Your alarm goes off way before you are ready for it. It rings a few times as you rise into the conscious world. You stretch and push your hair out of your face. You slam your hand down on the alarm and stop it from wailing at you.
You run through the shower, straighten your hair and pull on one of your signature skin tight dresses and a short jacket. It seems like it's going to rain today from what you saw out your bathroom window so you go with a short tailored leather jacket.
As you walk down the stairs you smell coffee so at least one of your parent's must be home. That surprises you. You decide to avoid them altogether and just grab your purse on the way out the door. You can get coffee on the way to school.
But halfway out the door, you get stopped. "Santana. Ven aqui."
You sigh and close the door. Your ankle boots click on the tile when you enter the kitchen. Your mom is sitting at the table, a stack of envelopes on the table in front of her.
You don't say anything. You make your way to the coffee maker and pull out a travel mug.
"What are these?" your mom asks.
You glance up at her and see her holding up some envelopes. You abandon your coffee and walk over to her. You take the envelopes from her. When you see the seals on the letters the wind is knocked out of you.
Your mom sips her coffee, "Those are some great schools mija."
You numbly nod staring at them. You start sorting. You figure that you should probably start checking the mail more often. You make your way through them and are surprised when you see one with Brittany's name on it. You only applied for her a few weeks ago. You shouldn't be getting a response this soon. Then you see the name on the top corner. You know what this is for.
You throw your arms around your mom. "Oh my god!"
Your mom laughs. "What is it?"
"Brittany got an audition," you grin. You take a deep breath. "To NYU." You look around and grab your purse off of the counter. "I have to tell her."
"Santana!" You mom calls.
You wheel around and look at her. She's holding your letters from the universities. "Aren't you going to open these?"
"I will when I get home," you start to walk out the door and then stop. "Shit, um, Quinn's mom is coming back this afternoon." You just walk over and take the letters, shoving them into your purse. "I'll text you what they say."
"Hey," your mom calls. "Why don't you just wait to tell me until you get home?"
You nod to her, "Alright. I may be a little late. Quinn's mom and all." You've been telling your mom about Quinn and her mom on the rare occasion that she calls you because it was better than talking about your relationship problems.
"I'll make something to take over there later tonight," your mom says, turning back to her coffee. "Have a good day."
"Yeah, you too," you add and walk out the door.
As you sit in your car, your ipod immediately goes into the dock for your car. You throw on some Nicki Minaj and head to Brittany's house.
Last night, things got a little heated, but you both cooled off before the clothes started to come off. You're starting to think that you're never going to have sex again. At least last night you finally started to actually make out. You almost forgot how breathless Brittany could actually make you.
As you drive, you remember something that you need to do. You grab your phone and tap as few buttons as you're stopped at a stop sign. You put the phone to your ear and actually take in the weather outside. The sky is overcast and it's chilly, but the sun is stuck between the horizon and the clouds, spraying everything with an early morning orange glow.
"Puckerman Electric Company. We'll remove your shorts."
"Does that ever work?" you ask back through the phone.
Puck chuckles, "Half the time. What's up?"
"How would you like to make fifty bucks at lunch?" you ask him.
"Does it have anything do with a south of your border?"
You roll your eyes, "No assface."
"Threesome?"
"I will give you twenty-five dollars to stop you right there," you pull onto Brittany's street. "Quinn's mom is coming back today. I need you to go mow the front and back yard at her house at lunch."
"Shit, you should have just said so," Puck sounds more serious that you've heard him in a while. "I'll do it for free."
"Really?" somehow you think there's a catch.
"Yeah. I know that Quinn has been having a hard time," he adds, "I'll get Finn, Sam, and Mike out there too. I know you and Rachel have been taking care of her, but let me know if there's something I can do."
"Yeah, definitely," you shouldn't really be surprised though. You know that Puck always has and will always have a soft spot for Quinn.
You pull to a stop outside of Brittany's house and she's already waiting for you on her front porch. She lets out her bright smile and you turn the music down a little bit as she gets into the car. She leans over and kisses your cheek. "Good morning."
"Good morning," you let out a ridiculous grin that only one person in the entire world can get out of you. You move your attention back to Puck, "I'll see you at school."
"Later," Puck says and hangs up.
Brittany turns the music up a little as you take off and drop your phone in your lap. "Can I borrow your lip-gloss? I lost mine again."
"Of course," you tell her, "It's in my purse."
She reaches behind the seat and grabs your purse, placing it in her lap. Before she can get to your lip gloss, you see her find the letters. She takes them out, looking them over, turning them over in her hands.
"You already applied all these places?" she asks carefully.
You nod as you make the last turn on the way to school. "Yeah. Keep looking."
She keeps looking through the letters. She finally comes across the one with her name on it. She blinks and looks it over. "New York University? I didn't-I didn't apply. At all."
"I know," you nod and pull into a your understood place in the student parking lot. "I did it for you…" Suddenly you're not so sure it was a good idea. Her blank stare isn't the look you were expecting. So you keep talking. "It's probably a letter to tell you when your audition is. You don't have to commit at all. I applied a bunch of other places for you too. Not just New York. You weren't really talking to me when I applied for you so I applied everywhere. There's Seattle and Chicago and LA-" You stop talking because you can see her eyes soften at you.
She picks up yours, "What about these?"
"I applied a long time ago," you shrug. You actually got all of your stuff in the first day you could apply because it's not like you had anything better to do than get drunk and feel sorry for yourself.
She thumbs through your letters and pulls three of them out. Then she puts the other ones back and hands you the three. You look at them and see that they're all schools in New York City. You look up at her questioningly.
"I want to open them together," she tells you. With a small smile she leans over and gives you a quick peck on the lips. "Because we've always talked about New York and at Nationals last year, we had so much fun."
You nod and look at the letters in your hand. The reason you're reluctant to open them is because you're scared you didn't get into anywhere, but Ohio State. You desperately want to get out of this state. You take a deep breath and nod to her.
She slips a finger under the flap of the envelope and paused to wait for you to start opening yours. You start with NYU because you secretly hope that you'll go to the same school. Sharing a dorm the first year, walking her to class, going to her recitals. You've missed her so much these last few months that you weren't together and you can't imagine your future without her.
You pull open the envelope and see the letter baiting you. Brittany extracts her letter and unfolds it, not even looking at you. So you watch her, your own letter dropping into you lap. As her eyes scan the letter you pray that she got an audition because if they could see her in person they'd know that she belongs with the best of the best.
She looks at you and yet again you can't read her. Tears well in her eyes and you panic. You take the letter from her and look it over, trying to find where they rejected her and a phone number you can call to bitch someone out. But as your eyes scan the page you see quite the opposite.
"Oh my god," you breath and look up at her. There are tears in her eyes, but a smile on her face. She throws her arms around you. As she holds you, you read the letter again. You read online for a long time, seeing how long the admission process takes, now much heartbreak aspiring dancers go through. The slim chance that anyone gets a real-life audition much less a straight forward acceptance. But you read the first line again:
Brittany Susan Pierce,
It is our pleasure to welcome you to the Tisch School of the Arts and extend you an invitation to our special summer program…
"You did it," you tell her and run your fingers through her hair. "You did it."
"How did you…" she starts. She takes the letter from your hand. "It's so early…what did you send them?"
"Well you know how I record all of your recitals like a creep?" you ask with a smile. She nods and you continue. "I made a video of everything they needed and got Coach Sue and Mr. Schue to write you a letter of recommendation and filled out everything for you. But you did it Britt. You worked so hard and you did it."
She pulls you into a deep kiss, her tongue dancing around yours. When she pulls away, she takes your hand, "Thank you so much."
"It was all you," you stroke her fingers.
"You didn't open yours," she tells you and picks yours up. You both tear into your admission letters. You get into two of the three schools, but it doesn't matter because Brittany is going to New York and you're going with her. T's just icing no the cake that you both go into NYU.
You don't forget your promise to Quinn that you'll stay with her mom if she needs you to. And you will if you need to. You just hope that it doesn't come to that.
Finally, you and Brittany realize that you're late to your first class. You and Brittany smile all the way to your first class where you part ways. You tell her that you want to borrow her admission letter to show Quinn. She tells you that you can have hers if you give her yours.
As you slide into your desk next to Quinn, the teacher notices you come in. "Ah, Ms. Lopez, so kind of you to join us."
"Sorry, college stuff," you smile at her, too happy to even reply.
The teacher rolls her eyes at you and turns around. That pisses you off.
"Excuse me," you raise your hand.
She turns back around and barely acknowledges you. "Yes?"
"Where did you go to college?" you ask her. You can feel Quinn's hand on your arm, trying to stop you.
"Ohio Christian," she tells you.
"Cute," you smile condescendingly at her. "So before you want to write me off as a Lima loser, ask me where I just got into school."
She does look intimidated now. You have a cocky smirk on your face and when she asks you, you tell her the two schools you got into. The quietly apologizes, giving you some half-assed excuse about a lack of sleep. You didn't listen and when she starts the lesson you hand Quinn Brittany's letter.
She looks it over her and her mouth drops open. She smiles at you, "Congratulations. Both of you. That's amazing."
"We bad," you smirk. "What about Rachel? Anything from Julliard yet?"
"Not yet," Quinn takes a deep breath, "And I applied way late so, I probably won't know for a few more weeks."
"Well," you smile at her, "When we all get in and move to New York City, it's going to be epic."
She smiles at you fully and looks at the board. But you're a little worried about her. You're worried about her and her mom, so you decide that you need to tell Brittany about your promise to Quinn, just in case. Because you stand by your word and you'll wait a year if you need to. You just hope it doesn't come down to that.
When you tell Brittany it takes her a minute but she smiles at you and pulls you into her arms. You should have expected her to be understanding. However, when she offers to stay with you, you shake your head and explain to her how dance it's a dream that can't be put off and how she has the opportunity of the lifetime.
She seems to agree with you for the moment and takes your hand to go to your next class together.
Words can't really describe what it feels like to hold her hand as you walk down the hall and not give a shit who is looking. And this may be the first time where you didn't care even the smallest bit. Because you know that you and Brittany are getting out of this town (at some point) and most of these people don't have the ambition or the brains or the will power to get out. Sure you had a little help with your grades because of Cheerios, but you worked your ass off for the Cheerios.
At lunch, you and Brittany go meet the guys at Quinn's house. You told Rachel what was going on because Quinn is starting to get antsy and you're contemplating taking her to the only spa in town to get a massage or something before her mom gets here.
You use the extra key Quinn gave you and unlock the door. It still smells like a retirement home inside so you go back to your car to get the air freshener and the candles you bought on the way. You and Brittany spray air freshener and light candles until the house doesn't smell like mothballs.
By the time you're done, the boys are putting everything back into the bed of Puck's truck. You lock the door and walk over to them. "How much do I owe you?"
Mike shakes his head, "Nothing. It's for Quinn."
Puck looks at his phone. "Well, we have forty-five minutes left of lunch. What do you guys say to lunch at Hooters? On me."
The guys smile and high five each other in the most predictable fashion. "You girls wanna come?" Sam asks.
You shrug and look to Brittany. She shakes her head. "No thanks. There's not much to look at." She smiles at you and gives you a wink.
"And your girlfriend has the best rack in town," Puck adds.
You go to hit him in the chest, but Brittany beats you to it. He places his hand over where she hit him and smirks. "Sorry B. It was a compliment to your girl though."
Brittany slips her arm around your waist, in a blatant show of possession. "Did she tell you what we got this morning?" When they all shake their heads, Puck's head with a pervy smile. She replies, "We got acceptance letters to NYU."
"You got into Tisch?" Mike asks her.
She nods.
You have to add, "This summer program too."
Mike walks over to her and hugs Brittany. "That's amazing. Congratulations."
Finn bumps shoulders with Sam. "What about your news?"
Sam blushes and looks down, "I um…I got a scholarship to Arizona State for swimming."
"Good job Trouty Mouth," you grin and hug him because Brittany and Mike are both busy talking about Tisch.
You and Brittany make your way back to school with some Thai food for both of you as well as Rachel and Quinn. They're both sitting next to each other, their chairs close together. Quinn is holding a book in their hands and her head is on Rachel's shoulder. It looks like they're reading together.
"So, I got lettuce wraps," you announce as you and Brittany walk in. "I hope that's cool."
They both look up at you and smile. You hand them their bag and sit in the chair next to Quinn. Brittany sits a row down from all of you and turns around in her seat.
"I heard you got into Tisch," Rachel smiles brightly at Brittany. You can see the jealousy in her eyes, but you can also see a sincere happiness. "Congratulations."
Quinn leans over next to you and whispers, "If you need Rachel and I for the next few weeks, we'll be in the tent next to her mailbox."
You chuckle and look past her to Rachel, "Don't worry Lil Streisand. Your letter is probably already in the mail."
Rachel nods dismissively. "What about you Santana? Are you excited about NYU?"
You nod, hesitantly. Your eyes flicker to Quinn.
Quinn takes your hand. "Hey. Rachel and I talked about it. I can take care of my mom and go to school at the same time. She'll move up to New York with Rachel and me. With the alimony and what's left of the settlement, my mom and I can live in an apartment and Rachel will have to stay in the dorm. It'll be great." She flexes her smile, "Especially if you and Brittany will be there."
"Well, if you change your mind," you offer feeling a little relieved. You promised her without thinking about you and Brittany going to New York together.
Quinn takes a deep breath and looks to Rachel, "Should I go to the house? See if anything needs to be done?"
"We were just there," Brittany cuts in. "The guys did the lawn and it smells good in your house now."
Quinn just looks at her for a moment before turning to you. She asks the silent question and you nod.
She silently and solemnly wraps her arms around your shoulders. You rub her back and close your eyes trying to gauge the hug. You feel it out and find that she's so grateful and scared out of her mind. "It'll be okay, Q. We'll all be there."
"Thanks Santana," Quinn whispers. When she lets go of you, she folds herself back into Rachel.
Rachel gives you a tense smile over Quinn's head before resting her cheek on top of Quinn's head.
Rachel talks Quinn into staying for glee because her mom isn't going to be back until half an hour after glee is over. She told her that the music would be good for her. You're not really looking forward to it though. You can tell Brittany isn't either. Especially not after all the texts that Brittany accidentally sent Mr. Schue.
So you take Brittany's hand, as a sign of support but also a sign of possession. You don't want Mr. Schue getting any ideas. You've always been weary of him.
You can see Mr. Schue glancing at Brittany from out of the corner of his eyes as he speaks with Puck. Puck has a guitar hanging off of his shoulder, so you figure he's going to sing something. You just pull her up the risers to sit behind Quinn and Rachel.
Finally, because Mr. Schue can never leave anything alone, he walks over toward you. She looks at Brittany who looks away. You don't know the exact content of the texts, but you know they were romantic and suggestive.
"Look," you say before he can open his mouth. "First off, don't flatter yourself. All those texts were for me. Brittany's phone broke and she thought she was texting me. There's no need for you to tell her it was inappropriate because we all know that not only would it be inappropriate, but completely nauseating."
Mr. Schue shifts his weight and scratched his chin. "Um… okay."
He tries to avoid looking directly at Brittany for the rest of the practice. You're completely fine with that. You really don't want him to ever look at her again.
Puck sings a soft song with the guys to Quinn. It gets Quinn all watery and sniffling. When the song is over, Quinn gets up and hugs all of the guys.
When glee is over, the four of your head to Quinn's house. Rachel's dads are already there waiting to be let in the house. Once inside everyone takes a position where they plan to wait.
Quinn is a hot mess next to you. She keeps straightening the pillows on the couch while Rachel helplessly watches from her perch on the arm of the loveseat and you stand by the window, your arms crossed. Finally one of Rachel's dads helps her with the cushions and Quinn joins you at the window.
Brittany stands from her seat in the armchair and walks over to you. She looks so unsure of what's going on. You keep forgetting that she has missed most of this mess. She stands close and leans on you. You put your arm around her waist and stroke the sliver of skin from the small of her back that's explodes and let the soft, warm skin calm you.
Brittany looks at you and finds your eyes. She bites her bottom lip as her eyes drop. Her voice is so low that you're the only one that can hear it. "I don't…I think I should go get some food. There's nothing in the kitchen and everyone has to eat. Plus, I don't want to like, scare her mom. There's a lot of people here."
You nod. You know that she's uncomfortable. This is a really tense environment. Quinn is practically vibrating the whole room by herself. You kiss her temple and rub her back. "Take my purse. My keys and my wallet are in there."
Brittany lets go of you and picks up your purse off of the coffee table. She tentatively walks up to Quinn. You can hear her tell Quinn that she's going to go get food and ask her what she wants. Quinn gives her a shaky smile. She hugs Brittany before answering. You can see Quinn shake her head and tell her that she doesn't know.
Rachel walks over to Brittany and gives her a short list of essentials. One of Rachel's dads hand her a fifty and tells her to use that money. Brittany glances back at you. A hopeful smile turns up one side of her lips. You return the hopeful smile before Brittany takes your car to the store.
It's not ten minutes after Brittany leaves that a black town car pulls to a stop at the curb. You're the sole person manning the window so you turn to everyone sitting around the living room. "She's here."
Quinn shoots to her feet and Rachel follows her. They both walk to the front door while you stay at the window watching a man in a suit get out and open the backseat door. You see Mrs. Fabray slowly rise out of the car. She stands there looking at the house like she's not sure it's hers. Then the man gets two suitcases out of the trunk and stand next to her, waiting for her to lead the way up.
She finally starts walking toward the house with the man behind her. Judy stops at the front door, feeling her pockets. You're pretty sure she doesn't have any keys on her.
You look to your right where Rachel and Quinn are having some intense eye contact. You clear your throat and Quinn's eyes shoot to you. You give a small nod. She nods back and inhales. She holds it in as she flips back the locks on the door.
She doesn't pull it open until Rachel places a supportive hand on her back. Only then does Quinn exhale and open the door.
You push off the windowsill and walk toward them, stopping next to the couch. You don't want to crowd Judy. You just want to be close enough to be supportive for Quinn.
You can already see the tears in Quinn's eyes. Then you take a few steps to the side to see her mom. She has the same watery eyes. Judy is the one that closes the gap between them. She wraps her arms around her daughter. It gets you a little misty, but you're sure as hell not going to cry.
"I'm so, so sorry Quinn," Judy says holding her.
One of Rachel's dads steps past them and gets her bags from the driver. Once back inside he closes the door.
Rachel takes a step back, away from them and takes your hand. A few months ago you would have jerked your hand away from her and yelled at her for even touching you, but this girl saved you from yourself. You let go of her hand and she immediately looks up at you, hurt. You just give her a small smile and envelope her shoulders in your arms. She rests her head on your shoulder and holds you around your waist.
Quinn and her mom hug for a good five minutes before they break away. Judy keeps her arm around Quinn and looks around. "Thank you all for coming."
She seems just like the Judy Fabray you used to know. She's polite and poised. She looks affectionately at her daughter who is clinging to her side. She looks back up at the group. "If you don't mind, I would like to talk to my daughter. We'll just step into the backyard. It's gorgeous outside."
Quinn hasn't looked away from her mom. She's awestruck and you have to say, you are too. She was a zombie from what how Quinn and Rachel described her and now she…normal.
As the backdoor closes, the front door opens. You turn to find Brittany lugging paper grocery bags in each arm. She rush to her and take one. Rachel and her dads follow you to the kitchen.
"I wish I knew what they were saying," Rachel sighs from next to the kitchen window that overlooks the backyard. She's being discreet and standing to the side so that they can't see her.
"Rachel," her daddy says, adjusting his glasses.
You smirk as she huffs, shuffling away from the window. You pick up some milk and walk over to the refrigerator with it. You don't think you've ever seen a refrigerator this empty that wasn't the one in your kitchen.
"I have to go get the food from Breadstix out of the car," Brittany says to no one in particular. She walks out again.
You empty the bags and fold them up, slipping them in the pantry like you remember Quinn's mom doing when you were smaller.
When you turn back around, Rachel is peeking out the window again. "Creeper," you state.
She rolls her eyes at you and steps away from the window. She opens a carton of strawberries and takes one out. She bites into it and takes a deep breath. You can see her thinking really deeply about something.
Before you can ask, Brittany returns with two bags labeled 'Breadstix'. Rachel's dads set out the food on the table and walk back into the kitchen where you all are. Brittany is now at your side, her hand in yours.
"Rach, are you okay?" one of her dads asks.
Your eyes move to her from the stack of breadsticks on the table and you see that her eyes are red. You know that look on her face. She's fighting tears. She sniffles and shakes her head now that everyone is looking at her. "I'm fine."
But her immediate actions to get a glass of water afterwards tell a different story.
"Rach," you say quietly, stepping over to her. You place your hand on her shoulder as she drains the glass. "What's up?"
She jerks her head toward the living room and you nod and follow her, grabbing Brittany's hand on the way. She's always been better with emotions than you.
"She's going to move out," Rachel states somberly with her arms crosses as soon as you're out of earshot of her dads, "She's going to move out and we won't be sleeping in the same bed or driving to school together or holding hands or eating lunch-" Her mouth is moving so fast you're scared she's going to hyperventilate.
"Slow down," you tell her. "First of all, none of that makes sense. Sure she maybe moving out and obviously you're not going to sleep in the same bed, but the rest of that stuff can happen."
"Yeah totally," Brittany nods, "Santana picks me up for school everyday. And we hold hands like all the time."
"But," Rachel starts, but gives up. She looks down at her feet. "She doesn't need me anymore."
You glance at Brittany. You're out of your depth here. Brittany takes your hand and addresses Rachel. "She may not need you anymore, but she still wants you."
And just like that Rachel's head rises up. Her eyes focus on Brittany as she lets the words sink in. Then she nods. "I…I guess that makes sense."
Brittany just smiles and looks at you. You smile back because she's a genius.
"Rachel," you hear Quinn calling from behind you.
She's standing in the doorway of the backdoor, a radiant smile on her face. When she has Rachel's attention she goes on, "My mom wants to…um…meet you…again."
Then Rachel's face morphs into full on panic mode, but before Brittany can talk her down, Quinn drags her outside. Rachel shoots a helpless look to her dads who just chuckle.
"That reminds me," Rachel's dad says, stepping out of the kitchen. He smiles kindly to Brittany. "May I have a word with you?"
You frown and search his face. He smiles at you and pats your shoulder. "I'm not going to be mean. I just want to talk to her."
You nod, but you're not entirely happy. You walk into the kitchen with Rachel's daddy. He smiles at you. "Don't worry. She'll be fine."
"What is he doing?" you ask, walking to the refrigerator and getting yourself some water.
"I imagine about the same thing Judy is doing," he sneakily walks over to the table, looks both ways and grabs a breadstick. He walks back over to you and offers it to you with a smile.
You break it in half, thinking. "So he's…talking to her about me?"
Rachel's daddy nods. "You and Quinn have spent a lot of time at our house over the past few months and you're like our daughter now. We're like…you're second parents. We want what's best for you."
You get overly emotional about what he tells you. You swallow all that mushy shit back and take a bite of the breadstick. When you respond, you do it with the only answer that seems to come to mind. "Thanks."
Brittany comes back with a smile on her face. She walks straight over to you and almost knocks you over in a hug. You love the smell of her. Her perfume, her shampoo, just everything about her.
Rachel's dad moves to the window to look outside. You smile at how much Rachel gets from her dads. He quickly jerks away from the window as the back door opens.
Quinn and Rachel lead the way inside, hand in hand with Judy walking in behind them a smile on her face. "What is that wonderful smell?"
"Breadstix," Rachel explains.
Judy smiles, "Wonderful. I'm sure you're all starving. Let's eat."
Rachel's dads don't want to intrude, but Judy insists that everyone stay. You're all sitting at the table, your eyes stay trained on Quinn who is being quiet despite the smile on her face. You think that she's having a problem with how okay her mom really is or is pretending to be.
After dinner, everyone helps clean up the mess and it only takes about five minutes. Rachel dads are ready to leave, you can tell. As you walk into the living room to check your phone that's been hiding in your purse all night, you hear whispering.
"I just don't want to leave you alone like this," you hear Rachel whisper.
They must be in the hallway just off of the living room.
"I'll be okay," Quinn whispers back. "My mom needs me to stay here. You know that I want to go home with you, but…"
"I understand," Rachel says more quietly than before.
"I love you okay?" Quinn tells her, "And you can pick me up for school tomorrow."
There's a pause. "I love you too. I'm just worried."
"Don't be worried," Quinn states, "We'll be fine. Maybe if my mom is okay, I'll come over this weekend."
"Fat chance," Rachel mumbles, "I'm still grounded."
Quinn chuckles, "I bet your dads would make an exception."
You hear them walking toward you and rush to your bag. You pull out your phone and see a few texts, but don't really look at them.
"I'll be right there," you hear Quinn say from behind you.
There is no more talking so you look up from your phone like you didn't hear their conversation. Quinn is standing there with her hands folded in front of her. She kicks at the ground, "Can I ask you a huge favor Santana?"
You nod, unsure of her request, but positive that you want to help.
"Can you…stay the night?" she asks. "I don't…I can't really sleep without Rachel and…I'm scared."
You don't ask her why she didn't let Rachel stay. You don't ask her why she just doesn't take her mom to the Berry house like you heard Rachel's dads talking about it. You just nod because you can see the terror in her eyes.
"Thank you," she licks her lips. "Just…don't tell Rachel okay?"
You nod again. "Sure."
Quinn nods to herself and walks back to the kitchen where everyone is.
The Berrys leave shortly after that and you have Brittany take your car home. She seems to understand your need to stay and hugs you, squeezing you tightly.
"I'll bring breakfast tomorrow," Brittany tells you before she walks to your car.
You just close the door when you hear Judy walk into the living room behind Quinn. "Well I don't know about you girls, but I've had a long day. I'm going to go to bed." She lets out a wistful smile, "In my own bed."
Quinn nods, "We're going to sleep in here." Quinn motions to the couch. Somehow you feel like you're not going to get much sleep.
After you change into some of Quinn's rejected old sweat pants and a t-shirt from middle school cheer camp that is too short. Quinn is not much better off in a pair of cotton shorts that you're sure are from the 80s and a holey sweatshirt.
"Sorry," she apologizes as you walk to the living room, some old blankets in your arms. "All my stuff is at…Rachel's."
You nod, "Not a problem." You make a mental note to text Brittany to ask she if you can borrow some clothes from her to bring you tomorrow.
You make Quinn take the couch by threatening to pull her weave out. She just laughs at you and you smile because that was your intention. You're laying across the loveseat, your feet and head propped up by the arms.
Quinn falls asleep after about an hour of watching black and white movies. You've been texting Brittany and not really paying attention so you don't know what's going on, but you figure that the movies remind Quinn of Rachel and are comforting in some way.
You nod off around one after Brittany has already fallen asleep, your phone hanging limply in your hand.
A creak jerks your out of your sleep. You open your eyes and look around. Many nights of sleeping alone in one of Lima's larger houses has turned you into a light sleeper. You check your phone and see that it's barely past four. You can see Quinn on the couch, her blanket on the floor and her arm hanging off of the couch, no doubt not sleeping very well at all.
Then you hear the creak again. It sounds like it's coming from upstairs so you get up to see what it is. It's freezing, so you wrap your blanket around you and hold your phone close. A small smile plays on your lips when you imagine what would happen if it's Rachel, sneaking in to check on Quinn and you walk in and scare her. You have to contain a small chuckle as you walk up the stairs.
However as you reach the top of the stairs, you hear something that sounds like a sniffle. As you walk down the hallway, you find only one door open. It's the door to Jenny's room. You swallow and slowly lean forward to peek in the room.
Judy is sitting on the bed, tears streaming down her face. You feel the air being sucked out of your lungs. She's in her Florence Henderson nightgown, staring at the ground.
Apparently a breath too many escapes your lips and her head jerks up to look at you. Your mouth is dry, but you manage to ask, "Are you…okay?"
She nods and wipes her face, standing from the bed. "I'm sorry I woke you."
"It's fine," you wave off her apology. "Do you need anything?"
She gives you a sad smile, "No thank you honey. I just…my therapist said that I…shut down because it stopped me from dealing with Jenny's death. Like it wouldn't be real. I'm just…trying to move through this." She sighs. "I'll be okay. Thank you for coming to check on me. Would you like some tea?"
You don't know what else to do, but agree. She walks past you and leads the way down the stairs. You follow her into the kitchen where she turns on the light. She pats the back of one of the chairs in the kitchen. You take that as a request to sit down so you do.
She looks at a box of tea from the cabinet and asks, "Chamomile okay with you?"
"Sure," you nod.
"I hate to ask, but can you tell me about Rachel?" Judy asks as she moves around the kitchen making the coffee. "I know she and Quinn used to be friends, but…she seems really sweet."
"She is," you agree, pulling the blanket tighter around you. The tile of the kitchen floor is cold so you pull your feet up in the chair. "Rachel would do anything for Quinn."
Judy walks to the table with two cups of tea and a bottle of honey. "That's good to hear. Quinn told me all about Rachel and how she's been taking care of her. She also told me a lot about you."
Your eyes drop to the table. When someone hears about you from other people, it's rarely good.
She chuckles, "Don't worry. It was all good. She told me how you've been there for her through all of this, doing whatever she needed. You being here with her on a school night is a testament to that."
You run your finger over the rim of your mug. "She's my best friend… besides Brittany."
"How are you and Brittany?" Judy asks with a motherly smile. "I feel like I'm so out of the loop now."
"We're good," you smile back at her. You bring the tea to your lips and softly blow on it before you take a sip. "We both got into universities in New York. Brittany's going to dance and I'm going to…do something."
"You have time to figure it out," she smiles at you.
You tentatively ask her about Pennsylvania. She understandingly glazes over the grounds where she stayed. She tells you about the horses and the hiking trails. You can tell she feels relieved to tell someone and you're happy to help because it in turn might help Quinn.
When the tea is gone, she sends you to bed and disappears down the hallway toward her bedroom. You easily fall asleep on the loveseat, burrowed in your blanket.
"Santana," you hear someone sing softly in your ear.
You smile because it's the one voice that you love hearing first thing in the morning. When you slowly open your eyes, Brittany is smiling at you. She gives you a good morning kiss and then tells you that it's time to go to school.
"Rachel and Quinn already left," Brittany explains. "Rachel wasn't really too happy when she found out you were here."
You sit up and run a hand through your hair. "Shit."
"Yeah," Brittany stands up and picks up a purple bag off of the floor. "I brought you some clothes and breakfast is in the car."
"Did you get coffee?" you ask her, opening the bag. You stifle a laugh. This is definitely more of a Brittany outfit than a Santana one.
She nods. "Of course." She looks at the bag, "I also brought your emergency makeup bag that was in my bathroom."
You smile. Emergency makeup bag meaning the small bag you have of essentials. A toothbrush, your shade of mascara, nail polish, a hair tie, nail file, a sample bottle of your perfume and a fifty dollar bill. "Thank you." You kiss her, "I'm going to go get read. I'll be five minutes."
"Cool," she smiles.
In the bathroom, you get ready, brush your hair, pull on the purple demin shorts and baggy, off-the-shoulder shirt. You pull on the blue trapper hat and the brightly colored leg warmers because it is fairly chilly outside. But you're going to wear it because she'll be disappointed if you don't.
When you walk out, she hands you a puffy coat that is definitely from her closet. You smile and pull it on, "You're the best."
You drink coffee, eat pastries and rock out on the way to school. Being with Brittany always makes you so happy especially when she's smiling the way she is.
"I told my mom about Tisch last night," she smiles as you pull into the school parking lot. "She told me that she's going to start looking at the dorms we're supposed to stay in."
You smile back. You get more excited about the idea of living with Brittany everyday. When you both walk into school hand in hand, you get a few weird, but knowing looks. It's completely obvious that Brittany dressed you, but you don't care. They have their weird looks. You have New York and Brittany.
At your locker, you open it without actually thinking about it. Brittany is playing with your free hand. You look inside and try to decide what you need. Your fingers run over the spines of all of your books before you pull out a magazine and your trusty emery board. You scan the locker again and decide that's all you need for your English class.
You close the locker and drop Brittany off at Home Ec with an innocent school kiss before heading to your own class.