Santana couldn't focus all practice. All she could think about was picking up the blonde from her house and spending time together at the coffee shop. She pictured it clearly in her mind. They'd sit across from each other and talk about what they would be singing together.
Together. It was the craziest thought. After all the weeks of just staring at her from a distance, Santana was finally going to be able to spend time with her.
It seemed like it dragged on forever, but practice finally finished and Santana rushed off of the field and ran into the locker rooms. She quickly changed and headed for her car.
She went through her phone and clicked on Brittany's name.
"Hey, you're finished with practice?"
"Yeah. You ready?" Santana didn't want to sound too eager, but she wanted Brittany to know that she was a little excited. "I'm leaving the school now."
"I'm good. I live like a block from Breadstix. I texted you my address. See you soon." And she hung up.
Santana pulled over so that she could read the text. She was really big on the whole no texting and driving thing. She knew the area pretty well, so she didn't have to put the address into her gps on her phone. Once she arrived at Brittany's house, she turned her car off and walked to her front door. There weren't any cars in the driveway and the garage was empty so she figured that she was home alone.
Knock knock knock.
She waited a few seconds and the front door swung open. Brittany was standing there in a pair of skinny jeans, a hoodie with a cat in space and black converse. Her hair looked slightly damp, and she had a beanie on. She smelt of green apples; something that Santana was never very fond of but today she didn't mind.
"You look nice, Brittany." She shot her a small smile and walked out of her house.
"Thanks Santana. You don't look too bad yourself." She looked down at herself to see that she was in a old pair of sweat pants and a beat up hoodie. "A little sweaty, but you just got finished with cheerleading so yeah."
Santana blushed. She had tried to wipe away all the sweat on her but her body was still cooling down so the sweat kept coming.
The car ride over to the Lima Bean was silent. Santana tried to think of things to talk about but anytime se would open her mouth nothing would come out. Brittany was reading something on her phone the entire time anyway.
They walked inside together and stood just in front of the counter.
"What do you want to drink?" Brittany looked up at the menu, squinting just a little.
"I'm not that big of a coffee drinker but I do enjoy a hazlenut macchiato from time to time." She got her wallet out and tried to hand Santana some money but she didn't take it from her. "Please. For the coffee."
"Don't worry about it okay I got it." Santana smiled. "Just go find us a table."
Once the coffees were done, Santana walked back over to where Brittany was sitting and handed her her drink.
"Thanks." She took a sip and placed her cup back down on the table. "So. What song did you have in mind?"
"Well you said that you like country. I have a few duet ideas, but I'd like to hear your ideas." Brittany looked up at her, as if she were suprised. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No one as ever asked for my ideas before." She looked down. "It just surprised me that's all. I had an idea for a song. I know I said I liked country but I felt like this song was the right one. It came on Pandora when I was thinking about you earlier."
Santana stopped thinking. Did she hear right? Brittany was... Thinking about her?
"You were thinking about me?" It looked as if Brittany had to tink about what she had just said.
"Yeah I mean..." She paused. "Like what song we should do. I've heard you sing before. And this song would be perfect for our voices.
It'd be a lie if Santana said that she wasn't dissapointed. For a split second, she thought that Brittany had feelings for her. She was getting her hopes up for nothing. She didn't even know if Brittany liked girls.
"Oh. Oh yeah, I knew that." Santana spit out nervously.
"Are you okay?" She looked up to see that Brittany was now looking straight into hers. Her eyes were so blue. She felt as if she could stare into them all day. "Santana?"
"Yeah um, I'm good. Sorry. I just.."
"You seem like something's on your mind. Did you want to talk about it?"
"No not really." Brittany took another sip of her coffee and unlocked her phone.
"The song is called Like A Star by Corrine Bailey Rae." Santana knew of the song. She had heard it a couple times and was familiar with the lyrics.
"I like that song. Yeah. Let's do that one."
"Can I ask you something?" Brittany was bouncing her leg up and down, like she was nervous.
"Sure."
"Please don't get mad or anything, but.. Why are you always so mean?"
Her question made her heart hurt. She knew that she has been mean lately. It actually escalated to her being really aggressive, something she wasn't known for.
"I don't know really." How was she supposed to answer this question without being an asshole? Santana could already feel the anger building up inside and the last thing she wanted to do was go off on her. She took a deep breath, and continued. "It just sort of happens. I can't help it."
"You should try to calm down more often. Lord Tubbington told me that frowning and being mad all the time makes your poop green. Or is that crystal meth. I'm not sure." Santana shook her head. "What? Its true."
"I believe you." She found Brittany's innocence to be a little charming. "I was thinking we could do American Honey by Lady Antebellum. I've always had a thing for that song."
"I don't think I've heard that one." Her phone buzzed. She unlocked it and kept on talking while she checked her text messages. "Tonight you can listen to my song and I'll listen to yours. Then we can make our decision. My mom just texted me though. She needs me home. I'm sorry to cut our time together short."
Our time together. It had a nice ring to it.
Santana brought Brittany home. Before she got out of the car, Brittany leaned over and kissed Santana on the cheek.
"You aren't a bad person Santana. Just, misunderstood." She got out of the car and walked up her driveway. Santana waited until she was inside to leave.
The night didn't go as Santana had imagined it would but it was something. She pulled up Like A Star on Spotify and played it on her way home.
It's perfect, she thought. It wasn't too fast or too slow. For the rest of the night she had the song on replay. It was like Brittany had found the one song that almost described Santana's feelings for the blonde. Almost to a T.
As she laid down on her bed, Santana put her headphones on. It was hard for her to sleep without music playing. She made a new playlist on her phone and titled it Coffee Shop Soundtrack. She added Like A Star and American Honey into it and pressed save. Her phone buzzed and she looked to see a text from Brittany.
Love the song.
Thank you for tonight, and remember- don't be so angry all the time. Smile. It looks good on you.
Santana smiled. She closed her eyes and saw Brittany looking at her. Her long blonde hair falling gracefully on her shoulders. The smell of green apples filled Santana's mind as if the blonde were laying next to her. She was willing to change for this girl but she knew it wasn't going to be easy. And on top of all of that, she wasn't ready to come out of the closet.
But maybe- just maybe. It would all be worth it. Only time would tell.
