Santana wasn't exactly excited for Valentine's Day. And no, it wasn't because she was once again single. She just didn't get it. She didn't get why it should just be one special day to treat your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife right. Shouldn't you treat the ones you love special every day?
Ok, maybe not buy them a box of chocolates, a giant stuffed animal or a bouquet of flowers but something every once in a while just to show them you care would be nice. Not only on the one day a year where you are pretty much pressured into doing something sweet.
Plus, you know, she was alone, again on Valentine's Day.
So when she walked out to her car and saw a rose sitting on the windshield she was a bit shocked. It was a single white rose and it was beautiful. She looked around the street, thinking maybe someone put one on all the cars but she didn't see anymore.
And when she got to school she was surprised by another rose, this time it was yellow and taped to her locker. Along with it was a note that simply said, 'Roses are red.' It's typed up so she can't figure out who put it there by their handwriting. But she can tell whoever did it is an idiot because neither one of the roses she's received yet are red.
"Sup, Lopez." Puck says, checking her out as he walks past her. She narrows her eyes at him and grabs him by the sleeve roughly. "What the hell?"
"Are you the one giving me these stupid flowers?"
Puck raises and eyebrow at her and then looks at the two roses in her hand, "You know I'm too bad ass to send shit like that."
Santana eyed him carefully. She knew all of Puck's tells and he totally wasn't lying. She loosened her grip on him and sighed, "Who the hell is sending these?"
"Are they even meant for you? Maybe they were put on your locker by accident."
"The white one was on my car this morning when I walked out of my house." She lifted up the note and showed it to him, "Any ideas?"
"Obviously an idiot since they didn't finish this shit and neither of those are red." She laughs. "Sorry, can't help ya, San. I'll keep an eye out and tell you if I find your stalker."
"Thanks." She shoves the note into her backpack, "Any plans for tonight?"
"Askin' me out, San?" She rolls her eyes at him, because no, she wasn't. "Ay, if you want I can come over and give you some Puckerman lovin'."
"You'll be my last resort." She teased and walked away from him.
When she got to her first period class, another rose was waiting for her. This time is was a peach colored rose. There was another note that said, 'Violets are blue.' She huffs a little because this is stupid. She sticks the note in her book bag and sits down.
Santana looks around the room, trying to figure out who is doing this. No one even once glances at her throughout the whole class period so she's sure it's no one in there. She asks the teacher who did it but she says she wasn't paying attention.
Her next class she finds another yellow rose but with red tips. The note this time reads, 'I lied to you.' It's totally weird and throws her for a bit of a loop. She sets the note into her bag with the others. Now she can't wait until she gets more notes.
She tries to think of everyone that has ever lied to her that was like a big lie. She ignores the teacher and begins to write a list. She has almost a hundred names written down on a sheet of paper by the time the bell rings. It's going to be a long day.
As she's walking to her next class she sees Quinn holding up a white teddy bear with a huge red heart on its stomach.
"Look what Sam got me!"
Santana smiles a little, "Aw, it's adorable."
"Who got you those?"
"Don't know. I keep finding them. One on my car, locker and so far on all of my desks."
"You know each color has a different meaning?"
"Really?"
"Yea…white can mean purity, innocence, secrecy and heavenly. Yellow can mean friendship, caring, remember me or jealousy. Peach is pretty much saying let's get together and yellow with the red tips is falling in love."
"How the hell do you know this?"
"Back when I dated Finn, he'd always give me roses and I was like obsessed with the double meanings behind the colors. Because he's never just get red roses. But I think he just got whatever he thought was cool looking."
"Wait…what if he knows the meaning?" Quinn quirks up an eyebrow at her and Santana pulls out the notes. She reads them in order and laughs a little. "I truly doubt Finn is creative enough to do this. It's probably Puck."
"He said it's not him." Quinn held up the last card that says they lied.
Santana took the note back from Quinn. She had a point. And Puck was secretly a romantic, even if he'd rather die than have it be figured out. Plus, he's cheesy enough to do this and probably the only one that cares about her enough to do something like this.
Well, there is always Brittany but the girl is so wrapped up in Artie that she hasn't even talked to her in like three days. She's pretty much over Brittany. Yea, she still loves the girl and all but only as a friend now.
She rushes to her next class, wanting to catch Puck in action. She doesn't. But she does get another rose. This time it's light pink. She pulls out her phone and looks the meaning up. Apparently it means admiration, gentleness, joy and/or sweetness. She picks up the note and it reads, 'I've hurt you.'
Puck's in the class with her and shows up late. If it is him, that means he showed up, dropped off the flower, left and came back to make it less obvious. Somehow she can't see Puck doing that. But he's lied to her and he's hurt her. It still could be him.
"More flowers?" He whispers as he takes his seat next to her, "Anymore stupid notes?"
Santana eyes him again; she still can't see any of his tells. She hands him all the notes and he scoffs. "Sounds like a douche."
"Why?"
"He's lied to you and hurt you? What kind of ass reminds you of that on Valentine's Day?"
"I think it's leading up to an apology."
"Don't get soft on stalker boy." He snaps a little and more or less throws the notes back at her.
That action makes her cross him off her list. She can't see him doing this and then being like that to her. As soon as the bell rings, she runs out the door to get to her next class. It's literally two doors down so she is sure she'll catch whoever it is.
But she runs right into Finn and almost falls on her ass. He catches her by her wrist and keeps her up, loses his footing a little and pushes her into the lockers to keep from letting her fall and falling on top of her.
"Sorry," He quickly says, letting her go.
"It's alright, Finn." She looks at the door and starts to move pass him. She hears him say something else to her but she isn't paying attention.
She's too late though. There is already a rose on the desk and the teacher is writing shit on the board which tells her he wasn't paying attention. Bumping into Finn kept her from being able to watch whoever went in and out of the classroom.
She goes to her desk and reads the note which says, 'You mean so much to me.' She wants to know what the hell this person as done to her because it sucks not knowing. She picks up the rose, it's blue. The website says it means unattainable.
Her head is killing her, trying to think who this is. She's not sure if she should be flattered or creeped out. Whoever this was knows her schedule, claims to have lied and hurt her and that she means a lot to them. She hates this now.
After class she goes to lunch, thankfully there isn't a rose sitting on the table she usually sits at. Quinn sits with her along with Sam, Puck and Finn. Rachel joins them though Santana wishes she didn't, she and Finn broke up like a month ago and things have been really awkward around them.
"You got more?" Is the first thing Quinn says to her, "Are there more notes?"
"Who are they from?" Sam asks.
"Some pussy," Puck answers.
Santana rolls her eyes and shows the notes to Quinn, "Aw, oh my God! Whoever it is, they must love you to go through this trouble."
"What?" Puck snaps and grabs the note from Quinn's hand. He reads the newest note and rolls his eyes, "Fuck this dude. San, seriously, throw this shit away."
"Wow, jealous much?" She teases.
Quinn looks over the flowers, "These are so pretty. Each one has such a lovely meaning."
"Yea, I've been looking the meanings up. Do you really think whoever this is knows the meaning or just sending random colors?"
She shrugs and glances around the table. Rachel leans over and starts looking at the notes and the flowers, "They're all thorn less."
"Way to point out the obvious there, Berry."
"No…thorn less roses mean love at first sight." She explains. "How are they being sent to you?"
"Um…like one keeps popping up all over."
"So one at a time?"
"Yea," She says, elongating the word.
"A single rose means the utmost devotion."
"But she has more than one," Sam points out.
"Yes, but they're being given to her one by one. So, it's like a single rose each time." Rachel explains.
"God, this is so stupid." Puck complains. "Right?"
All the girls roll their eyes at Puck.
"I think it's kind of cool," Sam says.
Puck rolls his eyes at him and looks at Finn, "What do you think?"
Finn just shrugs a little. "I guess it's cool."
"Way to grow a vagina."
"You're just worried that we won't get it on later."
"What?" Finn says all confused or maybe angry looking.
"Not you, Finnocence." His expression doesn't change.
"You know you're gonna be on my dick later whether you find out who this dude is or not."
Santana scoffs at him, Quinn rolls her eyes and shakes her head, Rachel gives him a disgusted look, Finn gives him a look like he wants to hit him (Santana knows Finn is all about not talking about that stuff so she gets it) and Sam gives him this look that is just like he's done with Puck and his foul mouth.
Lunch goes on and they talk about anything else since Puck's being all pissy about the flowers. Finn is pretty quiet, she assumes it's because Rachel is there making things weird. Santana notices that Rachel keeps glancing over at Tina and Mike.
At first Santana thought maybe she wanted to be hanging out with them instead. But after a little while, she realizes that she's looking at Mike with those eyes she used to stare at Finn with. She also notices that Puck is giving the same expression to Rachel; which explains his mood.
After lunch, Santana goes to her locker to switch some books out. When she gets there another rose and note is taped to her locker. It's a coral colored rose, Quinn grabs it before Santana can and her eyes get all wide.
"It means desire." She informs her. "Quick, read the note!"
Santana grabs the little paper and sighs, "I haven't been able to forget about the night you were mine." She shrugs her shoulders and stuffs the note into her backpack. "You know, Puck might be right. I should just throw this shit away."
"What? No! It's so romantic and sweet."
"It's weird."
"Stop this."
"What?"
"You always put up walls whenever someone gets close to you," She starts.
"Whoever this is isn't close to me! They're hiding from me."
"Santana…if you would wait, you'll find out who he is."
Santana narrows her eyes at her and begins to back her up against the lockers, "You know who it is."
Her eyes get all wide, "What? No!"
"Liar! Who is it?"
Quinn pushes the flower into her hand and quickly runs away.
Santana was tempted to chase after her and beat it out of her but she just didn't have the energy. She opened up her locker and switched out the books. She thought about cramming the roses into her locker but she doesn't want to mess them up.
She goes into Spanish and Finn is sitting there. Beside him, on her desk is another rose. She sits down and picks it up. This one is Lavender. She loves this color so she smiles a little too much upon seeing it.
"What's the note say?" Finn asks, smiling at her.
She raises an eyebrow at him and glances at the paper, "It says 'I fell for you the very first day you smiled at me.'" She pulls her phone out and checks the rose site, "Lavender means…" She laughs a little, "Love at first sight."
"Sounds like he's really into you," Finn states and looks at the front of the class.
Santana shrugs a little, "Sounds like someone messing with me."
"Why do you think that?" He asks without looking at her.
"Why go to all this trouble? Why not just come out with it and say it to my face?"
He laughs and looks at her, "You kind of scare people, Santana."
She laughs a little and shakes her head, "Do I scare you?"
"Sometimes," Believe it or not, she didn't expect that answer from him. "Want a lollipop?" He's obviously trying to change the subject, and she lets him.
"Sure." She watches him pick up his backpack carefully and slowly places it on the desk. He only unzips it a little bit, just enough to fit his hand inside. "Hiding something?"
"Maybe," He says with a little laugh, pulling out a little heart shaped lollipop. "My mom bought a bunch and told me to give them out as if we still do that kind of stuff in class." He tells her as she takes the lollipop.
"Your mom is adorable." She says, ripping the plastic off and sticking the candy in her mouth.
She notices Finn's lips twitch up into a bigger smile as she turns away. The class wasn't as annoying as the others. She's not trying to figure out who the roses are from and Finn is keeping her entertained. The faces he makes while the teacher explains the St. Valentine's Day Massacre are hilarious.
After class she hangs back and talks to him a little, she doesn't care to try to catch her secret admirer at the moment. But then Finn says he's supposes to meet Kurt up and starts to run down the hall. She laughs as she watches him.
Santana then notices Rachel with her head in her locker and she walks over to her.
"You doing ok, Berry?"
She hears a sniffle before she pulls away from the locker and closes it. She puts on a fake smile and turns to Santana, "I'm doing great. Oh, another rose!"
"Yes but back to you; I know you got a thing for Chang."
Her eyes get all bugged out, "No I don't!"
"I'm not stupid, Rachel. I saw you looking at him."
"Don't tell anyone."
"Promise not to be all weird and try to break Tina and Mike up?"
Rachel nods a little and sniffles again, "I know coming between Quinn and Finn was wrong and I don't plan on ever doing that again." She sighs a little. "Why do I always fall for the guys with girlfriends?"
Santana laughs a little, "Bad luck? When did you fall for him?"
"He asked me for help with his singing and…I don't know. We were hanging out and it just happened. I just felt something like I haven't felt for anyone else. He's smart, sweet, funny, adorable, talented, driven and just…amazing."
"You got it bad." She comments and pulls her into a hug. She doesn't know why she's suddenly being nice. She's gonna blame Finn and his stupid lollipop. It had magical qualities. Yep, that sounds like a valid excuse.
After a few minutes of comforting Rachel, they parted ways and Santana goes to class. She found another rose, dark red (she checks the site and the meaning is unconscious beauty). The note says, 'You've had my heart since I gave it to you in grade school.'
The notes went from the person being lame, to depressing and now they're just kind of cute. She pushes the thoughts out of her mind, hating the way this person is making her feel.
Finn sends her a text and asks her about the flower, she tells him the color, meaning and what the note says. He's a T. A. in the library this period and this is her art class so both of them just text each other the whole time.
She's not a hundred percent sure but she feels like Finn is flirting with her over the texts. Like he keeps complimenting her and saying stuff like her smile is amazing and he can't wait till he sees it again in glee.
It's cute but it just adds to the weirdness of the day.
She wasn't planning on stopping by her locker. She just had to walk pass it to get to her next class and she saw it out of the corner of her eye. This time it's another peach colored rose, this one is much lighter than the one she already has.
She walks over and pulls it off her locker along with the newest note. The paper is warm, like it was recently printed off and it's not the same as the others. It says, 'I don't mean to play games, I'm just nervous for you to find out who I am.'
She sighs and looks around. This isn't fun for her, not at all. She recalls her conversation with Finn. She's sure this isn't him but whoever it was heard her and Finn talking. That or it's some crazy coincidence. She quickly goes to her next class, once again pushing the notes out of her mind.
"I'm mad at your lady." She tells Sam as she sits down, thankful there isn't another flower in the classroom.
"Why?"
"She knows who these are from and won't tell me."
"What? Why do you think that?"
"Because I said I was gonna just chuck this stuff and she got all on my case about how I need to stop putting up walls and what not."
"Um…so…that doesn't mean she knows."
"When I called her out on it, she ran away."
"Oh…she totally knows." She laughs. "You know I left my last class early to get here so I could catch your secret admirer."
"I think they caught on because I got another one taped to my locker." She waved the rose at him.
"What's it mean?"
She shrugs and pulls out her phone, "Modesty."
"Lame," Santana laughs again.
"You planning something for Q tonight?"
"We're going out to eat at Breadstix. I've been saving up like crazy and got reservations just in case it's super busy. And I got it to where it'll be the same booth we had our first date in."
"Aw, you're so sweet."
He blushes a little and she teases him a bit, pinching his cheeks. He teases her back about the flowers, claiming that she's falling for the mystery person and if she wasn't she'd thrown them away. She argues back that they're pretty so he questions why she's keeping the notes too.
She doesn't have an answer for that.
They stop by her locker together and once again, no rose.
"I think he's given up. The last note said he was nervous." She says, though she's a little hurt.
"Maybe we got here to soon. Maybe after glee there will be another."
She smiles lightly at him and they walk to the choir room together. Everyone is in the room and smirking at her. On an empty chair in front is a single red rose. Puck looks annoyed, Quinn looks all smug but slightly nervous, Rachel is smiling but every so often glancing at Mike, everyone else is either confused or like…doesn't care enough to ask. Probably because Quinn's filled them all in.
She picks up the note and glances around the room.
"What does it say?" Sam asks.
"I love you." She reads off and her heart stops a little. "Who was here first?"
"I was," Rachel answers. "I didn't see anyone come in or out and my class is right across the hall."
Santana sighs a little and sits down. She looks at Quinn and shakes her head, "Who is it?" Her voice is more pleading than she likes.
"I honestly don't know. It was just a hunch."
"Who do you think it is?"
Quinn doesn't answer, she just shakes her head. Santana closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Quinn uses the moment as a chance to test her hunch. She looks back at Finn and sees him looking at Santana, a sad smile on his face.
She had a feeling since Santana first told her because she knew for a fact that Finn knew the meanings, she's told him. But she shook the thought away immediately because he's never showed any feelings toward her before. But then at lunch, the way he was looking at Santana and glaring at Puck, that's when she knew it was him.
Finn catches Quinn looking at him and quickly looks up at the ceiling. Mr. Schuester comes in and starts spouting off about love and Valentine's Day.
After glee is over, a few of them hang back. Quinn is sitting on Sam's lap, Finn is sitting in Santana's seat, Santana is standing up and Kurt is playing with the piano, waiting for Finn to get up and take them home.
"How many roses are there?" Quinn asks almost randomly. Everyone has moved pass the roses at the moment.
Santana looks at the bundle sitting on the chair besides Finn, "Eleven."
Quinn smiles and looks down, "Do you know what that means?"
"No?"
"When you get eleven roses it means you are truly and deeply loved."
"Well, for all we know there are more."
"I have a feeling that's it."
Santana rolls her eyes, "Whatever. They'll be a nice decoration for like three days. And then they'll die and everyone will forget about them." She snaps a little.
"You don't like them?" Finn asks a hint of sadness in his tone.
"I do but I told you, I don't like games." She runs one hand through her hair. "I wanna hit whoever sent them for making me guess like this."
"And I told you, you're scary."
"Oh my God!" Kurt whines behind them. "The idiot that sent them needs to stop being lame and tell you."
"Time to go," Quinn announces, getting off of Sam and pulling him up, "Kurt need a ride?"
Santana watches them all pretty much run out of the room and then looks back at Finn. He's holding up a piece of paper toward her. She grabs it and opens it up. It's a note that looks just like the ones she's been getting all day.
'Will you be mine?' it reads.
Her breath catches a little as she looks back at him.
"I said you meant nothing to me, which was a lie. I hurt you when I said it, though you deny it. You mean the world to me. And ever since that night, even though I tried to deny it from even myself, I can't stop thinking about you. And then it hit me, I've always felt like this. Since the day we met at Puck's 13th birthday party, everyone was off doing their own thing, ignoring me because they didn't know me but you came over and stayed with me. You talked to me for hours and your smile…it…it makes me fall for you over and over again. I love you, Santana."
Santana gulps a little, unsure what to say. "Finn…I…" She takes a deep breath.
"You don't have to say it back."
"I went over to you because I thought you were cute and I talked to you because you made me laugh." She started, "And you did hurt me. You broke my heart." She could feel the tears beginning to sting her eyes, "I thought you hated me and it made me…like this. All bitter and angry. I wanted nothing more than to hurt you."
"I'm sorry," He whispers.
She shakes her head and leans down, pressing her lips to his, her hands moving up to lace into his hair. He stands up from the chair, pulling her body against his as he kisses her back.
They pull away, both panting for air.
"I still don't understand why you sent a white rose."
"What?"
"The white rose…it means purity."
"Don't laugh," He beings which just makes her want to laugh, "It might be cheesy but the love I have for you…it's not selfish like the love I had for Quinn or Rachel. It's pure."
It's totally cheesy but it makes her usually cold heart melt, sending them into another deep, passionate kiss. She's not ready to say those words to him just yet, which she tells him. He understands and doesn't want to pressure her into saying them or make her feel bad so he promises not to say it again until she can say it and mean it herself.
They spend Valentine's Day together at her house, just lying together in her bed, talking and making out. Finn wants to do this right and she does too so they don't even try to have sex with each other.
Even though the day started out confusing and turned annoying, it ended on a good note with her.
Because even if she can't say those words and barely wants to admit it to herself, she does love Finn. She's known that for a while now.