Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any songs performed in this story. This is purely a work of fiction.
The next day Rachel and Kurt called for a roommate meeting. Santana tried to keep her cool but all these meetings were ridiculous. She sat down and waited. Kurt spoke first. "Rachel and I are very concerned for you," he said. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I messed up, it won't happen again," Santana said shortly. "Santana, this is serious," Rachel said. "I know, okay? Trust me. I'm aware that sleeping with a stranger I met in a bar is a bad thing." Rachel rested a hand on her knee. "Look, I know that missing Brittany must be really hard for you, Santana." "Yeah, we both know how it feels to love someone so much and it not work out the way you wanted it to." Rachel was nodding fervently at Kurt's words. "But it's no excuse to throw yourself around and have meaningless sex," she added.
"No one said anything when that's what Jason Segel's character did in Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Santana complained. "That's a movie, okay. This is real life and we're your real friends. We just want to help," Rachel said. She and Kurt exchanged a look. "Which is why we have decided to set you up with an acceptable girl of our choosing," Kurt told her. "Excuse me?" Santana looked at Rachel. "Did I hear Lady Hummel correctly?" "We want to help..." "You don't get a say in who I date. It's none of your business." Santana was furious. Who did they think they were?
"Santana, please calm down. We just want you to be happy. We're only trying to help," Rachel pleaded. Kurt nodded. "And the girl we've chosen is really sweet," he promised. "Count me out," Santana replied coldly. She grabbed her purse and stomped out of the apartment.
Two blocks down was a 24 hour coffee shop that she had visited a few times to wind down after work. She walked in immediately and ordered a latte with double espresso. She was so tired but going back to the apartment to try and get a nap was not happening. At least not until the wonder twins were in class.
She took out her phone while she waited for her coffee order. She had no one to text really so she looked through her pictures. Tears stung at her eyes as picture after picture portrayed happier times. Times with Brittany. Her face was everywhere and it hurt to even think her name. "Santana," a bored barista called. She stuffed her phone back in her bag and grabbed her coffee. She nearly ran into someone as she went to find a table. "Oof, sorry," the person said. "Don't worry about it," Santana replied flatly. It wasn't until the other person said, "hey, it's you," that Santana bothered to look at her.
Standing in front of her, grinning, was Des. "Oh, hey," Santana said, trying to find a way out of talking to her. "Come here often?" Des asked with a sly smile. "Are you hitting on me?" Santana asked. "I was...it was a...a joke, kind of...ice breaker..." Des' cheeks were red. Suddenly Santana felt bad. Des must think she's so rude. "Sorry, I just...It's not my morning," Santana sighed. Des held up her hands. "It's cool. I tend to get weird when I get nervous." "What are you nervous about?" Santana asked. Des turned even redder. "Nevermind. I'm gonna grab a seat. You can join me if you want but I doubt I'll be good company," she told her. Des smiled. "Sure. Thanks."
When Des had gotten her coffee and made her way to Santana's table, she sat down with a smile. "So, what's eatin' ya, if you don't mind my askin'?" "Okay, first of all, where are you even from? You sound like a deep fried truck driver," Santana said before she could stop herself. To her surprise, Des laughed. "I've never heard that one before. I'm from North Carolina. Boone to be exact." "Does everyone talk like that in Boone?" Des shrugged. "I guess most people do. My mom and sister talk like proper southern ladies but my dad has a deep drawl like mine, though he's not much of a talker. My brother doesn't talk much either, really." "So what happened to you?" Santana asked. Des smiled. "Country music," she replied.
Des took a sip of her coffee. "So...somethin' buggin' ya?" Santana frowned. "My roommates," she answered. Des nodded sympathetically. "I feel ya. My roommates...well...they don't seem too fond of me." "My roommates care about me too much," Santana told her. She didn't know what it was about the ginger sitting across from her, but she felt comfortable enough to talk to her honestly. "They're trying to set me up with a blind date...some girl from their school," she said. She hadn't realized she'd said 'girl' at first, then quickly looked up to gauge Des' reaction. "Did they tell you anything about her?" Des asked. If Santana had shocked her at all, Des never showed it. "Just that she's sweet," Santana answered.
Des grimaced. "Sweet is usually a cover for ugly," she said. Santana smiled. "But what do I know? Maybe she's a knockout. You'll never know if you don't give it a chance." Santana shrugged. "I get what they're doing and I appreciate it but I need to do this on my own," she said. Des nodded. "Did you, like, just come out or..." "I've been out for a while. It's just that when I went to college, I stupidly tried to keep things going with my girlfriend, who got held back, and then realized that it might not be a good idea. So I told her we should take a break and see what happens in the future. Well, now she's dating this idiot and I dropped out of college to move to New York...where I have become a bartender at Coyote Ugly and a cage dancer at a club."
Des took another long sip of coffee. "I'm starting to think I shouldn't have left her." Santana couldn't look at Des. She didn't know why she was telling her all this. She barely knew her. "Maybe it'll all work out and maybe it won't. Truth is, you make your bed an' you gotta lay in it. Lie in it. Whatever the right grammar is, you get my point. Maybe the person...guy...girl...whoever she's seeing now and whoever you end up seeing in the future are just pitstops. Then again maybe you two were meant to be lessons for each other. There's no way of knowin' just yet."
Santana raised her eyebrows in confusion but Des smiled patiently. "Someday you'll know what was always meant to be. Perhaps you'll find your way back to the one that got away, or might be you meet a new girl and she sweeps you off your feet. You've got time. Don't rush it and try not to think too far ahead. Date people. Experience stuff. Live your life. You're only young once and how on earth will you ever be old and wise if you're never young and stupid?" It was the weirdest but truest advice Santana had ever received. "Thank you," she said, smiling a little.
"So what's with you?" she asked to get the subject off of her and maybe offer up some friendly advice. "Whadaya mean?" Des asked, drinking her coffee idly. "With the roommates," Santana explained. "Oh, that. Well, I have three. Two of 'em are tryin' to break into modeling and the other wants to be a ballerina. They're all snooty and think they're better than me. Nothin' I ain't already used to," Des answered with a shrug. "You just put up with it?" Des nodded and drained her coffee. "Why don't you stick up for yourself?" Santana asked. Des shrugged. "It just don't bother me. Never has. I've always just been myself and if people didn't like it they didn't have to be my friend. Besides, I only live there because the rent is cheap since it's split between four people and my parents weren't comfortable giving up full control. I was gonna rent an apartment above a Chinese restaurant in Harlem but as soon as a roach crawled across my mama's shoe she flipped her shit and I ended up in Bushwick with three snobs."
"Wait, you live in Bushwick? When I saw you after class you said your apartment was a few blocks away," Santana said, confused. Des went pink. "Yeah, I got nervous. I didn't want you to think I was a stalker or something so I walked until I couldn't see you anymore and got a cab." Santana didn't know what to say to that so she decided to offer up some advice of her own.
"Well, since you gave me some advice, let me return the favor." She leaned in closer which made Des blush. "If you let people treat you like a nobody that's exactly what you'll be. Never let anyone walk all over you. Never." Santana leaned back and drained her coffee.
Ahhh! Thank you for reading! I hope it was acceptable!