I'm sorry for the delay. I almost forgot again to get it posted. I've got a lot of stuff to do for school right now. Just one more week and then finals then I'm off for the summer. Thank goodness. I'm ready to make use of my Six Flags pass again. lol
Beautiful
Chapter 7
"You're home awfully late, mija." Maribel spoke from her place on the sofa as Santana walked through the front door. She dared to glance up at the clock to see it was already nearing 9PM. "Is everything okay? Did something happen at school again?"
Santana reeled in her smile, she didn't want to make things obvious with her mom as she kicked off her shoes and entered the living room. She was silent as she sat down beside her mom and instantly curled into her side. "Dani took a slushy for me."
"She what?" Maribel shifted to look down at the younger girl. "What happened?"
"It was after school. I went to her locker to talk to her, then Azimio stopped us…" she sighed, she never repeated any of the words that were ever said to her, they were words that she preferred to never say aloud. "He insulted us, and she stepped up and basically told him off." Santana chuckled at the memory of how Dani seemed so confident when standing up to a guy three times her size. "When we turned to leave, she had a slushy thrown in her face."
"Oh goodness… is she alright?" Maribel pulled her daughter closer to her as she listened.
"I don't know how she did it. Mami, she didn't react at all. Other than saying it was colder than she thought it would be, and that cherry was her favorite flavor." She stopped when her mom started laughing. "I know, right. I don't get how she stayed so calm over it."
"Okay, that still does not tell me why you are getting home so late."
Santana bit her lip. She knew she had to be careful with her words as she continued telling her mom everything, "I gave her a ride home, and she invited me to stay for dinner. Then we just started talking." It wasn't a complete lie, she just stretched the truth… a lot.
"Talking huh? Is that what they're calling it now?"
"Mami! Ugh, you're ridiculous!" Santana laughed. "All we did was talk."
"Did you even find out if this girl is gay yet, Santana?"
The teen forced out a sigh as she lied, "no, not yet. Maybe she's just not open about it."
"Or maybe she's just not gay."
Santana rolled her eyes, thankful her mother couldn't see her. "I know, mami. I'm being careful with her. I don't want to get hurt again."
Maribel sighed, "I worry about you, Santana. I know how you get with people you like. You wear your heart on your sleeve."
The teen snuggled in further to her mother, she missed nights where she could just curl up in the living room with her mom and watch television with her. "Trust me, mami. I'm being careful."
"Alright… But, you know I'll be here to pick up the pieces if this doesn't work out with her."
"Thanks." But, something told Santana, that everything was going to work out with the new girl in town.
Dani couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. Santana attempted to kiss her. Sure, she panicked at first, but then made it right when Santana tried to leave. There was something about the kiss she'd shared with Santana that was different from anything of the others she'd had before. She hummed to herself as she started cleaning up the kitchen. Santana had finished almost all of her food. Dani shook her head and briefly wondered where the toned girl put all the food.
"Is it safe to come out?" Kristina called from her bedroom, but didn't wait for an answer before joining her daughter in the kitchen. "She seems nice."
"She is nice, mom." Dani put the lid back on her container of Chinese food before showing it to her mom, "you can have the rest of this. It's spicy beef."
"Yum, my favorite." She made her way to the sink to grab a washcloth to help the teen clean up. "So… tell me more about her? Obviously you two are hitting it off."
Dani blushed. "We are…"
"So… what happened?"
"We talked a lot." She left it at that, hoping her mom would drop it.
Kristina watched her daughter, "look, Dani… I just worry okay?
"I know, mom. Santana's dealing with what I dealt with at Carmel." She finally looked her mother in the eye. Dani could see the way her mom's expression softened. "So we're taking everything slow right now. We're still getting to know one another. But… I… I feel so much closer to her already than I ever felt to… her." Kristina cringed at the mention of the other girl. Even if it wasn't by name, she knew exactly who Dani was talking about. "Mom, that's why we're taking things slow. Don't worry, please. I'm more cautious now than I was then."
"Alright… but know that even if you say not to worry, I'm going to do it anyway."
Dani rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. "I have some homework to do." She walked down the hallway and went into her bedroom before her mom could ask her anymore questions. Once she was safely in her room, she hit the button on her computer's tower to flip it on, then pulled the chair back. Before she made herself comfortable, she grabbed her backpack that was by her door to retrieve her school books. She sat at the small desk and looked at her computer monitor to wait for it to finish loading.
By the time she spread out her books on the desk, she was finally looking at her desktop. She brought up her internet explorer and signed into their internet. While it was connecting, she opened up her notebook to get out the worksheet she had for her history class.
As her computer finished signing in, she saw a popup in the bottom corner for a new message on Skype from someone named 'IAmSnix.' Her brow furrowed as she brought up the conversation. She didn't expect it to be anything good. The last time she received a message on Skype it turned out to be someone from her old school harassing her.
Her hand shook as she moved her mouse to the notification and double clicked on it.
IAmSnix: Rockerchick720 seems like a fitting name for you
Her eyes narrowed as she read the message. Who the hell was it from?
Rockerchick720: I'm sorry, who is this?
The response was almost instant.
IAmSnix: Let me give you a hint. I tried on your hats earlier today lol
RockerChick720: Santana? How on earth did you find me?
Dani couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she accepted the friend request. The moment she did, a picture of Santana popped up at the top of their conversation. It was one of the picture's she'd taken earlier that day of herself in the plaid bucket hat. Dani had to admit, she looked really cute with one of her hats on.
Santana: I got bored and started looking for people. Found you on Facebook and you have your Skype listed on there lol
Usually Dani would have been a little frightened by the length that Santana had gone to. If it was anybody else, she would have been frightened. But, with it being Santana, it only brought a smile to her face.
Dani: Should I be scared that you looked me up?
While she saw the pencil icon appear at the bottom of the conversation, she went over to her Facebook page. She smiled when she saw three new friend requests. It had been a few days since she had been on the computer, so she could only imagine how long they'd actually been there. When she brought up the requests, she saw there were ones from Rachel, Quinn, and the most recent one, Santana. Without a second thought she accepted all three of them. After clicking on Santana's name to bring up her page, she went back to her conversation to see a new message.
Santana: Nah, it's a thing I do with people… now that you accepted me I can stalk more on your page ;)
Dani: It's a thing I do too. Don't worry
Dani clicked out of their conversation to bring up Facebook again. She couldn't help herself as she brought up Santana's pictures to scroll through them. The most recent pictures were of the darker girl trying on all of Dani's hats. She smiled brightly at the faces that Santana was making into her mirror as the pictures were taken. She bit her lip nervously when she spotted one of the few Santana had taken with her. What would people think when they saw it?
After letting out a shaky breath, she decided to let it go. It was just a picture of two friends having fun. Nobody could see the way Santana's arm was around her shoulder, or the way her own arms ended up around Santana's waist. She immediately clicked the like button on the picture of the two of them together. As she actually took her time to look at it, it seemed so natural. The way her body fit perfectly into Santana's, the way she felt so relaxed around her, even from day one. It just felt right.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw the icon at the bottom of her screen flashing at her.
Santana: Mom started hounding me as soon as I got home
Dani: mine started the minute you left… did you tell yours anything?
They hadn't actually talked about it before Santana left her apartment. She didn't know how open Santana wanted to be about anything they were trying to figure out with one another.
Santana: Nothing, just that we talked and had dinner. You?
Dani: same… Hey San?
Santana: Yea
Dani: Thank you… I just need some time right now
Santana: I understand, don't worry. I wanna take this slow too
Dani's heart melted as she read, and reread the message several times. Santana wanted to go slow, just like she did. She took a moment to actually pull her worksheet in front of her. There was homework to be done, even while talking to Santana.
Dani: Can we keep this to ourselves for a little while?
Santana: I was gonna ask the same thing actually
Dani looked down at her homework after seeing Santana's message to her. She filled out a of the answers from memory before having to resort to her book for some more. She reached out above her homework to type out another message.
Dani: So tell me what the IAmSnix thing is
She watched as the pencil icon appeared at the bottom of the screen yet again. While waiting for a response, she turned back to her homework. The sooner she finished, it the sooner she could do other things, like actually go and look at her new friends' things on Facebook.
Santana: I hope you never have to see Snix… everybody has that side of them that they aren't proud of and Snix is mine. I named it about two years ago when I had completely lost control. I've gotten better with it though
Dani: So, it's like an angry thing?
Santana: Something like that.
The blonde looked at her screen for a moment. Santana's problems obviously ran much deeper than she was letting on. But, to Dani, it was alright. She knew it was something they could work through together. Because, she was no saint either. She had her own skeletons in the closet that she was still battling. Another message from Santana popped up.
Santana: How about I take you out on Saturday?
Dani: I… I don't know, where to?
Santana: Nothing like the movies or anything, like the park or something. There's a quiet park close to my house we could go to. Just spend the day together.
Dani leaned back on her chair. She was worried, yes, but also felt she could trust Santana. If Santana said it was quiet, then it was quiet. She knew that the darker girl was just as scared of the public eye as she was. Even though, to most people, they would just appear as two friends hanging out. But, with Lima being such a small town, they were bound to run into someone they knew.
Dani: I think that would be okay. Are you sure it's quiet though?
Santana: positive
Dani: mom works overnight Friday so I'd be able to use her car to meet you there
Santana: that works
The blonde let out a sigh as she looked down at her homework which, for the most part, was left untouched.
Dani: I need to finish my homework Santana. Can I talk to you tomorrow at school?
Santana: yea of course. Have a good night Dani
Dani: you too
She forced herself to sign out of Skype so she could finish her homework. She wanted nothing more than to stay focused on talking to Santana, but her school work came first. Her grades had started to slip at her last school because she couldn't focus. She refused to let that happen again. Her mom would let her let that happen again. Her mind constantly wandered off to her fellow Latina as she finished off her history worksheet.
Her eyes came up to look at the computer screen again. After she had closed Skype, it revealed the last picture she'd been looking at on Santana's page. The picture of them together. Without a second thought, she right clicked on the picture to save it onto her own computer.
After saving the photo, she turned off her monitor and got up to flip on her radio. She then laid down on her bed to go through her math homework. Saturday couldn't come soon enough for her to be able to spend more time alone with Santana.
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