Summary: Four Vignettes about the Four years Santana was at USC and Brittany was working her way up as a dancer. Part of the Trains verse, but you don't have to read that to understand this. For Brittana Week Day 6.
I.
Santana is convinced that the air actually smells better in Los Angeles than it does in Ohio. She knows that every scientist in the world would disagree with her, but she really thinks that it does smell better. It's like a mix of gasoline, car fumes, alcohol, urine, and flowers. She'll take it over the smell of cow shit any day.
She's driving over to Brittany's apartment to pick her up for a party. She hates Brittany's apartment. Literally, literally the only benefit is that Quinn isn't there to interrupt their sexy-times. That is if they can ever have sexy-times between the squealing about cockroaches and the weird shit noise the neighbors are constantly making and the sound of the 101 right outside of Britt's window.
She doesn't even like parking her car outside anymore. It's been broken into three times. The only businesses in walking distance are a homeless shelter (which Santana isn't even sure really qualifies as a business), a Home Depot, and a McDonalds, so it's not really that surprising that the BMW her father bought her when she was all closeted and depressed in high school continually gets broken into. The last time they stole her iPod and, consequently, the music library she'd been building for, like, the last six years.
Basically, Britt's apartment is a piece of shit—a different kind of piece of shit than Santana and Quinn's dorm room. Their room is small, and it has a small sink that Quinn has used on more than one occasion as a depository for her drunken vomit, much to Santana's disgust. The furniture is the same standardized prison made furniture she's seen in the pictures of the rest of their high school friends and their floor is orange and white vinyl tiles. It's hideous. Plus, Quinn has insisted on putting up a bunch of weird, hipster music posters and has started to listen to weirder music than she used to and dressing even more like a grandma than she used to.
The dorm room is manageable shit. Britt's apartment is actual, real life, shit.
"You're really never coming up there again, are you?" Brittany asks as she climbs in the passenger seat. Santana doesn't even wait for Brittany to buckle her seatbelt before she speeds off toward the west side again.
"No, I'm really not, Brittany."
"But, I live there, San."
"I know, and when your lease is up in August we're going to find you a nice, clean house share that doesn't cost you $800 a month to live with roaches as roommates."
"They're like my pets."
"That's actually the most disgusting thing I've ever heard you say in all the years that I've known you. Grosser than when you told me you were in love with Artie."
"You like Artie."
"Well, now I do. It was gross then."
"Where are we going tonight, anyway?"
"Eh, football party or something. I don't know, I just need to unwind."
Brittany loves that Santana is in college. It's so much better than her being in college. She gets to go to the parties, make the new friends, participate in everything fun, without having to take the boring classes and waste her evenings with homework like Quinn and Santana do. It's pretty much the best of both worlds.
"Drinking already?" Santana asks when she walks into their dorm room. Quinn is sitting on her bed next to Justin, her boy of the moment. He's the Quarterback at USC which is apparently some kind of big deal, and Britt hates him. Santana thinks he's okay, but Brittany's always been a better judge of character than her, so she tends to defer to Brittany's opinion on things like this. Justin has one arm around Quinn and the other around a PBR. He just looks like the typical SC Jock to Santana.
"It's Friday night, Santana."
"So that means that it's appropriate to start drinking at six?"
"Well, what else are we going to do?"
"Order pizza," Justin says, looking up from his computer and taking a sip of his beer. "I mean, we're ordering pizza right now ladies. You want in?"
"I definitely do," Santana says. "What about you, Britts?" Brittany nods over to Santana. She's standing on a stool going through Santana's closet. "What are you looking for, Britt?
"Cups."
"Well, you're out of luck. Quinn here has managed to break every single cup my parents got us when we got here, so we're left with just the Solo cups under the bed. What kind of pizza do you want?"
"Don't bother," Justin says. "I have your pizza saved under 'Santittany Delight'."
"When did that happen?" Santana asks.
"I think two weeks ago, when we came back here from that ridiculous Delta party."
"Ugh, do not talk to me about that party unless you want me to start barfing again." Brittany gestures for Quinn to start filling her glass. Quinn obliges, filling it halfway up with whiskey and Brittany tops it off with ice.
"Are you drinking already, too?" Santana asks. Brittany shrugs.
"We're going out aren't we? Might as well get started."
Santana is drunk. She hates being too drunk, too early, but Quinn was pouring the shots, and Santana had lost her ability to know how to tell Quinn no.
"Bitches!" Sasha yells, swinging open the door to her room.
"Sashy!" Brittany jumps up, pulling Sasha into a tight hug.
"You're my favorite of Santana's girlfriends." Sasha says, winking at Santana over her shoulder.
"I think you're Santana's only friend, so I guess that makes you my favorite of her friends?" Brittany says, grinning.
"You guys are so funny," Santana says, slurring her words. Santana loves Sasha. She's a cheerleader, she's a lesbian, and she's basically been showing Santana the ropes since she got to college. She does not love Brittany's relationship with Sasha, however. The minute the two of them team up Santana becomes their walking punching bag, which is a side to Brittany that Santana had never really seen before college. That's not really the issue, though. Santana's pretty sure that Brittany has a little bit of a crush on Sasha.
"Your new friend Sasha is so beautiful," Brittany says, slurring her words. They've just been introduced to Jungle Punch, and it's not treating them well. "She's like really beautiful, and her skin is so beautiful and perfect and dark and her hair is so long and beautiful."
"It's a weave, Britt. She's got a weave."
"So do you, San. I think I like girl's with weaves."
"Okay, we're getting you home now."
"Whoa, when did she get drunk?" Sasha asks, gesturing to Brittany.
"You know Santana," Quinn says, "always pretending to be so badass, but her tolerance is seriously the worst."
"Okay, you're drunk too, blondie," Sasha says. "Now, listen, I have a little change of plans for you girls," Sasha says, taking a seat on Santana's bed and grabbing a beer from the case at Justin's feet. "Now I know you were all set on going to that lame football party….but the rugby ladies are having a party and I think we would have a lot more fun there."
"There's a girl's rugby team here?"
"Women's rugby, Santana. And yes there is. And their parties are awesome."
"I don't know…women's rugby sounds like it's a little dykey for me."
"Oh, get over yourself, Santana. First of all, these girls know how to throw a party. They can drink anyone on that football team under the table, and at least half of them are family."
"That's just the least surprising thing I've ever been told—half of the women's rugby team are lesbians. Shocking."
"Trust me, Santana, it's going to be awesome. And don't give me that 'I have a girlfriend' bullshit. I need a girlfriend and you're going to help me with that. "
"Okay, but it's going to be super awkward with Quinn pretending to not be a lesbian."
"Fuck off, Santana," Quinn snaps.
"Okay, fine, if everyone wants to go, then we'll go!" Santana groans and takes another sip of her drink.
There's something sobering about walking into a party. She felt wasted in her dorm room. She felt wasted as they walked off campus, stumbling their way toward the Rugby house, and she felt wasted as they stood outside, waiting for Sasha to finish smoking her cigarette.
"You better be careful you don't light yo weave on fire, bitch, because that ain't no human hair," Santana yells at Sasha.
"Shut the fuck up, Santana. You would know, too, wouldn't you?"
The minute they enter the party, however, Santana suddenly feels like she hasn't had a drop to drink all night.
First of all, there are women everywhere. There are men too, of course, like Sasha said, only 50% of the team is gay, but still. Suddenly Santana's bravado is squashed, and she turns into a shy little girl.
"Sasha! You came," a voice says, loudly enough to be heard, but quiet enough to sound mildly seductive.
"I told you I would," Sasha replies, smirking a little. "Jen, these are the girls I was telling you about, Brittany, Santana, Quinn and Quinn's boyfriend Justin. Guys, this is Jen."
"Welcome!" Santana's not sure what exactly to do with this girl. She's cute, kind of sporty with her hair in a little Tegan and Sara style hipster cut and low-slung skinny jeans. She's also giving Santana a look she's very familiar with, but she's used to getting it from creeper guys, not cute lesbians.
"So, Santana, " Jen says, "what do you say we get you started off with a little shot of fun?"
"What's a shot of fun?" Santana asks.
"Santana does not want a shot of fun, Jen," Sasha says. "Brittany is her girlfriend. They've been together since High School," Sasha says. Jen raises her eyebrow.
"Okay, new game plan then. Sasha, I'm going to get us a shot of fun, Santana and Brittany, was it? I'm going to get you two regular old shots and sign you up for beer pong, okay?"
"What's a shot of fun?" Santana asks after Jen disappears.
"You'll find out," Sasha says. "She's hot, isn't she?"
"I guess," Santana says. "A little predatory. But she's cute." Jen is back before Santana can say anything more, and she hands Santana and Brittany a shot glass that she's pretty sure is a double.
"What is this?" Brittany asks.
"Sailor Jerry's. I only drink alcohol with half-naked girls on the label." Brittany runs her tongue along her canine and shrugs her approval. Brittany and Santana take their shots, wincing through the burn of the Rum but not wanting to show it too much lest they come across as Freshman, which, of course, they are. Jen, meanwhile, is taking her shot, but instead of swallowing it she kiss-spits it into Sasha's mouth. Santana can't decide if it's hot or disgusting.
She's pretty sure that shot was disgusting, and she's also pretty sure it pushed Brittany over some sort of line because she's staring at the girl on the Sailor Jerry's bottle like she's going to eat her.
"Here's some Natty Light, girls!" Jen says, handing them each a drink. Santana gives her a half-smile and raises her can to Brittany. It's going to be a long night.
So, now she's drunk. Really, truly, completely drunk. Like, the level of drunk she thought she was before doesn't even compare to the level of drunk she is now. Brittany is also really, completely drunk, except it has somehow made Brittany a professional Beer Pong player.
"It's because you're magical, Brittany," Santana says, standing on her tiptoes to give Brittany a sloppy kiss on her cheek. "You're a magical, magical unicorn. My magical unicorn."
"What are you talking about, San?" Brittany asks.
"Well, you're winning this game! How is it possible you are winning this game for us after all that you've had to drink?"
"I am magical, San. But you already knew that." Brittany says with a wink. "Oh my God," Brittany says once she turns back to the game. Santana looks up at Brittany's hand paused mid-throw.
"What the fuck is she doing?" Santana asks, grimacing. Jen is leaning over one of the two cups left to win the game, her tongue flicking back and forth rapidly over the rim.
"I think she's going down on the cup," Brittany says, her head cocked to one side. "I just don't know why."
"She's distracting you guys, obviously," Sasha says as Brittany throws the ball. It bounces off of Jen's nose and into the cup.
"Nice distraction, Sash." Santana says smugly.
"You better pay attention to your own girl, Santana," Sasha replies as they set up for their turn. Santana turns but it's too late. Brittany has already lost her shirt and pants and is dancing around behind the table.
"Damn," Jen says, "she's has great…dancer."
"Damn right she has great dancer," Santana says. "Now keep your eyes to yourself."
"San! I'm distracting them!"
"Yeah, Britt, you're distracting everyone in the room!" Santana looks nervously around at the number of girls eyeing her girlfriend. She's about to start yelling when a tiny blond beats her to it.
"Stripper time!" The girl screams at the top of her lungs. The room replies with whoops and hollers. Santana raises her eyebrows at Brittany as girls start removing their clothing. There are multiple lesbian couples making out on the couch, and suddenly there are topless girls all around them. Brittany grins at Santana. Jen misses her shot.
"Does that mean that we won?" Brittany asks.
"I think so, Britt."
"College is awesome." Brittany says, smiling and joining in with the yells.
"So awesome," Santana says, her eyes widening. "So freaking awesome."