I was the first one to Puck's house besides Lauren. I pounded on the door until he let me in.
"Whoa," he said. "You look pissed off."
"Just get me a drink," I said. He poured me a shot, and I threw it back. I'd promised myself that I wasn't gonna get shit-faced at this party (seriously...weepy drunk is no fun), but I needed a drink to calm down. Rachel had gotten on my last fucking nerve. Yeah, she had a point. She was just asking to be my friend, but admitting that I liked her as a friend to other people might somehow lead to me telling people that we're sleeping together, which might make me have to deal with...all my other issues. Not happening.
God, why had I agreed to this whole thing with Berry again?
"What's a matter?" Lauren said to me. "Missing my hot piece of man meat?"
I glared at her. Why the fuck did this bitch have to constantly press my buttons? She was officially on my list. "Okay, I'm gonna level with you. I'm from a little place called Lima Heights Adjacent, as in, the wrong side of the tracks, and-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Puck said, stepping between the two of us. "When you start going into your Lima Heights speech, it usually leads to a fight, and while I'm usually up for girl-on-girl violence, and you usually win, I wanna remind you that Lauren is a wrestler. Like, a nationally ranked wrestler who's more that twice your size, and I'm afraid of you getting broken in half."
"Who needs wrestling when you have street cred on your side?" I said, already feeling the alcohol a little. Surprisingly, I didn't hold my liquor all that well.
"Seriously, you and Lauren are my two favorite girls. Don't make me choose." I could see how much this was stressing Puck out, so I calmed down.
"Your man just saved you from a serious beat-down," I said.
"Yeah, that's right, he's my man," she said. I lunged at her, but Puck caught me around my waist.
"Lauren!" he yelled. "Seriously!"
We glared at each other for a few minutes before I sat on one of Puck's couches. He said a few things to Lauren before he sat down next to me.
"Okay, so what's up with you?" he asked.
"Aren't you gonna get in trouble for blowing her off for me?" I asked. "Seeing as you're so whipped."
"She gets that we're friends." He handed me a beer from a cooler he had next to his couch.
"She doesn't act like it." I opened the beer and downed about half of it.
"Okay, you only drink like this when something's wrong," he said. "Just tell me. Is it about the guy you've been ditching me for?"
I sighed. "Just leave me alone, Puckerman. I'm not in a sharing mood."
He shrugged. "Fine, but I'm gonna find out. Just don't get too carried away tonight. You're no fun drunk. Then again, neither is Lauren."
"Really?" I said.
"Yeah, she's sort of an angry drunk, as you saw just a minute ago."
"She's already drunk?" I asked.
"Yeah, we left Breadstix right after Kurt's thing was over. I had to set things up here."
"There really wasn't much to set up," I said.
"Yeah, well, that's why we broke out the drinks early." He gave me his best charming smile (even if it usually came off sort of sleazy). "Anyways, I gotta go find my girl before she comes over here and starts shit again. You gonna be okay?"
These were the moments I liked Puck. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He leaned in a little, and I held my hand up. "I don't need a hug. I'm seriously fine."
He just shrugged. "Suit yourself." He got off the couch and went to find Lauren. I just sat there, wondering if I should text Rachel and apologize or something, but I decided not to, because she was the one that was trying to make me jealous with stupid Finn Hudson. She should be apologizing to me for being so stupid. I wasn't gonna start getting all in touch with my feelings like Puck was with Lauren and Britt was with Artie.
Speaking of Brittany and Artie, they were the next to arrive at the party, and I groaned. I knew Brittany would see me alone and start harassing me, and I didn't wanna deal with that.
"Hey, San!" she said in that way she always did. I don't know how I'd managed to make a best friend that was perky, like, all the time. It seemed unnatural.
"Hey, Britt," I grumbled out. "Artie." He just gave a half-hearted wave.
"Have you talked to Rachel yet?" she asked, and I rolled my eyes.
"Uh...no, not yet. She was still mad at me, so I gave her some space, and I'm gonna talk to her when she gets here." Not entirely untrue...but definitely not true, either.
"Oh, okay," Brittany said, finally being a little less observant. "Well, just make sure you don't drink too much. You know how you get."
"Yeah, I know," I said. "And in the same respect, I encourage you to drink as much as you want, because I know how you get." I shot her a smile and a wink, and she laughed.
"How do you get when you're drunk?" Artie asked.
"Let's just say you're in for a show," I said, handing Brittany a beer from that cooler by the couch. Everybody that had every partied with Brittany knew she was a stripper-drunk. Hey, we may have stopped hooking up, and she may be my best friend, but she had an incredible body, and it's not like I ever let her get too carried away...and did I mention that she had an incredible body?
Everybody showed up pretty fast after that (well, everyone besides Finn and Rachel). It was weird, because about half the club (those of us that had actually been popular enough to get invited to parties) was already getting drunk while the other half was standing around, looking awkward. It wasn't until Puck started a game of beer pong that everyone started really loosening up.
Rachel and Finn came in about half an hour after everyone else. My first instinct was to run over to her and start hysterically yelling at her and asking her what took so long, but I needed to let that go. I was Santana Lopez, God dammit! I wasn't gonna let Rachel Berry throw me off my game anymore!
"Hey, Britt!" I called over the music. She stopped pushing Artie in circles and looked over at me. "Body shots!"
She squealed and immediately peeled her shirt off. Artie looked horrified for about a second, but calmed down because...well, Brittany's abs sort of have that affect on you. A little crowd gathered around me and Britt while I poured salt on her stomach. I licked it off, then took my shot, and all the boys were going crazy. Right before I leaned over to take the lime out of her mouth with mine, I looked up and saw Rachel. She kept looking between Brittany and I. I tried to finish the job, I really did, but with Rachel looking at me like a kicked puppy, I couldn't do it. I groaned, took the lime out of her mouth with my hand, then sucked the juice out of it. There was a collective groan from the group.
"What!" Puck yelled, outraged. "Rip off! You have to do another one!"
"Yeah...no I don't," I said, standing up.
"Yeah you do!" he yelled. "Every time you and Brittany do body shots, it ends with the two of you making out! It's, like, Lima party tradition!"
"Britt has a boyfriend now," I said, looking at Artie.
"I don't mind," he said, and everyone was staring at him in shock. "Hey, we're all drunk. It's not like it would mean anything. It'd just be for fun...and super hot."
"Wow, dude," Puck said. "I don't give you enough credit for being awesome."
"Yeah, well, still not doing it," I said. "So maybe you should back off a'fores I tell Zizes that you're following me around like a puppy dog instead of paying attention to her."
Puck rolled his eyes. "Fine, but if I don't see some hot girl-on-girl action by the end of this party, I'm gonna be pissed."
The party went on, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. It was safe to say that everyone was smashed besides Finn and Kurt, who had both decided to lay off the liquor for the night. I'd successfully stopped myself from crying several times during the night...all of my close calls had to do with me seeing Rachel drunkenly draping herself over Finn. He was, of course, eating it up.
"Hey everybody!" Rachel yelled over all the noise. "Let's play spin the bottle!"
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Rach," Finn said, pulling her closer. I wanted to hurl.
"It's an awesome idea!" she practically screamed in his face. I made a mental note to make sure I never let her out of my sight if we ever went drinking with mixed company. She was quite the clingy drunk.
"Yeah! Spin the bottle!" Puck yelled. He was the resident horny drunk...surprise, surprise.
It took everyone a few minutes to sit down in the circle without falling all over each other, but we finally got the job done. Brittany was on my right, and Puck was on my left. The only problem was that Frankenteen and Rachel were sitting right across from me, so I got to watch him eye my girl the whole time.
Well...not my girl...whatever, you know what I mean.
The first few turns were tension-filled. Britt had to kiss Mike (which was a little awkward because they sort of had a thing sophomore year), Tina had to kiss Artie after her kiss with Mike, and Quinn had to kiss Puck after her kiss with Artie (do I even need to explain why those were awkward?). Puck's spin did nothing to cut the tension when it landed on me.
"No way in hell is that happening," Lauren said.
"What'sa matter?" I slurred out. Yeah, I'd had way too many... "Scared Puck'll remember what he's missing?"
"Speak up again, and I'll break you like a toothpick." I jumped to my feet, and so did she.
"Bring it on, Shamu!" I yelled, and I could already feel Brittany's arms around my waist, holding me back.
"Girl fight!" Mike yelled, and Tina smacked him on the arm.
"No! No girl fight!" Puck yelled, once again standing between us. "Look, it's just a stupid kiss for a stupid game. The faster we do it, the faster it'll be over."
Lauren growled at me, and I just rolled my eyes and sat back down. A few seconds went by before everyone calmed down again.
"Alright, let's do this," I said, grabbing Puck and pulling him in for a kiss. He'd never been a very good kisser, so I wasn't thrilled, but a thought occurred to me a second before our lips met. I knew that Berry was a little threatened by Puck and Britt-Britt. Maybe I could use this to my advantage. I kissed him with everything I had. I opened my eyes a little bit to catch a look at Rachel out of the corner of my eye. She looked beyond pissed, and I laughed on the inside.
Finally, Puck pulled away a little with a smirk on his face. I glanced over at Rachel again, and she was glaring at him like she was trying to set him on fire with her mind. Lauren looked less that impressed, too, but I didn't really care about her.
"Alright, my spin," I said. The bottle spun around a few times, and for a second, I actually thought it was gonna land on Rachel, which would work out perfectly for me. I'd get to kiss Rachel in front of our friends without them knowing what was going on, and Rachel would give up on this whole making me jealous thing once we started kissing. No one could resist my kisses if I didn't want them to.
Of course, my life sucked, and it landed on Finn instead.
"No way!" I yelled out.
"Not happening!" Finn said at the same time. Everyone in the room was going crazy. The club knew that we'd had tension between us since the Finchel (gag me) break-up, but they assumed it was because of what had happened between us sophomore year. That's why Rachel got more that one confused look when she burst out laughing.
"You have to, Santana," she said, clutching her side. "It's the rules!"
"Yeah," Quinn chimed in. "We've all had to kiss people we didn't want to."
"Oh, fuck off, preggers. We all know you didn't mind sucking face with Puck." I really hated Quinn...and Rachel...and stupid Finn...and the fucking universe.
"Come on, Santana, it's either you do it, or you spend an hour naked," Artie said.
"I think I'll take option number two," I said, starting to take off my shirt.
"Wait, I don't wanna get naked!" Finn yelled, stopping me. I'd forgotten that he'd have to get naked, too. I couldn't handle seeing that, so I sucked it up.
"Fine," I said. "How long?"
"Five second," Puck said. "With tongue."
I almost threw up all over him, but I held it back and crawled over to Finn. We stared at each other for a few seconds before I leaned forward and kissed him.
"None of this counts until we see some tongue!" I heard Puck call out. I rolled my eyes and shoved my tongue into Finn's mouth. I'd actually forgotten what a bad kisser he was. It was like making out with a Golden Retriever. It was the longest five seconds of my life, but it finally ended. I wiped my mouth and took another shot when I was done.
"See? Was that so bad?" Rachel asked with a smirk. I wanted to kiss that stupid smile off her face.
Smack...I meant smack that stupid look off her face.
Anyways, it was Finn's turn, and I just prayed that it wouldn't land on me. I didn't think I could take making out with him again without forfeiting the contents of my stomach. When the bottle landed on Rachel, I just about flipped my shit.
"What the fuck!" I yelled out. I looked at the ceiling. "Why do you hate me, God?"
When I looked back down, about half of the group looked confused as hell. Brittany and Artie were looking at me sympathetically, Rachel was looking at me, still smirking, and Finn looked about the same as Rachel, except his was a little cockier.
Rachel turned to Finn. "You get your kiss, lover boy," she said before putting her hands on his cheeks and crushing her lips to his. A few seconds into it, she moaned. I knew she was faking it. I could tell a real Rachel moan from a fake one, but it still bothered me. Suddenly, she was in his lap, and he had his hands on her ass.
I was seeing red. Tonight was supposed to be me and Rachel hanging out and being alone together, and now Hudson had his hands on her ass...had his lips on her lips
"That's fucking it!" I yelled. I got to my feet and pulled Rachel away from Finn. I knew I was crying. I'd started crying at some point during the kiss, but I didn't give a flying fuck at the moment.
"Jesus," Sam said. "Just let them kiss."
"Yeah," Mercedes said. "It's not like they weren't gonna get back together anyways."
I shook my head. "No! They can't get back together! He's too tall, and stupid, and he doesn't treat her right!" I knew I was saying too much, but I was already all the way in drunk-mode, so there wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop myself. Besides, it's not like anyone was gonna remember any of this in the morning. "And he's bad in bed! Like, really bad. I mean, I've slept with, like, everybody, and he's, like, the worst! And...and...and he's just so fucking tall!" I looked at Rachel. "You don't even like him anymore!"
"How do you know?" she shot back at me. "You don't know how I feel! You don't even care!"
"I care!" I yelled at her.
"I feel like I'm missing something," I heard Lauren ask Puck.
"Me too, but I think I'm starting to put the pieces together," he answered. I'm sure he had a grin on his face.
"You don't act like you care," Rachel said to me. I was close to my breaking point. I wanted to win this fight. Really, I wanted to win every fight with Rachel, but the more I thought about this one, the less I saw an outcome where I'd win. It was hard for me to admit (because I never did before), but...she was right. The only way I could win this one was by losing.
"Fine, you want me to do this?" I turned away from her and faced everyone else. "Berry and I are friends. I think she's super cool and we hang out, like, all the time. She's my super best friend." I saw Britt's face fall. "You are too, Brittany." She smiled, so I turned back to Rachel. Again, she was smirking at me. "Satisfied?"
"It'll do for now," she said.
"Wait, I'm confused," Sam said. "Since when are Santana and Rachel friends?"
"And why is Santana crying?" Mercedes asked.
"And what did that have to do with Finn and Rachel kissing?" Mike threw in.
"I have a theory," Puck said.
I wiped the tears off of my face. "Everybody shut the fuck up and get back to dancing!" Brittany was more than happy to oblige. She jumped up on a table and immediately all of the guys except for Finn were suddenly distracted.
"Aw, Sanny-Bear. You're just a big softie," Rachel said as she pulled me into a hug. "You know...you're, like, really soft. Like a pillow. Are you a pillow?"
Talking to Berry drunk was a lot like talking to Brittany sober.
"What the hell, Rachel?" Finn said, walking up to us. "Are you ditching me?"
"Lay off," I said, still holding onto Rachel who now had her face in my neck. "She's obviously drunk off her ass."
"Yeah, that's exactly why I should be watching her," he said. "I shouldn't leave her with you of all people. You can't be trusted."
"I'm watching her just fine, thanks."
"You're drunk, too, Santana," he snapped out. "And I know you. You just wanna get her alone so you can take advantage of her."
"I wouldn't mind that so much, actually," Rachel said, and I couldn't hold in my laughter.
"See? She doesn't even know what she's saying!" Finn stepped closer to me. "Look, Santana, you use everyone you know. If you really care about Rachel, you won't do the same with her."
I rolled my eyes. "You done, Hudson? I'd like to get my dance on."
"Dancing?" Rachel said, looking at me. "We should dance together!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Finn before either one of us could get in another word.
The next few hours were sort of a blur. I was vaguely aware of the fact that Puck was trying to get my attention, but he kept getting dragged away by a very angry Lauren. Finn was sitting in the corner, glaring at Rachel and me. In fact, everyone was kind of throwing us weird looks. That may have had to do with the fact that Rachel was grinding on me so hard that we might as well have been having sex on Puck's makeshift dance floor.
Again, I knew that no one was gonna remember any of the details of the night clearly, so I wasn't too worried about it. Even if I had been worried, I was way too drunk and WAY too turned on to even think about pushing her away from me. Seriously, all the years of dance lessons had really payed off in a big way.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of teasing, Rachel pulled me to the side so I could hear her over everything.
"I'm done dancing now," she said to me. "I think we could be doing other things to work up a sweat right now."
The smile on my face after that little comment probably looked incredibly stupid, but I didn't care. I was getting some. I told Rachel to wait where she was while I found Puck.
"Douche bag!" I yelled over the music. I had to laugh a little when Puck immediately looked over at me. "I'm taking your room tonight. Too drunk to drive, and I don't think Finn's gonna wanna drive me home."
Puck laughed a little. "I'm guessing your new best friend will be joining you?"
"Well, yeah. She needs sleep, too."
"Yeah, I'm sure the two of you are gonna get a lot of sleep tonight," he said with a wink. "You owe me a favor after this one, Lopez."
"Deal," I said. I probably shouldn't have agreed to that. Last time I'd owed Puck a favor, I'd ended up in the back of a police car, drunk off my ass, and only in my underwear.
"Puckerman!" I heard a voice call over the crowd. "Here! Now!"
"That's my lady," he said. I looked on disgusted as Puck ran to Lauren like a lapdog. I didn't think I'd ever get used to that. Just as I was about to gag at the sight of the two of them dancing, I felt a pair of arms come around my waist.
"Are you gonna stand there staring at Puck all night, or are you gonna get up on this?" Rachel husked into my ear. The pair of us were up the stairs and in Puck's room before you could blink. I immediately pushed her down on the bed and latched onto her neck with my lips. She gasped and I grinned against her skin. I pulled away and took off my shirt. She did the same, and I went back to her neck. I wasn't interested in any build-up or teasing. I just wanted to touch her. I needed to touch her. From the way she was pushing herself against my thigh, I knew she felt the same way.
When I felt her pulling at my jeans, I got off the bed and tried to pull them off, but I ended up stumbling and falling over in the process, which sent Rachel into hysterical laughter.
"That's not funny, Berry!" I yelled at her.
"Ah, ah, ah," she said, waving her finger back and forth. "We're in the bedroom now, Santana. No more Berry. Say you're sorry."
I stood back up and shot her a glare as I finally pulled off my jeans. "Okay, no. I'll call you Rachel from now on, but I'm not apologizing, and you're not withholding."
She just giggled and took off her bra. Seriously, you'd think because they're so small that they wouldn't have as much power over me...but damn, they were just so perfect.
"Okay, I'm sorry, Rachel," I said as I pushed her back down on the bed and started playing with her nipples. She groaned and tried to speak, but I either was too drunk and horny to understand, or she was so drunk and horny that she wasn't making any sense. Or both. I went on like this for a few more minutes, fondling her chest and kissing her until I couldn't breathe. I let one of my hands drift lower, and her breath hitched. Right as I got under her skirt to her inner thigh, an annoying voice popped up int my head.
I shouldn't leave her with you of all people. You can't be trusted.
I couldn't believe that I was hearing Finn Hudson's voice in my head.
Suddenly, everything felt different. I started noticing that I couldn't quite get my vision to focus. I pulled away from Rachel and looked at her. Her eyes were bloodshot and clouded over from all the alcohol she'd drunk. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I didn't wanna be thinking like that. I dove back into our kiss, and my hand went back to tracing circles on her inner thigh. Still, I couldn't put out of my mind that our kisses were a lot sloppier than they usually were.
You just wanna get her alone so you can take advantage of her.
I pulled back again, and Rachel let out an aggravated grunt.
"Why do you keep stopping?" she asked. I couldn't ignore the way that she slurred her words out. This didn't feel quite right. I couldn't help but feel like everything was so fucked up. I just started kissing her neck, hoping her moans would drown out the voices in my head.
You use everyone you know. If you really care about Rachel, you won't do the same with her.
"Shut the fuck up, Finn!" I yelled out, and Rachel looked at me confused.
"Okay...what?" she mumbled out. "Did you just yell at Finn?" I didn't say anything. "I don't understand what's happening."
I looked at Rachel. I again found myself in a situation where no matter what I did, I lost. Half of me thought I was being stupid. I mean, it's not like we hadn't slept together sober. It's not like she didn't want it. Hell, she was practically begging for it. In fact, she was the one that had dragged me off the dance floor! Still, she was drunk, and despite the fact that I'd promised to stay sober-ish to keep an eye on her, I was drunk, too. I couldn't do this. When I pulled my hand out of her skirt and got off the bed, she sat up in a hurry.
"Wait!" she yelled. "Weren't we about to...I mean, we were gonna-"
"I know." I ran my hands through my hair before putting my clothes back on and tossing her bra and shirt to her. "I just...don't want to anymore."
Her face immediately dropped. "Did I do something wrong?" I hated the waver that I heard in her voice."
"No that's not what I meant!" I said, throwing my shirt over my head and sitting next to her on the bed. "It's just...we can't...I can't...ugh!" I couldn't think clearly enough to get out what I wanted to say. When I saw a tear roll down her cheek, I wiped it away and started talking again. "I wanted to. I still do, but we're both really drunk, and I just don't think it's a good idea."
"Is that all?" Rachel said with a little giggle. "Come on, we both knew this is where we were gonna end up at the end of the night, drunk or sober. I don't mind."
"I know you don't, but I don't know if you will in the morning. I mean, we sort of got into a huge fight earlier. Who's to say you won't be pissed off about that once your sober?"
She rolled her eyes at me. "You told everybody that we're friends. That's all I wanted." She pushed me down on the bed and started kissing my neck.
"Rachel, you're making this really hard on me," I groaned out.
"Yeah, well, stop saying no," she said, running a hand under my shirt. I wanted to let go, but Finn's stupid voice wasn't leaving my head. I pushed her away and sat back up.
"Look, we have the whole weekend. If you still want me tomorrow, I'm all for it. Although, I'm not sure we'll be up to it." I cringed thinking about the hangover that I was sure to have the next day...and probably for a few days after that. "For now, let's just sleep, okay?" She pouted, and it almost broke my resolve, but I held out just long enough to win this one.
"Okay," she said, crawling under the covers. "I'm not happy about it, though."
"Trust me, no one is more upset by this than me." I pulled back the covers and laid next to her. I stared at the ceiling for about fifteen minutes.
"San?" Rachel said, and I faced her. "Will you hold me? I wanna cuddle, and you owe me."
I laughed a little bit. "Sure," I said, and I wrapped my arms around her.
"San?" she said again, and I just squeezed a little tighter so she knew I was listening. "I know we fought, but...this was still the best Valentine's Day I've ever had. Thank you."
I smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rach." She sighed contentedly, and my smile got even bigger. Rachel felt surprisingly good in my arms. I couldn't help but think that I wouldn't mind going to bed like this every night.
Whatever, I can just blame thoughts like that on the alcohol I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep.
A/N: I know a lot of you were really hoping for something a lot smuttier, but I thought this was a good development for our dear Santana. Trust me, there will be more smutty goodness in the future. In fact, if you really want it, just tell me in the reviews and I can put some in the next chapter.
