A/N: Thanks for sticking with me, guys. Patience is a virtue! Keep up with the reviews, faves and follows. It means a lot. Enjoy the chapter!
The best thing about Sundays was that I never had to work. I could still take advantage of the facilities and swim if I felt the urge to, but I tried to avoid spending every waking moment of my life at that place. I know what you're thinking, but meeting Quinn there in the parking lot doesn't really count and besides this was different. I mean it's not like it was a date or anything, at least I didn't think I was. What the hell do you wear to a 'sort of date' anyway?
Quinn's wardrobe was probably the size of my entire apartment, but at least I lived alone, I liked the freedom more than anything. I pulled my clothes from their hangers, rummaging around for my favourite t-shirt in the box sized apartment I lived in. I was not about to dress up all fancy for coffee when it wasn't even a date, but I still needed to look good, for my own piece of mind, that's all. I kept repeating that to myself in my head, hoping that I might manage to convince myself of it and rid the hopeful thoughts that I still possessed.
The time I spent waiting in the car for her felt so much longer than ten minutes, it felt like the seconds had turned into minutes at that point. I peered into my rear view mirror for what felt like the millionth time already, fixing my hair with shaky hands.
I inhaled deeply to calm my nerves, giving myself a little pep talk in the mirror "Pull it together, Lopez. This is not a date." I told myself, leaning back into my seat to avoid my own reflection, fingers nervously tapping the steering wheel while the engine remained idle.
Even if this were a date, I shouldn't be anxious about it, I have no good reason to be. I've had more than enough dates in the past, granted they never usually got past the first date and always ended up in my bed, or my car… But that's beside the point. I got game and Quinn Fabray was going to see that whether she knew it or not.
The car door opened, in came Quinn and out went the minimal confidence I had gained during my pep talk. She was wearing a short floral dress, not too short though, she dressed respectably. Her hair was lightly curled and she had a small silver necklace with a little cross dangling off of it around her neck. How she managed to look hot to me in that outfit was beyond me, the girl was just flawless.
Not expecting her to just jump right in, I let my eyes wander for a moment, being in close proximity with the blonde was still a little overwhelming to me. She smiled softly at me, catching my gaze with hazel eyes.
"I didn't think you'd show… I'm glad you did." She spoke, breaking the silence in the car as she buckled herself in.
I tore my eyes away from hers, a shy grin gracing my face "Why wouldn't I? It's only coffee Quinn." I reminded not only her but myself, swiftly pulling out of the parking lot.
"So where to?" I asked, glancing over at her with a raised brow. I presumed she was picking the place because I certainly didn't know anywhere in this neighbourhood. Honestly, I couldn't picture Quinn slumming it in my neck of the woods.
She crossed her legs over one another, hands holding the small purse she had brought with her in her lap "Just coffee." She repeated with a small smirk. "Oh, there's this place that I really love not too far from here, they do the best coffee I'm telling you, we have to go there. It's on the same street as Rachel's Father's hotel. Beautiful place" She mused, getting caught up in her own train of thoughts.
I listened to her speak with a permanent smile, it was hard not to when her eyes lit up over something like that. I'd put money on the fact that anyone wouldn't fail to be charmed when around her.
I nodded in response, rolling the window down with one arm slightly out, fingers tapping on the black exterior of the car "Wherever you want is cool with me, you'll just have to give me directions. So uhm… I saw your car before, how come you didn't drive?" I questioned, gaze flicking back and forth from the road and the blonde beside me. She couldn't keep her eyes off of me and it was a struggle to not take her in the back seat already like I'd done so many times before with countless girls.
Quinn ran a hand through her blonde hair, shrugging her shoulders at my question "Well coffee's on me, so I thought you might want to drive. I love your car by the way, it's not what I had imagined you'd have, but it's hot" She admitted with a smirk, commenting on the black muscle car that I was driving. She was right the car was hot, so was I but she didn't have to say that out loud for me to know that's exactly what she was thinking.
"You know I could have got you coffee, right? It's not a problem, Quinn." I quickly interjected. I might be an asshole 90% of the time but I still could be a 'gentleman' when I wanted to be. "Do you mind?" I asked, signalling to the cigarette pack resting on the dashboard with a raised eyebrow.
The blonde shook her head in response "No, no it's totally fine. You have to put up with my father as a boss, the least I could do is get you a coffee as an apology" She let an angelic laugh escape her lips.
One hand on the wheel and the other lighting the cigarette between my lips, I grinned over at her. I could really get used to that laugh.
Quinn had directed me to a small, quirky looking coffee shop. Sure enough on the same stretch as the Berry's Hotel, it was pure luxury and if I'm honest I felt a little out of place being around Quinn when I wasn't in the same league as her at all. Well, at least not in the eyes of someone like Russel Fabray.
She ordered a skinny latte for herself and ordered for me whilst she was at it, something I was not used to. I called the shots usually and I made the decisions no matter how small, mostly because I just felt obliged to. I know it sounds minimal and irrelevant but it was a nice change, she shouldn't get too used to it though.
"Is that okay for you?" She asked politely, pursing her lips together as she blew on the coffee in her hands to cool it down, elbows resting on the table. I couldn't help but stare, it was getting embarrassing, the slightest things she did or said were arousing to me. It was right now that I was grateful we were separated by the table between us.
I diverted my eyes down to my coffee, emptying the second sugar sachet into the cup and stirring it absentmindedly "Yeah, you chose well, thanks. So are we going to talk about the real reason you asked me here or not? 'Cause it's pretty obvious that you're not here to have a friendly chat about swimming" I said with a smirk, bringing the coffee to my lips. I had to put it out there, it was grating on me that she was still playing games with my mind when I knew what was going on, for the most part at least.
Her cheeks turned a shade of pink at my comment although a smile still played on her lips, it rarely faded when I was around. I highly doubt that was coincidental. She trailed her finger around the rim of her coffee cup, as if her skinny latte had suddenly got all the more interesting.
"Right… I guess you could say I've kind of put swimming on the backburner recently, be it because I never really wanted to anyway or because you're highly distracting, either way I still think I need more lessons." She peered up from the latte with a sultry smile. The things this girl did to me.
I swallowed thickly, watching her line of sight as it flickered from my eyes to my lips. Clearing my throat, I managed to get some intelligible words out "I think you'd be lying to yourself if you said it wasn't always on the backburner, Quinn. Regardless, I'm more than happy to teach you a few more things, you have a lot to learn you know." I counter acted, sipping my coffee once more.
Before Quinn had a real chance to reply with another flirtatious comment that wasn't doing my imagination any favours, a short, dark haired guy with an excessive amount of gel in his hair appeared behind her, hugging her around her shoulders for a moment.
"Quinn! What are you doing here? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. And who's this?" He asked suggestively, raising an eyebrow at me across the table from them, Quinn's blush quickly returning.
"Blaine, Blaine Anderson" He introduced, extending a hand towards me as I looked between the boy and Quinn, a little confused.
Albeit I took his hand and he gave it a firm shake, taking the seat in-between us. Quinn shot in to make introductions, making things slightly less awkward "Blaine, this is Santana… My Swim coach and Santana this is my close friend Blaine." She said, talking with her hands as she did, pointing between the two of us. I did say only slightly less awkward.
I pointed towards him with a quirked brow "Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly like that guy on those underwear billboards all over town? 'Cause the resemblance is just uncanny" I said, making them both laugh in sync as I shifted in my seat, suddenly feeling out of the loop.
He straightened out his bowtie with a proud smile, one hand still hugging his takeaway coffee cup "Why yes, actually they do. Because that is me, I model part time." He explained and I nodded my head with a quiet 'oh' in response.
"In fact, someone said that to me just last night. Hot, blonde guy, totally ripped but it ended slightly differently than our exchange." He shrugged with a shy smirk and Quinn caught his eye, slapping him on the shoulder lightly.
"Blaine! Oh my gosh, who was he? Do I know him?" She asked curiously as I tapped my leg under the table, this couldn't get any more awkward. Quinn wasn't even trying to involve me in this conversation and quite frankly I was over this whole conversing with rich kids thing. I downed most of my coffee in a large gulp, the remainder was going quickly cold.
He shook his head a little and bit his bottom lip to hide his smile for a moment "No, I mean I doubt it, he's not really in our circle, you know. I'd never seen him before last night actually, Sam something. But I got his number so who knows where it'll go from here." He said a little too optimistically for my liking, it just got even more awkward for me. Sam? It couldn't be. He had never once expressed an interest in guys to me, I know we're not that close but c'mon.
I lost my train of thought when my phone began to vibrate in my pocket, multiple times. The screen lit up with a familiar name, Bree. I could tell Quinn was engrossed in her conversation with Blainers over there, so I doubted that she would care if I texted. I glanced at the messages, uninterested in what she was offering when I had what I really wanted right in front of me, almost.
The blonde gazed over beside her and caught sight of the name flashing on my screen just before I shoved my phone back in my pocket, out of sight or so I had thought. Blaine pulled Quinn back into conversation about his 'wild night' with 'Sam' and at this point I had tuned out completely, that was information I could do without hearing.
I swallowed the last drops of my cold coffee and got up from my seat, tucking in the chair. "Thanks for the coffee, Quinn but I gotta go, you'll be okay to get a ride with Blaine or something, right? It's been nice to meet you also, Blaine." I half smiled out of politeness before reminding Quinn of her lesson tomorrow if she was still interested.
I could tell she felt obliged to stay because of her friend and that was fine by me right now. She gave me an apologetic look and somehow I just knew what she had meant from the look she gave me. Nodding a little, she smiled, not her usual light up the room kind of smile "No problem, I'll see you tomorrow, Santana." With my hands shoved into my pockets, I soon left, leaving the blonde to tell all to her model friend.
I knocked loudly on the apartment door, hoping it would be heard above the trashy music that was blasting from inside. Banging on the door again impatiently, I sighed to myself, running a hand through my dark locks in frustration. "Open up!" I called in annoyance, waiting until the door was finally opened. Greeted with a sight I didn't particularly want to see right now, or ever.
"Dude, cover your junk please, I need to hang out with my best friend for a while." I said, sliding past him, holding my hands up over my eyes so I didn't have to witness that again.
Puck chuckled at my response, closing the door behind me and beginning his search for some clean boxers lying around his place. "So how come I have the honour of your presence today then, San." He mocked, pulling on the briefs and flopping down on the couch in his usual spot.
I huffed, taking the seat next to him with a shrug, immediately reaching for the cigarettes on his coffee table and helping myself to one, he never seemed to mind. Inhaling deeply, I blew a few small smoke rings out as Puck raised an eyebrow.
"Tell me what's going on, Lopez…" He always just knew when something wasn't quite right. Joining me in a smoke, he handed the second Playstation controller to me with a smile. And yes, he also always knew just what I needed when I wasn't myself.
A few beers and a pack of cigarettes later we had given up on the war on Nazi zombies and the conversation quite clearly turned to a particular blonde.
"So let me get this straight, do you like the girl or not, S? I've been your best bud for a long time now and I've never seen you like this over a chick before. What's different this time?" He asked, handing me another beer to crack open with my teeth for him.
I picked at the label on my own, half empty bottle as I spoke, chewing on the inside of my lip. "Shit, I don't know. A part of me thinks I'm being stupid about this whole thing and it's all gonna end in tears, but there's a part of me that still wants to find out regardless of the outcome, you know?" I mumbled, more to myself than him but it felt good to finally say it out loud and not just in my head.
Puck nodded to himself, lighting up another cigarette "So do it." He said, as if it was just that easy.
A/N: Let me know your thoughts on this one guys, sorry it took a little longer to update this time. Thanks for reading.
