DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, etc. etc. Brittana of course; slightly AU I guess. BRITTANA! :D

ONE:

Santana shifted her bag on her shoulder; the stupid Cheerios bag was getting heavier each day. Maybe it was the weight of her melancholy. She watched Brittany toss her blonde curled ponytail back behind her shoulder after stretching. Santana's mouth was dry, heart thumping erratically. Furiously gulping down the lemon-lime Gatorade, she closed her dark eyes trying to shut out her best friend's image but it was imprinted on her eyelids.

"San?"

She opened her eyes and looked into Brittany's blue ones. Her friend was looking curiously at her. Brittany took the Gatorade bottle from her hand, shaking her head.

"You won't have any for practice if you keep guzzling it like that," she chastised. The first time Santana had heard Brittany use a word more complex than 'ponies,' she had been surprised. Brittany was very good at being airy and smart at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm just thirsty, I guess," the Latina shrugged. Brittany poured some of hers into Santana's bottle with a smile. Santana loved it when she did something really sweet like that. Grabbing her bottle, she linked her free pinky with Brittany's and they walked out to the field.

Coach Sylvester really had her heart set on making them bleed today. Santana had never ran so much in practice before. Brittany had been doing so many different tricks that Santana kept screwing up hers. It was very distracting to see her friend doing moves hot enough to have the football players running into each other. Unfortunately, every time Santana screwed up, Coach tacked on another five laps. She was almost done when Brittany struck a pose that made her lose her balance; she went tumbling to the grass.

Shit.

"FIVE MORE!" Coach yelled into the megaphone. She picked herself up off the ground and shoved off for five more, legs feeling weaker than ever.

Once practice was over, Santana collapsed on the field and stared blankly up at the evening sky. She was tired and stiff. Brittany lay down beside her, turning on her side to look at Santana.

"What's been up, S?" she asked her. Santana averted her eyes from the blue of Brittany's to the blue of the sky, eerily similar.

"I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Brittany asked, laying her head on Santana's shoulder.

"Cheerios and Glee Club," she lied. She thought of the folded paper that held Sugarland's 'Stay' lyrics. The creases were worn in the paper, and it threatened to tear apart at any minute. Her heart skipped a beat. "It's nothing."

"Okay… Mm," the blonde girl said. Santana chanced another glance at her. "Are you going to help me get ready for my date tonight?"

"O-of course," she answered, cursing herself from here to the underworld. After moving on from Artie, Brittany quickly found another incredibly sweet guy to dote on her. Jayson.

Gross, she thought to herself. Jayson was fairly attractive, dark hair sweeping across his forehead just over green eyes. Thinking of the way he always slung his arm around Brittany made her blood boil though. Brittany grasped her hands and pulled her up; she took Santana's hand the way she always did. The Latina ignored the fluttering in her chest and the way her stomach felt unsettled.

I'm not attracted to B. I'm not attracted to B. I'm not attracted to B.

Her mantra was useless against the reality of the situation when face with a grateful kiss on the cheek from Brittany. She looked flawless for her date, blonde curls hanging loosely around her shoulders and makeup that enhanced her natural beauty. Her blue eyes crinkled as she grinned and turned to meet Jayson at his truck. Santana watched the truck until the red taillights faded into the night before she turned to walk home.

[Thanks again, Santana. XOXO Britt]

She read the text over and over, focusing on the XO. A sigh escaped her lips as she mournfully tossed the phone on her nightstand to go take a bubble bath. It was her secret way of relaxing; she'd dump all the football players in the garbage for a year if they ever found out in hopes they wouldn't dare to tell a soul about her love of luxuriating in the scented bubbles. The water was nice and toasty, just the way she liked it. She switched on her iPod speakers and sang softly to the angst-ridden lyrics until she felt her eyes get heavy.

A knock at the door caught her attention. The clock on the periwinkle bathroom wall told her it was almost 9 o'clock. The knob twisted and she sank further under the water, under the impression that it was her mother.

Instead when the door opened, it was Brittany.

"Your mom said you'd been in here for an hour and a half," she stated simply, taking a seat next to the tub. "You're taking a bubble bath. I thought you said nothing was wrong?"

Santana crossed her arms over her chest and her legs. She felt way too vulnerable sitting there naked while Brittany looked at her like that. That look meant that any second now, Santana was going to come down with a serious case of word vomit and it wouldn't be pretty.

"I don't want to talk about it, B," she said finally. The blonde sighed and swirled her long fingers in the remnants of her friend's bubble bath.

"Turn around," Brittany told her softly. Santana hesitated for a moment before easily complying.

The smaller girl sighed as her friend's fingers ran through her wet hair, massaging her scalp. After Brittany had rinsed the conditioner from her friend's hair, she worked on the tense muscles in her shoulders until Santana's head slumped forward. The dancer smiled as she woke her friend up so she could get dressed and dried off. Brittany took out a hair dryer and finished off her work as Santana started to fall asleep again.

"Lean back against me," she said. "Your hair isn't that wet."

Santana leaned against her friend's front, heart thudding rapidly in her chest, but she was so tired… The world began to drip in front of her dark eyes as Brittany's fingers started to massage her scalp again. Then she knew nothing but dreams.

Brittany picked her up and gently lay her down on her bed before curling up beside her best friend. In her sleep, Santana's hand searched for Brittany, interlocking their fingers before she snuggled up closer to the girl of her dreams.