A/N: This is a story I thought up for Valentine's Day! I will continue it if there seems to be some interest in it. I'm still working on Butterflies and will try to complete that story before posting a 2nd chapter of this one.
Hope you enjoy! :)
Santana couldn't help the scowl on her face as she approached the on-campus FedEx store. She had honestly been trying to stop scowling—her mother always said it was unbecoming of a woman—but it was simply too hard not to, especially with all these idiotic people and things ruining her day.
This morning had been particularly awful. Santana had woken up to her roommate's alarm, which was set for 2 hours before Santana needed to be awake. After a futile attempt at falling back asleep, Santana grunted, threw her covers off of her, and pushed herself off of her bed. Only instead of landing on her stool like she did every other morning, she tumbled directly to the ground, almost falling. By this point, the scowl had made a home on her face, and things didn't get any better. Her hair dryer wouldn't turn on and the last bit of her eyeliner broke off and fell out of the tube. Santana had looked at the ceiling and released an annoyed grunt before deciding to leave her room so that nothing worse could happened.
Santana entered the FedEx, happy to be back inside a warm building. She didn't even mind that the place was filled with dreadful heart decorations and paper Cupid's shooting paper arrows. She seriously hated this holiday. Santana looked around for an attendant as she pocketed her gloves. She needed to fax some papers to her mother. She wasn't even sure what these papers were, but they were from the university. She figured they had something to do with graduation. The attendant—Louis, his nametag said—seemed nice, if not a bit timid, but that wasn't surprising; Santana's scowl had been known to scare people. Louis showed Santana to a fax machine and explained how it worked. He even wished Santana a happy Valentine's Day before he walked away. Santana thanked him and tried to smile, but it probably came out awkward and pained-looking. It was hard to smile when you couldn't stop scowling. But whatever; she'd probably never see Louis again.
Santana let out a deep sigh as she started to load the first sheet of paper into the fax paper. Before she could punch in her mom's fax number, she was distracted by a loud noise and the sound of someone cursing. Santana looked to her side to see what all the commotion was about. Sure enough there was a girl, a pretty blond girl with hair falling around her face, whisper-yelling curse words at a copier.
Santana tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. It was refreshing to see somebody having just as bad a morning as she was; she felt a kind of solidarity with this girl. Plus there was also something really cute about this scene, even though the girl was clearly upset.
Santana looked around for a free attendant as the machine continued to make strange sounds. Wasn't it their job to help with problems like this? As she completed her quick scan of the store, Santana realized that all of the attendants were busy helping other customers. She turned her eyes back to the girl. She was growing more frazzled as the machine continued to make noise. As cute and funny as this was, Santana couldn't bear to watch this girl suffer anymore. Plus, the sounds the machine was making were super annoying. Santana laid her papers down on the counter and walked over to the malfunctioning copier.
The girl didn't even seem to notice that Santana was standing beside her. She was too busy frantically pressing every single button on the machine. Santana fought another giggle.
"Excuse me?"
When there was still no response, Santana gently laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. The girl nearly jumped out of her skin at the contact.
"Oh my god!" she screamed. She held her hand over her heart and her chest was slightly heaving. "That really scared me."
"Sorry," Santana said, smiling for the first time today. "It just seemed like you could use some help."
"Oh." The girl looked back at the machine, seeming to suddenly remember what she had been doing.
Santana stepped closer to the machine. She glanced at the screen and looked at the tray from which the papers had been printing. She could see a little piece of the yellow paper crumpled inside of the printer.
"Oh, I think the paper just got jammed."
"Oh, good," the girl said, looking relieved. "That's easy to fix then, right?"
"Yeah, I can just try to pull it out."
Santana went to work trying to remove the crumpled paper from the printer. It was no easy task since so much of it was stuck in the printer.
"Here we go," Santana said as she got the last bit of the paper out.
"Thanks so much!" the girl chirped. But Santana was too busy reading the paper to even hear her.
It was a flyer for the "Cookies & Milk" event that the LGBT community on campus put on every month. Santana's eyes darted to the printer tray. There were already about 50 copies of the flyer laying there.
"Have you heard of it?"
"Huh?" Santana was brought out of her head by the sound of the girl's voice.
The girl's bright smile transformed into a smirk as she began to speak again. "Have you ever heard of 'Cookies & Milk'?"
"Oh, uh…," Santana was feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Yeah, I've heard of it."
"Cool," the girl said with a smile and a small nod. "You should come. It's next Monday at 10 P.M."
"Oh…," Santana looked down at the paper and shook her head a little before looking back up at the girl.
"Come on!" the girl giggled as she tilted her head to the side. "It'll be fun; it's always fun!"
Santana looked back down at the paper, fingering the edges instead of saying anything.
"Besides," the girl continued. "It's a really great way to meet girls."
Santana's head snapped up at this. "What makes you think I want to meet girls?" Her tone was a bit harsher than she wanted it to be. She found herself wanting to be casual and cool in front of this girl.
The girl's smile fell at Santana's outburst. "Oh, sorry! I just assumed with the way you were looking at the flyer. Do you not—Are you not…" the girl trailed off, seemingly not knowing what to say.
Santana sighed and rolled her eyes at herself. "No, I mean… I do like girls."
"Oh, okay," the girl said, her face screwing up a bit in confusion. "Then… Do you already have a girlfriend or something?"
For some reason this question made Santana even more nervous. "No. It's just… I don't know. I'm not really in the LGBT scene, if you know what I mean."
"Oh," the girl drawled out, clearly not knowing what Santana meant. "Well, you should still come! It's really low-key. I think you'd enjoy it."
Santana let out a small laugh. She couldn't believe this girl felt like she knew what Santana would enjoy after speaking to her for less than 10 minutes. "I'll think about it," she said after a moment.
"Cool!" That bright, animated smile was back on the girl's face. "Keep that flyer so you remember where it's at."
"Okay," Santana said as she started to turn around. "Maybe I'll see you there."
The girl flashed another bright smile in response.
Santana shook her head out a little when she made it back to the fax machine. What was that? she thought. She had never before felt so timid and shy when talking to another person. Anyway, much like Louis, she'd probably never see this girl again. She certainly was not planning to go to "Cookies & Milk". Santana punched her mom's fax number into the machine. As she sent the first sheet off, she heard the subtle sound of approaching footsteps. She looked up to find the girl, still flashing a megawatt smile, walking her way. She carried the flyers in an open-faced box in her hands.
"Hello, again," she said once she reached Santana's side.
"Hi," Santana replied with a smile. She was a bit confused about what this girl wanted.
"So," the girl drawled out as she leaned her side against the counter. "What are you doing tonight?"
"Uhhh…" Santana managed to get out, her eyes almost comically wide. Was this girl asking her on a date?
The girl giggled, looking down at the counter briefly before finding Santana's eyes. "I just figured I could take you out for a drink. You know, to thank you for helping me out with the copier. Besides, no girl should be without plans on Valentine's Day."
Santana was speechless for the first time in her life.
"Just a drink; I promise," the girl said, holding her pinky finger out. "No funny business."
Santana laughed at that. Who even said "funny business" anymore? She glanced down to the girl's pinky and then into her eyes. Santana could tell she was being honest. This was a no pressure invitation, even if it was a Valentine's Day date. Santana gave a small nod as she linked her pinky with the girl's outreached one.
"Awesome!" the girl exclaimed as she bounced on her toes. She grabbed a pen from off the counter and wrote her number on the back of the crumbled yellow flyer. "Here's my number. Text me your address and I'll pick you up at 8?"
Santana nodded, still unable to speak.
"I'll see you then!" the girl said with a wink.
"Mhm," Santana managed to get out with a tight smile. She found herself mesmerized watching the girl walk away. How could this girl make an oversized light pink sweater covered in little white hearts look so cute? It was only as she watched her walk away that Santana remembered that she didn't know the girl's name. She ran to catch up with her before she left the store.
"Hey," she breathed out as she gently grabbed the girl's arm. "What's your name?"
The girl smiled—again. Her eyes flitted from Santana's eyes to her lips and back up again. "Brittany," she said. "What's yours?"
"Santana," she said as she released the girl's arm.
"See you tonight, Santana," Brittany said before she started walking again.
Santana nodded, mostly to herself, as she watched Brittany leave the store. Boy was she in trouble.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Reviews are much appreciated! :)