The Lima Bean was fairly empty for a Saturday around noon. There were plenty of people streaming in and out but barely anyone sitting to enjoy their coffee. Santana had claimed a small table in the back, where she waiting with her coffee. Brittany had ordered a hot chocolate, so she was still up by the counter. Grocery shopping had been interesting. Well, interesting in how normal it had been. Brittany had practically skipped her way through the store, and Santana had tried not to read anything into how Brittany had linked her arm with hers as they'd walked through the freezer section. She'd remembered that in her dream, the other girl's scent had reminded her of daisies and sunshine. In reality, she smelled like apples. They'd chatted aimlessly until they split to their respective cars and headed to the coffee shop.
"Yum!" Brittany exclaimed as she sat down across from her with a mug of hot chocolate that had more whipped creme than Santana had ever seen on one drink. Brittany was just so bubbly, so different than when she was at Sirens. She always had seemed earnest, but there outside the strip club there was no smouldering, sly look in her eyes. She just seemed so much brighter, cuter as opposed to sexy. Of course she was still ridiculously tempting - legs covered in colorful tights but barely hidden under her skirt, and wearing a tank top that covered her up well enough but it didn't matter because Santana had already seen everything underneath. "So how are you liking Lima?"
"Well," Santana started, pausing to take a sip of her coffee. "It's okay. Kind of boring, no offense."
"What, you think I'm boring?"
"God no," Santana said quickly. "You're the least boring part of this place." She wasn't sure if that had come out the way she intended, but Brittany didn't look like she was bothered. She was smiling, even.
"I only asked cause you said no offense," she explained. "I think Lima's boring, too."
"You aren't from here?" From what Santana understood, or rather what Puck had told her, most people living in Lima had been born and raised there.
"Nope, just moved here about six months ago," Brittany said, shaking her head.
"Where from?" Santana asked, feeling slightly odd to just be getting to know this girl who she had already seen practically naked. She wasn't sure where to draw the line at personal questions, but she wasn't sure if those rules applied either now that they were outside of Sirens.
"Ottawa. It's about half an hour away." Brittany took another sip of her hot chocolate, and ended up with whipped creme on her nose. Santana paused, waiting to see if she would get it before reaching over and swiping it off with her fingertip. Brittany's eyes crossed a little as she looked down at her nose, but then she took the whipped creme off her finger with her own. "You said you just moved here, right? Where from?"
"Yeah, from Columbus," she answered. "Well, I went to college in Columbus, then I got a job here right after I graduated. I'm from the Columbus area, though, before that." She'd never heard of Ottawa, but then again she had barely heard of Lima before she saw the job posting for there.
"That's cool," Brittany said, slurping down a little more of her hot chocolate before sighing happily. "I went to college at Bluffton." Santana's eyebrows raised, and she quickly took a drink of her coffee to hide the surprise on her face. She hadn't thought about Brittany going to college, and had just assumed she hadn't. Way to be judgemental, she thought, but she knew she always had been.
"What did you study? I did English, which I know sounds boring but I don't think it is." At least, it wasn't as boring as math or science, but that was her opinion.
"Dance," Brittany answered, and Santana felt like she should have known that. She smiled over at her, but there was something wrong, because Brittany was on the verge of frowning. The whole time they'd been together that day, she'd never had anything less than a smile on her face.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her head tilting as she watched her. Brittany hesitated and Santana quickly added, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want." It felt so easy and comfortable being around her, talking to her, it had been easy to forget that they barely knew each other.
"No, it's okay," Brittany said, her tone quieter than it had been. She stared down into her hot chocolate, using a spoon to scoop off some of the whipped creme and eating it. "I just didn't get to finish it, that's all."
Santana just watched her, waiting to see if she was going to explain why. She didn't know much about strip clubs or the people who worked at them, but she generally assumed that there was a reason they worked at an unsavory place. There was no way she expected any of them to have gone to college. If she had met Brittany on the street or at the store, or anywhere else, she never would have thought she was a stripper. She didn't seem jaded enough to step foot in a place like Sirens, and definitely not even close enough to work there. She was bright and bubbly and looked like summer felt. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, I wish I could have finished but I couldn't and there wasn't anything I could do." She took a sip of her drink and offered Santana a smile. "But it's okay. I'm fine and I'm better now, and I've got a job. I mean, it's not perfect, but I make good money."
"That's not surprising," Santana said. "I that you make good money, I mean. You're really good." They had managed to get that far without talking about Brittany's work, but she was the one who brought it up. "Do you like it?"
"I like some nights better than others," Brittany said after a moment's thought. "Like, not the nights with bachelor's parties. They're always really bad tippers and get really handsy." She wrinkled her nose, shifting in her seat. "We've got good bouncers but it's still annoying when it happens." She paused and then quietly added, "I really like nights when you're there, though."
Santana looked over at her, and the other girl was glancing over through her thick eyelashes, almost shyly. She was just adorable and it was so hard to think that she was the same person who had inspired the most vivid and spectacular sex dream of her life. It wasn't like it had even taken that much imagination to get to that point. After two nights of watching her up on that stage, or even better when she was right there in front of her, just the two of them. That girl who had been so smooth and easily sexy in the hidden confines of Sirens was the same one who had the slightest blush creeping into her cheeks as she looked at Santana.
She didn't really know what to say in response. 'Thank you' seemed like a weird thing to say, and so did 'you're welcome' and really, what was she supposed to say when a stripper said she liked it when she came to the strip club? The problem was that she felt like she was taking too long to say anything and even though she wasn't sure what to say, the longer she took the more awkward it was going to be no matter what she said.
"I'm glad," was what she ended up saying, and she smiled a little. "I mean, you're the only reason I've been there more than just that first time." Brittany was practically beaming, and that made Santana feel like she hadn't just said something creepy and stalkerish, which was how she thought it had sounded. It also helped that Brittany reached across the table and set her hand on top of hers.
"I'm glad, too," Brittany said, squeezing her hand lightly. "I like this whole getting to see you when I'm not working thing, too. It's nice." Santana couldn't help but smile fully at that, but she was still trying to keep herself in check. It meant a lot more to hear that kind of thing outside of the confines of Sirens. Brittany wasn't being paid to say nice things to her, to get her to try and come back.
"I like it, too," Santana murmured, using her free hand to brush her hair out of her eyes. It felt natural and easy being around Brittany, something that she hadn't anticipated, especially considering how on edge she usually was when she was around her. It was always a good edge, and she knew it was because of the fact that the other girl had always been practically naked, but still. Just sitting and talking was so comfortable, she felt like she could have been there all day and not get tired of it.
Since she had no plans for the day, they sat there talking long past when their coffee and hot chocolate ran out.