YAY HAPPY (WHATEVER YOU CELEBRATE) EVERYONE! Did you have fun, huh? I hope so.
Like I said in the last post, English is not my native language that's why I need betas. But my two betas are busy right now. I sent this chapter to them and they didn't send it back to me. And I don't think it's fair to let you guys waiting for an update. So, my apologies in advance because this chapter is UNBETATED. I tried my best, seriously.
About the reviews: THANK YOU SO MUCH. :)
Here's the update. Sorry for the delay.
Chapter Two: The Damn Jacket
Rachel closed the door after her two friends entered, turned on the lights and almost stepped on Lord Tubbington's tail, as usual - that cat doesn't like her at all -. She doesn't blame him, though. It's not like she doesn't like animals, because she does. Rachel is vegan! Brittany's cat had his tail stepped on so many times before, but that's because Rachel is very distracted. Anyway, he ran away from them as soon as they arrived while she left her purse on the table and took off her heels. Brittany and Santana walked past her – both barely walking to be honest -, then Rachel started the countdown.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
There. Puke all over the place. Thanks to Santana.
The Dance Division student wasn't that bad – different from her girlfriend - and through her eyes she apologized to Rachel. Santana lost her balance for a moment and fell with a loud thud on the floor scaring off the poor cat that was just trying to sleep peacefully. Rachel likes to say that it's like a cycle. It repeats every time they go out, they have fun, they get drunk and this is what happens when they arrive home. The only sober in the house, she went to her room grabbing her heels and purse, coming back a few seconds later to help Brittany to put Santana on her feet again.
"You got mugged and I'm the one who needs help. This is not fair, little Hobbit!" Santana murmured barely keeping her eyes open. Rachel scrunched her nose because her best friend smelled like puke, beer, party and smoke.
"I take it from here, A-Rach." Brittany said supporting Santana under her arms and taking her to the bathroom. "Go to sleep, Rachel. You had a tough night. I'll clean all the mess when I put this lady here in our bed."
The little brunette smiled in appreciation and went to her room again. Feeling too tired to take a shower, Rachel decided to take one in the morning. She took off the rest of her clothes and changed to an old t-shit and tiny pair of shorts. Rachel was so exhausted – physically and mentally – that she didn't care about the mess of clothes she was doing in her room. She turned off the lights and slept almost immediately.
The foursome shared a taxi ride back to the bustling bar. Puck was the first one to say goodbye because he knew what was waiting for him in the first floor above the bar: an angry wife. Sam, Finn and Blaine faced furious Quinn before and that was scared as fuck.
Quinn is a young lady with a life full of ups and downs. She got kicked out of her house by her parents when she was about to finish high school because she found out that she was pregnant. The boyfriend didn't want her or the child and she refused to go to a shelter, so Quinn spent a period on the streets, where she ended up meeting Puck and Sam.
It was a hot summer day in New York, for days she didn't know what was like to have a meal and walking under a cruel sun didn't it help either. She was feeling so weak and tired; Quinn tried to focus on something as walking, but it was getting so hard to breathe and suddenly everything went black. The two boys were the first ones to help her and call an ambulance. It's safe to say that Puck fell in love at first sight and refused to leave her side in the hospital; he stayed with her all day long, getting to know her. She told him about her old life, what her parents and boyfriend did to her, and Puck told Quinn a little bit of himself. Sam and Puck called Emma Schuester, who is a social worker and begged her to help Quinn: a three old pregnant without a roof. Emma saw something and Quinn and decided to take her in, she put the blonde under her wings. The Schuester took her to live with them, filling the space that her parents had left, taking care of Quinn and the baby but with a price, of course: as long as she worked as a waitress after the birth of the child. Emma supported Quinn through it all; meanwhile she and Puck were getting closer – who shared with his friend an apartment above the bar, that belong to William Schuester. The romance bloomed between them and even though the child wasn't his, Puck decided to give his name to the baby, and when Quinn was six old pregnant he proposed. It was a small ceremony with a small party, just for them and a few friends. As a wedding gift, Will built up a second floor – right above the apartment that Sam and Puck lived - and gave it to them. A house, a baby, a family. They have everything.
About Puck and Sam; they were friends since high school and had no idea of what to do with their lives after graduation. So out of the blue they decided to travel through the States by car, leaving behind their small shitty city in Florida. They stopped in New York because it was their last destination; after all they had no money left. After selling the car, they had to make some money and the idea came from Sam: playing their guitars (the only objects they refused to sell) in front of a subway entrance. It worked. The boys got lucky because at the same time, Will was just starting his business (the bar) and he needed something like a band to call the attention to the place. He called them, they talked; and the bar owner made a deal with them: Sam and Puck were responsible for playing music and in exchanged Will would let them live in the small apartment above the bar, and for extra money they would work as waiters.
(The history of how they decided to become firefighters began when Puck realized that being a waiter wasn't enough for him to take care of his family. The Schuester supported his decision without a doubt, but both young men continued working and helping Schue whenever they could. )
Finn. His story is more complicated and at the same time is a mystery. He came to New York feeling completely lost, like he was running away from something. From the four boys, he was the less talkative, who doesn't say much about his life before New York, the one who is always watching everything from afar, the one who built a thick wall around him and doesn't let anyone to come inside – except Schuester and Puck. Will was like a godfather to them, but he saw something familiar in Finn, he saw himself when he was young like Finn. Maybe that's why Finn trusted in him so much. And the thing with Puck, it's like a bro thing, maybe they were best friends in another life.
Finn was one of Will's first customers. He was there every night, always ordering the same things. He stopped his black custom motorcycle, took off his helmet – same color – and went straight to the most isolated table inside the bar and always leaving at about one or two in the morning. At first the only thing Will knew about him is that he worked as a mechanic not so far away from the bar. When Schuester put ads out there looking for a drummer, he was surprised when Finn was the only one who answered the ad. The boy auditioned in front of Will, Emma, Quinn, Puck and Sam and after watching how good he was they invite Finn to become part of the band – and later Sam asked him to live with him in the apartment that he used to share with Puck, now married.
That's when Blaine comes into the picture. The bar was getting attention, especially from college students. Through the day the bar seemed like a diner and at night the place looked like a real bar with karaoke and with the band – Puck, Sam and Finn. Blaine started going to the bar everyday to have lunch and sometimes he showed up at night. One of these nights he decided to have fun with the band and sang with them. The audience liked their performance a lot and asked for more, and Will noticed it, of course. After talking to the boys, they asked Blaine if he wanted to be their singer.
After a few weeks Blaine was completely comfortable with his new friends, they go out together; they play Call of Duty together, they have fun together. But things got heavy for the Law Student when his roommate made a homophobic comment about him, which started an argument. Blaine is gay, everyone knew that. After this he decided to leave the NYU campus and went to the Journey's Bar and Diner (Will loves Journey, okay?), where he told everything that happened – Puck wanted to punch the dude's face and once again Sam didn't let him -, so Finn and Sam took him in, now they are three in a two-bedroom apartment. But Blaine didn't mind the couch.
Puck on the guitar, Sam on the bass, Finn on the drums and Blaine as the singer. The New Directions was formed.
Back to the present. The three friends went inside just to take a look at the movement and saw some familiar faces, daily customers, but most of the people were from the college party that they just arrived from. Blaine invited them; Sam got excited (because of the girls, of course), Puck got excited too - although before leaving he left a very furious Quinn at home, who talked to Finn in private asking him to keep an eye on her husband (Finn went just because of this) - but Finn didn't expect getting hurt, much less kicking a bastard's ass and meeting three wonderful girls, even though the Latina seemed scary.
The boys said hi to a few people and stopped to talk to the bartender, David Karofsky.
"How was there?" Karofsky asked after serving a couple two martinis.
"We met two hot lesbians, dude! I wish I could see them making out!" Sam answered and serving himself with a glass of water. "I forgot her names, though. What are their names, Finn?" he asked.
Finn turned his head back to his friends and with a look he asked Karofsky a glass of water full of ice cubes. Sam looked offended because his water didn't have ice cubes and then he looked at the David, who rolled his eyes.
"The blonde is Brittany, the brunette is Santana and the shortie is Rachel."
"Hold up. I thought it was a lesbian couple, not a lesbian threesome." Dave said looking confused.
"The blonde and the brunette are lesbians, if the midget is a lesbian, I don't know. Two of them are Julliard students and the other one is from NYU." Sam informed noticing Will coming in their direction. "What's up, boss? Look, it's water. I'm didn't drink today, I swear. Finn knows that I'm being honest." He said a little bit nervous. Sam has reasons since Will decided to keep an eye on them.
"Big Mouth is clean. Neither Puck nor Sam drank tonight. Don't worry, Will." He assured winning a nod from the owner. Sometimes Will sees himself not only as a godfather, but as a father too. "How's Mrs. Schue? And the little Schuester" Finn asked.
Will just became a father of a beautiful little boy called Ian.
"Emma has been feeling insecure about herself as a mother and Ian is a troublemaker. But Quinn is great with her, and apparently that boy loves Beth." Will answered smiling and remembering how Ian gets very agitated whenever Beth is around. "Hey Finn, I tried to get your motorcycle inside, but I didn't find the keys." He said giving a nod to Blaine who was in another table talking to some of his friends from college.
"Oh, that's because the keys are wit—" Finn stopped as soon as he felt nothing but air inside his pockets. Frustrated, he punched the counter making all the glasses tremble. "Shit! I left my jacket with Julliard! And the keys are inside of my jacket's pocket!" he explained to Will.
"Who?" Will says completely lost.
"The lesbian." Karofsky answers and leaving Schuester ever more confused.
"No you idiot! Julliard is the midget" – Sam corrects Dave and tries to hit his friend's head with his hands.
"Isn't her name Rachel?" Karofsky is confused now. He looks to Sam and Finn waiting for an explanation.
"I'm screwed." Finn said ignoring whatever they were talking about. "How am I going to get my keys back?! We just took them to the avenue so they could hail a taxi and that's it! We don't even know where they live! Fuck."
"Didn't you say that one of them is from NYU? Blaine is from NYU." Dave tried to be helpful before being called by a group of executives.
"Hell yes! Do you know her major?" Sam asked excited for a second because Karofsky was smart. "I know that I saw NYU on her shirt." He added stealing the ice cubes from Finn's glass.
"I don't know her major. Actually, I know nothing about them." Finn said getting up a little and looking for Blaine in the middle of the mass of people. He found him. "BLAINE!" he shouted.
"How can you wake up early on a Sunday after spending the night at a party?" Santana asked when Rachel closed the door behind her. She just got home from a delicious morning run.
The little brunette felt pity watching the living room all dark because Santana and Brittany couldn't handle the brightness of a wonderful morning. The blonde was all over the couch hiding her face under her arms with Lord Tumbbington relaxed on her belly while Santana was on the floor barely moving. Both still in their pajamas and going through a hangover.
"Did you guys eat?" Rachel ignored her best friend's question and came back from the kitchen with a bottle of water in her hands.
"Too tired." Brittany informed with a muffled voice.
"I'm going to take another shower and then I'm going to make us some breakfast. After that I want you both back to bed." Rachel said looking at them, especially to Brittany who stared at her for a second - clearly interested in the bottle that she was holding. "Take it. Share it with San." She threw it to them. And with that she went to her room.
Thirty minutes later Rachel made a quick breakfast in which was rich in carbohydrates to restore the energy that they lost last night, peanut butter, bacon and eggs – although she was vegan, but because of her friends non-vegan diet she let herself doing these stuff once in a while. To be fair, Santana insisted in doing the dishes while Rachel decided to clean up the mess that she left in her room.
The room was a chaos of clothes. She grabbed her running shoes and her heels from the party and put them on their places; made the bed, organized her books and notebooks from college, threw some dirty clothes inside the laundry basket; put the clean ones back to the wardrobe… Then she noticed an unfamiliar leather jacket hanging on her chair.
Walking back to the kitchen with the leather piece in her hands, she asked:
"Is it yours?"
Both girls analyzed it for a moment, but it was Santana who started smiling suspiciously before answering her.
"It belongs to your hero, princess. The one who got your purse back yesterday." The Latina said and grabbing the jacket from Rachel's hands. "Look what we got here!" she exclaimed after finding some keys inside one of its pockets.
"Oh my god! That's right!" Rachel recognized it. Memories of last night hit her like a train; Tall Boy putting the jacket on her, warming her body. Even though she got mugged, Rachel couldn't ignore the fact that Finn was so worried about her. Like, she was just a stranger after all. "Give it back!" she ordered to Santana who gave the keys back to her friend. "How am I going to give the jacket back to him? I can't keep it!"
"It's huge." Brittany commented. "And you are this little, Rach. It must have been funny. Why didn't I notice this yesterday?" She asked herself while tried to project the image of Rachel wearing the huge jacket in her mind.
"Are you serious about giving it back? When a guy gives his jacket to a girl they generally keep it!" Santana retorted trying to get the keys back, but Rachel was faster. She took two steps closer to her best friend smiling; she had this face where she was about to make a sagacious comment. "You are naughty, Hobbit. You want to give it back because you want to meet him again." The Latina teased making Brittany laugh.
"Santana!"
"Oh, she is right, A-Rach! You like him!" Brittany teased a little bit more before laughing hysterically with her girlfriend. Rachel was pissed.
"I do not!"
More laughter exploded from the couple. Rachel pissed was so much fun, but funnier than that was to tease her, because the little brunette is an easy target and she gets furious in a matter of seconds.
"Don't worry, Hobbit. I'm going to find your hero and set you up on a date with him. I noticed one of them studies in NYU, and if I'm not mistaken I think it's Law School." She said squeezing Rachel's cheeks, who scolded her. "What's his name?" Santana asked to her girlfriend.
"Who? The name of Rachel's hero or the name of the one who goes to NYU, baby?"
"Both, actually."
"Finn. His name is Finn." Rachel answered without thinking. It was too late when she realized what she had done. It was enough to fuel Santana's teasing. The couple switched sly smiles, full of bad intentions.
"The other one is Blaine Hamerson, I think. I don't know. Something like that." Brittany said walking around Santana and hugging her from behind. "You should go after him, San." She added kissing her cheek sweetly.
"Forget it, I'll keep the jacket. There's no need for that, Britt." Rachel changed her mind, and then she looked directly to Santana. "Don't you dare."
Santana winked discreetly to Brittany while Rachel was staring at the jacket with more interest, completely oblivious to their talk without words. She got a little closer to Rachel until she was near enough to feel the smell of the piece of leather.
"I see." The Latina commented. "It smells good. You want to keep his smell. How cute, Hobbit!" and the teasing was back. Rachel murdered Santana with a look, which she ignored and started laughing with Brittany again.
"Santana!" her furious tone was obvious. Rachel threw the jacket on the sofa and made a cute angry pout. "I can't even with you two, honestly!"
"On Monday I'll go after this Blaine guy and I'll let him know that his friend's jacket is with you." She paused and pointed to the leather garment on the couch; Brittany's cat looking at it carefully. "In a few weeks when you'll be inside your room moaning your hero's name, don't forget to thank me, okay Hobbit?"
"Santana!" it should have been the millionth time Rachel spat her friend's name like that. Don't get her wrong, but Santana wasn't an angel, much less the evil. But she says whatever she wants, whenever she wants without a filter. Three years of friendship and Rachel still didn't know how to deal with Santana's behavior.
Santana Lopez was on a mission.
She didn't have much success in her searching for the Law Student boy in the morning, but that's because she didn't have the time. Since it was the beginning of the classes, things get agitated, lost freshmen everywhere; anyway, a mess of students around the campus. Besides that, Santana has her own responsibilities, like tutoring.
But in the afternoon, her schedule is more flexible, so she got a free time and continued her mission. After arriving in the Law building – not so far away from the Med School's – and flirting with some boys (Rachel sometimes calls Santana Maureen from RENT, because even though she is a serious relationship with Brittany, she just couldn't stop herself from flirting with men or women), she excepted finding a list with the name of the students in one of these walls. Santana crossed a few halls, but didn't find anything useful.
She was frustrated.
The halls were full of young men and women, but none of their faces were familiar. Why this Blaine guys couldn't have a Mohawk, like Puck? It would be much easier to find him. The only thing that could indentify him was his eyebrows from another planet – because holy fuck, those shits seemed to have lives of their own. And besides this, his unique pink Ray Ban glasses.
"Freshman?"
Santana turned around and looked down. An old man, almost bald, wearing a gray suit and giving his hand to shake was standing in front of her. He looked nice, but she ignored his gesture.
"Nope. Med School. Sophomore." The Latina answered.
"Wrong building then, miss." He said feeling offended by her attitude and putting his hands inside his pockets. "But can I help you?" he insisted.
"I'm looking for a Law student, I don't know if he is a freshman or whatever, but he forgot something with me and I'd like to give it back to him. We met last weekend in a college party and the only thing that I remember was seeing NYU and Law School written on his shirt." Yeah, she distorted a little bit the real story, but Santana didn't care.
"I see." He said thoughtful. "Although I'm against this kind of party because I don't understand why the youth of nowadays needs to associate alcohol with fun." He babbled more with himself than with her, oblivious to Santana rolling her eyes and feeling bored already. "Do you, at least, remember his name, miss?"
"Blaine Hamerson, I guess." she said before taking a look around one more time. The grandpa was making her sleep.
"PROFESSOR! PROFESSOR FIGGINS!" a guy came yelling from the stairs and running in their direction. "Thank god I found you, sir. I'd like to talk to you about the possibility of a debate about the legalization of gay marriage in New York next week! I think it would be the perfect opportunity to put our skills out there and OH! I'm so sorry, forgive me, please… I didn't—"
He can talk fast, Santana noticed. A conversation between Rachel and him would be funny.
"Mr. Anderson, it's okay." Figgins said smiling at his student. "I'll make the call by email, you'll receive the details until the end of the day. Your idea is very interesting." The old man continued, this time turning his smile to Santana, who had the absolute confirmation that the guy is a weirdo grandpa. "I would say this is a big coincidence since this lady over here was looking for you, Mr. Anderson."
They stared one another for a moment.
"A big coincidence, indeed. Thank you, Professor Figgins." Santana thanked the old (weirdo) man. She grabbed Blaine by the hand and walked away with him by her side. He looked the same: curly hair full of gel, a white social shirt, a red bow tie, a black vest; the same alien eyebrows and the pink glasses inside the shirt's pocket. "So it's Anderson and not Hamerson." She corrected herself. "Hello again, Blaine."
"I don't want to look like a maniac or something, but I was about to go to your building. But I saw Professor Fggins and I needed to talk to him." He informed holding up his hand to her. "It's Santana, isn't it?"
"That's right." She nodded taking his hand to shake.
"How's your friend? Rachel, I mean. Is she okay?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. She's fine. No traumas. It's not her first the time, you know. Though it still is scary as fuck when it happens." Santana answered taking the exit with him; the Sun hitting their faces while they crossed the patio full of people. "By the way, I suspect that our meeting is about a jacket, am I right?"
Blaine hesitated before giving her an answer:
"Hum, yeah. My friend left the keys of his precious motorcycle inside one of the jacket's pockets, and I don't want to sound rude, but would it be possible if I get the jacket back with the keys?" Blaine wanted to know. He looked anxious beside her, but that's because Santana can be intimidating sometimes. The curly hair full of gel boy grabbed his glasses and put them on.
Santana had to admit that he looked charming wearing them.
"So, when Rachel realized that she came back home wearing his jacket, she freaked out. And since we have this little detail in common, you know… " she paused and gestured the whole NYU around them. "She asked me if I could look for you and ask you to tell your friend to meet with her, because she feels very sorry and didn't mean to 'steal' his jacket. Also, she wanted to thank him again for what he did for her." Once again Santana distorted the whole story, but it was for a good cause. "She has this crazy ethic , ya know?" she finished.
The boy smiled and nodded. Thank god that Blaine didn't know the meanings behind Santana' smiles.
"I think Finn wouldn't mind."
"Great! In this case…" Santana interrupted herself to get a bright pink little card from her purse and passed it to him. "… ask your friend to give her a call as soon as possible. You have the residential number and her cell phone."
Mission accomplished.
"Rachel B. Berry – Being part of something special makes you special." He read it out loud.
"What?" Sam took the little card from Finn's hands and noticed how pink it was and it was full of gold stars all over it. In the center was her name and the sentence that Finn just read it was a little bit further down. Bottom right it was the number of her apartment and bottom left it was her cell phone number. "She is obsessed with gold stars, dude."
"The Princess found her hero, Prince Charming." Puck said. He was finding the whole situation hilarious. "It looks like you have a date with the Little Hottie, Finny-D." he added wagging his eyebrows.
"Is this serious?" Finn asked Blaine. It was hard to believe.
"That's what Santana told me." he said stealing the Doritos from Puck's hands.
"Santana Lopez! I'm going to cut you in pieces and then serve you as a meal to the felines in the zoo!"
It was almost 9pm when Rachel's voice echoed inside the apartment scaring Brittany who was lied down and relaxed on the couch, eating popcorn and watching TV. She ended up dropping the bowl on the floor when the bedroom's door made another loud noise and Rachel appeared in the middle of the living room with her face livid.
Santana, who was in the kitchen, knew exactly what she had done. She was in so much trouble. The Latina didn't care, though. At about ten minutes ago Rachel's cell phone rang and that's why the midget was so pissed.
Laughing hysterically, Santana crossed the living room like a bullet and got lucky in finding the door of their home unlocked. Rachel ran after her in fury.
"Come back here! I'm gonna kill you!
tbc. (soon, I hope)