In a Land Far, Far Away
June, 2004
"I love the smell of summer rain." Santana says out loud, her eyes carefully trained on her hand that is watching the rain hit her skin and trickle from her fingers. She grins to herself, it never ceases to her amaze her the way that rain feels. It's different than a shower, something she's tried in vain to explain to her mother, but she's realized it's a lost cause.
"Does it smell different from winter rain?" Brittany asks, testing the water falling from the sky on her own hand in the same fashion as her friend. She mimics the way Santana turns her hand upwards, so her palm is facing the sky like she is catching the rain drops. Then she turns it upside down, letting the droplets hit the top of her hand and wriggles her fingers as well.
"Yeah." The dark haired girl tells her best friend. She shrugs her shoulders, shakes her hand off and pulls it back through the window, not really caring about the water dripping from her hand and onto the carpet of her Aunt's guest room floor. "It's like… awesome." She explains vaguely, but Brittany smiles and nods regardless, taking Santana's word for it. "Here, take a whiff." She leans her hands onto the window sill, waits for Brittany to do the same, and then she moves slightly forward so their faces are just getting hit with rain. "Mmm." She hums out, her eyes flutter closed and she smiles softly while rain cascades over her tanned cheeks. "Do you smell it?" Brittany giggles, but does as requested and smells the air outside, closing her eyes as well assuming this is how she will get the full affect.
"It does smell different." Brittany muses, unaware of the other girl's stare. Santana's grin widens at the way the blonde is letting herself completely take it in, the smell and the rain all in one. "You know what I think?" She says after a few moments of silence, opens her eyes and turns her head to face Santana who shakes her head not wanting to get caught staring.
"What's that?" She questions in return, pulling back from the sill and reaches her hand out once again to touch the rain.
"I think this is what beautiful smells like." Brittany declares proudly, as though she has figured out the world's biggest secret. Santana doesn't laugh, she does giggles slightly, but it's muffled by the beaming smile she sends the girl beside her.
"I think you might be right." Santana agrees with a nod, but before she can continue in her position of Brittany's intelligence, footsteps and a creak in the floor catches both of their attention.
"What are you girl's doing?" Mrs. Lopez asks from the doorway, her eyes wide and staring at the floor that is now soaking wet. "Santana Lopez, you better…" Her threats are short lived because her daughter hops out the window and all she can see are two skinny arms sticking up to grab at Brittany.
"Come on Britt!" Santana yells in laughter, making her friend squeal as she pulls at her hand and nearly making her fall out the window.
"Santana!" Mrs. Lopez calls out, trying to hide the grin on her face as she steps towards the open window that has become her daughter's escape route.
She chuckles to herself when she sticks her head out, only to find her daughter and the girl from up the road running through her sister-in-laws backyard hand in hand. They skip and slip across the wet grass, jumping in puddles that are more mud than water. She shakes her head when they finally stop, open their arms, hands still connected, and smile into the rain falling onto their faces.
Don't You Remember?
August, 2011
Sitting around Aunt Linda's gets boring super quick for Santana and the girl is just itching to get out. It's only the early evening but, by this time back home she is already gallivanting about The Heights with Puck or whoever she can get to drive her around. She closes the door to her new bedroom and stands there with her hands on her hips scanning her eyes over the things she brought, the things that are already there and the things she doesn't have.
She hears the creaking of floor boards from down the hall and she rolls her eyes because she's pretty sure that Aunt Linda doesn't get down with the bottle like her mom so if she's going to make a break for it she's going to have to be extra stealth. Her eyes are brought to the window she had been looking out of earlier and wonders if the people around these parts have screens in place, not that she'd have a problem kicking one out if push came to shove.
Santana stalks over to her bag, unzips it with a purpose and rifles through her things, digging deep into the bottom but coming up empty handed. She huffs and curses some choice Spanish expletives at the realization that one of her parents must have gone through her stuff because she is missing a certain something. The cool feeling of glass is nowhere to be found and she can only imagine her mother sitting pretty back in Boston topping off her third vodka rocks in front of the television getting ready for some crappy reality show to come on.
She should have figured that her perfectly, or so she thought, hidden bottle would have gotten taken when she realized that her phone was missing the first day she got here. That was a tantrum in itself and Aunt Linda still hasn't heard the end of that one and probably won't until she gets over, which is most likely never. Her aunt even tried to make a lame attempt at telling her about how the Gas n' Go sells pay as you go phones, only to receive a gagging noise and the patented Lopez eye roll at such a suggestion. True, Santana has no intentions of lowering herself to pay minute by minute for her cellularly high class lifestyle, but she also doesn't know anyone's numbers seeing as they are all stored in her phone back in Boston.
It becomes apparent that drowning out the complete silence that surrounds her out in the middle of nowhere is not going to happen with the trusty help of the bottle of Smirnoff she thought she had hidden beneath her delicates perfectly. Instead, she pulls out an outfit, because it's clear that she needs to go grocery shopping with a very short and specific list.
Her mini skirt is zipped, boots pulled up to stop just below her knees and over her form fitting tank top she finishes the ensemble off with a tasteful fur trimmed vest that she buttons up halfway. She glances in the mirror, but her hair is perfection so she leans forward to apply a quick touch up of makeup before she decides to make moves.
Turns out, Aunt Linda seems to not be much of a fan of screens like the rest of her family and she gets herself out through the window without a hitch. Sure, the heels of her boots decide to dig into the grass but whatever, a slight inconvenience but the mission is still on. When she gets towards the front of the house she looks over her shoulder to see that the light in the living room is still very much on which means Aunt Linda is most likely watching the second showing of Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune so she is in the clear.
She lightly jogs out to the road and knows immediately to turn left because right will only bring her further out to the sticks and she is not about to run into a band of rednecks who throw her in the bed of their dirty pick-up truck. Though, she has to admit the thought does sound appealing but only for a second because flashes of Lifetime movies run through her mind and she shakes her head at even contemplating going there.
With her hands shoved in the pockets of her fur lined vest, she walks briskly up the road passing the house next door within seconds which she inwardly laughs at because when she was younger next door seemed so far away. Eventually she gets tired and it's even worse when she sees that she barely got down the whole road, but she is not about to give up. She figures that if she needs to, she can use her sex appeal and the working function that is her thumb to hitch a ride into town. Movies like 'Sweet Home Alabama' and 'Have You Heard About the Morgan's' have to have some sort of truth to them and she is banking on running into a nice townie who will bring her to and from her destinations.
The bag on her shoulder begins weighing down heavily on her and she curses herself for not even trying to take Aunt Linda's truck. But the woman would have definitely noticed her prized auto mobile missing from her dirt paved driveway which would have obviously pointed her in the direction of Santana's very empty room. When she finally looks up from the road she's been walking on for what feels like forever, she sees the lights of town where she had been a few days before with her aunt.
At least it's in sight and the fact that her mission is not without reason, she picks up the pace of her walking. It takes about thirty minutes, maybe more but who's counting, until she finally reaches the tiny town where everyone and their mother go to buy everything. It's still kind of busy but Santana is hoping that she is not discovered. Not that she would be. It's been years since she's seen any of this place and its occupants so it would be pretty difficult for anyone to actually put a name to her face.
Down on the corner of Main Street she spots a small, hole in the wall bar and across from it a liquor store. Back home she'd have no problem strolling into any kind of bar, sleazy or fancy, sit down and get a few drinks from the friendly bartender. But once again, she's not about to make herself known, so her best bet and what she feels is a much better plan is to go to the liquor store and score a bottle, maybe two, of vodka.
Unlike back in The Heights, she leisurely struts across the street without so much as a horn blaring and a voice hollering at her to move her sweet ass. The neon pink 'open' sign is about as welcoming as the pearly gates in heaven and she smirks to herself as she pushes the door open and greeted with the faint jingling of bells. The man behind the counter nods and smiles kindly in her direction so she flashes him her best 'I'm totally old enough to be in here' smile, teeth and all.
Her attention is brought to the shelf in the back holding all of her favorite guys; Jack, John, Jose and Jim. She was close with all of them once upon a time and then there was that night she blacked out and woke up in the middle of her high school's football field in nothing but her panties and bikini top. At least she still had her shoes on she muses as she runs her fingers along the glass of the bottles. After little debating she grabs herself a handle of Jose before turning to find herself some vodka and grabs a fifth.
There's no one else in the store and all she can hear besides the guy behind the counter breathing is the clinking noise of the bottles in her arms. She smiles brightly, yes brightly because she's found some friends in the shape of pretty bottles. As she places her purchases up onto the counter the guy eyes her curiously while his hand slowly reaches out to grip the two bottles to ring them in. She tears her eyes from his stare and begins to look through her bag in search of her money. The man clears his throat, bringing her attention back up to him.
"I.D. miss?" He asks politely and she giggles out something equivalent to flirty, flattered and forgetful all in one.
"Oh, my bad." She apologizes for the sake of sounding sincere and she hands over her fake I.D. that has yet to let her down. He grabs it gently from her fingers and looks at it for a few seconds before smiling once again and giving it back to her.
"That'll be $22.50." He says and she quickly hands him the cash.
She tries not to look so surprised not wanting him to catch on that he totally just sold alcohol to a minor but truth be told she just can't get over how inexpensive liquor is out here. Maybe this place is something she can get used to. She chuckles at that thought garnering a strange look from the man as he counts out her change.
"You have a goodnight miss." The man tells her and she nods, not bothering to say it back because she is already out the door with her goodies.
That was cake, she thinks to herself as she walks across the street heading back the way she came. Even better, the nice, kind man behind the counter didn't even notice her swipe three little airplane size bottles of Jack Daniel's while he was ringing the rest of her goodies up. She figures that on the way back 'home' she will prepare herself for the 'flight' and pulls out the first tiny bottle of Jack.
It burns her tongue and then the back of her throat, doing her best not to let it show on her face that she truly has no more love for Mr. Daniel's. The first bottle is done within three minutes, seeing as it only takes about four normal person sized sips for her to finish the whiskey. She easily tosses it to the ground without a care in the world, digging in her purse for the second not giving another thought to the clinking of glass against concrete behind her.
She's about a mile away from town when she starts getting antsy for the good stuff, the liquid that reminds her of home. Santana chuckles, loudly, at her thought process. The fact that vodka reminds her of home is actually quite sad in that twisted, 'I'm from a broken home' kind of way. Vodka, she says in her head, makes her think of her mother.
With a roll of her eyes, she shoves her hand into her bag to grab that bottle that is calling her name. However, she is stilled and taken out of her own mind when she notices the flashing lights that are creeping up from behind her. She moves closer to the side of the road and glances over her shoulder to see a patrol car slowly roll by her only to pullover a few feet ahead of where she's stopped.
"Fuck." She mutters, quickly removing her hand from her bag and zips it up to hide the fact that she has alcohol in her underage bag.
The door opens, at a glacial pace, and so does the officer who is heading towards her. He is wearing that typical from the south sheriff type hats and she notices he most definitely has one of those 'swagger' things that cowboys have in movies. He lifts his hand to the tip of his hat and makes a motion to dip it out of courtesy for the young woman, only getting a quirked eyebrow and a crinkled nose in response from the girl.
"No buses run this way miss." The cop informs her, finally stopping about two feet from Santana. "Housing starts about another mile up." He points over his shoulder in the very direction that she is heading and she nods, she totally already knows this. She has the blisters on the back of her heels to prove it.
"Yeah, that's exactly where I'm heading." Santana tells him as she adjusts the bag on her shoulder which she only now feels the weight of.
"You must be from out of town." The man laughs, in a friendly and kind manner as he rests his hands to his hips. "I dunno anyone that would take that trek to town on foot." He says and all Santana can think is that she really hopes this conversation ends soon because she is starting to get her buzz on and talking to law enforcement is seriously ruining it.
"Yeah, from out of town." She humors the guy, figuring that if he is cruising down the south service road as his 'station' he must not have a lot of human contact.
"Well, welcome to Knox City." He takes a half a step closer and extends his hand to her. "I'm Sheriff Hummel." He introduces himself and with a raise eyebrow, Santana simply inspects the hand being offered. She just grips the handle on her bag a little tighter, she doesn't know where this cops hands been. For all she knows that in this Podunk town the Sheriff is also the mortician or worse, a janitor. He picks up on the fact that she is not going to be reciprocating the gesture and slowly pulls his hand back.
"Can I go now?" Santana blurts out, tilts her head and cocks a hip to the side out of annoyance. Sheriff Hummel is taken aback, his head jerks to the side and he eyes the girl up for a few moments.
"Umm, actually." She catches his eyes flicker to her bag and she adjusts it to be a bit behind her body instead of at her side. "You know, here in Knox, we got a new law about littering." He begins, and motions a few yards back where the setting sun is shining its light on one of those tiny bottles Santana chucked.
"New?" She mumbles to herself, it would figure that this place would be behind the times on the environment and shit. "I'm sorry I wasn't aware that glass wasn't biodegradable." She pouts, trying to act innocent, batting her eyes for the full effect and judging by the kind smile Sheriff Hummel gives her, he buys it.
"It's no big deal, we're all still getting used to it here." He waves his hand to emphasize the town, but, Santana doesn't think he needs to make that big of a production with his arm. "But, we're lucky, seeing as we're not big litter bugs here in Knox." He beams at this fact and it takes everything in her not to vomit all over his never been polished black shoes.
"So," Santana starts again, shifting her feet, suddenly regretting her choice in footwear. "Am I going to be arrested or something?" She asks with uncertainty. Santana has no idea what kind of Andy Griffith law system they have here in the middle of nowhere. For all she knows, she might have to paint a neighbor's fence for her crime, or worse, help some old person for a week.
"Oh," Sheriff Hummel chuckles, shakes his head and finally removes his hat, revealing to the young girl that he is in fact bald, or at least getting there fast. "No. Think of this as your first warning." He winks, and Santana is grateful that it's not one of those creepy older guy, 'I'm totally gonna try and get you into my van' kind of winks.
"Well, then let me be on my way." She moves to walk by him and make her way to her aunt's but she's stopped at the sound of his shoes crunching against gravel and dirt.
"It's a pretty far ways Miss." He reminds her, and she stops, grinds her teeth and finally spins around with a sweet smile. "I can drive ya if you'd like." He offers, motioning towards his patrol car that she finally reads that it does say 'Sheriff' on the side.
She contemplates the offer wisely. If she pulls up in a patrol car only three days after her arrival, there's no doubt in her mind Aunt Linda will either throw something at her or throw her out. One or the other, but something's getting thrown. But, then again, the Sheriff is being a good Samaritan and truth be told, her feet fucking hurt. So, in the end, the pain in her feet wins over the possibility that Aunt Linda may or may not strike her with some sort of object in the house, like a piece of furniture.
At least Sheriff Hummel allows her to sit in the passenger side, which she reasons is a good enough piece of evidence that she is not in trouble with the law. Luckily for her, the man beside her also isn't one for much small talk and the rest of the ride back to Aunt Linda's is taken up by the sound of Willie Nelson playing on the radio.
"Here." Santana interrupts their silence when her aunt's house comes into view.
"Miss Lopez's?" The Sheriff questions, chancing a glance at the girl beside him as he turns the car into the dirt drive way.
"Mhmm." Santana hums, reaching down to unlock her seatbelt not paying mind to the grin that appears on the cops face at her answer.
"You wouldn't happen to be that niece she's havin' stay with her, are you?" He asks and this only makes her roll her eyes, because she thought she was going to be able to get away without anyone knowing anything about her.
"Unless she's housing a bunch of teenage girl's, then yeah, that'd be me." She replies dryly, but then smirks at her statement, imagining Aunt Linda running some sort of underage brothel.
"Santana, right?" Hummel asks as he pulls up behind her aunt's truck and puts the patrol car into park.
"Yeah." She drawls out and reaches out for the door handle. "Thanks for the ride dude, and I assure you that I will only dispose of garbage into the correct receptacle." She smiles at him, fake smiles and he nods.
"Santana Concetta Lopez!" Aunt Linda's voice booms from the porch and the sound of the screen door slamming shut makes Santana shudder. "Where the hell have you been?" The older woman bounds down the few steps of her front porch and towards the police car, eyes frantically flitting from the car and her niece. "And seriously Santana, seriously?" She puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head, giving Santana a very disappointed and annoyed look.
"Hey Miss Linda." Sheriff Hummel speaks up just time and catches Aunt Linda's attention. He removes his hat and moseys his way over to the front of his car. "How are you doing this evening?" He asks politely, his charming smile on and his hat shifting from hand to hand.
"I've been better." She tells him, shooting a glare over towards her niece. She sighs, shakes her head and brings her hand up to run it through her dark hair. "Alright, what has she done?" Sheriff Hummel furrows his eyebrows and glances over in Santana's direction.
"Well, um, nothin' ma'am." He assures her, finally letting his hat remain in one hand and points to the young girl. "I just saved her from a rather long walk from town." He chuckles, all too well aware of the tension between the two women.
Santana sends her aunt a smug smile and starts towards the house only to be stopped when Linda steps in front of her. They have a small stare down until Santana finally huffs, spins around and walks back up to the Sheriff and extends her hand.
"Thanks for the ride Sheriff." He takes the offered hand hesitantly and they shake twice before she yanks hers back. "Better?" She asks as she twirls around to get an approving nod from her aunt who only juts her thumb over her shoulder telling her to get inside.
"Thanks so much Burt." Aunt Linda smiles at the officer and waves him off while he makes his way back into his patrol car. "You have a good night now." He waves back to her as he pulls out of the driveway and heads back in the direction of town. "Dios mio, this girl." She groans and makes her way back into the house to deal with the girl inside.
"I didn't get into any trouble." Santana defends when she hears footsteps come to a halt at her bedroom door. "I decided to go into town because this palace is like being sent into the hole in prison." She turns around after carefully placing her bag onto her bed, making sure to not let the bottles make clinking noises from within.
"And you didn't think to inform me?" Aunt Linda sighs in frustration and crosses her arms over her chest. Santana shrugs her shoulders and mimics her aunt's pose, she'd never been challenged by an authority figure about telling them of her whereabouts.
"It's not a big deal." She offers, trying to get the woman to drop it, she's home 'safe and sound' no.
"Santana, I don't know how it was back home." Linda starts and chances a step into the girl's room. "I'm sure you just came and went as you pleased." Santana nods, her eyes focused on the broken part of her doorframe by Aunt Linda's feet. "But that stops, I will have none of that here." She sternly tells her niece. "You leave, you tell me. Understood?" Santana's eyes flicker up to meet those dark brown eyes, so much like her own, and she sees that they mean business. She huffs, uncrosses her arms and nods her head.
"Understood." She stands there and waits until the sound of her aunt's footsteps fade away somewhere else in the house. She sighs, runs her fingers through her hair and lets her eyes fall back onto her bag that is still set on her bed.
It's still early, dinner won't be ready for another hour and a half, so she needs to find something to keep her busy. She's still feeling a light buzz floating throughout her body, and she figures that since Aunt Linda seems to be oblivious to the fact she's been drinking, it won't help to have a before dinner drink. Just a little something more to maintain her current state of slightly numb to try and forget that she is currently in the middle of nowhere and so very stuck.
Santana dips her hand into the depths of her bag, wraps her fingers around the neck of a smaller bottle hidden deep within and pulls it out victoriously. She pops her head into the hall, making sure the coast is clear, and she smirks when she hears the beginning of Jeopardy playing from the living room. Stepping out of her room, she holds the bottle behind her and walks down towards the entrance of the kitchen.
"I'm gonna go out back for a little while." Santana informs her aunt and heads towards the screen door that will lead her into the backyard.
"Okay, dinner is soon don't run off again." Aunt Linda's stern voice echoes from the other room.
With a roll of her eyes she sends a 'I won't, over her shoulder and steps out into the muggy air of Texas. The backyard looks very much as it did when she was younger, like shit. The grass is dead, almost a yellow, hay look to it and there's that tire she thought she was going to see in the front, only its propped up against the side of the shed. She shakes her head as she makes her way over to the dingy looking, manmade, tiny building.
When she was younger she would climb on the top and sit there for hours at a time. Sometimes her and her brother would climb to its roof, only a few feet from the ground, and jump off as though they were action heroes. The ladder is most likely somewhere hidden inside the shed and she does not feel at all in the mood to go rummaging through dirt, dust and possibly spider webs to retrieve it, so instead she settles for kicking off her shoes and using the tire to hoist herself up there.
She places the bottle on its flat surface and pulls herself up to the roof, smoothing out her clothes once she gets up there and takes a seat with her legs dangling off. From this spot she can see right into the neighbor's yard. They have a garden, it's colorful and plentiful, a vast difference from the non-existent color in her aunt's yard. A smirk does grace her lips though when she takes notice to the sprinkler desperately trying to get the very yellow and dry grass to become a beautiful green it most likely has never been.
Her hand unscrews the top of her glass bottle and she takes a quick swig, the liquid burns her lips and tongue and throat on its descent. She makes a face, never really loving the taste of straight alcohol, but through experience she's learned it's the fastest way to get what she wants out of it. A noise catches her attention and her eyes fall upon a window at the back of the neighbor's house.
She squints her eyes and sees an older woman, with blonde hair and eyes staring right back at her. The hand with the bottle falls to her lap, trying to hide it between her thighs and she lifts her other hand up to shield her from the setting sun that is so bright. The woman is giving her that look, the judgmental look adults have given her many times in life so far. Instead of caring however, she shrugs, leans back on one hand and brings the bottle up for one last sip. When she opens her eyes after her finally taste of alcohol, the curtains at that window are drawn, and the woman is gone.
"Is it really necessary to pull up to the steps? I'm mortified enough as it is." Santana complains, covering her face with her hands. Aunt Linda rolls her eyes in only a way a Lopez woman can.
"If you didn't have a track record as long as my body for skipping school I'd have made you get out sooner." Aunt Linda sighs. "Believe me." She moves her hand towards Santana's door. "Now get out and get an education." Santana eyes her aunt up, clenches her jaw and huffs throwing the door open and slamming it shut. "I'll be back at 3:00." Aunt Linda calls out over her roaring engine and pulls away.
"Hey!" Santana yells out, but it's too late. She shakes her head. "School ends at 1:30." She says to herself as she turns her body to face the front of the school.
Guys with letter jackets tossing a football around and giving each other high gives, to the right of them a small group of cheerleaders gushing and gossiping with one another. Teachers are walking in to the school smiling and that is what really gets Santana.
"Welcome to Pleasantville Santana." She mutters under her breath and takes her first steps towards her 'new life'.
It's strange, walking through the halls and not having anyone trying to get her to come out to the quad to chill instead of going to history. It's weird not seeing Puck waiting by her locker with that look in his eyes that told their secrets stories from the night before. Its odd yes, but most of all it sucks.
She contemplates turning around and completely ditching this twilight zone town but truth be told she can't. Not because she is stuck in some stupid 'contract' to change her ways, and it's definitely not because she doesn't want to disappoint her aunt or her parents. But, it is because she literally can't leave, everything in this town is far from civilization. She is not about to get lost in this Texas desert, plus she is far too lazy to walk that far.
First period Santana finds herself in English. Luckily she gets there in time to get a seat in the back of the room, making it easier to avoid the awkward 'new girl' stares. It would be inevitable regardless seeing as the teacher is currently calling out her roster, but at least if she's in the back she can stay out of sight.
"Santana Lopez." The woman at the front calls and Santana sighs, leans back in her chair and raises her hand. The teacher nods and makes a marking before moving on to the next name.
Her name doesn't prompt any turned heads or comments so she lets out a small sigh of relief until…
"I heard you were going here. Just thought it was a rumor." A soft voice comes from her right. She looks over to find a very pretty blonde girl in a cheerleading uniform leaning in her direction. "I thought it was you when I came in but," The girl shrugs. "I haven't seen you in years." She tells her and Santana knows that angelic voice, it sparks something in her memory and the blonde laughs with a smile as Santana is remembering.
"Quinn?" Santana asks in surprise, her eyebrows shoot up and her eyes travel along the cheerleader's entire body. "Wow, you…"
"Grew up." Quinn finishes the sentence, assuming those were the words on Santana's lips.
"Uh…" Santana shakes her head, grins and meets hazel eyes. "Yeah, you sure did." Quinn playfully rolls her eyes. "How…" She pauses, quickly glancing up at the teacher who is going over class rules and other dumb shit that she could care less about. "How'd you hear I was coming here?"
"My parents ran into your aunt at the market and she told them you were living with her. But, since Miss Linda's house is so close to the border of here and Chapman High, she wasn't sure where you'd be going." Quinn explains quickly and Santana's mouth is hanging open, still amazed at how that cute little blonde girl from Texas summer vacations is now this drop dead gorgeous girl. She nods dumbly realizing she has yet to give any kind of response. "I don't have cheer today." Quinn adds a few seconds later. "Why don't I show you around and we can catch up." She offers.
Santana can't understand how this girl can be so friendly after not seeing or speaking to each other for years. But it was something and she is in dire need of human contact away from her aunt.
"Uh, sure. That's cool." She nods while tapping her pen against her notebook idly.
She watches Quinn shift in her seat, turning her attention to the front of the room where their teacher is going on and on about Shakespeare. She does the same, sinking a little in her seat and bringing her pen cap to her lips. She tries her best to concentrate but there's nothing interesting her. So with that in mind she sighs and turns her head to the window. Not much going there either until a truck speeds in to a parking lot and the driver's door flies open.
Her eyebrows scrunch together as she watches two long legs emerge from the baby blue pickup truck and she squints to get a better look when she notices that the legs belong to yet another blonde cheerleader. A pony tail sways from side to side as a toned leg lifts to kick the door shut and it twirls behind the girl as she spins on her heels and faces the school building. She grins to herself when one of the books in the girl's arms fall and she can see her stomp her foot. Santana can only assume the shrug in her shoulders is a huff.
When the girl starts standing straight up again, retrieving her book from the ground she looks up the building and to Santana it seems as though she is looking back at her. Its brief, a second if even, but Santana just sees the girl's face as she heads to the steps of the school and her lips part slightly letting out a tiny gasp. Now that girl is beautiful, she thinks. But, she knew that face. She isn't sure if it was from memory or because she wants to know that face.
For the rest of the period she's bored out of her mind. The teacher drones on and on about some stupid play by some old, really dead British guy and by the time the bell rings the first page of her notebook is covered in doodles and her name in various fonts at odd angles. She sighs and closes her books, bends down to grab her bag and throws it over her shoulder ready to make a break for it. But, as she nears the front of the room she is stopped by a body in a blue and white uniform.
"What do you have next?" Quinn asks slowly, Santana can't remember her accent being so southern before, it kind of takes her by surprise. She shakes her head out of that thought and glances down to the slip of paper sticking out of her text book, taking it out to show the girl in front of her.
"Hmm…" Quinn hums, her eyes scanning the entire piece of paper, a perfectly shaped eyebrow arching as she nods. "Spanish is right across from my history class so…" She glances up from the pink sheet, leaving the offer wordlessly in the air between them but when Santana continues to stare at her with a blank face she decides to continue speaking. "I can show you to your next class if you'd like." She smiles sweetly, tilting her head to the side in that way Santana remembers her doing when they were younger and other kids tried to play with them. Quinn would always tell them 'thanks but no thanks', of course this would be after Santana told them to get lost.
"Uh…" Santana finally speaks up, blinks a few times and chances a look at the door, her exit, but inevitably gives in with a nod. Quinn does the same, her smile tightening over her lips and she turns around, Santana's schedule still in her hand and leads the way towards the hallway.
The halls of Knox City High School are pretty similar to any high school, Santana would assume anyway. It's filled with kids of all different walks of life: the jocks, their cheerleaders, the nerds, the Goths and the other kids that don't really fit into a box but still roam around just the same. The only difference from this place to her school back at home are the uniforms but, as she glances around again, it seems this school has uniforms just in a different way.
The jocks walk around with their letterman jackets on like a knight wears armor, seemingly protecting them from anything and everything. The way the teachers look at the football players here and the way the cheerleaders seem to kiss the ground they walk on gives Santana the impression that anyone of these guys could rob a convenience store and the mayor would erect a statue for providing the town with yet another championship ring and trophy.
Then there are the cheerleaders, like Quinn, who don their cheerleading uniforms quite like angels wear wings and halos. She's not going to lie or protest the fact that most of these cheerleaders are drop dead gorgeous, Quinn included, but there is something to be said about a Texas cheerleader in high school. Their hair in it's perfect pony, their pleaded skirts just short enough to get a good view but long enough to leave something to the imagination and the tops of course tight enough to embellish their curves and accentuate their breasts, whether they have anything there or not.
They smile sweetly, but Santana is almost certain that each one of them has some secret or conniving plan behind those smiles and sparkling, cheery eyes. Because seriously, no one can be that happy. They walk in clusters, which raises a question in Santana's mind and she quickly glances over at Quinn who has her head held high just like the rest of them, but, there's something different. She's not walking around with a posse, which is odd considering the clique her 'uniform' puts her in. Santana shrugs the fleeting thought off and continues to follow the blonde down the hall, all the while still taking in her new surroundings.
When they turn a corner Santana spots a group of those people who don't seem to fit into a certain category. There's a kid in a wheel chair who is laughing along with another kid who is a little fashion forward, he looks kind of familiar but she does not really give it a second thought because she is not trying to get to know anyone new here.
"Here it is." Quinn announces in a soft, airy voice and she spins around with her books clutched to her chest and that smile on her face. It's different than all the other ones Santana has seen during class and as they walked through the hallway. It's one she remembers from their childhood, so she nods at receiving it. "If you want, I can meet you out here after the bell. We have science together." She says while handing the pink sheet of paper back to the shorter girl. Santana looks at the paper as she takes it back and nods again. "Okay, see you in forty two minutes." Quinn says in an amusing and kind of sarcastic way and Santana watches her turn on her heels and walk to the classroom across the hall.
She looks to her left, her Spanish classroom and sees some young looking teacher greeting the students as they walk in. The way he says 'hola' makes her roll her eyes and she sighs because she always dreads Spanish classes, regardless of the teacher because they always expect her to know the answer because she's Spanish. And even though she does, it's racist or whatever.
She stands there a little longer, trying to bide her time before walking in to another new place and seeing new faces, just waiting for that douche bag to turn around in his chair and ask her if she is related to Jennifer Lopez. As the hallway begins to dwindle down to only a few students and some teachers waving them into the classroom she finally decides to take a deep breath and head on in. But, before walking in she looks to the right, down the hall and she spots that cheerleader she'd seen earlier through the window in English class.
The girl is walking slowly down the hall, schedule in hand, books in the other, holding them up to her chest and her ponytail swings from side to side as she looks at the room numbers on the walls, clearly trying to find her class. Santana's eyebrows furrow and she watches the girl continue to look frazzled, moving from quick steps to a slow pace before turning around in a circle and stumbling a bit.
"Hola." A man's voice comes from in front of her, startling her from her leering and she glares at the guy. "Class is about to start." He smiles at her and motions for her to enter the room and she does, but not without one last glance down the hall which is now void of any kind of girl.
By fifth period she's ready to get the hell out and back home, she would have left before the first bell but here, she has no option. Knox City High School is practically in the middle of nowhere and she has no wheels. There was a brief moment during science she considered bribing Quinn to ditch with her but when she looked over at her, her eyes were immediately drawn to the gold cross hanging from the blonde's neck which was being toyed around with between her fingers. That plan was obviously going to shit so she didn't even bother wasting her breath on the offer.
Quinn had apparently remembered her locker number when she had been looking at her schedule earlier because before she could go find something to do during her lunch period the girl showed up beside her. It seems they have lunch together so Quinn offers to have lunch with her and show her around a bit. Santana finds it strange but also a bit comforting, because she really wasn't too keen on the idea of having to be that new kid at a table all by herself. She had actually considered hiding out in the library, which made her laugh because she still doesn't know where the library is at her old school and she was there since the eighth grade.
It turns out that there are two places for students to eat at this school; the cafeteria or the quad which more or less is not really a 'quad' but simply an open part of campus next to the cafeteria. With a bottle of water and an apple in her hand she follows Quinn out to the quad where they find an unoccupied table beside one of the few trees that are actually around. She rests her bag on top of the table and carefully brings her leg up over the bench, she's wearing a skirt after all and does not feel like giving a free show… today anyhow.
"So how do you like it so far?" Quinn asks and Santana is broken from her blank daze of trying to block out this current part of her life. She sits down, grabs her water and unscrews the cap, her eyes scanning over the rest of the students taking up the quad at their lunch time.
"It's school, so…" She responds with a sigh and half an eye roll and brings the water bottle to her lips for a tiny sip. Quinn twists her lips and she doesn't grimace or frown at the way Santana has been so short with her since this morning. But she does not because the girl sitting across from her is right, it's school so really, how exciting can it actually be and she reasons that they are at least going to hang out after school and maybe she'll be more up to talking off school property.
They eat and drink their water in silence for majority of the period, only really speaking when Quinn points something or someone out to Santana who only nods at the fact that she hears her. She cranes her neck to look behind her when she notices Quinn avert her eyes from that direction because of course, her curiosity gets the best of her.
Behind her she finds a couple of football players, she knows this by their letterman jackets and the football in one of the boy's hands, spinning it in the air as he talks to his friends. She can't help but inwardly gag at the cheerleaders fawning all over the guys and gripping their muscles through their jackets. Mixed with that crowd is that girl, the blonde from earlier. She watches the way she isn't giggling like an idiot for the sake of getting one of those guys's attention and how she isn't throwing herself at them like the others are doing and it is so intriguing.
Getting the feeling she's been staring for way too long, she lets out a sigh and turns to find Quinn packing her stuff up into her bag and getting up from the table. She looks around her and realizes that everyone else is getting their things together as well. Quinn tells her the bell is about to ring and that they should head in. She does just that, tossing her apple core into the garbage on the way in and throwing her now half filled water bottle into her bag.
The next three periods go on just like the rest of the day and when that last bell rings she finds Quinn waiting for her at her locker. They don't talk much, except for Quinn telling Santana to follow her to the car, which she explains is her mother's because hers is in the shop. Santana only shrugs and gets in, ready to be 'shown the town', as Quinn puts it, in a joking manner of course because Santana already kind of knows Knox City.
Quinn takes them to a place right before the main highway of Knox City, explaining that all the kids go to Carmel's after the first day and all she wants to do is not hang around them after having spent a long day with them. Santana can't thank her enough, silently of course, because she really doesn't feel like dealing with being cooped up in a small place with all of these new people.
They place their order to some older woman who seems to come back with their food and shakes within seconds making Santana once again, silently, thank Quinn for her bright idea of going to the pretty vacant and tiny, tiny burger place in town. It's silent for the first few minutes of the arrival of their food and they enjoy it for a while. Santana's mind goes in reverse and memories of her summers here in Knox City come in waves. The girl sitting across from her being a big part of those summers and it makes her wonder about the other girl she'd known way back when.
"So, do you still talk to Brittany?" Santana asks, taking a sip of her milkshake, it's not much of a strange question seeing as the three of them were inseparable when Santana's family would visit. She would obviously imagine the two of them being just as close when she wasn't present.
"Well, we are on cheerleading together." Quinn shrugs and slips a fry between her lips. "So, technically we still talk but, we haven't been 'close' in a while. Her mom thinks I'm a bad influence." Santana chuckles, her eyes falling half a foot from Quinn's eyes and points a finger to the necklace hanging around her neck; a cross.
"Oh yeah, Q. Fabray, bad influence." Santana shakes her head. "You were always the first of us to say whatever it was we were about to get into was a bad idea." Quinn gives the girl a small sad smile.
"Yeah, well, I kind of got in some trouble two years back." Her eyes fall to the table.
"What did you do? Forget to say your prayers at night?" Santana mocks and slaps the table while throwing her head back enjoying her own joke. Quinn, however, remains silent and uses both of her hands to move her cup of iced tea around the table in front of her, eyes locked on the straw.
"I got pregnant." Quinn tells her in that soft voice and Santana's eyes widen and she jerks her body upright. Quinn uncomfortably tears her eyes from her drink and looks up to meet Santana's curious and thoroughly confused brown eyes. "So, after that got out, Mrs. Pierce practically forbid Brittany to hang out with me." Her shoulders shrug. "Poor girl didn't know what to do. She's still such a sweetheart but her mom's crazy. It's easier to explain that we talk because of cheerleading but outside of school, we don't see each other anymore."
"That… sucks." Suddenly feeling bad and kind of awkward about this new found information Santana fidgets in her seat and glances around the street beside them. Sure, they were all kinds of close when they were kids but this kind of story is some big kid shit and they weren't around each other when it went down. It's definitely a curve ball for her that Quinn is so open with her about such a situation.
"Yeah, well, we make it work I guess. She still means the world to me." Quinn announces looking off to the side.
"That's, kind of… honestly, that's some weird shit." She shakes her head as she slowly brings her cup to her lips for the first time in her short life finding herself at a loss for words.
Thankfully Quinn doesn't want to talk about having a baby at fifteen or her fall out with her best friend since childhood and is quick to change the topic. They avoid serious conversation and settle for making fun of the people walking around Main Street and how different Knox City High is different from Santana's prep school back in Boston.
They laugh for a long time and roll their eyes when some of the boys from the school football team come over and try to hit on Santana only to be shot down coldly. When they decide to part ways Quinn tells Santana about the football game on Friday and how down here it's kind of a big deal and everyone in town always comes down to cheer the boys on and also the girls. Apparently the Knox City Panther Cheerleading squad are nationally ranked which Santana finds pretty impressive but tells the her that no matter how good they are she is most likely not going to be showing up for any kind of southern gathering.
"I'm just gonna do my time here and then get on with my life." She says to Quinn with a shrug of her shoulders and a tilt of her head.
"I hope that get togethers between friends isn't on your list of 'things not to do'." Quinn jokes and Santana shakes her head.
"Truthfully Q… I think you may be my savior here." She pats the cheerleader on the shoulder and offers her her first genuine smile since arriving in Knox City.
They make plans to get together over the weekend after the crazy rush of the season opener comes to a close. They part ways and Santana heads over to the book store remembering she saw a payphone on the corner and calls her Aunt Linda to come pick her up.
When Friday comes, Santana is not the happiest camper.
"I can't believe I am doing this." Santana mutters to herself, flipping the visor down and applying lip gloss. "This is so not my scene." Aunt Linda rolls her eyes and watches her niece smack her lips together.
"It is now." The older woman says throwing the truck into park. Santana glares at her aunt, irritation clearly written all over her face.
"Whatever." The young Lopez huffs and pulls the handle of the door, ready to hop out but stops at the feeling of a hand on her arm.
"Just try and give it a chance. These people," Santana looks to the older woman beside her. "They grow on you." She offers her niece a small smile. "So, just try and make the best of it."
The truck slowly pulls away leaving Santana lone in the hustle of the Friday night football crowd at Knox City High School. With a huff, she shoves her hands into her pockets in her jacket and heads towards the stadium. She doesn't know why she agreed to this, it's already horrid. All the cheering and way too over excited fans of a high school football team is gross. The only thing to look forward to is the stupid guys hitting each other on the field.
But she knows why she's here. Quinn. The girl practically beamed actual rays of sunshine when Santana finally agreed to come to the game. And in all honesty, she is the only person here who has put any effort in to welcoming her. She always thought that new girls were hounded to join new cliques, football quarterbacks trying to 'court' them or whatever they called dating in 'Hayville', Texas. Plus, Quinn had pointed out their squad is good and Santana is nothing short of intrigued when it comes to girls who can do a good split in a short skirt.
Okay, technically that's two reasons, so, being here isn't really a big deal; moral support and a possible sweaty future one night stand with a hot and willing 'confused' cheerleader. She finds a spot on the bleachers right behind where the cheerleading squad is, well, cheering. She watches a girl do a flip and she smirks, that is pretty impressive. The girls finish a cheer and clap, a lot, and from what it looks like, are now taking a break. Santana assumes standing there looking pretty is not a routine, but she doesn't mind it much.
Her eyes scan the squad until finally landing on hazel eyes looking back at her. Quinn waves excitedly with a huge smile on her face and of course Santana returns the greeting, though with much less enthusiasm. When Quinn turns around something catches her eye. A few feet behind Quinn, facing the stands is another blonde cheerleader. The girl is talking to some other girl but her eyes are on Quinn, until they move to Santana's direction.
They lock eyes and Santana can swear that the hot cheerleader is smiling with her eyes at her. But, before she can gauge the situation the girl turns around and the squad performs another cheer. Santana's eyebrows furrow and her head jerks back before tilting to the side.
That has to be Brittany. From the looks of things, the girl is leading the cheers and Quinn did say that Brittany is head cheerleader. As much as she tries to look elsewhere, her focus is on that blonde haired, blue eyed cheerleader for the whole game. She is most definitely not the twelve year old girl Santana remembers, Brittany is all grown up.
A whistle catches her attention and she eyes the field up as guys in bulky shoulder pads and shiny helmets take the field. She scans the crowd, wondering if she would be one of these crazy people cheering on a stupid football team if she'd grown up here. She shudders at the thought, turns back to the field, watches the guy in the striped shirt raise his hand, blow a whistle and lower his hand. A guy from the other team kicks the ball really high and when she loses it in the lights surrounding the high school stadium it's the exact moment she loses interest in the entire game.
"Already bored." She sighs out in a whisper and reaches into her bag pulling out a nail file.
The game is over, apparently her school won, whatever. She pushes her way through the joyous crowd, some random people slapping her on the back as though she's the one who played in the game. She waits by the tunnel of the stadium for Quinn who said they should get some food after the game.
She stands there, back against the wall watching very excited parents, classmates and people of the town pass her by. A couple of cheerleaders walk by, catching her attention briefly but, they are all brunette's so clearly not the one she is waiting for.
It's only a few more minutes before Quinn finds Santana leaning up against the wall of the tunnel trying to avoid eye contact with pretty much anyone who walks by her. Quinn shakes her head and chuckles because to her, Santana is the same girl with the attitude and she can't help but miss it. She walks up to her and playfully nudges her in the shoulder with her tiny fist and she motions for the girl to follow her to the field house parking lot.
Santana rolls her eyes as she hops into the passenger side door of Quinn's brown pickup truck. Growing up she always imagined the little pristine Quinn Fabray to grow up driving some sort of eco-friendly car or perhaps even be chauffeured around by some uptight guy with a stupid hat on. Never in her wildest dreams would she picture Quinn Fabray driving a pickup truck with a stick shift and it's in that moment that she misses the Jetta sitting in her driveway back in Boston and she can just picture her father selling it on her just to prove a point.
"So, did you have fun?" Quinn asks breaking the silence that has seemed to fall over them without their knowledge. Santana shifts in her seat, the leather clinging to her skin in all the wrong places and she clears her throat.
"Yeah, it was riveting." Santana deadpans and gets a small giggle from the girl beside her.
"Thought so." She lets out with an amused tone to her voice and Santana watches the way she grips the steering wheel. "Every time I looked over at you it was like you were in your own world." Quinn points out with curiosity and chances a quick glance at her friend. Santana shrugs uncomfortably with the idea that maybe Quinn caught her staring at Brittany the entire time but then she realizes that that is highly unlikely.
"I'm not really into sports." Santana informs her and checks her nails in the dim light of the passing street lamps.
"Well, you're in Texas now, cheerleading or football." Quinn states as though it is a motto that babies are forced to learn at birth. "I know, it's ridiculous. It's what my mom used to say, as a joke obviously." The two share a soft chuckle at the thought of that being taught in school and how it pretty much is what their high school puts more pressure on. "Shakes and fries?" She inquires as she pulls up to a red light and puts her blinker on. Santana shrugs her shoulders and nods.
"Sure." She replies and glances out the window, her eyes landing on a baby blue pickup truck in the Mason shopping center with a bunch of cheerleaders surrounding it along with some letterman jackets. The light colored pickup truck fades from view as she and Quinn head down Marlboro Road and head over to the small burger shop on the strip.
"Remember when we were little and we used to beg your dad to drive us up here for cookies and cream milkshakes?" Quinn asks as she pulls her old, rusted truck into the small parking lot of Carmel's. Santana takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly because it was only a matter of time before she and Quinn got into 'remember when's' from when they were kids and the Lopez's were one big happy family. "We would get Britt to pout and your father would always cave." She laughs at the memory and all Santana can do is nod. She remembers that much but the rest of her happy childhood memories are muddled by all the bad shit that happened and how her father apparently fell out of love with her mother and vice versa.
Carmel's is one of those old school malt shop burger places where girls and boys on roller skates roll up to your cars or trucks and take your order and hopefully don't drop their trays while delivering your goods. Sometimes though, when the craving for a milk shake wasn't so bad, it was actually an extra treat when one of the servers would glide over a rock or a divot and fall onto their faces. Santana is secretly praying for one of those moments for a good old chuckle she hasn't had in a while.
Quinn orders them some shakes and fries and they decide to split a burger and while they're waiting she fiddles with the radio until finally landing on a station that doesn't entirely suck in Santana's opinion. When the nerdy boy from their school finally shows up with their order they dig right in and it's only a few more moments of silence until Quinn speaks up again to start conversation.
"I heard about when your parents split up." She mumbles through a small bite of their shared burger and hands it over to Santana who gives her a tight lipped smile and a small nod. "I wanted to call when I heard but… I mean I really didn't know what to say. I still kind of don't." She explains, her eyes looking down to where her fingers are deciding on which fry to take. Santana clears her throat and takes a quick sip of her strawberry milkshake.
"We were twelve years old, I wouldn't expect anyone to know what to say to me." Santana tells her in a calm voice, her eyes fixed on the neon sign just ahead and she licks her lips to remove the excess strawberry from them. "Besides, it's their problem. Not mine." She decides on and takes a small bite from the burger before handing it back to the other girl's waiting hands.
"Still, I'm sorry we weren't there for you." Quinn adds and she shifts in her seat, the heavy conversation obviously not settling for either girl but it's better to get this stuff out in the open quick and early. Santana tilts her head to the side and eyes the girl beside her, needing to blink a few times because the neon sign has spotted her eyes.
"We?" Santana asks curiously.
Sure she and Quinn were good friends when they were younger, but she never felt particularly close to the rest of the Fabray clan. Sure Mr. Fabray was cool and all and Mrs. Fabray scared her way less than Mrs. Pierce but they were never really people she would refer to as a second family. But Quinn nods regardless of Santana's thoughts and turns in her seat so her back is against the driver's side door.
"Me and Britt." Quinn clarifies and Santana mouths 'oh', finally understanding Quinn's always so puzzled way of speaking and she nods. But then after the realization she goes back to shaking her head.
"Well, shit happens so… don't blame yourself." She tells her. "I find it so strange that even after Brittany flat leaves you, especially in your time of need," She says slowly, not really sure on how to put Quinn's predicament of being a teen mom. "You are the first one to always bring her up like we are still those little girl's playing on the tire swing." She raises a curious eyebrow to Quinn, who nods knowingly and chews her burger and swallows before responding.
"Brittany was the first person I told." She explains carefully, her eyes looking everywhere but at Santana. "She came with me to plan parenthood, over in Carter which is the next town over." Her eyes flicker to Santana but only for a moment before the sign catches her full attention. "We took the bus, she used her allowance money to pay for us. When we got there I was crying like a baby and she held my hand while we sat in the waiting room." Santana sips her milkshake, her eyes fixed on the girl telling her dirtiest not so secret. "I had already taken like, a dozen home pregnancy tests but I knew I had to hear it from an adult to believe it." She bites on her lower lip and Santana can tell that the memory, though two years old, was still fresh for Quinn.
"She came with me into the room, even though technically she wasn't allowed but I begged and so did she." Quinn smiles thoughtfully for a moment at the memory before it quickly fades away and she shifts in her seat, finally looking Santana in the eyes. "She said that she would be there for me if I wanted to keep the baby. She would help me raise it and would help take care of me. God," She shakes her head in disbelief. "I was only fifteen, I mean she was too and there she was making promises to me and I knew she meant it when she said them." She laughs at herself for getting a bit misty eyed and she wipes under her eye with the back of her finger. "Brittany was with me when I told my parents and she held me in her arms when I told her I was giving the baby up for adoption."
They sit in silence for a few more moments, letting the words sink in, Santana for the first time and Quinn for the millionth time. Quinn hands the burger over to Santana who takes it willingly and watches the blonde lift her milkshake up to her lips and take a swig.
"Even when her mom told her she had to cut ties with me she made sure to keep tabs on me. But it's so hard… having a mother like Annie Pierce and trying to have a life." She gives Santana a look that the is completely understood. "Eventually though, it got too difficult for her to secretly be my friend that we fell out of touch. It was hard enough for me to get back on cheerleading so we could have some sort of communication but… it's something. And I'm thankful for whatever time I can have with her." She nods her head and Santana follows suit believing that is the end of the story. "So, yeah, me and Britt's may have had a falling out or whatever it is you big city girls call it but… she's still my best friend. This," She points to her chest where her heart is. "Never goes away." Santana swallows her milkshake down hard. She'd never thought she'd return to Knox City nearly five years later to find the two best friends estranged and definitely never thought she'd find Quinn Fabray so hardened by life at the ripe old age of seventeen. But then again, this only made her feel closer to Quinn and she smirked.
"So, who's the father?" Santana chances and Quinn rolls her eyes as she pops a fry in her mouth.
"You seriously don't want to know." She shakes her head, like the information being said out loud would cause the entire world to burst into flames. But this only makes Santana want to know even more.
"Is it a secret?" Santana questions before pushing even further. Quinn sighs and looks back at Santana.
"Finn Hudson." She tells the other girl, and her mouth drops.
"Finn fucking Hudson?" Santana practically shouts, causing both girls to look around to make sure that no one has heard her. "Finn fucking Hudson?" She asks again but in a whisper and Quinn closes her eyes and nods with unfortunate affirmation. "You poor thing." Thankfully, Santana's sarcasm gets a chuckle out of Quinn and she soon finds herself joining in.
"Finn fucking Hudson." Quinn repeats while shaking her head and popping another fry into her mouth.
Right now she is sincerely regretting not taking Quinn up on the ride home. But truth is, she needed the fresh air and the time to think about her stupid new life in the dampness that is currently Texas.
It's pouring. Straight up and down, thick and hard rain falling from the skies above. It would figure that the day it decides not to be all sunshine and rainbows would be the day she misplaced her house key. At least, she thinks, as she kicks the bottom step to the porch that the sweaty and humid Texas air will never let her down. Even with the clouds dropping bombs of water on her head she can be always depend on the hot, sticky air of the south.
"Don't these cow people leave their doors open." She huffs, standing on the bottom step and staring at the front door as though with just her gaze she could will it open. "Television lies." Her eyes roll and she looks around wondering if there is any shelter. If only she had taken her aunt up on borrowing the truck today, if only.
So, figuring she can't do anything she takes a seat on the steps trying her best to keep the tiny hood attached to her shirt up to cover her hair. Normally she really would not care about being stuck in the rain, truth be told deep down Santana liked the rain. But not so deep down she despised it simply for the fact that her hair was not at all prepared for weather conditions such as this. In the city it was not unheard of for someone to walk around with an umbrella and Santana herself had most definitely purchased an on the spot umbrella to get from point A to point B.
But not here. In 'Randoms-ville', Texas weather was touch and go and she hated it, so did her hair. It has literally gotten to the point where the coverage is of no help and she sighs loudly throwing the hood back. Just when she is about to get up and kick in a window or throw a rock lights come from out of nowhere and it's not her aunt's truck.
"Hey." A voice comes to her ears over the rain. "You okay?" Her eyes squint, shielding herself from the rain as well as the droplets falling from her eyebrows. She stands up and moves slowly towards the vehicle.
"Yeah, locked out. I lost my key." Santana admits with annoyance, she would think that it's fairly obvious.
"Oh." The voice is closer and a shadowy figure is coming towards her. "Well, lucky for you Miss Linda gave me a spare." It's the blonde from the first day she arrived. It may be dark and it may be raining but Santana can see it's her and she's holding up a key from her key chain.
"Umm, what?" Santana stops walking and watches the girl brush past her, up the steps and to the door shoving the key into the lock.
"There you go." The girl cheers pushing the door open. Santana looks curiously at her and slowly walks into the dark house.
"Right." She quietly says and flips the light switch to the porch on and finally putting the other girl in light. She stands there, staring at the girl, who is smiling regardless of the rain pouring down on her. "I…" Santana stammers in the doorway, taking in the beauty of the girl in front of her. The girl grins, bites her lower lip and her eyes look down for a moment.
"You don't remember me, do you?" The taller girl asks with amusement and tilts her head. Santana quirks an eyebrow and then after a moment she finally finds her voice again.
"Brittany." She replies quickly in a breathy voice half confidently and the other half is happy that she's finally used actual words. The blonde, Brittany, smiles wider and nods, seemingly surprised Santana remembers her. "Of course I remember you." It's true, Santana remembers her, well, it is the new, more womanly body that threw her off at first but she remembers. Before she can say anything else a horn from the truck blares and Brittany looks over her shoulder through the rain.
"Gotta go." And with that, Brittany is off. She runs through the rain and soon enough the lights are slowly drifting away until Santana is standing in the doorway looking out into complete darkness.
Santana is walking down the road from her aunt's house. Maybe it is up the road, she hasn't really decided that much yet. What she does know are the childhood memories that are flooding through her mind with each step she takes.
Across the road a random tree stands. She always thought it was odd, just one tree standing alone with a huge piece of land as its backdrop. In a way it is kind of sad, that it is by itself. But even with that feeling of sorrow for the lone tree she can't help but smile.
She remembers when she was younger and the girl from up or down the road would want to play by the tree. She wanted to keep it company and Santana always wondered if the girl knew Santana felt sorry for the tree too. It actually still had the tire swing the girl's father put up one summer.
"I don't want you out there all day long." A woman's voice comes faintly from ahead of Santana.
"Well," Another voice but, this one is softer yet just as irritated. "I'll be done when I'm done."
"I don't know why you don't just bring it to your father's garage. Girl's shouldn't be fixin' trucks." The older woman sighs with annoyance but it is loud, meant to be heard.
"Okay Mom!" The younger girl's voice shouts back.
Santana smirks, she's close enough to hear a screen door shut and some hushed cursing going on. She comes to a long paved driveway, looking vastly different from the dirt road to her right. She enters the driveway, cautiously and curiously. Santana quirks an eyebrow when she spots the backside of the girl from up or down the road. Brittany is bending over the front of her truck desperately trying to fix something in the engine.
The blonde is in some tiny, cut off jean shorts and if the grease marks up and down her long, toned legs are anything to go by, Santana can assume she's been wrestling with the insides of her truck for a while now. As her eyes continue their descent over the cheerleader's legs, she breathes out in amusement at the fact that Brittany is donning those oh so typical cowboy boots she's been spotting all through town since her arrival.
She shakes her head from the boots, pretending she didn't just think that they were kind of sort of cute, and rakes her eyes up the rest of the girl's body. Her tight white t-shirt rides up as she moves and bends over to fully inspect the engine of her truck, showing off the small of her back and very in shape sides of her torso. One sleeve is rolled up, exposing Brittany's bicep which Santana can tell is nicely shaped, probably from all of those flips and cartwheels she has to do for cheerleading. Her long blonde hair is up in a messy bun, and she can see when Brittany's head turns a bit that some strands have fallen free, framing her face that also has been smudged with some grease.
She quickly glances down at her own outfit and how vastly different they are dressed. Sure, she's got boots on as well, but these are laced up, three inch suede boots that she is kind of now regretting only because there is most definitely some dirt on the toe from the service road and Aunt Linda's damn driveway. Her tight black skirt is definitely as short as those cut offs, probably shorter now that she thinks about it. And her red top accentuates her chest, which Brittany's t-shirt does not emphasize any of her assets, though she's sure they are there underneath. Of course, what would any Santana Lopez ensemble be without being topped off with one of her leather fur fringed vests, well, mini vest considering it doesn't even come to her waist.
"Shoot!" Brittany yells, jumping back and throwing a screw driver onto the ground pulling Santana away from her thoughts and oh so obvious leering. The shorter girl holds in her giggle but she still grins and continues in the direction of the blonde cheerleading mechanic.
"Everything alright here?" She asks startling the other girl.
"Oh, yeah," Brittany smiles, blowing some stray hair out of her face and wiping her greasy hands on the back of her cut off jeans. "Just having issues with the fan belt." She explains motioning to the open hood. Santana quirks an eyebrow in confusion. "It's part of the engine." Brittany smirks, finally getting a nod and a shrug from the dark haired girl.
"I wanted to come over and thank you, for the other night." Santana stammers nervously, getting close enough to the truck to lean against it, hands still firmly tucked in her pockets. Brittany watches her and eyes her up as she nods. "Honestly, if you hadn't come and saved the day well, let's just say my hair and the rain are not friends."
"Really? I thought you looked pretty." Brittany states and moves to the tool box propped on a lawn chair searching for something. Santana's eyebrows furrow and her head jerks back, completely bewildered.
"Well, yeah, so thanks and everything." She repeats her gratitude, pulling her hands free and clapping them together. Brittany grins and looks up from the tool she has finally decided on.
"You said that already." Brittany points out, seemingly amused. "And you're welcome." She nods and then flicks her head to the side, eyes falling to Santana's chest before coming up to her eyes. "You should probably take that off." She suggests moving to the front of her truck once again. Santana's eyes widen, flitting from her chest to Brittany's blue eyes on her brown ones. "Well, you don't want to get it dirty do you? Cause that's what's gonna happen when you start helping me with the carburetor." She points to the machinery inside the truck and it's obvious by Santana's facial expression that she is thoroughly confused, making Brittany laugh. She wipes her forehead with the back of her hand and motions for Santana to come by her side. "I help you, you help me." Santana mouths 'oh' and nods.
"So this is how this world works." Santana sighs out in understanding, bringing her fingers up to unbutton her top revealing a tank stop underneath.
"It's how it works in my world." Brittany corrects her and hands the girl a wrench. "I give, you give."
"I'm used to the world I lived in, the 'I take, you take… and then you take some more'." Santana says sarcastically and Brittany is listening but goes right to work.
"That sounds like a lose-lose situation." Brittany sighs out glancing over her shoulder as she loosens a screw with her screw driver.
"I'd say it's more like a lose-win, you lose they win, twice." She rolls her eyes half heartedly.
"That's stupid. Taking isn't winning, I know it probably sounds corny but I'm a giver." She grunts as she tries to go for a screw that's on pretty tight. "It feels good." She explains innocently.
"So how do you justify taking up my time and forcing me to do manual labor to fix your truck?" Santana challenges with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Brittany continues to twist away at the screw and giggles softly.
"I'm not taking anything. You are giving me your time as well as offering your labor to thank me for totally getting you out of a jam the other night." Brittany flicks her eyes to brown ones playfully.
"Alright, alright." Santana complies, grinning and for some reason she feels her cheeks burning so she turns her head to hide it.
The two girls stand there, Santana watching Brittany at work, holding tools for the girl when needed. They worked together in relative silence with the occasional 'wrench', or 'hold this'. After a while of no conversation Brittany finally clears her throat.
"So, I've been wondering, how come when you just moved here you didn't come by?" She asks seriously, though her focus is still on her hands at work.
Truth, Santana doesn't have an answer. When she was on her way to this farm land there were two people she thought of; Quinn Fabray and Brittany Pierce. She had wanted to see both girls as soon as she got here but they hadn't seen each other in years, who knew how they'd react to a very different, much more moody seventeen year old Santana Lopez.
"I mean," Brittany continues after a few short beats of silence. "During summer vacations we were… you were my best friend." She admits quietly, finally pausing her motions and looks over at Santana. When Santana doesn't respond, Brittany turns back to the engine.
"You were my best friend too." Santana finally replies and she can see a small smile forming on the other girl's face. Brittany straightens up slightly and leans her hands on the front of her truck and turns her head to look at the girl beside her. They smile at one another for what feels like forever, Brittany softly and Santana awkwardly.
"Hand me that screwdriver." She nods towards the toolbox and tightens her lips over her teeth to hide the wide grin daring to come out. Santana raises an eyebrow, shakes her head slowly and opens her mouth a few times.
"Yeah, I don't know what that is." She wipes her hands together and stands up straight to look over at Brittany who chuckles at her.
"You're kidding me right?" Brittany giggles, reaching around the shorter girl to grab the tool in question, raises it up for her to see and then goes to work.
"Ahh," Santana lets out, nods and then leans forward once more. "See, here I was thinking you wanted me to run inside, grab a glass of vodka with a splash of orange juice to pour over your cabor-whatever." Brittany breathes out a laugh and shakes her head, and looks over her shoulder at the dark haired girl with amusement all over her face.
"Brittany!" The older woman's voice returns and Brittany rolls her eyes and tosses her mother a glance over her shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Dinner's almost ready so come in and shower. I don't want this whole house to smell like a dirty tire." Mrs. Pierce hollers.
"Alright." The younger Pierce calls back.
"Who's this?" Her mother motions to Santana, not really interested in meeting the young girl but almost as if she just realized someone else was here.
"Oh," Brittany relaxes and smiles. "Santana, Miss Linda's niece. You remember."
"Hi." Santana greets and waves uncomfortably under Mrs. Pierce's scrutinizing stare. The older woman nods once before going back inside. "She's friendly." Santana mutters sarcastically while Brittany lets out a huff and turns back to the shorter girl.
"Yeah, sorry about that. She just gets mad when I work on my truck." She explains, tapping the metal with her hand. "She says it's not 'lady like'."
"Aren't you the captain of the cheerleading team?" Santana asks, handing over the wrench in her hand to Brittany who nods and she half rolls her eyes.
"It's a squad and yes, but, apparently that's not enough for her." She chuckles, but the shorter girl can tell she doesn't really mean to be funny. "Anyway, you're more than welcome to stay for dinner. I assure you, my mom is a lot nicer when she's on her second glass of wine." Santana laughs, looks down and shakes her head.
"No, I should really get back to my aunts." Santana points with her thumb over her shoulder. Brittany tosses her tools back in the tool box, nodding as she wipes her hands on the back of her shorts. "Ummm, yeah… so I'll see ya." She waves before turning around to head back down or up the road to Aunt Linda's.
"See ya." She hears just as she makes her way to the end of the driveway but she turns around quickly.
"Our tire swing is still up." Santana calls out and points in the direction of the tree. Brittany looks up from her hands and smirks, nodding at the other girl's statement.
"Of course it is." They stand there, opposite ends of the driveway, grinning, until Santana waves one last time and walks up or down the road. A small smile playing on her lips the entire time.
