The first thing people hadn't realized was the rapidity with which the virus would spread.
Santana had been in the living room with her parents, pretending not to be interested in the news, when the first story was covered. Two days later it had even made its way to the front page of the Lima Tribune.
"TOWN UNDER QUARINTINE AFTER SUSPECTED GOVERNMENT TESTING"
Apparently some jackasses in the upper echelons of the political ladder thought it would be great to use some town in Illinois, population ten, as their little government experiment. Well, Santana thought, I hope they drown in paperwork now cause that shit isn't about to blow over anytime soon. Admittedly, not her most malicious thought, but hey, how could anything actually constitute as a town with a population of ten people. Anyway, they weren't dead, just under quarantine. Probably just as a precaution anyway.
Still, always the opportunist, Santana didn't waste time in calling Brittany.
"Hey B, seeing as it's the end of the world, I was hoping I could take you somewhere tonight," Santana said, clutching her phone to her ear.
Brittany hadn't been nearly as blasé about the quarantine as Santana had expected when the news had come out two days earlier. In fact, something about her seemed different. It was almost as though the little cloud of happiness that seemed permanently affixed to Brittany had lifted. In its place was a frown line.
"Relax," Santana had remembered telling her in school, "This isn't anything bad. Those people are probably under quarantine as a safety precaution."
"But San," Brittany had replied, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, "they haven't even said why those people are quarantined. I mean, what's wrong with them?"
It was true, for being the cover news story, and pretty much anything anyone would talk about, there was surprisingly little information about what had actually happened to the people of, what was now dubbed, Site Zero. And so, theories exploded all over the place, most of which could be found on Jacob's blog, which, of course, Santana didn't read.
Bringing herself back to the current conversation, Santana said "B?"
"Do you really think it's the end of the world?" said a hesitant voice eventually, from the other end of the line.
Santana sighed and brought her hand to her forehead, rubbing furiously. "No, no I don't B. Sorry for saying that, I just, wasn't thinking."
"Ok."
"So…can I take you out, or what?" Santana asked again.
"Of course," Brittany said, "Where? Breadstix?"
"No, something different. I'm going to have to sneak out and take my Dad's car though since the other one is in the shop, so it's going to be later. I'll come pick you up at 11:30, ok?" Santana asked.
"Ok."
And then the line was quiet. Santana looked at her phone and saw that Brittany was still on.
"Brittany..?" she asked hesitantly.
"I'm scared San," was all Brittany said, and then she hung up.
Santana was quietly running around her house grabbing everything she wanted for the evening. Both her parent's had early-morning jobs and were in bed by nine, but Santana didn't want to risk waking them up, so she waited.
She ran down to the cellar and looked at the wall of wine; something her dad had a bit of an affinity for. Santana grabbed a bottle that was close to her: a 1986 Chteau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac. Sounds French, Santana thought, shrugging before loading it unceremoniously in her backpack along with a corkscrew and two solo cups.
She looked around the cellar, searching for anything she may have missed. In the corner she saw two new containers of water that her mom had stacked against the already existing three. Both her parents were doctors; they were both extremely intelligent, level-headed, hard-working, strict, sometimes-anal, people. They also made serious bank. Still, on top of all these wondrous qualities, her mom was also a bit paranoid. And so, she insisted that if her husband was allowed the cellar to indulge in wine, she should be given some space to indulge as well. That meant extreme natural disaster preparedness. For what? Santana wasn't quite sure, but it seemed that if there happened to be a hurricane, earthquake, tornado, and waves coming crashing the 70 miles from Lake Erie, the Lopez family would be ok for a bit.
Santana checked her watch: 11:15.
Time to go.
Sneaking into the garage, Santana grabbed her dad's keys and opened the door to his Escalade EXT. She had always thought it was a fucking ugly ass car, but sometimes, or in her dad's case, most times, price tags won over aesthetics and for right now she was just glad it had the pick-up trunk.
She punched the button for the garage door and cringed at how loud it seemed. Was it always that loud? Turning the key in the ignition, she drove out of the driveway and into the street. Two minutes later and she was out of the gates that separated Lima Heights from the rest of the town. So what if she lived in a gated community.
Another minute went by and she was driving by Rachel's house…Berry's house, whatever. Then it was Puck's, then Sam's. The streets were quiet; it seemed not many people were out this late on a Tuesday night. Finally she pulled up to Brittany's house. It was small, but cozy: yellow, with white-shuttered windows. Most of Santana's best memories were in that house. Her and Brittany's first playdate, Disney movie marathons, dinner's with the Pierce's, being there the day Mrs. Pierce came home with Brittany's new baby sister in her arms. Santana stepped out of the car and pulled her phone out noticing it was only half charged. Fucking smart phones and their non-existent battery power. She dialed Brittany and put the phone up to her ear hearing it ring and ring before finally going to voicemail. Santana hung up, frowning. She called again, this time Brittany picked up.
"…hello?"
She sounded groggy.
"Hey, it's me," Santana sad.
"Oh right, sorry, I fell asleep," Brittany said, "I'll be down in a second."
One minute later Brittany came out of the front door, clad only in boxer shorts and a t-shirt that she had had since she was seven. Then, it had gone past her waist, now, it exposed part of her midriff. In her hand she was holding a stuffed duck. Santana grinned, walking up to meet her.
"Hey," she said, once they were together, her arms immediately making their way around Brittany's neck.
"Hey," Brittany said, her eyes crinkling in a smile as her hands splayed on either side of Santana's hips.
Their lips met, soft and sweet. Brittany's tongue swiping Santana's lower lip, leaving a minty taste.
"Mmmm," Santana said, smiling into the kiss before breaking apart. "Missed that."
"Mmhhmm," Brittany said, nodding.
"Now let's get going, we have a bit of a drive," Santana explained.
She walked around to the passenger side of the car, opening the door for Brittany, who, giggled before stepping in. Santana took a moment to appreciate how things had changed over the past year. This time last year she had been with Sam, Brittany had been with Artie, and she had been miserable. Sure, as far as guys go Trouty Mouth wasn't horrible, but 'not horrible' can only get you so far when the only reason you let him make out with you was because when you closed your eyes you imagined that was what kissing the lips of Angelina Jolie must feel like. Now look at me, Santana thought, Opening doors and planning a barf-wrenchingly romantic, midnight escapade. Admittedly, she had never been happier.
Once they were both in the car, buckled, Santana peeled away from the curb and made her way to the highway. Brittany didn't ask where they were going, she just grabbed Santana's right hand and intertwined their fingers. Taking a quick glance at her, Santana thought she saw old-Brittany, the twinkle in her eyes. That was the whole reason she was doing this; to get Brittany's mind out of the bad place it had been the past couple of days. If she was being honest with herself, it was to get her mind away from it as well. While people like Puck and Finn joked about the idea of a corrupt government creating monsters in secret government facilities, the thought did nothing but make Santana's stomach churn.
She pulled the car off the highway once they were about twenty minutes outside Lima's city limits. They drove past a few farms and finally made it to the end of the road where all that lay before them was an open meadow peppered with trees. Brittany's smile covered her face as she turned to Santana.
"It's beautiful," she said.
"Just you wait," said Santana "Let's get out."
Stepping out of the car Santana motioned for Brittany to follow her to the trunk where she opened the exposed bed. Brittany gasped at all the pillows and blankets that covering the back of the vehicle.
"Here, step in," Santana said, linking her hand together to create a step for Brittany, who put her foot in and lifted herself up, into the trunk.
Santana made a rather ungraceful scramble up and soon they were both there, on their knees, facing one another. It was dark except for the light from the moon casting a soft glow onto both girls. The air around them was warm and still. There was silence. Santana's palms were sweating. Why were they sweating? It was just Brittany. Neither of them said anything, but instinctively they both closed the gap, bringing their hands and faces together.
Brittany's lips closed on Santana's her teeth pulling on the girl's upper lip. Santana gasped. She immediately twisted them so that she was lying on top of Brittany, her hands finding their way under Brittany's t-shirt, lightly scraping down Brittany's sides until they were rubbing lightly at her hips. Brittany shuddered and arched into her, their lips and tongues sliding against one another. Brittany's hands were moving slowly up then down Santana's lower back, tracing her spine up until they came to her shoulder blades. Santana had both her legs on either side of Brittany's, straddling her, and she was now regretting wearing jeans as Brittany pushed her hips up. Santana slowed her kisses to a point that they were almost lazy. Slowly bringing her tongue to the roof of Brittany's mouth, then to her lips, gradually along her throat. She pressed soft kisses below her ear and then sucked lightly on her earlobe. Brittany let out a soft moan.
"Don't worry baby, we're not in a rush," Santana said softly bringing her face up so that she could look Brittany in the eyes. She turned their bodies again so that they were lying side by side, not kissing, but heads and lips so close that it was as though they were sharing the same breath. Brittany smiled. So did Santana. Then Santana nudged Brittany before saying "Though, of course, I did bring you here to get our mack on, that wasn't the only reason, if it was, we could have just stayed home." Then she turned on her back and pointed at the sky. Brittany mimicked her action and let out a squeak of joy.
"Oh San! It's Beautiful!" Brittany exclaimed, clapping her hands.
Above them was the moon. It wasn't quite full, but you couldn't really tell one way or another. Surrounding it, the stars shone brighter than Santana had ever seen them. They stared up in silence, holding their hands together.
"That's not all!" Santana said before pulling herself into a sitting position. She grabbed her backpack, which she had in the far corner and began to remove the contents. First came a small battery-powered lantern, then came the wine, cups and corkscrew, and finally a jar of Nutella, and some strawberries.
They spent the next half hour sitting cross-legged, with their knees pressed firmly against each others, drinking the wine, and feeding each other Nutella-covered strawberries. Halfway through, Brittany had hopped out of the trunk, much to Santana's disappointment, only to run to the front of the car and turn on the radio so that soft melodies were sweeping over the meadow. Santana packed everything back in her backpack. Brittany hopped back up and made her way behind Santana, kissing her neck. Santana turned her head so that their lips met. Brittany's hands made their way down on either side of Santana until they were tugging at the bottom of her shirt. Santana took the hint, bringing her arms up as Brittany brought the item of clothing over her head. Santana turned so she could do the same for Brittany. Before long, all their clothes were off and their bodies curled into one another, surrounded in blankets and pillows.
"It's like being on a cloud," Brittany breathed in wonder.
Cloud 9, Santana thought to herself.
Soon their bodies were moving together and Santana couldn't think anymore. She couldn't do anything but admire how beautiful Brittany looked, her naked body stretched out, with two of Santana's fingers inside her, her mouth open wide and the moon and stars reflected in her eyes.
Afterwards, they lay intertwined, legs tangled, breasts pressed together, and arms wrapped so tightly that it seemed nothing could separate them. Santana stared at Brittany's face, all traces of a frown line had disappeared, and all thoughts of any 'Site Zero' were gone. With the wine settling in their stomachs, and the warm breeze caressing their bodies, it was as if the universe was asking them to sleep.
It was as if the universe was telling them Please, forget, for one last night.