Chapter 25: Tug o' War

November, Sixth Year

I wasn't sure what woke me. All I was sure of was that I felt happier than I had in months. It took me a moment to figure out why. Then I felt her warm body next to mine, her arm hung loosely over my waist, and I remembered everything that had happened the day before. I turned my head to look at her. Her hair was a little messy from the rain yesterday, but it framed the side of her face perfectly in golden, slightly unruly waves. She was lying on her stomach, still dressed in the same clothes she'd gone out in yesterday and she looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake her.

After a quick glance to make sure my curtains were pulled tightly shut, I leaned in anyway. I grazed my lips against the corner of her mouth and just held there for a few seconds. It brought back memories of every kiss we had shared last night. I couldn't keep still for long though, and shifted to kiss her properly.

"Mm…"

I grinned against her lips as I heard her mumble, pressing a little more solidly and shifting so I was half hovering over her.

"Mhm!"

My eyes snapped open at the protest and I pulled back to find her staring up at me, her chest heaving. Her blue eyes were wide and my instincts were screaming at me to either kiss her again or run away. Instead, I stayed where I was. It was worth it for the smile I saw on her face a few seconds later when her breathing calmed. She pushed herself up with one hand and used the other to pull on the back of my head, crashing our lips together again.

"I thought-" she gasped, before leaning in again to kiss me more. "I thought – it was a – a dream," she breathed into my mouth between kisses. She rolled over properly, wrapping both arms around my shoulders and pulling me down so I fell against her. I moved my own hands to cushion her face, not quite able to believe this was happening. The feeling was obviously mutual - every so often Brittany would pull out of the kiss just to stare at me for a few seconds before diving back in.

A loud clunk ended my bliss and I pulled back immediately, twisting my head to try and locate the disturbance, as if I could see through the thick green curtains. I heard the shuffling of feet on the opposite side of the room and a few hushed words I couldn't make out. Brittany tugged at my neck, trying to draw me back, but I shook my head at her. Didn't she realise there were other people in the room? What if they'd heard?

There was more shuffling, then the clear sound of the dorm door clicking shut. I grinned and leaned back in to kiss Brittany, but she rolled away to sit on the edge of my bed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

"I'm starving," she commented.

"Should've finished that cheesecake," I replied, leaning in to kiss the back of her neck as it was revealed. I was about to wrap my arms around her when she stood, pushing the curtain open to a fortunately empty room.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast," she suggested, finally turning to present me with a wide smile.

I nodded in agreement - I needed to thank Quinn anyway - and scrambled up off the bed. I pulled my top off unabashedly, smirking when she paused in fixing her hair to gaze at me. I walked slowly over to my chest of drawers, enjoying the attention and slowly searching for another shirt.

"Mind if I borrow one?"

I turned my head in surprise to my left, having not heard Brittany approach, but couldn't say anything when I realised she was in a similar state of undress. I nodded mutely, my mind filling in the blanks of everything covered up as my eyes remained fixed on her. I could see her smirking, and I knew she was brushing her hip against mine on purpose. She reached over and plucked the shirt I had been planning to wear from below my hovering hand, moving her lips to my ear as she pulled back.

"Thanks, sweetie," she husked, her lips brushing the top of my ear. My breath caught in my throat and I was left to stare blindly at the open drawer when she moved away. After a few seconds I managed to pick one out and pull it over my head, taking a deep breath as I did so to try and get my head back in order. When I turned back to Brittany with a smile, she was sitting with an innocent expression on my bed. The top didn't quite reach her jeans, leaving a small strip of skin for me to see.

"Ready to go?" she chirped.

I took a breath and nodded, waiting for her to walk over before heading to the door. My hand knocked against hers and we both paused, but then I stepped forward to hold open the door for her and she just smiled. It was okay. She understood.

I still felt bad though. After she'd said how much it meant to her to hold my hand yesterday, I was denying her that today. She knew why, but I still felt guilty. As we left the Slytherin common room, I reached out with my little finger and caught hers. She looked over and smiled. It would have to do for now. It would have to do until I could be braver.

"Leave me alone!"

I stopped when I heard the high-pitched tone, recognising it immediately. I also recognised the gruffer voice, accompanied by a thud.

"Why don't you leave me alone, huh? Why do I always see you following me about? People are gonna start thinking I've been infected," the voice snarled.

I pulled away from Brittany, drawing my wand as I rounded the corner to find Kurt cowering a few metres from Karofsky, his normally pale face flushed and his feet skating across the floor as he struggled to stand.

"I'm not following you!" Kurt squeaked, wincing in anticipation as Karofsky raised his wand.

"Hey!"

Karofsky spun, surprise appearing on his face when he saw me. I was surprised too. I'd never stood up for Kurt before. I'd always been too scared of the insinuations that might follow.

"Back off," I ordered, a little quieter but still firmly.

Karofsky's expression turned to one of incredulity.

"Seriously? You're standing up for the-"

"I'm warning you, Karofsky!" I shouted, taking a step forward and raising my own wand. His eyes flashed to it. No doubt he remembered what I'd done to Azimio just a few weeks ago. I knew I couldn't afford to kick him off the team as well – but he didn't know that.

"Alright, alright, I'm going. You!" he added, rounding on Kurt who pressed himself back against the wall. "Stay out of my way! You won't always have girls about to look after you."

I waited until he was walking away to turn properly to Kurt, but Brittany hurried past me before I could reach him.

"Are you okay, Kurt? Did he hurt you?" she asked, kneeling and looking him up and down, her gaze pausing on his still-shaking feet.

I flicked my wand, ending the jelly-legs jinx, then offered a hand and pulled him to his feet. He hung on for a few moments longer than I was expecting, propping himself up against the wall as well as he took several deep breaths.

"I swear I wasn't following him," he gasped. "I just had to get potions supplies!"

I snorted. "I should hope not. Who'd want to follow Karofsky about? Just keep out of his way, yeah?"

Kurt looked as though he was about to say something else, but then he closed his mouth and just nodded. It was always interesting talking to him. It was like I never worried about saying something wrong, it made it so much easier to make conversation. I guess because he was so low on the Hogwarts food chain that no one would listen if he tried to spread rumours about me. Plus, he didn't seem the type to do that anyway.

"Coming to breakfast?" I asked.

He shook his head. "N-no, the owlery. My… my friend, the one at St. Mungo's. You remember?"

I smirked and nodded. "Pretty Boy Blaine, right?"

Kurt blinked at the description, his face starting to redden again. "Uh… well, yeah. Him. He promised to send the forms for going to the hospital again this summer."

"Oh no, is your friend sick?" Brittany asked in alarm. She glanced at me, and I knew she was thinking of the last time she'd been in St. Mungo's. I forced my eyes back to Kurt.

He turned to her and smiled, shaking his head. "No, don't worry, he works there, and he's going to help me work there too." My estimation of Kurt went up. He hadn't over-explained or given her a withering look like so many people did. It was ridiculous how many people thought Brittany was stupid just because she sometimes misunderstood - or because they misunderstood her. That was more often the case. "But I should go, I don't want to hold you up. And…" He hesitated, glancing down the hallway in the direction that Karofsky had gone. "Uh, thanks. You didn't have to… um… yeah, thanks," he muttered again, already backing away. I tried to hold in my smirk this time at his nervousness. He was thanking me, after all.

"Bye Kurt!" Brittany called after him. I raised my hand in a short wave then started towards the stairs, my little finger linked with Brittany's once again.

"That was nice, Santana," she murmured. I shrugged, and she knocked my shoulder. "It was! You showed him he doesn't have to be scared all the time. He can just be him."

I shrugged again, not liking how close those words hit home. I was sure she'd said it like that on purpose as well, but before I could ponder it too much I was frozen by her lips on my cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered. I tried to work out what exactly she was thanking me for, but then an all-too-familiar voice called from the top of the stairs.

"Brittany, hi!"

I watched as a flash of panic crossed her face, and my heart plummeted. That was stupid. I shouldn't have forgotten about him. But it looked like I wasn't the only one.

She turned towards the direction of the voice with a smile on her face. "Artie!"

I wondered if he could tell that her excitement was fake.

He jogged down the steps and pecked her on the lips, and just that small action made me want to hex him into the wall. Didn't he understand that she'd never actually wanted to be with him? That she'd just gone to him because I'd been stupid enough to hurt her?

"Where were you yesterday? I looked for you everywhere!"

"Oh, sorry. I was with Santana. She took me to London."

"Oh cool, like a late birthday present?" he asked, glancing at me as he took her hand and started back up the steps. That should be me. And did he have to point out it was late? It was only late because he'd got to her with his plans first. Bastard.

"I guess. It was amazing, though. We went on the London Eye, and to the Science Museum and Buckingham Palace! And after we went to dinner in this really great restaurant, it was so nice!"

So there, Romeo. Did he really think he could match that with his stupid dinner?

"Not as nice as my dinner though, right?" he asked with a grin, nudging her shoulder.

Apparently he did.

"Oh, yeah, your pasta was delicious," Brittany agreed. She still had that fake chirp to her voice, and she met my eyes for a moment before quickly looking away.

We entered the Great Hall together - well, with Brittany and Artie hand-in-hand and me trailing a few steps behind. I paused, noticing Quinn to one side, and tapped Brittany on the shoulder.

"I'll come join you in a minute, okay? I have to ask Quinn something."

She nodded and I backed away, smirking when looked at me instead of where she was walking and stepped on the back of Artie's ankle as a result.

I dropped down on the bench Quinn was sitting on, and she gave me this look that made me want to jump up again and hurry back over to Brittany. Her eyes flicked between me and the Hufflepuff table, and I did my best to maintain a mask of indifference, even managing a wink down the table at Chloe, who grinned cheerfully back.

"Well…?" Quinn asked with a smirk, shuffling closer. I looked around. There was no one near enough to hear. I shrugged anyway, and kept my voice low as I replied.

"Can't you see her over there eating breakfast with him?"

I didn't know where to look. At Quinn, to gauge her reaction to what was in essence the closest I'd ever got to admitting my feelings for Brittany? Around me, to make sure no one had heard? Over at Brittany, sitting next to Artie and probably laughing at his jokes like she always did? I settled for staring at the table.

"Can't you see her staring at you?"

I shifted my head a little to the left and found she was right - Artie was talking, but Brittany's attention was firmly away from him and instead settled on me. Our eyes met and she smiled, even as she nodded at what Artie was saying. I bit my lip to stop myself grinning outright when he stared at her in confusion, but then she had to turn back to him when he tapped her on the shoulder.

I fought to keep a calm expression when I realised Quinn was still smirking at me, and managed to roll my eyes in response.

"She's still playing happy families with him."

"But you made progress."

I glanced back over at the Hufflepuff table and saw her sneaking more glances at me.

"Yeah… I guess," I replied, not confident enough to let my hopes get too high. "Thanks, Quinn," I added in a firmer tone, giving her a small smile. Even though I couldn't admit everything out loud yet, she understood.

"Brittany, did you hear me?"

I dragged my eyes away from Santana and back to Artie, who was looking at me with a frown. I struggled to remember what he'd said. Something about cats…

"Lord Tubbington's been spying on the Gryffindors," I blurted out.

Artie stared at me, blinking a few times before he replied.

"…So you haven't seen Rory's cat?"

"Oh no, did he go hunting and not come back?" I asked in alarm.

Artie let out a huff. "Brittany, this is serious! Rory's really worried, he hasn't seen it at all in the past week!"

"Her," I corrected automatically as I tried to think of the last time I'd seen Róisín, staring down at my toast.

"Brittany!"

I looked up at him with wide eyes and was surprised to see him glaring at me. I'd never seen him look at me like that before. I didn't like it at all.

"I thought you'd understand, after what happened with your old cat. But never mind. If you see him, tell me," Artie snapped, turning back to his plate to spear a sausage.

"I… I was just thinking," I murmured. I didn't want him thinking I didn't care about Róisín. I did. She was a lovely cat, and she got on so well with Lord Tubbington. They'd sit together for hours in the common room.

Artie didn't reply, and I felt something solid settle into my gut.

Santana arrived at just the right time, sliding a hand across my shoulders as she slid in next to me, much closer than Artie was sitting. I turned to beam at her, my anxiety about Artie fading. Yes, I still had to work out what to do about him - he hadn't been on my mind at all last night. But looking at Santana, my worry was overtaken by just being happy as she smiled back. She loved me. I hadn't been making it up all in my head - the lingering touches and gazes, the 'te amo'. She actually, properly loved me. I just… I wished she hadn't pulled away earlier in the dorm, when she'd heard the others. I didn't want to complain though. I wanted to make sure she knew just how happy she'd made me. I slipped my hand away from my toast and under the table, tangling my fingers with hers. She momentarily froze, then I felt her fingers tighten around mine. I took a bite of toast and grinned at her as best I could while chewing. I only realised Artie was speaking again when I noticed her roll her eyes.

I turned to find Artie looking annoyed again, but I was more surprised to see Puck hovering behind him.

"Noah wants to know if you're coming to the party tonight," Artie explained after a moment's pause, when he realised I hadn't been listening again.

"Maybe we've got better things to do," Santana said, settling her chin onto my shoulder. I could feel her free hand resting lightly on my leg.

"Yeah, we're studying tonight, right Britt?" Artie interrupted. This time I thought it was him rolling his eyes at Santana. That was strange. Although, they'd never really liked each other, and they'd stopped even pretending to since I got hurt in that quidditch match. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want either of them hurt, especially by me.

"I don't want to study tonight. We should all go to the party together - you and me and Santana," I said. It was the best I could come up with. Judging by the look Artie was giving me - and the way Santana's chin had suddenly separated from my shoulder - they didn't agree.

"Great, Britt! Ten pm, normal place," Puck replied before either of them could object. He left straight away with a departing wink aimed at me, like it was some great plan we'd concocted. I didn't understand Puck sometimes. I didn't really dislike him that much anymore, now he'd stopped sleeping with Santana and started to grow up a bit, but he acted so strange sometimes.

"Well, I guess it's party time tonight. I'll see you later, Britt," Artie said, pulling his legs over the side of the bench. He pecked me once on the cheek, and left without another word. I tightened my hold on Santana's hand, and was relieved when I turned to look at her that she didn't look too mad - just slightly irritated. She didn't say anything though. I guessed she was too worried about what the response might be. I didn't even know what I might say about Artie. I still didn't know what to do, but at least I'd bought a little time.

"What are you going to wear tonight?" I asked, wanting to lighten the mood a little.

"Maybe that green dress I got for my birthday?" Santana mused, happy to drop the previous, unspoken conversation.

"But you always wear green. You should wear something different. Like red."

"I don't want to look like a Gryffindor," Santana retorted - but the way her lips were turned up at the corners let me know she was still listening. I leaned in closer, and lowered my voice so no one else would hear.

"But you look so hot in that red dress you got in Carlisle."

It's so hard not to laugh aloud when she freezes like that. It's like I can see her brain trying to work and come up with a response, but it's stopped working. Not that I wanted her brain to stop working, of course. I just liked being able to make her a bit flustered. It reassured me she wasn't making any of it up yesterday.

"Okay, I'll wear that," she muttered quietly as she began to recover. I smiled widely, then even wider when I felt her hand return to my leg under the table. If only I could work out what to do about Artie, tonight was going to be awesome. And in the meantime, I just had to keep showing Santana how happy she'd made me last night.

"San- Mm, Santana," I mumbled against her lips. My brain was telling me to do one thing, but my body had other ideas. I tried to order my hand to stop scrabbling with the back of Santana's bra and pull away, but only succeeded in making it shift around to paw at the front of her dress. Her mouth shifted to my neck and I managed to make the words I wanted to say come out. "We need to goooo, S'ntana…"

"No we don't," Santana hissed in reply, biting down on my neck. I let out a sigh, then grabbed onto my resolve again and shook my head. Then I wasn't sure if I should be agreeing or disagreeing, so I nodded as well.

"But, but I promised. I told Puck, and I said- I said we were going," I told her. She should already know this though. Her lips moved to the underside of my jaw and my nails dug into her skin, pulling her closer to me. "We said, we said we'd-"

"No, you said. And I don't wanna go to some stupid party. I want to drink some pepper-up potion in here with you," Santana whispered, her lips trailing across my jaw as she spoke. I shivered, and her fingers squeezed my waist. This was so hard. I didn't remember it ever being this hard before. Maybe that was because six months without Santana like this was way longer than I could deal with.

"But I promised Puck! And… and he's waiting," I added, closing my eyes so I wouldn't have to see her disappointed.

"I don't give a flying fuck if Puck's waiting, he's not interrupting this," Santana growled. My eyes flashed open, and catching sight of myself in the mirror I realised that only one of my arms was actually in my t-shirt, and that Santana's hands had moved to struggle with the button of my jeans. She was struggling a lot. It wasn't that hard to undo a button. I should help her.

But no. I couldn't. It was party time.

"Not Puck," I whispered, continuing to stare in the mirror and trying not to get too distracted by how Santana's dress had ridden up her legs. I must have pulled it up. Everything that had happened in the past half-hour felt a bit hazy. "Puck's not waiting. He… he's waiting," I mumbled. I didn't want to say it. Was she going to make me say it?

No. She stopped fiddling with my jeans and stumbled back a few steps until she hit the bathroom counter.

"Alright, he's waiting," she muttered, spinning on the spot to stare in the mirror, shuffling her dress down. It took me a few attempts to put my arm back into my sleeve, but finally I did and could turn to stare at Santana as she redid her makeup. I should probably try and be refrained… no, restrained?… but I didn't want to do that.

"I told you that dress'd be hot," I said, grinning as I looked her up and down and my eyes got stuck on her boobs. "And you match my shoes!" I pointed out in excitement when I realised, finally succeeding in looking away as I lifted one leg up to showcase my red boots that matched the colour of her dress perfectly. How had I never noticed that before? I almost toppled over, but Santana reached out just in time to grab the hem of my t-shirt and steady me. Her hand shifted down to run over the bare expanse of stomach that my top left uncovered, nails scratching lightly, but then she pulled back to carry on doing her makeup. I figured I should do the same, and soon all the smeared lipstick - and the new marks on my neck - had disappeared under a layer of makeup and charms. I didn't put too much on, though. My hands were a bit unsteady and I didn't want mascara warpaint. I kept having to stop myself from skipping over to Santana and going back to trying to pull her dress off. She had to know I was happy. I just didn't want to hurt Artie.

"You're not his."

I whipped my head around to stare at her. She was looking straight at me.

"He thinks you are, but you're not. Okay?"

I didn't know if I should smile or cry. She wanted me to be hers, but… he was still there. He was still waiting outside the common room for us to appear, even though he didn't really want to go. I couldn't hurt him, he'd been so good to me. But I couldn't hurt Santana either by saying that at the moment, I technically was his. I nodded stiffly, and she stepped in to give me one last, soft kiss, before pulling me by the hand out of the bathroom and dorm and down the stairs. I felt disappointed when her hand pulled away at the bottom of the stairs, but I knew I couldn't turn up for Artie holding hands with Santana.

He was leaning against the wall, looking very dressed-up in a white v-neck jumper and blue tie… but he didn't look very happy.

"I thought you said we were meeting at half ten?" he asked with a frown. His expression faded a bit when his eyes turned down and caught sight of my exposed stomach, but before I could reply Santana was stepping forward to glare at him.

"Look, Four-Eyes. Look at me," she snapped, and his eyes quickly shifted from me to her. "I don't know what you think you've been invited to, but it's a party, not a business meeting. You don't wear ties, and you don't turn up on time. Also, it's still Britt's birthday weekend so you've gotta be nice to her. Got it?"

"I am nice to her."

He stepped forward and wrapped an arm purposefully around me, pulling me forward and away from Santana. She looked like she was about to snap, so I reached out to grasp her hand quickly, squeezing once then using it to tug her forward and walk on my other side. I didn't like it being like this. It felt as if they were both pulling on a part of me like tug o' war. I wanted them both happy. That was all I really wanted. So we'd just have to talk about something happy.

"I got full marks in my last Muggle Studies test," I told them with a smile, making sure to look at both of them for equal amount of times. It made me a bit dizzy, looking back and forth so much.

"That's great, Brittany! Must have been all that studying we did," Artie said, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek.

"Like she needs your help studying to get top marks," Santana retorted. I could feel her fingers sliding a little below the hem of my jeans by my hip, and I wondered if Artie realised. We made it outside in silence, and when I slipped on some mud Artie's arm tightened a second before Santana's arm joined his in wrapping around me.

"I got her, you don't need to hold her up as well."

"Well obviously you don't have her or she wouldn't have slipped, would she? Concentrate on moving your own legs."

I wished she wouldn't say stuff like that. I felt bad that Artie couldn't walk as well as everyone else, even though he said it was so much better now he wasn't in a wheelchair, like he had been before Hogwarts. It was why I'd worked so hard to persuade Professor Schuester to let him on the quidditch team.

The wind was helping me think more clearly, getting rid of some of the effects of the drinks we'd had earlier, but now I was getting even more confused trying to work out what to do about them. I couldn't carry on like this for long. They couldn't even walk to a party together without arguing about me. And Santana had worked so hard to tell me how she felt, when I'd been waiting for it for so long. But Artie had always been nice, he'd never hurt me, and he loved me. They both loved me. I couldn't see what I could do without hurting one of them.

Both of them kept their arms around me as we made our way across the lawn, only pulling back when we had to get into the tunnel. I could hear scuffling behind me, but a few seconds later Santana appeared with a wide smile that I had to return. She stepped in and I thought she was going to start kissing me again, but then Artie was there as well and we had to carry on. I was starting to think that this party was a bad idea.

As usual the music echoed down the tunnel and my footsteps began to move in time with the beat as I bounced a little. Santana moved in pace with me, but it was a bit hard for Artie to keep up because the beat was fast. I settled for taking a step every two beats instead, and even though Santana rolled her eyes she slowed as well.

The moment we got into the Shrieking Shack, though, all I wanted to do was dance. The music was so loud and it was such good music – but Artie couldn't dance. Instead, I led the three of us through to the room that always served as storage for drinks and easily snagged a half-full bottle of something. I poured it out into three glasses, only spilling a little over the table, and passed them out with a smile each for Santana and Artie. They were both sticking close to me - even when Puck yelled across the room at Santana to join him, and Finn called Artie over to where he and Rory were talking, neither of them moved. It was kind of uncomfortable, really. I finished my drink quickly and poured another, my foot tapping the whole time.

"Hey Britt, you wanna dance?" Santana asked, setting her glass down on the table and shifting to stand in front of me, a hand held out. I hesitated, glancing between her and Artie. She sighed. "Really, Abrams, you're going to stop your girlfriend having fun just because you can't join in?" she demanded.

He rolled his eyes at her before turning to me with a tight smile.

"Go on. I'll wait here."

Santana was pulling me away before he'd even finished speaking, and after calling thanks I ran after her, almost tripping us both up when I stepped on the back of her shoe. The room the music was pounding from was crowded, but she pulled us through the throng of people easily until we were in the middle. People were pressing in on us from all sides, and it took her no time at all to spin around and press herself against my front, grinding backwards. I held in a gasp - I guessed she was drunker than I'd thought, or she just figured no one would notice us in this crowd, because she never normally did this - and rolled my body in response, snaking a hand forward to grasp her hip and pull her closer into me. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear what. I just closed my eyes, and danced in time with the music and Santana's body.

It was so hot in the room, surrounded by all those people. It was hard to breathe. All I could feel was Santana. Santana's body, rolling with mine. We were moving so in sync it was like we were just one person dancing. Maybe she wasn't as scared as I thought about what people would think. Maybe we could be just like I was with Artie at the moment. We wouldn't have to hide like we always had before.

I moved dry lips to her face, finding her ear. "You're so beautiful," I whispered, following it up with the tiniest kiss to her cheekbone. Her body jerked out of time from the music for a moment before grinding back with more force than before, making me have to bite my tongue to stop myself from making any noise. The room was getting really hot again.

"I'm really thirsty," I muttered.

"Really?"

"Really."

I knew why she didn't want to go get another drink. It was because Artie was there, and- Artie! I'd left him waiting for ages!

"Come on, Santana," I said loudly above the music, grabbing her hand and pulling her after me towards the drinks room. I got that heavy feeling in my stomach again as we approached and I saw Artie's expression. He wasn't happy. I wondered how long we'd been gone. But when he noticed us and marched over, he wasn't looking at me. He was glaring at Santana.

"Santana, get this into your head, she's my girlfriend! Just 'cause you're jealous she's spending time with me instead of you, doesn't mean you can keep her away from me!"

My mouth was open in shock, but Santana was already pushing past me to meet him eye-to-eye.

"Brittany can spend time with whoever she wants. You're accusing me of being jealous when you can't even deal with being on your own at a party for half an hour?" she spat.

"Well it's not like she gets to make her own decisions with you always making them for her! You've gotta back off!"

"No! You back off!"

"You're so-"

"Artie, come on, calm down," I said, stepping between them. I didn't like this at all. This was way worse than earlier. They needed to stop yelling. Artie's words were slurring a bit in a way I'd never heard him before – had he been drinking all this time?

"Why should I? Why're you defending her? You never see anything bad she does, she put you in the freaking Hospital Wing and you still act like she can do no wrong!"

My voice got stuck in my throat. He'd never yelled at me before.

"Don't talk to her like that," Santana snapped, but in a much lower voice than before. She was pressing against my arm, but I wouldn't let her closer to him.

"Look, Britt, can't you see how controlling she is?" Artie said. He was quieter too, but still insistent. I realised the noise all around us had died down - people were watching us.

"She's not," I responded automatically. "She's nice. You don't know how nice she is." He didn't. He didn't know what she'd done for me yesterday. He didn't understand her. He didn't understand what had happened with Tony, or what her parents were like.

"Ugh, just because she can put on an act around you doesn't mean she's nice. She's a bitch, and she's always manipulating you, so don't be so stu-"

The fist flying into his face stopped him saying anything else. I couldn't move. He was falling backwards and landed with a thump on the floor, one hand already moving up to where he'd been hit.

"Leave her alone!" Santana shouted, towering over him. She was to my left now. I didn't know how she'd got there, but she looked like she was going to hit him again. I reached out to grab her arm, tugging on it to try and pull her away. She glanced at me, then back at him.

"Please, Santana," I muttered. Everyone was watching, and I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to get away. "Please."

The second time I tugged she did move, following me to the exit and through, letting the music fade behind us. I didn't speak, I just kept walking down the tunnel. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what I was supposed to say.

"Britt…"

She stopped, and feeling the pull on my hand I stopped as well. I turned slowly to face her. She was biting her lip, uncertain.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Britt, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit him, I know you didn't want him hurt. But he was acting like you were-" Stupid. "Like you couldn't think for yourself. And it made me so mad, and I just lost it. I really am sor-"

I took one step closer and kissed her. I didn't want to think about it anymore. I didn't want to try and work out what to do. I just wanted to kiss her, and show her how proud of her I was for being brave. She mumbled something against my lips but I pressed in more, cupping her face with my hands and easily stopping her attempt to speak, until she was kissing me back just as hard. All the tension from dancing with her earlier, and kissing her in the bathroom, came spinning back to the forefront of my mind. I pulled back reluctantly, resting my forehead against hers and looking straight into her eyes. My breathing was even heavier than when we'd been dancing.

"I love you." I was still so close that my lips brushed against hers as I spoke. "I love you, and I want to show you. In our room."

She was breathing straight into my mouth, and it was making it hard not to kiss her again. She nodded, and I grinned, unable to resist leaning in for one last kiss before grabbing her hand again and walking backwards, pulling her further down the tunnel. Something moved behind her, catching my attention, and the smile slid off my face when I realised Artie was standing there, staring at us. Santana's head started to move in the direction I was looking, so I spun quickly, making her laugh as she hurried to catch up. I glanced back, and he was gone.