Chapter 2

FRIDAY

I loaded my bag and myself onto the train from New Haven to Union Station. I was extremely nervous but also antsy to get there. I have no idea how I'm going to approach Santana. Maribel gave me her work address instead of her home address; I assume to make it seem like more of a coincidence when I showed up out of the blue. She does work at bar, so it wouldn't be uncommon to run into someone there. I realized I was going to pull into New York pretty early, by like noon. There's no way her shift has started yet, what will I do until then? I pulled out my phone and scrolled to a familiar name in my contacts. Wow, I haven't called her in a while.

She answers in one ring, of course, "QUINN FABRAY IS THAT YOU CALLING ME?!" Rachel screamed excitedly when she answered "Where the hell have you been, I haven't heard from you in a year??"

"Hey Rachel, it's really good to hear your…loud…voice. I'm really sorry I haven't stayed in touch. But hey are you available today? I'm on a train on my way to your neck of the woods and was wondering if you'd like to get lunch?"

"Absolutely I want to get lunch; I know a great place you have to try! What are you doing in town anyways? I'm so excited to see you!"

"I will have to catch you up on my reason for the visit over lunch. I'm on a mission!"

"Very vague Quinn, but I'm interested. Ill text you the address and you can just let me know when you are close and I'll meet you there. Sound good?"

"Yup see you soon Rach!"

I'm really glad I decided to call Rachel. Talking to one of my friends who knows Santana will help me get a feel for how I should approach this.

When I finally got to the café Rachel suggested, I saw the brunette sitting on one of the outdoor patio tables and hurried up to her excitedly.

"Rachel oh my god it is so good to see you." I say as I pull her in for a bear hug.

"I am so glad you called, I was beginning to get scared you were going to disappear like Santana."

"My last 2 semesters at Yale were hell, barely had time to get a full night's sleep. My friendships suffered, I am so sorry. It is interesting that you bring up Santana though.."

Rachel's ears perked up, "is that why you're here? Is she in New York? Has she been here the whole time? Is she okay?" Obviously Santana's disappearance has been on everybody's minds over the years.

"I wish I had answers to those questions for you Rach, truth be told, I have no clue where she has been. I called her mom and begged for a lead, and she sent me here."

"I heard they didn't even know where she was!"

"I heard that too, but I guess there is A LOT we don't know about what has happened. Maribel made it sound like Santana has really been struggling."

Quinn could see a worried look in Rachel's face. "if I had known she was in New York, I would have looked for her. It has been eating at me that none of us have even known if she's alive or not."

"Well, that's why I'm here. It's about time we bring Santana back don't you think? Let's go order our food and we can chat more. I've missed you."

Quinn and Rachel sat in the Café for over three hours going back and forth filling each other in on their lives. Most of the time though, their conversation veered toward Santana. They couldn't help it, the mystery the Latina left behind is just too much. Rachel helped Quinn brainstorm how to approach Santana's work. But it was impossible to know how Santana would react, so truthfully, a plan wasn't going to be much help. All it did was help curb my anxiety a bit.

It was about 6 pm before I decided it was about a good time to find her. I had been sitting in my hotel room staring at the ceiling since I separated from Rachel. She had offered to go with me to see Santana for the first time, but I had thought that might be a bit too much too soon. I mean if Santana wanted to see Rachel it would not have been hard; they were in the same city after all. I got up off the bed and plugged the address that Maribel gave me into the maps app.

Only a 10 minute walk from my hotel, perfect.

Well, it was supposed to be only ten minutes. When I got to the location, the sign on the building read "Uptown Book Store." Definitely wasn't a bar. I was really confused and took a look around to try and figure out what was going on. I realized we were right down the street from NYU's main campus, so I would imagine there are plenty of college bars on this street. That's when the idea hit me to ask a student for the correct location. I found a girl wearing an NYU drama baseball cap and stopped her,

"Hey excuse me, I'm so sorry to bother you. Can I ask if you know of a bar that used to be at this address?"

The girl gave me a weird smirk that I didn't quite understand, "Um yeah that is a bar. Go inside and tell the clerk you're looking for your next big adventure, and you're set."

I laughed because what she was saying was kind of outrageous and I thought she was just giving me a hard time. That's when she continued saying, "no really, the guy who built it was obsessed with speak easies so he made his own. The bar is called Dueling Pianos and its hidden behind one of the book cases in the store. Go see for yourself, it's a campus hotspot."

"Wow that's actually really cool, thank you so much."

As the girl walked away, I thought about the fact that Santana Lopez was working in bar that doubled as a modern a speak easy. It now makes so much more sense how she was able to hide herself for so long. I walked into the 'book store' and did exactly as the girl instructed. I was brought to the back corner of the store and led to where a spiral stairwell is hidden behind a book case. I thanked the clerk and began my decent down the stairs. I had been thinking about the moment I would come face to face with Santana again, and now I was here. I was nervous to say the least. Santana has never been one to hide her temper, so if she takes my showing up in the wrong way, we could have problems. I tried shoving that thought into the back of my head because I really want Santana to be happy to see me.

As I finally reached the speak easy entrance, I scanned the room. It was a dark bar with a large stage in the middle with black curtains stretching pretty much the entire back wall. Elegant crystal light fixtures are above every table and the soft piano noises create a calm ambiance. It was still early in the day so there weren't many people here. I hadn't seen Santana yet, so I went to the bar to order a rum and coke and ask the bartender if they knew her.

I had just sat down on a bar stool when the door to the back kitchen opened up and I saw her. My beautiful Latina best friend, all grown up. It was surreal. She hadn't noticed me yet, so I walked over to where she was standing by the soda fountain behind the bar.

I took a deep breath in and made my presence known, "Santana?"