Santana Lopez was by no means a morning person, but for some unknown reason, today felt like it was going to be different. The first thing that alluded to this idea what the fact that the young Latina was running unusually early for work, meaning she would have time to stop by her favorite local coffee shop instead of settling for the cheap store-bought coffee her coworkers brewed at the office.
The woman had also walked into the subway station while on her daily work commute to find her favorite spot on the platform unoccupied, causing a small, content smile to appear on her face.
The universe was definitely on her side today.
Not wasting any time, Santana swiftly made her way over to quietly wait for the arrival of her train. She had only been standing there for about five minutes when she was unexpectedly jolted out of her thoughts. Looking down, she noticed a piece of paper that had blown against the shoulder of her blazer before quickly fluttering past her.
The brunette's eyes began to follow what she thought was merely a stray piece of trash when the blur of a person came running past her. Before she knew it, she found her eyes trained on a tall blonde-haired woman who had managed to track down and capture the loose piece of paper.
Placing it on top of the others piled in her arms, the blonde turned around and started walking back towards where the Latina stood. The woman must have felt Santana's gaze, however, because her bright blue eyes suddenly shot up to meet deep brown.
In that moment, Santana swore she felt her heart stop at least once. Maybe even twice. Luckily for the Latina, the deep blush that appeared on her face was hidden behind olive skin as she dropped her focus back to the ground.
The other woman eventually made her way back and took a spot about two feet to away from the brunette, who was doing everything in her power to focus on something other than the person standing beside her. She was failing miserably.
That was when one of the papers from the stack in Santana's arms got away from her. Looking up to see where it had gone to, she found it planted directly onto the face of the girl beside her. Instantly reaching up to remove the paper, she began trying to stutter out an apology.
"O-oh my goodness! I am so- I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
Their eyes met yet again as soon as the paper was gone, and everything stopped for the brunette.
Her attempted apology, thought process, and ability to breath… All gone.
The blonde gave a slight nod with a shy but sincere smile and breathed out a quiet, "It's alright. No worries." The other woman continued to stare a moment longer before slowly looking forward once more, and Santana couldn't help but watch as the mystery woman's smile grew a little wider.
Santana had to meet this girl. She didn't know what it was about her, but she just had to talk to her somehow. Taking in a deep breath, Santana decided to try and start a conversation by introducing herself, but when she did, she noticed that the woman was gone.
Quickly stumbling backwards, Santana turned to find the girl entering the train behind her. The woman's long blonde hair floating carelessly in the wind was the last thing she saw before the doors of the train cars closed, and a moment later, the train began to leave the station.
It didn't take long for the brunette to realize that her day somehow didn't seem as bright anymore as she watched the train disappear out of sight, but she decided to try to put it behind her and continue going about her day. That was when she looked down to find the piece of paper still held in her grasp. Lifting it up to get a good look, she noticed a faint lipstick print and figured that it must have come from it being blown into the mystery girl.
Santana couldn't stop the big, goofy grin that was slowly making it's way across her face as she stared down at the lip mark left on the blank accounting form, not that she wanted to.
The Latina didn't have to wait long for her train to arrive, and before she knew it, she was getting off at her stop. Heading around the corner to the coffee shop, she picked up a venti peppermint mocha and continued her commute towards the same small accounting firm she has worked at for the past three years.
After taking an elevator to the appropriate floor, she walked over to her cubicle and placed the stack of papers she had been carrying on top of the desk. She then took the 'kissed' form and gently placed it to the side before taking a seat.
The workload for the day was relatively light, which enabled her to take her time. After a couple of hours of diligent work, however, she decided to take a small five minute break. The woman turned to the side and reclined back slightly in her chair as she looked out the large, open window beside her desk.
The window was probably her favorite thing about her little work area because it allowed her to trade in the sounds of copy machines and tapping of keyboards for the sound of cars and street life below. There was also a wonderful breeze that would come drifting past her every once in a while, bringing a breath of fresh air from outside the stuffy office space with it.
All of these variables provided an easy, relaxed atmosphere for the brunette, and before she knew it, the accountant was getting lost in a daydream about a nameless woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.
A little while later, she darted her eyes over to the clock on her desk and almost spat out the coffee she had been absentmindedly sipping on once she realized that thirty minutes had passed. The woman quickly made a move to turn back to her computer but didn't get far when something suddenly caught her eye.
Looking to the building across from hers, she spotted two people walking into a small office. Allowing her eyes to focus a little bit, she was able to distinguish that one was an older gentleman and the other was a young woman. That was when she noticed that this wasn't just any woman.
"It's her," she whispered quietly to herself.
The girl who had captured her thoughts was currently standing inside an office across the street that was only two floors down from the brunette's place of work.
The Latina felt as if the Heavens had just opened up for her while her mind raced to find a way to get the other girl's attention.
That was when the CPA's gaze landed on the stack of blank accounting forms beside her.
'I could always make more copies later, right?'
With that thought, she grabbed the first piece of paper sitting on top of the pile and began folding it into the desired confirmation she had in mind. After a few minutes, she was looking at the very first paper airplane she had made since high school.
She momentarily flashed back to the days of sitting in class, silently flying small paper planes into the back of the heads of the kids she used to terrorize on a daily basis. Though she wasn't exactly proud of the person she used to be during her HBIC days, she knew that she had damn near perfected the art of paper airplane making because of it. Now, she just hoped all those days of practice would payoff and that she hadn't lost her touch as she reared back and let it fly.
The first few planes ended up going a little wayward while the next few weren't even close. The brunette became hopeful as she watched the fourteenth airplane she threw make a direct beeline towards its target until a bird came flying out of nowhere and knocked into it.
'What the hell, you stupid ass bird? I swear Auntie Snix going to hunt down your sorry ass and make you into pigeon stew if I don't end up getting her attention!' she growled out in her head after witnessing the scene before turning to start on her next attempt.
Time and time again, she watched her creations miss their mark.
Heaving a sigh of frustration, she reached out blindly to the pile to make another, but her hand was met with the cool wooden surface of her desk. When she turned her head, she found an empty desktop and realized that she had thrown away the entire stack. She almost gave up all hope until her eyes landed on the piece of paper with a faint lip gloss mark that would serve as her last hope.
Santana put absolutely all of her focus into making sure that the plane was flawless. When the moment came to throw away what may be her final chance at getting in touch with the blonde, she took a deep steadying breath and sent up a quick prayer to whoever was listening.
She stood still for a moment longer before throwing the piece of paper out of her hand.
The plane's path was steady and graceful as it headed straight for the office window Santana had been aiming for. Though she couldn't hear the tap of the plane hitting glass because of all the background noise coming from both the office and outside, she could most certainly see the blonde give a small jump in surprise. Standing up from her desk, the stranger stood up and walked over to the window to check that everything was alright.
Santana thought her plan had surely backfired when the blonde seemed to look everywhere but up, but when the girl finally did, blue eyes met brown almost instantaneously. It was as if the girl knew Santana had been standing there all along and had finally decided to humor her by meeting her gaze. That theory was quickly disproven, however, when Santana saw the blonde's eyebrow quirk in confusion.
Thinking on her feet, the brunette dashed to grab a dry erase board from inside her desk drawer and wrote out the first thing that popped into her mind before flipping it towards the girl, "Hi."
At first, the blonde just stood there, wide-eyed and unmoving. Santana quickly erased the message before the woman thought she was a creeper and decided to shut her blinds on her or something, "I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't remember me, but we stood next to one another at the train station this morning... Remember?"
When the woman still showed no signs of replying, or even moving for that matter, the Latina dejectedly turned the board back towards herself and prepared herself to write an apology for disturbing the blonde but was caught off guard when an apple-shaped stress ball came flying past her head.
Looking down to see where the object had come from, Santana found the woman opposite her was slightly out of breath and standing in front of her own opened window with a crumpled piece of paper with three words written out big enough to where Santana would be able to see it.
"I remember you."
Author's Note:
I just wanted to quickly say that this chapter is based of off the Disney short film 'Paperman.' This story has been an idea in my head since the I first watched 'Paperman,' but I was a little apprehensive to write it because I have never really written Brittana fanfiction before, let alone attempting to write something with the intention of showing other people. I finally decided to give it a try, though, so I really hope you enjoyed the fic. There's more to come in the future, so feel free to stay tuned!
Thanks again!