The weather was warm. Sun shining down upon Lima, Ohio with no clouds in sight. Birds chirped, cars whizzed by, and Santana Lopez was sipping on a hot cup of coffee, her brown hair being tussled by the small breeze that made it's way through, her eyes glinting from the sun. She was alone, but only physically, as her mind was racing at the abundance of busy life around her. She sat on the patio of The Lima Bean almost everyday, with her favorite mug and a caramel latte with extra whipped cream. People watching was a pastime of hers, and it never ceased to amaze her what kind of people she would see throughout the day. She waved as a man on a yellow bicycle slowly passed by her. She was used to being stared at, as there weren't many people in Lima that looked as strikingly beautiful as she did. Well, except for the blonde sitting on the other side of the patio.
Santana couldn't help but stare at the marvelous creature that sat only ten yards away from here. She had golden blonde hair, bright hazel eyes, and legs that went on for miles. Just the kind of girl Santana loved to look at. The blonde sat cross-legged, looking down at a Cosmopolitan magazine with some redhead on the front Santana didn't automatically recognize. She laid the magazine on the table and leaned over to retrieve her neglected coffee. That's when it happened. Hazel eyes met the stare of the caramel skinned Latina only ten yards away. Santana looked away, embarrassed that she had finally been caught. The blonde smiled, and looked back down at the magazine. Santana's cheeks grew flush, and her mind was enveloped with thoughts of what to do next. She grabbed her coffee mug and took a large gulp, hoping the blonde wouldn't think badly of her for staring. However, the blonde picked her head back up, and looked back over at Santana, a large smile ran across her face to reveal perfectly white teeth. Santana put her mug back down on the table and shyly looked back up at the girl across the patio. As soon as their eyes met again, the blonde averted her eyes back to the magazine, now looking just as embarrassed as Santana had. Santana smiled and looked over her shoulder at the ground, trying to cover her mouth. The blonde closed her magazine, leaned over to unzip a pocket in her leather messenger bag, and put the magazine inside. A small, tender hand reached across the metal table to a cardboard cup, now empty of it's hazelnut deliciousness, and threw it into a nearby trashcan. Santana watched her every move, but made sure not to be caught staring, her eyes full of longing and wonder; surely the blonde would pick up on that.
With one swift motion, the girl stood up and threw a leather strap around her shoulder. Santana shifted in her seat, trying to avoid any more eye contact. However, it was unavoidable, as the girl made her way directly towards Santana, making her palms feel slightly clammy and her stomach do cartwheels. Santana looked down at her left hand, and quickly pulled a diamond ring off her finger, fumbling with it as she tried to hide it away into her pocket without the blonde noticing.
"You've been caught." The blonde looked at Santana with a cocked eyebrow. She glanced down at her pocket for a second, wondering if the ring is what she was talking about. "Now hand it over." Santana was shocked at the words coming out of the girls' mouth and stared at the tender looking hand that was outstretched towards her.
"Umm, I'm sorry, what?" "You heard me, hand it over." Santana's heart was pounding. Was she getting robbed? What did this woman want?
"I don't understand…"
"Your phone. Let me have it." The blondes face and tone of voice didn't quite match up. She didn't sound angry, but she didn't sound happy either.
"I'm sorry?"
"Look, I'm in a hurry. If I miss the bus, I'll be late for work."
At this point, Santana had no idea what to do. She slowly moved her hand towards her purse, but was interrupted by the blonde leaning down onto the table. She clicked open a pen she pulled out from her messenger bag and scribbled something down on a napkin. Santana sat and stared, still unsure of the girl's motives, or even what to do with herself.
"Well, when you find that phone of yours, call me." The blonde clicked her pen closed, turned on her heel, and, with a wink, journeyed out of the patio area and headed southbound towards the bus stop. Santana followed her out with her eyes, unable to move the rest of her body, still trying to process what just happened. When the blonde disappeared behind a wave of trees, she finally gathered herself and looked down at the coffee stained napkin on the table. On it were ten digits and a name with a heart on the side of it. "Quinn."
Santana walked up three flights of stairs to her "too-pricey-for-me-but-if-you-like-it-then-fine" apartment. As she arrived at the door, she reached into her pocket and grabbed the ring she had put away earlier. Santana stared at it for a moment, ashamed of herself that she had ever taken it off, and slid it back down onto her ring finger. She fumbled around her purse for a moment and retrieved her heavy keychain from the bottom. It seemed like Santana had a key to every building in Lima on her chain, it was nothing short of a miracle she knew by heart what each one belonged to. Two for her apartment, one for her parent's house, one for the storage unit, etc. Santana flipped through a half a dozen keys until she finally picked one. She unlocked the door to her apartment, turned the knob, and walked inside to find Brittany, her tall, blonde, ocean-eyed wife, sitting on the couch.
"Hi!" Brittany said enthusiastically, as Santana threw her things to the ground.
"Hi!" Santana retorted, trying to match Brittany's enthusiasm, but ended up soundly slightly sarcastic.
"How is everything?"
Santana kicked her shoes off and brushed her hands through her hair. "Great. Everything's…great. Uh, how are you."
Brittany always looked at Santana so lovingly, which Santana never seemed to mind, but for some reason really caught her attention today. "Better now that you're home."
Santana let out a nervous chuckle, while Brittany set down her Cat Fancy magazine, stood up and made her way to the brunette. "Well, Brittany, I have a lot of work to get done. You know how it is."
Brittany placed a kiss on Santana's tanned cheek. As she pulled away, she looked the girl in her eyes, smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'll be in our room if you need me."
Santana bit her bottom lip and nodded, as Brittany slinked her way through the rest of the living room into their bedroom and shut the door. Santana leaned over a picked up a briefcase from the floor, and made her way to the couch. Being a lawyer in Lima wasn't as fast paced of a job as it is in the more heavily populated areas of Ohio, but that's how she liked it. Great pay, even better benefits, and not too long of hours. She sat down and hoisted the briefcase onto her lap, and clicked open the latches. Her eyes made their way to her bedroom door, then back to her briefcase. She opened the top and pulled out a napkin, then quickly shut it and put it back on the floor. She stared at the numbers, and traced them over with her fingers. Santana had a million thoughts running through her head but couldn't settle down with one on what to do with what she had. She finally stood up and walked over to where she had dropped her purse. She bent down, pulled her phone out, and sat back down on the couch. As she unlocked her phone, Santana hesitated for a moment, unsure if she really wanted to do what she was about to do. She tapped her thumb on the screen for a moment, before finally opening the keypad. Santana typed out the number and hit call. Santana held the phone up to her ear and listened to the dial tone coming from the earpiece. Finally, the other line clicked, and Santana heard a familiar voice, only it was much calmer now.
"Hello?"
"Yes, hello, Quinn?" Santana's eyes darted around the room.
"Yes, who's calling?"
Santana was sure Quinn would recognize her voice, until she realized how little she had spoken when they met. "Hey Quinn, it's Santana."
"I think you may have the wrong Quinn. I don't know anyone named Santana."
Santana bit hard on her lip, wondering if she should just hang up. "You know, from The Lima Bean."
Quinn finally remembered, and their conversation took of from there, lasting for almost an hour before they finally had nothing left to say.
Santana woke up on the couch the next morning, with Brittany standing over her with her arms crossed. Santana wiped her eyes, and tried to let them adjust to the influx of light filling the room. "Hey…I'm sorry I didn't make it to bed last night. I didn't want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful."
Brittany walked away from her without uttering a single word. Santana sat up and watched her walk into the kitchen.
"Brittany?" Nothing was ever said back. Santana wiped her eyes again and sunk her head into her hands. She inhaled deeply and let out a long, exasperated sigh.
"I've pretty much lived in Ohio my entire life, but I really want to get out and travel the world, you know?"
Quinn and Santana were sharing a table at The Lima Bean. Santana had her latte and Quinn was picking apart a rather large blueberry muffin. Quinn giggled.
"Enough about me, San. Tell me something about yourself." Quinn crossed her legs and shifted into a more comfortable position in the slightly outdated chairs.
Santana couldn't help but noticed how beautiful Quinn had looked. Even more so than when they had first met. Her eyes seemed to sparkle more and her skin seemed to be glowing.
"There's not much to say about me. I'm not that interesting." Quinn pursed her lips, and reached a hand across the table.
"Oh, come on! I've told you so much. Everyone has a story."
"Well," Santana started, "not everyone has a good one." Santana nervously chuckled, now realizing she probably should have just kept her mouth shut, but couldn't help the words that were spilling out. "Honestly, I don't date much. I'm not really used to it."
Quinn let out a very audible laugh, which slightly startled Santana. Quinn grabbed ahold of Santana's empty hand from across the table. "Honey, no one is."
Santana smiled and they both started to laugh at just how true Quinn's words really were.
Santana made her way up the stairs yet again to her apartment. She often thought about how many calories she burned everyday just by leaving and coming back to her apartment. A large smile was plastered on her face, and she rummaged through her keys before eventually finding the one to her door. She made her way inside and was met with a teary-eyed blonde sitting in a chair across from the doorway. In her hand was a coffee stained napkin. Brittany looked down at the napkin, and back up to Santana, whose eyes were quickly filling with tears. All Santana could do was stare at that napkin, that damn napkin that she was positive she had tucked away safely in her briefcase. Her eyes flickered up to Brittany's, which were a sullen shade of gray by now. The youthfulness was no longer so obvious in her skin, her eyes puffy, and cheeks red and stained.
"She's just, um, a uh…client, that's all. She's just…um...someone." Santana shook her head. "It's not…um." Santana looked down at her feet, unable to form coherent sentences anymore.
Brittany folded the napkin up and set in on the small table next to the chair, and stood up. She made her way to the kitchen then to the balcony, and Santana followed her, after closing the door behind her. Before she had step foot in the kitchen, there came a knock at the door. Santana stopped in her tracks, wondering who would be visiting them. She hesitated for a moment, then turned around and opened the door.
"You left your phone in my car…or maybe I hid it so I'd have an excuse to come over, either one."Quinn tossed Santana's phone to her. "Can I come in?"
Before Santana could answer, Quinn had already crossed the threshold and made her way into the living room.
"I'm not sure you should be…"
"Calm down, San. I won't be here long." Quinn traced her hands along the furniture, taking in the expensiveness of most of the things on display. "Just making sure you're not a hoarder, or anything else I need to worry about."
Santana watched as the girl paced around her living room. Quinn was smiling the entire time, but Santana couldn't match her emotions.
"Good news, you passed."
Quinn looked back over at Santana, who was still standing by the doorway, eyes wide open. Quinn walked over to her, wrapped her arms around her neck, and laid the most gentle and warming kiss on Santana's lips. Santana placed her hands on Quinn's waist before pushing her back just a couple inches and breaking the kiss. She stared into hazel eyes, feeling so many things but unable to communicate them. Quinn smiled at her.
"I'll call you tomorrow, Santana."
She turned and walked out the doorway. Santana had turned to watch her leave, and Brittany peered around the corner of the kitchen to do the same. Santana took a sharp breath and leaned her head against the door.
"So that's Quinn, huh?"Santana's eyes opened wide and she slowly turned around to see Brittany there, anger painted all over her body. Santana faced Brittany, unsure of what to say, or if she should say anything at all. Brittany nodded her head. "Well, she seems nice."
Brittany faked a smile and disappeared around the corner. Santana reacted by running after her.
"Brittany!"
She followed her all through the apartment as she weaved in and out of open rooms and hallways until she reached the office. There, next to her floor-to-ceiling bookcase, was a white urn with a framed picture of Brittany and a single red rose. Santana walked slowly towards it, her eyes filling with tears. She kneeled down beside it, and stared into the eyes of the girl in the photo. Santana inhaled slowly, and exhaled even slower. She traced her fingers along the etchings on the urn. Brittany Susan Pierce. How do you let go?