A/N: Damn, you guys seem to like this so far, so I'll continue! Thanks for all the nice feedback and I'm sorry this is a week late! I'm also sorry about the shortness of this chapter. Next one will be longer, promise.
No beta, so all mistakes are mine.
Disclaimer: Don't own these characters or Glee and unless I win the lottery, I never will. Just the storyline is mine.
Enjoy.
After a lot of arguing and persuading, Brittany finally agreed to take Santana's bed for however long she would be staying at the apartment
The Latina had convinced her that she normally came home really late because of her job and would only wake the blonde up if she had to sneak past her to get to the bedroom.
Brittany knew it was a good argument, since the house was pretty close to the door and Santana was anything but graceful when she came stumbling through the door at 3a.m.
The blonde had been staying with her for five days and they had already fallen into a comfortable routine. They didn't see each other for breakfast or dinner but managed to catch a late lunch together before Santana went to work.
There were a million and one reasons as to why it should be extremely awkward for the pair to be living together. But neither had mentioned their past yet, and it didn't seem like the subject was going to be brought up any time soon.
But today was Sunday and Sundays were Santana's days off.
Santana woke up on the couch to the strong smell of bacon and pancakes. She was still slightly hung over from the night before but she couldn't resist the amazing smell of food.
She wandered into the kitchen, smiling fondly as she watched Brittany flip a chocolate chip pancake onto a dish.
Santana couldn't help but smile to herself. Brittany had remembered her constant craving for chocolate chip pancakes, even after all of these years.
The blonde hadn't noticed her standing by the door and she was humming an oddly familiar song.
Santana didn't know whether she wanted to laugh, scream or cry when she finally recognized the song.
Taking a deep breath, she quickly thought over what she was about to do before stepping farther into the kitchen.
"And I love you, I love you, I love you like never before..." She quietly sang out along with the tune.
Brittany froze on the spot, immediately ceasing the humming. It was obvious that Santana had startled her.
Neither spoke for a moment.
Had Santana pushed it a bit too far? Holding pinkies and now singing along with their old song? Everything about their situation was bringing back painful memories.
It took a few minutes but Brittany finally turned to face the shorter girl. "Sorry... I just, um, had that song stuck in my head..." She awkwardly tried to apologize, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "I honestly didn't think you even remembered that song..." She softly mumbled as an afterthought.
The Latina gave her a tight smile and a small shrug. "How could I forget? It was our song." As the words left her lips, heartache filled her chest.
Brittany's eyes widened a bit more, seemingly genuinely surprised that Santana admitted, or even remembered it. The sight was rather comical and Santana might've poked fun at her for it, had they been discussing any other topic.
What am I doing? She thought to herself, feeling sadness wash over her as she briefly thought back to their high school years. Pull yourself together, Lopez. She inwardly commanded.
Santana cleared her throat before Brittany could even respond. "So, what's all this?" She gestured to the piles of food that was stacked on plates.
"Food," The blonde answered instantly, reaching over to turn the stove off as a blush spread across her cheeks from her very obvious response.
Santana suppressed a giggle. "I hadn't noticed," She smiled as she rummaged through the cabinets for glasses.
Brittany bit her lip and tried again, happy that the previous tension in the room seemed to be melting away. "Well, you're letting me stay with you and I thought that breakfast on your only day off was the least I could do to repay you."
The brunette looked up and met blue eyes that were cast downward. "Britt, don't feel like you owe me anything, okay? We're friends, you're always welcome here." She couldn't see the other girl's face as she spoke since she had turned back towards the stove and was resting her hands against the counter, but she did notice the sob that racked the blonde's body a few short moments later.
Santana's eyes widened with concern and surprise as she walked up behind her friend. "Brittany? What's wrong?" She softly asked, reaching out to rest a hand on Brittany's shoulder. Brittany shrank away from her touch though, making a soft whimpering sound in the back of her throat.
That made Santana's even more worried. "B. Look at me." The tone of her voice was firm yet gentle. She remembered how she used the same tone back in high school, when Brittany was reluctant to tell her what was bothering her.
Brittany slowed turned to face her, tears spilling over her cloudy blue eyes as she refused to look directly into Santana's eyes.
"Wanna tell me why you're crying?" Santana added in the same quiet voice when it became clear that the blonde wouldn't be saying anything.
"I'm sorry," Brittany whispered somewhat hoarsely, silent tears continuing to roll down her flushed cheeks.
This just confused Santana further. "Honey, why are you apologizing?"
She didn't bother to wipe the tears that were making her face damp. Brittany just let them fall to her chest and be absorbed by her baggy t-shirt. "For not choosing you. For breaking both of our hearts."
Santana let out a heavy sigh as she began to feel stinging tears form in the corners of her own eyes. "Come here," She quietly muttered, reaching out to pull Brittany into a hug.
"No..." She sniffled, gently pushing Santana away and shaking her head. "Whenever you're nice to me, I feel ten times worse." Brittany roughed rubbed at her eyes with the palms of hands, causing them to get puffier and redder than they previously were.
"Brittany Susan Pierce. Look. At. Me." Brittany was still reluctant so Santana gently cupper her cheeks in her hands and tilted her face until blue eyes met brown. "We were sixteen, okay? We were kids who didn't know what we wanted."
Brittany let her eyes fall shut; subtly leaning into the other girl's touch as Santana lightly wiped her tears away with the pads of her thumbs as they fell. "I knew what I wanted though," She whispered, opening her eyes back up after a minute. "It was you, Santana. I wanted you then and that hasn't changed."
A lump formed in Santana's throat as she took her hands away from the blonde's face at the confession. "Um... What about Sam?" The Latina honestly hadn't known Brittany ever had feelings for her. Sure, she knew that the blonde found her attractive, but who didn't?
"I'm not in love with him," Brittany spoke quietly, slightly shaking her head. She reached up to rub her forehead, as if she was getting a headache due to all this confusion. "I love him, but I was never in love with him." Tears still leaked from the corners of Brittany's eyes but she was beginning to calm down. She looked surreal, almost as if she couldn't believe what she was admitting.
However, a new spark was ignited within Santana. "You always wanted me but you chose him? You've been with him for six years, Brittany. If you weren't in love with him, why'd you stay all that time? It's not even as if he was a good guy." The brunette fumed. She was angry and hurt and normally she never snapped at Brittany but this was just too much to process.
She wasn't exactly sure if she'd be more upset of Brittany was actually in love with him. It might've made it easier. Brittany and Sam could've made up and Santana could've continued on with her life. They could've simply forgotten they ever saw each other again, and the Latina could've buried her feelings deeper inside.
But, Brittany had told her that she wanted her. It wasn't exactly an "I love you," but it gave her hope.
Brittany hung her head in quiet shame. "I went after you that day. But when I went to your house, Quinn's car was parked out front. And when I looked through the big window in the front of your house, I saw the two of you asleep and holding each other on the couch. I thought you were…with her."
It took a minute for Santana to get over her initial shock over finding out Brittany had actually went after her. It took her another moment to recall the memory, but when she did, she just shook her head. "Brittany, I just had my heart broken. You and Q were my best friends. Since you were the one who broke my heart, obviously I went to her. Besides, you know she was with Berry."
The blonde sniffled and nodded. "By the time I realized that, you had dropped out of school." She briefly glanced up at Santana. "Santana, you talked about dropping out of school to become a stripper since we were thirteen, but I never thought you'd actually do it."
Santana can't help but let out a short laugh at that. "I'm a girl of my word." She answered simply.
She offered a small smile in return before scuffing the toe of her sneaker against the linoleum floor. "I asked Quinn where you went, and she told me that you made her swear to not tell me." Santana could tell that Brittany was still upset over the fact that she made Quinn promise to not say anything, but she shook her head anyway.
"C'mon, Britt. I was pissed and hurt. And I had every right to be." True, Santana had been very upset when all of this happened. That was one thing she could clearly remember. But seeing the blonde in front of her now, regretful and in tears broke her heart all over again.
"I thought you hated me," Brittany said so quietly that Santana could barely hear her.
Santana shook her head slowly and bit down on her bottom lip. Her friend kept coming up with new ways to surprise her. This time when she leaned in for a hug, she wouldn't let Brittany squirm away from her. She trapped her securely in her arms and pulled the taller girl to her chest. "I could never ever hate you, Britt." She said firmly.
The blonde gave in to the hug and slumped against the other girl. "Promise?" She muttered against her neck.
"Of course," Santana mumbled back, gently running her fingers through blonde locks. "We both have a lot of things to sort out, but you're always going to be my best friend, okay?"
Those words were familiar to both of them. Except this time, Brittany wasn't the one speaking them.
Brittany nodded against her shoulder, keeping her arms securely around Santana's waist. "You'll always be mine too."
They held onto each other through a few minutes of comfortable silence before Brittany's phone could be heard vibrating in her pocket. Clearing her throat, Santana slowly pulled away so the blonde could answer her phone.
Once Brittany checked the called i.d., she felt like crying again. "Hello?" She answered quietly, chewing away at her bottom lip.
Santana could tell that Sam was on the other end of the phone and the thought made her blood boil. She kept quiet though, only wanting to get involved if her name was somehow mentioned.
Sam was yelling though and the brunette could clearly hear his loud voice from where she stood. Brittany just stood there and listened to him yell at her, eyes glistening over with tears all over again.
That was all it took for Santana to reach out and snatch the phone away from Brittany. "Look Fish Lips, I don't know what your problem is, but haven't you fucked up enough? You better stop treating my girl Brittany like shit, got it? She'll talk to you when she wants to and you should just fuck off 'til then." With that, she tapped the 'end' button, hanging up on him just before he started yelling again.
Santana then took the back off of the phone and yanked out the battery, preventing Sam from calling back again. Brittany gave her a thankful smile and she let out a heavy sigh before smiling in return.
"Lets go out for breakfast, okay? I'm sure this food was great at one point, but..." Santana trailed off as she reached out to poke a lump of cold eggs, grimacing as it jiggled.
Brittany just giggled softly and nodded. She remembered how Santana hated the taste of reheated food almost as much as the taste of cold food that was supposed to be warm. "I'm buying though," She said, dumping a plate of pancakes into the trash and setting the plate in the sink.
The Latina just smiled and rolled her eyes. "Just come on," She said, hooking her arm through her friends. The pair left the apartment together a few moments later.
They both figured that they had discussed feelings enough for the day. By the look of things, Brittany would be staying with her for a while, so they had plenty of time to pick up the conversation.
Santana figured that there would be more tears involved and that the blonde had already cried enough for both of them.
Somehow, they hadn't completely screwed up their delicate friendship yet, but they were walking on thin ice, just like they had always been.
Both of them were glad that they had each other again, but it wasn't going to be easy to make a friendship work, never mind a relationship.
A/N: Thoughts?
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