They Dont Know About Us

Chapter 7

A few months later, Darren is sitting up in his bed at 2 AM, with probably the greatest idea of his life. He grins to himself, looks over at a snoring Chris, and lays back down.

Don't worry, Chris, he says to himself. I've got some big plans coming up.

The next morning, Darren wakes up nice and early, gets in the car, and drives off. He pulls up in the local plaza and walks into the first store on the leftmost side of the plaza. A little bell rings as he walks in. It's quiet in the store, considering that the store opened less than an hour ago. The door closes quietly behind him, and Darren has a lost look fixed on his face. A worker walks up to him from the storage area in the back.

"May I help you sir? My name is Judy and, um you look a little, well, lost." She says sweetly.

"Yes Judy, I definitely do need help. I'm looking to get um, engaged."

"Oh, who's the lucky lady?"

"Actually I'm gay, looking to propose to my boyfriend."

"Oh, you're Darren Criss!"

"Yeah, I am."

"I still listen to your cover of Teenage Dream all the time over the speakers in this store."

"It's so comforting to me knowing that people listen to my music, even almost 11 years by now."

"Anyways, how long have you been with your boyfriend?"

"I've been with Chris for almost a year now."

"Alright, and what's his style?"

"If I'm being brutally honest, he will not care what I propose to him with. I just need something that isn't too expensive but not too cheap."

"I think I have the perfect thing in mind." Judy scurries off the the back storage room and comes back 5 minutes later with a small little black box. She opens the box to reveal the most beautiful ring Darren has ever seen.

"We just got the ring a few days ago. It's a..."

"Say no more. How much?"

"Meet me at the register, I can cut the price down a couple hundred dollars. Just don't tell my manager." Darren follows Judy to the register. They discuss prices for a good 20 minutes and finally, Darren walks back to his car, grinning from ear to ear. He hops in his car and drives home. On the way back, he takes a quick detour to Starbucks to pick up coffee for Chris because he realized that he just left him asleep at 7 AM for no given reason (well, not one that he wants to tell him, that is), so he decides to surprise him with coffee. As he pulls into the driveway, he stuffs the ring into his back pocket and throws his extremely large University of Michigan sweatshirt over himself. Luckily, its big enough to hide the ring, so Chris doesn't suspect a thing.

"Morning, baby. Where did you go?" Chris says, walking away from a pan of sizzling bacon.

"Morning baby. Just wanted to surprise you with coffee."

"Oh how sweet of you!" Chris kisses Darren and heads back to the frying pan. "Breakfast should be ready in 10 minutes, just waiting for these last few waffles to finish up."

"Sounds amazing baby." Darren heads upstairs and shuts the bedroom door. He takes the ring out of his pocket and puts it in one of his shoes. He rummages through his other clothes and finds the ring he used to proposed to Mia. He finally finds it, opens the window, and throws it as far as he could. The ring travels so far it lands in the neighbors open garbage can outside their house.

Its time for a new chapter. But can I actually follow through with this? Darren thinks to himself. What if I get rejected? No, Chris wouldn't do that. But what if he does? Come on, Darren. Think positive. You can do this. You got the ring, now we just need the rest of the plan.

"Darren! Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming!"

You can do this, Darren. Think positive.