I'll pick you up at 6.30, be ready! Dress up ;)
For the past two days, Brittany's been planning. She's been working so hard to make this perfect because this is her one moment to prove to Santana that she really, really wants this - wants them - and she's going to stop at nothing to make sure Santana knows that. Brittany thinks she's done a pretty good job with this date and she's almost sick with excitement waiting to see Santana's reaction to everything she's managed to put together.
...Do you not need to come back to the apartment to change after work?
Of course, with Santana living in their apartment it's made it difficult for Brittany to keep things secret and to make this a proper date. She managed to pick out an outfit last night and put it in her car without Santana noticing so she can get ready at work instead. There's a staff gym on the ground floor with showers, so she can freshen up before she leaves too. She's almost one hundred percent sure that she's got every last detail covered.
Nope ;) just be ready at 6.30
She smiles at herself for teasing Santana like this. She knows Santana's going to be going over all the options and trying to figure out what they're going to be doing tonight. Knowing that she'll never guess correctly is what Brittany's really excited about.
Okay, okay... 6.30 it is! :D
Brittany makes sure she's finished work on time. As soon as the clock hits five, she's shutting her computer down and making her way to get ready. It's not glamorous, getting ready for a date in the gym at work, but it sure beats going home and getting ready beside Santana where it won't feel as special if they see each other before they're ready to go.
By six, Brittany's changed, her hair is down, dried and straightened, and her make-up is freshly done. She thinks she might be a little over the top in her tight black dress, but the tone of the night is going to be of the highest quality and that has to translate into every inch of the date, even her dress choice.
As she drives towards the apartment to pick up Santana the butterflies in her stomach seem to multiply. She doesn't think she's ever been this excited. Not even when she was going to New York to see Santana again for the first time in three years, not when Santana kissed her in Philadelphia... never. She's coming home from work, to pick up the girl she loves, to take her out on what she hopes is going to be one of the most special dates they've ever been on. Suddenly, she wishes she'd bought Santana something to give her the way Santana had bought her a rose, and she feels slightly inadequate. She shakes it off and keeps confident that the rest of the evening will compensate.
She's early, but she's sure Santana will be ready by now. She's had the whole day to get ready, so showing up ten minutes early will be okay. Brittany gets out of the car and smooths out her dress, her excitement slowly turning into nerves, and makes her way into their building, up to the apartment. She knocks three times, and takes a step back, waiting on Santana to answer.
Brittany's breath actually hitches when she sees Santana. She can't remember her ever being this beautiful. She's wearing a short sleeved white blouse, with the top three buttons open, tucked into a tight grey skirt, with black heels on her feet. She's had the same idea as Brittany to keep her hair down, but instead of straightening it, she's kept it natural and wavy - the way Brittany has always loved it.
"You're beautiful," Brittany says in lieu of a greeting, and Santana blushes. "I don't think you've ever been this beautiful," she continues, looking Santana in the eye.
"You aren't looking too bad yourself," Santana replies, still blushing.
"Are you ready to go?" Brittany asks, wanting to be alone with her more than anything.
"Just have to get by purse and we're good to go!" Santana says, taking a few steps into the apartment and lifting it off the table. "Ready," she says, stepping outside and closing the door.
Brittany takes one step forward and closes the space between them, pressing a tender kiss to Santana's lips. "I'm so excited for this," she says, as she pulls away and reaches out for Santana's hand. "So excited."
"You're just copying me, aren't you?" Santana says when they've been driving for ten minutes. "Trying to confuse me by taking me somewhere I don't know."
"Babe, it's New Haven - realistically, how many places do you actually know apart from the grocery store and Starbucks?"
"Hey! Not fair! Just because you've lived here longer!"
"But I do have something I need to do," Brittany says. "When we get there I'm kind of going to have to ask you to put a blindfold on."
"What?" Santana gasps from the passenger seat.
"Just for a few minutes. Promise," Brittany reassures her.
Santana's silent for a few moments before she speaks again. "If this was anyone else - anyone else - you know I'd be running in the opposite direction at the first mention of blindfold, right?" Santana says, looking over at Brittany. "But now that I've had a chance to come round to the idea..." she continues, placing her hand over Brittany's on the gear stick, "Me... and you... and a blindfold sounds like a brilliant idea," she finishes, in her most seductive voice. She smirks as she notices Brittany visibly swallow and the car veers slightly to the left before she recovers.
"You really can't say things like that if we have our 'take things slow' rule in place," Brittany says, sounding frustrated.
"Well maybe... maybe we could revise that rule. Y'know, just... update it a little," Santana teases.
"Maybe this conversation is best for after what I have planned, because I think if we have it now, we might just spend the night in the back seat of this car..." Brittany trails off, smiling slightly at Santana.
"Oh, you're right. This is definitely a post-date activity..." Santana says in her seductive voice again, before taking her hand off Brittany's and moving back so she's looking out the window.
"You're going to be the death of me," Brittany says, trying her very hardest to concentrate on the road. "The absolute death of me."
Brittany pulls the car over at the side of the road, and leans into the back seat to get the blindfold out of her bag. "It's time for you to put this on," she says, holding it out for Santana to take.
"You should put it on for me," she replies. "That way you can make sure I don't peek."
"Okay, turn round," Brittany says, and Santana moves so her back is facing Brittany. "Sorry if I pull your hair or anything," Brittany says, reaching up to wrap the silky, black fabric around Santana's head to cover her eyes. She ties it gently in a knot, but tight enough that it won't fall off. "Is that okay?" she asks.
"Yeah, that's fine," Santana says. "Can't see anything at all," she laughs, putting her hands out in front of her, feeling her way round the car.
"I'm just going to get out now and come round to your side to let you out, okay? Stay there."
"Not going anywhere, Britt," Santana says, still laughing slightly.
Brittany opens the passenger door and takes Santana's hand in her own to guide her out safely, until they're standing on the sidewalk. "It's just a few seconds down here, really not far," Brittany says, locking the car and starting to direct Santana.
"Okay, you need to lift you feet, there's a step here to get in," Brittany instructs a minute later, and Santana steps up carefully as Brittany holds the door open for her to walk through.
"I have no idea where you're taking me," Santana says. "Can I..." she pauses. "Can I hear a piano?" Brittany stays silent, but just leads Santana a little further along a short hallway and through another door. When they enter the room, the music becomes louder. "Britt?"
"Okay, I'm going to take the blindfold off now," Brittany says, moving behind Santana so she can reach up and untie the knot. She takes the blindfold off and wraps her arms around Santana's waist, waiting for her reaction.
Santana gasps. "Britt... how did you... oh my god," she stutters. Brittany leans forward slightly, moving some strands of hair away from Santana's neck and pressing a delicate kiss on the skin there. "Do you like it?" she asks, nervously.
They're standing in the main room of the art gallery that Brittany wrote about to get her job at the Register, only it's been transformed for them. The lighting in the room has been dimmed and there are red, green and white fairy lights draped along the top of the paintings. In the centre of the room is a table with two chairs. It's covered by a plain white tablecloth and on top of it are two place settings, with a candle burning brightly between them. There's a CD player playing relaxing piano music from the side of the room.
Santana turns around so she's facing Brittany, and looks her deep in the eyes. "I love it," she whispers, before she leans in and kisses Brittany slow and soft. "I love it so much," she says, pulling back and smiling so purely that Brittany's heart skips a beat. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Brittany replies. "We should go sit down," she says, pointing at the table in the middle of the room. "Our meal will be here soon."
Santana looks around, wondering if she'd missed that they had company in the room, but a second look just confirmed they were still alone. "Our meal? There's no-one else here."
Brittany leads Santana over to the table, pulling the seat out for her to sit down and pushing it back in as she does, before walking around to the sit down on the other chair. "I have contacts," Brittany says playfully, taking her cell out and typing a quick message. "That's our food on the way."
"I have no idea how you managed to organise this," Santana says, still looking around in awe.
"As I said, I have contacts," Brittany explains. "I did the owners of this gallery a favour once, so I asked them politely if they could do me one and thankfully they agreed. Oh! I almost forgot!" Brittany says suddenly, jumping up off her seat and walking over to what looks like a janitor's closet. She opens the door and lifts something out before returning to the table. She sets down two glasses, and an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne in it. "Do you want a drink?"
"Seriously, Britt? Oh my god! I can't believe this!" Santana says, holding out her glass for Brittany to fill.
"Only the best for you," Brittany whispers.
"I love you," Santana replies.
They're halfway through their first glass of champagne, when Brittany notices Santana looking past her at the wall.
"You like the art here?" Brittany asks.
"It's interesting. Some of it is really, really pretty."
"You want to have a closer look? I can tell you all about it while we're waiting for our food to arrive," Brittany says. "It should be here in about fifteen minutes. Plenty of time."
"Okay, yeah," Santana says, getting up out of her chair, still holding her glass of champagne in one hand. "I like this one," she says, pointing at the one that was behind Brittany. "What do you know about it?"
Brittany gets up and joins Santana as she stands in front of the painting and studies it. "The owner of this gallery painted that one," Brittany tells her. "She'll be really happy that you like this one best." Brittany wraps her arm around Santana's waist and Santana visibly relaxes, before leaning to the side and resting her head on Brittany's shoulder. "She told me once that this was her favourite piece of hers too. She said she was lying in bed one night and got hit by this sudden wave of inspiration and she just had to get up and paint it, y'know? Apparently she painted the whole way through the night until it was done. She couldn't sleep."
"You used to be like that," Santana says quietly.
"Hmm?"
"You used to do that too. I remember when you were running for senior class president and I was staying at your house, you'd wake up at 3am with an idea for a poster or a campaign slogan or something and you wouldn't go back to sleep until you wrote it down. You didn't know how to turn your brain off."
"I'm still like that, Santana," Brittany jokes.
"I've always liked that about you... that when you get an idea for something you just have to make it happen, no matter what. I mean, you made dinosaurs the theme of our senior prom and it was the best one ever. I'm pretty sure no-one else would ever have been able to make that happen. And this... tonight... I'm sure no-one else would have made it as special as you did."
"The night has barely started, Santana."
"You know what I mean. You just put so much effort into things and everything you do always turns out so amazing. Just... everything," Santana breathes out. "I mean, you worked so hard at that arts festival and your boss recognised that and gave you a promotion. I just... I love it when you work so hard and people give you the recognition you deserve, Britt."
Brittany tilts her head slightly to look at Santana, where she's still resting on her shoulder. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me for the truth," Santana replies. "Now, come on. You can tell me about the rest of these paintings while I keep worrying about what the hell you have planned for the rest of this evening."
When they're looking at the fifth painting, the door behind them opens and they turn around to see who's there.
"I have a delivery here for a Lopez-Pierce date," Quinn says as she walks through the door holding some pizza boxes.
"Pizza, Britt, seriously?" Santana laughs.
"What were you expecting? I'm not rich," she says with a smile.
"These are getting cold, and I have places to be, people to see, so do you want these or not?" Quinn says, pretending to be annoyed.
Brittany makes her way over to take the boxes out of Quinn's hands, and she whispers a "thank you" in her ear. Quinn smiles back. "This is beautiful," Quinn tells her, looking around. "I'm sure she loves it. But I've already stayed too long, I'll see you later," she says with a wink, and then she's gone.
"I can't believe you went to all the trouble of setting this up just to eat pizza," Santana laughs, coming over to join her. "We could have just stayed at home for that and you wouldn't have had to go to all this trouble."
"It wasn't really any trouble at all," Brittany counters. "And we can sit in the apartment any night we want. I wanted to do something different... and if I'm not mistaken, I think you like it."
"God, Britt, I told you, I love it."
"Good, now let's get stuck into these," she says, holding the pizza up so they can both smell it. "I got your favourite."
They have three slices left when the music stops.
"Give me a second, I just have to change the disc," Brittany says, getting up and making her way over to the CD player. Santana hadn't noticed the other CDs sitting on top of it until Brittany lifts one up.
"I hope you have something good on that CD," Santana jokes. "Like that one you made me for Valentine's Day."
"Those songs wouldn't exactly be appropriate for the mood of the evening, Santana... but I think these are," Brittany says, as she presses play and makes her way back to the table and lifts up a slice of pepperoni pizza.
"Is this..." Santana starts, as the first few notes of the song echo through the air. "Oh my god, you've thought of everything haven't you?" she laughs, as she realises that the song is. "Songbird," she confirms, as the notes continue. It's a piano cover, but Santana knows that song like no other and she can hear the words as the song continues. She knows Brittany can hear them too, and there's so much love and affection filling the air that Santana starts to get slightly emotional. She bows her head and takes a deep breath in to steady herself. "I still mean every word, you know? All of it," she says, raising her head slightly to meet Brittany's eyes.
Brittany smiles back timidly. "I know," she says softly. "But let's not think about back then. Let's think about right now."
"Yeah, you're right," Santana agrees, and they fall back into comfortable silence to finish off the last few slices of pizza. The CD keeps playing more piano cover versions and as the songs move on from one to the next, Santana becomes more shocked with every one. The second track is Landslide, the third is Me Against The Music and the fourth is Run The World.
When the fifith one comes on, Brittany stands up and holds her hand out for Santana. "May I have this dance?" she asks confidently, as a piano version of Dance With Somebody comes on. Santana beams back at her and breathes out a slight giggle in disbelief. "Of course," she accepts, as she reaches out to grasps Brittany's hand, before being led into the middle of the room and they begin dancing.
At first, there is a little distance between their bodies. Santana has her arms around Brittany's shoulders, while Brittany's hands are resting comfortably on Santana's hips. As the song progresses, Brittany moves her hands round so they're resting at the bottom of Santana's back and she pulls Santana gently closer.
"Hi," Brittany whispers.
"Hi," Santana replies, tightening her grip around Brittany's neck and closing the distance between them. "I like this. It's nice," she says, as they sway to the music in perfect rhythm.
"Yeah, me too."
Brittany rests her forehead against Santana's, and Santana breathes out and closes her eyes, letting everything sink in.
"You're beautiful," Brittany tells her, and she watches a soft smile make its way across Santana's face. "You're so, so beautiful."
"I love you," Santana replies, opening her eyes to look at Brittany. It takes Brittany's breath away slightly; how peaceful Santana looks right now.
"I love you too," Brittany says, quietly. She brushes her nose against Santana's, and tilts her head to the side slightly. She takes Santana's bottom lip between her own and kisses her fimly. She bites down gently on Santana's lip as she pulls away, making Santana moan. Both of them are breathing heavier now and there is a moment where Santana's looks between Brittany's lips and eyes rapidly, before she leans in hesitantly and resumes the kiss.
Santana moves her hands up to tangle in Brittany's hair as she runs her fingers through it, and Brittany moves her hands lower to gently squeeze Santana's ass. Their lips move together in unison, both knowing how to pick up on what the other needs after years of practice. Nothing's changed, they're still Santana and Brittany and the same things still drives them wild.
"We need to revise the rule," Santana says breathlessly between kisses. "We need to revise it or remove it completely because I don't think I can keep my hands off you much longer."
Brittany moans in response. "Consider it removed," she says, still desperately kissing Santana. "I don't even remember what it was," she continues, and pulls away long enough to share a look with Santana. In that look, they both know something has changed. "We should... we should take this somewhere more appropriate," Brittany says, nervously.
Santana freezes and looks around. "But you put so much effort into this. Shouldn't we..."
"I don't care," Brittany interrupts, and places another firm kiss on Santana's lips. "I don't care... I just want you."
"Wait," Santana says. "You've been drinking. How are we getting home?"
Brittany knows she should answer but her words are caught in her throat. Hearing Santana say that they are going home together is making her heart beat fast in her chest. It's everything she's wanted to hear for so long. Ever since she got back from New York after meeting up with Santana for the first time again, it's all she's wanted. "Babe?" Santana says, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Quinn," Brittany answers immediately. "She's..." she struggles to regain any logical thought with the images of her and Santana going home together are playing in her head. "She's at a friend's house a block away, she's coming to drive us back."
"Can you get her to come now?" Santana asks impatiently. Brittany nods and drags herself away from Santana, making her way back over to the table to call Quinn and ask her to come and take them home.
"She'll be here in five," Brittany informs her. "I should clear up here first though. I kind of promised them..." she trails off. "Such a mood killer," she laughs.
Santana makes her way over to the table to help Brittany clear everything up. "Britt, if you seriously think anything can kill the mood when I'm around you, you're looking like that and you just gave me the most special night of my life, then you are very, very wrong."
Quinn drops them off at the apartment and then takes Brittany's car to drive back to her friend's house, where she's staying for the night. When Santana realises that Brittany planned for them to have the place to themselves for the evening, it only fuels her on.
"You'd planned this from the very start, didn't you?" Santana asks as Brittany fumbles with the key in the door. Santana wraps her arms around her from behind and starts kissing down her neck. "You knew."
Brittany moans, and the door opens a few seconds later. They both stumble through and Santana closes it behind them, before Brittany pushes her up against it, kissing her desperately. "Not this," Brittany pants. "I just wanted us to be alone... I didn't care what we did. But this..." she says as she starts to undo the buttons on Santana's blouse. "This I'm not complaining about."
"Me neither," Santana breathes out as Brittany helps her take her blouse off and discards it carelessly in the hall. "Bedroom. Now."
Santana has her legs on either side of Brittany's hips, straddling her. Brittany is lying flat on her back, staring up at Santana with lust in her eyes. Their skirt and dress were lost somewhere between the door and the bedroom, so bare skin is touching bare skin and both of their chests are rising and falling rapidly with want.
"What's wrong?" Santana asks gently as she notices a slight flicker of hesitiation in Brittany's eyes.
Brittany wants this. She wants this more than anything, and her body is showing her that; screaming out for it. Somewhere deep in her heart though there's a part of Brittany that's still insecure about opening up to Santana like this. She loves her, she trusts her, but there's something - she doesn't know what it is - stopping her from giving in fully. "Nothing," Brittany mumbles.
Santana sits back and studies Brittany's face. She knows when she's lying. "Britt... I'm not going to do this if you aren't comfortable with it. Just talk to me," Santana pleads, as she rubs her hands up and down Brittany's sides reassuringly. It only adds fuel to the fire in Brittany's body, driving her want on even further.
"I'm comfortable with it," Brittany says honestly, because she is. She's comfortable letting Santana have free reign over her body, she's comfortable being intimate with her.
"Then what is it?" Santana asks.
Brittany wants to scream because she doesn't know. She doesn't know why she's hesitiating when this is everything she wants. She decides that honesty is probably best. "I... I don't know."
Santana's face softens. "Hey," she says gently, moving forward so she can cup Brittany's cheek. "We can just cuddle if you want, I don't care. All I want is to fall asleep beside you and wake up beside you," she whispers, honestly. "I love you."
With those three words, Brittany loses her resolve. The doubt in her heart disappears and she lets those words fill her up, surround her and protect her. "I love you too... and... and I want to."
"Are you sure?" Santana asks, wanting to know that Brittany's heart is really in this.
Brittany nods her head timidly. "Yeah," she says quietly. "I... want to make love to you."
Santana gulps, and she feels her eyes become hot, threatening tears. "I love you so much," she says, as she leans down to capture Brittany's lips in a kiss, her hand still cupping Brittany's cheek. As Santana's kisses move down her neck, across her collarbone and further south, Brittany softens and lets herself go, fully submitting herself to Santana. "You're beautiful," Santana whispers, looking her in the eye as she reaches round to remove Brittany's bra. The honesty and trust in Santana's gaze is enough for Brittany to know that this means just as much to both of them.
Brittany closes her eyes and lies back, fully submersing herself in feeling Santana on every inch of her.
Afterwards, lying naked beside Santana, Brittany knows that things might look different in the morning light. But right now, with the girl she loves in her arms, peaceful and breathing softly as sleep begins to take over, she knows that this is right where she's meant to be.
