Chapter Two

That thing about taking orders from other people? Yes, Santana had never been good at that.

She was only on her first day of working at the café, but she was already hating doing whatever the fuck that boy in charge told her to. He was a prick with ugly hair and she naturally hated him already, just because Rick had him in charge. Now. Had it been Rick to order her around, she could have lived with that. He was a nice old man, and his humour was exactly her cup of tea.

But on the bright side of everything, she loved her uniform; a black dress with a red apron on top, and she could wear whichever shoes she wanted. So if she was feeling glamorous she could wear pumps, and if she was feeling bad-ass she could wear her Converse.

Talking to the customers was sort of okay too. She didn't like when the yelled for to fill their cups with coffee for the free refill, but she liked flirting to cute guys and girls, and making sure that everyone was watching her as she walked through the place. She was taking everything as it came; learning how to remember the orders and how to fill the cups without spilling. She was going to learn to work the counter in a few weeks, because it was a little more difficult than just serving out orders.

She had been scooping out the place the entire day, trying to figure out what made it trig. During small breaks and in-between customers, Santana had been talking to some of the other waitresses, and while they had been eager to talk all about themselves, they had also answered her questions about Rusty Rick's and what it was all about. Rick was a very loved man in the neighbourhood, because every Sunday when he closed shop, he'd give the left-overs to the homeless, and people just generally loved his spirit and the affordable prices. When he had open on weekend nights and served a little alcohol, it wasn't where young people went to get drunk, it was where people came if they wanted to share a drink and just relax.

The small stage he had in the shop would sometimes feature small acts; just for fun, people who were amateurs who wanted to share their passion for something. Santana made a note of that to herself; she knew that this wasn't the place where she'd get discovered, but it was definitely a good place to start out and get a feel of it – get used to being on stage alone instead of among the other members of Glee. She still wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do with her dream, but when she found out, it would be fucking nice to have this option. She wasn't going to think about that right now, she didn't have the energy for it.

She was just managing to drag herself up the stairs to the apartment, completely and entirely beat. Working, like really working with a real fucking job, it was sort of tiring. She was sore in her legs, she had a sore shoulder from pouring all that coffee, and she sort of stank of cookies and brownies and what the hell else they sold. But she was pleased with herself. For the frigging first time in a long while, she was really pleased with herself. She'd never busted her ass off in high school, she'd just went along with school, gotten mediocre grades, but only really excelled in cheerleading and getting drunk and putting out. This was going to be a new leaf for her; she was still going to get drunk and put out, but she was also going to work.

Sticking the key into the lock, she turned it around and pushed the door open with her shoulder. She felt like she was blown away by the loud music streaming out to meet her and she threw her bag on the floor and kicked the door close. She tried to put a name to the ABBA song as she turned the lock and concluded pretty quickly that it was Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and when she stuck her head into their modest living room, she wasn't surprised to see Rachel working her ass off.

The lithe girl had the music blasting, and the windows into the backyard with all the garbage cans and the trash were open. She was moving on the floor, she had pushed all the furniture aside, and sweat was dripping off of her, coating her bare shoulders and stomach in a glistening layer of sweat. Her shorts and training bra were soaked through, and her hair was whipping from side to side as she moved her body.

Rachel wasn't even noticing her. She was in her own world, dancing to the music. She kept repeating the same step over and over, stubbornly forcing herself to get it right. She never seemed satisfied though, and Santana couldn't help but watch her for a few minutes, trying to see if she could get what really went on inside the brunette's head, but it was so difficult to figure out. She had to admit that Rachel was looking hot though. She was a little bit turned on right now.

Well, she couldn't stand there and ogle her body all day. Santana practically crawled against the wall to avoid her rapid movements, before she reached Rachel's laptop on the coffee table. The diva had plugged speakers into it, which explained why the music was so loud, and Santana bent down to pause it. The second the music stopped, Rachel turned around with a fierce jump. She looked confused at first, but the second she realised it was Santana who was the cause of her abrupt stop, she visibly relaxed.

"Santana, hi." She said and swiped a hand across her forehead to wipe the sweat off.

The Latina chuckled, "Wow Berry-cakes, you look hot…" she smirked, "In more ways than one."

Sighing heavily, Rachel brushed the hair out of her face, "I do not have patience for your mediocre attempts of sexy-talk tonight." She pointed towards the laptop, "Can you turn that on again? I need to get these steps down by tomorrow." She said, and turned her back towards the other girl.

Santana glared at her. "That's fucking it? You're not going to ask me how my fucking first day was?" she shook her head, "I expected more of you, Midget." She continued to annoy her with a smile on her face (she could tell that Rachel was wound up tight, it was… fun to tease her when she was like that). "Some roommate you are."

Rachel completely ignored her comments, and just repeated, "Can you turn that on again?"

"Nah." Santana replied and fell onto the couch, crossing one leg over the other, and watching the diva with joy. It was the best thing about living with Rachel – teasing her. She took everything to heart so easily! "Not before you ask me about my first day at work."

Still not turning around to look her in the eye, Rachel continued, "Just turn it on Santana, I really don't have time for this."

The Latina chuckled on the inside, "But I have plen-ty of time…" she wriggled her eyebrows, "I'm off for today! So what do you say? How about you be a good roomie and sit down and talk to me?" she patted the sofa next to her and attempted to win the other girl over.

Seriously, they were living together, and Rachel was the only person Santana really knew – they had to interact and talk about their days! Just like she used to do with Brittany before she went down on her. It'd be nice to do the same with Rachel. Y'know, talk about her day, not go down on her. Although that probably wouldn't be too horrible either, she was a closeted hottie after all…

"Santana, for the love of God!" she hissed and turned around on the spot, glaring at her, "Just turn the music on when I tell you to! I really need to perfect this routine by tomorrow or my teacher is going to hate me even more, and I swear, I cannot take any more of her constant nagging me to do better when I'm already doing my best!"

Taken aback by the entire rant that the diva had just said, Santana had no idea what so say – she just looked at the other girl with wide eyes. She had no idea that Rachel was that frustrated, otherwise she wouldn't have teased her (alright, maybe she would've), but was that really tears she saw in Rachel's eyes now? Or had the sweat just dripped in there? She swallowed loudly, "Alright, Rachy, calm down…"

"I will not calm down!" Rachel angrily exclaimed as she stomped her foot into the floor, "Don't tell me to calm down!" she bid her lip then, averting her eyes from Santana's, and as she buried her head in her hands, a sniffle escaped her, "You don't get it…" she whispered, "I need to get this right, okay? She's on my case all the time, and the only way to get her to leave me alone, is to do this perfectly tomorrow." She looked up again, and now those were definitely tears streaming down her face. "So just… let me practice, please?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Santana said then, reaching out her hand for the other girl, "Come here, Rach… Sit down for a second." She softly persuaded. She could tell that the diva was very upset, and she'd probably only fuelled that by kidding with her. But that wasn't right. Santana felt that it was her duty – as the newly chosen roommate – to help make her feel better and ease her worries. "Come here." She repeated and waved her hand insistently.

Letting a sigh go, Rachel grabbed Santana's hand and fell down on the couch next to her. She leaned her forehead against Santana's arm and breathed loudly in and out for a few seconds. She clearly needed to calm down somehow, and it seemed like this was the way to go, so the Latina awkwardly held an arm around her in support, letting her get it out. It was kind of nasty, because she was so sweaty, but what can you do? Once your midget roommate has a problem, you gotta step up your game, right?

"Alright…" she whispered then, softer than she usually would have whispered anything, "Tell aunty Santy what's up! Who's this nasty evil teacher?"

Looking up at her with wide, wet eyes, Rachel started mumbling into her shoulder, "Her name is Cassadra July, and she's brilliant…" Rachel trailed off, and her voice was so small, like a child's, "She'd be able to teach me so many things… If it wasn't for the fact that she seems to hate me."

Raising an eyebrow, Santana could barely hide her amusement. "Hate? You? Really?"

Rachel just shot her a glare, "You make fun of me, but if you were there, you'd see it, too. She's so much harder on me than she is on any other student!" she pulled back then, shaking her head to herself, "It's just not fair!"

Santana shrugged, "Not every teacher will like you, Rachel. You can't please them all."

"Look, I know that dancing is my least strong asset in the performing arts," Rachel begun, eagerly rattling her thoughts off, "but that's why I need her to make me better, not humiliate me in front of all the other students!"

Perhaps Rachel was taking things a little too personal and making a big deal out of nothing, but Santana wasn't exactly equipped to handle that. One thing was to be a good roommate, but nowhere had she signed on for this kind of emotional behaviour! "You just gotta fucking do it then." She replied, shrugging her shoulders and looking down at the visibly upset girl in her arms. "Just prove to her that you can be a good dancer."

Rachel's lower lip was quivering dangerously, "But I'll never be good enough! That's what she keeps saying! This was already going on before you got here, you don't know half of it."

"Stop crying for fuck's sake!" Santana exclaimed then, looking perplexingly down at her "That's not helping anyone, least of all yourself, you'll only get dehydrated." She poked the diva in the side with a finger and continued, "You also need to relax, Dwarf. So hows abouts I start dinner, and until we eat, you can fucking tear the living room floor apart-" she paused, crooking an eyebrow, "-but when the food's done, you're frigging finished for today. We gots a deal?"

The brunette seemed to think about it for a second, "That sounds reasonable, I guess."

Smirking, Santana continued, "I'm nothing but reasonable, baby. And just so you know, once we're eating and everything, I'ma tell you all abouts my day at work."

Slipping off the couch, Rachel was smiling again, "That sounds fair enough." She replied, as she went into the middle of the floor again and turned her back towards the Latina, "Now can you turn that on again, please?"

X

"You and Santana?" Quinn questioned, disbelief lacing her every word, "Living together?"

"Yes."

"Without killing each other?"

"Yes, Quinn!"

The blonde paused for a second, "We are talking about the same Santana right? Santana Lopez? From high school? The bitchy cheerleader who used to call you every nickname in the book?"

Rachel sighed heavily, "Yes Quinn. Exactly that Santana Lopez."

"But I don't get it." The blonde softly stated, "How's that going to work? You'll claw each other's eyes out! You do remember how she treated you?"

The diva nodded, "I sure do, Quinn. I also remember how you treated me, but we're friends now. So are Santana and I. I care about her, and this is a good thing for both of us. Don't ruin it."

Quinn chuckled on the other end of the phone, "Alright Rach, I won't say another word. I just hope that you guys are both alive by Christmas."

Giggling, Rachel tugged her phone between her ear and shoulder and started to gather the remains of her lunch together. She'd been sitting outside on a bench by herself, enjoying the rest of the good weather before fall came, and although she had enjoyed the quiet time, she had felt sort of alone, and thus chosen to call Quinn on the phone. It worked out well, because the blonde was also on break. She had only eaten a light lunch, because she had to return to the gruelling dance class where neither teacher nor students seemed to appreciate her very much.

It was the class she absolutely loathed the most at the moment. Now - her singing class was fantastic, but that was mostly because she was truly outstanding and blew everyone away. Her teacher simply adored her, and he had already offered her private lessons on Tuesdays after her last class.

"We most likely will be." She replied, nodding her head. She was liking living with Santana already; the company was nice, and once she got used to Santana's… uh, different way of behaving, it was quite entertaining, "You should come out here one weekend, we can go out. You can see my school and – and you can see the café that Santana got a job at."

Quinn laughed loudly, "Yeah I still can't believe that Santana actually got a job!"

Rachel was quite in awe of that as well; Santana had never striken her as a person who really enjoyed work of any kind, but it was nice to see that even she was growing up, "I can't believe it either, but she actually goes there. In the mornings, quite unhappily, but she goes." She paused, biting her lip, "I think she quite likes it actually, she definitely likes her boss."

The blonde girl replied, "Yeah. Sounds about right from what she texted me." She paused, "Anyway Rach, I gotta head to class now. And you have to dance your butt off in there, okay?"

"Sure." Rachel sighed. She hated to admit this, but she wasn't much looking forward to going back in there. Everybody in that room seemed to dislike her for whatever reason. She had never been a very loved student, but being this hated was a new thing to her. She'd sort of grown accustomed to having at least a few friends.

"Get back to me on that weekend, alright?" Quinn softly said to her, and Rachel knew that she was only trying to cheer her up with her kind words and voice (though, surely, she did want to come for a weekend and sleep on their couch and eat their food), "I'd love to see your school and what you've been working on."

The diva hummed, "Alright Quinn, talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you too." Quinn replied, before she hung up the phone and Rachel was left with nothing but silence.

She took a sip of her water bottle, trying to regain the strength to go back inside, before she threw everything into her duffel bag and decided she better do it. She'd just wrapped her coat around herself, so she was still in tights and her training bra. She was so tired. She was sort of looking forward to the weekend now, and she had decided to give herself an entire day off where her mind was going to be off school completely.

She threw her bag on her shoulder and turned around to stand up – only to bump right into someone, thus causing this person to drop all of their belongings onto the grass.

"Oh my God, I'm so, so, so-so-so sorry!" Rachel quickly shrieked and threw her bag onto the ground, only to kneel down and help this person – a girl with apparent flaming red hair – gather all of her papers.

The girl smiled at her, "No worries, I was… I was re-reading a short manuscript that we have to turn in today, so I wasn't really looking."

Rachel grabbed the girl's wallet – seemingly the last item on the ground – and handed it to her, "Oh me neither, I was…dreading going back to dance class." She stood up then, and so did the other girl, whose hands were filled with all of her papers, and they were messed up, sticking out in every possible direction, "I'm… I'm Rachel by the way."

"Oh I know you." The girl smiled, and her eyes were almost black behind her big round glasses. She had a kind round face, with soft features and freckles covered her nose in a charming way, "I'm Alexis by the way."

Confused, Rachel pushed on, "You know me?"

Alexis nodded, "Yeah! I'm uh – I'm studying here as a script writer obviously, and uh, we're already starting to work on getting directors from that course to film one of our projects, and I'm one of those people who wants to have my hands in everything, so I was just… I went through some of the profiles of the other students here and your picture caught my attention. Rachel Berry, right?"

Rachel nodded eagerly, "Yeah I'm here for… Stage acting so to speak, dancing, acting, singing."

"A real triple threat." Alexis laughed.

The diva tugged a piece of her hair behind her ear, "Yes you can say that."

Alexis smiled shyly at her, "I heard from some of the others that your teacher is being hard on you."

"Everyone's being hard on me." Rachel replied, shrugging her shoulder, "I mean, I'm used to not being the most liked person in school, but I usually have one friend to back me up." She made a face, trying to pretend that it was no big deal, even though she hated the fact that she wasn't better at making friends, "People just don't like me, I guess."

The other girl smiled warmly at her, "I guess they just dislike you because you're more talented. I mean – I saw your videos on the school's student page. You have an amazing voice! That can be frightening to some people."

Rachel could feel herself flush slightly at the compliment, which was weird since she never used to flush when people preached her talent, "Thank you." She honestly said. Perhaps she had really needed to hear that from someone here, she wasn't sure. But she felt better now.

Alexis continued, "And you have a friend in me now." She tugged her papers closer to her chest, "We should totally hang, I think that that… could be beneficial for both of us. Would you be – interested in helping me with my first manuscript?"

That sounded absolutely fantastic! As soon as she started doing these things, perhaps she'd meet some people who appreciated her. And she needed to get involved in as many things as possible – it'd definitely help her when she graduated and had to find jobs, "Sure! I'd love to! It's all about getting experience, right?"

"Great." Alexis said then and she awkwardly searched her pockets, careful not to drop her things yet again. After a few seconds, she seemed to find what she was looking for, "Here," she softly said, sticking out a card, "It has all my information on that. Give me a call, we should get coffee one day to sort of… Get to know each other."

Rachel happily reached for the small card, and as she did so, Alexis' fingers graced hers, and the other girl flushed a little. "Thank you." Rachel smiled, sticking the card into her duffel bag. "I'm just… I better get to class, but I'll definitely call you! Tonight?"

Alexis nodded eagerly, "We should eat lunch together sometime next week when I'm not as stressed with this manuscript, how does that sound?"

"Perfect." Rachel replied, and Alexis smiled at her one more time, before she pushed pass her and towards one of the other buildings. The diva couldn't help but watch her go for a few seconds, feeling entirely pleased that she had just made her first friend in New York. Perhaps things could only get better for her now. It was definitely with renewed bounce in her steps that she returned to dance class.

X

It had all started with Rick saying 'Hey Santana, I'm going to need you to work Friday night' and that's how her first weekend in New York City was booked with work. It sucked, because she had hoped to go out or something, if she could tear Rachel away from her dancing, but now she was working, so Rachel could dance her feet bloody for all she cared.

It was sort of okay though, because there was an incredible atmosphere at Rusty Rick's this Friday night. This duo of an act (a boy on the guitar, and a girl singing) was performing, and the music was nice and cosy and it fitted right in. Santana had been running back and forth, and around like crazy all night because they were short on staff for whatever reason. People were in a good mood, so she could sort of look past their orders, but she still had to get used to being someone's bitch.

Hand me this, give me that, I order now, I refill later. Yadda yadda yadda.

She'd scored a girl's phone number though. Apparently she did look fucking hot in her uniform, because when she returned to wipe down the table they had been at, she'd left a big tip and scribbled her number on the receipt.

Everything was sort of crazy though, the last week had been. She knew that living on her own took lots and lots of fucking hard work (which she wasn't a big fan of), but this first week had been crazy. Perhaps it was just because she had to get used to being here and all that crap, but it wasn't exactly like she had thought it would be. It'd probably get a lot fucking better though, right? She sure as fuck hoped so.

It's not like she and Rachel had had much time to bond either. Rachel was always gone during the day, and Santana had been working most nights this week, again – they were short on staff. It's not like she wished for them to spend every frigging moment together, but she was also realistic; since they were living together, they had to have a relationship of some sort, otherwise everything would blow up in their faces.

She was just taking a breather and some fresh air in the back alley, when Rick called her in again.

"Santana, I know you're on your break, but I need you, we have a full house tonight." He said, as he poked his head outside through the open doorway.

The Latina wiped her forehead off with the back of her hand, "Sure thing, boss." She replied, licking her lips, "You know how much I appreciate this job."

Rick padded her on the back, "I'm happy I hired you, Lopez, you work hard, because you know that to make it in life, you have to work hard. I feel like I can count on ya'."

Santana shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing comes free, Rick. And I wanna make it, and until I do, I have to work for it."

He glanced down at her with a sideways grin, "You've got your head screwed on right, I like that." He held the door open for her, and just as she was about to enter back into the counter again, he added, "By the way, there's a young woman waiting outside for you… Says her name is Rachel and that since she's your roommate, she deserves a discount?" he chuckled, clearly amused by Rachel's personality, "I told her you had to verify that. She was not pleased."

The Latina couldn't hide her smirk, "That's my roommate, she's… something fucking else." She paused, "I'ma go handle that, tell her she gets no discount."

Rick laughed at her, "Nah, she's a firecracker and I like that. Give her the discount."

Santana chuckled all the way into the counter again; Rachel really was something else, and Santana just loved that she'd fucking showed up at her work and demanded a discount. The best frigging part was that she was actually there though. Santana hadn't expected that, but it was nice to know that the diva cared enough to step by, to see where she worked, how she spent her days. It just proved that they really were becoming very good friends and roommates. Santana was never fucking going to admit it to anymore, but that girl meant a whole frigging lot to her.

Rachel was standing with her back to the counter, probably watching the duo act on stage, and Santana crept up behind her and said, "Something about a discount?"

The diva jumped in surprise and turned around to look at Santana with a hand upon her – without a doubt – speeding heart. "You gave me a fright!" she hissed, but she was smiling all the same.

The Latina gave her a once-over and had to pause when she realised what she was wearing. "Hold on a sec…" she trailed off, raising an eyebrow, "Are you wearing my top? You look nice, don't get me wrong, but… Damn Berry."

"I figured that if I had to visit you at your new and important job, I'd have to dress accordingly." She replied, dusting some invisible wrinkles out of the top, "Should I have rather worn my legwarmers in front of your boss?"

"You are welcome to wear my clothes anytime you visit me here." Santana quickly replied, which caused the brunette to break into a stream of giggles. "Anyway," the Latina continued, "Rick usually don't hand out discounts to every pretty face, but he says you're firecracker and he likes that, so – you now have a discount!"

A giant smile appeared on Rachel's face then, "I do? Tell him thanks."

"Since you're not old enough to get alcohol here, what do you want?" Santana questioned.

"Just a coke, and to see you in action." Rachel replied, tiptoeing up and leaning over the counter to whisper into her ear, "Quinn wants all the details. She says she cannot believe you are working before I have told her what I have seen with my own two eyes."

Damn Quinn. Santana chuckled. "Alright, grab a free table, Midget, and I'll bring you one, but-" she held out a finger to stress her point, "-don't expect me to start waitressing you at home too!"

Rachel winked at her, "I wouldn't dream of it!"

Santana watched her go as she searched the place for an empty seat, and she couldn't help but notice that the other girl had seemed a little happier since yesterday. She wasn't sure why that was, but maybe things were finally looking up for her at school? She sure as fuck deserved that anyway! They both deserved that. And despite all of Santana's own complaints about taking orders, she knew that she could hardly find a better job than this one.

"Hey, Lopez, two beers at table ten!" Rick yelled from the other end of the counter, and gave her that certain look.

Saluting him, Santana grabbed a tray, "Sure thing, boss. Coming right up!"


I am so sorry about the slight delay – I got caught up in writing a Faberry oneshot that I just couldn't get out of my head. But here is the second chapter anyway, and I hope you all like it! I'm sort of still just getting the background for this story up, introducing characters that will be playing a part, introducing the places (:

Anyway – please leave me your thoughts; I'd love to know what you think! Btw, Cassandra July is of course my version of Kate Hudson's character in season four – I have no way of knowing what she's going to be like, but I see has a teacher who's ready to challenge Rachel, so that is my reason for how she's acting in this piece already.

Next chapter might be late as well, because I am starting university this week, for my bachelor's degree, and that wills surely be taking up a lot of my time! Hopefully I can squeeze some writing in as well, but I do also have work and a girlfriend to take care of! :-D I am just apologising in advance already ;-)

Dislciamer; I don't own Glee.