A/N: This is the first chapter of many. They will not all be this short. Promise. Send tomatoes and love to meeemers dawt tumblr dawt com. The usual disclaimer applies (no ownership or profit etc). Also, I need a beta reader for the future because I do not have one. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Summer is all blue sky and green grass. Santana stretches out on the lounger by the pool and sighs to herself. The humid air seems to hold everything still, but Santana's mind still races. She's got so many unprocessed thoughts: her graduation party, the big cake with Muchas Felicidades written on it in icing, Brittany's half-smile- truly happy for her, but sad for herself...
And forty thousand dollars.
Santana breathes in again, a little hitched, thinking about it. Fidgety, she reaches for the sunscreen. Forty thousand dollars. Oh God, she needed to think.
She pushes up her sunglasses and looks behind her when she hears the sound of ice going tink-tink in the glass tumblers: it s Brittany, smiling a sunny smile.
"Lord Tubbington made us some lemonade. I thought I'd bring you a glass." She hands one to Santana and takes a long sip herself. "I love these lazy summer days."
"Britt, we need to figure out what we're going to do." A pause, because Brittany doesn t seem like she knows what she means.
When summer ends.
Brittany stops, a little surprised at Santana's suddenly businesslike demeanor. She looks like she's about to say something, offer up some simple idea like, "Well, we're going to do this and this and this, obviously, silly" but hesitates and freezes instead.
"I want you to come with me to New York. Finish school there, while I make it big. They have classes there for people to finish, like a high school equivalent. Look, my mom gave me a ton of money- a graduation present- it s enough, I can give you anything you want, take care of you, just stay with me."
Santana's out of breath, suddenly, her sunglasses slipping off the back of her head and tears forming just a little bit in the corner of her eyes. She might have known how desperate she sounded just then.
"San..." Brittany's smiling. That's good. But it's an unsure smile. "That's great about the money, but you don t have to take care of me."
"So does that mean you'll come with me?" Santana starts to smile, too.
"We have all summer to think about it, right?" Brittany bumps her lounger closer to Santana's and rests her head on her shoulder. The sound of cars rolling down the small town street can be heard over the fence. "We don t have to figure everything out today. Just relax, San. Enjoy the now."
In unison they take a sip from the icy glasses as, inside the house, Lord Tubbington finishes his chores.
"Well, I'm going to be living in a dorm," Rachel chirps into her phone. "But New York's a big place, how hard can it be to find an apartment? You should get one close to NYADA, that s where all the exciting things happen. And it would be nice to have a familiar face, now that Kurt can't come."
"As fabulous as that sounds, Hobbit, I m gonna pass." Santana's voice comes sarcastically through the line. "But you don t know anyone who's leasing, or anything about that?"
"Not yet. I m sure I ll make a lot of friends fast at NYADA who could fill you in after the school year starts, though. Oh, I just can't wait for the vocal technique class! I'm going to meet so many talented friends! I hear that they have an orientation musical, and-"
"Yeah, sure. Great. Look, Rachel, it's been great talking to you, but I've gotta go. Later, Hobbit."
Santana hangs up the phone. She knew it would be fruitless, but it was worth a try. Rachel's right: New York's a big place, and Santana knows that she has to position herself perfectly within the city to give herself the best chance of being discovered as a star.
She pulls open her computer, types some words into Google and starts scrolling through the endless listings.
