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Santana: I had to make a lame bucket list in therapy. Wanna help me cross some of it off?
Brittany: Sure. What do you need help doing?
Santana: Hm. Rock climbing, hang gliding. Spend the night in the mall. Cosplay. Die my hair blonde.
Brittany: We live in Lima, the only things we'll probably be able to do is dye your hair or sleep in the mall. There can't be three blondes in the Unholy Trinity, so I say sleeping in the mall.
Santana: It wouldn't be like platinum, more like honey. Okay. In pajamas?
Brittany :The week you dye your hair, I'll dye mine. Just so there isn't any confusion. Well, unless you wanna be nude, I figured we would be in pajamas.
Santana: Is nude sleeping in the mall also an option?
Brittany: It can be. What if we get in trouble?
Santana: We totally won't. We'll wear all black like ninjas until the naked part kicks
Brittany: Then once we're naked, the cameras will see us. But, I'm totally up for a challenge When are we going to do this?
Santana: first we make the cameras go out or else we cover them up ninja style. uh tonight?
Brittany :How do you even make a camera go out? I just don't want us to be naked and on the news. Tonight sounds lovely.
Santana: I got it, Britt, don't worry. Okay let's do it. We'll be in the mall by eight, it closes at nine.
Santana: You know I'm kidding about the naked part, right?
88
After Brittany had run past Santana's house to pick the girl up for the night's events, they pulled into the parking lot at the mall and parked towards the back. Though she'd never admit it to Santana, she was rather nervous about sleeping in the mall. Sleeping in the mall was breaking the law; the two of them could get arrested for trespassing. If she got arrested, there was no way Brittany would ever see Santana ever again… or Tina… or anyone else for that matter. Her mom would ground her until the day she died.
She looked over at Santana and sighed. "So… Are we really going to do this?"
Deep down the blonde hoped that Santana would quickly respond with a 'no', but Santana was not one to back out of things. She knew that Santana would say yes, they'd wonder around the mall for an hour, possibly buy something and then find somewhere in there to sleep. She continuously asked herself why she agreed to it.
Santana is rather excited. This had been one of the least interesting things to do on her bucket list, one of the ones that mattered least in the scheme of her life, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be fun to do. She had always been tempted to try to sleep on one of the "midget" beds in the department stores since she was a little kid, and she had only intensified her desire after reading a book about children who lived in a museum. Now she and Brittany were going to try it out, and she was anticipating it like a little kid.
She had deliberately chosen a purse that was oversized, able to carry her pajamas, toothbrush and hairbrush, and other accessories. As she walked across the parking lot with Brittany, she nodded impatiently, barely listening to her.
"Yeah, of course. This is gonna be so cool, Britt. We'll jump on the beds and play hide and go seek in the clothes racks and it will all totally be in the dark because if we turn on the lights people will see we're there, and the cameras can't see us in the dark. They're gonna come in tomorrow and go WHAT THE HELL when they see that the beds aren't made, this will be so sweet."
Taking Brittany's hand and swinging it like a little kid, she went on excitedly. "So what we'll do is we'll hide in either the dressing room, and put our feet up so they won't see us, or in one of the clothing racks. Then once they checked the mall and cleaned the bathroom and stuff and lock up, we'll come out and do whatever we want."
"Okay, but what if we get caught? What do we do then? Do we like, run away or do we just take it? I don't know what I'm doing here." Brittany turned her head to where she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking at all, her eyes locked on Santana. There was no way she was going to jail for a thing listed on a bucket list- she was too young and way too pretty.
Brittany looked down at their hands for a moment, how Santana was so calm about everything was beyond her. "You know an awful lot about staying in malls, Santana. How do I know you're not like living in malls all the time?" She jokingly asked. "But that's actually a pretty genius idea. I mean, I doubt they even check the dressing rooms; it's probably not first priority or anything."
"Um…if we get caught…we totally fell asleep," Santana declared, smirking as she thought this out. "We'll say…we were making out in the dressing rooms and we got tired and fell asleep…and then we woke up and we were locked in and our cells were dead so we figured, what the hell, might as well have fun. What are they gonna do, somehow prove we didn't?"
"But we're not gonna get caught," she assured her as they entered JC Penney's, lowering her voice. "This is gonna be awesome, promise."
"Brilliant." Brittany's smile grew as she hopped off the ground once. "And if we tell them that we were making out, it'd totally get us off the hook. You have a good mind, Santana Lopez." She used her free hand to tap her own temple, a smile still on her face
Brittany held out her pinky as soon as they stepped in the store. "You've got to pinky promise me. You have to promise that we're not going to get caught. And if we do and wind up going to prison, you will use that genius mind of yours and find a way to make some sort of explosion or something break me out of there."
Smiling, she took Brittany's pinky with hers, continuing to walk with it linked as she promised as the girl had asked. "Pinky promise we won't get caught, and if we do, I will totes get you off scott free. Come on, when have I ever gotten you in too much trouble?"
Surely Brittany has forgotten by now individual times.
"Well, they could if they found out we weren't really making out, but I think that'd probably be pretty hard for them to figure out." Brittany nodded her head. "Exactly what I was thinking! What person wouldn't be though?"
Brittany tightened her pinky around Santana's. "Okay, I believe you… but if it doesn't happen you better defend me in prison." Brittany bit her lip as she took a moment to think of a time Santana had gotten her in trouble. "Well, I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I'm sure we've gotten in trouble a few times. Nothing we couldn't get out of though. So, I'm trusting you."
"So we're totally covered, no worries," Santana assures her. Swinging their hands again, pinkies locked, she heads towards the lingerie department. "We should probably spend lots of time here to back our story up."
As Brittany tells her she trusts her, she smiles genuinely, then wraps her arm around Brittany's waist, nuzzling her head into her shoulder. "I got your back, Britts. Always…hm do they have toys in this store? I think they have a Disney section now."
"I guess so." Brittany shrugged. "Probably, wanting to make out after trying on lingerie makes total sense… and, while we're here I could maybe buy something cute for me." She let her hands hit the clothes as they walked through.
Brittany smiled and let out a small giggle. "Oh, yeah I'm pretty sure they have toys. Why? Do you want some Disney toys for you room, Santana? It'll probably brighten your room up a bit" She put her arm around Santana.
Santana rolled her eyes at her, but is still smiling, the scowl she tries to give her fading fast. "Lame, Britt. For you. You like to cuddle with stuff when you sleep and the midget beds are tiny. I guess if we curl up we can still share though."
Arm around Brittany's waist, she begins to examine some of the bras still entwined with her loosely, fingering the first one she sees. "You think my room's not bright?"
"Do you want me to buy you something too? I'm just thinking you know, I'm going to be in a hotel with Tina on Valentine's Day, so I should have something cute." Brittany turned her head to look at Santana. "You just want an excuse to cuddle with me."
Brittany shrugged once again. "It's not that it's not bright, it's bright in the way that it expresses you… but it's black. Tina's room is brighter color than yours is."
"I need something for Rachel…and me. Even though I'll probably have it on for like, twenty seconds," Santana replied, deliberately avoiding talking about Tina. She doesn't want to get upset or jealous, not now, when they're having fun. "I never need an excuse to cuddle with you. That's just a given right."
But the vow not to be jealous is starting to be damaged when Brittany mentions Tina again. Starting to frown, Santana responds with a bit of an edge to her tone as she selects undergarments for herself and for Rachel. "I'm not Tina. I like my room exactly how it is. There's nothing wrong with my room and not having rainbows plastered everywhere. It's MY room."
Brittany scrunched her face up, as she looked at a price tag. "You still need to look extremely hot for those 20 seconds you have it on. Although, I'm sure you could pretty much walk in there with only a garbage bag on and still look good- it'd also be a lot easier to tear off." She smiled, still keeping her eyes on the bras she was shuffling through. "Yeah, that is true."
Her eyebrows rose when Santana spoke, she took a single step away from the brunette. "I was obviously joking about the Disney thing. I told you your room was fine, that it expresses you… just calm down a bit."
"True story. But bras make the goodies look more enticing," Santana shrugged, replying automatically. She is still frowning, arms crossed over her chest now, and notices when Brittany steps back from her, taking this somewhat defensively too.
"My room is awesome. Way better than whatever lame crap Tina has, I bet."
She is almost sulking as she continues to leaf through the bras, but when an announcement comes on over the intercom, announcing ten minutes until closing, her perks up again, grabbing Brittany's arm. "Come on, we have to go hide and pretend to be making out now!"
"Well, duh, of course they do." She smiled slightly at Santana. Listening to her speak once again, she was scared that Santana was going to blow the bedroom thing up way bigger than it needed to be. She kept herself from talking about how nice Tina's room was, especially with the drawings everywhere. "Well, personally I think my room is better than both of you guys', but whatever."
When Santana grabbed her arm Brittany's heart stopped for a moment, that feeling of getting caught came rushing back, but she couldn't stop herself from following right behind Santana. "Oh… okay." She simply said, no other words coming to her mind.
Leading Brittany towards the dressing room, bra still in hand, Santana is careful to walk casually, as though she's in no hurry at all. As she pulls Brittany into the dressing room, choosing the handicapped stall, she sits on its bench, tugging the blonde to sit beside her and pull up her feet so they can't be seen. Then, another thought occurring, she reaches to pull the door just slightly ajar- enough that no one can see inside, but where if someone was passing by, they would simply think no one was in there and not bothering looking inside to check.
"I'm a genius," she declares, her voice a whisper now, and she links pinkies with Brittany again, leaning her head against her shoulder and grinning. "Now we just wait a while."
Brittany looked around as they walked, making sure that no one was paying any attention to them walking into the dressing room. If they were going to do this, she wasn't going to get caught before they were even doing anything illegal. She sat up with Santana and brought her legs up to her chest. When Santana got back up, to open the door, Brittany got a bit considered, but noticed no one would even still be able to see in.
"You really are," She whispered back. Brittany laid her head on Santana's, waiting while everything was getting closed up was going to be the hard part. She was ready to run umuck through the mall with Santana.
Santana's patience level is close to zero, and within five minute after the store has officially closed to the public she is fidgeting, bored. She hums to herself softly, tapping her fingers on her own leg, but immediately hushes when she hears someone enter the dressing room. Tensing, putting a hand over Brittany's mouth, she holds perfectly still as the employee half heartedly walks around, opening two dressing rooms that were closed, then flips off the lights and walks out. Sitting in the dark, Santana releases her breath and then squeezes Brittany's hand, grinning.
Outside the employees are locking up the jewelry for the night, straightening the worse of the messes, and taking care of the registers. Santana sits, waiting, for another thirty minutes, then another twenty. It seems then that all lights are out and they are locked up, and she slowly sits up. "No cameras in dressing rooms 'cause peeping tom laws…and it's dark now…we're totally covered."
The blonde chewed on her lip as she waited for something to happen, whether it be someone walked in or they finally closed the mall. She listened to Santana's humming, up until Santana put her hand over her mouth. She sat there, not moving a single muscle as she waited for the employee to get through the dressing rooms, terrified that he'd swing the door open and see them. She pulled Santana's hand off her mouth and smiled right back at the other girl.
She was ready to get up and get out, but instead had to wait around for them to finish closing up. She felt like they'd been sitting in that dressing room for hours. When Santana finally spoke, she knew she wasn't going to be able to see her so clearly, but still looked over to her. "So, what exactly do you want to do first?"
Fumbling for Brittany's hand, Santana pulled her to her feet, then kept hold of her hand so they would be less likely to stumble or trip over something in the dark. She didn't admit that part of her reason for holding onto her hand was because she was nervous too, her stomach in knots as much from this as from excitement.
"Beds," she said immediately, wanting to jump on them. Giggling a little, she starts to inch her way out of the dressing room, getting used to the darkness. "I can jump higher than you can."
Brittany held on tight to Santana's hand, not wanting to get separated from her. At this point, she wasn't feeling as nervous, sure there were cameras around, but as long as they were sneaky enough they wouldn't get caught. She was positive they would be able to make it through the night without anyone even noticing they were there.
She laughed when Santana told her where they were going. She was excited to be having this time with Santana; they didn't get to do crazy stuff together all that often. "Only in your dreams, Lopez. There's no way you can jump higher than I can."
"Oh, bring it," Santana shot back, outright grinning now, dimples flickering into view. One hand stretched in front of her as her eyes adjusted, she walked forward with Brittany, frequently knocking into a clothes rack and either swearing or giggling each time. As they slowly made their way to the bed department, several small beds were lined up in a row, and she pulled Brittany on one with her, beginning to jump. One issue was that there wasn't much room on the shortened beds to have much space to land, so she began to jump from bed to bed, laughing out loud.
"I win!"
Brittany had a smile plastered on her face- she couldn't stop smiling even if she wanted to. The sound of Santana running into things made her laugh just a little bit louder each time. When they finally found their way into the mattress store, she got giddy; she hadn't jumped on beds for a long time. This was making her feel like a little kid again. With the help of Santana, she got up onto one of the beds and immediately started jumping.
"Oh, just wish you won!" She was laughed as she spoke, playfully rolling her eyes while she still bounced on one of the beds.
Jumping onto the same bed Brittany was on, Santana took her hands, holding them as she bounced up and down, giggling uncontrollably. Her hair is flying all over her face, her eyes are squinted up with her huge smile, and she is thoroughly enjoying every second of this, feeling like a kid again.
She forgets her stress and her anxieties then, her dread of her futures and her jealousy. She lets go in the moment and simply has fun, and when she falls off the bed with one over enthused jump, dragging Brittany with her, she is still giggling.
Brittany grabbed on tight to Santana's hands when she came back to the same bed, she smiled as she listened to Santana's giggles. The blonde let go of her before plopping down onto her butt, she sat there looking up at Santana until she sat down with her.
She lets out a small laugh before she spoke. "We should do stuff like this all the time. This is the most fun I've had in forever." She giggled again. "Maybe not stay in malls over-night all the time, but do risky things more often."
Breathless, her hair sticking out all over the place, Santana sat next to Brittany, grinning over at her. "We totes should. See how awesome I am? Told you."
She wrapped her arm around Brittany's shoulders and nuzzled her head into her, then, pulling back, stood up abruptly, reaching for her hand. "Let's play Marco Polo in the dark!"
Brittany nodded her head, still with a huge smile stuck on her face. "I obviously knew how awesome you were. But, this is actually way more fun and I thought it would be." She placed her hand on Santana's leg as she breathed out heavily.
The blonde reached up and grabbed Santana's hand once again as she stood up, then jumped off the bed. "Okay!"
"No, wait, you can't hold my hand, that's the point of Marco Polo," Santana explained, detaching. "You go hide somewhere and I walk around trying to find you. Every time I say Marco you say Polo until I can. Here, go hide."
She closes her eyes, counting to fifty as fast as she can in her head. No need to let her get too far ahead.
"Oh… okay." She was happy Santana couldn't see the pink shade she felt come to her cheeks she then allowed her hands to fall and slap her legs. "I'll just go hid… over….. somewhere." She pointed in two different directions.
Brittany ran and quietly as she could to the very back of the store, where only the employees were allowed. Mostly because she just wanted to see what it looked like.
Santana cheats with the counting, skipping the last five numbers, and turns around, swiveling her head as she looks for Brittany in the darkness. She can't see anything or anyone moving, only many shadows all around the store, and she feels a stir of unease, creeped out in spite of herself. Shaking it off, she calls out to Brittany, beginning to move forward.
"Marco!"
Standing in the room, Brittany gets as good of a look as she could with it being as dark as it was. She didn't like standing in the dark for so long, especially without anyone right next to her, she knew Santana was still in the same store, but it wasn't the same. The blonde nearly had a heart-attack when she heard Santana yell.
She kept the door cracked just enough to where Santana would be able to hear her. "Polo!"
Santana's head turns in the direction she thinks Brittany's voice is coming from, but it's hard for her to be sure. She starts to move forward slowly, hands outstretched, stopping frequently. She trips over a suitcase in one of the houseware departments and swears, rubbing her leg, before calling again. "Marco?"
Since Brittany was so close to the door, she had to try hard not to giggle, occasionally a small one would slip out, but she didn't want to give Santana more hints than she was supposed to. When she wasn't speaking, she had to hold her hands over her mouth.
"Polo!"
Head turning, Santana continued to inch forward. This time she starts to sing loudly, hoping Brittany will start giggling and make it easier to find her. "Allllll my single ladies…put a ring on it!"
Brittany pressed her hand harder onto her mouth, she was trying her hardest not to laugh. Small giggles would slip out every once in a while as she listened to Santana sing. She wanted to tell Santana that she wasn't being fair, but she was too busy holding in her laugh- and hiding.
As cautiously as she could manage in the dark, Santana starts adding dance moves too, figuring that Brittany is probably watching her from wherever she is. She is barely moving towards her now, switching her song to "My Cup." Brittany isn't laughing loudly enough where she can hear yet, and Santana holds back her own grin, continuing to sing.
The blonde was peeking through the crack of the door, she couldn't see Santana very well, but could see her doing the hand movements to the song. Unwillingly, a loud laugh escaped her lips- she slapped her hands back onto her mouth. Then she heard her singing My Cup, she slid down the wall, pushing her hands on her mouth harder and harder. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep her laugh in much longer.
Brittany is holding out a lot better than Santana had expected. This means war. Really pushing the envelope now, Santana begins with "Trouty mouth," wildly gesturing as she goes and occasionally knocking her elbows into racks as she melodramatically mimes along with it. This one HAS to get Britt going
Hearing Santana singing yet another song- this one the funniest of them all- she can't help but laugh. She laughed so hard she even snorted once, but quickly pulled her hands back over her mouth to muffle the sound of her laughter; she knew this time Santana would more than likely find her.
This time Santana hears Brittany's muffled laughter and this helps her to locate her. Grinning, still singing "Trouty Mouth" at the top of her lungs now, she draws closer, pretty sure now she knows the general area. Pausing occasionally to listen, then singing another few lines, she finally tracks Brittany down. Throwing open the door to the employee area, she crows triumphantly, "MARCO!"
Brittany jumped when Santana swung the door open, but it just made her laugh even harder than she had been. She walked over to Santana and placed her hand on Santana's arm.
"Polo." She tried to sound sad, but she was laughing too hard to. "That totally wasn't fair, Santana."
"Was too," Santana is grinning. She slips an arm around Brittany, very much pleased with herself, and even bounces on her toes. "You hid too good, I couldn't find you. Now is it your turn or you wanna go somewhere else?"
Brittany shook her head. "It wasn't. In Marco Polo you're not supposed to sing to make me laugh." Brittany put her arm around Santana's shoulders, still smiling. "Somewhere else. If you thought I hid too good, I can only imagine how good at this game you are."
Squeezing Brittany back, Santana thought, naming the possibilities. "We go watch TV in Sears…we can play in the toy store with the stuffed animals and try out the walking stilts and ride the unicycles and stuff…we can swim in the fountain in the middle of the mall…or skinny dip," she snickers, wiggling her eyebrows. "Up to you, Britt."
As Brittany listened to all the things Santana had listed off, she nodded making sure that she knew she was really listening. "Well, I promised she who shall remain nameless that there'd be no getting naked so… skinny dipping is out. This is your bucket-list thing, do whatever you feel like doing."
"Well how are we supposed to get in pajamas then? We can't have a pajama party without changing into pajamas," Santana pointed out, deliberately pouting. Still, she knows that she's also promised the same to Rachel, so she shrugs. "We can play in the fountain in underwear, right, that isn't naked."
Brittany bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders."Don't know." She looked over at Santana and smiled. "Hm. I guess if we're still in our bra and underwear then it doesn't really count as being naked, it'd be almost like we had bikinis on. So I guess I'll race you to the water fountain." She pulled away from Santana and immediately began running as fast as she could.
Author note: Scene to be continued
