Santana POV

The promise of alcohol was the only thing that convinced me to attend the party at Hummelberry's loft tonight. And the wonder twins certainly didn't disappoint. Alcohol was flowing as evident by the noise in the room and Rachel's half-assed attempts to get us to play truth or dare. The five of us; Rachel, Kurt, Quinn, Dani and myself sat in a circle. I took the furthest position from Dani, but that only meant I was sitting directly opposite her so that didn't really seem to help. Wasting no time, or excitement, Rachel squealed that she would go first. Typical.

"Hmm," she mused, thinking way too hard for someone who had ingested that much alcohol, "DANI!" Dani looked instantly nervous and I didn't blame her. Someone should have warned her what it was like to be friends with these people. "I d-dare you to give a lap dance to..." please not me, please not me I chanted internally. "Quinn!" Thank goodness for that.

Dani looked amused at the thought. It was definitely crossing the bounds of their semi-professional relationship but we were all young and drunk here. As Dani stood Rachel stumbled over to the stereo finding a song for her. I grimaced when I heard Beyonce's 'Drunk in Love' come on. There was no way now that this wasn't going to be sexy. I looked over at my blonde friend to gauge her reaction. Quinn sat there, goofy grin on her face, waiting expectantly for the ensuing show.

Dani took off her denim jacket so that she was free to move in her leather leggings and oversized t-shirt. Not one to miss an opportunity for a show she ran her fingers through her long hair, fluffing it up, before getting down to business. She bit her lip and chuckled at Quinn before she approached. I'm sure I visibly gulped as Dani began to sway her hips and saunter her way over to Quinn. Dani dropped her ass down to the ground before straddling Q, her hips ghosting over Quinn's in a circular movement. Quinn laughed but the two were holding a pretty intense eye contact that I didn't appreciate. I had to take my eyes off her ass but something prevented me from doing so. However, when Dani turned around to give Quinn a view of her bouncing butt her eyes locked on mine. She smirked as she continued her movements but didn't drop eye contact with me. I felt like she was trying to read my every thought and I didn't like it. I eventually turned my flushed face away from the show and waited for the song to come to a close and Rachel to be satisfied that the dare was complete.

When it was my turn I knew there was no way I could take a truth. There was too much Rachel and Kurt had pestered me about for years and I was not going to give them the chance here, not with Dani around. I told Kurt I too would take a dare, crossing my fingers it wasn't anything like the lap dance we all just witnessed.

"I want to see one of your award-winning make out sessions!" Kurt declared. I saw Dani raise her eye at the award-winning comment; being new to the group she wasn't caught up on my reputation.

"Oh Kurt, not as gay as we thought huh?" I teased.

"No, no, not with me silly. With Dani!" He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Surely him and Rachel were definitely in on this thing together. Just what they were trying to do or prove though was beyond me.

As I was trying to come up with an excuse I was surprised to see Dani crawl to the middle of the circle to meet me halfway. Well one of us seemed to be willing. Screw it I thought, just get this over with. I inched my body forwards to meet Dani. I could see the others smiling out of the corner of my eye and I made a mental note to deal with them later. I took hold of Dani's face to steady myself; the alcohol definitely had my system buzzing, before I brought my lips forward to meet hers. She tasted sweeter than I would have expected and her soft lips were affecting me. Reminding myself the dare was for a make out session I plunged my tongue into her mouth, not bothering to seek permission. Santana Lopez did what she wanted, she didn't ask. I felt Dani's hand fist my hair as our tongues battled for dominance inside her hot mouth. The involuntary moan that escaped my mouth was the tipping point. I abruptly removed myself from the kiss and ran off in search of the bathroom, barely holding myself together.

Dani POV

I was shocked to say the least. That kiss had me seeing fireworks that I wasn't expecting. But why had Santana left like that? Before I could go find out what it was all about Quinn excused herself from the circle to take care of her. A few minutes after Quinn had gone after Santana I couldn't wait any longer and followed in the direction they'd gone.

Hesitantly poking my head into the bathroom I saw Santana leaning against the countertop, evident tears staining her face. Quinn was rubbing her back in circles, attempting to soothe her friend. Noticing my arrival Quinn bit her lip and excused herself, giving me a pat on the shoulder as she passed by. Now it was just the two of us and Santana was silently refusing to meet my gaze.

"Santana?" I spoke delicately, unsure of how to handle the situation.

"What are you doing here Dani?" She didn't raise her downcast head and her voice was stern.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright. I'm sorry if..."

"You're sorry?" Her voice was soft now, fragile, but she still refused to make eye contact. "Why do you care about me Dani? I've been nothing but rude to you."

"That doesn't matter now Santana, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't been wondering why..."

"I'm scared." She seemed to be saying a lot in those two words, and I was well aware that she probably hadn't said those words often nor let such emotion show to those around her. I was worried I'd push too hard and cause her to retract if I said anything so I simply raised her chin with my hand, creating eye contact so she could see that it was a safe place to talk.

"I'm scared how you make me feel. Half of me is jealous. Jealous that you have everything in life I wanted, the fame, the stage, the fans. Then I look at you, wanting to loathe you for what you represent, and all I can feel is my heart rate double. That's not something I want to feel either. I've been screwed over before and I'm not about to let myself be vulnerable to heartbreak again."

I couldn't help but think how adorable Santana was when she let her guard down. Her fiery passion was hot but this, this was cute and endearing. I understood her pain too, it was all too real a reminder of my own story.

"I'm scared too. Fame has made things crazy. I used to know everything about my life and the people in it, it was simple. Turns out getting your dream is scary and complicated. But I'd hate for one of my dreams to get in the way of another, of one day falling in love. I'm constantly worried that I'll give my heart to someone that just wants me for my money or fame and I wouldn't be able to get over that. I'm ridiculously insecure and soft inside. I don't want that though to take away my hope. What would be the point of having all that I do if I didn't have someone special to share it with?"

Santana just hummed in agreement as she wiped at her face. I handed her a wet cloth and waited with her as she freshened up. I got the feeling Santana was done with the serious turn this night had taken so I gave her an out, for now.

"Now what do you say we get back to the party? No doubt that girl Rachel is finishing off the last of the alcohol while we're gone," I said attempting to make Santana laugh.

Santana nodded gratefully. I was surprised when I felt her soft hand slide into my own. I gripped it tightly; assuring her I was right by her side, as we made our way back to the others.