Moving to Lima, Ohio had not been on Santana Lopez's list of things to accomplish in her life. It was smaller than she liked, it seemed painfully dull, and as far as she could tell, there were little to no redeemable qualities there. It was very different than what she was used to, but then again, she had just graduated from college and anything was bound to be different from that.
She didn't move to Lima for the fun of it. Unfortunately, the only job she had been able to get was there. It wasn't the best job at all, but it was steady and paid alright, and living in Lima cost a whole lot less than living in Columbus. Mostly she just planned on working and saving as much as she could for when she got a job she actually wanted and could move someplace else.
Her landlord seemed a little too young to be in charge of a bunch of apartments. If nothing else, he had a questionable haircut. His name was Noah Puckerman but he insisted she call him Puck. Well, he'd mentioned that she could call him Puckasaurus. There were many things she wanted to say in response to that, but she also didn't want to get on her landlord's bad side. So they'd settled on Puck and that was that. He had even helped her move some of the heavier items into her apartment, but she was fairly certain he'd done that just to try and flex his somewhat impressive muscles around her as much as possible.
Too bad she wasn't into guys, or she might have considered it. She waited until he was done moving her stuff and had moved on to the more obvious leering before letting him know that much. Amazing how quickly he turned off what was probably considered his charm when he heard the words, "I'm a lesbian."
"That's cool, I'm all for some lady lovin'," he had said. "Especially if I get to watch." Santana had to use everything within her not to smack him so hard he would feel it for a week, but once again she reminded herself that assaulting her landlord, whether verbally or physically, would be a bad move. He had chuckled and assured her that he was joking, at least mostly, but he had also mentioned that there weren't too many people around Lima that would care for that. Great, not only was Lima a small, boring looking city, but it was also a close-minded one. Perfect.
"Hey, even if we aren't going to fuck or anything, you should still hit me up if you ever want to hang out," Puck had added, heading for the door of her apartment to leave. "Most of the people that live here are old and shit, so it's good to have someone not ancient around for once." Santana was left staring at the open doorway once he was gone, thinking that it had probably been the most ridiculous introduction to a person she had ever had. Then again, she was new to Lima.
Sadly enough, that was how she made her first friend in her new city. Against all odds, Noah Puckerman was it. It was just that there was only so much of unpacking her apartment room by room, night by night, and all on her own, that she could take. By the second day, she had given in and gone to his apartment, internally cursing herself. It didn't matter though, because he came back to her apartment with her anyway, and they split a six-pack while he helped her unpack her kitchen.
That was how it all began. Santana quickly learned that Puck wasn't actually the person who owned the apartments, it was his mom. He took care of the legwork and all the maintenance stuff while she handled the paperwork and official side of things. It was all he had been doing since he graduated high school, which was why he knew all the tenants, and exactly how few there were around the same age as him. Santana had noticed that everyone she had seen around the apartment complex was a lot older than her. She didn't really care, except the part where she had no one to talk to except him.
There wasn't anyone at her work that she really wanted to talk to more than she had to, or hang out with once she was off the clock. Being an administrative assistant at a publishing company wasn't exactly where she hoped to be in life, but being in the same building as jobs she actually wanted was a step in the right direction At least, that's what she told herself. It was honestly the only full time job she had been able to find, and it didn't pay horribly, so she took it. She was beyond the bottom of the totem pole, but she had every intention of fighting her way to the top. The more she accomplished at that company meant the easier it would be for her to get a better job at a different publishing company in a better location. Neither of those things made her likable to the people she saw every day on the job.
Puck was honestly the only friend she had in Lima.
"So are there actually any good places to go in this shit hole of a city?" They had managed to unpack her entire apartment in a week and had progressed to just sitting and drinking. While that was great and all, Santana figured it would get old fast.
"Hey!" Puck said, throwing a pillow off the couch at her. "I was born and raised here, you know. I know it's not the greatest, or even close, but just because you're from the fancy big city doesn't mean you get to say shit like that."
"You didn't answer my question, asshole." Santana didn't feel particularly bad. If there was anything she had learned about Puck in the time she knew him was that he had a thick skin, and there wasn't really much that could actually offend him. All she really cared about was if there was somewhere to go in Lima that wasn't her apartment, Puck's apartment, her job, or the grocery store.
"Of course there's places to go," Puck scoffed, taking a sip of his beer. Santana just raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for an answer, and he rolled his eyes. "There's some bars, most of them are dives. All I know is they didn't ever card me before I was twenty-one." He paused, a smirk spreading across his face as he looked over at her.
"What?" she asked, finishing her beer and setting the bottle down on the floor. "Why are you looking at me like that? Because if you keep it up much longer, I'm going to slap that look right off your face."
"Other than the bars, there's only one place worth going to. Sirens."
And that was how it all began.