Fingertips
Chapter 1
Santana Lopez sat gazing out of her bedroom window, letting the tranquility of summer wash over her. She listened to the gentle pitter of the raindrops as they fell languidly from the sky. The sun could barely be seen setting behind the heavy blanket of clouds. She watched the leaves tremble in the soft breeze and inhaled deeply to the rumble of thunder in the distance. As the intensity of the rain increased, so did the velocity of the thoughts racing through her addled mind. This was not how she intended to spend the summer before her junior year.
Somehow the summer months had escaped the 20-year-old student. When she finally took notice, August was upon her doorstep. She had spent May through the majority of July on campus taking classes and working at a lab in order pad her forthcoming medical school applications. These ventures also presented her with an excuse not to return to the place she least wanted to be. Unfortunately, when the lease at her apartment had run its course, she had no other choice than to return to the lethargic town she called home: Lima, Ohio.
As the rain subsided and the moon broke through the thinning clouds, she rose from her favored seat in her coolly decorated bedroom. She stripped off her loose t-shirt to reveal a brightly colored sports bra and taut abs. Looking into her full-length mirror she admired her bronzed form. At least some things never change, she thought. She then grabbed her preferred Nikes, laced them up and set out on a much-needed night run. Her mind just wouldn't stop and running had always presented a welcome distraction.
She passed her mother on her way out and informed her of her intended nighttime jaunt. Maribel Lopez was of slight build, even smaller than Santana's own 5'4'' frame. The petite woman gave her only daughter a sweet smile and just told her to be back in time for dinner. Santana took a moment to observe the pots and pans surrounding the only constant presence in her life and with a deep inhalation realized she was making her favorite empanadas de carne. Returning the smile, the younger Lopez enveloped her mother in a hug and a promise of an expedient return.
Stepping out onto the still wet asphalt, she let the smell of freshly rained-upon earth overwhelm her system. Having just arrived back in Lima only a couple days ago, this was her first run around the cookie-cutter neighborhood. She had yet to see any old high school friends or acquaintances and found herself feeling slightly apprehensive. She'd never been good at keeping in touch. Shooing the foolish thoughts from her mind she set off into slow trot. This run was meant to clear her mind, not add more unwanted stresses.
Twenty minutes into her run she found herself at a familiar park. The frog and turtle ridden landscape was touted as a wildlife conservancy. She stopped at the first pond and remembered the last time she was there. It had been her eighteenth birthday. Immediately at the end of the school day she and her childhood best friend had rushed out, dead-set on having sublime birthday adventures. They began with a trip to Pizza Hut to get some chicken wings, a quick stop at the local market to get some cake, and then found themselves throwing Skittles in a parking lot before deciding to go on a leisurely walk through the park. Perhaps not the birthday rager most kids at that age would've desired but it had been perfect for Santana. Looking into the algae infested waters she saw a small frog obscured in the rocks. She remembered how she almost caught a frog on that day but had been frightened when the frog allowed her to get so close and without so much as a flinch. Disturbed by the nonchalance uncharacteristic of the squeamish amphibians, the newly legal teenager and her inseparable companion screamed and ran away laughing. She smiled at the memory and shook her head as if to shake it from her mind. She wasn't supposed to reminisce on things she couldn't get back.
Feeling a soft rumble in her stomach, she resumed her run and returned to her home within half an hour. She heard the sound of her mother singing in the shower and decided she should also wash off before gorging herself in the divinity of her favorite dish. By 9:30 both women were seated at the dinner table, ready to dive into the perfect meal for a long day.
Between bites, both women made comfortable small talk, still having much to catch up on since Santana had been away most of the summer.
"What time will dad be home?" Santana inquired after a particularly long stretch of silence.
"He called earlier and mentioned a pile-up on the freeway that left quite a few people in need of immediate surgery. It looks like another long night."
Santana gave her mother an apologetic smile, knowing the woman often got lonely without her husband around. The aspiring physician hoped she wouldn't subject her future spouse to nearly as much pain as her father had to her mother. She knew he meant well but sometimes it felt as if he never put in quite enough effort. After 20 years she feels like she barely knows the man, and even more tragically, that he barely knows her.
Sensing the heaviness at the table, Maribel asks Santana when she's going to be seeing her best friend, knowing the girl always brought a special kind of smile rarely seen on her reticent daughter's face.
The two girls had been inseparable throughout middle school and high school and even both went to college in the same city. If there was one person that could lift the mood, it was the darling Brittany S. Pierce. Maribel hadn't ever met a more cheerful person.
The question took Santana off guard. Most people, at school at least, knew not to bring up her former best friend. Brittany was the very reason she didn't want to return to Lima. Every place, every smell, even every person in this shoebox of a town reminded her of the effervescent blonde. They had done everything together. Unbeknownst to her mother, Brittany and Santana had experienced a tumultuous freshman year and had only spoken a handful of times the entirety of their sophomore year. This was quite the feat as the girls went to school less than a mile from one another. Santana feigned indifference.
"I'm not sure if she's here actually. If she is I'm sure I'll be seeing her around soon."
A slight tremor in her voice betrayed her façade of ennui. Maribel gave Santana a hard look, trying to gauge the vague reply. With a quick shake of her head she simply attributed the strange response to typical young drama. She couldn't imagine anything had gone seriously wrong between the two. They were too perfect to fall victim to the vicissitudes of teenage angst.