Santana sighed as she tossed the last trash bag into the skip, and let the lid crash unceremoniously down. She brushed her hands on the denim shorts she was wearing and used the back of her hand to brush the hair away from her eyes. She leant back against the wall of the alley and took a moment to breathe in the night air. It wasn't particularly fresh, but an improvement on the clammy steam from the kitchens and smell of stale beer from the bar, so she took the opportunity to breathe in a few lungfuls before heading back inside.
She made her way through the kitchen and pushed through the swing door into the bar area, picking up her apron and tying it round her waist, heading behind the bar.
"Skiving again, Lopez?"
Santana turned round to see that Jenny, her best friend and housemate. She couldn't contain the smile that spread across her face at the sight of her friend. She let out a squeal and ran over to hug her tightly. The two girls embraced for a few moments, then separated and made their way to the beer pumps together, Santana on one side of the bar, Jenny on the other. Luckily there was no-one waiting to be served at that moment, so Santana turned round to face her.
"Well?" Jenny just continued smiling at her. Santana let out an exasperated sigh. "How was it?!"
The girls hadn't seen each other for two months. Jenny had planned to visit her relatives in London for three weeks, but apparently she had been so charmed by all that the UK had to offer she decided to extend her trip and do some exploring on her own. When Jenny had told their boss, Dibs, she intended to extend her trip, she almost expected not to come back to a job, but he laughed and told her she had a job at the bar as long as she wanted it. They knew they were lucky he was such a cool guy. Although the girls had kept in touch on Skype, Santana hadn't exactly been sure when she would be arriving back.
"Just... Amazing." Jenny's eyes were twinkling with excitement, and she proceeded to regale Santana with stories of places she had visited and people she had met. Santana was only too happy to listen to her. She had missed her friend's voice, and although she would never admit it to her, she had actually been feeling a bit lonely without her around. She had other friends in New York, the staff at the bar were like one big family, so there was always something going on, but that didn't change the fact that when she got home the apartment would be empty, and there would be no-one to cook breakfast for on Sunday mornings and eat late night ice-cream with.
It had been five years since Santana had arrived in New York from Lima, Ohio, and she h'ad never looked back. When she graduated, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in the music industry. She was driven but also, realistic. She knew that she would first have to get a job that would pay the rent, and then concentrate on what she was really passionate about. After a couple of temp-jobs waitressing at fancy events, she finally landed herself a job at Dibson's after bumping into the owner at a small gig in Brooklyn. Santana had been there by herself, and when Dib's first spied her by the bar he had gone over with the intention of hitting on her, but this idea soon dissipated when they began chatting, and he found that this beautiful Latina was also intelligent, interesting and hilarious, and he didn't want to come off like a sleaze. They talked about the band that was playing, and she told him about what she had been doing in New York, and her ambitions to one day produce and sell records. He listened attentively and offered advice, he was really impressed by her knowledge, and was also suddenly eager to hear what her singing voice would be like. They made it their mission to try every different type of beer in the bar until Dibs' friends were telling them it was closing time and dragging them out like they were giggling school children. The party continued back at Dibs' studio apartment into the early hours. It wasn't like her to go back to stranger's houses, but it wasn't just the two of them, and there was something about him that she immediately warmed to and trusted. When Santana woke on his couch the next day with a bitching hangover, she opened her eyes to see a bottle of water, two paracetemol and a note for her on the coffee table. "Had to head to work, didn't want to wake you. Hope you don't feel too rough today. I wasn't kidding about the job, if you're still interested you can come by tonight for your first shift." The address of his bar was scribbled at the bottom. She smoothed the paper under her fingertips and smiled.
Everything seemed to fall into place after that. She met Jenny that first night and they immediately hit it off. It turns out most of the people she had met the previous night were also staff there, and she had never felt so much at home. Dibson's itself looked a bit divey from the outside, but it actually had a really great atmosphere. It was dark and intimate and shabby, serving great beers and more recently, great food. Dib's was majorly into music so they would always had the latest bands music playing on the speakers around the bar, and live music when they could. It was popular with students, but as time went on, it began to get a reputation as the up-and-coming place to be seen, if you're into that sort of thing. Someone had written an article about the bar in some local hipster magazine, and suddenly they were a lot busier and had even spied a couple of celebrities drinking there. Santana had loved working there anyway, and she was thrilled for Dib's to see his business doing so well.
It wasn't long before Jenny and Santana were sharing an apartment together. It made sense, they had become best friends after a few months of working together, despite being very different from one another. Jenny was excitable and outgoing, when she was excited it was difficult to get her to stop talking, whereas Santana was a little more introverted. When Santana had first met her, Jenny wouldn't stop gushing about how beautiful she was, which made Santana smile but suddenly feel shy around her. As Jenny babbled on to her, Santana looked at Jenny's blue eyes that sparkled as they gazed intensely at her, but also at how they stood out against her pale skin and the freckles on her nose. She was in fact, very pretty herself, and her mousy hair scragged up in a messy bun made her look pretty adorable. Santana knew that people were always telling her she was beautiful, and back in high school she would lap it up and use her looks to manipulate people to get what she wanted. She was the HBIC and she would do whatever she wanted, to whomever she wished. She had a reputation for being a complete bitch (and probably a bit of a slut, though most of that reputation was built on rumours), but even so all the girls wanted to be her, and all the boys wanted to be with her. It was only her closest friend, Brittany, who knew that the bitch thing was all an act, and that the real Santana was sweet and charming, but underneath it all, scared. She decided when she moved to New York that she would never treat people the way she did in high school ever again. It wasn't a hard transition, because unlike high school, no-one in New York knew who she was, and suddenly she was no longer the HBIC, but a nobody struggling to forge a music career along with thousands of other beautiful girls.
And so it had been since then, that Santana and Jenny had their habits and routines, working together and living together. They had the normal bitches at one another occasionally, but on the whole it was a very amiable situation, and one of the couldn't stay mad at the other for long anyway, on the rare occasions that they fought. Santana had been genuinely happy for her when she got the opportunity to go to London, and just a tiny bit of jealousy that she couldn't go. It was mostly happiness though because she cared for her friend, and so she was laughing along at the stories Jenny was telling her now and shaking her head at the situations that only Jenny could let herself get into. On the whole she finds Jenny's ditziness endearing, though she sometimes wishes she would just be a little more responsible.
"So what have I missed?" Jenny asks after a pause in all the talking she's been doing.
Santana shrugged. "You know how it is around here, always fun and games. Jeff finally proposed to Callie," she pauses for squealing and clapping from Jenny and laughs, "so we've got an awesome wedding to be looking forward to now." Jeff and Callie also worked at the bar, and had been dancing around the subject of marriage for about a year now. So the bar really was going to be a big family soon.
"Nothing else that's worth reporting on, but if you wanna stay up for me I'll bring some beers home and we can have a catch up?" she had spied Jenny sneaking a yawn and thought she might want to head home and have a nap.
"That sounds amazing, you read my mind. I dropped my stuff off at the apartment and came straight here to see you, I think the jet-lag is making me feel a bit delirious!"
Santana laughed and made a shoo-ing motion with her hands. "Go then! I don't think it's going to be a late one anyway, it's been pretty quiet all night." She looks around the bar as she says this and Jenny follows her gaze, nodding in agreement. She hops down from her bar stool and heads towards the door. Santana turns round and starts loading the dishwasher with the glasses she has cleared from the bar, when she hears Jenny's voice again, this time in an urgent whisper across the bar.
"Santana!" Santana spins round and Jenny is emphatically gesturing for her to come closer. She can't help but chuckle at her crazy friend as she obliges and leans over the bar and turns her ear towards Jenny.
"Ok, this could just be the aforementioned jet-lag delirium, but is that Quinn Fabray in that booth by the door?"
Santana looked over to the booth, and could see a blonde girl sat there, but she was looking down at something next to her so couldn't see her face.
"I don't know, is it?"
"I'm sure it is!" Jenny was still speaking in her ridiculous hushed tones, "and if it's not, it's someone who looks exactly like her. I want to say something!" Santana couldn't help but think Jenny looked adorable by how she excited she was, but her judgment told her that even if it is Quinn Fabray, they should leave her alone. The bar had built a good rep as a cool low-key place where celebrities good hang out and not get hassled, and they wanted to keep it that way.
"No. You need to go home and get some sleep anyway, I'll let you know if it's her when I get home," she told her with a smile. Jenny shakes her head in agreement, and heads back towards the door with a little wave to Santana.
She watches as the door swings shut behind her with a smile on her face. The though of going home tonight and having Jenny there too makes her happy.
"What are you smiling about, Lopez? Don't tell me someone's finally found a way to melt your icy heart?" Dibs walks over with a teasing smile and puts his arm around Santana's shoulders.
"Urgh, no!" she says, playfully shoving him off. "You've just missed Jenny, she just got back and came in to see me."
"Seems she left in a hurry, was that just in case I wanted her to stay for the rest of the shift?" Santana laughed.
"Probably." Dibs shook his head and laughed as he headed towards the back of the bar and back into his office. Santana turned back round to the booth by the door where the blonde girl sat. It was definitely her. She had turned round to face the bar now, her head propped on her hand and a near-empty wine glass in front of her. Santana had seen her on television before and pictures of her in magazines, but she was actually stunned by how beautiful she looked in person. She was wearing dark skinny jeans and a flowing low-cut emerald top, matched with a leather jacket and killer heels. Her honey-blonde hair sat just above her shoulders, it had been styled in a messed-up fashion, and looked incredibly sexy. Her hazel eyes were looking out to the room, not focusing on anything in particular.
Santana didn't watch much TV, but she knew enough to know who Quinn Fabray is. It's hard not to, as the star of one of the hottest new shows, the actors and actresses are in every magazine and on every late night talk show going at the moment. The show focuses on the lives and loves of a group of friends living in New York, and Quinn is the star. Santana hadn't seen much of it, but Jenny was a fan. She thought it was kind of strange that the actress was sat in their bar on her own, but she looked content enough so she shrugged it off and turn around to finish loading the dishwasher.
As the evening wore on, the bar slowly began to empty. Santana made her way round the tables clearing empty glasses and wiping them as she went. She hadn't seen the blonde actress leave, but the booth was now empty, so she went to clear the empty wine glass from the table. As she was wiping the table down, she looked down to see an Iphone left on the seat. She picks it up and looks around. It must belong to the actress, but she doesn't know how long it's been since she left and so can't decide whether to see if she can catch up with her or not. She decides not to, she's the only one left now apart from Dibs who is in the office, and doesn't want to leave the bar unattended. She is sure the girl will return for it, and if not it's pretty easy to track down the owner of a phone. She slips the phone into her apron pocket and continues wiping down the rest of the tables. She bids a polite goodbye to the last group of customers who are now making their way towards the exit, and heads behind the bar to switch off the music and start shutting down the lights.
She is deep in concentration cashing up the till for Dibs when she hears someone break the silence of the bar.
"Shit!"
Startled, Santana spins round to the source of the voice, and sees the blonde actress by the booth she had previously been sat at. The girl turns round to look at her and Santana walks out from behind the bar. As she nears the blonde, she once again is struck by her beauty, and when those hazel eyes meet hers she feels a flutter from somewhere deep inside her.
"Can I help?"
"Probably not," the girl replies in a cold voice, "I was in here before and I've lost my goddamn phone."
Santana is taken aback by the girl's tone, but figures she's be pretty pissed too if she thought she'd lost her phone. She decides to step up her Lopez charm for the girl.
"Well you may be pleasantly surprised there." She pulled the phone from her pocket and held it out for her with a winning smile. The girl looked at it for a moment, then snatched it out of her hand.
"What the fuck, you took it?" Santana's face must have immediately changed to a look anger, because the girl looked like she instantly regretted her words. An angry Santana can have this effect on people, it's the HBIC in her coming out. She folded her arms in front of her.
"Yeah I took it, as I'm a part-time bartender, part-time thief. I was going to sell it but since you're back here I thought I'd just hand it straight back." She knew she was pushing it, but the insinuation that she would steal it was too insulting.
The girl looked embarrassed and shifted her gaze away, then her eyes flicked back to Santana's. The girls was looking at her intently, and she could now see some flashes of green in those beautiful hazel eyes. Now it was Santana's turn to feel uncomfortable, like those eyes were penetrating straight through her. An unreadable emotion flickered across the girls face for a moment, and then she became aware that they had been staring at one another just a little to long without saying anything, so she decided to break the silence.
"Ok. Well... Thanks then, I guess." This wasn't exactly the apology Santana had been looking for. What a bitch. The girl turned to leave, but before Santana could let out a breath, the girl had quickly turned and was walking back to her. She stopped in front of her, much closer this time, Santana could almost feel her breath on her face and she was startled by the flutter she felt once again.
"What's your name?" Those eyes.
"Santana." She hated how her voice suddenly sounded, all the previous confidence gone. Why was this girl making her feel shy? But now looking at the girl, she could see a flush creeping into her features.
"Santana." The girl repeated her name back to her, the coldness now gone from her voice, and instead replaced by a huskiness that Santana was pleasantly surprised by. "Seriously, thanks." The girl's hand made a movement towards her, Santana thought she was going to touch her arm, but then she changed her mind, and instead pulled it back and walked towards the exit, not turning round this time but heading out the door. Santana walked across to the door and locked it, then turned around and stood with her backed pressed against it. She took in a deep breath and look up at the ceiling, her heart was racing a little faster than it had been. What was that?