"Hey Anderson, you wait right there. What have you been saying about me? Well?"
"Santana I have no idea what you are talking about,"
"Oh right, so word just magically got about about what I said to you when we..."
"When we were making out?"
"So you do know what this is about."
"Of course I do, what do you want me to say Santana?"
"I want you to think about what you said when we were doing it. Go on, keep on thinking, I know it might be hard since all the hair product you scrape onto your head on a morning must damage your brain in some way. And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about; I know that you said it because as soon as you did it looked like you'd been slapped in the face with a frozen fish. Frozen Blaine, frozen."
"Please Santana, will you calm down?"
"No, don't tell me to calm down. Do you know what people are saying about me?"
"Yes and it's not even nearly as bad as you're making it out to be. The only person who you really want to keep this from is the only person who doesn't know yet," the Cheerio's brow knotted together and she tilted her head to the side, confused at the boy's words, "Brittany."
"How do you know she hasn't heard about it yet? And how do you know she doesn't know about how I feel for her yet anyway, of course she knows."
"If she knows already then I really don't understand what the big deal is. Look, it's not like I told people whose name you said, I just said that it wasn't mine OK. It's not like I outed you or anything, believe me, I would be the last person to do that," the boy looked at Santana with honest eyes.
"You got that right fairy," she spat at him before turning away sharply.
"Now Santana, there's no need for that," she turned around again to face him once more, "look, we're clearly in the same position here. Both closeted, both hot and both popular. I know how hard it is for people to keep their position on top in this school, I heard about how quickly Quinn was knocked down."
"She got knocked up actually, not down."
"I know what you're going through, and I know it's hard but just because you're hurting and you're insecure doesn't mean you have to take it out on me. Remember, I'm going through the exact same thing and you need to keep in mind that I'm the one keeping your secret." Santana smirked at the attempt of a threat from the boy.
"And I'm the one keeping yours."
"Well then I guess we only have each other to rely on."
"Jesus, you really are a fairy," he shook his head in distaste to the girl's words, "look Blaine, you're cute and you're a nice guy. Clearly, as we've learned in the most awkward way, we're just not either other's type. Now we seem to have found ourselves in an oddly satisfying friendship so let's keep it that way."
Blaine's look on the girl changed from anger to confusion, "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean," he shook his head again, clearly he didn't know what she meant, "I mean we should keep on dating, well fake dating. That way we get to be who we are without having to actually date other people because quite frankly I am really done with having to have guy-sex all the time."
"Right," Blaine nodded, thinking it over, "that actually sounds like a very good deal. And hey, I'm not the worst boyfriend anyone could have right?"
"You should ask Kurt," she winked and he couldn't help but laugh thinking back to what he'd said to warrant the conversation, "I think he's into you."
"Yeah right."
"Just wait and see Astaire, I have a sixth sense about these things," she opened her locker again, deciding to top up her make-up, "but I understand, you're not ready to come out yet. Cool with me, I get to keep you as my cute little gay beard a little longer."
"Sounds like a plan," he ran his fingers through his hair again thinking about lowering the amount of gel and spray he put on every morning and shifted the folders he had in his arms, "we don't actually have to do anything physical though, right?"
"Don't worry your curly locks about it, that will never have to happen. If you shout that loud when making out, I don't think I could ever handle the volume if we went any further. I don't want to hear his name shouted that loud until he joins the football team, if I'm ever lucky to see that again."
"Kurt was on the football team?" Blaine's eyes widened and he thought about Kurt in the uniform. There was something oddly sexy and disturbing about it.
"Look, I really would love to talk about how handsome Kurt is and how much I just want to smack his little ass when he wears skinny jeans but can't we just do that the next time we're supposed to be together?
"Would you keep your voice down?" he looked over his shoulder, trying to see if anyone was close enough to hear the conversation.
"Sounds an awful lot like what I should have said to you at the time," she laughed, pausing to properly apply her lip gloss, "anyway, I need to go now or Sue will kill me."
"See you later, Beard," he leaned over to kiss her lightly and she laughed at him. Boys really were the funniest things.
The walk to the gym was over quicker than Santana thought it would be. Luckily, everyone was already home or at some club so they halls were empty and she was able to power walk there as fast as she could. Thinking about Blaine and the Beard agreement they had come to, she couldn't help but smile. Now she had the ideal situation, fake hot boyfriend for public domination and a real hot girlfriend for secret pleasures. She loved Brittany more than anything popularity would ever give her, but the thing was, she wasn't ready for everyone to know yet, or for the judgement of people. For goodness sake, she was head cheerleader and Brittany wasn't far behind. Watching Kurt go through everything he did put her off coming out forever – or at least until senior year. Junior year wasn't the time to get bogged down with all the worries of being gay, when she was a Senior, she could do whatever she wanted, or at least that was the plan. Brittany had tried numerous times to get through to Santana that it was only her she wanted to be with but Santana brushed it off, Brittany clearly didn't understand what would happen to them, or maybe she just didn't care.
"San," she heard a small voice say as she finished tying the laces of her perfectly white trainers. She looked up to see Brittany hanging back from the group to wait for her best friend, "can I ask you something?"
"Sure Britt," she took her hand and sat down on one of the bleachers looking into the bright blue eyes in front of her, "what is it?" Brittany turned her head to look at Blaine.
"Is it true?"
"Is what true Britt?"
"Did you shout out some other guy's name when you and Blaine fooled around? You know I'm alright with us dating other people but I don't know if I can handle two people Santana, I just don't think it's right."
"No," Santana shook her head quickly, "I mean, I did shout out someone else's name but it wasn't a boy's?" although Santana thought that this would calm the sensitive blonde, Brittany's face just looked even more hurt than she had before.
"So it's not alright for us to be together but it's alright for you to be sleeping with other girls?"
"No! No, Britt. It was your name I shouted, not some other guy's or girl's. Yours."
"Oh," a smile formed on the beautiful tanned face, "you aren't sleeping with any other girls though are you?"
"I haven't slept with anyone but you in a year," she smiled softly and Brittany copied her genuinely happy.
"Me neither," she shrugged slighly, still seeming to be a little upset, "Santana, can we please just be together. In public, to everyone? I love you." Santana's heart fell, she hated it when Brittany brought up this subject. Inside, Santana knew this was all she wanted but there was no way of doing it without all the negativity that would come from other people. For now, she knew the only way for them to be together would be in secret.
"I love you more, Britt."
"But you didn't answer my question San," her eyes remained sad as the grip on Santana's hands tightened. She could see a tear running down the other girl's face and wiped it for her.
"I don't think I'm ready for that Britt. You know I love you and you know I want to be with you, I just don't have it in me yet," more tears fell as she looked down into her lap, "I'm so sorry."
"Hey," the blonde lifted her head and forced her to make eye contact, "don't cry. Just knowing that you are mine is enough, for now. I just want to know we're going there. We are heading there, r-right San?"
"Yes, we are definitely heading there Britt-Britt."
"Then I think we'd better join in practice before Miss Sylvester gets mad," the blonde laughed, linking pinkies with Santana, "I love you San."
"I love you too baby."
