Smiling broadly when Tina opened the door, Rachel giddily held up her sleeping bag and backpack, gesturing at the waiting karaoke machine and couple of grocery bags behind her. "Good evening, Tina. May I have some help bringing everything in?" As she waited for an answer, she glanced behind Tina, hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone else inside.
Tina smiled. "Of course!" Leaning forward to take the sleeping bag from her, she pushed the front door open further. "Hey, guys! Someone free?"
A couple of loud, laughing voices drew near, and then Mercedes and Quinn appeared at the door. "Oh, great," Quinn rolled her eyes, coming out to grab the shopping bags anyway, "Unappetizing food."
"You say that now," Rachel grinned, then turned to Mercedes. "Can you take my backpack?"
"Sure thing. See you inside." Taking the backpack, Mercedes followed Quinn and Tina inside.
Looking down at the karaoke machine, Rachel rubbed her hands together. "Well…" she murmured, "Bend knees, back straight." Sliding her hands along the sides until she gripped the corners near the bottom, she flinched when a low voice husked behind her, sending up instant prickles of awareness and goosebumps, "You look ridiculous."
"Thank you Santana," Rachel straightened, throwing her hair behind her shoulder as she turned to look at the girl staring intently at her, "That's really nice that you feel the need to point that out."
"Just keepin' it real." Breathing in deeply through her nose, Santana's eyes dropped to trace Rachel's body, slowly, slowly breaking away to take in the karaoke machine. Walking forward, with hot fingers she pushed Rachel's shoulder, making her back up, her hand sliding down Rachel's arm before pulling back. Muttering something under her breath, she smoothly picked up the karaoke machine, stalking past Rachel before she could say anything.
Staring at her back, Rachel swallowed and shook her head. Santana's hand… It had felt so possessive. Possessive… And dangerously attractive.
Dropping the machine where Tina pointed, Santana took a moment to breathe in deeply, sorting and cataloging everyone's scent. Though she had been over earlier in the week, Brittany hadn't arrived to the sleepover yet, and Quinn and Mercedes were in the kitchen. They both smelled like their boyfriends, while Mike only lingered at the edges of Tina's body; she had obviously showered after school.
Nose twitching, Santana turned her head just enough to look in the direction of the kitchen, narrowing her eyes as she did so.
Rachel smelled like the grocery store. All of the faceless scents making her feel agitated, she growled low in her throat, it taking a couple of seconds to separate the stink from the scent she needed. Just a matter of time, she allowed her lips to turn up into a dark grin, until even that scent changed once she took what was hers.
"….and then when Kurt and Brittany get here," Tina was still talking to Santana's back, "We can decide on when we want to move to the pool. You did bring your bathing suit right, Santana?"
Thoughts flashing to the burning smell of chlorine swiftly moving to the sight of Rachel close to nakedness made Santana's smirk grow. "Of course," she turned around, not bothering to change the expression on her face, "I'm always up for gettin' my swim on."
Looking up from the vegetable platter she was arranging, Rachel smiled widely at Tina. "The karaoke machine all set up?" she asked hopefully, practically bouncing on the tip of her toes.
Tina smiled distractedly back at her as she moved to the refrigerator to take out a bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap, she nodded. "I think so. I left Santana working on it."
"And you trust her with it?" Quinn butt in, looking up from the bowl of potato chips she was pouring.
Rachel frowned. "What do you mean?"
Quinn rolled her eyes, going back to the chips, accepting another bag from Mercedes when the one she had emptied with space still left in the bowl, "Well, it's yours, isn't it? It wouldn't surprise me if she found some way of screwing with it so she wouldn't have to hear you hogging it all night."
"I wouldn't do that." Repressing the urge to snap, Rachel huffed instead. Giving Quinn a pointed look, she pushed the finished tray aside and picked up the bag of plain, vegan-friendly popcorn to her left; once the plastic was removed, she set it down and put her hands on her hips. "While, yes, I would enjoy having some songs for myself, I would also find it a good use of time to be available to offer tips and advice on improving all of your guys' performances as well."
There was silence in the kitchen, and then Mercedes rolled her eyes, reached for one of the carrot sticks on the vegetable platter, "Shut it, Rache," and flicked it at Rachel.
Blinking as the vegetable hit her chest, Rachel watched it fall to the floor. "Really?" she gasped, laughter bubbling up to join Tina, Quinn, and Mercedes', and grabbed a baby tomato. She aimed.
Unfortunately, she had always been a bad shot. The tomato glancing off of Quinn's cheek, Rachel eeped and took a step backwards. "Quinn," she started, still laughing even as her hands came up in surrender, "You know that was an accident."
"Do I?" Using the back of her hand to wipe off where the tomato skin had split on impact, the blonde smirked evilly and lunged forward. Scooping up a handful of radishes, she started tossing them in Rachel's direction.
"Tina!" Rachel squealed, turning to sprint to the safety of behind her, "Tell Quinn that throwing vegetables isn't the proper thing to do!"
Quinn snorted. "Even if you did it first?" she taunted, feinting a dart around the island in the middle of the kitchen to get Rachel to go the other direction.
"I'm not a part of this!" Detaching herself from the job of human shield, Tina quickly joined Mercedes on the other side of the kitchen. "Just don't break anything!" she raised her voice, then copied Mercedes in egging both girls on.
"Traitor!" Changing her tactic to trying to catch the radishes instead of batting them away, Rachel jumped in triumph when she managed to bounce one off the side of Quinn's head. "Well?" she grinned smugly, "We even now?"
"Ugh." Shaking her hair out, Quinn gave her an unimpressed glare. "Let me think…" She smirked, suddenly "No."
Realizing that the other girl had already reared back for another throw, Rachel drew her arm back to start her own…
Only to freeze when familiar goosebumps suddenly erupted along her neck, the overwhelming presence of Santana coming up behind her interrupting her concentration. A low chuckle, and then Santana's hand was wrapped around her wrist, strong fingers sliding along her palm and fingers as the radish was pulled from her hand. Nails slightly dragging along her arm before dropping to curl around her hip, Santana pushed her forward just in time to calmly catch the radish Quinn had been unable to stop releasing.
Quinn stopped short, her eyes widening. "San? …What?" Behind her, Mercedes and Tina exchanged puzzled glances.
Not seeing this, Rachel couldn't stop staring up at the girl still standing close enough to feel, the areas Santana had touched still tingling. "Santana…?"
Not bothering to respond, Santana brought the radishes up, eyelids lowering as her nostrils flared. Disgust flaring in her eyes, she smoothly tossed them over her shoulder. "Right," she started, turning her head in the direction of Tina and the others, her eyes on Rachel's far too long to be accidental, "We got any real food? Any…" Her lips parted to show her teeth, "Meat?"