"Lucy Quinn Fabray."

She put the cup in her hand down and whipped around so fast her blonde ponytail slapped my neck. She looked past me and saw Puck standing there, leaning on the edge of the bar. He looked different. I was distracted with the whiplash on my neck to look closely at him, but he looked different.

"You're off, Puck. Why are you here?" She looked angry at him, but that wasn't new.

I've known Quinn—also known as Lucy, we all like to remind her of—since I was sixteen years old. I'm eighteen now, so it's been two years, and for two years I have never heard a nice thing leave her mouth about Puck. She never explicitly told me much about him, but from what my good friend Sugar has told me, Quinn had had a baby in high school and he was the father. Quinn preached the Bible like it was the coffee menu so when I heard about that, my jaw literally dropped.

"I'm just here to pick up my paycheck, will you relax?" Crisis averted, and I immediately saw Quinn relax. "But I also wanted to invite you ladies to a party tonight."

Quinn's eyes narrowed. Puck was always inviting us to these "parties" he had or he knew about but I always politely refused while Quinn vehemently refused. Sugar, on the other hand, poked her head from around the kitchen door and said yes before either of us could refuse.

"Brittany you're coming with me!"

The only reason I have this job is because of Sugar. Her parents and my parents go "way back" so we grew up together. I live nearby but, lucky me, my house just missed district lines so I had to go to a different school even though I live closer to Sugar's high school than she does. I love my job and making coffee is just about the only thing I'm good for and I like the people I work with but the thought of going to a party and getting wasted with a bunch of people I don't know sounds like a bad time to me. And new people just don't really get me.

So when Sugar said that, I shook my head so fast my own ponytail was giving me whiplash. I put my hand up to my neck and shook my head. "I don't like parties, Sugar."

"Sure you do!" Sugar's squeaky voice and animated disposition were hard to say no to. "And besides, I bet Sam will be there!"

I could feel my cheeks turn red, but not from embarrassment. Actually I guess it was embarrassment, but not the kind that gives you butterflies. This is the kind of embarrassment you get when your best friend mistakenly believes you have the hots for someone you've known since you were twelve. The last thing I have for Sam Evans is the hots, but Sugar just doesn't comprehend what she doesn't think of herself.

"Who's throwing it?" Sugar asked, leaving the kitchen to join us behind the bar.

"Santana," Puck answered, a devilish smile creeping on his lips.

Quinn whipped around to look at me this time, but I managed to dodge her hair. "No way," she said. "Santana's parties always end with the cops showing up. She almost got arrested last year."

Arrested for throwing a party? Jeez, how crazy must a girl be to throw a party that illicits cop calls? The last party I went to involved makeovers and Broadway musicals.

"I don't know," I responded after taking a breath. Wouldn't it be weird for me to show up to some random girl's house and drink her alcohol? "Wouldn't that be weird? She doesn't know me, so I don't want to intrude."

"Brittany, it's a party," Puck emphasized that last word. "Anyone who wants in gets in."

"Well isn't that the truth," Quinn smirked and Puck gave her a glare. I didn't understand what that meant. "Listen Brittany, Santana is not the nicest girl to be around. She's cruel."

I looked to Sugar for guidance, but she just shook her head yes and looked more like a bobble head than anything else. I sighed. I hated decisions so I usually let someone else decide for me, but with Sugar and Quinn saying a different thing, I felt lost.

"I'll give you a ride," Puck raised his eyebrows at me.

"Alright," I caved. Puck had a really nice car though. "I'll be at Sugar's tonight."

"Awesome!" he chimed, and then went around the bar and through the kitchen to pick up his check from our manager.

Quinn frowned at me while Sugar hugged me then went back into the kitchen. I felt bad for defying Quinn. She usually knows what she's talking about, but Puck has a really nice car. "I'll be careful," I promised her. She just shrugged and picked up the cup from earlier to continue making her coffee.

The door chimed as two elderly women walked in and I stepped up to take their orders.

Puck rolled up to Sugar's house at 9:30. When we went outside to meet him, he was smoking what I thought was a cigarette until I got closer and could smell it.

xXXx

"Is that weed?" Sugar asked incredulously. She inhaled and stopped a few feet away from him.

Puck nodded and held his arm out to her, gesturing for her to grab it. Sugar took the joint and slowly took a hit from it, waiting a few seconds before taking another. Then she passed it to me.

I tilted my head to the side a bit before asking "Is it safe?"

Puck widened his eyes. "Have you ever gotten high before?" I shook my head. "Well then take a hit!"

I cautiously took the joint from Sugar's hand. I looked at it for a moment and inhaled the scent. I had never smoked weed before, but my friend Matt smoked it a lot so I knew the smell. It was interesting. It smelled a lot different than regular cigarettes, and it didn't make me feel like I was going to get emphysema from inhaling. I raised the joint to my lips, holding it between my thumb and index fingers. My thought was that I should smoke it like a cigarette, so that's what I did. I inhaled, inhaled again then breathed out. Before I even got one breath out I was thrown into a coughing hit. Puck grabbed the joint from me as I bent over, placing my arm on Puck's car for support. Sugar was having a laughing attack in front of me and I could tell from my few glances at him that Puck was holding back laughter as well. It took a couple of minutes before I was able to breathe evenly and stop coughing.

"That's not like a cigarette," was all I said.

Puck smiled widely at me. "You're supposed to hold it in for as long as you can, then exhale. Otherwise it doesn't really work." He held the joint towards me. "Want to try again?"

I shook my head. "Maybe next time. I don't want Lord Tubbington to know about this." I looked at Sugar and smiled, while Puck just gave me a dumb look.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go."

I let Sugar sit in the front since she was wearing a dress, and climbed in behind Puck. "You know, you look good tonight," was all he said before winking at me then driving off to the party.

Sugar was messing with the radio and I could tell Puck was getting annoyed, so I asked, "Who's house am I crashing again?"

"You're not crashing, Brittany," Sugar said as she settled on a rap song.

"Her name is Santana," Puck answered.

"Like the band?"

"Yeah, but she's way hotter."

"Are you sure she will be okay with me just showing up unannounced?" I asked again. I've been a bit wary about showing up to random people's houses ever since my friend Matt said it was okay if I went with him to this girl's house one night for a "party." It wasn't a very fun party because we were the only three there, and the girl was really rude the whole time. Later on Sugar explained that girl had probably thought it was just going to be her and Matt. Then I understood why she was so mean.

Puck sighed at me and looked at me in the rearview mirror. "Brittany, I know Santana. She won't care. I'll be surprised if she even notices."

Sugar nodded and turned to look at me. "Santana is usually in her own little world."

"Are you friends?" I asked her. I had never heard Sugar mention anyone named Santana before, at least that I remembered.

"Umm," she bit her lower lip and looked up at the roof of the car for a second. "Sort of? We had dance together but we never hung out. Santana is like that girl that everyone hates and loves. That's how Quinn used to be. I think that's why they were best friends. But she's sort of a bitch."

Puck glanced at Sugar when she brought up Quinn and she didn't notice, but I did. Quinn never brought it up, and neither did Puck, so I didn't know what was going on between them now. They usually had different schedules but whenever I did see them together, it usually wasn't pleasant on Quinn's side. I wasn't about to ask, though.

But something Sugar said caught my attention. "Quinn and Santana are best friends?"

"Were," Sugar corrected me. She was now fixing her lip gloss in the mirror on the visor. "I don't know what happened but they barely spoke at all this year."

"Santana just told me she and Quinn got into this big fight over summer and that was that," Puck mused then shrugged.

I looked out the small triangle window in the back and saw that Puck had turned off onto a street in the middle of a relatively nice neighborhood. "Swanky," I said to myself. That's when I looked ahead and saw a house that was close to the end that had what looked like to me to be fifty cars parked near it.

Puck parked next to a grassy area of someone's yard a few houses down and we all climbed out. I stood next to the car and adjusted my short that had ridden up my butt and started walking towards the house. Sugar was next to me and Puck was on the other side.

As we drew near to the house, I started to panic a bit because I didn't know any of these people. Meeting new people wasn't that difficult, but when you're at a party with a hundred new people, that was a different story. I stepped onto the grass of this girl Santana's house when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

"Hey," a male voice purred into my ear. I turned my head and saw that it was my friend Matt, who had Sam—the Sam I don't have a crush on—by his side. I was happy to see familiar faces.

"Hi!" I chimed as my face lit up. I maneuvered around in his arms to face him and wrapped my arms around his neck. When he let go, I took a step towards Sam and wrapped my arms around him as well. I'm tall for a girl, but Sam is taller and didn't lean down to hug me like Matt did, so I had to stand on my toes to reach him. I felt my shorts crawl up my butt when I did this, and as soon as we let go I reached to pull them back down again. Puck smirked at me. "Did you just get here?" I asked.

"No, we've been here for a bit. We just came out here because I saw you walking up," Matt smiled at me. He was one of my best friends. I think it's helpful to have guy friends who you don't sleep with.

Puck noticed some of his friends and sauntered off towards them, giving us one little wave goodbye. I didn't really care so much now that I had run into Matt and Sam.

"Shall we go inside?" Sugar ventured.

We nodded and followed her in. I figured Sugar had been here before, but I knew neither Matt or Sam knew Santana since we had gone to a different high school.

When we stepped inside, I was in awe. The house didn't look super big from the outside, but when we got inside it was an entirely different world. This girl's house was beautiful. It was decorated like one of French palaces I'd seen in my mom's housekeeping magazines. Everywhere was marble or granite and there were French doors leading into each room and she had one of those houses where you could go up the stairs to the right of the room or the left. There were giant pillars in the middle of the front room and one big, crystal chandelier hanging in between the pillars. I couldn't imagine what on Earth possessed her to throw a party in this home. If I lived here I don't even think I could have guests over because I'd be afraid of the house getting dirty or something exploding.

Sugar grabbed my hand and directed me into the kitchen. My eyes widened when I saw the interior of the kitchen, but I got distracted when I looked at the counters and saw an abyss of alcohol. I swear there was every type of alcohol imaginable inside this kitchen. I knew Santana must only be 18, so I wondered where the heck all this came from. Sugar was pulling me towards the counters and pouring me a shot before I could even blink. I looked past her and saw that Matt and Sam also had shots. I was excited. I liked taking shots because they were quick and easy.

"Cheers!" Sugar shouted and we all clinked our glasses together before downing the shots. Matt and Sam immediately poured two more and downed them within the minute. Sugar giggled and I noticed Matt winking at her. I rolled my eyes. Sugar has been telling me for months to hook her up with Matt and I always brush it off. I wasn't about to be a pimp, especially since Matt had once told me he had a sex dream about Sugar. I grimaced and went to stand by Sam, who was scrolling through his phone.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Of course."

"Is Quinn seeing anybody?" I was everybody's pimp, apparently.

"Umm, no, I don't think so," I shook my head. She had never brought up a boyfriend other than "the time she dated Puck" and some guy named Finn and I was pretty sure she would tell me if she was seeing anybody.

Sam smiled. "I stopped by before your shift started and talked to her for a while. She's cool." Cool. Why do boys always use such vague language?

"But it's summertime," I mused and he rolled his eyes at me. I smiled. Sam was easy to joke with.

We stood in silence next to each other while he texted someone—I'm assuming Quinn—until I turned to him. "Do you know where the bathroom is?" He shook his head. "I didn't think so."

I walked away from him and from Sugar, who was too busy making out with Matt now to notice. I wandered past all these people drinking and smoking and talking and making out, careful not to make eye contact in case someone wanted to talk to me. I never made eye contact with people I didn't know. I found myself in a hallway and then saw a door. I tried the handle, but it was locked. I sighed, and leaned against the wall next to the door. I bit my lip and listened to the music that was playing throughout the house. I realized that it was playing that stupid Party Rock Anthem song that I didn't like, so I pulled my phone instead. I had two texts. One was from Sugar saying that Matt was a great kisser and the other was from my sister Breanna asking me where I was. I sent Sugar a winky face and told my sister that I was with Sugar and I would be back sometime before dawn.

After several minutes of texting and listening to Party Rock Anthem, the door to the bathroom remained closed and locked. I frowned and started to walk back towards the front room. I knew there had to be another bathroom somewhere. Normally I would just hold it and wait until I was somewhere else to pee, but I had just gotten over a UTI from doing just that so I definitely did not want to chance another one. I looked at the staircase and wondered if it was okay to go up there. I scanned the front room and saw a bunch of people just chilling, some were on the stairs, so I just decided to head on up.

I walked over to the stairs on the left and stepped around this couple who were ferociously groping and making out. Gross. I don't like PDA. I let my hand glide along the stairwell as I slowly made my way up the stairs. There were quite a few pictures on the wall. There were pictures of a man and a women holding a beautiful baby girl. There were also pictures of a little tan girl in a cheerleader outfit, in various dance outfits, in various Halloween outfits, and near the top there was a single picture of a beautiful girl with tan skin and long dark hair smiling at the camera. I could see the date at the bottom read 2012. This must be Santana, I thought. This must be her senior picture. She looked beautiful. She was wearing a black lacy top with a silver heart necklace. Her dark hair was hanging over one shoulder and her teeth were perfect. She looked perfect, almost like a porcelain doll except she wasn't as fair as one.

"That picture is awful."

I froze. How long had I been looking at this picture? I turned my head to where the voice came from and sure enough the girl from the picture was sitting on the ground against the wall across from the staircase. It is embarrassing to be caught staring at someone's picture, but it didn't seem to faze her.

"You're ridiculous," was all I responded. She gave me a half laugh.

I walked closer towards her. I knew this was her house and her party, so why was she sitting on the floor all alone upstairs? "Why are you up here? Isn't this your party?"

She smirked and took a drink of the beer in her hand. "I didn't throw this party. My good friend Puck threw this party." Of course he did.

I took a few steps toward her. "He invited me tonight."

She took another drink and raised her eyebrow at me. "What's your name?"

"Brittany."

She made an 'ah' face. "So you're the hot blonde from the coffee shop, then. Well I am Santana." She nodded her head towards me.

Suddenly I felt embarrassed and I could feel my cheeks flushing. The hot blonde from the coffee shop? Really, Puck? "He said that?"

She nodded and game me a small laugh. I took a few more steps towards her. I looked at her for a moment. She was more beautiful in person than in her picture. And she had great lips. Then I remembered we were having a conversation "I'm serious, though. How come you're all alone up here?"

Santana sighed and leaned her head against the wall. "I'm bored." She said it simply, like it was obvious.

I scrunched my face and looked at her. I took another step towards her before I gave up and sat next to her on the floor. "Why don't you do something fun, then?" I asked.

"Like what?"

"If I knew, I'd probably be doing it myself." I turned my head towards her and winked. "This party is definitely a drag." I paused for a minute and listened carefully, only to hear yet another LMFAO song. This time it was Sexy And I Know It. "And the music sucks."

"Hey! This is a great song."

"No it isn't." I gave this snort laugh thing that I always give, then instantly regret. I sounded ridiculous when I did it. She just smiled and took another drink.

"So why haven't we met before?" she asked. I was starting to get confused. Both Sugar and Quinn had said that Santana was mean, yet I wasn't seeing anything mean about her.

"I didn't go to McKinley," I told her. "But I've known Sugar forever so I got a job at Elevate and that's how I met Puck."

She nodded her head. "Aren't you a lucky one? Getting to make coffee with Noah Puckerman all day long." She winked at me. I stuck my tongue out at her. She was easy to talk to. I was still extremely confused because she hadn't said one mean thing to me. Well she sort of had, but that comment was directed towards herself so it didn't count. "You work with Quinn, don't you?" she asked me after a moment.

I looked at her, trying to catch her eyes but she was looking down at the ground between us. "Mhm, we usually have the same shifts." I had just learned that Santana and Quinn were not friends, so why was Santana asking about her?

Several people had walked by us. They were mostly drunk or high, laughing about god knows what. A few had stopped a few feet ahead of us to talk or take a drink. One guy was yelling at the top of his lungs about how awesome this alcohol tastes, then he spotted Santana and literally scampered towards the stairs. I think she had given him a dirty look, but I hadn't been paying attention to her. I was shocked that no one had actually stopped to say anything to Santana. This was her house and her party. If I was at someone's house that I knew, I would definitely go say hi or something. But after the loud guy flew down the stairs, I think I had an idea as to why no drunk person wanted to hang around for some chit chat.

"How is she doing?" Santana asked quietly. She still wasn't looking at me. I had almost forgotten she asked about Quinn because she took so long to respond. She was now tracing lines on her jeans. She lightly drew her finger along the seam of her pocket, then looked up at me. She waited for me to respond.

"She's really good. I think. I mean, she's always good when I see her and she's never told me otherwise, and I think she would because we've become friends now and I spent the night at her house last week and she seemed her happy Quinn self." I really didn't think Santana cared about my friendship with Quinn, but I'm a lightweight and one shot is enough to make me giggly.

"That's really good, I'm glad she's doing okay." Santana finished off her beer and reached above to set it on the coffee table next to her. She didn't look like she was going to inquire any more about Quinn, and I wasn't one to pry.

I am one to, however, stick my foot in my mouth. "Quinn told me not to come tonight." As soon as the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted them. Who says that to someone she just met? I was hoping that Santana wouldn't get mad that I said that.

She didn't get mad. She actually laughed out loud. "Of course she did," she giggled. Then she shook her head and turned to look at me. "The last time Quinn came to a party at my house, it was the first day of summer after our junior year. Everyone was here and I mean everyone. It got out of hand before it was even 10 PM and that is early for a Santana Lopez party. I don't really remember much—" she pointed towards the empty beer bottle "—but what I do remember is this fight between Puck and this kid named Kurofsky and it got really bad and bloody and then all of the sudden the cops are here asking who owns the house and threatening to arrest all of us for underage drinking. Quinn literally hid in my closet because the police went through here and kicked everyone out. So since then she vowed to never come to a party here again." She took a deep breath and looked at me, waiting for a response.

The way she spoke was beautiful and the way she moved her lips was like a dance. I had never focused on someone's lips before, but her's were all I could look at when she spoke. I was shocked she told me that. But now when Quinn had said Santana almost got arrested at her parties, I understood what she meant. I looked at her eyes, they were a deep brown color, and opened my mouth. "Well damn if I had been at that party I'd have vowed to never set foot in your house again, party or no party," I said, giving her a slight laugh so she'd know I was just kidding.

She licked her lips and playfully slapped me in the arm. She was laughing along with me. "Yeah, that was a crazy night. I don't want to go through that again. Now when I have parties I just hide."

I looked around us. "You're right here in the open. If we played hide and go seek I would totally win."

She stared at me with this inquisitive look on her face for a moment before cracking a half smile and standing up. She held out her hand to me, which I was surprised about, and helped pull me up. Her hand was incredibly soft. I bet she has some of that really expensive lotion you have to buy off the internet. I got my lotion from Bath and Body Works.

"I need another drink." Santana grabbed the empty beer bottle and headed towards the stairs. I followed her. As we walked down the stairs and through the front room into the kitchen, I noticed that whenever someone noticed Santana, they immediately moved to the side to let her pass. I just assumed it was because this is her house, but it's kind of funny to think about. She was like a queen or something.

When we got into the kitchen, Sugar and Matt were gone, as was Sam. I did see Puck standing in front of the fridge, though.

"Get out of there, Pukerman." Santana spoke with such authority in her voice that a few heads jerked around to look at the two and Puck shut the refrigerator door.

Then he took notice of me. "Sugar wanted me to tell you that she left with Matt."

My lip curled. "That's disgusting."

"She said she texted you but you didn't respond." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and noted the six text messages, all from Sugar. I shrugged. Then Puck stepped closer to me, stepping away from Santana. He spoke so only I could hear. "Be careful around her," was all he said before walking over to the counter to pour himself another shot.

I followed him with my eyes, and Santana was eying me for a moment before she opened the fridge and took out two beers. She opened them on her handy dandy bottle opener that was on embedded into the cabinet—out of place, I might add—and then handed one to me. I took a drink. Then another. Then another.

"If you're that thirsty I can get you something that won't get you wasted," she said. She had scrunched her eyebrows and was staring at me.

I shook my head. "This is good." I looked over at Puck, who had found himself a girl and was attacking her with his lips and hands. Santana had noticed, too, and she had this look of disgust.

We stood in the kitchen for a bit, drinking beer and talking about where she got all the alcohol when Puck sauntered over with his lady friend attached at his hip. "Can you catch a ride with Sam or someone? We want to head out."

"Wow, Puck, at least you bought me dinner before our first time." I could feel the anger and tension radiating from Santana's body. Did anybody actually like Puck?

I think Puck felt it too because he narrowed his eyes at her. She tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. I'm pretty sure they were having one of those wordless conversations, and I think Puck's lady friend knew it too because she gave me a confused look. Finally Puck started walking towards Santana's front door with the girl still by his side. Before I could finish watching him leave, I could feel Santana's eyes on me. I looked at her.

"Who is Sam?" she asked me. How did she know who Sam was? I had to think for a moment before I remembered that Puck asked if he could take me home.

"He's just a friend," I said. "But he came with Matt who left with Sugar so now I'm not sure how he's getting home..."

Santana gave a loud sigh and glared at the door where Puck exited. "Look if you don't have a ride home, I'll take you. But you're going to have to wait until everyone clears out." She didn't say it like she was exasperated or anything, she was just making a statement. I wasn't sure if inside she was annoyed at the prospect of taking me home. The words she used made me think she was annoyed, but she didn't sound annoyed.

"I can help you clean up," I offered. I didn't want her to be annoyed, so I thought offering her my help seemed like a good idea.

She gave me a smile, and it was probably one of the most earnest smiles I had ever received. "I do have people for that, but you are very kind to offer."

I was secretly elated at the thought of hanging out with her more. The more she spoke, the more entranced I became. She was beautiful and her voice had this captivating quality about it, but I couldn't figure her out. Three people I trusted had said that this girl was a bitch, but here she was hanging out with me at her own party and offering to take me home. It didn't add up. I glanced at her and caught her looking at me, but she looked down at the beer in her hand. I looked at the clock. 11:43. It was early, still. I wondered how late people would stay here. I didn't care, I would have stayed for as long as she wanted me to.

Suddenly she grabbed my hand and pulled me through the kitchen and the dining room, towards a door that led out back. I listened carefully as she pulled me along and all I could hear was "Shots shots shots shots shots everybody!" pounding through the house. I used my free hand to plug my right ear and sighed.