Reality Swap
Chapter 10
Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews as usual! Again, I am sorry this took so long, but I was enjoying the last of my summer. School just started and I should be more focused, or a least more sober lol.
"Seriously?" Santana asks incredulously. She has her arms folded tightly over her chest, her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, and her lips forming a perfect scowl. She side glances the blonde next to her and rolls her eyes, letting out a huff.
"Yes, seriously." Heather confirms with a firm head nod. "We're doing this." She adds, before reaching into her pocket. She pulls out two pennies, and holds her hand out for Santana to take one, but the brunette just continues staring forward, acting as if she didn't notice. "Take it." Heather commands in a stern tone, bouncing her hand slightly trying to get the Latina to take the penny.
Santana turns her head and looks down at the coin before moving her eyes up to meet Heather's baby blues, who was giving her a stern look. She gives the blonde a look just as hard, but it only lasts a few seconds, before she caves with another roll of her eyes. She snatches the penny out of Heather's hand with a huff, and turns back forward. "This won't work." She mumbles under her breath, earning another hard look from the blonde.
"Not with that attitude." Heather retorts, side glancing the Latina. "Okay turn around, and throw it on three." She replies, turning herself around. She turns her head looking at Santana who was looking uninterested. Heather reaches out, slapping the Latina on the shoulder making her groan, and turn around. "Okay, one, two, three!" Heather yells, tossing her coin over her shoulder.
She turns around and watches as her penny drops into the giant fountain with a plop, and sink down to the bottom. She takes in a deep breath and smiles, looking over at Santana who throws hers in with much less enthusiasm. The brunette looks over at Heather, and turns back around facing the fountain tilting her head as if it was such a chore. "Nothing happened." She states after a long silence.
Heather lets out a long sigh, and slumps her shoulders in defeat. "Did you wish to switch back?" She asks, looking over at Santana.
"No, I wished for a unicorn." She says, rolling her eyes, "Of course I wished to go back." She says, once again folding her arms tightly over her chest. "I hate it here." She adds quietly. The blonde looks over at Santana, and gives her a sad look. She knew how much Santana hated being here, or more so how much she missed Brittany. "Nothing is working."
Heather reaches into her purse, rustling around in it for a couple of seconds before pulling out two fortune cookies. "Here, take this." She says handing one to Santana. "I saw this on that movie with Lindsey Lohan." She informs the Latina, unwrapping the plastic.
"Freaky Friday?" Santana asks, raising an eyebrow at Heather, who just nods in response. The brunette huffs, but doesn't put up a fight, figuring there was no harm in it. They had been trying different methods all day, and nothing had been working. She was getting pretty desperate.
"New people will bring you new realizations, especially about big issues." Heather reads her fortune aloud. She rolls her eyes, and throws the paper into her purse before popping the cookie into her mouth. She was hoping for some gibberish that she didn't understand, and after she read an earthquake like in the movie.
Heather looks over at Santana who was reading over hers to herself. The brunette glances up, catching Heather's eye, and looks back down, "People find it difficult to resist your persuasive manner in bed." Santana says with a smirk.
Heather's eyebrows furrow, and she turns to the Latina, "It doesn't say that." She says incredulously. She snatches the strip of paper out of Santana's hand, and reads it over. "People find it difficult to resist your persuasive manner." She reads, before looking up giving the brunette an unimpressed look.
Santana shrugs with a smirk, "It's fun to add in bed at the end." She replies simply, taking the strip of paper back from Heather.
"Whatever, lets just go home." Heather says with a sigh. "We can look up some more things online, but I'm out of ideas for now." She adds, as the two girls turn and start walking towards Heather's car.
SXHXNXB
Santana makes her way into Naya's kitchen, over to the refrigerator. She opens the door, and looks inside for a couple of minutes, before sighing. She really needed to go grocery shopping. "Heather, can we order some takeout or something?" She yells over her shoulder to the blonde in the living room. She revives no answer and slams the door shut, before walking through the doorway, "Heather!" She shouts trying to get the girls attention, but she was engrossed in her laptop.
Santana walks over, and closes the lid, making Heather look up at her, "What the hell?" She asks incredulously, opening her computer back up. "I'm trying to figure out a way to get you back home." She explains.
The Latina sits down on the couch, next to Heather's feet, "I know, and I appreciate that, but we've been at it for hours. Can we at least take a break to eat something?" She asks as her stomach lets out a huge grumble, making Heather look back up at her.
"You can order something, you know where the phone is, and the takeout menus by now." Heather states, going back to her browsing. "I don't have time to eat." She adds distracted.
Santana rolls her eyes, but gets up off the couch, walking back into the kitchen. She grabs one of the menus out of the drawer, and looks over it deciding what she wanted. "Are you sure you don't want anything?" She calls out, glancing at the blonde on the couch. The girl didn't even attempt to acknowledge Santana, making the brunette sigh. She picks up the phone, and dials the number ordering herself and Heather some dinner just in case the blonde got hungry.
Within about half an hour the delivery guy had dropped off the Chinese. After he left, Santana went in the kitchen and began pouring it onto plates. She makes two platefuls although she was pretty sure Heather wasn't even going to attempt to eat right now. She had been engrossed in her computer for hours, only getting up when her bladder was about to bust.
She brings the two plates into the living room and sits down next to Heather. "Here, you should eat something." Santana says, handing Heather one of the plates. The blonde looks up and takes it, only to set it down on the coffee table next to her. "You know, I understand you miss Naya, but she won't be happy if she comes back to a skeleton. It's not attractive." Santana says, trying to lighten the mood, but she only receives a glare from Heather.
"This says that you're going to have to come to some life altering realization, before you can switch back." Heather says, glancing up at Santana who was stuffing her face with rice.
"Like what?" The brunette asks with a groan.
Heather rolls her eyes, and looks up at Santana like this was something she should know, "Oh I don't know, like you coming out of the closet?" The blonde retorts, making Santana look down at her plate. "Why is it so hard for you to do? Nobody cares Santana." Heather says with confusion.
"That's easy for you to say." Santana replies, still keeping her eyes low along with her voice. "You're straight with your perfect little boyfriend." She says, looking back up to meet Heather's blue eyes. "You don't understand." She adds quietly.
Heather's eyes move down to the keyboard of her laptop as she lightly taps the buttons, not actually pushing down any of them, "I do understand." She mumbles, making Santana look up at her confused, with a small smile growing on her face. Was she finally going to admit it? "Naya is bisexual, and she is my best friend, also I have many other gay friends, and I know what they deal with." She answers matter of fact, making Santana sigh. She should have known.
"It isn't the same. And anyways, our lives aren't the same. Lima isn't like Los Angeles." She says, slumping down against the sofa. "I mean you know what happened with Kurt. That'll happen to me, but worse, because I'm on top. He was already on the bottom." She says with a sigh.
Heather closes her laptop, and places it down on the coffee table, before folding her legs under herself, facing Santana on the couch. "The only one who really bullied Kurt was Dave, and that was because he was gay himself, and afraid of it." She points out. "The other guys who bullied Kurt were just following what Dave did, once he stopped, it all stopped."
Santana brings her hands up to her face, rubbing it with a groan, "I don't want to talk about this." She mumbles, bringing her hands away from her face.
Heather nods simply, and glances over at the plate of food. She feels her stomach rumble, and just now realizes how hungry she was. She reaches out and grabs the plate, and places it on her lap before taking a couple bites.
"What about a psychic?" Santana suddenly asks after the two had been eating in silence.
The blonde tilts her head to the side, as she thinks this option over. She had never been one to believe in them, and definitely never thought about using one, but right now she'd try just about anything. "I'll look one up." She says with a nod. She places the plate back down, and grabs her computer searching for local psychics.
SXHXNXB
"That was whack." Santana says, as the two girls leave the building. She turns to Heather who was walking silently along the path to the parking lot, a thoughtful look on her face.
"It was worth a try." She finally mumbles out with a shrug. Her shoulders slump, and she gets unlocks her car, and gets inside without another word.
Santana gets into the passenger side closing the door after her, "That woman was on crack." Santana exasperatedly. She slumps back against the seat and looks over at the blonde, folding her arms over her chest. She notices the frown on the blonde's face, and her smile quickly fades. "I'm sorry, it didn't work." She says, her tone much more solemn now.
Heather inhales deeply, and turns to Santana giving her a small smile, "It's fine." She says trying her best to convince Santana that she wasn't upset, but she was failing miserably. She puts the car into drive and pulls out of the parking lot; the rest of the ride was filled with silence.
The girls make their way inside and Heather throws herself onto the couch throwing her arms up over her head. Santana watches her from the door for a few moments, before slowly walking over to her. She sits down at the other end of the couch, and begins chewing on her lip, trying to think of what she could say. She knew this whole thing was stressing Heather out, and she wanted to help, but she didn't know what there was left to do. She eyes the laptop still sitting on the coffee table, and grabs it, opening it up.
"Are you happy?" Heather asks, after a brief silence.
Santana looks away from the computer screen over to the blonde who had removed her arms from her eyes, and was staring directly at the Latina. "What do you mean?" She asks somewhat hesitantly, and completely confused.
Heather sits up, and inhales before exhaling deeply, "I mean in your life back in Lima, are you happy?" She asks once again, explaining the question a little more.
Santana clears her throat and shifts uncomfortably in her seat, her eyes going back to the computer screen. "Of course I am." She finally says, still not meeting Heather's eyes.
Heather watches the Latina's reaction, and rolls her eyes, "You're lying." She accuses, shaking her head. Santana looks back up at her, but doesn't say anything. Heather was right, and the Latina had no reply. "You aren't happy. You are hiding who you are, and who you love. You're miserable." Heather concludes.
The brunette can only sigh in response, shifting in her spot once again. "Okay, I'll admit, I would be so much happier if I could be out, and I could be with Brittany publicly." She says, looking up at the blonde next to her. Heather's eyebrows raise, and she gives Santana a look, wondering what she was waiting for. "But not in high school, especially not in Lima. I'm not as strong as I make myself out to be." Santana says, her voice lowering towards the end of her sentence, her eyes averting back down to her lap.
Heather swings her legs over the side of the couch, and scoots closer to the brunette. "You are strong Santana." She says, placing an arm around Santana's shoulders. "And besides, you'll have Brittany there with you through it all. You won't be alone. You don't think it's worth it?" Heather asks, tilting her head down to try and make contact with Santana, but the brunette wasn't having it. "Look, Santana." Heather starts with a sigh, "If you don't come out, you may lose her completely. She's not going to wait for you forever, no matter what she says. She'll eventually give up, and then you will be without her. Is hiding yourself worth losing her?"
"It's not worth it." Santana decides, shaking her head. "I know it's not, and I know I will lose her!" She says, her voice, growing in volume. She stands up from the couch, and begins pacing on the other side of the coffee table, "God, don't you think I know that?" She asks incredulously, glancing over at Heather before, looking back down at the floor as she continues making circles. "I want to come out Heather, not only for Brittany but for myself, but I just…I can't." She finishes, pausing in her motions. She looks up at Heather; defeat written all in her features.
Heather wets her lips with her tongue, before standing up with a sigh. "Santana…." She starts, as she slowly approaches the girl, "I know this is hard, but I really don't think it's as bad as you think it will be. Once you do it, I guarantee you you'll feel this weight lifted off of your chest. And you will also see that you had been stressing over nothing." She tells the Latina, looking deep into her eyes.
Santana looks deep into Heather's ocean blue eyes, her brown ones, darting back and forth between the two as she contemplated what Heather said. She wanted Heather to be right, and she wanted everything to be okay if she came out, but she just couldn't convince herself that it would be. "Can we stop analyzing me?" She asks with a sigh, making her way back over to the couch to sit down.
Heather watches the Latina bury her head in her hands, "No we can't." Heather says honestly. "This may be the only way to switch you guys back. I want Naya back, and I know you want to be back with Brittany." the blonde says, making her way back over to Santana. "The faster we talk about this, and the faster you realize what you need to do, then the sooner you guys can switch back." She says, sitting next to Santana who groans.
"Why the fuck did this have to happen? This is not something I can just decide on over night. I've been struggling with this for years, I can't just up and decide to come out like that." Santana says, looking back up at Heather.
"Maybe, this is the push you need." She says honestly. "If you aren't pushed, then you'd probably never come out." She adds, and Santana slumps back against the couch. "You love Brittany right?" She asks, although she knew the answer.
"Of course I do." Santana replies quickly. "I love her more than anything." She adds quietly.
Heather nods her head silently, "I thought so." She replies after a second, "And you'll do anything for her right?" the blonde asks, and once again Santana nods without hesitation. "Then do this for her." She says, making Santana look up at her, with fear in her eyes. "But make sure you're also doing this for yourself. You know you'll be happier, if you come out." Heather adds, giving the girl a pointed yet sympathetic look.
"I really don't want to talk about this anymore, okay?" Santana says, standing up from the couch. She looks back down at Heather who had her mouth open about to speak, but Santana put her hand up stopping her, "I know I have to come to this realization to get home, but it's not that simple, okay?" She just about shouts, before walking out of the living room and into Naya's room, slamming the door behind her.
Heather lets out a heavy sigh, and stands up off the couch ready to go after her. She didn't like pushing Santana into something this big, but she had to. This was the only hope they had in switching the two of them back, and Heather knew Santana wanted to be back just as much as Heather wanted Naya back.
She walks around the couch, and was almost to the door when her phone rings, stopping her in her tracks. She looks between the closed bedroom door, and the coffee table where her phone sat, flashing. She groans, and turns on her heel making her way to the device, answering it, "Hello?" She asks, sitting back down on the couch. "Hey Tay, I'm kind of busy right now." She replies after a beat.
There is a sigh on the other end of the line, followed by a pause, making her impatiently tap her feet against the ground. "You're always busy lately." He finally says, his voice low. She could sense the disappointment filling his tone, making her frown.
"I'm sorry, I just have a lot going on right now." She replies honestly, glancing back at the bedroom door. There's another silence, and Heather tries her best not to rush this along. She understood why he was frustrated, and she wanted to be sympathetic, but she had things she needed to do. "Is there something you needed?" She finally asks, trying not to sound rushed.
"Is everything alright?" He asks after a beat. "Lately, every time I call to talk to you, you have to go, or you're preoccupied. Did I do something?" He asks, and Heather could sense the nervousness now in his tone as well as pure confusion, and curiosity. "I'm sorry for whatever I did." He says making the blonde laugh softly. He was apologizing and he didn't even know what for.
The blonde stands up from the couch, and walks around, "You didn't do anything wrong." She confirms, "I really just have a lot going on. I'll call you later okay?" She says, walking over to the bedroom door. She hears him reply with a faint 'okay', and she hangs up the phone, pushing it into her back pocket.
She walks into the bedroom and sees Santana lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Heather closes the door behind her, and sees Santana twitch slightly, but not look up at her. She walks over to the bed, and sits down at the foot of it, pulling her lip between her teeth.
"You were right. I'm going to come out. I have to, and I want to." Santana says, breaking their silence.
Heather shifts her position on the bed, and turns to look down at the brunette who was still staring up at the ceiling, watching the fan go around and around. "That's a pretty big change of heart in a matter of minutes." Heather comments, looking at Santana with a small smile. She was very glad to hear those words out of Santana's mouth.
The brunette inhales deeply, and slowly pulls herself up onto the bed, sitting up. "Yeah." She confirms with a head nod, "You were right, I'd be so much happier if I was out. I'm so tired of hiding who I am, it's exhausting." She says with a sigh, making Heather nod in understanding. "And also, if I don't do it soon, I may lose Brittany, and I'd die if that happened." She adds, looking down at her hands. She didn't like talking about her feelings, and admitting how much she needed someone else.
Heather smiles brightly at her, and places a hand on Santana's leg, "I'm glad you've come to this conclusion, and you're getting over your fears." She says honestly.
"I'm not over my fears." Santana says quickly, "I'm just facing them." She explains, making the blonde once again nod in understanding, and smile at her. "You're probably just happy Naya will be back." the brunette adds, folding her arms over her chest. "This was never about helping me, you just wanted her back."
The blonde looks down, and chews on her bottom lip, "It started that way, and yes I am happy she will be back." Heather says while nodding her head, making the brunette roll her eyes, trying to act like that didn't bother her. "But, I've spent a lot of time with you, and I actually do care about you now, and I care what happens to you." Heather says honestly.
Santana slowly lifts her head up, looking deep into Heather's blue eyes, and pulls her lip between her teeth, trying to prevent herself from smiling at the admission.
Heather giggles when she sees a faint blush, taking over Santana's cheeks as the girl ducks her head, trying not to be seen. "You're adorable." Heather says, reaching over to poke at Santana's cheek, making the Latina giggle, and swat her hand away.
Santana clears her throat, willing the blush and the smile from her face, and lifts her head up to look at Heather who was grinning wide, "Was that your boyfriend on the phone?" She asks suddenly, making Heather's smile fade away, "I heard you talking to someone." She explains, fiddling with her hands.
"Yeah, it was." Heather replies with a nod, looking down at her lap.
"Everything okay?" Santana asks hesitantly, ducking her head to try and make eye contact with Heather, who seemed to hide her head even more, preventing that from happening.
The blonde simply nods her head, before inhaling deeply, and lifting her head up, forcing a smile on her lips, "Everything is perfect." She says with an even firmer head nod, and the best smile she could muster studies the girl for a few minutes, then opens her mouth to speak but Heather cuts her off, "It's late, and I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed." She states, standing up off the bed.
She walks over to the dresser and quickly changes her clothes, and crawls into the bed without another word. Santana simply follows suite, and lies next to Heather. A few minutes later she feels the blonde's arms wrap around her, and a nose pressed against her shoulder, making her smile. "Night Heather." She says, wrapping her arms securely around the other girl.
"Night Santana." The blonde replies sweetly. It was bittersweet really, the thought that this could be the last time they were in each other's arms. They would miss each other, but they would be back in the arms of the ones they belonged with.
Let me know what you think as always! :) http:/ o0h3ath3rmich3ll30o . tumblr. com/