Santana stood shocked at the amount of people that were in the cafeteria. She had no idea that this many people worked at PF Productions. Her eyes scanned the crowd searching for him. Yes she had promised Rachel that she would be on her best behavior, but that only meant that she wouldn't cause a scene. The plan to talk to Jasper alone was still very firm in the forefront of her mind.
"Rachel I thought this was just a dinner?" The cafeteria was less of a fancy dining hall, more of a very elaborate high school prom with professional servers. Puck even had a dance floor set up in the corner of the room.
"Well it's a dinner party and you know Puck goes all out for anything that includes food and partying." Rachel grabbed Santana's hand and began to work her way through the tables to find her and Santana's seats. "We're at the same table as Puck and Quinn."
"Where are the interns?" Santana asked as once again started scanning the crowd. She wasn't sure what the other two looked like and since she had only seen Jasper once, he would most likely have to be pointed out to her unless he was grinning when she saw him.
"They have their own table with some of the other interns. You know directing, marketing, management." Rachel spoke offhandedly.
"Management interns? Does Quinn have one? Is she finding a stand in for when she has Davis?"
"No, Quinn is going to work from home when she has Davis. Besides, I will be recording the album and then Christmas break. So I won't be taking on anymore projects outside of music for a while unless it's something tiny that would only take a day or two. Quinn is not going to trust anyone to filter through offers and such, she always gets the best ones." Rachel continued to weave in and out of the tables until they finally made it to Quinn and Puck. There was no specific lay out of the tables, because Puck didn't want to make others feel like he was superior to them. Yes it was his business, but no business could run smoothly without the help of the others around him. They were all top dogs in his eyes.
"You're late Satan." Quinn stated with a smirk as Santana helped Rachel scoot her chair in. Yes, she was being sweet to make up for being late, but Quinn didn't need to know that.
"Don't even start. Puck tell them not to start." Rachel pouted in Puck's direction who was oblivious as he took large bites out of what Rachel assumed was an animal at some point. Santana and Quinn both chuckled at Puck, they weren't going to be hearing much from him tonight.
"Where's Beth? I can never pass up an opportunity to impose my satanism on her." Santana smirked as she leaned out of the way of the server who had walked up to pour her some ice water.
"She's at one of her friends spending the night. She has conditioning in the morning and then we're going to pick her up for summer orientation at her new school." Quinn responded before taking a bite of her salad.
"Conditioning? Summer orientation? What kind of school is she being sent to?" Santana asked horrified. She had never heard of middle school kids doing major conditioning way before their season started.
"Soccer is St. Lawrence Private's number one sport. Their conditioning is only once every couple of weeks and they just get to know new members on the team and learn new formations and stuff. She's super excited about it. The summer orientation is a formality to meet the teachers and get a summer reading list. All she has talked about lately is meeting the new music and dance teachers that they just recently hired. We don't know who they are yet but they're supposed to be great. They apparently co-teach, one does the music and the other does the dance. They alternate weeks and then do performances at the end of each month."
Rachel wondered who these teachers were. It wasn't unheard of for music and dance teachers to co-teach, especially at St. Lawrence Private. If soccer was their number one athletic then music and dance were their number one art representatives. "The school hasn't made any announcements about them?"
Quin shook her head. "They're keeping both of them hush hush at the moment. We've checked the school website and everything, the old teacher, who done both, is still listed under the faculty and staff."
"That's odd, I wonder why they are keeping them so quiet?" Santana asked.
Quinn shrugged her shoulders. She had no idea why they were so secretive about the new teachers. There was a chance they were older Broadway legends, it was New York after all. They would have to just wait and see.
Santana laid down her fork onto her plate. She was beyond stuffed. They were definitely going to have to dance some of this off later. Puck had informed them that when some of the stuffy people went home things were going to get a little livelier. In Puck terms that meant that the music was about to get louder and the alcohol would transition from wine and champagne to something a little harder. No wonder Beth was safely tucked away at a friends house tonight. Quinn had gotten a little offended at being referred to as a stuffy person since she couldn't drink, but Puck assured her that she could dance her feet off and he was getting too old to do any hard liquor. A lot of this was a bit more for the young guns who needed to loosen up a bit and stop trying to be poised perfection while working at PF Productions.
"When do I get to meet the interns?" Santana smirked as she looked at Rachel.
"I am actually surprised none of them have came over this evening." Rachel replied as she raised up in her chair looking around the room for any of the guys.
Puck snorted and looked away. He knew the reason as to why Jasper at least hadn't came over tonight. There was no telling what the other two were getting into. "Jasper is afraid to come over here." Santana raised an eyebrow at Puck as Rachel looked on confused, waiting for an explanation. "He has a crush on Rachel and he is scared of Santana since Quinn informed him that she would beat him up."
Rachel huffed and rolled her eyes. "There will be no beating any one up tonight. He's a sweet guy and I'm flattered he has a crush on me, but I am a happily engaged woman who will be getting married in the winter."
"Where is he?" Santana asked her question towards Puck because she knew Rachel wouldn't tell her is she spotted him.
"Santana you are not going to start anything. He has a crush and that's it. I will talk to him and tell him that if he can't keep his feelings in check then well, I guess you will have to find a new intern Puck." Rachel was not about to let Santana get carried away in a moment of jealousy and fly off the handle.
Instead of responding or even acknowledging that she had heard Rachel, Santana continued to stare at Puck until his eyes flickered once to his right. Quinn who had been quiet the whole time was wondering why in the hell Santana hadn't old Rachel about what they found out yet. Rachel was completely oblivious to the fact that Jasper was related to the Porters. Santana watched as Pucks eyes followed Jasper across the room as he made his way toward the doors that they had entered in. Thankfully Rachel wasn't paying any attention to her. This was her chance to get away and go after him.
"I swear I won't say anything or beat the shit out of him." Santana held up her hands in faux surrender. She could keep her feelings in check most of the time. This time however, she had every right to be outraged.
"You promise?" Rachel asked warily. She knew Santana was lying, but if she promised then she could put more trust in her to not hurt Jasper. That was one of the other many things that Rachel loved about Santana. Promises were serious agreements to Santana since so many had been broken for her as a child.
"I promise." Santana smiled reassuringly. She knew this was a promise she was going to have to break, but if it meant that she was going to keep Rachel safe then it was worth it. Santana leaned over to kiss Rachel's cheek, she couldn't seal this promise with a proper kiss. "I am going to go to bathroom and then we can dance for a bit before we head home if you want?" Rachel nodded her head and smiled at Santana as she watched her go. Puck decided to remain quiet and wait at least five minutes before he went after Santana. Quinn was already feeling anxious, she just knew that Santana was going to look for Jasper and let him on their little secret. There was a chance that things were about to get ugly. She subtly glanced at Puck who was already bouncing his knee in anticipation. He was going to go after her, maybe he could stop it before something truly bad did happen.
Jasper had been trying to keep an eye on Rachel and Santana all evening. He had seen them repeatedly but they really hadn't taken much notice to him at least. The dinner had started to wind down a little while ago, but there were still tons of people hanging around talking, drinking and dancing. His boss really did know how to throw a grand party. He had to go home soon and call his uncle to see if there were any updates or anything going on that he needed to know about.
He couldn't imagine that there was much to report on. Things had pretty much came to a stand still in all directions. There was no way that any of his cousins were getting out of prison soon and Ronald was probably laying out on a beach somewhere while the whole state of New York searched for him. Hell for all he knew that was probably what was in the backpack that Conner dropped in the airport, a vacation bag for Ronald. It made sense...kind of. Almost nothing made sense anymore except that he was to keep tabs on Rachel, Santana and Leroy at all times. Which he should probably check up on Leroy soon, the last time he was seen he was having a romantic date night with Bayani, the reason he wasn't here tonight with Rachel.
Deciding it was time to head out, Jasper excused himself from the table that he was sitting at. The other interns he had joined were nice and very pleasant. Too bad he wasn't going to be able to stick around and actually enjoy being friends with them. As he made his way across the room, he could feel eyes on him. Glancing around he spotted his boss looking right at him. He smiled and half waved before heading out the doors, he could feel a gaze settle on his back like a target. Someone was zeroing in him, he had to bolt before they followed. He ran towards the exit doors as quickly as he could searching desperately for his keys in his jacket pocket.
Santana had walked calmly towards the cafeteria doors, she didn't want Rachel to catch onto anything. As soon as she was out of Rachel's eye sight she bolted down the hallway assuming that Jasper was about to run. Santana rounded the corner that she just seen Jasper disappear around before heading towards the parking lot. If she couldn't talk to him maybe she could just run him over or something. She was so close to catching him that she could feel the fire under her steps grow hotter. Two seconds more and she could have her hands on him.
Jasper ran through the exit doors as fast as he could and headed straight for his car. He heard the exit door swing open hard as he pressed the button to unlock his doors. Dive and drive, he chanted to himself, he was almost home free for now at least.
"Jasper! Stop running you son of a bitch!" Santana shouted as she skidded to a halt in the parking lot. Where in the hell had all these cars came from all of a sudden? Did everyone decide to leave at once? There had been no one in the hallways, which obviously they were either still in the dinner or out here.
Jasper ignored Santana and glanced back long enough to see that she had stopped chasing him because she was blocked off by some cars. He jumped into his car as quickly as he could, thankful that he was on the East side of the parking lot and everyone seemed to exiting from the West. His eyes bulged as he saw Santana in his rear view mirror take off again dodging cars as they tried to leave. This woman was crazy! She was going to get herself ran over and for what reason? He actually didn't know...unless she knew something. Oh shit. She knew something. Dammit, if his uncle found that they knew anything about him, he was going to be in so much trouble. He didn't have time to think anymore as he put his car into gear and sped out of the parking lot trying not to crash into any one.
Santana came to a stop in the parking spot that Jasper had just left. There was no way she was getting into a car chase tonight. Rachel wouldn't be too happy about that and she had already been gone plenty of time to use the bathroom and come back. She would have to tell Rachel that she got lost or something. Santana sighed in defeat as she turned to make her way back into the building. She really needed to run more, she was a just a little bit winded.
So close! Don't worry though, Jasper's time will come.
Also, if you guess correctly who the teachers are...you win a virtual cookie!
Thank you to everyone who has viewed, reviewed, followed and favorited this story. Yay for mini milestones! Chapter 25 is a great chapter to be on and this story passed 10,000 views which makes me super happy. Thank you all for sticking with me.