A/N: First of all I want to say sorry for this chapter, which I've been super slow to write (but I have reasons!) and it's shorter than usual. I just didn't want you all to wait longer.
Secondly, thanks for all the reviews and alerts. I always take what y'all review with into consideration. So thank you!
I do however have a question. I wouldn't mind a lot of Artie bashing, and some of you don't seem to mind it either (I laugh out loud every time someone reviews something about him!)... but what would the majority of you want? I think it won't be much of a spoiler to say that Brittany will dump Artie eventually. But would y'all want something super extra mega mean? Or something plain mean? Or something basic?
Thirdly. I have finally graduated! (My reason to why I haven't had the time to write) Crazy! I don't have a job either, so that sucks. But I will work with portfolios and stuff to fill it with this summer, so hopefully I'll get something to do soon enough. I'm super picky when it comes to jobs, and education. Kudos to all of you who starts Uni/College right after high school.
But. This also means that I, hopefully, will be able to write more on this story! (:
Mystia45: You know what they saaaay! It's all about the teasing and not about the pleasing!
vikstar80: ^. ;) I'm glad you're back! Hope you enjoyed your vacation! You might be onto something here...
gleegasmic:Thanks for your input! You just gave me an idea on how to continue with this! Gracias! (:
CHAPTER 10
She didn't want to take a cab back home, alone, like a loser. Maybe she was a loser, but that didn't mean that she had to live up to it. She may be upset and angry at the moment, but that didn't mean that she would also hurt her pride in the fall. But she also felt something that she only had felt once before. Regret.
She sat alone in silence as her two friends chatted away animatedly. The karaoke singing stopped while she had been upstairs and currently, Rachel spoke with that baby face, Kurt. While Mercedes hung out with fish lips.
It was obvious that trouty mouth was flirting with her friend, she probably would've thought how much of a better person Mercedes deserved, but right now... she could only think of a blonde who deserved so much better.
Right across the room, in a corner by some bookshelves, Artie and Sugar stood, a little bit too close and a little bit too touchy.
She watched as Artie leaned closer to whisper something in Sugar's ear. Must've been something really funny since she giggled and slapped him jokingly over his chest as if to say 'oh, stop it'.
She wanted to go over there and slap him in the face instead of the chest, because he had what she... well... wanted... and he didn't appreciate what he already had. But she couldn't do that, not here, not now. Brittany wouldn't like that.
Brittany hadn't come back down since Santana ran out on her almost fifteen minutes ago, and she couldn't blame the woman. The moment she walked out of Brittany's room she wanted to run back inside again, she wanted to wrap her arms and snuggle close to Brittany and tell her how sorry she was. The hurt look upon the blonde's face the minute before she walked out didn't go unnoticed by Santana, who felt her heart clench with hurt as well.
She knew she had been unfair for not even staying and listened to what Brittany had to say, but perhaps the truth would hurt too much.
She had ruined it all, she ruined something she didn't even have from the start. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
While Santana sat in the living room, inwardly slapping herself, Brittany sat on the bed in her room with her head resting in the palms of her hands. Thinking.
She was dressed in her sleepwear now. Not wanting, nor having the power to face a certain brunette downstairs. On the other hand, she didn't know if Santana was still there or if she had left already. But she didn't want to risk anything.
Santana's words had stung. They were half true. She had Artie, yes. But did she really want to be with him? She was confused. But she was sure that this definitely wasn't revenge.
This was so not what she had planned all those months prior to this evening...
Santana didn't see Brittany again that evening. Sam, who visited Brittany at her room before they left, told everyone that she was too tired to come back down to say goodbye, and that she was sorry for being rude to not do so. Although, Santana knew that that was a straight up lie.
As Santana got home she felt like another person. Rachel noticed the sudden change as well.
Santana's facial expression was a lot softer than usual, she looked more vulnerable, as if her strong wall around her had vanished.
She didn't want to talk about the evening now though. The night had been so amazing until she ruined everything with her stupid words.
The next morning she would get a new phone number. She was not in the mood for business calls and just wanted to rest for the next few weeks.
THREE WEEKS LATER
"Hello?" Santana answered her phone. She didn't recognize the number, but she was expecting a call from some Italian magazine.
"Santana." she heard the woman on the other side breathe out in relief. Santana recognized this voice.
"Brittany?" she said, a little shocked to hear the blonde speak to her for the first time in almost a month.
"How are you?"
"Mhm... I'm alright." Santana smiled at herself. I feel great now when you called...
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." she replied quickly. "You?"
"I've been better." Brittany mumbled.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Santana said honestly before continuing. "Why are you calling?" She didn't want to sound rude, but as she heard herself utter the words she knew that 'rude' was the only way to describe herself right now.
"Well. You never called me." Santana could almost see that sad small pout on Brittany's face as the blonde spoke. It hurt and she felt really bad.
"Sorry..." Santana mumbled, not really one to excuse herself. But there was something about Brittany that made her weaker, but at the same time she felt stronger... She had no idea why though. It was like the blonde had some power over her emotions.
"Why didn't you call?" Brittany said, voice stronger than normal, which caught Santana by surprise.
"I," she gulped, not knowing how to explain this. She decided to go for the honest path. "I didn't want to hurt you more than I already did."
"Hah!" Brittany let out a loud sarcastic laugh. "You think that's the way to do it then? Change your phone numbers and ignore me completely?" Santana thought she could hear sadness in the sarcastic tone that Brittany was throwing her way.
"That's not... but now when you..."
"Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?" Brittany said, still sad, but calmer this time. "You know, Santana. You're just a coward. A coward!"
"What!" she exclaimed. Santana Lopez may be a lot of things, but coward? That was not something she was. Plus, she didn't even change her numbers because of Brittany... at least not only because of Brittany.
"But I really like you and I've missed you." she could hear Brittany take a deep breath. "So much." Brittany whispered barely audible, more to herself, but Santana could hear. "Hearing your voice just..." now Brittany sniffled, the line was silent for a moment, the only noise being quiet sniffling. "Sorry Santana." Brittany sobbed. Brittany was crying? Oh My...
Beep beep beep... The line went dead.
It's quite surprising, but never in her life had someone ended an unfinished phone conversation with her. It was just something you never did towards a Lopez.
But Brittany... she had to do something. Brittany had told her how she had missed her, that she liked her. No one, except for her mum, had ever told her that. No one likes a bitch and no one dared to be so honest with her, except for her old friends. 'You're a coward' was echoing through her head. Maybe it was true...
Brittany was walking around in her apartment like a zombie, a newly showered zombie.
It had been two days since she finally found Santana's new phone number, well, found... she made Quinn ask Rachel about it. She had no idea why she didn't think of that earlier, or why her friend didn't offer earlier. Ever since the call she had been walking around in a half daze.
Santana still hadn't gotten back to her. The fact that she began to cry before she even finished was not one of her proudest moments.
She was walking towards her phone to see if she had missed any calls or got any new text messages, when the phone beeped that she got a new text.
She walked over, her mouth dropping and her hands getting clammy as she saw who it was from. Santana.
The curiosity took the best of her and she opened the text.
'I think we need to talk. Meet me by the fountain in Central Park at 9 tonight. Please? I'll be waiting.'
She had no idea if Brittany would show up tonight. But she hoped she would. She didn't get a reply on the text she had sent a few hours ago. Maybe the blonde hadn't even seen it.
She was still going to wait though. She wanted, needed, a second chance to befriend Brittany.
Santana had come to the conclusion that if Brittany would still be with that douche of a boyfriend, she would be content with just being friends with Brittany. Because she knew that she needed her in her life somehow.
The time was ticking and Brittany was nowhere to be seen. She stayed positive that Brittany would come, even though she began to feel more and more nervous as the minutes passed.
She paced back and fourth in front of the fountain for an hour and by 10PM she was close to give up. But she decided to wait for another half hour and if Brittany didn't show up by then, she would leave and give up on the girl.
Every time she saw a tall blonde walk around closely in the park she thought it was the blonde she was hoping for. But no such luck.
Santana waited and waited, she checked her phone... nothing. Brittany wasn't there and she hadn't sent her a text or call to tell her that she wouldn't make it.
She felt her heart hurt as she began to walk away from the fountain. Walking faster and faster, until she ran. She felt tears blur her vision as she ran away into the night.
Around 8.55PM Brittany jumped out of the yellow cab that had brought her to Central Park.
She was thrilled to meet Santana again, but she was also extremely nervous. She had so much to explain.
As she got closer to the fountain she realized that Santana wasn't there yet. She had expected Santana to be waiting for her at least twenty minutes before their set time, so it was quite surprising to not see her over there yet. After all, it was just five minutes left.
The time went agonizingly slow as Brittany sat by the foot of the fountain. Waiting. It was starting to get cold and dark outside and it was surprisingly few people out this time of the evening.
She considered sending Santana a text to ask where she was, but she decided upon waiting for another few minutes.
However, she did something that she should've done earlier. She took a glance on her watch. 4.55... or 11.20... 11.20?
Before she could say 'shit' she had her phone in her hand and quickly found Santana's number to dial.
'You have reached Santana Lopez's telephone, I can't pick up right now. Photography requests goes to my assistant, Rachel Berry. But do leave a message after the beep if you're looking for me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible! BEEP!'
Brittany smiled at Santana's business like tone, exactly the way she had spoken in the studio last month. Then she realized that she had to say something after the beep.
"Santana. It's Britt. I'm so sorry about tonight. I'm waiting for you right now..." Brittany took a deep breath. "Two hours too late. But please don't be mad at me San." she said pleadingly. "No one taught me how to read a watch. But I want you to know that I came here tonight, and that I really wanted to see your beaut..." she stopped herself. Was it too much to say that she was beautiful, even though Santana really was beautiful? Probably. "And I really wanted to see you. Please call me back when you hear this." Brittany bit her lip nervously, hoping that Santana really would call back later. "Bye."
Santana dropped dead onto her own bed around 5AM. She spent most of the night at a bar close to her apartment, drinking the night and her sorrows away.
As she slumped down on her bed she found her phone in her camera bag and took it out to see if she had missed anything. Three texts and two missed calls.
Deciding upon checking the calls first she saw that one was from Berry and one from Brittany. Her head hurt just seeing the name on her screen.
Not thinking of what Brittany had wanted she decided to look through the new text messages. Two from Rachel and one voicemail.
A voicemail who most likely was from Berry. She was not in a state to listen or reply to any of the messages that was sent to her. Instead, she immediately fell asleep.
Twelve hours later Santana wiped some drool off of her face as she slowly opened her eyes. It was over 5PM. Fuck...
Luckily she didn't have any work booked for the day or the rest of the week, but she still slept in way too late for her own liking.
She looked down at her phone that she, apparently, fell asleep with. A voice mail was open. But she had no memory of listening to it.
She pressed the call button to listen.
"Oh, that was the beep?" she could hear a voice say, a voice that she always would recognize. "Santana. It's Britt. I'm so sorry about tonight. I'm waiting for you right now..." she could hear Brittany inhale deeply before continuing. "Two hours too late. But please don't be mad at me San." she heard Brittany say pleadingly. She felt her heart ache, because how could she really-really be mad at this sweet woman. "No one taught me how to read a watch. But I want you to know that I came here tonight, and that I really wanted to see your beaut..." Santana barely caught the word, but she did. Beautiful, Brittany thinks I'm beautiful? She felt a smile form on her lips. "And I really wanted to see you. Please call me back when you hear this. Bye."
She got the message at 11.25PM the night before. If she would've waited just a little longer by the fountain she would've met the blonde and she wouldn't have gotten this drunk. At least not because of a stupid reason like this. Then she wouldn't feel like shit today either. But it was too late for regrets now.
She decided to get dressed, grab something to eat and then call Brittany.
"Hi Britt, it's Sant..."
"I'm soooo sorry San. Please don't be mad at me? I don't even know how to check what time it is. I'm so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid..."
"Britt! Stop rambling." Santana giggled. Only Britt can make me giggle... This made Brittany stop her talking. "I'm not mad and you're not stupid." However, she found Brittany's rambling extremely adorable, even though she didn't agree with what she said. I'm the one that's stupid.
"Sorry."
"Stop excusing yourself, Britt. You have done nothing wrong, it's not your fault that you got there too late. Plus, it was my fault to meet you there in the first place anyway..." Santana reassured.
"No it was..."
"Sooo... I was thinking, maybe, you know..." Santana began in a flirtatious tone.
"I know...?" Brittany tried to fill in. "I know that it's sunny outside today?" Brittany tried to lighten the mood, more for herself than for Santana, though. The Latina began to laugh hysterically. After everything that had... or maybe hadn't, transpired between them the past month and last night, she laughed... hysterically.
"Yeah, that too." She replied after the laughter died out. "I was thinking that maybe we could meet today instead? I come by your place and pick you up?"
"Yeah?" Santana could see in front of her as Brittany smiled and bit her lip as she spoke into the phone.
"Yeah." Santana replied, smiling. "Let's say, in two hours? That would be at 8, or..." Santana glanced down at her watch. "11.40, okay?".
"Thank you." Brittany giggled. "I'll see you later, San."
"Later, Britt."
Santana hung up the phone with a goofy grin plastered over her face. Luckily Rachel didn't see that as she heard her roommate pass on the other side of her closed door.
Brittany was dressed and ready. The moment Santana hung up she had hurried over to her wardrobe to pick out something nice to wear. She knew that she didn't need to impress the Latina, but she still wanted to dress nicely. Not having Quinn home this week meant that she practically could prance around naked.
She settled for a pair of black skinny jeans and a slim t-shirt with a purple hoodie on top. To that she would wear a pair of nice wedges. Making her look freakishly tall.
For an hour she had tried to figure out how her new laptop worked. She had never been one for gadgets and computers, but she had to learn it some day, she reasoned, as she tried to use some keyboard shortcuts.
Indeed. Two hours after their ended call, the doorbell rang at the Fabray-Pierce household and she closed her laptop and scurried over to open the door, her jacket in one hand so she could lock and leave.
As she opened the door a flash went off, causing her to see tiny stars. As the stars disappeared from her sight she spotted the smiling Santana in front of her, an old polaroid camera in one hand and her other hand holding a single, orange, calla lily.
"Sorry." Santana said. "Guess I should've bought a bouquet. I know I must look silly holding this tiny flower." Santana gestured with the hand holding the flower.
"No. It's not silly!" Brittany exclaimed. "Is it," she swallowed hard and looked between the flower and Santana's eyes. "Is it for me?" she asked sheepishly.
"Of course it's for you! Who else? Quinn? Don't think so!" Santana said jokingly as she held the flower forward for Brittany to take.
"Thanks." Brittany took the flower and felt her body get hotter and her cheeks get warmer. "It's really pretty." She said as she looked straight into Santana's eyes, not really talking about the flower... even though it was a nice flower, it was nothing compared to the woman in front of her. She reached forward to wrap her arms around Santana in a hug as she said a proper 'hello' to the brunette, almost crushing the calla between them. This was the first time she'd ever gotten flowers, or in this case a flower, from someone. Except for that one time when Quinn got her a cactus as a 'moving together' gift. It was a great idea, until her curiosity took over and she touched one of the spines to see if it'd hurt. It did.
"Shall we go?" Brittany said as she smiled and pointed her arm dramatically towards the stairs, offering Santana to walk in front of her after she locked the door and left the flower inside in a glass vase filled with water. Being chivalrous never hurt, and I'm not going to check out her behind... maybe a quick peek? Well, she had no idea where they were going anyway. One peek wouldn't hurt...
A/N: I know that the whole time mess up with Britt is a bit weird. The minute hand move faster than the hour hand, obviously, so I'm not even sure if it's possible to look wrong that way. Anyway. It's Glee, it doesn't need to make any sense. (;