden. The look on his face was frightened; his eyes were fully open, his mouth ajar.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God," he kept repeating. "That... That was such a conceited thing to say. I'm so sorry, Chris, I..."

Darren took a deep breath.

"When I think of myself... Geez, even when I look at myself, I still see that little kid with a big dream starting his first year at UM, and it just... It messes with my head. This is what I've dreamed of ever since I was just a toddler, and now that it's actually happening! I've started questioning whether I really am ready for this or not."

"Hey," Chris said softly as he took a few steps closer to him. "I can assure you that no one deserves this more than you do. It's your time."

Chris put his hand on Darren's right shoulder. "And you don't have go through it all alone. You've got your family, your team, your friends and... me."