A/N: I decided to just keep adding on to 'Ride-Share' instead of starting a sequel. So this is kind of like the start of 'Part II'. I may need to take a few days to figure out where I want to take it from here. I have a loose idea, but I want to map it all out. I'll try to keep up with posting every couple days after that. Thank you all again for following/favoriting/reviewing!
"Yes!" Brittany takes a hand off the steering wheel to hug Santana.
"Britt! Watch the road!" Santana attempts to get the girl focused back on driving.
"Sorry!" she swerves back to the middle of the lane. "I'm just so excited for us."
"I still think you are crazy," Santana says. "Are you really sure you want to do this?"
"You're worth every dollar. I just can't go from constantly being a foot away from you to being miles away."
Santana turns her body to the left and rests her cheek against the headrest. "How are you real?"
Brittany scoffs into laughter.
"No, I mean it. I've never met anyone like you, Brittany. It's like I'm going to wake up any second now. I'll be back in New York, and I will answer a Craig's List ad. Except it will be some creepy forty-year old, and the entire trip across country will be uncomfortable and awkward. Every night will be spent dreading the morning. Then I will get to LA, and I will walk the streets and ride the buses and I may never meet you."
Brittany brings her hand to Santana's chin and rubs her thumb over her cheek. "You have nothing to worry about, but if you want me to pinch you I can do that."
Santana takes Brittany's hand off her cheek and cradles it in her lap. "Thank you so much, Britt. I'm going to spend forever making it up to you."
"Oh! I need to tell Rachel! Take my phone and type out a text for me."
Santana takes the phone from the cup holder. "You have to put in the password."
"It's 2187."
"What are you crazy!? You know that I'm going to mess with this now. I might change all of your contact names to cartoon characters."
"Ooh that would be fun! Then I would have to guess who's who, like a puzzle."
"What do you want me to type?"
"Say, 'She'll take it. We'll be there in 3ish hours.'"
Santana quickly types the message and hits send. "Done," she swipes at the screen and leans over towards Brittany.
"What are you doing?"
"Shh, stay still," Santana places her lips to Brittany's cheek and takes a picture. She looks at the screen, smiles, and taps at it a few times before placing the phone back.
"Ok, what else did you do to my phone?" Brittany grabs it and looks at the screen. The background is now the picture Santana just took of them. "Aw, San. I love it."
Santana looks over to Brittany and the smile on her face. "I love it too."
Miles and miles later, Brittany merges onto the 101 freeway. They finally made it to Los Angeles.
"Look, San, mountains! We live near mountains now, like actual nature!"
"Is that where the Hollywood sign is? I can't see that far."
"I'm sure we'll see it."
Santana looks out her passenger window while Brittany gets into the right lane. "I can't wait to get rid of this trailer. All it does is make me nervous."
"Chill, babe. I can help you relax later," Santana winks.
"Hmm, really? How about you help me unpack the trailer instead? Because either way I will be too tired for any of your relaxation techniques."
"You won't have to move a muscle, I promise."
Brittany spots the exit and for the first time they are driving on the streets of Los Angeles.
"It's totally not like I expected."
Brittany frowns, "What do you mean?"
"No! I mean in a good way. The stuff you hear about LA on TV… I don't know, I just like it."
"I know what you mean. It's like… it's a city, but the buildings are short, so I don't feel claustrophobic or anything."
One left turn and twenty or so blocks later they pull onto Fuller Ave.
"It should be on the right on think. I really hope Rachel didn't forget to reserve the spots in front of the building today."
Brittany slows down as they look for their apartment. "There!"
Santana spots the brown five-story building and sees a brown-haired girl waving her hands maniacally. "Oh my," she laughs. "Is that her?"
"Rachel! She was probably sitting out here for the past hour waiting for us."
"And that's a normal thing to do?"
"You're going to love her," Brittany carefully pulls the car and trailer to the side of the street; thanking her lucky stars she didn't have to attempt to parallel park the monster. She hops out of the driver's seat and runs toward her roommate.
"Brittany!" Rachel squeals and hugs the tall blonde. "I'm so glad you made it here safe and sound."
Santana gets out of the car and leans against the door as she watches the girls reconnect.
"Me too, Rach. I can't believe we're finally here!" Brittany turns and sees Santana waiting. She motions for the girl to come closer. "Rachel, this is Santana."
"Holy crap," Rachel blurts out. "I mean…hi, I'm Rachel Berry."
"It's really nice to meet you," Santana shakes her hand. Rachel doesn't let go and continues to stare at her.
"Umm," Santana looks to Brittany and mouths, "What is happening?"
"Holy crap, Brittany. She's gorgeous! I'm sorry to be so forward, but if I were into the ladies I would be so jealous of Britt right now. I would probably even be planning some scheme to steal you away from her."
"Thanks, I guess," Santana laughs. "But you'd have to pry this girl from my cold, dead hands."
"So! I talked to Sarah and she's got the room emptied out. She's gone for a few days for work, but the manager has got all the stuff- key and whatnot."
"San, why don't you go take care of all the administrative stuff, and we'll start unloading."
"Okay," Santana stands on her tip-toes and kisses Brittany on the lips. "I'm sorry. Was that okay? I forgot you've never done that in front of a friend before."
Brittany's face is flushed. She shakes her head. "It's fine. It totally feels normal." She leans over Santana's shoulder to eye Rachel who is staring at them.
Rachel sees that she has been caught and tries to pretend she was looking at a bird in the sky.
"Nice try, Rach."
"I'm sorry. I'm just so happy for you, Britt! I will grab a couple things out of the car and let you two share this special moment in which you are starting a new chapter of life together," Rachel opens the back door and throws a duffle bag over her shoulder.
"You make it sound like we are actually moving in together or something," Brittany says.
"Close enough!" Rachel yells while walking towards the doors.
Brittany laughs nervously and looks to Santana who is blushing and staring at her feet. "She's just overly dramatic…about 97% of the time."
"She seems alright," Santana shrugs. "I'm glad to finally meet one of your friends," she gives Brittany a hug before walking towards the entrance. "I'll be back to help you in a bit, okay?"
"Yea," Brittany walks to the back of the trailer. "See you later."
While Brittany makes trip after trip up to their third floor apartment, Santana checks out her new place. It's modest and the living room is not overly decorated. There are picture frame collages, a gray couch against the wall, and an orange cat napping on a blanket in the corner.
"Sweet, she has a cat!" Santana creeps over to say hello to the little critter. "Hi, little guy," she puts her hand out towards his face. He sniffs it and goes back to sleeping. "Don't tell anyone that I love cats. It's a secret. I need to maintain my rep you know, and no offense, but I don't want to seem like a crazy, spinster." She pets him on the head and continues checking out the apartment. Santana walks down the short hallway to what must be her new room. It's completely empty apart from a ceiling fan.
"Well, this is homey. Maybe someday I can fill you with things, bedroom. Hopefully soon because my voice is echoing right now. Dear Jesus, I am talking to a room."
She shuts the door behind her and goes back down to the street to help unload everything. Brittany is leaning into the open trailer trying to pick up a large box.
"Nice ass," Santana says standing with her arms crossed enjoying the view.
Brittany lifts the box and turns around with a smirk. "That's so sweet, but can you help me with this here?"
"Sure," Santana runs over and grabs one side. "What the hell is in here? Are you planning to build a brick oven or something?"
"I wish. That would be awesome. I could cook you pizza all the time."
"Yea? Are you good at cooking?" The two enter the elevator and drop the box.
"Well, I don't really use recipes or anything, but I think I'm pretty good at improvising."
"You'll have to cook me dinner sometime. Or maybe breakfast?" Santana wiggles her eyebrows.
Brittany laughs and throws her arms around Santana's neck. She nudges her up against the elevator wall. "I would make you breakfast every day." She tilts her head to the side and kisses down Santana's face. "Eggs," she kisses her jaw. "Bacon," another kiss under her ear. "Pancakes," down her neck. "Freshly squeezed orange juice," Brittany starts sucking on her pulse point.
"Britt, the door's going to open any second. And you're making me have indecent thoughts about breakfast foods. It's confusing."
"I know what you mean," Brittany pulls away and grabs her side of the box. The door opens and they carry it down the hall to Brittany and Rachel's apartment.
Three hours later, the trailer is empty and ready to be dropped off at the nearest U-Haul location. Brittany leaves to return it, and Santana sets off to explore the neighborhood. Just a block away is Hollywood Boulevard. She decides to head down it in search of any 'Help Wanted' signs. Santana figured that if she wasn't going to live with her cousin, then there was no need to work at his club either. She hoped there would be something within walking distance from their apartment. A couple blocks later Santana crosses La Brea and when she reaches the sidewalk, she sees the stars in the cement. Everywhere people have their cameras titled at their feet or are crouching down to pose next to a famous name. She walks and walks and spots a storefront that is under construction. A woman is standing outside with a clipboard talking to a construction man. Through the window, Santana can see a bar amidst an empty room.
"Excuse me," Santana approaches the woman. "What kind of bar is going in here?"
The tall, brunette woman turns around, shielding her eyes from the low sun. "A piano bar. Kind of like the one on Selma, but bigger and better, hon."
"Are you hiring?"
"Maybe. You have any experience?"
"Oh, totally! I worked at a bar in New York. I'm also a singer if that helps."
"Follow me," she motions with her head and walks inside. She grabs two construction helmets and hands on to Santana. "Put this on."
Santana stares at it for a moment, smooths out her hair, and puts it on.
"Follow me. What's your name?"
"Santana."
"Santana, I'm Lauren. Fill out one of these applications for me. Can you play the piano?"
"I play the guitar, but I can always learn the piano. I'm a quick study."
"Nevermind. Here's what I'm thinking. Every Tuesday, I want to have an Acoustic Night. Not an open mic type deal, but with fresh local talent who haven't made it big yet. You know, the singer-songwriter types. I need someone young to find these people and book the sets."
Santana looks up from the paper. "That would be amazing. I'm totally in with the local LA scene. I could find tons of acts." She hopes Lauren doesn't see right through that lie.
"Great. That would also mean hosting the show as well. You should have no problem with that, you're a stunner. Are you an actor as well?"
"Oh no," Santana laughs nervously. "I'm just into music."
"Really? I would have bet money on it. Well I will look over this and give you a call once I make a final decision."
"Thank you so much, Lauren! It was nice meeting you." Santana shakes her hand and they walk towards the door. She takes off the hard-hat and waves goodbye.
Santana heads back towards the apartment, and pulls out her phone to call Brittany.
'Hey San! What's up? I just got back to the building, and I am dreading all this unpacking. Our living room is just boxes. I could make a box couch.'
"Aw, babe. I'll be back soon to help okay?"
'The good news is Rachel put my bed together for me.'
"How nice of her! Listen, you won't believe what just happened. I was just walking down the street and saw this *Beep-Beep*" Santana pulls the phone away from her ear and sees an incoming call. "Hold on, I'll call you back, okay?" She taps the screen. "Hello?"
'Santana?'
"Speaking."
'Hi, it's Lauren. Start looking for acts. We open in a month.'
"Are you serious?"
'Of course. It's part-time so it will be hourly pay. Can you also work the bar a couple nights a week?'
"Absolutely. I make a mean Mojito."
'Fantastic, I'll be in touch.'
"Thanks, Lauren. Bye."
Santana practically skips her way home and runs up the stairs. She reaches Brittany's door and knocks. She waits not even three seconds, and Brittany throws the door open.
"Hey neighbor," Santana grins. "Do you happen to have a bed I could borrow tonight?"
Brittany laughs and pulls Santana by the arm into the apartment. "I think I have one of those around here somewhere."
Santana grabs her by the neck and places an adoring kiss to her lips. "I should just never get a bed then."
"Where did you go earlier?"
"Oh, you know just exploring the neighborhood and getting a job."
"What?!" Brittany pulls her face away from Santana's. "That's amazing! Where is it?"
Santana tells all about the new job as Brittany watches her lovingly. "I'm so happy for you, Santana. You're going to be so awesome at it too."
"Thanks, Britt," Santana grabs her waist. "How about we unpack for a bit, and I take you out to dinner for a change." She kisses her on the cheek and holds her hands between them.
"Sounds perfect."
