Brittany wakes up on Christmas morning to the sound of her phone ringing. She groans as she rolls over and squints her eyes, trying to make out the number on the screen but has no luck in recognizing it. Not wanting to be bothered, especially with the pounding headache she has, she ignores the call and turns back over. It's only a few seconds later where her phone begins ringing again, and this time she lets out and even louder groan as she turns over and opens her eyes all the way to see that it's the same number calling once again.
She doesn't try to hide the annoyance in her tone once she picks up the phone. "Hello?"
"Well Merry Christmas to you too Britt-Britt!" The chipper voice on the other end belongs to Kurt and Brittany immediately feels guilty.
"Oh my gosh, Kurt! Merry Christmas. Sorry, I guess I didn't save your number."
"I'll try not to let that one offend me - you know it's like, 11 right?"
That immediately wakes Brittany up. She's never slept so late on Christmas before but after the way she drank last night she's not totally surprised.
"I do now. So what's up?"
"You're still coming to Quinn's with us right? Please don't leave me alone in the car with Santana and Beavis and Butt-head."
"Wait - what?" Brittany feels awful but she hardly remembers a thing from last night except for all the vodka cranberries she drank.
"Oh, sweetie. The Fabray's annual Christmas party! Remember? She invited you last night and you promised you would sing showtunes with me on the way there! We're leaving at 2, so you totally have plenty of time to get ready."
Kurt's words are starting to bring back vague memories of last night to Brittany. The last thing she clearly remembers was Kurt finding her and Santana outside together, and how Santana refused to look at her for the rest of night. Instead, her focus shifted to Sam where her lips never left his, which allowed Brittany to spend a lot of time with Kurt, trying not to act bothered. She also spent a lot of time with Quinn, who invited her to her families extravagant Christmas party in Connecticut in which Kurt insisted she come as his date since Blaine had to work.
"Yeah, I remember now. I'll be there."
"Oh that's wonderful! I'll be there at 2 pm to pick all of you up. Don't be late!" And with that Kurt hangs up the phone to allow Brittany to begin her day.
Once she's off the phone she calls her mom immediately to wish her a Merry Christmas. She explained the reason for her calling so late was because of the night before and how she's still not feeling great after drinking so much. Her mother is just happy to hear she's made friends, and ones that she feels comfortable enough to spend the holidays with already.
She spends a good amount of time on the phone with her mom and sister before letting them go to prepare for Christmas dinner at the Pierce's. Brittany can't help but feel left out, but she's grateful for the distraction today with the Fabray's Christmas party. Once she's off the phone she has a solid two hours to begin getting ready for the "party of the year" as Kurt likes to call it.
/
Brittany gets up when she hears a knock at her door right at 2:00. She's excited to see Kurt standing in the hallway once she opens the door.
"Britt, you look great!" Kurt claps his hands excitedly as he looks Brittany up and down. She's wearing a red and black plaid skirt with black lacey tights, paired with a tan sweater along with ankle heeled boots.
"Likewise Kurt!" Brittany steps out to the hallway and turns to lock her apartment door.
"So surprisingly everyone's ready. And by everyone, I mean Santana. The terrible trio is downstairs waiting by my car so we can get going."
Brittany's heart stops when she hears the girls name - she has to admit she has a bit of anxiety seeing Santana after last night. Although apprehensive, she follows Kurt downstairs so she can meet the rest of the group outside, putting on a brave face.
And just as expected, there was Santana looking perfect as she casually leans against Kurt's Volkswagen Jetta in a black sweater dress and kitten-heel knee-high black boots. Brittany gulps to herself as she spots the small amount of exposed skin of Santana's legs . As if she could feel Brittany's eyes on her, Santana immediately looks up from her phone and meets her gaze. Her expression is unreadable, but Brittany doesn't even get a chance to figure it out before she's brought back to reality.
"Alright alright alright!" Sam tries to do his best Matthew McConaughey impression as the rest of the group, minus Brittany, roll their eyes at the lame attempt of an impression. Sam ignores them as he continues, "the boys and I are heading over to Starbucks."
Sam confirms with Santana that she wants her usual Venti Americano, black, and Puck asks Brittany what she would like, making it known that whatever she wants is on him. Brittany accepts the gesture and smiles at him as he joins Sam and Puck and heads to Starbucks. It's not long until she realizes that she's now alone with Santana, who has yet to move from the vehicle. When she looks over at her she's taking out a pack of Marlboro Reds from her purse. She notices Brittany and holds out the pack, offering her a cigarette.
"No thanks."
Santana just shrugs as she takes out a lone cigarette to bring to her lips as she takes out her black lighter from her purse. Brittany immediately recognizes the lighter from last night, the same one she was using when Brittany helped her get the cigarette lit. Right before she had her pinned against the storefront...
"You know Puck is trying to get with you tonight, right?"
Brittany scrunches her eyebrows and gives the girl a confused look, unsure of what she's supposed to say to that. "No, I didn't know that."
Santana takes a drag of her cigarette and is mindful to blow the smoke away from Brittany. "Yeah. Just wanted to give you a heads up."
Before she could say anything else, the boys are back already with the drinks. Sam gives Santana her drink along with a kiss to the cheek, and Puck does the same for Brittany except instead of a kiss he just winks at her. Santana notices this and gives Brittany a knowing look with a smirk on her face.
"Okay, can we please go now? Our ETA is saying 4:05 and the party starts at 4!" Kurt hands over his keys to Sam who agreed to drive there, that way him and Puck could have the front to themselves and Kurt could sit with the girls in the backseat.
Santana is about to enter the car when Kurt interrupts again, "Satan, move over. With your little legs you're sitting bitch."
Brittany giggles at the nickname and takes a seat on the other side of Santana. It doesn't take long for Santana to put her AirPods in and ignore all the singing that's about to happen, clearly not wanting to have any part in it.
/
The group gets to the Fabray's around 4:30 thanks to a quick pee stop. Brittany looks at the perfectly decorated house in amazement. It's not dark out just yet, but from what she can see the lights are perfectly placed along the house and the landscape. She can't wait to see what it looks like once it's fully dark.
The inside of the house does not disappoint either. There's a live orchestra playing Christmas melodies in the dining hall and each room is decorated to the nines with the most expensive Christmas decorations. Brittany has never seen a house so well decorated in her life, or one this big. She's still taking it all in as Puck walks over and offers to take Brittany's coat. She politely nods her head and allows the boy to remove the coat from her, and once again she catches Santana grinning in her direction.
"Alright yo, let's party!" Puck does a quick fist bump before the group enters the main dining hall where the party is taking place. There's about a hundred people there already and apparently still more to come.
It doesn't take long for a waiter to come around with a tray of champagne glasses. Each of them take their own, do a quick toast to another great Christmas and chug the drink.
"Really guys? You found the alcohol before me?" Quinn appears looking beautiful as ever in a winter green velvet dress, her hair perfectly curled.
"Obviously Fabray, we like alcohol more than you." Santana is the one to reply first and Quinn just gives her the middle finger before pulling her in for a hug. She does the same for everyone in the group and thanks them all for coming.
"Well drink up. I'll catch up with you guys later." Quinn disappears in the crowd to continue greeting everyone.
"Shots?" Puck is the one to make the offer and everyone quickly agrees, aside from Kurt who will be the designated driver tonight.
It doesn't take long for Brittany to get a nice buzz going, after a couple round of shots and the vodka cranberry Puck got for her. The others are feeling good as well and they make their way over to the other dining hall that has been transformed into an actual club with a dance floor and DJ. Brittany starts off dancing with Kurt but it's not long until Puck joins in and steals Brittany away for himself. She has to admit between the alcohol and seeing Santana dance up against Sam, she doesn't mind using the boy as a distraction.
Puck isn't the greatest dancer, nowhere near as experienced as Brittany, but he's doing a good job at keeping up and their bodies are moving well together. The two dance to a few songs together before Sam is coming over to grab Puck and whispering something in his ear. Puck's eyes widen in excitement as he eagerly nods his head yes, and before she knows it the two of them disappear. Brittany is left standing there wondering what could get the boys that excited to leave the girls on the dance floor like that. Speaking of, her eyes wander around the crowd to find the dark-haired beauty.
When Santana returns to the dance floor, she's clearly looking for Sam with another drink in her hand. Brittany doesn't waste any time before she's walking over and grabbing Santana's hand, pulling her close to her so the two can dance together. Santana is taken aback at first but decides to go with it, not before chugging her jack and coke. She places the empty glass to the side and lets Brittany lead her back into the crowd of people dancing along to the beat. Brittany's heart is pounding and by how close Santana is pressed against her body she may just hear it. The two of them fit way better than her and Puck, and Brittany takes advantage of this as she moves her hands around Santana's waist and pulls her even closer. She even hears Santana let out a small gasp at the feeling of their bodies pressed closer and the sound sends shivers down Brittany's back. Santana won't look at Brittany, but she does move her hands around Brittany's neck, allowing the taller girl to take the lead and move their bodies together to the beat.
Neither one will look at each other as Brittany slips her knee in between Santana's legs, wanting so badly to feel what's in between. She almost forgets where she is for a moment but can't seem to care as their hips move together as one. Santana is the first one to break as she looks up at Brittany, her eyes darker than before and her lips slightly parted as she brings them up to Brittany's ear. Just like last night the act makes Brittany weak in the knees and she's surprised they haven't buckled over yet. Brittany feels the warmth of Santana's breath right before she places a soft kiss to the bottom of the blonde's earlobe, right before she gently begins sucking on it. The room is spinning so Brittany closes her eyes shut tightly and can't help but let out a small moan. She doesn't open her eyes again until she feels Santana abruptly stop and realizes Kurt is behind them, tapping the shorter girl on her shoulder. Santana jumps away from Brittany quickly, trying to hide the frightened look on her face.
"God damn it Kurt, you scared me! I was just about to ask Brittany where Sam went."
Santana does her best to cover up the fact that she was really going to ask Brittany to go upstairs before Kurt interrupted. The boy is smart enough to know when she's lying but doesn't have time to call her out on it. Brittany is still trying to comprehend what just happened and tries to hide the disappointment of Kurt interrupting them again. Although deep down she feels like he's some type of twisted guardian angel, making sure she doesn't wake up tomorrow with even more regrets.
"Yeah, that's why I'm here. We have a problem." His voice is serious and has a slight hint of annoyance to it, and Santana has a feeling she knows what this is about. Brittany stands there clueless but follows their lead.
The two girls follow Kurt off the dance floor and into a nearby room that's filled with smoke. There's about twenty guys in the room, smoking cigars and playing pool but they're not the problem. The problem is off to the side where Sam and Puck sit with a few other guys around a table, taking turns snorting the line of coke that's placed in front of them. Brittany's eyes widen in fear as she looks over at the scene in front of her. She had never seen anyone do drugs other than smoke weed before, and she never thought this group would be into drugs like cocaine. But when she looks over at Santana she gets the idea that maybe this is just Sam and Puck's idea of having fun.
Santana does not hesitate to walk right over to the men just as Sam was about to snort another line. He looks up at the girl, clearly high with the biggest smile on his face. "Oh hey babe. You want some?"
Anyone sober would be able to see how furious Santana was but with the state Sam is in he could care less. "Are you fucking kidding me, Sam? Get the fuck up."
The men around them laugh in unison and Brittany swears she sees Santana's eyes turn red. She can't comprehend how Sam is not scared of her right now, but then again he is on drugs.
"Evans, this your girl?" There's a grown man about fifty sitting next to Sam, eyeing Santana up and down clearly liking what he sees. "You mind if I get a piece of that?"
Brittany almost loses it at that comment. She doesn't notice that she makes a move until Kurt is holding her back and shaking his head no, clearly telling her not to get involved.
Sam looks at the man before jokingly asking, "How much you willing to pay for her?"
It doesn't take long after this before Santana slaps Sam across the face. Everyone is silent and even the men playing pool stop to see what's going on. Sam immediately jumps up, nearly knocking over the table in the process as he gets right in Santana's face. Puck gets up as well, holding Sam back away from his girlfriend.
"You fucking bitch!" Sam yells at Santana, who is just laughing to herself and shaking her head. She looks like she's about to push him when Brittany and Kurt run over to stop the situation from getting worse. Brittany grabs Santana's hand, pulling her away from Sam who looks absolutely raged right now and pulls her towards the door.
"Sam, you're being an asshole." Brittany can overhear Kurt yelling at Sam.
"Come on Kurt, you know how she is. Once a slut always a slut, isn't that right babe?" Sam steps away and wipes his nose to get rid of the white residue left behind.
Santana almost makes it to the door when she turns around quickly and attempts to involve herself again. Brittany still has Santana's hand and pulls her back so she can't get any further and pulls her closer to the door again to get her to leave. "Come on, let's just go."
"Go ahead Santana! I'm sure you'll find some other guy to go home with tonight anyway."
Santana lets go of Brittany's hand and is storming out the door, leaving the blonde behind. She looks over at Kurt who's yelling at Sam to calm down and asking Puck how he let this happen, again. This was clearly an issue for the boys by the way Kurt is yelling at them like he's their father and how the two boys seem unfazed. Sam is pacing around with his fists balled up, looking like he wants to punch something. Brittany can't believe this side of Sam, who has been nothing but sweet and welcoming to her. Brittany allows Kurt to handle the situation so she can go find Santana. After searching a few rooms she realizes exactly where the girl is and heads out the front door to find her standing in the driveway, smoking a cigarette as predicted.
"Santana?" Brittany's voice is shaky yet soft as she approaches the petite girl from behind.
Santana turns around, her eyes red and puffy as she takes another drag of her cigarette. She's almost done smoking the first one already by how quickly she follows up each drag. "What are you doing out here Brittany?"
"I came to find you." The answer was easy.
"Go back inside and enjoy the party. You shouldn't have even been involved in that." Santana puts out the butt of her cigarette and immediately reaches to her pack to pull out another one. Brittany notices she has a full drink nearby as well so she must have made a pit stop at the bar before heading outside.
"Does Sam normally act like that?"
"Like a fucking dickhead? Only when he does coke."
Brittany just shakes her head as she walks closer to stand by Santana. She wants so badly to wrap her arms around her and wipe her tears, to tell her over and over again until her voice goes out that she deserves better.
"How long have you been together?"
"We've been on and off since we were sixteen. You know, high school sweethearts and all that bullshit." Santana looks over to the side and looks as if she's about to say something else but decides not to.
"You deserve better than him." It's barely a whisper but Brittany knows Santana heard her because she turns her head to look back at Brittany.
"How do you know what I deserve? You barely know me." The truth stings a little although Brittany doesn't think she meant them to. Besides, Santana was right, she just met the girl and hardly knew anything about her.
Brittany just shrugs, needing to come up with a response. "I don't know. I have this feeling that you're a better person than you think you are."
The comment makes Santana crack a small smile and it doesn't go unnoticed. The two girls stand in a comfortable silence for awhile as Santana finishes her second cigarette. It's quite outside, the only faint sound of the pumping music coming from inside, which is a nice change of scenery after all the drama that just occurred. Brittany takes a moment to admire the Christmas lights now that it's dark outside, but is more amazed by the beautiful girl standing in front of her.
Santana is the first to break the silence as she looks over at Brittany and asks softly, "Where did you come from?"
Brittany doesn't know how to respond to that but she doesn't have to because she hears the sound of the front door close and turns around to see Puck approaching them. Next to Sam he's the last person Brittany wants to see right now, especially since she witnessed him snorting coke.
"What do you want, Noah?" Santana has an annoyed expression on her face, clearly feeling bothered by his presence like Brittany.
"Look, I'm sorry Santana. You know it's hard to say no to those guys."
"Get the fuck out of here with your bullshit apologies. Too hard to say no? What are you, fifteen again trying to fit in with the cool kids?"
Right as Santana finishes speaking Sam walks outside and already looks more sober than before with an apologetic look on his face.
"Can you two give us a second?"
"No." Brittany's just as surprised as everyone else for speaking up.
"Britt, I'm sorry you had to see that. But I really need to speak to Santana alone."
Santana just nods at Brittany to give her the okay, even though she still feels uneasy leaving the couple alone after what she just witnessed. Regardless of how she feels though she gives them the privacy they asked for and follows Puck back inside.
"Hey Britt, sorry about that. I don't do it often, I promise."
"You don't have to apologize to me." Brittany has no time for this as she walks away from the boy and over to the bar. She sighs to herself as she orders another drink and feels someone tap her shoulder. Hoping so badly it's not Puck, she turns around to see Kurt giving her a small smile.
"Hey Britt, you okay?"
After she takes a generous sip of her drink Brittany replies. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
Kurt gives her a look like he knows better. After all, he's caught the two girls in a compromising position twice now and has yet to bring it up to either one of them. "Look Britt, I know we just met but I really care about you. I feel like the two of us could be really close."
Brittany just smiles at the comment and waits for him to continue, knowing there's more.
"As your new friend I have to tell you that it is not a good idea to get involved with Santana. She's only going to hurt you in the end."
Brittany nearly spits out her drink after hearing that, she knew where it was heading but she didn't think he would be so direct about it.
"I'm not -"
"Save it. I can see the way you look at her, and sometimes I even think I catch her looking at you the same way. But in the end, her and Sam always get back together despite us telling them they're better off without each other."
Brittany doesn't know what to say. There's no use arguing with the boy after what he's seen, and she would be lying if she said she didn't have a crush forming on the girl. But what sticks out the most to Brittany is how Kurt mentioned telling them they're better off without each other. If they were friends, wouldn't they want the couple to be together?
"I don't understand, do you not want them together?"
"Sometimes I just think they'd be better off apart."
The sound of the door closing grabs Brittany's attention and when she looks over she sees the couple walking in holding hands. She can't comprehend what just happened, how could Santana forgive him after the things he said? This girl is ending up to be a lot more complicated than Brittany thought.
/
The rest of the night is uneventful, Brittany does her best to stay away from the couple and Puck by staying close to Kurt. Now that he knows her secret he does a fine job at making sure she's distracted and having a good time. He also does a great job at keeping her away from Puck since she made it clear she wasn't interested.
By 11:30 the party is starting to calm down and the group is saying their goodbyes to Quinn so they can make their way home. Kurt takes the driver seat and Puck calls shot gun so he doesn't have to be squished in the back, which leaves Santana sandwiched in the middle between Brittany and Sam. They're only on the road before Sam and Puck are knocked out, too drunk for their own good. Kurt still has his music playing despite the boys sleeping, knowing damn well they weren't going to wake up.
Santana looks over at Brittany who has her head against the window, making sure she's still awake. She takes her AirPods out and places her hand over Brittany's which is sitting in her lap. This grabs Brittany's attention immediately seeing how a simple touch from the girl sends a jolt of electricity through her body.
"Thanks for being there for me today Britt."
Her voice is low, but still loud enough to hear over Kurt's music. Brittany's taken off guard even more once Santana links their pinkies together and rests her head on Brittany's shoulder. Santana continues speaking, although this time it sounds like more of a mumble as she's starting to fall asleep.
"I have a feeling we're going to be best friends."
Friends. Yeah, of course that's all they were and all they could be. Brittany doesn't say anything in response, Santana is clearly still a little drunk as she closes her eyes to rest on Brittany's shoulder. She tries to hide her disappointment even if the girl chose to rest her head on her shoulder instead of her own boyfriend sitting next to her.
With her head so close Brittany gets a scent of the girls shampoo and it smells like vanilla and cinnamon and everything warm in the world. She sighs quietly to herself, not wanting to wake the beauty up as she feels a pair of eyes on her. Her suspicions are met true when she meets Kurt's piercing eyes in the rear view mirror, giving her a disappointed look. Brittany just smiles sadly at him before leaning her head against Santana's, tightening her pinky around hers, making sure she doesn't let go.
She knows Kurt is thinking the same thing as her right now: She is so screwed.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed! :)