AN: Agaaain it seems like they haven't met but we're getting closer.
Agh you'll have no idea how many times I rewrote this. I just couldn't get it right.. and I dunno I'm still not fully satisfied but I was close to hitting my computer haha so here we go!
I wish I could thank each of you who have reviewed, favourited and followed individually but that'd make for a massive AN because there's so many of you! Oh my, i'm so pleased with how many people have shown this some support. It literally made me so happy to keep checking the website and seeing the number go up.. i'm completely shocked, i've never had such a good response for a fanfic before. Just know that it's not gone unnoticed even though I haven't given you all shout outs! It made me really nervous writing this though, i felt like I couldn't disappoint you all haha... I hope i haven't.
Gleek4Snix: haha sorry! I don't claim to know anything about the acting business but I figured I could get away with her manager getting her the audition and she just reads the scene she has to audition with.. Lets just pretend thats how it works. and thank you so much for putting the incorrectness of it aside and reading anyway!
And also thank you to sawa255, Guest, kaydducky and KeepCalmAndKlaine for the words of encouragement! It really means a lot to me.
Better Forgotten
2. Sleepover
When the limo slid to a halt on Hollywood Boulevard, Santana leant forwards and peered out of the blacked out window into the street to check on the paparazzi status. When she was certain there were none, she moved her get out of the car but felt Quinn latch onto her arm. Santana turned to look at the girl and felt her breathing slow when she caught sight of Quinn's perfect face surrounded by her tightly curled hair...her own personal blonde halo.
Get your crap together, Santana; you're going to be filming in front of this woman soon. You're going to need to be able to breathe then. "If things get a bit wild…you'll look after me, right?"
"I've got your back, Quinn," Santana placed her hand on top of the one that was grabbing her arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze but inside she was celebrating the fact that Quinn wanted her to look out for her…that she was responsible for her. "Plus, I'm your ride. I can't have you disappearing on me."
Quinn nodded happily and slid her hand out from beneath Santana's, hooking her arm through hers instead. Dialling down the huge smile that crept onto Santana's face wasn't working so she hid it instead, turning away to busy herself with opening the door. With their linked arms, Santana pulled Quinn into the street after her, holding her close for warmth against an imaginary breeze.
But even with her careful checking, Santana still had to drag Quinn across the road with camera flashes dancing around them. They hurried up to the roped off entrance to the nightclub which had no queue, where all Santana needed to do was flash a smile at the bouncer and he backed out of the way.
Once inside, she took the two of them through a large dark corridor with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, past a cut-out in the wall with a girl stood behind it minding people's coats and bags, to a set of heavy black curtains. "Here we are."
At Santana's words, she pulled back one of the curtains and walked the two of them into a huge room, where they came out on what seemed to be the second floor. Up there appeared to be the chilled out area, with empty seating areas of sofas and tables dotted about.
Santana glanced at Quinn with a smile when she noticed the girl staring in awe at the ceiling from which hundreds of lights were descended, forming a wave of colours as they all flooded from one end of the room to the other. But when Quinn turned away from the roof and looked at where they were heading at the bottom of the stairs, all she could see was bodies. Bodies everywhere…bumping, colliding, 'dancing'.
Over the throbbing music Santana shouted, "We are the rich and famous, Quinny. We're off to the VIP lounge."
Quinn's forehead creased, allowing the other girl to drag her through the dancers which, with a look at who was passing them, began parting to allow them by. Being with Santana was like being royalty.
Another bouncer who recognised Santana was stood on the other side of the room and he immediately let them through into the VIP lounge.
"Santana!" Rachel called at the sight of her. It didn't take long for Santana to locate her, sat in their usual spot with Puck and a stranger on either side of her. Santana took Quinn over and the two of them dropped down onto the sofa opposite Rachel. "This is Blaine Anderson, Kurt's boyfriend. We've already established that he wants me to feature on one of his songs in the future. Isn't that great?"
"I never said…," Blaine trailed off with a look in Rachel's direction. He sighed and apparently decided he didn't want to burst the bubble of Rachel's everlasting happiness, "Never mind. Hi, guys."
"I'm Santana and this Quinn," Santana introduced the two of them.
Suddenly, Kurt appeared at Quinn's shoulder, "Oh, guys, you've spoilt it. I don't have enough drinks now."
He placed the tray on the table and began sharing out the drinks for everyone. Rachel turned to Kurt as he sat down and cackled a laugh. While her attention was diverted, Santana reached across the table and grabbed the drink that Kurt had placed in front of her before she could get her hands on it. Rachel turned back and her mouth dropped into a gape. Santana shrugged, "We're drinking in moderation tonight, anyway."
Puck looked wistfully over at the bar, "Remind me why?"
"Because we're working tomorrow, dumbass," Santana slapped at the foot that he lifted and rested on the glass table in the middle of them. "You excited, Quinn?"
"Yeah, you guys are going to kill it!" she cheered and took a sip from the drink Santana stole from Rachel. She took Santana's hand and stood up, "Dance with me."
Santana's eyes widened a little at the request—not only was she surprisingly the kind of girl to go out late at night…she was going to dance with her too?—but allowed the blonde to pull her to her feet and lead her off in the direction from which yet more thumping music was coming. The VIP areas dance floor. Puck put a hand on Santana's wrist and shot her a meaningful look and a wink. She rolled her eyes at him. Of course he thought that's where her thoughts would be.
When they were close enough that they could finally tell what song it was Quinn turned gleefully to Santana, "I love this song!"
And then the pulling on her arm had increased tenfold and Quinn was all but dragging Santana onto the sparse dance floor.
"Quinn, you dance like my mother," Santana shouted over the song that was playing to the girl who was swaying in all directions with her hands high above her head. Santana didn't quite know how to describe it besides being a few jolting movements short of an epileptic fit and she was glad on Quinn's behalf that they were on the VIP dance floor and not the normal one. There were a lot less people back there.
The other girl giggled but it was drowned out by the music so she shouted, "You'll have to show me something better!"
Santana raised her eyebrows and tried to ignore the thoughts that were suggesting Quinn was being flirty.
"Kurt and I are going to head home now," a dishevelled looking Blaine Anderson appeared from nowhere, leading Kurt by the hand. He picked up the wallet that he'd left with Santana and Quinn when the two boys headed off for the dance floor and raised a hand in a wave.
"Be good Kurt," Santana called after him as the boys walked away, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"That doesn't limit me to much," Kurt shouted back a wave over his shoulder at the girl who he hadn't known until earlier that day. Perhaps Santana had a reputation.
Santana shuffled away from Quinn, whose shoulder she'd been leaning against for a good twenty minutes…maybe more. But if she stayed like that for much longer her excuse of being tired from dancing was going to expire. "You want to go, too?"
Quinn shrugged and checked her phone. "Oh, God. We probably should. It's just gone midnight."
"Yeah but since we're all working tomorrow we're allowed to cut out early," Santana winked and stood up, offering the other girl her hand which she gladly took and allowed Santana to show her the way out, even though Kurt had only just gone in that direction so she full well knew where to go.
"And here it is…" Quinn said dramatically after unlocking the door. Santana looked at her blankly and Quinn giggled, amused by her disinterest. She threw the apartment door inwards and stretched her arms. "My apartment!"
"Woah, Quinn," Santana breathed sarcastically, "I've never seen anything like it—oh, wait."
"Shut up, it's special to me," Quinn laughed, "It's all my own, which hardly anything is."
Santana frowned at her. What was that supposed to mean? She was a grown woman, surely most things were 'all her own'. "OK, grand tour time. Here we have the majestic living room, kitchen and dining room mixture. Signature of an expensive apartment: the need to squish everything in one room. But you've…decided to turn it into a library?"
Quinn giggled again and Santana sighed to herself. She was going to have to stop doing that if she didn't want Santana to faint from a cute-overload. "Well, no. I've got my TV and my laptop as well as all the books."
"All the books. That doesn't even cover it, Quinn. You probably actually have more books here than the local library," Santana said and for once she wasn't joking. She went over to the bookcase and her eyes ghosted over the titles of the thousands of books. She was glad to say she'd read a few of them…or recognised the titles at least—it was close, right?
"Hey…I know I said you could come in and look around but it's pretty late…," Quinn suddenly sounded anxious. Santana looked away from the books and into the girls eyes, where she could see the novels reflected back at her. Was she suggesting…? "You could stay here. We're going to work tomorrow at the same place, after all."
"Sure, sounds good," Santana grinned, "I'll just call the limo driver and tell him I don't need him. And that he needs to get me from here tomorrow."
"OK, then," Quinn said and disappeared into one of the rooms branching off the triple-function main room of the apartment. Santana pulled out her phone, made the call and when she hung up she stood lost in the room for a minute.
"Quinn?" she called hesitantly.
"Yeah?" the girl shouted back. Santana followed the direction of her voice and knocked on the door of the room she was inside before walking in. Quinn was bent over her bedside table turning the light on when Santana stepped inside. She'd changed clothes when she was on the phone and was now wearing a cute pyjama top and shorts set with unicorns printed on it and the words 'prancing queen'.
"Hot PJs," she choked a laugh. "So you're going to bed? Am I sleeping on the couch?"
"Yeah, I'll get you a blanket," she said and opened up the built-in-wardrobe on the wall opposite her bed. She was momentarily swallowed by the clothes before reappearing with an armful of hairy blankets, "In case you get cold."
"Erm, thanks," Santana took the covers from her, "See you tomorrow, I guess."
And with that she left the room, bidding Quinn a good night. Now that she thought about it, accepting Quinn's offer was a bit stupid if she wasn't even going to stay up and talk to her for a bit…she might as well have slept on the comfy bed in her five star hotel.
She dropped the blankets onto Quinn's sofa and went over to the bookcases, searching the titles again before finding the one she was looking for. Santana knelt down and pulled out Quinn's copy of The Best Time of Your Life from the bookshelf. She turned it over in her hands for a second. It was practically the same as Berry's except it didn't have the dog-eared affect Rachel had gone for.
She took it over to her makeshift bed and arranged the cushions around herself, pulling the blankets over her body and snuggling down to continue reading it after finding where she'd got up to before Quinn called her out.
"Get away from me! You don't know anything about me!" Santana sat bolt upright at the sound of Quinn's shouting. She raised an eyebrow and wondered if she was on the phone. But no, it was way too early in the morning for that and she doubted that Quinn would speak to anybody like that ever. She put the book face down on the sofa next to her so she could pick it back up where she'd left off and got up to go to Quinn's room.
She opened the door without knocking and peeked inside. Quinn was thrashing around in the bed shouting about God knows what with her arms flailing everywhere. Santana hurried over to her and grabbed hold of the girls arms, lying them flat and next to her body before putting a hand to her face.
Quinn's whimpering and shouting quickly subsided and a peaceful expression took over her features again. One of her eyes slowly opened. "Santana?"
"You were having a bad dream," Santana smiled down at her, "Shh, go back to sleep."
Quinn shook her head, "The same dream will come back…"
"One second," Santana said and rushed out of the room. She grabbed the book and came hurrying back, jumping up onto the bed beside Quinn and sending an earthquake through the mattress. "I'm here to keep the dreams at bay!"
"You're not sleeping tonight?" Quinn asked amusedly.
"You've written a real page turner," Santana said with a grin. "Do you want to talk about the dream?"
"I…," Quinn started but cut herself off, debating it. "I just felt like I was back in high school. I think its nerves about you guys doing your read through tomorrow."
"Was your high school life like Adriana's?" Santana asked, biting her lip. She sure hoped not after reading about half of the book before Quinn started shouting.
The main character—Adriana, the one Santana was playing—was tormented and bullied for being fat and a loser by the girl Santana had initially thought was going to be the love interest; ignored, disliked and even occasionally beaten by her Christian parents for being gay and had the lowest self-esteem Santana had ever been subjected to reading…even if she didn't read much. It was almost painful. The girl hated herself and had forced herself into an eating disorder and basically, from what Santana could tell, everyone was telling her she wasn't allowed to be who she was.
She really hoped Quinn hadn't been through this. She could vouch for how horrible it was, relating partially to Adriana's story…but not completely. Her high school life was a breeze compared to hers. And possibly Quinn's. "A little."
"Oh, Quinn, I'm so sorry," she breathed, unsure of how to handle the deep direction the conversation was going. Santana wasn't good at emotions. "But you got through it, right? And you came out of the other end just fine."
"Yeah, after I changed myself," Quinn grumbled and looked away from Santana. She couldn't tell if Quinn's eyes were red or if it was the bad lighting.
To that, Santana didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell her she was perfect the way she was if she'd changed, could she? That would be like confirming her high school bullies. "You don't have to be someone you're not with me; I'll love you even if you turn green and sprout warts."
Quinn chuckled at the joke but Santana sensed that the laughter sounded empty and forced. Even in her relapse into high school depression—that's what Santana guessed it was, anyway—she was still trying to make her feel good. The girl was an angel. She tried not to think about the fact that she'd told Quinn, practically a stranger, that she'll 'love' her no matter what. Damn her and her big mouth, they were hardly even friends.
Yet here she was, sat on Quinn's bed. Was that strictly true?
"The reading tomorrow will be fine. This isn't you reliving high school, OK? You can let go of that now; you've moved on and you're a huge success now. Famous!" Santana cheered, using her hands to draw Quinn's mouth up into a smile, "OK, fine. Not as famous as me…but famous still."
"Shut up, Santana," Quinn finally laughed and batted the Latina's hands away. "I'm going back to sleep now."
"You do that. I'll be right here when you wake up. Probably still reading," she smiled and waved goodnight to Quinn as she wriggled to get into a comfy position again.
Santana looked sadly down at the girl's peaceful face with something stirring inside of her. She looked so innocent and young in her attempt to fall asleep. What kind of people would want to tear apart someone who was so beautiful inside and out?
