“I love you too,” she sighed happily, kissing his ear, his neck and everything else that she could reach. Lea smiled shyly at his guestbook comment, feeling more and more every day that what they had was something real, something untouchable.
Lea blinked at him as he fired questions and kind orders at her, unsure of what to say aside from just nodding along. She was too stunned by his never-ending niceness to say no, but she still felt like he was the one who needed attention - especially after she completely neglected him for the whole night. “I-I.. okay,” she stammered, smiling blankly before searching through the TV Guide. Eventually, she found Pitch Perfect available for order and bought it for rent before turning it onto Bridezillas as she waited for him to come back.
When he came back so soon, Lea smiled widely and looked up from the TV like an excited puppy. “Baby!” she chuckled, opening her arms up again for him to return to her, covering her mouth with both hands as she saw that he was handing her the phone, inwardly praying that his mom hadn’t heard.
With a swallow and a deep breath to calm her nerves, Lea looked at Darren and took the phone, the concern readable in her expression. “H-Hi, Mrs. Criss,” she smiled. “How are you? I-I just wanted to let you know that I will do every single thing in my power to take care of your son, and I really, really love him and I feel awful for what happened and I accept full blame and any punishment that you want to give out.. I-I know it was my fault, but I promise I’m not one of those Hollywood airheads or anything, really, I’m well-educated and I try and be nice whenever I can, and what happened was really all just bad timing, but I couldn’t help but fall for your incredible son, and I really just couldn’t wait to be with him,” she ranted nervously.
“Sweetheart,” came a warm chuckling voice from the other side of the phone. “I’m not calling to scold you! No, I’m not happy about what happened to Darren, but if anything, I just blame a former bad taste in men, and I’m glad you changed your ways. Most of all, I just wanted to get to know you. I think I knew before Darren did that he was quite taken with you.”
Lea blushed a deep red, shrinking into the bed a little as some of the tension was alleviated. “Oh. Well.. I’m glad. I’m very taken with him, too. And we’re coming to visit you tomorrow and I really can’t wait to meet you! W-We would have come today, but I asked him for a day in to calm down after all of the drama,” she explained.
“I completely understand! We’re so happy to finally meet you, and I don’t know if it’s too soon to say this - and don’t tell Darren, since I know commitment to Mia always scared him a little - but welcome to the family.”
The tiny brunette girl could almost hear the grin in Darren’s mother’s voice and she beamed. “Thank you,” she giggled. “I hope I’ll have the opportunity to hear some embarrassing Darren-stories tomorrow,” she joked. “I’ll give you back to him now,” she bit her lip. “Bye, Mrs. Criss! It was nice talking to you,” Lea smiled, handing the phone back to Darren and grinning proudly.
