"I fucking hate Valentine's day" Santana mumbled as she ripped down a paper heart that had been hung in the hallway of the school.
"Oh come on San, it is fun! We can get some candy and watch a really sappy movie and make fun of it tonight if you want?" Brittany tried to take the heart from her so she would stop shredding it to pieces. "You can be my Valentine."
"You have to say that" Santana huffed, stuffing the shredded heart into a nearby trash can "You're my best friend."
"And I love you, so it fits. That is what Valentine's day is about, right?"
"It's a day made up by women to trap men into feeling guilty and buying them gifts. It's disgusting." She paused when she saw a girl open her locker and tons of Hershey kisses fall out, causing her to squeal in joy. Santana curled her lips in disgust and shook her head "See? Like she needs all that chocolate? It won't make her boyfriend stop cheating on her."
"How do you know he's cheating?" Brittany asked, leaning down to scoop up a few kisses that had rolled toward them when the girl opened her locker.
"I slept with him" Santana said with a shrug.
"You did?" Brittany frowned "Why would you do that?"
She shrugged and grabbed one of the kisses from Brittany "Girlfriend is his problem, not mine."
Brittany just shook her head and popped her chocolate into her mouth as the girls rounded the corner and headed to the lunch room. Of course there were a million more decorations, girls with flowers and teddy bears and chocolate that their boyfriend had delivered during lunch, and pink dyed mashed potatoes. Ew.
"Look at this place, it's disgusting" Santana rolled her eyes and turned around, grabbing Brittany's arm "Let's go out for lunch."
"But pink mashed potatoes!" Brittany pouted out her lower lip and batted her eyes up to Santana.
Santana let out a heavy sigh and shook her head "Fine, go. I am going to go get lunch somewhere that isn't over run with teenager puppy love and hormones. I'll come join you when I get back okay?"
"Okay" Brittany bounced away with a smile on her lips. She was looking forward to those pink mashed potatoes.
Santana just smiled at her friend before turning around and heading back out of the cafeteria and down the hall. She was just about to push the door open when she heard her name from someone behind her. She figured it was Brittany coming back for her so she paused and turned around slowly "Britt, I don't get down on pink mash-" It wasn't Brittany.
"Oh good I am glad I caught you" Rachel said with a smile, taking a breath as she paused in front of Santana. She had been running to catch her before she left. Now she was smiling up at Santana rocking on her toes.
"What do you want Berry? I'm going to get lunch."
"Oh, right. Of course you are. It is lunch time. This will be quick." She grinned then turned to slide her back pack to the side and unzip the main compartment. She reached in and dug through a few things before finding what she wanted and nodding as she pulled it out. "Here" She held out a pink envelope with gold hearts on it and Santana's name written in her pretty handwriting.
"What's this?" Santana perked an eyebrow and turned the envelope over in her hands before looking at Rachel with a shrug.
"Happy Valentine's day, Santana." She gave the girl a sweet smile then nodded once, turned on her heels, and headed back up the hallway.
Santana blinked then looked down to her hand again. "What the Hell?" She whispered, shaking her head and turning to push the door open to head to her car as she ripped open the top of the pink envelope. She paused to dig out her keys and unlock her door, sliding in and shutting the door before putting the key in her ignition. She then looked down at the envelope and pulled out the card that was inside.
It was a handmade card and Santana immediately wanted to make a joke. But she didn't. The outside was adorned with hand cut hearts of various colors and the simple bubble letters that read Happy Valentine's day. It was obvious it had taken a long time to make. Santana opened the card inside and her heart immediately twisted when she read the words written inside.
You're special to me.
-RB
That was it. It was four simple words but Santana started to tremble. Her stomach felt like it had been punched and she suddenly had the urge to cry. Why would Rachel do that to her? She shook her head and threw the card on the floor before turning her key and starting her engine. She had to get away. So she put the car in drive and whipped out of the parking lot as fast as she could.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
"I don't know I haven't seen her since lunch" Brittany said with a shrug of her shoulders. "She said she was going to go grab lunch off campus and she never came back."
"Do you think she's hurt?" Tina asked softly, worry on her face. The kids had gathered in the choir room for Glee and immediately realized Santana had not showed up.
"Someone should call her" Puck said with a nod.
"I will" Rachel said quickly, already pulling out her bedazzled phone. "It should be me."
"Why?" Everyone looked at her in near shock. To say Santana and Rachel were friends was kind of the over statement of the year.
She wanted to say because she had seen her before she left the school. She had given her a Valentine's day card. She felt like it was her fault. But instead "Because I am captain of Glee" came out.
Everyone agreed and watched as Rachel put the phone to her ear. Of course it went to voicemail and Rachel took in a deep breath before she started to speak "Santana, it's Rachel Berry. We realized you weren't in Glee and were hoping you were alright. Please call us back so we stop worrying. You don't even have to come to practice, just let us know you are alright. Thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon." She hung up the phone and gave a weak smile "There we are."
The rest of glee went on but no one was really paying attention. They were all watching the door, watching the clock, and watching Rachel's phone for any sign of Santana. She never showed up and as everyone gathered their things to leave the chatter about where Santana was picked up again.
"Look" Rachel said with a nod as she stood in front of the standing group "Brittany will go to Santana's house tonight and see if she is there and let us know, okay? No need worrying. She probably just went home and fell asleep."
"She does like to nap after she eats" Brittany said with a shrug "Maybe she just had too many tacos at lunch."
Rachel smiled and nodded at the girl "See? Let's not over react."
"From the queen of over reacting" Mercedes mumbled and everyone laughed.
Rachel sighed and put her hands on her hips "For once I think I am the most rational one in the room. Besides, it's Santana, she probably did it for attention."
"Probably" Puck said with a shrug "alright, Brittany, you let us know if she is at home."
"Okay" Brittany smiled and gave Rachel a quick hug before she turned and ran out of the room.
Rachel nodded, happy with her plan. Even if her gut was telling her Santana was not at home, it gave her a few hours to try and find the girl and get an explanation for her disappearance.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
Rachel pulled up to her house and let out a sigh as she turned off her engine. She was watching her phone, hoping to hear from Brittany or Santana. She was worried. This had to be her fault. She tried to shake the thought from her head and grabbed her back pack from her passenger side seat and got out of the car. She made her way to the front door but stopped dead in her tracks halfway to her porch, a gasp leaving her lips "Santana?"
Santana sat on the top step of her porch, the pink envelope dangling between her fingers. Her head was turned down, her eyes lingering on the gold hearts on the pink envelope.
"What are you doing here? Everyone was so worried" She took a few steps toward she but stopped when the girl looked up and held up her hand to stop her. So she just bit her lip and folded her hands in front of her, staring at her with anticipation.
"What is the meaning of this?" Santana asked softly, lifting one hand to hold up the envelope Rachel had given her.
"It's a Valentine's day card" Rachel whispered, shrugging her shoulders.
"No shit" Santana rolled her eyes. "Why did you give me one?"
"Because" Rachel shrugged and took her chance by taking a few steps toward her now.
"Because?" Santana perked an eyebrow "That is not a reason."
Rachel bit her bottom lip and took one more step, now drawing close enough to touch Santana if she reached out. "I wanted to do something special for you."
"Why?" Santana shook her head, her brow creasing and her head shaking. "I am horrible to you."
Rachel smiled and shrugged her shoulders "Ever heard the saying to kill them with kindness?"
"So you are trying to hurt me?" Santana cocked her head to the side and folded her arms.
"No" Rachel let out a soft laugh "I was just trying to, I don't know, maybe soften you a little bit. I thought that maybe if you got something nice you might realize being mean isn't always as fun as you seem to think it is. I thought maybe you'd have a change of heart or something."
"From one card? Four words?" Santana let out a laugh of disbelief "Not likely."
"I put a lot of thought into those four words, Santana." Rachel gave her a sweet smile "I mean them. You are very special to me."
"Why?" Santana shook her head.
"Because" Rachel smiled "I've watched you grow and change and I like to consider you a friend if nothing else."
"Did you give cards to all your friends?"
Rachel bit her lip and shook her head. She shrugged her shoulder when she saw Santana about to speak again but quickly cut her off "I mean, I bought one of those cheesy packets where you rip apart the cards and they are all very generic and stuff and gave them to all of the glee kids. But yours was the only one I made."
"Why?" Santana asked again. Honestly it was the only thing you could manage to get out because none of this made sense.
"You've been asking that a lot tonight" Rachel said with a laugh "Can't you just take it for what it is and deal with it?"
"No because it doesn't make sense, Rachel. I am horrible to you."
"You're not so bad" Rachel said with a shrug.
Santana rolled her eyes and let out a soft laugh "You've taken one too many slushies to the face or something and it's knocked the screws in your head loose."
"Not since you joined Glee" Rachel said with a shrug "I see the way you threaten the jocks. You protect us all. You protect me. That doesn't go unnoticed."
Santana just shrugged "We're teammates and no one messes with my teammates."
"It's sweet" Rachel whispered, putting her hand on Santana's arm.
"So that's it? This is a thank you for stopping people from giving you a frozen make over?"
Rachel shrugged a bit and nodded "Sure, yeah, that's what it is."
"Sure?" Santana let her eyes roll and a smirk come to her face "You don't sound so sure."
"Maybe I don't really know how to explain it?" Rachel admitted with a shrug.
"I think I get it" Santana shrugged too and looked at the card in her hand "It was a nice gesture, I get it." She looked up and gave Rachel a sweet smile. "We're even then. I prevent you from being slushied and you make me a card. I get it. It's cool."
Rachel shook her head "You don't get it."
"I just said I did" Santana huffed "I'm not an idiot."
"No" Rachel took another step closer "You don't get it."
"Rachel I might be a cheerleader but I am not an air head!" She was getting frustrated "I get-" She was cut off by Rachel's lips on hers. Her eyes went wide and she had to go cross eyed to focus on Rachel's face. Yep, Rachel was kissing her. She blinked a few times in surprise and then, for some reason, she returned the kiss.
It lingered for a moment. It was completely innocent, slightly parted lips pressed tightly together in a sweet kiss. After what felt like an hour, though it had only been a few seconds, Rachel pulled back and smiled softly. She licked over her lips and shrugged her shoulders "Maybe now you'll get it."
Santana stood there stunned as her lips tingled from the surprise kiss. She blinked a little but couldn't wipe the look of shock from her face.
Rachel let out a soft giggle, reaching out to pat Santana's shoulders as she gently slid passed her to walk up her porch "Happy Valentine's day, Santana." She grinned and pushed her front door open, leaving the stunned girl standing stiff and confused on her front porch. She loved Valentine's day.