A/N - Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favorites. Really appreciated! R&R PLEASE :D
Ryoko05 - I'm sorry to disappoint you but nope, No Quinntana. But there might be, QuinnXRebecca. Who knows~ Thank you for the reviews :) Greatly appreciated!
edilsdnal - Jocks kills my brain cells. And yes, Artie will do something but at the meantime, let's enjoy some summer fun with the ND kids! I actually wanted to do a song duel between Britt and Reb (the song Santana did with Mercedes, if you remembered) but decided against it. That would bring more drama, yes, but I like Rebecca being nice to the trio :(. Thank you for the review :D.
Chapter 10
"Brittany, tell me about your hobby using Spanish."
"Me gusta montar a caballo."
Spanish is one of Brittany's weakest subject and the fact that she actually was able to answer Mr Schue's question surprised Santana. She look over at Brittany, receiving a wide grin in return.
"Muy bien." Mr Schue replies, amazed at Brittany.
Academics have always been the weakest link for the blonde. She's more of a dancer, a happy-go-lucky girl that takes everything one step at a time. Her GPA was falling behind but because of the Cheerios' achievement, Coach Sylvester managed to convince Principal Figgins to promote Brittany. During Spanish, the blonde will always fall asleep no matter how much Santana tried to nudge her. Over time, Santana gave up trying to wake Brittany up. However, these few days, Brittany began paying attention and actually made an effort to participate in class.
"No, I should give up."
"Why?!"
"Isn't it obvious enough, she's with Puckerman."
"But you like her!"
"It doesn't matter. It's just a crush that will go away in time."
Jessica shakes her head. Santana got Rebecca crushing on her, hard. She had never seen Rebecca tried this hard to get the attention of somebody, to the point of changing her HBIC attitude. Rebecca stopped hanging with the jocks, stopped being part of the gang with the boys that slushy people, stopped yelling at the younger Cheerios. Yes, she's glad Rebecca changed but the passive Rebecca is too foreign for her. It's going to take some getting used to.
From a distance, giggles were heard. Santana was laughing at one of Puck's joke as they made their way over to their lockers. Rebecca look at the duo and sighs before turning back to her locker to take her textbook.
"Pass the bottle!" Puck yells at Finn who hogged the alcoholic drink.
The New Directions are gathered at the Lopez's for their summer party. This time, Santana decides that she'll join in on the drinking, unlike the previous time.
"ROYAL FLUSH!"
The other members groan as Rachel threw in the card. What's a party without booze and cards, right? Even the senior trio joined in on the drunken stupor.
Through the night, the members of the New Directions just ended up wasted in the lounge. The boys were all knocked out on the floor while the girls took the couch and sofa.
Feeling movements on the couch, Santana's eyes opens lazily. She managed to open her eyes on time to see somebody running to the washroom. Worried, she drags her body off the couch and follows the silhouette. Turning the corner, Santana sees Brittany kneeling in front of the toilet bowl, throwing up.
Santana rushes in and strokes Brittany's back in an attempt to soothe her discomfort. After emptying her guts, the Latina helped her up to clean up. With Santana holding her hair back, Brittany washes her face and gargles to get rid of the sour in her mouth.
Santana helps Brittany to her room and covers her with blanket. Even though it's her own room, the Latina contemplates whether to leave Brittany alone to rest or stay just in case Brittany throws up again. Deciding on the latter, Santana crawls onto the bed.
Being a light sleeper have its pros and cons. Although there's alcohol in the Latina's bloodstream, she's still sober. The slightest movement can easily wake her up. It's not surprising that Santana jolts awake with the force in which the blonde left the bed. Brittany ran for the door and opens the door with a force that causes the door to slam against the wall. The Latina runs after Brittany to find her head towards the washroom to throw up again.
After washing up, Santana puts her hand on the blonde's forehead. "You're burning up." Brittany gave a weak nod as she lean against Santana. "Come on, I'm taking you to the doctor."
Santana looks at the clock, 3:17AM. The nearest 24/7 clinic is a half an hour to and back. Weighing her options of waking Kendrick up to drive them, and taking the keys and go, the Latina sighs. She closes her eyes, take a deep breath and made her decision.
Grabbing the keys, Santana proceeds to the garage while supporting Brittany.
Opening the doors of the car, Santana drops the blonde at the back seat. "Wait here." She closes the door and walks back into the house to take a few plastic bags, just in case Brittany throws up, and two coats. The weather turned chilly later into the night. Santana helps Brittany into the coat before taking her seat. The engines roars to life when Santana turns the key. Switching on the headlights, Santana drives off into the night.
"Turn over."
Brittany whines but did as told. Santana pokes the ear thermometer into Brittany's ear. "38 degree celsius. Come on B, it's time to take your medicine."
"I don't wanna.."
"You have to."
"Don't wanna."
"B.."
"No."
"Brittany S. Pierce."
Using her full name, Santana made her point across. Reluctantly, Brittany sat up and pouts. She pops the medicine into her mouth and threw her head back to swallow the medicine. Her tongue stick out in disgust.
"Drink."
Brittany looks at the bottle, then back to Santana. Her eyes pleaded with the Latina to let her off. Santana narrows her eyes and shook her head. She shakes the bottle, motioning for Brittany to take it. There's no escaping from the Latina.
After Brittany took the bottle, Santana grabbed a face towel and went out of the room. She wet the towel and wrung it dry. Before going back to the room, she went to check on the others in the lounge. Noticing Rebecca passed out on the floor among the boys, Santana knelt down and carries her to the couch. The lounge was in a mess. She place the towel aside and picks up the empty liquor bottles.
Returning to the room with the hand towel, she sees the blonde soundly asleep on the bed. Noticing the empty bottle lying beside her on the bed, Santana smiled. Lifting Brittany's fringe above her forehead, the Latina place the damp towel on Brittany's forehead. She reach across Brittany to take the empty bottle.
"I'm not good enough."
Santana look down at the blonde and realize she's sleep talking. She pulls a chair beside the bed and sat down to watch Brittany.
"Santana likes Puck. Puck likes Santana."
Santana chuckles slightly at the blonde's word. Yep, the little performance they did in Glee certainly worked. But somehow, a part of her didn't want to see Brittany so upset over the whole incident.
"I'm sorry, B. I should have told you the truth. You should know the truth. And I'm sorry for everything that hurt you. You're my best friend. I know you won't hear this because you're sick and drowsy and sleeping but just so you know, you're very important to me, okay?" Santana cups the cheek of the sleeping blonde and stroke it with her thumb. She leans forward, inches away from the blonde. But she pulls away before she could even do anything. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts and left the room.
Her thoughts are clouding her ability to think properly. She needs an escape. Time check: 4:50AM. Changing out of her clothes into a leather jacket over a tank top and jeans, she grabs another set of keys and heads to the garage. Running her fingers over the leather seat, she hops onto the motorcycle and turns the key. The engine revved and she drove out of the garage, into the night.
The early hours of Lima was one of the perks of the small town. Majority of the townspeople are all asleep. Taking this as an advantage, speed limit seemed to be foreign to the Latina. Fresh air, cold breeze and silence.
Through groggy eyes, Rebecca surveys the surrounding and found herself on a couch. Perplexed but too hung over to find out why, or who, she wanders out of the lounge. The sound of a motorcycle nearby was making her head throb.
With a twist, the engine dies and Santana took off the crash helmet. She shakes her head a little to loosen her hair.
"Hey."
Startled, Santana turns around to face a disheveled Rebecca.
"Hey. Why are you here?"
"I unno. Loud, motorcycle." Rebecca mumbles. The alcohol in the system seems to be a little too much.
Santana laughs and apologizes. "Sorry, I'll try to be quieter."
"You drive?"
"Yeah.."
"Cool.. cool. I like motorcycles."
"Yeah? Maybe one day we can go for a spin."
"I unno how to drive."
"Maybe I'll take you for a spin?"
"Yay." The light headed senior claps her hands.
Grabbing her waist and lifting her hand over her shoulders, Santana helps Rebecca back into the lounge. She pulls out the mattress and settles Rebecca down. "Come on, get some rest."
"You like Puck?"
The Latina's eyes widen at the question. She paused for a while to think of a good answer but the thought was soon interrupted by a light snoring coming from the brunette. Grateful that she didn't have to answer the question, she smiled.
Santana stood up and glances across the room. She spots Quinn lying uncomfortably on the couch in an awkward angle. An idea popped into mind. She went to her room to grab her camera and snaps a picture of Quinn. She silently chuckled to herself. Maybe the picture will be of use one day to threaten her best friend. Putting the camera aside, she carries Quinn into the room Quinn uses when she stayed over, and the time she injured her ankle, and pulls the blanket up to Quinn's neck.
Time check: 7:00AM.
"Morning, Mary. What's for breakfast?"
"Judging on your outfit, I guess you sneaked out again?"
"Can't hide from you."
"You better change out of it. Your mami isn't going to be happy about it. Especially after your little 'party'."
"Mmm, thanks for the warning. I'll be right back!"
Santana rushes into her room and changes into an oversized hoodie and shorts. She returns to the kitchen, greeted by the cheerful cook.
The smell of fresh pancakes and maple syrups wafts through the air. Santana took a deep breath and licks her lips. "Thank you, Mary!" Santana runs over and hugs the cook.
After finishing her breakfast, Santana prepares a bowl of porridge for the sick blonde. Knowing the blonde, Santana have to convince the blonde to eat. She brings a box of all marshmallow lucky charms and heads back to the room. She sets the porridge on the table and hid the lucky charms in the drawers.
Poking the ear thermometer through Brittany's ears again, she takes the temperature of the blonde. 37.8, fever slightly reduced but still requires medical attention. Having felt the uncomfortable probe, Brittany opens her eyes to come face to face with the Latina. "Morning, sleepy head."
Brittany scrunches her face and whines. The hangover plus the sickness is making her feel horrible.
"B, you have to eat something before you take your medicine."
Brittany involuntarily props her elbows on the bed and sit up. She stares at the plain porridge on the table, making no attempt to eat it. "Don't wanna."
"If you eat at least a little, I'll give you a box of lucky charms."
"All marshmallow?"
"All marshmallows."
"Okay." Brittany claps her hand together and takes the spoon. She sniffs the spoonful of porridge before putting it in her mouth. Her face contorts in disgust at the bland taste of the porridge. "Lucky charms, lucky charms." She says as she swallows the porridge. Santana looks at her in amazement. The girl before her will do anything for lucky charms.
After half a bowl of porridge, she pushes the bowl away. She shakes her head and look at the Latina. At least Brittany ate a little, better than nothing. Santana pulls open the drawer and took out the box of Lucky Charms. Brittany's eyes sparkles with excitement at the sight of the Lucky Charms. She reach out to grab the box but Santana pulls back before Brittany can even touch the box. "Only a little. You're still sick." Brittany nodded eagerly as Santana passes her the box.
"Where's Lopez?"
The New Directions looked around and realize that the Latina isn't with them in the dining room. "Pierce isn't here too." Knowing their way around the villa, the members all washed up and went for breakfast. It wasn't until Jesse spoke up that the members realize that the duo isn't with them.
It didn't take much for Quinn to put two and two together. She left her seat and headed for the Latina's bedroom. Stepping into the room, she sees Santana asleep beside Brittany. She contemplates whether to wake the duo up until she sees the bowl on the table. Taking a closer look, Quinn spots the medicine lying on the table and reads the description. The medicine was prescribed at 3:40AM. Understanding that the Latina needed some rest as well as the sick blonde, she left the room.
"B is sick and S was worn out so it's better if we leave them be." Quinn rejoins the members at the dining table.
"Santana took care of Brittany for the whole night?" Rebecca asked.
"I think so. Most probably. They went to the doc in the middle of the night." Quinn replies. Hearing the reply, Rebecca merely nodded. The way Rebecca asked the question unsettles Quinn.
After the members cleared out, Quinn pulls Rebecca back. "Why did you ask the question?"
"Nothing. I might just be dreaming."
"About?"
"Santana, riding a motorcycle? Okay I didn't see her ride it but I saw her in the garage. And in leather jacket."
The blonde furrows her brows in thoughts. A leather jacket was seen in the Latina's room when she went to check on them. Maybe Rebecca is telling the truth. "Have you told anybody?"
"No, not really."
"Good. Keep this a secret?"
"Why?"
"Because I know your secret. And if you keep this secret, I won't reveal yours."
"I don't have any secret." Rebecca shoots a glare at Quinn.
"Yeah. You can call me detective Fabray because I know about your little crush on my dear S." she winked at the senior.
"H..how" Rebecca stammered, face flushing as her secret is exposed by the blonde.
"I have amazing detective skills. But aren't you with Artie?"
The brunette shrugged. "The other day when I was speaking to the two of you by the lockers and he steered me away, I sort of had a fight with him. After that he confronted me again and I defended Santana. Then he lost his temper and slammed the lockers but Puckerman came with Santana and pulled him away."
"So, the two of you aren't together anymore?"
"I guess so?"
"But the way he looked at you during your performance of 'intoxicated'.."
"He's just jealous. He mentioned something about Brittany and me, and Santana."
"Right.. Now that you reminded me, two of his ex-girlfriends have a crush on Santana Lopez."
Rebecca playfully shove Quinn on the shoulder and laughed. "You're not going to tell anybody, are you?"
"Nah, it's not my problem to deal with. It's S's. And what's more, the war between you and B is pretty fun to watch."
"Oh, so you know and you merely watched us go after each other?!"
"Yes." The blonde chuckles. "It's funny how the two of you fight over S."
"You little.." Rebecca reach forward and starts tickling Quinn, causing her to squeal.
"Stop, stop! Please!"
"Say what?!"
"I'm sorry, Rebecca!"
"Not yielding!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry senior!"
Rebecca stops tickling Quinn and looks at her with an amused expression. "This is the first time you actually called me senior."
"And it'll be the last." Quinn catches her breath and wipes away the tears.
The senior Cheerio smiles at the younger blonde. "You know.. I think Brittany and Santana makes a great team."
"You know, Rebecca." Quinn sighs, "Santana isn't the kind of person you should go after, if you're looking for someone who actually reciprocate your feelings. Santana is.. Special. In a way."
"I know."
"You know?"
"She treats everybody equally, even those who are horrible to her." She smiled. "And she is especially biased towards you and Brittany. I'm jealous."
"Don't be. How about this. If you're free on days which I'm going out with the two of them, I'll ask you along? Now that you're not all that bitchy, we can actually get along."
"Sounds great."
"I know you have Taka and Jessica. It's only a suggestion, you know."
"Yeah, that two are great but sometimes I get left out. There's always one that will be left out in an odd number group."
Quinn looks at the senior brunette and smiled. "I know."
Brittany's eyes flutter open to be greeted by the face of the Latina. Having rested for the whole day, her body aches for a stretch but looking at the Latina that is sleeping peacefully before her, she decided not to, just in case she wakes her up. Recalling what happened the previous night, she remembered how the Latina took care of her. She smiled and leans forward to peck the Latina's nose in gratitude. Santana winced at the contact. She opens her eyes to meet ocean blue. "Hey." She smiled as she reach to feel the blonde's forehead.
"Hey you." The eyes of the blonde remains locked on the Latina's.
Santana hums, "Your fever subsided. Feeling better?"
"Definitely better with you taking care of me."
Santana stares at Brittany, trying to process her words. "So you're implying I should be a doctor?"
Brittany laughs and breaks eye contact to look up at the ceiling. "Dork."
"For calling me a dork, your punishment is to finish this bottle of water." Santana grabs a bottle that is on the table and waves it at the blonde.
"Don't wanna."
"It's not a question."
"Nope."
Santana crawls on top of Brittany, using both hands to support herself on each side. She stares into the ocean blue eyes of Brittany, "Brittany S. Pierce."
Blood gushes up Brittany's face. Her face heats up and her cheeks pinks. She gulped.
Achieving her aim to scare(not really) and threaten Brittany, she rolls off to the side. She waves the bottle in front of Brittany again. This time, the blonde grabbed the bottle and gulped down the content. Santana smirked and saunters out of the room. Feeling embarrassed, Brittany pulls up the blanket and covers her face.
After taking a moment to collect herself, Brittany peek from the blanket to check the time. 7PM. She throws off the blanket and runs after Santana.
"How's B?" Quinn asks the approaching Latina.
"Better. Almost recovered."
Santana takes a look around the dining room. The members were all too busy indulging in the spread prepared to even notice the Latina. "Did they even realize my disappearance?" Santana clutches her chest and feign to be hurt.
Rebecca laughs and joins in on the conversation. "They actually did. And Puckerman panicked. But Quinn told them what happened."
Rebecca was seated beside Quinn and they actually managed to have a proper conversation together. Santana looks a Quinn and quirks an eyebrow. Before she could even say anything else, someone crashes onto her and hugs her from behind. Propping her head on the Latina's shoulder, Brittany greets Quinn and surveys the dining table. "Long time no see, Q! And I'm so going to eat everything. Porridge sucks."
Santana turns her head to face Brittany, faces merely inches apart. "You do know I'm not going to allow that, don't you?"
"But Saaaaaaaan..." Brittany whines.
"No buts." The Latina remains firm with the recovering blonde. She knows that the blonde is recovering but she have to watch her food intake for a little while more.
Brittany pouts and releases the Latina. "No me gusta."
Quinn and Rebecca burst into laughter while Santana stares at Brittany in amusement. The members of New Directions look at the duo with questioning eyes. "Hey Brittany! You feeling better?"
"Yes, thank you! Can I have your food?"
"NO!" Quinn, Rebecca and Santana yells in unison, causing the club to holler in laughter.
"Lay it all down. Got something to say. Lay it all down. Throw your doubt away. Do or die now. Step on to the plate. Blow the door wide open like up up and away!" The New Directions started a karaoke session in the lounge to spend the day.
Looking around, Santana realize that not all the members are around. Quinn and Brittany isn't around, Taka and Jessica aren't with Rebecca. Slowly rising to her feet, Santana slipped out of the lounge to find the three missing Cheerios.
"B?" Santana pops her head in her room only to be greeted by darkness. No sign of Brittany. Further down the corridors, Santana hears music coming out from the studio. It's soft, but it definitely is coming from the dance studio. Nobody uses the studio except Santana, so that only leaves one person. Brittany.
The music gets louder with each approaching step. "Come here girl. Go ahead, be gone with it. Come to the back. Go ahead, be gone with it. VIP. Go ahead, be gone with it. Drinks on me. Go ahead, be gone with it. Let me see what you're torquing with. Go ahead, be gone with it." The rhythmic beats pulsates through the entire dance studio. Engrossed in her dancing, Brittany didn't notice the Latina standing at the door. Leaning against the doorframe, Santana watches the dancer pop along go the music beats. She always thought Brittany was a great dancers but now, looking at her dance, the way her body reacts transcended her expectations. Captivated, the Latina stood there watching in awe.
"Look at those hips. Go ahead, be gone with it. You make me smile. Go ahead, be gone with it. Go ahead, child. Go ahead, be gone with it. And get your sexy on. Go ahead, be gone with it." Letting the music guide her, Brittany lock and pops according to the beats. Being sick for the previous days made her crave for dance. Dancing is what makes her, her.
But having just recovered, fatigue soon sets in and Brittany pales from exertion. She powers through the song and pants heavily at the end of the song.
Slowly making her way in, Santana made her presence known. Brittany look up and smiled at the Latina. Perspiration trickles down the dancer's forehead. "You just recovered, you shouldn't push yourself that hard, you know?"
"Can't help it. I miss dancing and I'm fine. See?" To prove herself, Brittany steps back and did a cartwheel, but exhaustion sets in and she loses her footing.
The world spins as the dancer lose her balance. Expecting herself to fall flat on the ground, Brittany closes her eyes and braced herself for the impact. Instead, strong arms wrap themselves around her waist and stopped her fall midair. "See, you're still not in a very good condition to dance, like this."
Her eyelids flutter open to meet the Latina's brown eyes. She broke into a smile, "I guess I really overdid it, huh?"
Santana smiled as she helps the dancer stabilize herself. She releases her hold and grabbed a bottle from the table and pass it to the dancer who accepted it gratefully. She wipes her face as she walks over to take a seat against the wall. Patting the space beside her, she motioned the Latina to sit beside her.
Brittany sips on her water and her pale lips regains a little colour. As fatigue sets in, she rests her head on the shoulder of the Latina beside her. "You know, San, I haven't really thanked you for taking care of me when I was sick." The two of them look at each other, from the mirror reflection that lined the other side of the studio. Brittany smiled as she look at Santana, "So, thank you for being so awesome because nobody had ever been this caring towards me, except my mum."
"Best friends look out for each other." The Latina smiled at the mirror.
"And I'm really glad you're my best friend." The dancer closes her eyes as she talks.
The duo sat in comfortable silence until Santana realize that Brittany had dozed off. Smiling at the reflection of the dancer, Santana admired how she powered through the dance although she's physically worn out, having just recovered and from all the popping and lockings.
(Flashback)
"San, do you have a dance studio?" Brittany asks atop Marc.
Santana looks up and quirks an eyebrow at the blonde. "Yeah, it's beside the instrument room."
Brittany claps her hand in glee, causing her to almost lose her balance atop Marc. She flails her arms around to stabilize herself, causing Santana to chuckle at her.
After she regained her balance, she smacks the Latina playfully on the shoulders. Santana scowled at the blonde and returns the favor by tugging on her ankle, causing Brittany to lose her balance again. "SAN!"
(End of flashback)
Because of the blonde dancer, Santana didn't had much of a chance to rest. As her mind drift off into thoughts, her eyes droops and soon, she's drifting into a sleep with her head resting atop Brittany's.
"What do you think about them?"
"Who? S and B? They're adorkable."
"Adorkable?"
"Yeah. The two of them can be crazy cute at times and pure insane at times."
"Sounds like Taka and Jessica to me."
"Really?" Quinn raises an eyebrow at the senior Cheerio.
Previously in the lounge, Quinn was seated with Brittany and Santana. The two were silent for the whole time. Quinn guessed it was from the lack of sleep. She looked over at the brunette and caught her looking at her too. Taka and Jessica were playing games with a beer bottle in between them. Rebecca looked at the door and jerked her head towards it. Quinn understood the request and heads for the door.
"Yes! They're like really fun to be around but some times they do crazy things like mixing the Gatorade's flavours together and dare each other to drink it." Rebecca recalls, "I lost the bet once and the mixed Gatorade tastes like, ugh." Her face contorts in memory of the unpleasant experience.
Quinn laughs, "Not so different from B. She always have the weirdest taste for food and drinks. She once mixed several types of soft drinks together and offered it to me. But I must say she knows her mixes. It was good."
"Why are people in the Cheerios so weird?"
"Are you talking about yourself?"
"No, and you're included."
Quinn clutch her chest in feigned hurt expression, earning a playful shove from Rebecca.
"But you know, when you're in an odd number group, there's bound to be someone that's going to be or feel left out."
"I know that feeling but B and S always include me, making sure I'm not left out. But I always feel like I'm intruding on the two."
Between the two Cheerios, their little secret exchange was unknown to the others. Both of them felt left out. It takes one to know. "But you know, I think the both of us will make a great team. I apologize for what happened during the trust fall. I was being a bitch."
"I'm glad you know that, but I wasn't all that pleasant as well."
"So let's call it quits?"
"Let's. And who knows, we might be the next dynamic duo." The blonde held her fist up.
"We will." The brunette brings her fist up and fist bump the blonde.
Songs : Glee - Light Up The World , Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back