A/N: Hi guys! So I will be leaving tomorrow night to go to a festival, and I won't be back until Monday night, which means I won't be able to write anything whilst i'm away, so the update for chapter 4 will be a bit of a longer wait. In the meantime, any updates to anything will be posted on my tumblr page ( .com), and I will be happy to answer any questions at all!
This chapter is called Don't Stop Believing, and if you need to know who sang this, you shouldn't be reading :P I hope you enjoy! And please review, I love hearing your comments on how I can improve my writing! Thanks! Lahni
"Ugh, do we have to meet with Berry and Frankenteen before we get our pizza on? I'm all for meeting the 'crew', but I'd prefer to not be in small confined spaces with him. He will most likely suck in all the air in the room, and leave us dying in the corner," she sighed heavily, rubbing her temples, "And Berry will probably break out into a huge confessional outburst and get all emotional. I get enough of that back in New York. Besides, I thought she was with Brody? Wow, has Berry finally turned into a slut? Is she hooking up with both? I never thought I'd see the day where I would openly say I was proud of you."
They were back in Quinn's hotel room after their incredibly amazing breakfast, and Rachel had text them both saying that she 'wished to meet them prior to their 'family gathering'' later on that night, along with Finn. There was nothing that Santana wanted less. Having to listen to his dull droning voice would be torturous and very unwelcome, but she knew that when Berry was adamant about something, she had no choice.
"Santana, you do realise that I am on the phone, don't you? And that I can hear everything you're saying." She forgot that Quinn was on the phone to Rachel for a brief moment, but the girl was used to hearing Santana's snide comments about people, although this time she sounded more annoyed than usual. Something was definitely up.
"Of course I do, I was just expressing my disproval of Finn out loud," Santana was too busy trying to find her key card for her own hotel room to even concentrate on what Rachel's reply was, and she was becoming increasingly frustrated. She had searched high and low for it and she still couldn't find it. "Quinn, are you sure you haven't seen my room key? I must have had it somewhere here."
Quinn turned to look at her and frowned slightly, "I completely forgot we're not sharing a room. Have you tried double-checking your bag now that you're sober?"
She pushed herself off of the floor and sauntered over to the armchair by the front door, opened her bag and began rooting through the various amount of items inside, some of which were stolen goods from the hotel, such as shampoo, toothpaste, mini bottles of vodka and rum. There was way too much stuff inside there, and she was on the verge of giving up when she spotted it sticking out from the corner of the pocket inside. Her eyebrow raised slightly, "Damn, I could have sworn I searched this fucking bag all the way through last night. I'm off to go freshen up for the second time today, I'll meet you in the lobby later?"
"Sure, that sounds good. You better not be late, Santana. You have an hour."
"When am I ever late? It's like you guys don't trust me to do anything right, I swear to God."
An hour and a half later Santana was stepping out of the lift, dressed in a tight black top and jeans, with some killer black heels that she'd packed for a special occasion, besides the wedding. She knew that there'd be a hang out with everyone, and she needed to make a good impression. Her original idea was to try and show Brittany what she was missing whilst she was with Sam, but her run in with Mr Schuester and his now wife, Mrs Pillsbury, was the kind of wakeup call she needed. She had to move on with her life if she wanted to get anywhere in it.
Santana was crazy excited to see everyone again; although she spent her entire high school life ripping them all a new one, she loved all of them individually, even if they did piss her off every second that they were together. They were her second family. People she could go to if she needed help, someone to talk to, or even a place to crash when she got too drunk to walk home.
"Well it's nice of you to finally show up. It wasn't like we were waiting for you or anything," Rachel stood up from the couch and sighed heavily, looking at the clock.
"Cut the shitty act of yours, Rachel. It takes time to look this hot. Not that you'd know anything about that," she rolled her eyes and walked towards Finn, looking him up and down before turning back round to Rachel, "Actually, I take that back. The amount of time you spend in the morning warming up your throat for a good session of su-"
"Santana, that is a completely inappropriate thing to say, and I wish sometimes that you would keep your nose out of things. Especially when they don't concern you or welcome your opinions," Rachel was clearly in no mood to be messed with tonight. It came out much shakier than Santana would have ever anticipated, and straight away she knew she had hit a sensitive spot. Since Rachel and Kurt took her in when she turned up at their New York apartment, she had learnt when and when not to push Rachel's buttons, and from the sound of her voice, she'd taken enough of a beating today.
"I'm sorry to break up your domestic, but don't we have somewhere to be?" Quinn's voice was quiet, but everyone heard her. Santana cleared her throat and nodded, following suit to Quinn and the rest. It was going to be a long night and that was for sure.
They walked outside into the cool breeze of the night sky and Finn hollered a cab for the four of them. It didn't take long for one to stop outside and let them jump in, but it was long enough for Santana to start becoming nervous for what was in store that night. She played out different scenarios in her head of how things would turn out, how she would react to them, and how others would react to her being there again, in a confined space with Brittany. Everybody knew she was still hurting over it, and she knew that if it got down to it, she would have to leave early. Complain of a stomach cramp or a headache, something that would get her out of the house immediately. "Santana?"
Her head whipped around to the window beside her and she stared directly at Finn, still in a daze, "What?"
"Um, Santana, we've been here for about three minutes now…. Are you coming in?" Finn was standing outside, hands in pockets, looking extremely nervous. "I've already paid, and we thought you had followed us to the door."
"Yeah, no, I was just talking to the cab driver. I'm coming now," she faced the driver, and unbuckled her seatbelt, "I hope things get better for your family."
"What? We weren't even-"
Santana shot him a dirty look, "I said, I hope your family issues get dealt with." She climbed out of the car, slammed the door behind her and walked towards the new Schuester-Pillsbury home. Her heart was beating faster with every step that she took, and as she climbed the stairs, she saw Puck sat on the porch, drinking a bottle of whiskey.
"What's up, Puckerman? Too much for you in there?" A smile grew on her face as she took a seat next to him, snatching the bottle out of his hands. She felt her pulse slow down, and she could breathe again.
"Have you been in there? I got a headache from the strong stench of bleach and disinfectant. Had to come outside for some fresh air," Puck took a toke on his cigarette and leaned back on the bench, staring at the sky as he blew out the smoke slowly.
"Fresh air my fucking ass," she laughed, taking a mouthful of the drink, "Sorry I didn't reply to your texts, I was out for lunch with Quinn, and then we got back and Rachel called and before I knew it, I was here. |
"You don't need to apologise, babe. I was having my own fuckin' day. Literally." His hands reached up to the back of his head as he stretched, cricking his back, "This girl was a ride and a half, San, you should have seen it."
Santana choked, and managed to spit some out of her mouth, causing it to go everywhere, "Jesus, Puck, you could have waited 'til I finished my drink. I had a mouthful in there!"
He burst out laughing, and threw his cigarette onto the lawn, "Same thing she said to me last night."
"You're disgusting, you know that?" She nudged his shoulder playfully before standing up, looking at him expectantly. "Are you coming?"
Puck stood up and walked towards the door with her, "Now let's face this party together. I feel like I'm going back into the choir room, you know?"
"Trust me. I know."
They walked into the house together, into the lounge where everyone was sat, and she felt all eyes turn on them. This is the last thing she wanted to happen.
"Santana! It's so nice of you to join us. Rachel said you were still deciding on whether to come in," Mr Schuester stood up and walked towards her with his arms out, "I'm glad you made it."
Her eyes widened as she looked at him drawing closer and closer towards her, and she instantly closed her eyes as she felt his arm snake over her shoulders. "Now you're all here, I wanted to say something. If you could just take a seat guys, this won't take long."
Santana brushed him off of her and took a seat next to Quinn, who happened to be sat next to Brittany, of all people. It was the only seat that was free, after Puck took his place next to Mike and Jake, and she knew that if she had stayed standing, people would start asking questions. Tonight is going to suck, so hard.
"I just wanted to thank everybody for attending yesterday. It meant a lot to me and Mrs Pillsbury that some of you had flown in just for the occasion, and we felt that it was only right for us to get you a gift each, as a sign of our appreciation towards everybody. If you could open them when everybody has received theirs, that would be great." He reached for a black bag next to the sofa, and started handing out presents to everybody individually. Santana received hers third, and had to wait impatiently for everybody else to get theirs. She ran her fingers over the package, and it felt like there was a couple of picture frames in there. Strange.
"Me and Will struggled to find all of these, but with help from a few classmates and people outside of Glee Club, we were able to pull it off just in time. You can open them now," Emma was clapping excitedly, waiting to see their faces as they opened them.
Santana teared open her present with care, careful not to destroy anything that may be inside, and smiled to herself. I knew they were pictures. She pulled off the wrapping paper to a gold pattered picture frame and she felt her heart sink. It was a picture of everybody in the choir room, posing for the camera in their most natural way. There was none of the new members in the photo, but she guessed from their faces that they had got one of their group, too. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, coating them and making her sight blurry. She wiped her eyes and looked closer at the picture, to see her, Brittany and Quinn huddled together on the right hand side, all holding each other's hands with grins plastered over their faces. A grin also grew on her face as she looked at everyone's poses; Artie freaking out as Puck tipped his wheelchair back slightly, Sam with his mouth open, probably trying to do a lame impression of George Bush, or someone just as bad. Then there was Mike and Tina hugging on the other side of the photo, with Finn and Rachel kissing in the middle of theirs. Kurt, Mercedes and Sugar were doing their best Charlie's angel's impressions at the front of the picture, which brought a huge smile to her face. Even Brad the piano guy was in the picture with Mr Schuester, doing what appeared to be the moonwalk, but clearly they were both failing. Her hand came up to wipe more tears away and she looked around the room, to see everybody else doing the same, including the two adults in the room.
"It's funny. When you go through life, you think of all the bad things that happen to you, and you walk with those memories for the rest of your life. Sometimes, you just need to be reminded of the things that made you the happiest. If look at the pictures, everything you had once forgotten could come back to you straight away. The good memories," Mr Schuester's voice was breaking with every word he said, and Santana couldn't help but cry and giggle to herself at the same time, "But I wanted to remind you that wherever you are in the world, whatever you are doing, whether you're feeling alone, scared or anything, you will always have each other. You guys are family, even if you are not blood related. You looked after each other through some of the toughest times the last couple of years, and I wanted you to have at least two memories of when I first thought you were the happiest you had ever been."
All of a sudden, everybody burst out in floods of tears, including the guys, and even Emma was crying on Will's shoulder. It was like someone had just walked into the room and announced that everyone was going to die within a minute. Santana felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned round to see Quinn smiling at her, holding a tissue for her. She nodded and took it, dabbing her eyes, making sure that her makeup wasn't ruined. "Well, If I knew we were having a crying party, I wouldn't have made such an effort for my face to look perfect."
"You look really good with or without a perfect face, San," Brittany smiled at her, which caused Santana to sniff and smile back at her.
"Thanks Britt."
"Now, the second picture is also a memory which I'd like you to remember forever. It shows that no matter what you want in life, if you work hard enough and long enough, you will be able to achieve it. I did, and it led me to Will," Emma was rubbing her tears away with a cotton swab, disposing of them in a small sandwich bag she had in her hand.
Santana looked back down at the photos in her hand and switched the pictures round, to see a photo of their winning faces at Nationals. She couldn't face crying again, so she tucked them back into the wrapping paper and stood up, placing hers on the table.
"Thanks Mr Schue, you didn't have to go through all of this just for us," Blaine announced, standing up and walking towards both Mr Schue and Emma with open arms, embracing them in a big hug.
"You really didn't need to do this, we're never going to stop being a family," She turned to see Mercedes getting out of her seat too, along with everybody else, which just left her standing by the table alone. She looked at Quinn who just rolled her eyes at her and gestured for her to come over. Santana didn't move, unsure whether she could handle that sort of openness at this point, but as soon as she felt Quinn's hand grab her arm and lead her over, she knew it was just the sort of thing she needed to enjoy her night. Her arms wrapped around everyone that was in front of her as she leant on Sam's back. His body turned towards her and pulled her into the middle of the group hug. Everybody was saying their 'thank you's' and 'we'll never forget you' and all the other emotional, mushy stuff, and Santana sighed into whoever was hugging her the tightest in the group. She had no idea who it was, but she knew that that person was making her feel the safest she'd felt in a long time.
"Ah, before we get to the 'shot drinking', I just want to make you all aware, that YOU are responsible for your actions tonight, not us," Mrs Pillsbury stated, staring directly at Santana, Quinn and Puck, "But also, we have booked the hotel rooms for one more night, so you can get cabs back there after you have so kindly emptied our alcoholic beverages."
"You're actually... letting us drink at your house?" Artie piped up after being incredibly quiet, "So we can drink as much as we want, and you aren't going to... Stop us?"
"Who cares? The lady said we can drink, so we're gonna drink!" hollered Puck, already picking up the bottle of whisky from behind him.
Santana had one thing on her mind to solve this kind of emotional wound that they had so openly caused her, and it was staring her right in the face.
"Shots, anyone?" She grinned, eyeing up the bottle of tequila Mr Schue had stashed in his alcohol cabinet on the other side of the room.
"Oh, Jesus, not again!"
