Santana tore through the hallways, furious. Everyone stepped out of her way, frightened. Quinn reached a hand out to her calmly and Santana turned to her.
"Auditorium. Now," she said menacingly, but her voice broke on the last word, betraying her.
Quinn simply nodded and followed her friend. Once they were in the auditorium, Santana broke down. Tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook with sobs.
"Santana… What happened?" Quinn asked. She shook her head.
"B-Brittany," she gasped. Quinn nodded at her understandingly. Brittany was the only one who could make Santana feel like that. "Why is she… Why Artie?"
Quinn sighed and held Santana as she broke down. After a few long minutes of sniffling and sobbing, the tears finally stopped coming. Santana took a deep breath, then stood up suddenly.
"You know what? I'm over it." Quinn looked up at her, a disbelieving sigh coming from her lips.
Santana just couldn't keep Brittany out of her mind. She loved Britt's cute laugh, her blond hair, her sweet personality, and her piercing blue eyes. Not to mention how much of a ditz she could be. Seeing her sitting on Artie's lap and snuggling with him made Santana want to rip her eyeballs out and throw them at him.
"Santana," Quinn started. Santana shook her head.
"It's not worth it." Quinn's eyebrows furrowed, but Santana shrugged and turned away from her, letting the hurt show through on her face again. She felt Quinn's hand on her shoulder and turned back, her features hard.
Quinn saw the look in Santana's eyes and saw right through her. She also knew Santana well enough to not question her. Instead, she helped Santana to her feet again and walked with her to the bathroom. Santana reapplied her makeup and the two cheerleaders headed back out to be queen bitches again.
"Hey Santana!" Britt called cheerfully. She walked up to Quinn and Santana, pushing Artie in front of her. Quinn winced at Brittany's blissful ignorance. Santana shot daggers at Artie, then turned a pained smile towards Brittany.
"Hey Britt-Britt." Brittany noticed the pain etched in every line on Santana's face. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you okay Santana?" Santana swallowed her pain for Brittany's sake and nodded slightly.
"Don't worry. I'm just sore from Cheerios' practice." Brittany gazed into Santana's eyes and knew she was lying, but she didn't want to press the Latina.
"Okay," she mumbled with an unsure glance.
Quinn looked from Brittany to Santana, then back to Brittany. She saw the confusion on Brittany's face and the hurt on Santana's. Neither was spectacular at hiding their emotions. Then she sighed.
"Come on Santana, we have English." Santana nodded slowly, then followed Quinn to their class.
Brittany watched Santana walk away, feeling even more confused than usual. She wasn't sure what was going on.
Artie glanced up at the blonde, thinking about Santana's fierce glare. Then Brittany started pushing him down the hall, towards their history classroom, and he tried to forget about the way Santana had looked at his girlfriend.
After class ended, Brittany sat in the passenger's side of Santana's car, wondering what she did wrong. She pressed her head against the glass of the window and sighed.
Santana shot a glance at Brittany, her breath fogging up the glass. Brittany's profile against the light background of falling snow outside made Santana's heart skip a beat. Santana turned back to the road, begging herself to forget about Brittany. She would only get her heart broken again.
"Santana," Britt started pleadingly. Santana felt her resolve waver. She couldn't resist her best friend.
"Brittany, I'm sorry for-" Santana's voice broke. Brittany looked at Santana, concern in her eyes.
"For being mean to Artie?" she asked. Santana nodded, swallowing. The look in Brittany's eyes made Santana want to smack herself. She should've known Brittany couldn't be spiteful. She didn't have a mean bone in her body.
Brittany saw Santana nod and couldn't help herself.
"Why did you do it?" Brittany saw Santana's eyes fill with tears. She automatically reached out to touch her best friend's shoulder. Santana jerked back and opened her mouth but no sound came out and Brittany didn't push. She didn't want Santana to close up. Santana finally spoke.
"Because, Britt. I-" her voice broke. Santana couldn't do it. She couldn't tell Brittany that she had a problem with her boyfriend. Brittany had Artie. She didn't want Santana. Santana didn't want to confuse Brittany more by throwing her feelings into the mix. Santana shook her head.
Why wouldn't Santana tell? Brittany was so confused. She didn't like seeing her best friend upset, though.
"San," Brittany started but just then, Santana pulled up next to her house.
"Bye Britt. I'll see you tomorrow." Brittany gave her friend a sad look, then stepped out of the car, into the snow. It was cold outside in the icy temperatures and it was cold inside her without Santana.
Santana watched Brittany head towards her house. She wanted to scream or cry or both. Everything just felt so wrong. Brittany was hers. Brittany was the little girl that she screamed at everyone for. Brittany was the girl who loved ducks and rainbows and unicorns and Disney princesses. Brittany was the girl who could pull Santana from her shell and make her smile the smile she only ever smiled for Brittany.
Brittany looked back at Santana and gave her a tentative, sad smile. Santana smiled a small smile back. Like always, Santana had waited until she was safe inside her house. Even when they weren't on the best terms. Santana had always been the strong one. She was always protecting Brittany and looking out for her. Santana meant the world to Brittany, and right now, her world was crashing down around her.
Santana saw Brittany close her door behind her. She could drive away now. Like she usually did. Not this time, though. This time, Santana waited outside of Brittany's house for another ten or fifteen minutes. She just couldn't bring herself to leave. Not when her and Brittany weren't on good terms. She kept waiting, hoping that maybe – just maybe – Brittany would run out of her house into Santana's arms and say that she loved her. She held onto the ridiculous hope that maybe Brittany would choose her over Artie. When the house stayed still and silent, Santana swallowed and turned back to the road.
I'll have to make it up to her tomorrow, Santana thought sadly. Then she put her car into gear and headed home.
Brittany's head sunk into her arms as she watched Santana drive away. She should've said something. She just didn't know what was wrong.
