Further up the track, Brittany and Santana jogged along in almost silence. Brittany was softly humming a tune that Santana could almost recognize, but she wasn't about to ask her which song it was. The wheels in her head were turning too loudly for her to concentrate on anything else anyway. Just when she felt like she had Brittany figured out, she'd do something like this. Why would Brittany waste time on this JV girl, and why force Santana to come along? It wasn't as simple as embarrassing her. Brittany had already done that when she beat Santana around the track. So, what was her game?
Figuring she'd go with the direct approach, Santana turned slightly towards Brittany, while still matching her pace.
"Why am I here?"
Brittany stopped humming, and seemed to think for a second before answering.
"Is this one of those existential things? Because I'm not much of a philosopher. I guess it could be a sex ed question, but I'm not really good at those either. Um, so, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"
"Cut the crap, Pierce. You know what I mean. Why have you got me jogging behind this dumpy freshman?"
Brittany rolled her eyes, tsking Santana.
"You promised you would be nice." She hissed.
"To your friends, not to randos who you take in like stray kittens." Santana whispered back.
"Whatever, Santana. You promised. Apologize."
"Britt-"
"I guess we'll have to start getting used to Captain Quinn Fabray." Brittany said, pulling up a little to join the Cheerio running in front of them.
"No, no, fine, okay." Santana reached out, grasping Brittany's arm. She pulled Brittany back beside her, and sighed. "Sorry, um, what's your name again?"
It took the Cheerio a second to realize that Santana was speaking to her, and only after hesitating did she reply in a soft voice. "Jane."
Santana's eyes grew wide, and Brittany could tell she was going to probably go off on some rant about how that was the stupidest name for a cheerleader she'd ever heard, but Brittany pulled on Santana's hand, which was still wrapped around her arm, pulling Santana closer.
"Well, Santana is sorry, Jane." She tugged on Santana gently. "Right?"
"Um, yeah, right."
Santana was having a bit of a hard time concentrating, considering that her hand was now squished right between Brittany's bicep and her breast. The warmth of her skin, even through the skin tight Cheerios uniform, making Santana swallow, hard. So what, she was human? Of course she'd feel something interesting when she touched a person like Brittany. Brittany, who was a young cheerleader with a smoking hot body, and legs that just wouldn't quit and and ass like-
Santana shook herself, pulling her hand away from Brittany. Brittany noticed the motion, and could feel herself blushing. She hadn't meant to squash Santana's hand into her boob, but it'd happened and now Santana was making it all weird. Or maybe Brittany was feeling weird about it. She copied Santana's shake of her head, and turned around, jogging backwards in front of Jane so they could maintain eye contact.
"Jane, why do you want to be a Cheerio?"
The girl had been looking down at the ground, barely keeping her breath as they moved, but she looked up when Brittany spoke.
"Huh?"
"Why do you want to be a Cheerio? What do you think it'll mean to you?"
Jane looked to Santana, hesitantly, but got no reaction, so she turned back to Brittany. After thinking for a second she shrugged.
"My friends told me it's the easiest way to get popular."
"Well, what do you think?"
Jane hesitated again. "I dunno. I guess I want to be popular. But if Coach Sue keeps yelling at us all season, I've gotta wonder if it's worth it."
"That's stu-" Santana caught herself. "I mean, that's silly."
She pulled up beside Jane, and narrowly avoided Brittany's gaze before continuing.
"Everybody's got different reasons for joining the Cheerios, but you need to make sure they're yours. If you do it for anybody but yourself, you'll never make it. Sue will break you before the season even gets started."
Jane only nodded, looking a bit ashamed. She glanced at Brittany. "Why did you join up?"
Brittany glanced at Santana, before looking back at Jane. "I love to dance. I've done it since I was a kid, actually. My mom said that even before I could crawl, I'd be scooting myself along on my butt to the beat. She put me in dance class when I kept jumping off the furniture, and gymnastics after that. She said it was the only way she'd be sure I wouldn't break all my limbs." Brittany laughed. "And then I got into tumbling, and was practicing at this gym out in Westerville. Sue saw me and demanded I try out. I wouldn't have, but my mom was right there, and she kept going on about how she used to be a cheerleader in high school."
Brittany looked directly at Santana. "But, Santana is right. If I had done it for my mom I would have dropped in in the first week. Probably around the first time Sue pelted us with snowballs she saved in her walk in freezer while we did jumping jacks. But, I actually saw the Cheerios in action in my first week, and I saw how amazing they looked, and how awesome the routines were, and I dunno… I saw myself among them. I knew that's what I wanted. And it is worth it in the end, if it's what you want. The only time I have more fun is when I'm doing some vector differentials on the math team."
She pulled to a stop near where they had started, surprising both of the other girls who'd barely noticed the lap fly by.
"The crowds and the admiration fade, but at the end of the day, all you have left is how being a Cheerio made you feel." Brittany shrugged. "I guess that's how you'll know if it's worth it."
Brittany pulled a frown and pointed at Santana and then Jane. "Now hit the showers ladies, before I give you another hundred!"
It was an almost uncanny Sue impression, and so unexpected that before she knew it, Santana cracked a smile, and was actually laughing. Actual doubled over, belly laughs.
Jane gave a smile, and began to walk back over towards the locker rooms, but it was a moment before Santana's legs were steady enough to follow. Brittany hung back, arms crossed, enjoying her handiwork.
"You-you-you sounded just like her!" Santana wheezed, holding her sides tightly. "I thought Quinn had the best Sue impression, but you've got her beat by a mile. Why is this the first time I'm hearing this?"
Brittany's face fell a bit. "Well, probably because we only ever see each other at practice, where Sue is breathing down our necks. And the one Cheerios sleepover that I went to you drew a mustache on my face with a permanent marker, and then tried to drag me out of my sleeping bag at three AM."
This sobered Santana quickly, and she stood up straight, dropping her arms. The two walked quietly as they reached the locker room, and as Brittany turned to head towards her locker (strategically placed at the exact opposite of Santana's), Santana turned quickly to her.
"Look, Brittany-"
"You don't have to say it, Santana. I get it. We're not friends. You're only actually spending any time with me because I'm holding your Cheerio dreams hostage. I know that much. You don't have to like me. Heck, I don't much like you. But I don't hate you, Santana. Even as much as you hate me, I don't hate you. When this is all said and done, do what you want. But I hope that you can not hate me."
Brittany turned and walked towards her locker, moving fast so that Santana wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes. She'd probably seen Santana really smile once since she met her. Even though they were mortal enemies, Brittany had noticed her smiles. Almost all of the ones that she saw were faker than fake. They were the ones that she reserved for teachers she was kissing up to, or girls she was flirting with, and sometimes when she was about to make a particularly biting insult (those were the ones that Brittany saw the most). But once, just once, Brittany has stumbled across Santana and Mike near the gym after the bell had rung. He was talking about his little sister, and Santana had been smiling so brightly that Brittany had almost had to catch her breath. Santana was gorgeous, that wasn't a question, but the softness that came to her face when she really smiled, the little dimple that marked itself in her left cheek, the way she smiled with all her teeth in a way that made Brittany feel all tingly to her toes. Those were her real smiles. And just then, standing on the sunny football field, was the first time Brittany had ever had it pointed at her.
Brittany sat on the bench near her locker, and opened it, pulling out her duffel and rustling through the clothes. She found her street clothes, and deciding that skipping the shower might be a better idea, changed and went outside to wait on Santana.
She had been standing there for only a few minutes when she heard footsteps behind her, and turned to find Sue walking by, keys jangling in her hand as she made her way to finish locking up the school.
"Pierce! What are you still doing here? Hanging out with that freshman? Between you and me, she's never going to make it to varsity squad."
"'Between you and me', Coach? You screamed that she'd, and I quote, 'make it to the inside of a box of Wheaties before she ever made it on the cover' eight times during our second to last lap."
"Well, Pierce, I believe that if you don't let people know they suck, they're going to go through life thinking they don't suck, when we all know they do. And who does that help?"
Brittany didn't bother arguing. She'd learned the hard way that Sue was not a person you wanted to argue an optimist's viewpoint to. So, she just shrugged and moved her bag to a more comfortable position.
Sue brushed past her with a grunt, stopping before she turned a corner. "Good luck with that health project, Pierce."
Before she could disappear, Brittany jogged after her. "Let her be captain."
Sue stopped in her tracks, turning to face Brittany. "What are you on about, Pierce?"
"I don't even really want to be captain, Coach. I mean, I like helping the other girls, and getting to be at the top of the pyramid, and I don't think you've got anybody who can do an ariel like I can, but Santana wants this. She wants to be captain. It matters to her."
Sue scoffed. "Oh please. You're a born leader, Pierce. The way you ran with that girl today proves it. It's a bit more touchy feely than I like, but you two work well together. She's the fire, you're the ice. She's the blade, you're the salve. Together, you actually form a competent person. And as much as you disagree, I know that you want to be captain of the Cheerios. You'd have to be crazy not to. Do the assignment for Roz, learn to work together, and let's get back to being national champions."
With that she turned and marched down the hallway. Brittany sighed, and leaned hard against a locker, watching her go.
From her vantage point, Santana remained hidden from both of them, but a deep frown creased her face. Brittany Pierce was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why would Brittany tell Sue to make Santana the head cheerleader? It didn't make any sense. Maybe it was a long game. Brittany must have known that Sue wouldn't give up on her stupid plan. So, she offers to drop out to make herself look better. Or maybe she knew that Santana might be listening, and doing it would cause her to have all these weird feelings and conflicting emotions and…
Santana squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing them with the heels of her hands. She was spirling and if she did that, then Brittany would win after all. She couldn't help the small niggling in the back of her head that maybe there was something authentic about Brittany after all.
She shifted her backpack on her shoulder, but knocked her Cheerio duffle to the ground.
"Santana?" Brittany called.
"Yeah, I'm coming." Santana took a deep breath and walked into the hallway, not stopping where Brittany stood leaning up against the locker, but barrelling through, and heading towards the door.
"Hey, wait up!"
Brittany was beside her a few moments later, and easily keeping up with long strides. They walked in silence out the door, and into the parking lot, coming up on Santana's pristine convertible a couple minutes later. Santana clicked the unlock button on her key fob, but stopped from opening the door, looking at Brittany standing on the passenger side.
"I don't hate you."
Brittany raised an eyebrow but didn't respond.
Santana continued, playing with the key ring in her hand. "I don't trust you. And I have no idea what you're up to. But, I don't hate you."
Brittany gave a small nod before opening the car door. "That's progress then, I guess." She slid into the car, with a grin.
"Whatever." Santana said, rolling her eyes. She got behind the well, and started the car, when suddenly she heard the tell tale whir of the roof of her car coming down. She looked over to Brittany staring at her guiltily, her finger still on the button that controlled the roof function.
"I've never been in a convertible before."
Santana rolled her eyes again, and shifted the car into gear, pulling out the parking lot. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to get into someone's car and start pressing buttons? Especially if you don't know what they do."
"Well-" Brittany drawled. "I knew exactly what that button did. That's why I pushed it. But, I'll keep that in mind in the future. Let's listen to some music."
She reached for the iPod cord connected to the stereo, plugging her phone in and selecting a song. They drove down the street as Beyonce's "Who Run the World?" started blasting from Santana's speakers. Brittany gave directions, pointing them towards a suburb that Santana had never been to before. Santana watched out the corner of her eye as Brittany wiggled in her seat, as if she were barely able to sit still. She bobbed her head to the beat, moved her shoulders side to side, and tapped her fingers on the dashboard. She even waved her hands wildly out the roof of the car, cheering once when they were next to a school bus at a red light. Much to the amusement of the kids inside. As she settled back into the seat, she looked over to Santana who'd turned to look at her.
"What are you smiling at?" Brittany asked, her face still bright from her enthusiastic conversation with the school kids.
Santana started. She hadn't even realized she had been smiling.
"Um, nothing. I just- I dunno. I'm just glad to be done with practice for the day, I guess." As the light turned green, Santana pulled off, catching herself with another grin as Brittany waved goodbye to the bus. "Are you always so, hmmm, enthusiastic?"
Brittany picked up the phone on the console, scrolling through the songs, and her smile slipped a bit. "I dunno are you going to make fun of me about it?"
"No!" Santana said quickly.
Brittany gave her a strange look, so she started again. "No, I mean. I normally would, let's be real. But you seem to really just like people, and I can't be mad at you for that."
Brittany's smile brightened again, and Santana felt her own returning.
"Good. Cause I am. Actually, one of the reasons my parents have supported my dancing so much is because otherwise they say I come home bouncing off the walls. At least Sue wears us out."
"That's true. I'm still sore from all that running. I really regret not taking a shower after practice. Even though they gangy, the locker room showers have the best water pressure."
"You can always shower at my place. The water pressure is not as good, but we have these really cool soaps that are shaped like penguins."
"Oh, I won't be staying long, trust me. We're just going to figure out this project thing, and then I'm going home."
It came out a bit more harshly than she intended, and Santana avoided turning to look at Brittany, though she desperately wanted to.
Brittany had to admit she was a little disappointed. She wasn't friends with Santana, not by a long shot, but she was seeing a side of her she never saw before, and she kind of liked it. She didn't want to start spending every day with her, but once in a while might be nice. If Santana could keep her inner grinch in check. That was something Brittany wasn't so sure about.
They pulled up to Brittany's house, and Santana could see the lights were all on. It was about six o'clock, and over at Santana's house around this time, there be barely any signs of life. Plus, even though her father made gobs of money as a surgeon, and loved buying gifts for her, he had a weird thing about leaving the lights on, and would shut them off all over the house. Santana eyed Brittany's house carefully. While the Lopez home was pretty much one of those brick McMansions people are always talking about (8 bedrooms, five baths, a media room, and all the rest), the Pierce home was much more modest. It was two floors, and had a front yard littered with toys.
"How many kids are in there?" Santana asked, gazing up at the chaos that seemed to exude from the house.
"Well, there's me, and three brothers, and two sisters. So, six in all. I'm the oldest."
"Holy shit, that's almost a basketball team."
Brittany laughed. "That doesn't count our two dogs and three cats. Plus a ferret and a pair of rabbits. Oh! And one turtle."
Santana's eyes glazed over as she thought about the quiet house she'd return to that was just her and her younger sister. If she had to face this kind of pandemonium every day, she'd probably wake up even crankier than she already was.
"Oh my god. That's insane. We had, like, one goldfish last year, and my little sister killed it in a week. My mom has said we'd get a dog over her dead body because she wouldn't be the one picking fur off of all the couches. How do you get the hair off?"
Brittany thought for a moment as she lead them up the path to the front door, and not bothering to check if it were locked or not, went right in.
"I guess we don't? I mean, it's kind of a thing that you've got to deal with if you've got pets. The cats shed way more than the dogs anyway. It helps that none of us are allergic."
Santana wrinkled her nose at that, but had to admire the confined anarchy of the house. As she followed Brittany, she saw a little boy, naked from the waist down, jumping on the couch while a large dog wagged happily beside him. She squinted trying to get a closer look at the child's dark hair and wide eyes, but she was pulled neatly along by Brittany past the living room entrance, narrowly missing a streak that ran by. This one seemed more clothed, but it was also covered in what seemed to be a film of chocolate. She hoped.
Santana held her breath as Brittany reached out and grabbed the kid, picking her up, and blowing raspberries into her stomach.
"I've got you, Mel!"
Mel (presumably) laughed and wiggled in Brittany's arms.
"Britt!" She squealed, laughing.
Brittany put the little girl on the floor, and patted her head. "Go tell Ethan to go put some pants on. We have guests."
The little girl was probably no more than five or six, and noticing Santana suddenly became shy, hiding behind Brittany. Santana, herself, was at a bit of a loss. It was clear that the girl was familiar to Brittany, close even, but the child looked more like Tina than Brittany, and things were suddenly confusing.
"Santana." Brittany started, rubbing Mel's back gently. "This is my baby sister, Melody. Melody, this is Santana Lopez. Say hi."
Mel mumbled something into the back of Brittany's hip that could conceivably been a greeting, though Santana wasn't sure. But she liked kids, so she thought she'd put in at least a bit of effort.
Crouching down, Santana stuck out her hand to the little girl. "Hi, Mel. I'm Santana. I'm friends with your sister Brittany. Nice to meet you."
Melody seemed to perk up at that and peeked her head out from behind Brittany, and gently taking Santana's hand.
"Hi." She said shyly. "You're really pretty."
Santana laughed. "Thanks, you are too."
WIth that Melody raced off to the living room, presumably to find some pants for her brother.
Brittany was a bit shocked. She wasn't sure what she'd expected when she brought Santana over. She figured that Santana probably wouldn't have spent the whole time screaming at her siblings, but the care that she'd taken with Mel left a lump in Brittany's throat. All this time there had been a gentleness in Santana, a kindness, but it just wasn't for Brittany to see. She felt suddenly cold.
"Come on." Brittany said quietly, leading Santana further into the house.
Santana stood, following behind, a little confused by Brittany's short tone, but shaking it off. They ended up in the kitchen where a tall, blonde woman who looked like Brittany and a shorter Asian guy sat at the kitchen table. That explained a lot. Brittany stood by the man and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey Dad, Mom. This is Santana, you remember her, right? We're both on the Cheerios. We're working on a project together for health class."
Mrs. Pierce put down the paper she was reading, and looked a bit taken aback. "Santana? Santana Lopez? Brittany, what is she doing here? I thought we had a restraining order against her!"
Mr. Pierce stood up, and circled around Santana, as if she were a dangerous animal, eyeing her carefully.
"I remember you. You're the one who made my little girl smell like Tabasco for a week."
Santana blinked a few times, and scowled. "That's only because she and her minions covered my car in Post-It notes during last year's prom, and it took me a week before I stopped finding them in my parking space every morning."
"And that was only because you told her that Finn Hudson had invited her to prom, and she spent a week trying to figure out how to let him down gently, and then you revealed the truth in front of everyone in the cafeteria!" Brittany's mom spoke up again, standing up beside her husband.
Santana raised her voice now, looking more furious than ever. "Well, that's only because she told Puck that I was looking to take him and Quinn Fabray to the prom, and that afterwards we could, and I quote. 'reenact some of his wildest fantasies.'"
Mr. and Mrs. Pierce turned to look at Brittany, their eyes impossibly wider.
"It was a joke!" Brittany said, shrugging. "Anyway, all of that doesn't matter, because we're working together now, and I just wanted you to know that we're going to be upstairs. Please don't let the kids bother us."
Mrs. Pierce nodded slowly, and Mr. Pierce patted his daughter's arm. "Fine, sweetie. Just yell if she starts attacking you or anything."
"Sure, dad." Brittany sighed.
She left the room, but Santana lingered for a few moments turning back to Brittany's parents.
"You, um, you have a lovely home. Thank you for having me."
With that, she scampered out of the kitchen, and up the back stairs behind Brittany, watching her slip into a bedroom. Santana entered behind her, and when she felt the door close behind her, she jumped in surprise.
"Sorry about that." Brittany said, dropping her bookbag beside Santana. She flipped on the lights and proceeded to take her shoes off. "My parents can be a bit protective."
"It's whatever. It's not like they were lying." Santana stood right in front of the door, bookbag clutched tightly in her hands. "Can we just get on with it, so I can go home?"
"Sure. Lemme just grab my stuff."
Brittany plopped down on the bed, and pulled her bookbag beside her, rifling through the contents. Santana finally had a chance to look around Brittany's room. It was not exactly what she expected, but she wasn't entirely surprised. The bedroom, though a little cramped was neat, and covered almost floor to ceiling in pink and unicorns. There were posters of horses, one of Britney Spears, and one with the Spice Girls. Everything was just covered in hearts, stars and horseshoes, and, well, it was something else. She felt like she'd been stuffed into a box of Lucky Charms.
"It looks like a stripper fairy decorated this room." Santana murmured, running a finger along the lamp on Brittany's desk. "Everything is covered in glitter."
"Well, not everything. That was from a project I did a few weeks ago for history class. I got an A though, so it was totally worth it. Anyway, thanks! I decorated myself."
Brittany pulled out the diapered bag of flour, and the notebook that Roz had given them, and laid it out on the bed. She looked up at Santana in surprise.
"Why are you just standing there like that?"
"What?" Santana said, fiddling with the straps on her bag.
Brittany patted the bed. "Come and sit down, you're stressing me out."
"Fine." Santana stomped over, like it was some great inconvenience, but honestly she was just glad that Brittany had said something. She had been feeling pretty uncomfortable, and she hadn't known what to do with her hands. "So, what do we have to do?"
Brittany flipped around, so her feet were pointing towards the head of the bed, laid on her stomach, and opened up the notebook in front of her and flipped through a few pages.
"Well, it looks like we have to make sure that one of us is carrying the baby at all times. Feed her, change her, and at least three times a week have family building exercises like taking her to the park, or the beach."
"Where the hell are we supposed to find a beach in Ohio?"
"I dunno, that's just what it says."
"So, we're supposed to buy actual diapers for this thing?"
"Nope, says here that we're supposed to send a time stamped picture every time we're supposed to do a change. And missing one can mean we lose points on the final project. It says here that 'on average most six month olds go through about 8 diapers a day', so whoever has her should send the text."
"Are you kidding me? We have to text 8 times a day for a fake baby?"
"Well, it's supposed to simulate being a real parent. And when Ethan was a baby, he probably went through twice that number every day."
"How do you know that? You were changing him?"
"Not all the time, but I helped out my mom with all the kids. Didn't you with your little sister?"
Santana frowned. "How did you know I have a little sister?"
Brittany ducked her head, avoiding Santana's gaze. "I, um, I guess I saw your family at games and stuff. Booster sales, car washes. Believe it or not we actually spend a lot of time together, Santana."
"And yet, I've never met your family."
"You've met my parents before. They came to the parent teacher conference after the Chipotle Incident. They spent most of the night glaring at you."
Santana blinked a few times. "Well, I try not to give the time of day to people who are giving me death stares. Just a thing for me."
"They couldn't help it that you'd locked me in that restaurant all night."
"And I couldn't help that you had plastered my face all over the wall in a fake bid for Ms. Chipotle 2014."
Brittany laughed loudly, curling up into a ball to hold her sides.
Brittany's guffawing curved the corners of Santana's mouth, and she shook her head goodnaturedly.
"Y-y-you were so MAD." Brittany gasped, still trying to catch her breath. "I thought you were going to rip my head off."
"Yeah, well, I think locking you in there with the tortillas all night made up for it."
Brittany finally was catching her breath, and reached up to wipe a few tears away. "Well, the jokes on you, I had a monster burrito bowl and it was amazing."
"I guess we're even then."
Brittany pushed herself up on her elbows. "Yeah, would seem so."
There was a moment of silence as the two of them tried to figure out what to do with the moment. Santana really believed what she said. And that made things all the more weird for her. Ever since she'd met Brittany they'd gone head to head, stood toe to toe. She wasn't even sure they'd spent more than an hour or so together at any one time and most of that hour was spent listening to Sue yell at them. They'd never had a quiet moment like this, one where they were forced to just listen to each other. Santana definitely wasn't sure what to make of it.
Brittany was less indecisive. She swung her legs around until she was facing Santana sitting cross legged, and put out a hand to Santana.
"So, we're even. Let's make it a blank slate." Noting Santana's hesitation, she continued. "Look, Santana, we've wasted so much of our own and each other's time with this stupid feud. And yeah, there were some funny moments, but I think that having to maintain our schedules so we have the fewest amount of classes together is a bridge too far. We're both captains of the Cheerios. Let's act like it."
Santana hesitated a moment longer, and stuck out her own hand, grasping Brittany's. "I guess. I mean, it's whatever. As long as you keep up your end of the bargain with all this baby stuff. I suppose I can play nice. At least until the project is over."
Brittany sighed. "Baby steps, I guess. It's better than nothing."
Santana pulled her arm away, aware of how warm her face had gotten when Brittany had taken her hand, and she ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "What else does it say we have to do?"
"Wellll…" Brittany said, dragging the binder back into her lap. "We have to have weekly sessions with Coach Roz, updating her on our progress and letting her know that we're on track. We also give updates of how we think the other parent is handling the process."
"So, I get to grade you."
"Well, I get to grade you."
There was a devilish smile on Brittany's face, and try as she might Santana couldn't bite back her own grin. Where Brittany had wiggled up on the bed, she was only a breath away from Santana, who could feel the bed dip slightly with each breath that Brittany took. Santana glanced at the curve of Brittany's smile, her pink lips, glistening with lip gloss, her bright blue eyes twinkling with mischief. She felt her heart thump out of time and her eyes grew wide.
The air between them crackled with the kind of electricity that they'd never allowed themselves to have before. The moment went on longer and longer, and both could feel the shift, but weren't sure how to react to it.
Santana was the first to move, blinking quickly as if waking up from a dream, and breaking the gaze she'd locked with Brittany.
"I, um, I've gotta get some water or something." She said, as she quickly stood up from the bed, and went into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.
Brittany was slower to get up, but she stood up as well and walked over to the window, pressing her head against the glass. She focused in on her breathing for a few moments. She would have been crazy to have missed the way that Santana looked at her. And in some small ways she was intrigued. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had a girl give her that look. Well, not exactly like that, but similar. And where as before she'd been interested, and in some ways giddy, this was the first time that she'd felt that the world wouldn't stop spinning.
She breathed in a few times trying to swallow her mortification. There was no possible way that she was feeling anything other than extreme indigestion at the thought of being near Santana Lopez. The girl who had practically tortured her for the better part of two years. The person who, once in a fit of pique, ground up her first place math tournament trophy and sprinkled it in the school's hydroponic garden. The person, who, if given have a chance, would try her hardest to have her expelled, murdered, or worse. Santana Lopez was not a person to be trifled with and definitely not the person she wanted to have any kind of feelings for, romantic or otherwise.
Brittany went to the bed, grabbing the Flour Baby and cradling it in her arms. She'd been thinking about names for her, but didn't want to suggest anything in case Santana shot it down. But, maybe she should considered diverging a bit from Santana on this project. They'd only been at it for the better part of an afternoon, but Brittany could already feel the dynamic of their relationship changing. Whether things were better or worse, she couldn't be sure.
In the bathroom, Santana ran the water as cold as she could get it, and splashed it into her face a few times. She felt around for the faucet and turned the water off. She reached for a towel, and dabbed at her face, careful not to smudge her mascara.
This was definitely not the way she'd planned on this evening going, much less the whole day. First, she was railroaded into this stupid project with her worst enemy, and now her brain was doing very, very weird things at the thought of Brittany being close to her. Yeah, sure, she liked girls, but she'd never been one of those people that can allow their brain to shut off just because a hot girl walked in the room. She had her standards.
And Brittany definitely didn't come close.
At least, not really. Sure, she was hot. There was no arguing about that. She had an amazing body, perfect, toned legs, and amazing thighs. Her hips made Santana think terrible, dirty thoughts, and her ass was just out of this world. She had a neck that went on for days and Santana could think of how many hours she could wile away planting tender bruises on it's carefully tanned surface.
She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes again, and tried thinking about baseball.
This was no way to go about it. She would go back in there, they'd work out a schedule, and then she'd go home. No muss, no fuss. And definitely no sitting on the bed. Santana straightened up, and ran a finger over her cheeks. She should have brought her compact so she could touch up her makeup. But, on second thought, maybe it's best that she just keep her head down and get out of there.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.
"Santana?" Came the questioning voice. "Santana, you probably don't want to drink the water out of the sink. Though, I guess you could. Anyway, I brought you some filtered water from the kitchen. It's cold. Unless you wanted hot water. I know people do sometimes drink it hot when it's hot outside, but I figured since I've seen you drink cold Gatorade at practice-"
Brittany's ramblings were cut off by Santana who swung the door open quickly, taking the glass of water from Brittany's outstretched hand.
Santana drank the whole glass in one breath and handed it back.
"Thanks." She mumbled.
It took Brittany a moment to respond, but she took the glass in her free hand (the one not holding their flour child). "No problem."
Santana brushed past Brittany, careful not to make any contact with her, and headed back towards the bedroom.
"Can we go ahead and work this out? I've got to get home before eight or else my parents are going to flip."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Brittany rushed after her into her bedroom, closing the door behind them.
\
The next couple of weeks was a bit stranger than the one that preceded it, and Brittany couldn't figure out if that was a good or a bad thing. On one hand, she was spending a lot more time with Santana in ways she hadn't expected. At school, they could get through Cheerios' practice without it devolving into a shouting match, and health class was almost pleasant.
In the past, their feud had divided the school. Either you were on Team Brittany or Team Santana, and there was no in between. It was almost worse than the Montagues and the Capulets. But as Brittany and Santana's relationship changed, so did the lines that had been drawn around the students at McKinley. Now, students could walk the halls without one faction or another feeling the need to extract some petty revenge. Even the cafeteria was beginning to mix, when students saw that mingling with a friend on the other side of the Brittana feud wouldn't end in a slushie to the face. Some people were even saying that Santana had gone days without outright insulting anybody, or making a teacher cry, but that was mostly dismissed as too fantastic to be real.
"I'm telling you guys, I saw her." Artie Abrams said, brandishing a french fry as he told his story. "Rachel was wearing a sweater with a unicorn on it. A unicorn, you guys. And Santana looked at her. Stood perfectly still for what had to be a solid minute. And then just walked away. Without one word."
Mercedes, Tina and their friend Kurt Hummel sat near him at the lunch table. They had been listening with rapt attention, but couldn't contain their disbelief at this last point.
"Artie, look. I love you, but you're high on crack. Maybe it's time for you to get a new prescription on your glasses." Kurt said, patting Artie gently on the shoulder.
"Yeah, Kurt's right. There's no way Santana Diabla Lopez would leave an opportunity like that hanging. Rachel would still be roasting on the bonfire of that burn, believe me." Tina agreed.
Artie pointed across the cafeteria to where Rachel strolled in, laughing with her boyfriend Finn. "Does that look like the face of a person who was recently destroyed on the altar of Santana Lopez insults?"
"No, but-" Mercedes started.
"And I swear to god that yesterday she wore a sweater with a straight up unicorn on it. How do you explain that? How do you explain a unicorn sweater wearing Rachel Berry making it out of McKinley High unscathed? If she was anywhere in Lima, no, anywhere in Ohio and wearing that sweater Santana would have found out about it, and burned her so hard her eyebrows would have been seared off. How do you explain that?"
He pounded his fist into his hand in triumph as the group sat speechless.
"You can't!"
They all thought about it for a second.
"So, what are you saying, Artie? That someone has declawed Santana?" Kurt asked.
"That I don't know. But she's been acting weird lately, and I have a couple of classes with her and-"
"Hey guys!" Brittany chirped as she bounced over to the table, carrying her lunch tray. "What's the topic of conversation today?"
"Santana Diabla Lopez." Kurt drawled, taking a sip of his drink.
"Her middle name is Marie, Kurt."
Everyone at the table stopped, and looked at Brittany strangely.
"How do you even know that, Britt?" Asked Tina.
Brittany's eyebrows went almost to her forehead before she stuffed a fry into her mouth and began chewing rapidly.
"Um, I dunno, Tina, we've only been on the Cheerios together for two years. So, maybe I just know, you know?"
A look passed between Mercedes, Tina and Artie, but they didn't push the topic any further.
Tina turned back to Artie. "So, you're saying that something about her has changed? I dunno if I buy it Artie. If looks could kill, then the everybody on campus would be dead. Maybe she hasn't said anything with words, but her eyes are still as deadly as ever. So, personally, I think she's still pretty evil."
"Well, I'm telling you what I saw. That's it. No more, no less." Artie responded with a shrug.
Mercedes turned towards Brittany. "What do you think, Britt? Do you think that Santana could change? You know her better than anybody, probably, since you two have spent so much time trying to destroy one another."
Brittany took a sip of her drink and swallowed loudly. "I'm not sure. I mean, I used to think she was the worst person at this school, but now I dunno."
"Well, what changed?" Mercedes pushed.
"People get older, mature. Maybe she's done being a bitch."
"Yeah, because people would totally just forgive her for the heaps of torture that she's done to us over the years." Kurt scoffed.
"Well, that's the thing. I mean, she wasn't very nice to us. Not me, or you, or anybody who's close to me. And generally speaking she can be a bit, um, prickly. But, she's really nice to her friends. Mike, Quinn and Puck. Sometimes she can even be nice to Rachel, I've heard."
Tina raised an eyebrow. "Brittany, she literally told everyone you had lost your hearing over the summer, and had people screaming into your ear for the first few weeks of school."
"Maybe Brittany has a point." Mercedes countered. "I mean, Mike has a really high opinion of her. He says that she can be a jerk, but once she's your friend, she's basically the most loyal person on Earth."
Now the attention turned to Mercedes.
"How do you know that, Mercedes? Are you hanging out with Mike?" Kurt asked.
"No! What, no. I mean, he's an okay enough guy, but no. We have like three classes together, so it's really not that weird."
Tina rolled her eyes. "It wasn't really that weird until your long and rambling explanation made it super weird."
Mercedes tried again. "I just meant that-"
"Look, I think we can all agree that there are tons of people walking around who are acting hella weird. And two of them are at this table right now." Artie said, placing his tray into his lap, and pushing his wheelchair away.
Kurt laughed, and put his tray on top of Artie's. "Let's go, Tina. Artie and I are going to go catch some sun before fifth period."
Tina smiled at Mercedes in sympathy and stood to follow.
When they were left alone, Brittany tried to act as natural as possible. Sure, maybe she had been caught defending Santana a few times, whereas before she hadn't had a nice word to say about the other girl. They had been spending a lot of time together, away from the prying eyes at the school. And when it was just them, Santana was different. She was kinder and more patient, and just better. But she wasn't sure what would happen to their relationship once the project was over. Maybe Santana was just biding her time so she could use what she'd learned against Brittany against her. Maybe she was spending time charming her siblings, and being polite to her parents, and making her feel, well, feel in those ways that she felt (that she didn't dare explore), maybe she was doing it all as part of some long con. Brittany wasn't sure, of course, who really knew, but she liked to believe that she wasn't as bad a judge of character as all that. She liked to believe that if this was all a ruse that she would have been able to see through it. But it seemed, contrary to everything she'd ever known about the girl, that Santana actually seemed to like her. It was weird, they'd spent so long hating each other that they didn't get the chance to know each other. And that made Brittany feel unbelievably sad.
She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't see Mercedes perk up at someone out of view, give a quick nod, and then begin to pack up her things.
"Sorry, Britt, I've gotta run. But, I'll see you after school, okay?"
Still lost in her own world, Brittany only nodded. "Okay, Mercedes. I'll see you later."
Mercedes stopped, and leaned down beside where Brittany still sat, nudging her gently.
"Hey, Britt, don't worry, okay. Everything's going to be alright."
Before Brittany could reply, Mercedes had given her a quick peck on the temple, and was off like a shot. She looked after her for a moment, and went back to picking at her fries, suddenly not very hungry. Suddenly, there was a whirring outside the edge of her consciousness and she looked quickly around the cafeteria. She somehow felt Santana before she saw her. The feeling of eyes drilling into her from very far away brought her attention across the room, and she saw Santana staring at her, trying as hard as she could to be inconspicuous to the friends that were surrounding her, distracted by their own conversation.
Brittany thought maybe she was missing something until she noticed Santana raise her eyebrows quickly and then subtly nod her head in the direction of the cafeteria entrance. Brittany frowned. Santana rolled her eyes, and then held up her phone, waggling it gently. Suddenly Puck turned to ask her a question, and trying to put her phone back in her lap, Santana slung it across the table, where it collided directly with Finn's face. Everyone was on their feet in an instant, rushing over to Finn who only rubbed his nose in annoyance, and held out the phone to Santana.
Brittany didn't bother to hide her laugh as she watched Santana fumble her way through an explanation. In fact, she had to put her forehead down on the table she was laughing so hard, and the group at the table next to her kept sending curious glances her way to see what was up. Brittany couldn't help it though, and didn't mind the stares. The look on Santana's face was enough to keep her going for another few minutes until the laughter had dissolved into little hiccups as she wiped the tears from her face.
Suddenly her phone rang beside her.
"Hello?"
"Are you done with your laugh riot, or have you got a few more chuckles in you?"
Brittany was surprised to hear Santana's voice on the other side of the line, and looked back to the table where she'd sat only a few moments before. Most of the group was still there, but Santana was gone. Brittany looked around quickly.
"Well, you've gotta admit it was pretty funny. I can't believe you beaned him with your phone like that. Right in the face, even! Gosh that was amazing. I've known Finn since we were about twelve years old and there have been plenty of times when I wanted to punch him in the nose, but this is the first time I've seen somebody really go for the prize. I'm proud of you." Brittany finished with mock enthusiasm.
"Har dee har har."
Brittany didn't even have to be looking at Santana to know that she was smiling. After spending two years only seeing the most fake of Santana's smiles, Brittany was starting to see more and more of the real ones. She'd seen so many of them that she'd started naming them. Santana was no doubt doing the classic, 'i-totally-think-what-you're-saying-is-funny-but-i'm-going-to-pretend-that-i-don't-but-clearly-i-do'. It was a smile that Brittany was finding herself see more and more, and look forward to every time. She was actually starting the realize that Santana laughing at her jokes (and not just laughing at her), was one of her favorite parts of the day. She liked the feeling that stirred in the pit of her stomach when she could say something funny, and Santana's eyes would light up as if she'd just heard the funniest thing in the world. She tried to ignore what the feeling meant as much as possible, but it was clear that something was happening between them. Something much different than what had been happening before.
Brittany brought her attention to focus on what Santana was saying.
"Anyway, I thought we could meet up before next period to talk about what we're going to say to Roz. For our weekly evaluations, I mean."
Brittany raised an eyebrow. "Santana, we did that last week, and the week before. Do we really need to do it again?"
"I just want to make sure that we're on the same page, Britt. C'mon, please?"
Brittany smiled softly to herself. After Santana realized that she couldn't bully Brittany into doing what she wanted, she became much more polite. If anything, she would go out of her way to make sure that Brittany was always on board with what they were doing. At first, it had felt weird, like Santana was trying to get something over on her. But as time went on, and her defenses came down, it was clear that this was simply the way that Santana made sure that Brittany played nice, and followed their agreement. But, also somewhere in the back of her mind, Brittany wanted to believe that Santana had changed. That she really didn't hate her anymore, and maybe had a little sympathy for her somewhere in her heart.
In the end, there was something about the way that Santana said please that made Brittany come undone. She doubted there was anything she could deny her when she said please. And that worried her very much.
"Yeah, sure, Santana. We can meet. Where are you?"
There was an audible sigh of relief. "Coach said we could use her office room, and nobody will bother us. Even if someone comes in we can just say that we're doing some prep for the upcoming competition."
"Okay, I'll be there in a few."
"Thanks, Brittany. See you then."
Brittany nodded her affirmation, and locked her phone. Something she'd learned over the course of the past weeks was that Santana Lopez cared about her grades. Brittany had spent a couple evenings at her house, and after her initial astonishment about how GINORMOUS the place was, she noticed that the Lopezes had practically built a little shrine to their daughter's accomplishments. There were Santana's cheerleading trophies, and her sister, Selena's, karate championship medals, and piano recital certificates. But, in the midst of all that were the true centerpieces. The Lopez girl's unbroken streak of honor roll certificates. Santana's had been going strong since the sixth grade, and for the past three years, she'd had nothing but all A's. Brittany had been impressed. Her own grades were good, but while she excelled in maths and science, she couldn't seem to get better than a C in any English classes.
But for Santana, it was a way of life. So nothing could get in the way of that. Seeing that made Brittany understand a bit more about why the project meant so much to Santana. And it helped Brittany not feel tempted to hang it over Santana's head quite as much, since she knew what it would mean if they failed. Her parents didn't seem the type to disown her if she had bad grades, but it seemed like something in Santana herself, that pushed her towards excellence.
She packed up her stuff, and left the table. She spare one last glance at Finn who was still rubbing his nose, and chuckled as she head out the door.