September 2015, New York City
An Annoying Tourist Filled Line
"How do you always get me to stand in this line with you?"
"Because you love me and banana pudding," Rachel answered Santana as they rounded the corner getting closer to the entrance to the bakery, "and you want to talk about something. I can always get you to come here when you want to talk about something."
"Oh, shut up! You want to talk about something, too," Santana said with light smack to Rachel's shoulder, "And if I'm not mistaken, the decision you have to make is a lot bigger than mine."
"Abingdon Square," Rachel stated simply as they approached the happy bakery worker keeping track of the number of customers in the bakery.
"Yes, our reality television confessional," Santana rolled her eyes and then watched as two girls walked out of the bakery and then the guy in front of her and Rachel waved them in.
"So, how's my girl Q?" Sonny asked as he sat back in the large comfy chair he was situated in. For some reason, completely unbeknownst to Santana, he'd called this mid-morning meeting of the DJs at everyone's favorite dimly lit coffee house in Union Square.
"Great!" Santana answered as Seth, her friend and Kurt's boyfriend placed her iced mocha latte on the table in front of her, "Thanks, Seth."
"Anytime," Seth answered and returned to the front of the café.
"Quinn's actually at an interview for like, the internship of her dreams right now. Which reminds me: I want to send her a good luck text really quick before it's too late," Santana said as she yanked her phone out of her pocket and began tapping away at the screen.
"You two are so cute, it's disgusting. I'm like, vomiting everywhere."
"Oh shut up! There have been plenty of times I've been in the presence of you and Gary and felt everything I'd consumed that day coming back to haunt me. Speaking of, how is he? I feel like I haven't seen him in weeks." She watched as Sonny's expression changed from amused to something completely different. It was caught somewhere between worried, sad and sick. Santana was sure that her faced matched his as she thought about what could have possibly happened between him and Gary. Wouldn't Facebook have told her that Sonny was suddenly single?
"Gary's in California..."
"What? Why?"
"He got a job in LA and umm..."
"And umm...?" 'I'm following him,' she finished his sentence in her head.
"I got a really great offer for like the biggest club out there..."
"That's awesome..." Santana replied half-heartedly. She was happy for him, but she couldn't help but be a little selfish. Her mentor and one of her best friends just told her that he's moving all the way across the country. "When are you leaving?" she asked as she imagined DJ Slo-Pez disappearing.
"The middle of October," Sonny said just before taking a probably much needed sip of his latte.
"So," Santana began trying not to sound as nasty as she wanted to, "when's the last time Slo-Pez gets to spin?"
"Perhaps never," Sonny answered with a smile.
"What? I can't guest DJ for ghost B-Rok!"
"Santana, that doesn't even make sense-"
"Then what the fuck are you talking about?" Santana practically yelled, letting out the frustration that had been building since Sonny let the news he was moving to LA crash onto her, "First you tell me you're leaving and then you talk to me in riddles like the fucking Sphinx or something!"
"You don't have to guest DJ for anyone-"
"You aren't making me feel better, Sonny!"
"I want you to take over!" Santana's mouth popped open in utter disbelief of the words that had just crossed through her ears and into her brain. Before she could begin to process it, Sonny restarted, "I know you're starting your senior year soon and you're probably looking into going to grad school or something-"
"Law school," Santana interrupted.
"Of course," Sonny smiled, "that's why I told the boss I can only find a replacement for Fridays."
"And this would start...?"
"As soon as my plane for LA takes off."
"I don't know if I can-"
"You don't need to answer right now. I told Dubs I'd have a definite replacement by the thirtieth-"
"Of September?"
"I told you I'm moving in the middle of October, right?"
Santana nodded and attempted to think about the opportunity sitting in front of her. She couldn't. Her brain, which usually thought really quickly, couldn't come up with a damn thing. Instead she just sat there staring at Sonny.
"Please, Santana, seriously think about this..."
"So Sonny's just packing up and moving across the country?" Rachel's voice pierced into Santana's thoughts.
"Yup," she answered half dazed.
"And he wants you to take over Friday nights?"
"Uh huh."
"For money?"
"Three grand," Santana answered staring ahead of her at the Doughboy Statue she'd stared at many a time before.
"What? That's. Absolutely. Insane. How much money does that place rake in?"
"A lot," Santana answered, "And B-Rok's floor is the biggest and makes the most, that's why they'll shell out so much for me to be there for six hours."
"Why are you even thinking about this? A guaranteed three grand a week? Santana, you could pay for law school with that!" Rachel said with a crazy, excited look in her eyes.
"I know. I've done the math, Rach," Santana said, finally pulling her gaze away from the Doughboy Statue, "I've done the math for all of the time, too. I really don't think there are enough hours in the week for me to get the million things I have now to get done, never mind throwing in brand new sets every single week. That's the other reason why it's three thousand dollars. It's a lot of fucking work. I still have classes and the bar and the LSAT and my friends and Q..." Santana's run-on sentence trailed off as her level of stress about things that were already upon her rose.
"I'm sure your aunt will let you cut down on your hours at the bar," Rachel responded with her stop bull shitting tone.
Santana rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Actually, she already said I could stop working there altogether..."
"Then what's the problem? What did Quinn say?" Rachel fired the questions back-to-back leaving Santana with no ability to answer the first one. All she could do was put her "this is awkward" smile on in response to pregunta número dos. "You haven't told Quinn?"
Santana simply shook her head and deepened the "this is awkward" smile.
"I cannot believe you!"
"She has enough of her own shit to deal wi-"
"That she tells you about! You are unbelievab-
"I'm unbelievable? At least I still have two weeks to make my decision! You have four days to decide if your dropping out of your dream school!"
Santana watched as Rachel slumped into the back of the bench and shoved a giant spoonful of banana pudding into her mouth. With her mouth still full, Rachel spit out, "I don't know what to do!"
"Well, I'm thinking first you should swallow and then we'll work on the bigger issues," Santana smiled and took the white cup from Rachel's hand, setting it down in between them. After she was sure Rachel had escaped the danger of choking, Santana asked the first question she could think of, "What have your dads said?"
"They said that they think I should follow my heart and whatever I decide they know it will be the right decision... blah blah blah... no matter what I'll always be their little girl," Rachel said as if she were reciting something she'd heard her fathers say a million times before, which, she probably had.
"So no help on the parent front," Santana rolled her eyes. As they settled briefly on the cup of pale, yellow goop in between them, a fresh question popped into her head.
"How about Kurt? I mean, he's all out there mysteriously following his crazy fashion dreams, what did he have to offer?"
"He thinks I should just do it, but he got to finish school! The Fashion Institute is only two years! His experience is so much different than mine!" Rachel huffed and looked back at the pudding on the bench.
Sliding said pudding a little closer to herself, Santana asked the next helpful question she could think of, "Did you talk to your advisor? I mean, someone in that place has to have had to make a similar decision at some point. Maybe there's some way that you can like, do both? Or maybe take a semester off?"
"I can't do both and I can't take a semester off. It's a conservatory so it goes by years, not half years. We have to do performance projects our last two years. All year. This show is eight performances a week and the only day that I would definitely have off is Monday. I cannot do both," Rachel said, getting more and more forceful as she explained deeper into why she actually had to make this decision.
"Okay... I'm sorry..."
"It's okay... I didn't really explain it before..."
They left it there. Silence plagued their attempt at helping each other make the life altering decisions they had before them. Rachel went back to the banana pudding and Santana settled her gaze on the street outside of the park. She watched as cars and people passed by iron fencing until her eyes finally focused on the black bars so that everything behind them were just blurs of color shifting around. She thought she heard a sniffle come from next to her but her thoughts were so loud she couldn't be sure. They bounced between her own problem and Rachel's until she finally came to the realization that neither one of them could leave the park until they'd made definite decisions.
"We're hopeless, aren't we?" Rachel sniffled for sure and put down the half eaten pint of pudding.
"Oh no, don't do that. None of that 'woe is us' bull shit. We're going to make decisions and they're going to be the right decisions, you know why?" Santana asked not entirely sure of the answer herself quite, yet.
"No, I don't. Please enlighten me, oh wise one," Rachel snarked out.
"Because..." Santana attempted with way too much emphasis on the second half of the word. Rachel's head jerked forward slightly in anticipation of Santana's answer, "Because... because they're both right!"
It made perfect sense. That was exactly why these decisions were so difficult. It was also so simple that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before.
"What?" Rachel said, her incredulousness shining bright.
"Just hear me out, Rach."
"Do I have a choice?"
"I'm going to pretend you just said, 'of course I will, Santana, it's not like I've thought of anything that's going to get us out of our own way, yet' and continue," she paused to watch Rachel roll her eyes and then she continued, "Okay, so with you, you're decision is to either stay at Juilliard for your last year or accept the offer to be in your Broadway debut..."
"I am one hundred percent aware of what my options are Santana."
Letting that slide, Santana continued, "No matter what, you're going to feel bad about what you've given up, the key is knowing that the decision you made was the correct one... no matter what."
"Okay, what about you? I know that you're giving up three thousand dollars a week if you say no, but what are you giving up if you take the job?" Rachel asked as she replaced the cover on her pudding.
"Free time. Not that I had that much before, but I'm positive that it'll be even slimmer," Santana said without letting her body cringe like it wanted to. As if less free time was something she wanted... but $3000 a week was.
"So what are you suggesting? A pros and cons list?" Rachel shrugged.
"Actually, I hadn't even thought of that. Let's do it. Let's like, go back and forth listing them all off. You do pros for Broadway debut and I'll do pros for taking the job. Keep count. Go."
"It's Broadway," Rachel said in a 'duh' tone and began counting with her fingers.
"$3000 a week."
"Equity," Rachel said with dreamy eyes.
After giving a 'what the fuck?' look, Santana sighs, "An income if Law School falls through."
After giving her own, 'what the fuck?' look, Rachel adds, "It's a giant leap in the door."
"I get to quit the bar," Santana laughs, thinking about how great it would be to not have to do bitch work anymore.
"Wait. I can't do this anymore... I only have one con," Rachel said stopping Santana's laughter, "But it's big."
"What is it? Because I'm letting you know right now that I've made my decision," Santana smiled.
"What? Don't you have any cons?" Rachel asked, shocked.
"Just one, but I think I know a way around it... a little, but you go first. Please," Santana insisted and turned her body around on the bench so that she was facing Rachel more.
"It isn't guaranteed," Rachel let out after deep breath, "I know that the show did really well off-Broadway, but it doesn't mean it's going to do well on Broadway."
"When you found out that it was moving to Broadway, did you not say that it doesn't usually happen like that. Didn't you say that usually off-Broadway shows stay just that? It must be really good if the producers got it moved up. Rach, I liked it and I don't like anything," Santana added the last part despite knowing that her opinion of the show didn't matter at all when it came to its success.
"I guess. And even if doesn't do well, I'll still have my Equity card so I'll be able to get better auditions... and health insurance," Rachel said as her passion for her dream came back to her.
"That's the spirit!"
"What's your solution?"
Santana smiled her devious smirk and answered, "Guilt-tripping Sonny into 'lending' me some of his tracks. He did pretty much drop this on me like a grenade and it's not like I have a little apprentice to cover for me an hour a show and whenever I want a night off."
"That is dirty. But I completely accept it. Mostly because it's totally High School You and sometimes, I like it when she shows up," Rachel laughed and pulled her legs up onto the bench to sit cross-legged.
"I can't say no to this, Rach, just like you can't say no to what you've been dreaming about your whole life," Santana shrugged her left shoulder and slightly shook her head.
"I know. That's why we aren't saying no and making the right decision."
"Exactly."
"Well, we should probably leave now. We've been here for like an hour and half and now I have to call my dads and tell them that all the money they spent on school isn't resulting in a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama," Rachel said as she gatherer up all of her things and stood up.
"And I should probably call my Tia and tell her that I'm quitting the bar," Santana said following Rachel off the bench.
"You're also going to tell Quinn, right?" Rachel asked... told Santana.
"Right."
A/N: I think this is quickest I've updated since I started posting this thing! Woo! I was definitely glad to hear that a lot of you didn't see the last chapter coming... I'm thinking this one was a little similar? I do hope that you all enjoyed this! Of course I want to hear from you!
