A/N: Hi! It's awesome to see people interested in this story. I think this chapter is definitely a lift up from the previous one and we finally meet Brittany as well as two other characters - well four, two of them are by mouth. This chapter was a lot of fun to write because I always love writing for Brittany because she's so fun and free and unpredictable and it makes writing for her fun. I also went back over another fan fic I wrote where Britchel were best friends and I loved their interaction and I wished Glee would've made that happen because I think it would've been an entertaining friendship so that's why in most of fics now they're best friends. Oh, and the time that is used before every chapter is to keep in mind of two things. I won't tell you those two things, but if someone figures it out before time I will be impressed. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review.

Chapter 2

...

Downtown LA – 7:35pm

One Year: Six Days: Twenty-Two Hours

Starlet Lounge

Lavender and black balloons were tied on either side of the inside entrance to the Starlet Lounge. The bar, which typically smelled of whiskey and cigarette smoke, had a channeling aroma of cologne and flowers. The smell together would've usually drove customers away, but tonight the customers seemed to enjoy the change of scenery. A banner hung on the wall's entrance way in big bold black letters: Speed Dating Night; 8:00pm-10:00pm. There were splashes of glitter and small clip art pictures of drinks and couples that added to the décor on the banner.

"What's all this?" Rachel Berry, a small raven haired regular, asked taking a seat at the bar's counter.

"Some speed dating shit. I don't know. Bosses' daughter put it together." Brittany Pierce shrugged, as she leaned behind the bar on a small shelf and cleaned one of the empty glasses after handing a martini to Rachel, "You know she comes up with most of the ideas around here. Remember kid day?"

"I kind of liked that one." Rachel stated, taking a sip of her martini. She swirled around in her chair looking at the decorations and place settings. The tables were draped in black table cloths while small electric candles set the mood of the room in the middle of each table. Small lavender flower pedals were splashed beside the candles to give off a romantic vibe, "You have to give her credit though. She does know how to draw a crowd in around here." Rachel noted as people began to fall into the bar, signing their names on a clipboard at the front entrance where the main table for the event displayed. Many wrote their names on a name sticker in big bold letters and placed it on their chest.

Brittany scoffed, "I know the perfect way to bring in customers." Rachel turned around to her blonde friend with an arched eyebrow already knowing where this conversation was headed.

"We talked about this."

"What? There is nothing wrong with taking off a few pieces of clothing or dancing around for fun and maybe even a few extra dollar bills."

"It's illegal"

"Not at a strip club." Brittany added with a grin, placing the empty glass down and doing the process over with another. "Where's Puck tonight?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed, "Noah is out with friends tonight. He's excited because he finally landed that big job he wanted."

"The pool cleaning one? I thought he went into business for himself though?"

Rachel waved her hand dismissively, "No, not that one. He gave up on that dream. Apparently it didn't make enough money for his liking." She shrugged, "I'm talking about that new pizza place on Broadway."

"Jordan's?"

"Maurice's."

"Oh, so then why aren't you with him tonight?"

"Like I said, Noah is out with his friends. You've seen his friends. Annoying, bulky guys who like to burp and scratch places I'd rather they not scratch in a public place. Besides Noah wouldn't have paid much attention to me if I was there anyhow. When he's with his friends the only way I would get his attention is if I was naked in heels and I refuse to resort to desperate measures to get my boyfriend's attention."

"Ah ha! But you do admit that you could do it if you wanted to." Rachel sighed, not wanting to restart this conversation.

"Don't start this again."

Brittany giggled as she placed the clean glass on the counter and began redoing the process turning her attention to the opening bar door "Uh oh, here comes trouble." She said her eyes falling on the door as the bosses' daughter, Mercedes Jones, entered the bar. She was a beautiful chocolate female, average height with a thickness about her. Brittany thought Mercedes was a bit annoying but admired her business ambition.

"Hello ladies." Mercedes said cheerfully, clapping her hands together after doing a once over at the list of names for the event. She sat down beside Rachel at the bar as Brittany handed her a beer. "What if I didn't want a beer?"

"You always want a beer." Brittany replied nonchalantly returning to her cleaning.

"One day, Smartie, I will surprise you and change my drink order."

"You let me know when that happens." Brittany responded, placing the glasses in a certain order behind the bar before taking out a rag and wiping down the counter.

Mercedes turned to Rachel, "What have you been up to since last time I saw you? Still working at that restaurant?"

Rachel cringed at the mention of her work, taking another sip of her drink, suddenly wanting something stronger. Work was always a touchy subject for the raven haired female and somehow she knew that Mercedes caught whiff of it and this only made her despise the chocolate female. She worked as a singing waitress – for lack of a better way to put it. They would put on plays while people ate and during intermission she would serve them dessert; she loathed it. That wasn't her dream, she wanted so badly to go to Broadway and become the star she knew she was, however, money was tight and once she didn't get into NYADA – a college in New York for the performing arts - her ideal dream became only a delusional one.

"Yes." She replied after a moment of silence, continuing to sip on her drink, ignoring Mercedes' gaze.

"I should come by there more often with Mike. He loves the cheesecake there."

"How is the Chang man?" Brittany piped up behind the counter, Rachel silently thanking her friend for the intervening.

"Great, as always. His dance studio is just 'round the way you know, you two should stop by some time."

"He looking for any recruits?" Brittany questioned, swinging the rag over her shoulder, and leaning on the counter to have the conversation with Mercedes better.

"You dance?" Mercedes asked, surprised.

"She's an amazing dancer." Rachel remarked, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen this girl dance. She's also a pretty good singer."

"Not as great as you though." Brittany complimented back with a tender smile, turning back to Mercedes, "So is he?"

"Not at the moment." She stated simply, opening her beer finally and taking a long sip as she checked her watch. "I'll let you know though. Shit. It's almost 8. I better get ready." She hopped off the bar stool and took another long sip of her beer, "You two joining the festivities?"

"Not a chance in hell." Brittany said, taking the half empty beer bottle and placing it behind the bar.

"There is no one here worth my time. Besides, I'm happily taken." Rachel added.

"It was worth a try. Brittany put that…"

"On your tab. I know the deal. I'll keep it cold for you."

"You're perfect." Mercedes swished away towards the event table and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"God I hate her."

Brittany simply laughed.

Downtown LA – 8:30pm

One Year: Six Days: Twenty-Two Hours: Fifty-Five Minutes

Starlet Lounge

"And that's how I got this cut right here above my knee."

"How entertaining." Santana responded sarcastically. She couldn't believe she was sitting here engaging in conversation with this sad excuse for a male. She was peeved that Quinn, at the last minute, decided to back down – though she knew she wasn't going to come anyway, she was, after all, "a married woman with respect for my husband." Santana only rolled her eyes at the description. Mercedes was there, obviously, taking notes on her clipboard and eying her every so often with a grin and a thumbs up. The fourth time Mercedes did that Santana just flipped her off and sighed taking a long gulp of her beer – there wasn't enough beer in the world for this shit.

The guy in front of her, if anything, was okay to look at. He had scruff – which always was a turn on for her, despite her obvious sexual preference of women only – he was a light caramel complexion, soft dark brown eyes, and a gorgeous smile. He had a football player's build with wavy neatly cut hair, he also wore a suit which meant one of two things. He either wanted to impress people or he came from money, either way Santana liked his look, it was the overall package she wanted to throw up from. His breath was strong and not in a minty fresh way, his cologne was choking her, and he was as drier as the desert.

"Oh, I should also tell you about the story about my birthmark."

Ding!

"Switch!"

"Thank God. Get up now." Santana waved him away, placing her head in her hands, only for another boring looking female to take his place. "Name?" She asked, looking up unimpressed, not bothering to notice her name tag.

"Lindsay. You?"

"Santana. You're not about to tell me about your weird scars are you?"

Lindsay giggled, "No, but I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Hm, well then…"

...

The night was anything but promising. Thus far Santana had spent a total of thirty minutes with six different people and each was more annoying and boring than the last. Their outer appearance did nothing for their boring interior. From the bar, Brittany saw all of this happening and couldn't help but smile at Santana's antics of playing with her phone and watching dust fly as her 'date' talked onwards.

"What are you smiling at?" Rachel asked her friend and followed her gaze to the Latina across the way, who was now gulping down a beer – this was number five. "She looks so entertained."

Brittany giggled, "Doesn't she though? I'm pretty sure if there were forks on the table she would've stabbed herself by now." She shook her head, looking down at the bar as a guy in polyester nodded for a beer. She passed one down to him, her eyes on Santana the entire time.

"She's also cute." Rachel chimed, turning back to Brittany who shrugged.

"I guess you can say that."

"You totally want to jump on her vagina right now."

Brittany rolled her eyes, "Never say that to me again. I just said she was cute…" She licked her lips, eyeing Santana carefully, "Actually, she's kind of hot."

"Too bad you're not doing this speed dating thing."

"Are you playing me, Diva?" Brittany inquired with a grin.

"Not at all." Rachel said, swirling in her bar stool to get a better look at Santana, "Though, she's been asking for drinks all night. Such a shame you're behind the bar and not a waitress or something. You two could engage in a conversation." Rachel formed a side grin turning back to Brittany, "Though, she might stab you with an invisible fork. You know how boring you are."

"Remind me to hate you later." Brittany said as she placed the rag on the counter and left the bar.

"Will do." Rachel said, holding up her third martini in pride and turning around to sip it before hopping off the stool to assist behind the bar. The things she did for her friends.

Brittany made her way towards Santana as the bell dinged. A female had taken a seat in front of Santana and Santana was far from pleased with the girl already. Brittany could understand why. Double plaid and pigtails – was she six? Brittany shook her head as she tried to think of a way to get her away from Santana. She smirked to herself as she sneakily grabbed the female's phone from her back pocket and held it behind her back, tapping her on the shoulder gently, "Excuse me, Miss? The bartender said she found your phone?"

The female looked confused while Santana looked intrigued, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned back in her seat.

"My phone?" She repeated, "But, my phone's right…" She felt around in her pocket, "Oh… Um, be right back gorgeous." She turned to Santana before leaving.

"This seat taken?" Brittany questioned with a smirk.

"Guess not." Santana replied as Brittany sat down placing the phone on the table. "And you stole her phone because…?"

"I'll return it. You looked like you needed saving. You've looked like that all night actually."

"So, you've been watching me, huh?"

Brittany smirked, wetting her lips and moving forward in her chair, "You can say that. Though I don't understand how a beautiful woman like you would be here at speed dating. I'm sure you can have anyone you wanted."

Santana arched a seductive brow; was she seriously flirting with her?

"I can have anyone I wanted, but you see, that doesn't mean I want them." She flirted back, leaning forward in her seat so that their faces were inches away. Santana took in Brittany's scent, swimming in a river of tequila and rosemary. Brittany's soft oceanic eyes were held captive in Santana's chocolate brown before they toured towards her lips and then back up again causing both women to lick their lips.

"So, what kind of person are you looking for?" Brittany questioned, her eyes suffocating in Santana's melting brown core.

Santana giggled, "Wouldn't you like to know?" She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, that's kind of why I asked."

"I'm not looking for anyone." Santana remarked honestly, her annoyance rising, "I'm only here because Mercedes wanted me to come here." She shrugged matter-of-factly, the flirtatious banter leaving her voice quickly. Brittany caught on to it and sighed quietly, leaning back in her chair as well with a sly smile on her lips.

"Didn't know she had friends." Santana tilted her head and was ready to defend her friend's honor when Brittany quickly added, "She's usually here alone and when we talk it's either about the business or her husband."

"That sounds about right. So, wait, you work here?"

"Have you never been to this bar before? I work at the bar. Bartender. That's the thing I do."

"Huh. I've never seen you."

"Damn, I usually stand out." Santana smiled shaking her head, "Well, would you look at that. She smiles."

"Sometimes I smile. Smiles. That's the thing I do."

The two ladies giggled lightheartedly together, "You should come by more often. No speed dating or anything needed."

"And why would I want to do that?" She asked, leaning forward again in her chair slightly.

"To see me of course."

"What makes you think I want to see you? I don't even know you. You just stole that chick's phone."

"To get closer to you, how else was I supposed to talk to you?"

"You could've asked."

"Would you have talked to me if I asked?" Santana thought about it and when she made no movement to speak Brittany nodded, "You see my point."

"Do you have a name, Bartender?" Brittany smiled as she saw out the corner of her eye the female coming back towards the table – irate as she moved.

"You'll have to come back here to figure that out."

Santana opened her mouth to speak as Brittany grabbed the phone and stuffed it behind her back as the female came back. She was shorter than Brittany – and not as attractive, Santana noted.

"She didn't have my phone." The girl snarled.

"Oh, my mistake." She stuffed the phone back into the female's pocket without notice and winked at Santana as she made her way back to the bar. Santana sucked her teeth into a grin, but it soon faded as thoughts of Valerie entered her mind. How could she have so easily slipped into a flirtatious interaction and not think about the consequences? How could she think that another woman was attractive? It was if she forgot all about Valerie. She could never forget about Valerie.

She felt sick.

"I… I have to go." Santana stammered as she ran out of the bar and made it to the bathroom before she hurled into the toilet. She took a deep breath and slid down the wall, crying into her hands feeling disgusted with herself.