Chapter 12 - Drunk On You (Luke Bryan)
"You're going to Cali for a week?" Brittany pouted as Santana told her the news. She watched as the girl nodded. "That means you're going to miss the annual going back to school weekend at the beach house.
Santana frowned. "I'm sorry, it's just Quinn and I always expected to go into senior year together and we have a tradition of our own."
The blonde nodded, understanding that it couldn't be easy having to change schools your last year of high school. "I'm going to miss you."
"It's only going to be a week B." Santana smiled hoping that it would cause the same affect on Brittany. Sure enough it did. "For the record, I'll miss you too."
"Britt she'll be back before you know it." Tina said as she sat on the couch next to her friend. The girl had been down since Santana left and she knew that Santana leaving wasn't the only thing the girl was worried about.
"What if she won't, be back. What if she changes her mind and wants to stay out there?"
Tina shook her head and wrapped her arm around Brittany's shoulders. "You know what the deal is, she doesn't even get the choice until Christmas, so she's definitely coming back."
"I can't lose her too, you know what it was like after Rachel left." Brittany laid her head down on Tina's shoulder. After her best friend had moved to New York, things sort of spiralled out of control. That's when the partying started, when she started hanging around with a different crowd. A crowd that now hated her because she broke away and decided she was better than some teenager always wanting to get wasted.
"You won't, I know we all had this idea of who she was going to be but we were so wrong. I see the way she looks at you, Mercedes and I saw what she was like when she thought you and Artie were together. More than anything you're a great friend to her and that's something she told me not something I'm saying to make you feel better. Give her a little credit and let's get our party on, she would not want you sitting here like a bump on the log." Brittany smiled and wrapped her arms around her friend before they both stood up and turned the volume on the stereo as high as it could go.
When Brittany woke up Sunday morning she couldn't help but be sad. Not only was the weekend almost over and school about to start but Santana still wasn't home. She knew the girl wasn't supposed to be home for another two days but she secretly hoped that the girl would come home sooner. As she sat up and threw her feet over the edge of the bed, willing herself to get up she realised she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone else. It wasn't like her but she figured she was allowed to have some time to wallow. Not being one to mop in front of everyone else she quietly got changed and headed down to the beach. She figured it was nothing that a good run couldn't beat, at least she hoped that it would beat it.
As the day wore on Brittany's mood hadn't changed even though she tried. She hadn't talked to Santana in about a day, not a single text and the girl wasn't responding to her. She knew that she shouldn't let it affect her but she really just missed her. After lunch she walked down to the end of the dock her mind turning with memories of Santana.
It was a blistering hot day, too hot to even lay by the pool. The only relief was a breeze that if you were lucky felt for 20 seconds before it too was washed away by the heat. Brittany wasn't sure what she wanted to do, it was too hot to bake, too hot to swim, it was even too hot to dance. She could stay in and watch movies but she was in the mood for something a little more exciting. Something that her and her friends could all do, something to bring some escape from the heat. That's when the idea dawned on her and she called Sam to fill him in on the details. He needed the pick me up, being as hung up on as he was on Quinn. Brittany might have had it bad for Santana but at least she was here and since Sam was one of her best friends she thought it was fitting to make sure he enjoyed at least a portion of his summer.
Walking across the street seemed to take forever, waiting for Santana to answer the door seemed to take even longer. "Lopez, hurry up its crazy hot out here." Finally Santana answered the door, her hair thrown up into a messy pony tail, wearing a pair sweat pants rolled up to the knees and a black tank top. She was holding her nails up to dry and Brittany couldn't help but smile. Santana didn't know it yet but to Brittany she was at her most beautiful when her hair was a mess and she had no make up on. It wasn't that she normally wasn't beautiful but there was something when the girl dressed down that spoke volumes to Brittany.
"Go put on one of those sexy lil bikini's so we can go down to the boat." She said as she moved past Santana into the house. Her charm only went so far and standing out in the heat was way past that. "I'm going to go into the living room and catch up on General Hospital, your mom and I missed it the other day." The blonde was half way to the living room when she finally heard the front door close.
"You and my mom watch soaps together?" Brittany smiled as Santana stood at the doorway, she nodded her response and shooed Santana away.
An hour later Brittany smiled as her, Tina, Mercedes and Santana sang with the top down in Santana's Mustang. When they reached the marina the boys were already there, hanging out the back of Sam's truck. "'bout time ya'll got here, let's get in the boat already it's scorchin'."
They spent all day on the boat, driving around, the cool breeze finally giving them some relief. Brittany was excited when she found out that Santana knew how to drive the boat, and well. Though she knew she shouldn't be too surprised, there wasn't much the girl couldn't do. They took pictures, they wake boarded, though Sam couldn't convince Santana too, even though he tried to explain it wasn't all that different from surfing. Finally after a long day of jumping into the ocean in an attempt to stay cool they brought the boat back in.
Sam helped Santana off the boat and when she turned around to help Brittany she laughed as the girls foot got caught on the rope causing her to fall. Santana wrapped her arms around here and smiled. "Now who's princess charming." She beamed as Brittany's cheeks went red, she was normally so composed but Santana seemed to find a way to knock her off balance. Before they knew what happened they saw a flash and looked over at Tina who had a camera in her hand. "I couldn't help it, you guys looked so cute, and the sunset behind you is amazing. I'm an artist, leave me alone."
Both girls laughed as Tina walked away before they turned and looked at the fading sun. "Thanks Britt."
"For what?"
Santana looked at Brittany and then back out at the ocean. "For making me feel like this place could be home."
"Hey Britt, come on, you gonna help us start dinner?" Brittany was brought of her daze by Mike's voice walking towards her.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah, be right there." She walked back up the dock and inside to the kitchen. She had promised she'd make her famous steak and chicken kabobs, although she wasn't feeling all that hungry herself. Right now all she wanted was Santana home and at this point she was pretty sure she wasn't hiding it very well.
After dinner they played a few card games but she really just wanted to go back out to the dock and resume her daydream. If Santana couldn't really be here, she could at least be here in her mind. She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing by the water, if it'd been a minute or ten when she heard the sound of someone walking down the dock. Turning around she saw Artie wheeling down the ramp. A minute later they were face to face. "Sam asked me to give it to you said it was your favourite, crown and ginger ale. Thanks for letting me come by, I know I've been a jerk and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." He looked genuinely sorry and Brittany wasn't one to hold grudges.
Taking the red Dixie cup from him she smiled, giving him a small hug. "Tell Sam thanks and no problem Artie, you're always welcome." After that she watched him rolling away, leaving her to her thoughts once more.
Brittany and Sam had gone down to the water to try and find Sam's chap stick that he dropped leaving the girls, Mike and a few of their other friends by the fire. The moon was bright and they didn't even need to pull out their cell phones for light when they saw the chap stick laying on the sand.
When they walked back up the beach towards their trucks and the fire they couldn't help but wonder when the music had gotten so loud. Not that it mattered, they were out in the middle of no where, the same place Brittany had brought Santana the first night the shorter girl had met her friends.
Now almost three months later Brittany smiled as she watched the same girl and now their friends dance on the tailgate of her truck. Ripped short shorts and a plaid shirt, Brittany's cowboy sitting on her head, a beer in one hand. She danced to the rhythm of the song without a single care in the world. The smile on her face only making the blonde realise she wouldn't know what to do if Santana Lopez wasn't in her life. It was hard to remember a time when the girl wasn't around even though it wasn't that long ago. That and she was hot, really really hot. Sure, she often talked about how beautiful Santana is but that did not take away from the fact that she thought the Latina was the sexiest person she had ever seen.
Santana looked over at her, her brown eyes sparkling in the moonlight. She put her hands out, beckoning her over. Smiling Brittany made her way to her truck, Santana helped her up and her arm instantly found its way around the brunette's waist. "I'm a little drunk on you and high on summertime." Brittany sang along with the song. "Girl you make my speakers go boom boom!" They spent the rest of the night cuddling by the fire, trying to stay home in the cool breeze.
She wasn't pleased with the volume that her party had reached. It wasn't that there was anyone around to car about the noise but it had subsequently brought her out of her day dream. She heard the faint sound of the same song from her memories playing from the house. Instead of turning around she kept looking out at the water, she didn't want her mood to ruin everyone else's night.
"Aren't you going to drink?"
Turning around she was about to tell whoever was bothering her off when her mouth dropped and she stood frozen. She wasn't sure if she was still day dreaming or if the girl standing in front of her was real. There she was, the girl of her dreams, sunglasses on, hair down naturally, white long sleeve shirt and ripped up blue jeans. The California sun treated her well, as her complexion was a little darker but only to someone who paid as much attention to her as she did.
"You…but it's not…I thought…" Brittany stumbled over her words even as Santana wrapped her arms around her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "You're letting alcohol go to waste and you aren't being the life of the party not like you sugar." Santana smiled as she kissed Brittany's shoulder. The girl was still speechless which only caused the brunette to laugh. "I know I'm home early but I had wanted to be here for this and now I wants to get my dance on with my girl."
"You're girl?"
Santana nodded. "Mhmm that's right my girl. Now come on and share that drink with me."
"You look beautiful by the way." Finally finding her words Brittany was grateful that her comment seemed to make Santana blush.
"I just got off a plane."
Brittany smile and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Breath taking, now let's go dance." Santana could only nod as she picked up the red cup from the railing of the dock. Brittany tugged her back up towards the house, a firm yet gentle grip on her hand like she wasn't going to let her go again.
