A/N: So multiple update time! Yay! So I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Remember, look out for chapter 13. Happy reading. By the way, this story is completely unbeta'd. So all the mistakes...are mine. I know it's crazy. LOL!
And as always, REVIEWS = LOVE!
XXXXX Friday, August 31, 2012 – Puckerman Party – 10:30pm XXXXX
Tina couldn't wait to escape from the car. She had gotten a ride from Santana and her boyfriend Nick; and Nick had been talking none stop about how "mad awesome" the party was going to be. When the car finally stopped, she was the first one out.
"You ready?" Santana asked her with a gentle smile.
"As I'll ever be." Tina said grabbing Santana's hand. As they walked toward the house, Tina squeezed Santana's hand. She smiled at the Asian girl. Santana was happy that Tina was back in Lima and back in her life. She missed her friends and since Quinn went missing she hadn't felt whole. So when Santana saw Tina Monday at school she feft like a piece of her had been restored.
Tina had felt the same way although she would never admit that out loud. She had missed being able to just call Mercedes when she was feeling frazzled and needed someone to help calm her nerves. She missed being able to call Santana when she needed help understanding a sport. She even missed calling Rachel when she just wanted to talk about music. Her friends had meant a lot to her but after Quinn's disappearance, they could hardly stand to look at each other. Everything felt strained and disjointed.
"Hey guys." Puck said as he approached them, three beers in hand. "I'm glad you made it."
"Where's the game?" Nick asked taking one of the frosty bottles.
"What's game?" Tina whispered to Santana.
"Pool." she answered.
"Oh."
"It's in the garden in front of the pool house." Puck answered.
"Nick, keys." Santana said.
"What?" he asked.
"If you're going to drink, give me the keys." she said.
"Whatever." he said as he took a swig of his drink. Nick fished around in his pocket and then handed the keys to Santana. "I'm out." he said with a brief kiss to her cheek.
"Beer?" Puck asked as he offered Santana and Tina a bottle. Santana shook her head no, but Tina grabbed one of the long neck bottles. He watched her twist the top and press the bottle to her lips. Puck smiled sexily at her. "Party, party."
Rachel's night was not going at all like she had planned. From the minute they arrived at the party Logan handed her his keys and proceeded to hang out with the boys. Apparently, some lame ass pool game was more interesting than she was.
"Logan?" Rachel said tapping him on the shoulder.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I need to talk to you." she said grabbing his hand. "It's important." Logan gave the game one last look before he took Rachel's outstretched hand. She lead him into the house and upstairs to one of the many empty rooms.
"What's this about?" he asked as he set his beer down on the nightstand and plopped down on the bed.
"We've been together for a long time now right?" she asked as she walked over to bed and stood in front of him.
"Yeah, about 10 months. Why?" he asked as he grabbed her hands and kissed the backs of them.
"I think that it's time for us to move into a more..." she began as she stepped in between his legs. She took one of her hands and unzipped the side of her dress. "adult relationship." she said as she pushed him back and straddled him.
"Rachel..."
"I want you, Logan."
"Rachel..." he said.
"I want you." she said between the kisses she was laying on his face and neck. She began to unbutton his shirt.
"Rachel, no!" he said loudly as he pushed her off of him.
"Why?" she asked as she held the gold fabric to her body.
"You know why Rachel." Logan said buttoning his shirt.
"I don't know why you don't want me, Logan." Rachel said as she slowly zipped her dress and averted her eyes.
"I want to wait until I'm married, you know that." he said.
"But we love each other, right?"
"We do but I'm not going to have cheap sex in a random bedroom at a high school party."
"Oh." she said softly, as she fought back the tears that threatened to stream down her face..
"Look, I'm just gonna go back to the game." he said opening the door and left her. Rachel placed her head in her hand and cried. She couldn't believe he said that being with her would be cheap sex. He hurt her and it didn't even phase him. She got herself under control and dried her eyes. She grabbed his abandoned beer and headed back downstairs. Rachel stood at the opening of the garden and waited for Logan to notice her. When he didn't, she walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "What?"
"I want to go home." she said, still avoiding his eyes.
"I'm not ready to go." he said.
"Please." Rachel pleaded.
"No, Rachel." Logan said irritation in his voice, turning to face the table again.
Mercedes couldn't believe that she was at a Puckerman party; but she didn't really have much of an option. When she got home from school that day, Malory decided that was the perfect time for the Jones women to sit down and discuss the wedding. She had no interest but she figured she give it a try. Mercedes was totally down to help out and give ideas until Malory pulled out this picture of the most horrible gangrene color dress that she'd ever seen. She told Mercedes that this was her dress. As her maid-of-honor she had to dress appropriately. Too bad the dress would have flushed her out and do nothing for her figure. When her mother agreed that the dress was perfect for Mercedes she decided that if they were going to make her wear a dress the color of an infection that she wouldn't be around to pick it out.
She made her way through the crowd in search of Kurt. And low and behold,
there he was, lounging by the pool drinking out of a coconut.
"Hey!" he said looking away from the group of Cheerios that were surrounding him. He rose from his chaise and walked over to his friend. "You made it."
"Yeah. It was this or help plan my sister's wedding. I opted for teenage merriment." Mercedes said taking a sip of Kurt's drink. "What's with the Cheerios?"
"Well, apparently there is some juicy gossip. I was trying to put my self in the know." Kurt said glancing back to the girls.
"Oh. Well, I'm gonna go find something to eat." Mercedes said.
"I'll tell you when I find out." Kurt called after her.
"Don't bother." she called back. Mercedes had heard enough gossip to last her. When Quinn first went missing her and her friends were always right in the of the hottest gossip. As she made her way back through the crowd, she spotted a familiar face. "Tina?"
"Hey." the pretty Asian girl said. She was talking with Puck. "How are you?"
"I'm ok. How are you? How long have you been back?" Mercedes asked.
"About a week." Tina said. "We have classes together."
"Oh. Cool. I'm glad your back."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's nice to see you." Mercedes said with a sweet smile. "Can I talk to you alone?" Tina stiffened at the question. She hadn't had a private conversation with Mercedes is over a year.
"Sure." she whispered.
"Are you and Puck together?" Mercedes asked.
"What?"
"I know you used to have a huge crush on him."
"I did, but no. I'm not dating him. I've been back a week." Tina said with a laugh.
"Well he is cute." Mercedes said with a wink.
"Shut up." Tina said playfully slapping Mercedes arm.
"It really is good to see you, Tina."
"You too." the girls shared a brief hug and Mercedes walked away.
"You ok?" Puck asked when Tina returned.
"Yeah."
"That was weird, huh?"
"Yeah but not for the reason you think." she muttered as she watched Mercedes walk through the crowd.
Santana wandered through the crowded party. Since Nick left her to go hang out with his friends and Tina was off talking to Puck she was alone. Not that she minded. Being alone allowed her to be who she really wanted. Santana used to be strong and confident and super outgoing but a year ago when Quinn went missing she became introverted and unsure of herself. So when she was alone she got to be the person that Quinn picked to be friends with.
Santana stood in a long line of hopefully girls who hoped to be Cheerios. She was nervous but she knew she was good. She was in line right behind, Rebeca Thoms, while they watched Sandy Whitford try-out. Santana had heard that they weren't friends with Quinn anymore. She had no idea why but for some reason it made her excited.
When Sandy was done, she stood and awaited judgment from Coach Sylvester, Becky Johnson and Quinn Fabray. Everyone watched as the three of them had a quiet deliberation. Then they all faced the front again. Quinn had her best bitch face on.
"Terrible." Coach Sue said into her megaphone. "That was absolutely terrible. If I wanted girls that looked like eggs on stilts I'd call the circus." Sandy began to cry. "Next!" Sandy ran from the gym, Rebeca close behind her. Santana was next. She took her place .
"I'm Santana Lopez. I wanna be a Cheerios because I love this school and I'm good." she said with a bright smile. "Hit it." she said to the Cheerio manning the CD player. She did her routine and at the end she stood and awaited her judgment. She watched as the three of them put their heads together. When they faced her again, Quinn spoke.
"That was amazing. We could really use someone like you." she said sweetly. "If the rest of you can't bring that kind of awesomeness, you should probably just go home."
"So, I made it."
"Yeah, Tana. Welcome to the Cheerios." she said. Santana squealed and as she ran off the gym floor she glanced back at Quinn who winked at her. From that moment on Quinn took Santana under her wing. They were inseparable.
"Hey, watch where you're going." A voice said bringing her out of her memory.
"Oh sorry." she said.
"Are you ok?" Brittany asked her.
"I'm fine. I am sorry about running into you."
"No worries. You wanna talk about it?"
"Not really." Santana said.
"You wanna hang out?" Brittany asked. "I found this pretty cool place."
"Ok. Let's go." Santana said as she was being led away by the hand by Brittany. "Where are we going?"
"Here." Brittany stopping in the middle of a circle. It was a high hedge that was cut into a giant circle. Inside it were tables covered with cameras. "Wanna take some memories?" she asked picking one up.
"Sure." Santana laughed. They posed together and snapped photos. Laughing and having fun, Santana blushed at the picture taken where Brittany kissed her on the cheek. She really like Brittany. It was kind of instant. There was something about her that made her want to spend time with her. She made her laugh and blush and feel like herself, well for the most part. Santana was caught off guard when Brittany planted a kiss on her lips. It was soft and passionate and sensual. They both began to get into the kiss. Their hands finding body parts and caressing. "What was that?" she asked breaking their kiss.
"What?" Brittany asked looking around.
"Did you take a picture?"
"Well, yeah. But with my phone. Why?"
"Oh. I saw the flash." Santana said. "I should go."
"What's wrong?" Brittany asked.
"I shouldn't have done that. We shouldn't have done that." Santana said frantically.
"Why not?"
"I'm not gay, Brittany."
"Who said anything about being gay?" she laughed.
"When girls kiss other girls it's usually because they're gay." the Latina said running her hands through her long silky hair. "But I'm not gay. I have a boyfriend."
"Is it such a big deal to be gay?" Brittany asked adjusting her boyfriend Tee. "
"Well, no but I'm not." Santana said. "I'm gonna go." she said. She didn't give Brittany a chance to say anything else she just left the hedge.
Mercedes, Tina and Santana all ran into each other on their way to the pool. They all greeted each other and began to make pleasant conversation.
"Excuse me." a brown hair girl said as she brushed past Santana.
"Rachel?" Santana said.
"Oh. Sorry Santana. I didn't...I'm sorry." Rachel said adjusting her shiny gold headband. "Mercedes."
"Hi Rachel." the beautiful black girl said.
"Hi Tina. It's nice to see you."
"Thanks. It's actually nice to be back." Tina said with a smile.
"What are you guys doing?" Rachel questioned.
"We're...just...talking." Mercedes answered.
"Oh." Rachel said. "Well, it nice talking to you guys but I'm going home."
"Why?" Tina asked. "This party is mad awesome." Santana laughed out loud.
"I don't want to be here anymore." Rachel said looking over her shoulder at the raucous pool game. "See ya." The three of them watched as Rachel marched away. Her exit caused a silence that consumed the other girls bringing them back to that awkward feeling that drove them apart in the first place. They said each said goodbye to each other before drifting back in the sea of people.