Opposites Attract
Chapter 3
Santana is already awake when her alarm clock starts ringing, she turns it off as fast as she can so it doesn't wake a sleeping Rico and Eva. She gets out of bed and grabs her clothes that she had thrown on the end of her bed when she finished work yesterday.
She checks to make sure that she hasn't disturbed either her brother or sister before sneaking out of the room and closing the door quietly behind her.
As usual when Santana walks into her kitchen, Puck and Sam are sitting around the table eating breakfast.
"Morning" she greets.
"Your father has already left but he put the tools in the truck for you and told me to wish you good luck for today" Maribel says placing a plate in front of Santana.
"Thanks Mom."
It's not long until Rico and Eva run down the stairs to eat their breakfast, it's the same routine day in day out.
"Come on we better get going" Santana says after finishing her breakfast.
They say their goodbyes and head out to the truck.
"Can I drive?"
"Sure but I call shot-gun" Puck replies, tossing Santana the keys.
"Damn it" Sam yells, causing both Santana and Puck to laugh.
"I'm sorry Trouty looks like in the back again."
"Why do I even hang out with you guys?" Sam asks.
"Because nobody else offered to be your friend" Puck replies.
"I hate you, I hate you both."
"Love you too Sammy boy" Santana smirks.
"So we at the mayor's house first?" Puck asks once they get into the truck.
"Yeah. You looked at the list I gave you right? The one with the jobs I need you to do."
"Of course I did, don't worry it's all stored in here" Puck replies, tapping his head.
"Is there enough room in there for all that? Although I suppose your brain doesn't take up that much space" Santana teases him.
"Very funny. I hope the mayor's wife is there today, she was smoking hot."
"That's just creepy and weird, she's like twice your age."
"So, I like an older woman and the housewives like me."
"Yes I know and I let it slide because it seems to increase your tips as well as your ego" Santana says.
"Hey, I'm not the only one that has given extra services to the customers."
"You better not be talking about Abbey because that was different. She wasn't a customer she was just the granddaughter of one besides she was only a year older than me, not in her forties" Santana retorts.
"Am I the only one that hasn't got lucky from this job?" Sam asks.
"Yes" Santana and Puck both reply before they start laughing.
They pull up at the mayor's house a couple of minutes early to make sure they create a good impression on their new employer. They unload the tools from the back of the truck as Santana assigns each of them their jobs.
"Sam you're on the front, so you take the mower first. Puck and I will do the back so once you've finished meet us back there and bring the mower with you." Santana explains.
"Okay, no problem boss" Sam replies.
He grabs the lawn mower whilst Puck and Santana grab a hedge trimmer each.
"This place is fucking awesome" Puck says as they walk into the back garden.
The garden was huge it had a pristine green lawn, a large patio complete with pool and a gazebo. It was closed off by large hedges, which is where Santana and Puck are about to start their day of work.
"You better go and grab the ladders from the truck" Santana tells Puck.
As Puck makes his way back to the truck Santana grabs both of the hedge trimmers and takes them over to the hedges at the right side of the house. Just as she places them on the floor the patio doors of the house open and out steps a brunette.
She's wearing a red bikini, her hair is wet and she's clutching a glass of what looks like ice tea.
"Hello" she says, slightly perplexed as to why there was a stranger in her back yard.
"Hi. I'm Santana, Santana Lopez. I'm part of the new garden team" Santana explains holding out her hand to the other girl, who smiles and except the handshake.
"Hello Santana. It's nice to meet you, I'm Rachel Berry."
"So you're the Mayor's daughter?" Santana asks, glad that she was polite and professional to the girl who is technically her employer.
"Yes I am. I had just finished swimming and was going to read in the sun but I could stay inside if I'll be in your way."
"No it's okay and we won't get in your way, I promise" Santana assures.
Puck chooses this moment to arrive with the ladders, he lays them down on the floor next to the trimmers and introduces himself to Rachel.
"Hey, I'm Noah Puckerman and you are?"
"The mayor's daughter, Rachel" Santana says, giving him a looks that says behave yourself.
"Well it's nice to meet you Miss Berry."
"We should get to work" Santana states.
"I apologise for keeping you from your work" Rachel says.
She sends them a smile and walks over to one of the sun loungers near the pool. Santana watches the ways she moves as she walks away but soon remembers that she has a job to do. She looks over at Puck who was also watching the petite brunette.
"Stop staring at her ass" she says, hitting Puck in the chest.
"Like you weren't doing the exact, same thing."
"I'm serious don't go there with this one" Santana warns.
"I won't, I know how serious this job is for us."
"Good, now get up those damn ladders and earn your wage" Santana jokes.
"You got it boss."
Sam has taken over Santana's hedge duties, so she could cut the grass. They had been at the Mayor's house for over an hour now and it was getting extremely hot. She was glad that she had brought her sunglasses, not just because they shielded her eyes from the sun but it meant that she could have a couple of glances at the brunette stretched out on a sun lounger without being obvious.
She knows she warned Puck about leering but usually her customers are middle-aged housewives not hot, young girls like Rachel and looking can't hurt. She chances a quick glance to Rachel and sees her standing up and stretching her muscles. The heat was so intense that Santana guesses she's going to take another dip in the pool.
She turns off the mower, takes off her sunglasses and clips them on the front of her tank top. She shrugs off her shirt and quickly wipes her sweaty forehead with it.
"Maldita, ella tiene piernas agradables para un hobbit." Santana mumbles.
"Gracias."
Santana quickly turns around to find Rachel standing behind her.
"It wasn't a compliment."
She inwardly curses at herself when those words slip from her lips.
"But you said I had nice legs" Rachel says.
"I also called you a hobbit."
She really wishes she could stop herself but somehow she just keeps digging herself deeper and deeper.
"So you speak Spanish?" Santana asks desperately trying to turn the conversation around.
"Si, I took it at school along with French, I'm quiet fluent actually."
"That's impressive" Santana says.
"Rachel, don't interfere with the staff when they are meant to be working" Leroy Berry shouts as he approaches the two girls.
"I'm sorry Dad."
"Do you speak English?" Leroy asks Santana slowly.
"Dad that is incredibly rude"
"Well you never know a lot of these people from Lima Heights are immigrants."
"Dad!" Rachel yells.
"So do you speak English?" Leroy asks again.
"Yes Sir" Santana replies.
"So what is so important that it stops you from working?" Leroy questions.
"Actually Dad, I was just asking a question. I was trying to get Kurt to brighten up his room with some foliage so I was thinking about getting him a plant but he's has a history of killing them so I was just asking for some advice about plants that are easy to maintain and Santana suggested-"
"A peace lily, just keep them well watered during the summer, less in the winter and give it a liquid feed once a month and it should be fine" Santana says.
"And I was saying how perfect that sounded since I love lilies. Well thank you for your help Santana" Rachel smiles.
"Yes thank you Santana now can you please go back to doing what I pay you to do."
"Of course Mayor Berry" Santana says adding a quiet "Pendejo" at the end.
Panic started to arise in Santana when she realises that Rachel could understand what she said., she really doesn't want to lose her job on the first day. She instantly feels relief when she sees a smile tug on the other girl's lips.
A smile appears on Santana's own lips, as she nods her head at Rachel. She walks over to the lawn mower and tucks her shirt into her jeans pocket so it hangs by her side. She puts her sunglasses back on and carries on mowing.
"Here" Quinn says as she hands Santana an ice, cold bottle of water.
"Thanks."
Quinn sits in the chair next to Santana and opens her own bottle of water.
"Busy morning?" she asks.
"We spent a couple of hours at the Mayors house, your Dad is friends with him right?"
"Yeah, they work together" Quinn replies.
"Have you met his daughter?"
"Who Rachel? I've met her couple of times at those parties my Dad makes me go to but she goes to school in New York so she's never around."
"What's she like?"
"She's a little overbearing but she's nice. She talked to me about Broadway for nearly half an hour once but that's all she ever talks about. Her Mom is a teacher at my school, she also coaches glee club. Why are you so interested?" Quinn asks.
"I met her yesterday and I kind of insulted her Dad when they were both stood in front of me. I just couldn't help myself and it just slipped out."
"Her Dad didn't say anything about you insulting him?"
"Well I said it in Spanish but Rachel understood me because apparently it's a language she's fluent in. She didn't say anything after she just smiled at me."
"I wouldn't worry too much about it. She might not have understood you and if she did it mustn't have bothered her otherwise she would have definitely let you know about it" Quinn says.
"San are you going to do any work?" Puck asks walking over and standing in front of the two girls.
"They only things that need doing are the lawn and the pool. There is only one mower which Sam is currently using and you're the specialist pool guy so you're doing the pool."
"So you get to sit on your ass?"
"I'm supervising. You know the less you complain the faster you'll be finished and then we can have lunch" Santana says.
"Alright fine, let the men do all the work" Puck smirks.
He sends a wink at Quinn causing her to blush, the exchange goes unnoticed by Santana whose mind was still preoccupied by what happened at the Mayor's house.
She's soon pulled out of her thoughts when she hears the sound of a car door shutting.
"Shit, is that your Dad?" Santana asks jumping out of the chair.
"I think so, I'll go and greet him and distract him for a bit" Quinn says.
As soon as Quinn disappears into the house Santana runs to the truck and quickly grabs a rake. She makes it back in the garden just in time and starts to rake a couple of fallen leaves. Russell Fabray had a tendency to come out into the garden to check that his garden was being properly tended too.
Santana nearly lost the mayor as a client this morning and she didn't want to risk losing another one by letter Mr Fabray catch her sitting around on the job.
Santana and Quinn had been friends for a couple of years now, ever since Antionio became the Fabray's gardener. He would sometimes bring Santana with him when she was bored during the holidays and gave her the job of collecting leaves. Since they were young they really didn't understand the fact that people like Quinn weren't supposed to associate with people like Santana.
The older they got the more they understood about social status but it didn't stop them from being friends, it actually made them stronger. They continued their friendship without the knowledge of the rich community and most importantly the Fabray family.
The only people who knew about their friendship were the Lopez family, Puck and Sam because to them social status doesn't matter.
A/N I do have all the main points of the story mapped out but I'm still trying to figure out how to fill in the gaps between them and how I work them in, so bear with me. Also I don't speak Spanish, I had to use a translator so I apologise if it's wrong.
Thanks for all your reviews and encouragement, I like to hear what you want to see or what you think will happen because it could make it into the story.
In regards to my one-shots I am still writing them and I'm trying to multi task as best I can. I'm trying to finish off The Bet and I have started another mini one-shot.
Live_Young.