"Are you sure about this? I mean, I don't know if your parents will, uh, like me being here." I said as Brittany led me towards her front door. After all I did to you, I bet they'll kick me out, I thought.
"I'm sure! I told them you're my new best friend, and they were happy I'd finally made a real one, instead of the invisible ones they can't see." She said with a cute smile, turning the doorknob and leading me inside. I sighed, Brittany could easily persuade me.
She had called me about an hour before, asking me if I wanted to come over today. It was only the first week of summer, and despite what I had been telling myself, I missed seeing my new friend already. So, naturally, I agreed. I put on my new summer dress, ran a brush through my dark locks a few times, and looked in the mirror to make sure I looked my best before I heard a knock on the door downstairs.
"I'm home!" The blonde called, kicking off her light-up sandals before intertwining our fingers and leading me into the kitchen.
"Santana! It's nice to see you again!" Her mother said, breathless. She was wearing a messy apron with tangled blonde hair and beads of sweat on her forehead as she turned to face us, after putting a lid on something cooking, well, burning on the stove. She smiled, pulling me into a tight embrace before letting go and kissing Brittany on the cheek. She reminded me a lot of my new best friend. The last time I had seen her was a month ago, at the hospital. Her and her husband had been sitting side by side next to Brittany's hospital bed, with a kitten on her lap.
"Mrs, I'm sorry but we don't allow animals in the facility, let alone in the patient's rooms." Brittany's nurse had said as she placed yet another blanket on her; her temperature had dropped quite a bit on day two.
"But it's important he stays here. If Lord Tubbington doesn't wake Britty-Boo up, nobody can."
"Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, the doctors have reassured us it's nothing serious, she should be fine and wake up any day now. It's really not necessary to have her cat in the room."
"You don't know our Brittany very well then, do you? The first person she would want to see when she wakes up is her kitty." The nurse looked over at me, who was sitting quietly in the corner, my eyes never leaving Brittany's peaceful, angel-like face. Did she think I could talk them out of it?
"Please," She said, turning to look at them again. "We're going to have to ask you to leave and bring the cat home if you would like to be here when she wakes up." Her mother pouted, and her father sighed, picking the kitten up and tucking him under his arm.
"I'll take him home." He kissed Mrs. Pierce's forehead, then Brittany's, and smiled sadly at me before exiting the room.
"Come on San," Brittany said, pulling me out of my haze. "I'll show you my room." She led me upstairs, opening the door the farthest from the staircase.
"This is it." She said, jumping up onto her bed and spreading out, looking up at her ceiling. I looked around, admiring how clean it was. I didn't take the blonde for the organized type. The room was covered in floral wallpaper; the walls filled with posters of famous dancers, photos of her family, cats, and her own artwork.
"You like unicorns, huh?" I said with a small laugh, looking at all the pictures she had drawn of what appeared to be unicorns jumping over rainbows. She laughed softly with me, sitting up to admire her work.
"Aren't they pretty?" I turned to look at the girl, who was smiling ear to ear.
"They are. What's this?" I asked, pointing towards the small trophy sitting on her desk.
"Oh! That's from a dance competition I was in before I moved here."
"You dance?
"I dance. Do you dance?"
"Oh I can dance." I smirked a bit as she hopped off her bed, pressing play on the boom box on her night stand.
"Then let's dance." She grabbed my hand, pulling me against her as the song began.
"Oh." I said, a bit taken back. Her other hand made it's way into mine as well interlocking our fingers as she began to move her hips. We were both giggling and dancing along to the music as our hands made their way into the air, and she spun me around before dipping me back with one arm. I looked up into her bright blue eyes, studying them as closely as she was studying mine. She smiled a bit, causing my stomach to do flips and my heart to race. If I wasn't Hispanic for sure she would've seen my blush.
She lifted me back up, and glanced down at one of our hands still intertwined.
"Sanny," She began, her brows furrowing in confusion. "What's this?" She twisted my wrist a bit and leaned down to get a better look at the dark, purple marks on my wrist.
"Oh," I said, pulling back. "That's.. that's nothing. I just, uh, my abuela, uh, got mad the other day.. it's no big deal." I stammered, placing my hands behind my back. She looked at me for a moment, her eyes full of concern.
"Come with me." She said softly, linking our pinkies.
She led me to the school. The last place I wanted to be on summer break. But I didn't complain. She led me down a big green hill our school rested on, down to the sandbox towards the swing set.
"This is my safe place." She said, gesturing for me to sit on one of the swings before she sat on the one next to me.
"I sat here and swang while all the other kids played with each other at recess. Nobody wanted to be on the swings when I was here. So I didn't get teased. It's my safe place." She looked over at me, our eyes meeting.
"It can be your safe place too." She said barely above a whisper, reaching out to stroke my bruises softly with her thumb.
I looked down at my wrist, then back up into her eyes, and for the first time in a long time, I did feel safe.
"Brittany.. I think my safe place is with you."
Working on chapter 5 x
