Even though she is not a morning person Santana woke up about 45 minutes earlier than she normally would have. She changed her outfit no less than 8 times, fixed her hair, put it up, then back down, back up and then fixed it again. She rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror, thinking about how ridiculous she was being. But the knowledge that she was being unreasonable didn't stop the hummingbirds from returning to her stomach as she walked across campus to Hospitality Café.

She wasn't used to feeling like this as she was wandering down the sidewalk, she thought about when she used to go out with the guys in high school. Although she never left the house looking less than fantastic, she would have never woken up so early and tried on every item in her wardrobe. She would have never cared about how her hair looked because the guys were too stupid to notice, they only ever noticed her boobs. Most of the time she didn't have to worry about any of this because she would just wear her Cheerios uniform and put her hair in a ponytail which it made it much easier to get away with not caring as much as she always thought she should.

This wasn't even a date. Santana wasn't out to the glee club, it hadn't really come up and it's not like she was ready to be screaming about her sexual preferences from rooftops. She had no idea if Brittany knew that she was flirting with a slight infatuation. Hell, who was she kidding, Brittany was the only thing she could think about. She was already past infatuation.

She arrived a few minutes early, asked for a table outside and ordered herself a cup of coffee.

She was nervously checking the clock on her phone just about every 30 seconds. 10:30 passed, then 10:35. At 10:40 she couldn't help but to get nervous. What if Brittany didn't show up, what if she started to get uncomfortable around Santana and this was her way of letting her know to back off, what if she forgot, Santana never really thought she could be considered forgettable, but she had never met anyone like Brittany before either.

Santana suddenly felt extremely vulnerable sitting at a table by herself as a constant stream of students were passing by the little café. She was so excited about seeing Brittany again and didn't know how she would handle it if Brittany broke the plans they had made.

When all of these thoughts were swirling in her head she caught a quick glimpse of a long blonde ponytail running around the corner. She quickly recognized that the person wearing the nervous expression was Brittany and she was searching for Santana. When Brittany spotted her sitting at the same table they were at the other day she slowed down and a grateful smile spread wide across her face.

"I am so sorry! I'm such a terrible person, I feel so bad! I can't believe I'm late and I'm the one who invited you!"

Santana couldn't help but let out a light-hearted laugh. All of the concern and stress she was feeling just moments ago had completely disappeared. Brittany was even more adorable than Santana remembered her being a couple of days ago. She smiled and shook her head at the thought because she didn't think it was humanly possible for that to be true.

"Brittany, calm down. You're not a terrible person, just late. It's ok."

Santana noticed as Brittany let out a breath that she had been holding in and her body visibly relaxed as she took a seat across from Santana.

Santana ordered another cup of coffee and an egg white omelet with spinach, mushrooms and roasted peppers. Brittany gave her a funny look before she ordered Chocolate Chip Pancakes with whipped cream, extra bacon and a Caramel Frappe. They both laughed as the waitress walked away.

When Santana was with Brittany she had the most conflicting feelings, her heart was always racing, like it just couldn't possibly keep up with all the feelings her body was creating, but at the same time she was so comfortable, like she had known Brittany for years. She had never experienced anything like it before and she was both terrified and intrigued by the newness of the feeling.

Brittany asked Santana about how her classes were this week. Santana quickly thought about her classes the past two days, and the only thing she could remember was the image of Brittany's eyes, Brittany's voice and the easy smile she had seen during the Glee meeting on Tuesday. There is no way she was about to confess these thoughts to her.

"They were ok, I'm just glad I'm done with them for the week."

When a questioning look was thrown in Santana's direction she felt the need to elaborate.

"It's not that I don't like school, I'm just not sure what I plan on majoring in yet, so I'm finding it kind of difficult to get too excited right now. I'd rather have my teeth removed than sit through a couple of my classes but so far I'm glad I picked this school and my other classes are kind of interesting…" She felt like she was rambling so Santana stopped talking and looked up at Brittany.

Brittany nodded and looked like she was about to comment when her eyes got wide and she exuded pure excitement, Santana turned to see the waitress arriving with their food. She was kind of relieved that the conversation was interrupted because Santana was insecure about the fact that she didn't know what she wanted to do yet. She hated not having a purpose and a solid goal for her future in mind.

"I love pancakes! I think it's the happiest food in the entire world!" Brittany nearly cried as she unwrapped her silverware. This made Santana smile and she made sure to make a mental note of this information.

Both girls ate and continued with small talk about classes, and how nice the weather has been recently and about various events around campus.

"So what was your glee club like in high school?"

Brittany asked this with genuine interest and even though it was a topic Santana didn't like to talk about much in high school she had joined the university glee club, so obviously, it was something that she enjoyed.

"It was pretty cool; it was a good group of people even though they drove me crazy most of the time. We were not a popular group at my school, and at least 2 of us got slushied a day on average. The jocks and cheerleaders were the only people with any pull at McKinley, I was lucky to be on the Cheerios as well so I didn't get as much crap as some people did. We made it to nationals my junior and senior year which was really exciting."

"We made it to nationals last year too, what was the name of your group?"

"The New Directions." Santana had always hated that name and thought back to her short-lived time with the Troubletones affectionately.

"I remember them! You were so good, I remember being nervous to go on after you."

"Really?" Santana's nose scrunched up and her voice kind of shrieked a little bit with her reply. "Thanks."

After finishing their meal and sitting lazily for a few minutes, they paid their bills and stood up to leave the café.

"What are your plans for today?"

"Nothing specific, I was planning on studying but I have all weekend to do that." Santana responded with an honest smile, hoping Brittany wanted to spend more time together.

"Want to walk around for a while?"

"Sure!"

The girls walked around the outskirts of campus rotating between comfortable silences, conversation and laughter. After about twenty minutes they arrived at the fountain in the middle of campus.

"This is my favorite place on campus. Even though there is so much going on around us, it is always so peaceful to just rest here." Brittany explained, although honestly, she hadn't really intended to lead them to the focal point of the beautiful campus, they ended up there out of habit more than anything.

"I haven't really thought about it much." Santana was truthful as she considered the thought. "I can see how it could be pretty relaxing I guess." She followed Brittany's lead and took a seat on the grass facing the fountain.

They sat for a while just enjoying an opportunity to relax among the chaos. Santana sat contemplating part of their conversation earlier and she couldn't help but to think out loud.

"If you and I were both at Nationals last year and you saw the New Directions perform, it's possible that we have already met, isn't it? What are the chances that we not only ended up at the same school but in the glee club together?" It was rare that she was this forward with anyone much less someone she just met. But it didn't feel uncomfortable for her. "What are the chances that we would become friends?" Her voice became softer and quieter as she finished the last sentence.

Somehow Brittany knew Santana wasn't really looking for an answer, but the fact that they had at least crossed paths in the past was a thought that had already occurred to her and she was amused that Santana was just now running through it.

"Who knows, maybe its fate." Brittany laughed softly as she said this but the words still made Santana's hopes soar. Maybe there was a chance that Brittany had similar feelings. She was able to force a little laugh to try to match Brittany's but it sent her thoughts into overdrive. "Fate will find a way." Brittany got a little more serious as she said, "It's one of my favorite quotes."

They sat by the fountain together all afternoon, Santana's affection growing with every second that passed. She had to remind herself more than once that she was not on a date and fought the urges to grab Brittany's hand or show any physical affection with every ounce of willpower in her body. The walls that she built around herself and her feelings were usually so unreasonably large but she couldn't even put up a speed bump when she was with Brittany. She felt like she would tell Brittany anything she wanted to know, like she was no longer in control of herself.

After what felt like days Brittany sat up and turned to Santana.

"Why don't we go to my apartment, we could watch a movie and order pizza or something?"

"Sounds great Britt." Santana quickly realized that she used a nickname instead of Brittany's full name. Was it too early for that? Was it awkward for her to do that? She turned her face the other way so Brittany couldn't see that she was blushing, but when she turned back to face Brittany it looked like she hadn't even noticed.

Brittany's apartment was about half a mile away from the middle of campus. It was an old house that had been turned into 4 apartments. Brittany's was the left apartment on the bottom floor. It was amazing, huge beautiful windows, arches leading you from the living room into the kitchen and dining space and an old fireplace in the middle of the living room. The furniture was an obvious mixture of the roommates, but it felt very cozy.

The girls argued playfully about which movie they should watch. They finally settled on Benny and Joon, one of Brittany's favorite movies. Santana had never seen it before but Brittany was so enthusiastic about the idea of watching it and that was enough for her to finally cave in and agree. Before they started their featured presentation they ordered a veggie pizza, no olives, from the local pizza shop around the corner, Roberta's Pizzeria.

They settled onto the couch together, two slices each and Brittany went to put the movie in the dvd player.

"You know, I thought it was going to be a terrible weekend, but I'm kind of glad that Kyle cancelled our plans again, I've had so much fun with you today, I've barely even thought about him!"

Santana felt her body stiffen suddenly. She tried to compose herself before she responded.

"Who is Kyle?"

"Oh, Kyle is my boyfriend, we've been together since high school; he goes to school about 3 hours away. He was supposed to visit me this weekend but got caught up with some Fraternity pledge event, same as last weekend." Brittany was obviously upset about her plans being broken two weekends in a row and it broke Santana's heart to think about it. Who was stupid enough to pass on spending time with this girl? "I can't believe I haven't told you about him! I guess I just didn't want to think about it."

As the movie started Santana felt like her heart was going to explode. She knew this was the most realistic outcome but that didn't mean she wasn't disappointed that Brittany had a boyfriend. It didn't make it hurt any less. But she also couldn't ignore the fact that she felt like she had met the most important person to ever come into her life. There was such an easy connection between them and as much as Santana would prefer to turn on her familiar "fight or flight" mode and just get the hell out of there she knew she couldn't do that to Brittany. It wouldn't be fair, Brittany didn't do anything wrong.

Brittany was enjoying the movie, reciting some of the lines with the actors on screen, and laughing as Johnny Depp's character was playing with his dinner rolls at the diner or putting on a show at the park. She was completely oblivious to the emotional turmoil that Santana was struggling with.

Santana did the best she could to keep herself together as she said goodbye to Brittany and walked to the front door of the building, but as soon as she stepped outside she let go of all the feelings she had been holding back and cried silently to herself as she walked back to her dorm.

As Santana was leaving Brittany looked out her window at her new friend, a girl who she had spent the entire day with, a day she thought would be miserable but ended up being one of the best in her recent memory. Santana's body was shaking, and when the moonlight reflected off of Santana's face Brittany noticed the teardrops falling over her cheek and running down her chin. She walked out of sight and left Brittany sitting in her living room alone with a million questions about what she had just seen.