Eleven
When Santana opened her eyes, the first thing that she saw was a sleeping Dani. She studied Dani's face for a while, taking in the way that her lips were parted slightly as she breathed in and out evenly. Santana couldn't help but think that Dani looked much younger when she was sleeping, which was saying something because, Santana had always thought that Dani looked a little younger than she actually was anyway- sure, most of that had to do with her hight, but still, Santana thought that the girl had a 'baby' face.
In sleep, Dani's face was clear of all emotions, the lines of her face looking softer and smoother than ever, it was then that Santana realised just how beautiful Dani actually was, and she couldn't help but wonder if she looked as good while sleeping. I highly doubt that you do... nobody does.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly, trying to stop these types of thoughts that she had been having since yesterday morning, she didn't like them, she didn't like them one bit. Dani was her friend more to the point, she was pretty confident that Dani was actually her best friend even in the short amount of time that they had actually been talking to each other in a civilised manner, the girl had started to surpass Quinn on the friendship scale. With that being the case, there was no room for Santana to be having thoughts like this about her. No, that would just complicate everything; she didn't want to think of Dani in that way. The last time she had gained a crush on one of her friends had been Brittany; yeah and look at how that one worked out for you... oh that's right, it got you here! Santana thought, you need to shake it off and just get on with it... besides, you don't really like her like that, you like her comfort Santana tried to tell herself.
After all Brittany had only been gone a week, could she really be moving on that quickly?
She took another deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth, she opened her eyes slowly, only to be met with the sight of Dani twitching her nose slightly while she slept. Santana couldn't help but think that, that was adorable, the action reminded her a little bit of a rabbit, once again, a smile involuntarily made it's way onto her face. It was a smile that Santana didn't even try to fight, knowing all too well that she would lose that battle.
Unlike last week that morning, Santana found herself slightly spaced apart from Dani, the only contact that she had with the girl was the feeling of Dani's legs being tangled with hers slightly. Not that Santana was complaining. The room was silent and still. It was definitely the most peaceful any room with the pair of them in it had ever been and that was only because the shorter girl was sleeping.
"Stop staring it's rude." Dani said, her voice only just above a whisper, Santana hadn't been expecting the other girl to say anything so the sound of her voice had startled her just a little.
"Who says I'm staring at you?" Santana asked weakly, she knew that she'd been caught out and she did feel slightly embarrassed for that, but she wasn't going to admit anything to Dani, "You sure do think highly of yourself, don't you?" Santana asked jokingly.
"I'm not the one staring at me." Dani said, her tongue darted out of her mouth to lick her lip slightly; Santana couldn't take her eyes away from the girl's lips once she had done it. "Seriously, stop it. I can feel your eyes boring into my face. And I gotta tell you, Sandbags, it's a little weird." She said, she opened her eyes and flashed a playful smile at Santana, a smile that made Santana's heart jitter.
"You know, sometimes, I really do whish you wouldn't call me that." Santana admitted.
"Hmm," Dani said quietly, "If you stop calling me tiny, I'll stop calling you that." Dani said.
Santana shook her head, "No way. You are tiny. That's why I call you it." Santana said.
"And why do you think I call you Sandbags? It's not an ironic thing. You're not exactly flat." Dani said.
"Okay, fair point." Santana said, she turned her mouth down slightly, "How about I stop calling you Daniellaaar?" She bargained.
Dani shook her head slightly, "Nope. I don't mind you calling me that one." Dani admitted, "I actually really like it, no one else calls me it… do you know how many people comment on my size? It's not exactly original." Dani chuckled.
"So just about everyone calls you tiny?" Santana asked.
"Well, different variations of the word, yeah." Dani explained, "I get, shortie, tiny, little one, short ass." Dani said ticking them off on her fingers as she went along. "You're not the only one, Sandy."
"Sandy?"
Dani nodded her head, "Yeah, I decided to shorten it down."
Dani pushed herself out of her bed and quickly started to make it, neatening out her pillow before pulling the comforter over the top of it and straightening it the best that she could.
"Seriously, you're gonna make the bed while I'm still in it?" Santana asked, she knew that Dani had done the same last week, but it still seemed funny to her that the girl would go through that much trouble only for Santana to get out of the bed and mess it up again.
"Yes because it needs doing." Dani said, "You get up and out of your bed and you make it." She said. "And you make it properly." She said.
Santana could tell by the way that the shorter girl said the words that they weren't her own and that they had come from somewhere, someone, else at some point in Dani's life.
"Dani." Santana said quietly, Dani looked up and smiled at her, "Why are you so obsessive with things like this?" Santana asked, hoping that she hadn't over stepped the mark.
Dani sighed and rolled her eyes slightly, "I get it from my dad." She explained, "He has always liked things to be perfect." Dani said putting a lot of emphasis on the word, "Like when I was younger, he always liked me to wear these little dresses and stuff…" Dani said.
Santana nodded her head, "Yeah I remember those. You hated them." She said cutting Dani off.
Dani nodded her head, "I did, but dad liked them, he said little girls should wear dresses, so me and Adriana did, and if we got even the slightest bit dirty, he made us get changed." She said. "Like he has a real problem with neatness and organisation and dirt and stuff." She said, "So, I think it just stemmed from being younger and seeing him freak out over stuff like that." Dani shrugged, "Adriana and Will aren't like I am, they're more like mom, the three of them just deal with us." Dani said, "So that's why I'm like it, I picked it up off of him. I'm not as bad as him though." She explained.
"Oh."
"Why? Is it really bad?" Dani asked, worrying slightly, "In the past some people have said it can be annoying… is it?" She asked.
Santana shook her head and sat up slightly, she gave Dani a reassuring smile, "No it's not annoying, and no it's not bad." She said, "You could be a hell of a lot worse, you could be like Miss Pillsbury." She shrugged. Dani nodded her head slowly and gave her a weak smile. Seriously, who's made Dani feel so shit about all of this?
"That's true. It's not an OCD or anything." Dani said, "At least I don't think it is." Santana watched as a studying expression etched its way onto Dani's face.
Santana shrugged, "Either way it's not a bad thing and it most definitely is not annoying." Santana said, "I just wondered where you got it from, like, if it was just a 'Dani' thing or if was more of a 'Mitchell family' thing." Santana said, "Because your house is always so clean and tidy. Like seriously, D, your room is spotless. I've never seen a teenagers room like this." Santana said, "And your car is the same. I genuinely feel like a slob when I am around you."
Dani chuckled slightly, "You are a slob." She joked, Santana turned her mouth down slightly, "I'm just kidding." She said shaking her head, "You're not that bad." She said, "I actually think your messiness can be quite endearing." Dani said smiling.
"Endearing, really?" Santana asked.
Dani realised what she had said when Santana repeated it, she nodded her head unsurely, "Y-yeah." She said, "It's just one of those things about you." She said with a small shrug. Santana smiled slightly, she had had a lot said to her about her messiness, and she had also been called a lot of things because of it, but endearing had never been one of them. Dani instantly returned the smile, before saying. "Anyway, I'm gonna go and get changed for my weekly run… do you wanna come with me?" Dani asked.
Santana shook her head, "I shouldn't. My abuela will be here soon."
"Again?" Dani asked.
Santana nodded her head, "She comes every Saturday." Santana said.
"That must be nice." Dani said. "I don't see my grandparents often, I miss them, I only really get to see them during holidays, they live in the different states that my parents grew up in." Dani explained.
"Your mom and dad aren't originally from Ohio?" Dani shook her head, "Where are they from?"
"My mom is from Oregon and my dad is from Rhode Island." Dani said, "Anyway, it's got to be great seeing your abuela every week, right?"
Santana shook her head, "No. It's really annoying actually; she's really judging all of the time. Like I think she hates everyone."
"Oh my god, just like you." Dani joked.
Santana narrowed her eyes jokingly, "Not cool… I'm guessing your grandparents are nice then?" Santana asked.
"Well, my mom's parents, that's my gran and gramps, they're super nice, but my grandma and granddad- my dad's folks, not so much." She explains, "They judge too, but I love 'em." She said smiling.
"Do they know about you?" Santana asked.
Dani nodded, "Yeah they visited my mom in the hospital after she'd had me." Dani replied sarcastically, she knew full well what Santana meant; she just wanted to annoy her slightly.
"You're an ass, you know what I mean."
Dani shook her head, "Nope." She said, "They don't know. They just think I'm shy, quiet, straight Danielle."
"Shy and quiet? I thought you'd just said that they'd met you?" Dani chuckled, "I'm serious, you might be one of the most confident people that I know."
"Yeah but around them I don't have much to talk about." Dani admitted with a small shrug, "My mom's parents know the loud, somewhat obnoxious me, they like it. They think I'm funny." Dani said, "But my dad's parents?" She shakes her head, "No they're different. They don't see this." Dani said pointing to herself.
"Somewhat obnoxious?" Santana said, "Selling yourself short there." She joked.
Dani shook her head slowly, a small smile playing on the corners of her mouth, "I'll be right back." She said before turning on her heel and leaving Santana in the partly made bed.
As Dani walked out of the room, Santana allowed her gaze to fall onto the shorter girl's ass, she tilted her head slightly, trying to get a better look, before she shook her head and let out a quiet groan, dropping herself back into a laying down position on the bed.
oOoOo
Dani had spent a lot longer than she usually would on her run that day, it was easy for her to lose track of time when she was running and had her music blaring out through her ear buds.
When she got back to her house, she saw Santana sitting outside on the bench once again, though this time, she didn't look sad, she had a sketchpad on her knee and a pencil in her hand. Dani smiled slightly when she saw her; it was definitely a better sight than the one she had been greeted with last week.
Dani pulled one of her ear buds out and turned off her music, "Hey there, doodle bug." She said as she approached the taller girl, Santana looked up and beamed at her. "What 'cha drawing?" She said as she dropped her
Santana sighed slightly, doodle bug, really? Cute. Santana quickly shook the thought from her head, "Nothing," she said dully, "but I think that has more to do with the fact that I have no imagination than anything else." She said dryly, "Honestly, D, I don't know how you do it all the time."
Dani shrugged, "I don't know. Usually, people ask me to draw them stuff and I do it for them." She explained, "And in my art class, we usually just have set assignments that we have to do. Like, our assignment right now is to do a 'surreal' room, so I know what type of thing I have to do. I'm not just blankly trying to draw something. That assignment's due in just before winter break." Dani said nodding, "Yesterday I just finished painting a rough idea that I'm not even gonna use because it sucked."
"Oh." Santana said, Dani took a gulp of her water and wiped away a small amount of sweat from her hairline, before looking at the piece of paper on Santana's lap to see that she had in fact just been doodling some patterns along the page. "So, if I asked you to draw me something, you'd do it?" Santana asked, Dani nodded her head and smiled, "And it can be anything?"
Dani chuckled, "Within reason, yes." She said.
"Draw me a dragon." Santana said.
"Please?" Dani chuckled.
Santana rolled her eyes, "Fine, draw me a dragon, please."
"I will… What colour?" She asked.
Santana thought about it for a moment before saying, "Pink, purple and blue."
Dani nodded her head, "Okay." She said, "It'll be done for you later today."
oOoOo
Santana felt her phone buzz in her back pocket, she sneakily pulled it out during one of her abuela's rants about the younger generation and how they were all 'insolent', 'rude' and 'lacked respect'.
Santana knew that if her abuela turned her attention to her now, while she had her phone in her had, she would use her as a prime example of what she had just been talking about.
She unlocked her phone to see Dani's name flashing on the screen, the sight brought a smile to her face.
From Daniellaaar
You're coming over here later, right?
Santana quickly writ out a reply, glancing up at her mom, dad and abuela as she did so.
To Daniellaaar
If that's okay with you?
Santana had only just put her phone down when it started to buzz along the floor; her abuela turned her attention to her granddaughter and tutted slightly. "This is exactly what I mean…" She said, Santana was sure that her rant had continued, though, she had been too preoccupied with Dani to even care about what her abuela was saying about her.
From Daniellaaar
Of course it's okay. I invited you, dummy ;)
Santana rolled her eyes, realising how idiotic she just made herself look.
To Daniellaaar
Oh right… So what have you been doing today? Just missing me? ;)
Santana sent the text and quickly tried to find her way back into the conversation when she saw that all eyes were on her "What?" Santana asked shaking her head slightly.
Her abuela sighed loudly and made a clicking noise with her tongue, "Who are you so caught up with that means that you can't even talk to your own abuela?"
"Just a friend." Santana said.
"Oh the same 'friend' that drove you to school yesterday?" Maribel asked.
"Ooohh, what friend is this?" Her dad, Javier asked looking at his daughter and smiled.
"It's Danielle Mitchell." Maribel answered for Santana smiling at her husband. "From next door."
"Oh?" Javier said smiling at his daughter. Santana could feel her cheeks going a slight pink shade. "She's a friendly enough girl," He nodded, "Very polite, too; she always smiles and waves at me if she sees me."
Maribel nodded her head in agreement, "Si, Santana could have worse friends." She said. Santana's abuela looked between the three of them, with a confused look on her face. It was obvious that she was missing something big still, the woman didn't question any of them.
Santana sighed, "We are just friends."
"Okay, I believe you." Her mom said winking at her daughter. Javier laughed slightly, while Santana could feel her annoyance building inside of her. Her phone buzzed along the floor, her eyes glanced down to it, before she looked back up at her parents.
"Oh come on, don't want to keep your 'friend' waiting." Her dad said teasingly.
From Daniellaaar
Nothing really. I went for my run, as you know, I got back, showered, picked up the family portraits that we had done… I look shit hot on them by the way ;)… I made Will hang them since I got them, and now I am talking to you… I have an exciting life.
Santana was slightly disappointed that Dani hadn't made a joke about missing her, she was used to Dani batting things back at her, and this time she hadn't. It always worried her when Dani didn't make a joke back; it always left her wondering if she had done something wrong.
To Daniellaaar
Certainly sounds like it… and I am sure you don't look that bad on the pictures. You'll have to show me when I come over later.
From Daniellaaar
I will but you have to promise me you won't laugh.
To Daniellaaar
Hmm I can try, but I'm not promising you anything.
"Seriously, Santana. Put the phone down," Maribel said, nodding in the direction on Santana's abuela. "I am sure that, Danielle will still be there later." She said.
Santana took one last look at her phone before turning it off and putting it in the back pocket of her jeans.
oOoOo
"Hey stranger, long time no see." Dani said, smirking slightly.
Santana smiled, "I know it's been way too long." She replied sardonically, stepping straight into Dani's house. "We alone?" She asked.
Dani shook her head, "Will and his friends are here, but they won't bother us. They're in the den. They'll only speak to us if we get too noisy." Dani explained.
"Noisy, Dani what are you expecting us to be doing?" Santana asked jokingly.
Dani shrugged, "Well, if you play your cards right who knows what we'll be doing." She said winking at the taller girl.
Santana couldn't believe that she allowed herself to walk into something like that again. You need to stop making flirty jokes like that. She's better at it than you. You're going to have a heart attack if she keeps winking at you, dammit.
"You coming?" Dani said she was already on her way up the stairs. The sound of her voice had snapped Santana out of her thoughts. She nodded her head slowly, "Seriously, you keep zoning out on me. Are you sure you're okay?"
Santana nodded her head, "Yeah. I'm just tired." She lied.
"Did you enjoy your abuela's visit?" Dani said.
"It was okay." Santana said quietly, "She jumped straight into asking me about my love life again." She shrugged, "Asking me if I'd found someone to replace the last."
Dani turned her mouth down in thought before saying, "Have you ever thought about just shocking her?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Like saying something purely for shock tactics?" Dani said, "I do it all the time, and it never fails me."
I've guessed.
"So what would you say in that type of situation?"
Dani shrugged, "Probably tell her that I had replaced my ex girlfriend with ten new ones," Dani said. "You know, tell her you're 'playing the field'." Dani said using air quotations.
"She doesn't know I'm gay."
"Well ten new boys then." Dani said as she pushed her bedroom door open. "Seriously, saying something like that has never crossed your mind?"
Santana sighed and said, "No I've never thought about doing anything like that. They are a lot of people I would say things like that to… my abuela however is not one of them. She's hella judgmental, I don't think it would shock her so much as give her an aneurism and kill her."
Dani rolled her eyes, "I doubt it would kill her." She said, "Oh and I have something for you." Dani said, she led Santana into her bedroom and opened the bottom drawer on the chest of drawers the furthest away from her bed. She pulled out a large sketchpad and carefully pulled one of the pages out of it. She handed it to Santana.
Her eyes widened in awe when she saw the drawing Dani had done. "Okay this is amazing." Santana said.
Dani had drawn Santana a dragon in mid flight, the main colouring being the blue that Santana had asked for, with the wings being purple, and the eyes being a vivid pink colour.
"I'm glad you like it." Dani said smiling.
"Like? No Dani I love it." Santana said, Dani's smile only grew, "How long did it take you?"
Dani shrugged, "A couple of hours, but I didn't really have anything else to do once I'd brought the pictures back and I love drawing, so… it occupied me for a while." Dani said, "Seriously, if you have anything else in mind you want me to draw I'll do it when I get the time." Dani said.
"I most definitely will," Santana said "Can I see some of your other drawings?" She asked.
"Well there's no requested drawing in there, because I've given them to the people who asked for them, but knock yourself out." Dani said handing Santana the sketchpad, "There's more in that bottom drawer."
Santana flipped through the sketchpad, feeling more than a little envious of Dani and her talent, "So all of these are just from the mind of Danielle Mitchell, then?" She asked. Dani nodded her head.
"Yup." She said.
She flicked through the sketchpad stopping when she saw a picture that Dani had drawn of a tiger, "Okay, this one is amazing." Santana said she couldn't believe how life like it actually looked, it had been done fully in pencil and had been shaded in. There was now colour to the drawing other than the silvery-grey of the pencil that Dani had used. Santana turned the sketchpad around to show Dani the drawing she was looking at.
"Thanks, that's one of my best."
Santana nodded her head, "Why did you draw a tiger?"
"They're my favourite animal," Dani said, "I think that they're absolutely gorgeous and I had a couple of spare days in the summer so I thought, 'hmmm let's draw me a tiger', so I did." Dani said with a small shrug.
"A couple of days?" Santana asked.
Dani nodded her head, "Yeah I drew that just before you came back from Egypt." Dani informed her.
While Santana had been looking through Dani's drawings, the shorter girl had done a small amount of cleaning in her bedroom, dusting down her TV, and her mirror, as well as neatening out her trinkets and make-up that sat on her drawers and her vanity.
"So what's the hardest thing you've ever had to draw?" Santana asked as she opened yet another one of Dani's sketchpads.
"The tiger," Dani said, "it took me about four days to get it done." Dani said.
"Wow. I honestly don't think that I would've had the patience." Santana said shaking her head.
"Nahh, I love drawing, so honestly it was pretty fun for me to do it." She said.
"Okay, so what's the hardest thing you've ever been asked to draw?"
"Asked? Your dragon." She admitted.
"Really?"
Dani nodded, "Yeah, it kinda threw me a little bit, I had to keep re-starting. But I was determined not to stop until I had drawn you, your pink, purple and blue dragon, and I didn't."
"Hmmm you see, I love it, really I do, but technically, it really should be more pink than anything, because that's the colour I said first, the pink and blue colours should be swapped."
"Yeah but blues the nicer colour," Dani said with a shrug.
Santana shook her head, "I disagree in this case."
"Do you want me to draw you another one and make it mainly pink, with purple wings and blue eyes so you have one of each?" She asked, no sign of joking in her tone of voice.
"Yeah, do it." Santana said slightly sarcastically.
"No I'm serious, do you want me to actually do that for you?"
"That seems like a bit much to ask." Santana said.
Dani shook her head, "You didn't ask me to, I offered."
oOoOo
Santana had watched Dani while she drew her another dragon, she hadn't been able to take her eyes off of the other girl's face while she bit her lip in concentration. Santana hadn't found that extremely sexy at all… yeah, right.
Once Dani had finished the drawing, she blew on the page lightly, before she handed the drawing to Santana, who was once again in awe of what the shorter girl could do.
Dani's phone buzzed loudly in the drawer where she kept it, she rolled her eyes and saw that Adriana was calling her. She looked over to Santana and mouthed a quick apology to the girl before answering her phone.
"Adriana." She said.
"Danielle." She replied from the other end of the line.
Dani couldn't help but smile when she heard her sister's voice, it seemed like it had been a life time since she spoke to the girl, even though it hadn't been a month yet. "What can I do for you?" She asked happily.
"Nothing, I just wanted to call and see how everything is over there in good old Lima, Ohio."
Dani shrugged despite the fact that her sister couldn't see her, "It sucks," She said casually, "It always sucks, because it's Lima." Dani said, "How are things for you over there?" She asked.
"It's awesome, honestly, Dan, come to UPENN next year, it'll be great." She said, "We could get an apartment out here and everything, you'd love it."
"Whoa, Aid," Dani said, "its only September, like, the first week of September has just ended, I'm not thinking about college yet."
"Well you'd better be and fast, Dan. It'll come around sooner than you think and when you don't have anything planned and you can't go to college you'll be stuck in Lima, do you really wanna be a Lima Loser?" Adriana asked.
Dani shook her head, "Well no but…"
"No buts Dan, it will happen if you don't get looking and applying ASAP."
Dani sighed, "Honestly, even if I did start applying now, I honestly, can't see me getting into UPENN or any Ivy League school for that matter." Dani admitted, "I'm not as smart as you are."
"Give yourself more credit for stuff Dani. You are smart, you could come here and do math. You were always good at that." Adriana said. Dani sighed, "Okay well at least just think about, sweetie." Dani rolled her eyes at her sister, "UPENN is awesome, there's a lot of cute guys here, and they'd love you."
Dani didn't really feel like telling her sister that she wasn't interested in guys finding her hot or not, or that she wasn't interested in guys in general. So instead she settled on saying, "I thought college was about getting a degree, not getting laid." Dani said. Santana let out a snort of laughter at her friend, Dani smiled at the other girl waiting for a reply from her sister.
Adriana let out a long sigh, "Look Dan, I'm just saying, you gotta lose it sometime, might as well be in college."
"Aid, I really don't know how to tell you this but… I'm not a… I mean I have…" she trailed off slightly, Santana cocked her head to the side and smirked. Dani widened her eyes slightly at her friend.
"Are you serious! When!" Adriana said; Dani screwed her face up a little, even though Adriana had just been talking to Dani about sleeping with guys, Dani could still hear a small amount of shock, anger and over protectiveness in her older sister's voice.
"Listen. I've gotta go, there's a lot of people here now." Dani lied, "Bye." She said. "Love ya." She hung up the phone quickly.
"You. Slut." Santana deadpanned.
"Fuck you." Dani mumbled before pushing herself up off of the floor.
oOoOo
Dani and Santana walked past the family portraits on the wall, Santana stopped dead in her tracks when she came to the new photo of the three Mitchell children, once again, Dani had been stood in the middle of her siblings as they stood in age order.
Dani's hair was still pink on the photographs, and Santana had to admit, the shorter girl looked stunning.
"Oh my God you're finally drooling over me." Dani said in a joking tone, remembering the comment that Santana had made the night before about Dani being jealous that she didn't drool over her, Santana smiled slightly and shook her head.
"You look really pretty." Santana admitted, "The pink hair looked good on you." Santana said nodding her head, at the time, Santana would have never said that to the girl, she might have thought it, but she would have never admitted it.
"Yeah it was okay." Dani said, a small smile made it's way onto her face, "I dyed my hair blonde the day after those were taken." She said, "My dad was so pissed at me for doing it that way."
"Why? What did he say?"
Dani laughed slightly before saying, "He said, 'Danielle, why have you now decided to change your hair to a normal colour? Why couldn't you have done this two days ago?' and then he said some pretty choice words about the pink hair that, I'm not going to repeat." Dani said smiling.
"Makes sense… why did you dye it after they were taken?"
Dani shrugged, "To be an ass basically." She said, "I'm not going to lie, I'd gotten bored of the pink, so I went out and bought bleach and whatever else," She said, "And I was contemplating dying it for a while, but I decided to leave it until after the pictures had been taken. Just to see what would happen."
"Was it worth it?" Santana asked
Dani nodded her head, "Definitely worth it." She said, as the two girls walked into the kitchen. Dani's eyes fell on her brother who was stood by the oven scowling. "You okay there?" She asked Will turned around slowly.
"No." He said, "I can't work this thing. Seriously, how do you use it?" He asked.
Dani glanced at the wall and sighed, "You know how that's a fan assisted oven?" She asked he nodded his head, "Well, it needs turning on, flick the switch on the wall that says oven." Dani said pointing to the wall.
"I knew that." Will said sarcastically, he flicked the switch and then turned the dials. The oven sparked to life, Dani nodded her head slowly.
"Honestly, bro. How are you gonna live when I go to college?" Dani says, "You'll be all alone on the weekends, you won't have me to look after you."
He shrugged, "I'm counting on you not getting in to college, let's face it, you're not smart enough for an academic scholarship and dad isn't going to fund you going somewhere that isn't an Ivy League school."
Dani shrugged, "You don't know that." She said, a small amount of sadness filling her tone of voice, "He might if I get into a state of the arts art school like Julliard."
"Doubt it, Dan." He said. "You don't want to do academics, he's not gonna be happy. Seriously, you'd be better off applying to somewhere like Yale or Harvard." He scoffed, "Not that you'd get in, but it'd sure make dad happier."
Dani sighed and dropped herself onto one of the stools by the kitchen island, closely followed by Santana. Will turned his attention to Santana and quirked his eyebrow at her, almost like he'd only just realised she was there.
Yeah the eyebrow thing doesn't look as good when you do it. Santana thought.
"Hi." He said smiling slightly.
Santana smiled nervously, and waved at him "Hey." She said.
Will gave Dani a questioning look, he had heard Dani talking about Santana a hell of a lot in the past, not always great things, though never terrible, he just hadn't ever expected to see the other girl in their house.
The only time Santana ever went near was when she had had to bring their mail over after the mailman had sent it to the wrong address, which had happened only a handful of times.
"Hey San, why don't you just go back upstairs, into my room and get my Netflix set up, my laptop should already be turned up, just open it... I'll be up in about five minutes with some snacks and drinks." She said.
Santana sighed, "Okay." She said, she jumped down from the stool and headed towards the door, she turned around and smiled at the shorter girl, "Try not to be too long?" She said, Dani nodded once and stayed silent until she was sure that Santana was out of the way.
"What the fuck?" Will said, "What the hell is she even doing here?" He asked.
Dani climbed off of the stool and grabbed a large bowl from one of the cupboards, "We're sort of friends now." Dani said, she rolled her eyes, "Well there's no sort of, we're friends now." She said.
She opened another cupboard and grabbed a bag of store bought toffee flavoured popcorn; she poured the bag into the bowl quickly.
"Why?"
Dani sighed, "Well, she was sad when Brittany moved, so I talked to her about it and we're friends." She said shrugging. She turned on her heel and made her way to the fridge to grab two cans of coke.
"Again, why?" Dani gave Will a confused look, "Why would you talk to her about it? I am pretty sure that last week you didn't even like her… wait, is that who you were with last night?"
"Look I guess I just wanted to help her," Dani admitted, "She was crying and sad." Dani said, "You know what I'm like." She said, she nodded her head, "And yes, that is who I was with last night when you complained that we were too loud."
"Yeah, I do know you… you're too nice." Dani rolled her eyes, it wasn't the first time she had been called 'too nice' she was also fairly certain that it wasn't going to be the last time. She couldn't help that she had a natural instinct to be nice to people, right? "And trust me, last night you were being extremely loud… what were you even doing to be that loud?" He asked.
Dani shrugged, "I don't know, we were just talking and stuff." Dani said, "Though when you text we'd just been singing Disney songs, like really loudly and out of tune just for fun."
Will shook his head, "Well please don't make that much noise again tonight." He said.
"We won't be because we're gonna watch a terrible movie on Netflix and then probably watch a couple more movies and then go to sleep like we did last week." Dani said.
She couldn't believe that it had only been a week, it felt like it had been much longer, though she may have known Santana all of her life, they hadn't been friends for that amount of time, though, it definitely felt like they had been. Dani couldn't actually believe how close she had gotten to Santana in so little time. The dark haired girl was definitely the closest thing that Dani had to a best friend now.
"I don't want or need you making noise of any kind." He said giving Dani a suggestive look.
"You are such a perv!" Dani said, "Santana and I are just friends."
"Hmm, sure I'm that's all she wants."
Dani stiffened slightly at his words, "I can have gay friends and not have them find me attractive you know?" She said.
"In your experience, I'm not too sure if you can or not."
Dani shook her head slowly; she grabbed the bowl of popcorn in one hand and struggled slightly to hold the two cans of coke in other. She walked away from Will quickly, his words running around her mind.
oOoOo
Dani and Santana had eaten almost the full bowl of popcorn, and had started to feel just a little sick; they had finished with their terrible movie, leaving Dani sulking slightly at the fact that her movie choice of Drop Dead Gorgeous hadn't been deemed as bad as The Pill. Though it was still a pretty bad movie.
They had also watched almost an entire season of RuPaul's Drag Race. That had been another one of Dani's choices, Santana had rolled her eyes but had watched the first two episodes before she found herself truly loving it and even having her own favourite against Dani's.
Once again they were laid in Dani's bed, facing each other. They had been playing twenty questions for a while now, and Dani was proud to say that she was winning. Leaving Santana feeling agitated.
"Yeah, losing's no fun is it?" Dani said, referring back to her losing at the terrible movie pick.
Santana shook her head, "No… why are you so much better at this than I am?" Santana asked it had only taken Dani five questions to guess that Santana had been thinking about Beyonce.
Dani shrugged, "I don't know… I just am." She said, she sighed and said, "Anyway it's my turn."
"Yeah I know." Santana said, "Just hurry up and think of something."
"So demanding… I kind of like that in a woman." She teased with a wink. Before Santana could open her mouth to say anything about Dani's joke, the blonde girl excitedly said, "I've got one."
Santana rolled her eyes "Okay… are you a man?"
"Nope."
"So you're a woman?"
Dani nodded her head, "Yes."
"Okay then… are you a singer?"
"No."
"Actress?"
"Nope."
"Dancer?" Dani shook her head her smile only growing.
"No."
Santana bit her lip, "Are you even famous?"
"No."
"Okay, so a woman who isn't famous." She thought for a moment before saying, "Do I know them?"
Dani nodded her head, "Yes."
"Does she go to our school?"
Dani nodded her head. "Yes she does."
Santana thought about all of the girl's that she knew at their high school, she knew how Dani's mind worked so she even included the teachers, "Is she a student?"
Dani nodded her head. "Yes."
"A senior?"
Dani nodded her head, "Yeah."
"Is she hot?"
Dani shook her head, "No." She said quickly. "Only nine questions left, Santana. Make them good."
"Okay, so a senior girl, who isn't hot, well that narrows it down." Santana said sarcastically. "Seriously, you couldn't have picked a hot one? That'd be easy I'd know it was me if she was hot." Santana teased.
"How do you know it's not you?" Dani countered. Santana's smile dropped.
Shit what if it is me? Does Dani think I'm ugly? The thought of Dani finding her ugly worried her and upset her more than it probably should, No, Dani wouldn't be that mean, right? I mean, had she been thinking about me she'd have said yes just to be polite right? That's what I'd do for her, though, maybe I wouldn't be saying it just out of politeness… no I would be, I would be… oh who am I kidding, the girl's gorgeous. I know it. She knows it. Everybody knows it.
Santana took a deep breath, "Is it me?" She asked quietly.
Dani shook her head and smiled, "No… don't be an idiot… I was joking." Dani said, "If it were you, I'd have said yes." Dani said. Santana smiled slightly a slowly blush creeping up her cheeks… "Uh anyway, next question, you have eight left."
Santana fired seven more questions at Dani, all of them being guesses at who she was, but to no avail.
"Look Dani, I give up… just tell me who you were thinking of."
Dani smiled slightly, "Me." She said.
"I thought you said this girl wasn't hot?" Santana asked, not even thinking about what she was saying.
Dani nodded her head, "I did." She said, "Because she isn't."
"Now look who's being an idiot." Santana said. Dani smiled slightly at Santana. The taller girl saw a slight blush creep up into Dani's cheeks. She'd admit it, seeing Dani nervous and coy was undoubtedly the cutest thing ever. "I'm serious." Santana said, "You're really pretty." Under statement of the century there, Lopez, Santana thought.
"Thank you." Dani said, almost unsurely, she nodded her head slightly, "You're really pretty, too." She said.
"Thanks." Santana said. The room fell into a comfortable silence, Santana grabbed Dani's hand underneath the cover and laced their fingers together, wanting to feel some form of contact with the girl. The way that Dani looked at Santana made an all too familiar warmth resonate in her chest. It was the same type of warmth that she once felt when looking at Brittany.
I am so screwed. Santana thought.
A much longer chapter, I think it's my longest yet?
I keep procrastinating my work to write chapters for this. Worlds best student goes to me!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter please read and review as you have been.
Thank you to those of you who have already read and reviewed this story, I really appreciate it, also thanks to those of you who have favourited and or added this story to your alerts, I appreciate that, too. :)