Sorry it's not that long, next chapter will be :)
"Boring. I'd rather sit and watch paint dry."
Brittany sighed. It had taken her weeks to prepare for this solo, practicing every second she could. She turned down countless offers from her friends to have fun just so she could practice for this class assignment. She didn't understand how someone could tear down all her hard work in seconds after such effort was put into her routine.
"I don't understand," she said through panted breaths. She wasn't cocky by any means, but she knew she nailed it. And from watching the students before her, she knew her performance was a lot better and more creative than most of the others in her class. She normally would just take the criticisms and use it to her advantage, figuring this man was a professional. He knew what he was talking about. But she couldn't help but feel like something was off with him.
The flamboyant instructor pulled the sheer scarf from his neck, throwing it in Brittany's direction. "That's the problem Brittany. You don't understand what I want. It's been three weeks and you've yet to do something that impresses me," he laughed with anything but humor in his tone.
Brittany stared at him numbly. She was used to people telling her she was doing things wrong, heck she dealt with Sue Sylvester for four years, but never had she heard such hurtful things about her dancing. Even Sue knew what a talent she was when it came to dance.
"Staring through me won't perfect your routine Brittany," he started, pointing his finger at her like she was someone dumb. "I suggest you regroup and come up with something worth my time by next class or I'm gonna have to give you an F for this project," he snarled, shaking his head at her with disgust.
Brittany looked around the room seeing nothing but sympathetic eyes staring at her. Sure he didn't gush over anyone else's performances either, but he didn't spend minutes tearing them down like he was with her. She tried to hold her tears in, but one slipped down her cheek as she back down against the wall to watch the next performer. The rest of class was a foggy memory, the man's words repeating over and over in her head. She barely said goodbye to the friends she had made when class ended before running from the room straight back to the apartment.
"I'm so happy it's the weekend. I'm sleeping till Sunday," Santana joked from her spot on the couch before taking a sip of her Bahama Mama wine cooler. She, the girls, and Kurt were having a late night cocktail after a long week of classes.
Quinn nodded her head against the back of the couch. "You and me both sister. I don't even wanna think about school until Monday morning" she said. She lifted her head momentarily to take a sip of her drink before resuming her lazy position.
"Sleeping your dreams away will do nothing for your career," Rachel added, giggling to herself. She had been adamant that they didn't drink, but once Santana broke out the wine coolers, she couldn't help but be dazzled by the electric colors.
Santana narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't make any sense Rachel." Her eyes grazed the clock on the wall making her smile. Brittany would be home from class soon and they could start their lazy weekend together. They've been planning it all week.
"At least you don't have to share a room with someone you barely know. I swear my roommate is some kind of Emma Pillsbury love child. I mean I'm clean but this guy is crazy," Kurt said with regret. He should have taken the group up on their offer to live with them.
"I bet Blaine's loving that. At least he's got no competition," Rachel laughed as she dodged a slap from Kurt.
Quinn noticed the time as well. "Do you think it was smart to let Puck and Finn go to that bar with those guys from class?" she asked, regretting her enthused 'go have fun' to Puck.
"We can't trap them like little mice Quinn. If we do they'll want to go for more exquisite cheese," Rachel said in a drunken slur.
Santana laughed. "Rachel you've had like two wine coolers and we already have to cut you off?" she said shaking her head.
Quinn's face scrunched up in disgust at Rachel's confusing words. "Please stop talking."
"I agree," Kurt added while reaching over to grab the bottle from Rachel's hands.
Before any of the three could say anything more, the front door slammed open against the wall. Jumping they turned to see Brittany fly through the door like a hurricane, not even bothering to close the door before she made her way to the bedroom. Santana immediately rose from the couch with worry. "I'll be right back," she said, placing her wine cooler on the table. She closed the front door before going to their bedroom.
Kurt, Quinn, and Rachel sat stoic, wanting to follow Santana but both knew better.
Santana prepared herself for a tearful Brittany when walking into their room, but she got something more unexpected. Inside Brittany was pushing the furniture as close to the wall as possible. When she began leaning their mattress up against the wall Santana intervened.
"Britt what the hell are you doing?" she yelled, moving towards Brittany to help her with the mattress.
Brittany ignored her, on a mission to make space to practice in. She was about to lift the bed frame when Santana grabbed her by the arm.
"Britt?" she asked again only this time she was more concerned. She winced at the expression on Brittany's face, knowing something must have gone wrong with her class.
Brittany sighed as she stared into Santana's eyes. She cried the entire way home, not knowing what to do. As she stood in front of Santana, hair messy and eyes puffy, she could only collapse in her girlfriend's opened arms.
Santana gripped her firmly, gently rocking them back and forth while Brittany cried. She had never seen her girlfriend upset let alone this upset before. Brittany was normally a happy go lucky type of girl that didn't let anything get her down. Santana gently pulled Brittany's face from where it was buried in her neck to wipe away the tears streaming down her face with her thumbs.
"What happened?" she whispered softly, encouraging Brittany with her eyes to tell her what was going on.
Brittany choked on a few tears before replying, "I'm gonna fail. I fail at everything and now I'm gonna fail at this," she cried, shaking herself from Santana's embrace. She hugged her arms around herself, walking backwards until she hit the wall where she slowly slid to the floor.
Santana followed her, kneeling before her to grab her knees. "Britt you're not gonna fail. Did that asshole professor say something to you?" she asked, a fiery feeling erupting at the thought of someone hurting Brittany, even with words.
Brittany began panicking, not wanting Santana to make things worse by confronting the professor. She shook her head back and forth repeating, "Let's just go home San. I want to go home."
Santana felt herself begin to tear up. She didn't know what to do. Normally she would have gotten one of Brittany's parents to help calm Brittany down, but that wasn't going to work this time. She pulled Brittany up to her, locking her in a bear hug. "Baby just calm down, it's gonna be alright," she whispered into the girl's reddening ears but Brittany didn't want to hear it. She pushed Santana away, got up and began pulling her clothes from the closet.
Santana sat there shocked, just watching Brittany have a full blown panic attack. She felt numb, like there was nothing she could do to calm her girlfriend down. Getting up from the floor, she grabbed Brittany by her shoulders and forcefully pushed her back against the wall.
Brittany continued breathing heavily but didn't fight Santana's hold. Before either could speak, the door slammed open with a smiling Puck on the other side. They both eyed him angrily.
"What is with all the noise? Are you two like having some kinky sex in here or something?" he laughed, obviously intoxicated from his trip to the bar.
Santana's eyes nearly bugged from their sockets. "Get out Puck," she screamed, removing one hand from Brittany to point towards the door.
"Sorry to interrupt," he hiccupped, throwing them an eyebrow wiggle.
"Puck so help me god," Santana said through gritted teeth. This night was not turning out how she expected.
Puck held his hands up in defense. "Alright. Alright, I'll just leave it to the imagination," he said, shooting them one more what he thought sexy smile before leaving.
Although the interruption was annoying, it seemed to get Brittany to calm down some. The two stood in silence for several minutes, trying to take in what had happened. Santana looked around the room wanting to laugh at the state of it. It reminded her of when they first moved in.
She sighed before cupping Brittany's cheek. "Britt tell me what happened," she said gently.
Brittany closed her eyes while letting out a deep breath. "I messed up," she answered shakily.
Santana heard the waver and tugged on Brittany's hand to follow her to the ground. The last thing she wanted was for Brittany to get worked up again. The two sat Indian style on the floor holding hands.
"Messed up how?" Santana asked, figuring she only had so many questions before the damn would break again.
"My solo project. He said I bored him to tears," she sniffled, bringing their clasped hands up to wipe under her nose however Santana didn't mind, she just wanted to make her girlfriend better.
Santana closed her eyes. "Britt Monday I'm going to that class with you and I'm gonna," she started but Brittany stopped her.
"Santana no. I can handle it on my own," she yelled, not wanting her girlfriend to get involved.
Santana shook her head. "He's harassing you and I am personally going to see that it is put to an end. I don't care if I have to bring it to the dean, but this guy isn't going to be your professor anymore Brittany. He's not going to torment you like this, making you think you are worthless," she yelled back, frustrated with the situation.
Brittany laughed venomously. "Maybe I am worthless. What am I even doing here Santana? I barely graduated. I shouldn't be doing this. I should be back in Lima working at a dairy farm or something," she cried.
Santana's eyes widened. "Please don't tell me you think that little of yourself Brittany. How could you even say that? You are one of the most talented people I know," she yelled, now getting frustrated with Brittany's low self-esteem.
Brittany shot up from the floor. "You don't know that many people Santana," she shrieked while moving towards the door.
"Brittany don't you dare walk out of this room," she said, following her to the door but Brittany ignored her and slammed the door shut on her way out.
Santana stood there with rage. "Fuck," she whispered.
The group outside pretended to be doing something as Brittany whizzed past them and out the front door. The tension in the house caused most of them to sober up quickly, leaving them all in question about what went down in the Lopez-Pierce room.
"What do you think happened?" Kurt whispered, peering his head over the couch to see if Santana was going to come out.
Quinn stared at the front door, shocked that Brittany was in such distraught. She had never seen the girl like that in all of their years of friendship.
"Maybe things got too kinky for her," Puck added, causing everyone but Finn to glare his way.
"I say we grab Britt and take her to that bar Puck. That'll cheer her up," Finn said as he rocked back and forth in front of the coffee table.
"You're so insensitive Finn," Rachel yelled, sending a slap to the back of her boyfriend's head.
"Ouch," he yelled, caressing the back of his head.
Quinn stood up. "Rachel take Finn to bed. Puck call Kurt a taxi. I'm gonna go talk to Santana," she ordered while pushing everyone in different directions. When everything was settled, she headed towards Santana's room.
Santana looked up when the door opened, hoping to find Brittany, but instead Quinn walked in. If she weren't in a foul mood, she may have laughed at the expression on her friend's face when entering. Sighing, she began to lift the mattress from the wall.
Quinn quickly moved in to help. "Dare I ask?" she started as they dropped the pillow top mattress back on the frame. She took in the state of the room.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Santana said, eyeing her friend to challenge her before fixing the rest of the room.
Quinn helped in silence knowing Santana would talk when she was ready. When they finished, there was nothing left to do except sit there and wait for Brittany to return. Side by side, they lied on the bed lost in their own thoughts not paying attention to the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond playing in the background.
Santana side eyed her friend. "Q why don't you go to sleep?" she said, her tone more gently then earlier.
Quinn shook her head yawning. "Not till she gets here," she said.
"If she doesn't get here soon I'm gonna go freaking ape shit," Santana seethed.
Moments later the door slowly opened with Brittany trying to sneak inside. She didn't expect Quinn to be lying in bed with Santana. Biting her lip, she entered the room and closed the door behind her. She watched Quinn squeeze Santana's hand before coming over to her and giving her a small hug. "She was worried," Quinn whispered before pecking Brittany on the cheek and leaving.
Santana stared at the TV as if she were watching it with ease the whole time Brittany was gone. She refused to look Brittany's way and wanted her girlfriend to know just how pissed she was.
Sighing, Brittany began getting ready for bed, glancing at Santana every now and then to see if she would budge. But she didn't. When she returned from the bathroom, the lights were off and Santana was turned away from Brittany's side of the bed.
Brittany walked to Santana's side and stood in front of the bed. She knew Santana wasn't sleeping because her breaths were ragged and when Santana was asleep nothing but peaceful purrs escaped her mouth. "Can we talk?" she asked wearily.
Santana opened her eyes. She looked at Brittany through the darkness feeling nothing but anger. How could Brittany run off like that in the middle of the night, in a city they barely knew, without her phone or any way of getting a hold of her. "I'm tired Britt," she said with an edge to her voice.
Brittany stared at her a few moments before nodding. "I'm sorry," she whispered before going to her side of the bed.
And for the first time ever, they slept as far away as possible from one another, making sure not to brush legs or lock hands. The night was long for both of them and Santana's plan to sleep till Sunday wasn't turning out as intended.
SNEAK PEEK OF NEXT CHAPTER
"Professor Santos can I have a word." Without Brittany's knowledge, Santana set out early Saturday morning to find Brittany's dance professor. She asked around and eventually was directed to his office on campus.
The man looked up from the YouTube video he was watching on his computer screen with annoyance. When he didn't recognize the face in front of him, he put on a fake smile. "Can I help you dear?" he asked while closing the internet tab.
Santana put on her own fake smile while walking into his office and closing the door. She sat in the chair in front of his desk making sure to keep intense eye contact. "I'm gonna cut to the chase here Liberace. My girlfriend's in your class and I don't like the things I've been hearing regarding your outlook on her career," she said with narrowed eyes and smug lips