Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Drinking

"Should you be so drunk at five in the afternoon?" Quinn said as more of a statement than a question.

"I am not drunk, I'm tipsy," Santana said without slurring her words one bit. She had been sitting at the bar nursing a warming beer.

Kurt and Quinn had walked into the Cubby Hole about 15 minutes earlier than Santana had expected. They were off that day and had been shopping on Bleeker Street. She had expected them to be a little late as shopping was their thing to do together.

"Look Santana, you are gonna be a hot mess even before we get there," Quinn was worried Santana would be too drunk when they got to the party.

"I said I'm just tipsy. I just got off work and I had this chick buying me a beer for every few she bought. No big deal," Santana said defending herself against her friends worrying.

"She's telling the truth Sugarpie," Holly interjected from behind the bar. "That girl was macking hard on our lil mamacita here."

Santana smiled at Holly but it was more sarcastic than thankful.

"I don't care, she's going to be a mess for tonight," Quinn was working herself up.

"Honestly Quinn she looks fine to me," said Kurt after he put his phone back in his pocket. "We have a few hours anyway before we get there."

"Fine," Quinn said as she was giving up on the fight. "We gotta go are you done with your drink?"

"Don't know why we are still here. See you later Holly," Santana said as she grabbed her coat from behind the bar.

"Later mamacita," Holly said towards Santana. She didn't look up from what she was doing behind the bar when she addressed Quinn and Kurt, "catch you guys later." She really liked Santana but was a little worried that her roommates were a little too harsh on her.

Santana was out the door before the other two could say their goodbyes to the bar owner. She was actually a little drunk but would never give Quinn the satisfaction of being right. She was flirting with the girl in the bar earlier more for the free beers and tips than out of actual interest. She had girls throwing themselves at her all the time at work (and off ) but usually only wound up using them for one thing or another. Sex, booze and tips. That was the extent of most of her relationships.

Santana walked pretty silently the few blocks they had to walk to get to the train station. Quinn and Kurt were walking slightly ahead of her talking about their latest buys and she was shooting glaring looks at Quinn.

"Quinn asked me to be her back up excuse just in case this chick is hideous and she gets on me for needing to prepare myself for that. This girl better be something cause she needs to get her frustration out," Santana thought.

Santana and Quinn had dated briefly in high school. Way too briefly to call it a relationship, but it was an eye opener for the both of them. For two little baby dykes coming of age together in their Brooklyn neighborhood, their paths couldn't have been more different. Quinn was able to keep her sexuality quiet until she went to college but Santana, having been caught with a girl in the bathroom of their catholic high school was quickly outed and expelled. That was when she began attending an alternative school in Manhattan, where she met Kurt. As long as Quinn was still dating her beard, Finn, she was able to hang out with Santana and Kurt on the weekends. The gay trio had promised to always have each others backs and in the nearly a decade they had been friends they had kept that promise.

"Stop moping and get up here," Kurt said looking back at Santana. "Quinn bought some dental dams in hopes that she gets lucky tonight."

"I did not!" Quinn objected with a guilty look on her face.

Santana closed the distance between them.

"Good cause if she gets laid I can finally breathe," Santana laughed as she snatched the dental dams out of Kurt's hand. "You could have asked me I would have given you some. Lord knows I want you to get laid as much as you do."

Quinn side eyed Santana but didn't say anything. She knew Santana felt that she relied on her too much when she was in-between girlfriends. That's was why Quinn was quick to accept Kurt's offer of introducing her to his boyfriends' best girlfriend. Kurt talked about her quite a bit to Quinn and she decided that it wouldn't be a bad thing to at least meet this woman. If she got lucky that was just a bonus.

Once they got on the train they were home in less than 10 minutes. Though Santana worked in the West Village and both Kurt and Quinn worked in Union Square, they lived in the East Village. An awesome three bedroom rent-stabilized apartment on the East river overlooking the borough that Quinn and Santana had grown up in.

It took Santana all of about a half hour to get dressed, grabbing a shower while her two roommates helped each other get dressed. She was dressing simple knowing it was a house party they were going to and not a nightclub or restaurant. And it was in Brooklyn on top of that so she was definitely not going out of her way to get dressed up. Kurt needed to dress up for his boyfriend Blaine. Quinn needed to impress her new potential love interest. Santana just needed to be comfortable.

The trio headed out of their apartment around 8:30 pm and were getting off the train in Brooklyn about a half hour later. Though their destination was quite literally just across the river, but by train it took a little effort to get to. They were headed to a brownstone house in Brooklyn Heights an upscale neighborhood not too far from downtown Brooklyn, miles away from the middle class neighborhood Quinn and Santana grew up in.

The party was booming by the time they got there. Just late enough to look like they weren't too eager and early enough not to look like assholes.

Kurt quickly eyed Blaine and dragged him back to the girls.

"Hey Blaine," the girls said in unison.

"Hey ladies," Blaine said kissing Quinn on the cheek and shaking Santana's hand.

Santana made Blaine nervous and she liked it that way. She wasn't entirely too sure of the prettyboy's interest in Kurt and was happy to make him aware of her disdain. She would put a serious hurt on him if he broke Kurt's heart.

Before Blaine could get back to Kurt's side a small brunette with a rather pronounced voice grabbed his arm. "Aren't you going to introduce me?" Rachel said as she smiled toward Quinn. "Hey you," she leaned into Kurt to kiss him hello.

"Yes Rachel," Blaine said smiling to his friend, "This is Quinn and Santana, Kurt's roommates."

"Right!" Rachel leaned into Santana trying to kiss her on the cheek. Instinctively Santana backed up to avoid any contact from the diva's lips.

"Hold up there dwarf," Santana said putting her hands up as a barrier. Rachel didn't miss a beat though. She smiled at the Latina and said her hello then quickly turned her attention to Quinn.

"I've heard a lot about you two, it's great to finally meet you." Rachel said to both Santana and Quinn but she was obviously directing the comment to Quinn.

Quinn smiled and leaned in to reciprocate the greeting Rachel was giving her. There was obvious chemistry between the two. Kurt and Blaine smiled to each other knowingly and Santana groaned, a little annoyed.

"Ok, now that we all know each other, where are the drinks?" Santana was eager to get away from the two couples.

Blaine, with his arm around Kurt's waist replied, "Over there Santana." He was pointing through the decent sized crowd of people in Rachel's living room to the opposite wall. "There is a bar over by the stage, help yourself."

Santana scoffed and quickly made her way to the other side of the room. If she was third wheeling it, she would at least make use of the free booze.

The music was really loud and Santana thought that Rachel was an ass to her neighbors for throwing a house party like this. She didn't give it much more thought though as she reached the stage area and found the small fridge that contained nothing but beer. She looked up at the stage and laughed to herself as she opened her beer.

"Who has a stage in their fucking house?" Santana said out loud, not really meaning to. She took a healthy swig of her beer.

"One broadway diva Rachel Berry that's who," came a soft voice from behind Santana.

The brunette turned around quickly; ready to tell whoever answered her to mind their business when her eyes met the clearest blue she had ever seen.

The woman was a few inches taller than Santana, blonde and quite frankly the most beautiful woman Santana had ever seen. Santana made a small step back.

"She's overboard in most everything she does but she's got a voice to back it up I guess," the blonde moved around Santana to grab herself a beer from the fridge. "Not my kinda thing, but she sells out shows."

Brittany smiled at Santana as she spoke. Santana returned the smile, she was feeling dumbstruck and not entirely too sure why. She needed to compose herself.

Santana watched as Brittany seemingly danced from the fridge to back in front of her. She was confident in her movements. Brittany noticed the smaller woman looking at her.

"I'm Brittany," the blonde spoke confidently, holding out her hand to Santana, "and you are?" She waited for a response as Santana stared at her interestingly.

Santana could feel her face flush with embarrassment for staring and not introducing herself.

"Oh, Santana," she said, trying to collect herself. Something about the taller woman was throwing Santana off her game. She wouldn't have looked like such a loser with any of the women who flirted with her on a daily basis. This woman was different and Santana was clearly trying to figure out why.

"You ok? You look a little sick," the blonde said putting her hand on Santana's arm comfortingly. Santana didn't move.

The heat the Santana had felt a moment earlier in her face suddenly left when she felt the woman's hand on her arm. She felt as if she had turned white with panic.

"Yeah, I just feel the need for some air." Santana wasn't sure why she was feeling short of breath suddenly.

"Let's get you outside," Brittany said concerned as she gently pulled Santana through the crowd and to the front door.

Behind them the crowd was quiet, watching the area they just vacated as Rachel Berry was taking the small stage. Santana could hear her voice over through the speakers as she was dedicating the song she was about to sing to her new love.

It was late spring and the evening was slightly warm and comfortable. Santana shivered at the small change in temperature. She asked herself why was she feeling panicked all of a sudden.

"Are you sick?" Brittany was concerned about the woman she had only met moments before. She was rubbing her hand up Santana's arm to try and relieve what she thought was some kind of a fever chill.

"No, I don't think so," Santana said kind of confusedly. She looked at Brittany as they stood outside Rachel's front door. She was looking into the blonde's eyes and knew that she had to say something.

"Brittany?" Santana said making sure she caught the other woman's name correctly, "Can I tell you something? It might sound really weird, but how I am feeling right now is really weird, so I feel that I need to say this."

Brittany, still concerned for the smaller woman's welfare, nodded in affirmation.

Santana looked into Brittany's eyes not really too sure how to phrase what she was feeling.

"I am not really feeling sick, but when you walked up to me I felt this overwhelming urge to be alone with you. It threw me off a little, that's probably why I look a little sick, but I feel connected to you. Is that weird?" Santana was struggling to explain herself.

"A little," Brittany replied, not really understanding what Santana was trying to say.

"I'm not a creep or anything," Santana said quickly, "I just felt like the wind had been knocked out of me when I saw you. "

"Oh," a smile formed on Brittany's mouth as she spoke, "that is quite an original pick-up line and a successful one at that, you got me alone."

Santana made a mental note of the smile on Brittany's mouth.

"It wasn't really supposed to be a pick-up line," Santana said smiling back at Brittany, "How about we take advantage of being away from that clusterfuck inside and go for a walk? I really would like to get to know you."

Though impressed with Santana's sly actions to get her alone, Brittany was a little hesitant. It's not that she had a bad feeling about Santana, she just wasn't sure she wanted to walk off with a stranger, leaving her friends inside.

"Ok," Brittany had decided, "let me just get my things from inside." She was in and back out of the house in less than a minute.

Santana smiled at Brittany as they walked down the small stoop. She wasn't sure what the hell she was doing, but she most definitely wanted to get to know this woman better.

"Can I ask you why you decided to come with me?" Santana asked as they made their way down the nearly empty sidewalk. "I mean, I saw that you hesitated but you came anyway."

"I guess I am intrigued by a woman that feigns illness just to get me alone," Brittany replied.

"It wasn't really an act you know. There is something about you that completely unnerves me. In a good way." Santana laughed a little at this sudden disclosure. "Though I gotta say, I was about ready to bitch you out for being all up in my business. That was until I saw you."

"Hmmm," Brittany nodded. "Guess it's a good thing you find me attractive then, otherwise there would have been some hair pulling in the middle of Rachel's party."

They both laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so," Santana said. "Just in case though, I'll let you know I go for the eyes first before I pull hair. Old high school fighting habits are hard to break. Plus the razor blades in my hair would have cut you all up." She was feeling more at ease joking with the tall blonde.

"Wow," Brittany said laughingly, "that is some high school education. Did you go to some kind of reform school?"

"Nah, I went to the Harvey Milk school in the village," Santana said, pointing in the vague direction of Manhattan. "I lived in Brooklyn but had problems at my first high school and found myself a place there." Santana's tone became a little darker. "But that's a story for another time," she smiled softly at Brittany. "Harvey Milk's the school that has mostly LGBT students right?" Brittany asked. "Yep, that's the one." "Wish we had had a high school like that when I was growing up. It would have been nice having a place where I felt like I belonged," the blonde was following closely to the brunette's side. "Arizona wasn't exactly the most hospitable place for a bisexual girl to grow up in, at least where I lived, everyone was republican and very closed minded."

"People suck sometimes. That why you're in NY?" Santana wanted to hear more about Brittany.

"Um, not directly," Brittany answered, "I went to college here and once I got here, I knew I needed to stay."

"That's a brave thing to do. I don't think I could ever travel so far from where I was raised and start new," Santana said honestly.

Santana was walking the two of them down toward the Brooklyn promenade. She didn't really plan on walking there but her instincts led them to the waterfront. When they reached the pathway Brittany stopped.

"What's wrong?" Santana said turning toward Brittany.

"I didn't realize we were so close to the promenade when I got the cab to Rachel's house." Brittany admitted while looking out over the moonlit water. "It's funny that you would lead us here, this is one of my favorite parts of Brooklyn."

Santana held out her hand to Brittany. When Brittany grabbed it, she led her to the fenced edge of the pathway.

"It's one of mine too," Santana said, "I love that you can see how close Brooklyn and Manhattan are, how they connect." Santana looked over to the bridges that crossed the expanse of the East River.

"And the view is amazing," they said in almost unison.

Santana looked at Brittany. She realized the taller woman had been staring at her. Santana leaned in toward Brittany, just close enough to see if it was ok to kiss her. Brittany closed the small distance without thought. Santana released Brittany's hand and reached up to caress both sides of her face. Santana was no stranger to kissing someone she just met but this felt different to her. She felt as though she would die if Brittany broke contact with her and held firm to her caress. Brittany must have felt this too because she put her arms around the shorter girl's waist pulling her closer.