Chapter (1/2)
A/N: Has nothing to do with a certain song ;)
Finn sighed as he looked at the half piece of paper he was holding. Crap. His mother was going to be so pissed at him. The paper was a handwritten recipe that had belonged to his grandmother, surviving all these years with only a bit of yellowing to signify its age. His mother cherished it as a precious memento of her childhood.
Well there was no way he was going to take all the blame for this, he thought, glaring at the owner of the paper's second half.
"Now see what you did?" They both echoed at the same time.
Santana Lopez matched his glare with her own, obviously much practiced and definitely more intimidating, glare.
But not as scary as usual, he realized with a smirk, noticing the spot of flour on her nose. Besides who could be intimidating wearing an apron with dancing strawberries on it. Her hair was tied up in a messy pony tail too. That, paired with her rolled up sleeves; he couldn't help but appreciate a side of Santana he'd never seen before.
"I said, I had it all under control." Santana growled from the middle of his kitchen, looking like she owned the place.
"Well it didn't look like it from where I was standing." He grinded out. "And in case you haven't heard? I actually did learn how to read."
"Hey! You can't really blame me, can you? It only happened last week." She mocked.
"Ouch." He said sarcastically. "Your insults are getting more and more obvious, you know that?"
Santana jutted out her chin. "It's only because you keep giving me reasons to waste all my good ones." She defended nonchalantly, but he knew he had hit a sore spot. Santana prided herself on her sharp tongue.
Finn rolled his eyes. Well this is what you wanted, Hudson. Just because she wasn't talking to you before, you just had to disturb things. "Well pardon me. I made the mistake of not thinking you were totally insane."
All of a sudden he saw one of her hands swing at him from the corner of his eye. He instinctively closed his eyes shut and put his arms up in defense. What the hell? He was just joking. Was she really insulted enough to hit him? He remembered the last time she slapped him. Santana may have been a girl, but she sure didn't hit like one.
He opened one eye, when he didn't feel the expected slap. He felt a bit foolish when he saw Santana standing over the kitchen counter with her back to him. He noticed that the piece of paper he had been holding was missing when he lowered his arms.
Finn glowered as he walked over to her. Santana looked like she was engrossed in making out the writing on the two pieces, acting as if she hadn't just tried to knock his head off. But Finn could still feel the hint of smugness radiating from her successful fake out.
Putting aside his dignity, he saddled up right behind her and placed his head on her shoulder with his hands on either side of her resting on the counter. Silently, he tried his best to make out the note once again. He felt Santana's back stiffen at such intimate closeness. Crap. He realized. Why was he being so comfortable with her?
It was just that. It was his family kitchen, it was his natural environment. He wasn't trying to perv on her or anything. They were the only two people in the entire house. Plus the way she was so casually dressed…he forgot himself for asecond.
Prior experience told him to prepare for an annoyed retort, as Santana turned to face him. However, he couldn't help but notice the small shiver that spread through him as Santana moved underneath him. Great. What was he saying about not being a perv again?
Finn was a bit amazed that she didn't immediately make a fuss about personal space while somehow slipping in a crack about his physical appearance. In fact, she was just calmly staring back at him.
"I think it says, teaspoon?" She finally spoke.
He felt a bit a relief flood him. Maybe she hadn't noticed?
"Yep, teaspoon." She repeated with confidence, turning away from him. "It's definitely teaspoon…..or tablespoon."
"Well, does it really make a difference? The measurements are so small anyway. Wouldn't any spoon do?" He questioned, opening a drawer and pulling out the first thing he could find.
Santana quirked an eyebrow. "That is a wooden spoon." She informed him.
"Okay. Bad example." He admitted, chucking the object out of sight over his shoulder.
"You're way too easy." Santana muttered to herself, scrunching her nose and returning her concentration back to the recipe.
Finn held back a smile.
"What? What is it?" She inquired, noticing his sudden amusement.
"You have a…" He started to wave his hand in front of his face
Santana just looked on in confusion.
"A spot" He clarified "You've had a spot of flour on your nose for awhile now."
She quickly brought her hand up and wiped her face a few times. "All gone?"
"No." He declared. "Um, here let me."
He reached a finger out and carefully wiped away the spot on her nose. Santana stood uncharacteristically patient and allowed him to do so; her eyes focused on his finger. When he was finished, he slowly traced a line on her smooth cheek with the tips of his fingers. His hand stopped and he cupped her face. Her skin was so warm.
Okay. Now you're actually touching her. His inner voice screamed, almost startling him. There was no way she wouldn't notice this time.
She's so tiny. He thought, comparing her with his hands. She had yet to say anything. All he saw were brown eyes looking up at him. He felt his throat dry, and gulped a little.
"Now is it gone?" She asked softly.
"Perfect." He appraised, his gaze riveted on her face.
All of a sudden, he saw something flicker behind her eyes. Here it comes, he thought. She slapped his hand away, but not rudely.
"I think we should just wait until your mom returns from grocery shopping." She said in a business like tone.
Total denial, huh. Is that how we're playing it?
Santana crossed her arms. "I mean, who are we kidding? We're the last two people you'd call for if you want something remotely edible." She explained. "I say, leave the food alone, and I'll find something else to do."
Finn didn't miss the "I'll" part. Then without a second glance at him, Santana backed away and escaped from his line of sight.
Finn sighed. Why was it always like this with her? Their interactions always went from 0-60 so fast. Literally. She had been pretty much ignoring him the entire afternoon. Then for some reason he wasn't even sure of, they were at each other's throat over a scrap of paper. He didn't even know how to explain what that was a second ago. When did he become bold enough to become so 'handsy' with Santana Lopez?
Finn followed in her tracks, and stopped to watch her.
She was moving around, arranging things so effortlessly and fluidly making the room as eye catching as possible. Pretty impressive considering she didn't even live her, he wondered. His mother would be pleased when she got back.
At least until she found out about his grandmother's recipe. He was sure he would get all the blame for that.
See, the McKinley High Glee Club had finally won nationals last night. His mother and Burt, ever the proud and supporting parents, had invited the entire glee club over for a dinner party as congratulations. It was a cool thing to do.
That was until his mother had abruptly waked him up earlier that afternoon. Apparently Kurt, the brother with any sort of cooking skill, hadn't returned last night. He wasn't too surprised; most of the glee club got wasted right after in celebration of their victory. So he was recruited to help his mother make the actual dinner. It was in exchange for them letting this case of blatant underage drinking slide, he figured.
Only, there was no way they were going to be able to prepare the food in time. His parents may have been a bit hasty. They needed to cook for 13+ people. Desperate, he called his friends, hoping for any help he could get. No go. Most of them were still pretty incoherent.
Finally he plucked up some courage and called Rachel. They may have been broken up now, but they were still friends right? Unfortunately, Rachel couldn't help either. But she did promise to send someone over as soon as possible.
That someone turned out to be Santana Lopez. He was surprised, to put it lightly. He was just walking down the stairs with a stack of linens his mom had asked him to retrieve. When the sound of his mother's laughter mixed with that of Santana's had almost caused him to lose his footing.
Then something even more troubling happened. She ignored him. No hello, no insults, nothing. He wouldn't admit how much that bothered him.
So when he spotted her having some trouble reading one of his mother's recipes, he sort of jumped at the chance to help. Maybe he was a bit overzealous, but at least she started interacting with him. Yea, it was pretty childish of him once he stopped to think about it.
Now she was completely ignoring him again. Shouldn't she be barking orders at him, right about now? Not that he was complaining…..well maybe a little. Then they would return to the dynamic he was used to with her.
He watched as she picked up a large paper "M" and climbed up a chair propped against the wall. It looked like she was finishing what he started, hanging up the words "Congratulations McKinley High Glee Club 2012". She was unsuccessfully trying to reach the top of the arc in order to place the letter.
Now it was his turn to be smug. "Need some help there, San?" He asked, casually standing beneath her, puffing out his chest to emphasize his height more. A bit of skin was exposed from her stretching, he felt his cheeks start to warm up and tried his best to look away.
Santana ignored him and bent her knee slightly, looking ready to leap. Finn's eyes widened, in alarm.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" He questioned, already positioning his arms to catch her.
"What does it look like?" She snapped, somehow taking her inability to reach high places personal.
"I don't' know? Planning the most ironic way to die possible? He could see it now. Teenage girl dies putting up banner congratulating herself. "Just promise me, that you'll save me for last, when you come back to haunt the glee club."
She rolled her eyes at his lame attempt at humor. "Don't be such a" Hop. "drama queen." Hop. "I am completely" Hop. "capable "Hop "of reach-" *creeeek* "ahhhhhh"
Luckily for Santana, Finn's arms were already there when she fell backwards. He could feel her panting softly in his arms, the fall shocked them both. Slowly he lowered her body until her feet touched the floor, but his arms were still wrapped around her body protectively even after.
"Um, thank you….good catch." She whispered, her lips inches from his.
Maybe it was just his imagination but he could've sworn he saw all of her emotions reflected in her eyes. What was it? Relief? Appreciation? Desire? Maybe it was a mix of all three? Maybe he was projecting his own emotions?
"No problem." He assured. "You okay?"
"Yea." She slipped away from his arms. Finn felt a bit of emptiness creep up on him. "But I think we have a bigger problem." She told him, pointing to the hardwood floor.
Finn's mouth hung open in shock. He was dead. There was an angry scar, a good 2 feet, where the chair had skidded. One act of destruction was enough, how was he going to explain two happening in the short interval when his mother was away?
"Maybe no one will notice?" He ventured, hopefully.
For once, Santana didn't comment on his dopiness. "How about, we just cover it up for now?" She speculated, examining the mark. " Do you think a rug would do? We could just say, it'll look nice for the party. We'll deal with the consequences after."
Even though he was panicking, Finn couldn't help but appreciate Santana's usage of the word "We" this time.
"Do you have any rugs to spare?" She asked, snapping him out of his stupor.
"Yea." Finn tried to remember. "I think there's one in the coat closet?"
"I'll get it." Santana quickly spun on her heals and started to stride over to the front of the house.
Finn swiftly followed her. "No it's okay, I'll get it."
Santana picked up her pace a bit. "I said, I would get it Finn." She called back annoyed.
Finn increased the stride of his legs, and overtook her. "It's my house, and I know where everything is." He explained.
"It's a coat closet." She was shoulder to shoulder with him now. "I've had plenty of prior experiences with them." She whispered wickedly in his ear.
He felt his heart skip a beat, and stopped walking. Laughing, Santana started jogging away from him. At this point, Finn also started to run. It was important to catch her for some reason.
She had her hand on the doorknob when he got to her. "What took you so long?" She smirked, before entering the closet.
Finn followed in right after. She started handing him things in the cluttered closet, which he would immediately put down afterwards. Real important job he had, he sighed.
All of a sudden he felt the door close behind him.
"Oh, real mature Finn." Santana said sarcastically, from the dark.
"Hey, don't look at me." He tried to defend.
"Let's see, closing the door to a small room, making it dark? That's about, kindergarten level pranking there. Yep, way to advanced for you."
"The door probably closed because someone opened the front door hitting the coat closet door next to it" He grinded out. "Just listen. I think I hear voices."
He felt the brush of Santana squeezing by him. She opened the door a crack, enough to see out with one eye. Okay, that's weird.
"It's Brittany and Rachel." She whispered back to him.
"Great. It's not burglars/murderers after the great Hummel-Hudson fortune. Let's get out of-"
"Shhhh" She interrupted. "I heard them say my name."
Finn rolled his eyes. "Wow. Paranoid much?"
"No, just curious." She informed him, lightly.
"Well stop it. Eavesdropping on people isn't cool."
"Oh lighten up, will ya." She instructed. "How many times are we gonna get a chance to hear people talk about us, when they think we're not in the same room as them."
Finn raised his eyebrows at her. Santana raised her eyebrows right back at him. "That's right. I definitely heard them say Finn."
A moment later Finn's chin was resting on top of Santana's head as they both peered out of the coat closet, stealthily trying to spy on both of their exes.
"Welcome to the dark side, young jedi." She chuckled, patting him on the cheek. She must have realized it was a Star Wars reference just then, because he heard her muttering to herself."What the hell was that? Must be hanging around trouty mouth too much."
Finn felt his jaw start to clench a bit. It was probably from the guilt of spying on his friends, he figured. It certainly wasn't from any new information about which glee club members where socializing outside of school.
Stupid pretty Sam Evans