The door clicks close behind me. I blindly reach out and feel the bookshelf by the entrance but somehow still manage to bump into it. "Shit." Who puts a god damn bookshelf by the door? Sugar, that's who. I slip my shoes off and quietly tip toe across the living room and into the kitchen. When I flick the light switch on, the ugly stray cat that is suppose to be out on the fire escape jumps off the kitchen counter where she has ripped open a bag of beef jerky.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" The cat meows once in response. "Brittany let you in, didn't she?" I crouch down and run a hand over her back. "And she shaved you. You feel pretty nice." She begins to purr. "Here" I say, setting down the bag of jerky on the floor. "You might as well."

I turn to the fridge and pull out some butter, bread, and cheese. As I set a pan down on the stove, a set of arms snake around my shoulders and I immediately know it's Brittany by the smell of coconut shampoo that fills my nostrils.

"In the mood for a midnight snack?" She ask in a quiet voice.

I turn around to face her, and her hands drop down to grab my hips.

I swallow. I don't know if it's the way she whispered into my ear or what she said or maybe the proximity of her body, but my heart begins to pump just a little faster than normal. It's not like she hasn't been this close to me before, but it's the first time she's ever held me like this. It makes me nervous and I don't know if I like that.

"Hi," I croak out. "Did I wake you?"

Brittany nods. "But it's okay. I wanted to see you already." Her lips part as she dips her head and gives me a soft kiss. When she pulls away, her brow furrows but she's smiling. "You taste like apple. And whiskey."

"The bride and groom invited me to stay for some drinks after I finished shooting their reception, so I couldn't really say no to free drinks."

"Even I got a taste," she says, still smiling.

I blush at her comment but quickly turn back to the stove in an attempt to hide it from her. "Do you want a grilled cheese?"

"No thanks. Cam might like one though."

"Who?" I ask as I butter the bread.

"Cam." She points at the cat who is now licking the empty bag of jerky.

"You named it?"

"Yeah. Everyone deserves a name. Her full name is Camuti. I named her after Louis J. Camuti? He was the first vet to devote his practice to cats."

"Brittany, you shouldn't get too attached to it. She's a stray. She'll probably be gone as soon as you give away the kittens. Plus, the deal was that her bastard kids could sleep here, not her.

"But they cry all night. You don't hear them because you're not sleeping out here with them. They want to eat 24/7, and she wants to be with them."

I groan. "Fine, but she's getting the boot as soon as the others are gone. It's starting to look like a damn pussy house in here… and not the good kind," I murmur.

"You hear that, Cam? You can stay."

The cat blinks a few times before lifting her hind leg over her head and licking her lady bits.

"So how was your day?" Brittany asks.

"It was okay. Weddings always feel long, but it wasn't too bad."

Brittany lingers at my side, picking at the chipped countertop tile. "Do you ever have help? Like when you go take pictures of weddings and stuff?"

"Sometimes I take someone from the studio," I say as I flip the sandwich over.

"Mallory?" She asks.

I glance at her. "Yeah or whoever has time to help me." Brittany nods but remains silent. "Hey, I was thinking that maybe we should get a pull out couch or something where you'll sleep more comfortably," I say, hoping to avoid any follow up questions.

"The couch you have now is fine. I'm just happy to have a place to sleep. Plus, I won't need it for much longer..."

"Why's that?" I slice the sandwich in half and hand a piece to Brittany. "I don't like eating alone," I lie.

She tilts head with a smile and takes it from me. "I got a job today," she says, taking a bite from the sandwich.

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "You did?"

She nods.

"Thats great, Britt! Tell me about it."

"I'm gonna be a veterinary technician, which is basically an assistant, but I get to help in all areas of animal care, so I'll get to help with surgeries and stuff."

"That sounds amazing, Brittany. Really. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," she says with a coy smile. "I start on Monday, so I'll be able to start looking for my own place in a few weeks and I'll be out of your guys' hair."

"Oh. Well, you know, there's no hurry. You can take your time. I mean, you shouldn't rush into something like that. You want to make sure you find a good neighborhood and all that, right?"

Brittany chuckles. "Yeah, of course"

I nod and we both chew our food in silence. Cam leaves the kitchen for a moment and returns with one of the kittens dangling from her mouth. "Uh, what is she doing?" I ask.

"She's just trying to find a safe place for them," Brittany explains.

"Right. Well, while you deal with that, I'm gonna go to bed."

"Wait." Brittany grabs my hand and pulls me back towards her. She scans my face. "Your wound healed nicely." She runs her finger over my brow.

"Thanks to you."

The corner of her mouth twitches upwards and her eyes fall over my lips. "Go to bed. You look like you need sleep."

"Are you saying I look like crap?" I ask as I turn to leave.

"Of course not. You never look anything less than perfect."

/

That weekend, when I get home, I find Sugar out on the sidewalk with a display of clothes, jewelry, and shoes.

"What's all this?" I ask, picking up a tennis bracelet.

Sugar takes a long sip of her drink before saying, "I'm having a yard sale. All these stuff are over a year old and need to go. I can't believe I've kept them for some long."

"Totally… How much for this bracelet?"

She slips her oversized sunglasses off to get a better look at what I'm holding. "Oh, I'm selling that for $300 but I'm willing to give it to you for $250."

"Are you crazy? Who's going to be willing to pay that much for a stupid bracelet!"

"I paid over $600 for that! $300 is a bargain."

I drop the bracelet back on its place and notice a pair of familiar hoop earrings sitting near by. "Hey," I say as I pick them up. "Hey, these are mine!"

"I'm doing you a favor by trying to get rid of those. The only person who can rock hoops like those is JLo, so you better hope she stops by because I don't think anyone else is crazy enough to buy them."

"These are mine too!" I hold a pair of black combat boots up and examine them. "What the hell, Sugar! Get all of my shit back inside!" I say before storming up our building. When I make it inside the apartment, all is still with the exception of the kittens who are tumbling and running over each other. They're kind of cute.

"Britt?" I call out. I walk straight to my bedroom where I find her faced down on my bed in some black panties and a tank top. I stand there not knowing what to do until Cam suddenly jumps on my bed and rubs against her leg.

Brittany stirs and reaches for the cat. "Hey, baby." She flips over and finally sees me standing by the door. "Oh!" She sits up. "Hi."

"Hey," I smile.

"I'm sorry I'm in here." She quickly shifts off the bed, taking the cat with her. "I wanted to take a nap but the AC in the living room still doesn't work, so I came in here cause you have this great ceiling fan." She points at the fast spinning fan above us.

"It's okay, Britt," I say with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it." I toss my boots aside and hold my loose hair above my neck to allow the fan to cool my sticky skin. "It's hot as hell out there."

"Maybe a shower would help," Brittany suggests.

"Maybe later. I'm just gonna change clothes for now." I pause. "Do you mind turning around?" I say when she makes no move to give me privacy.

Brittany laughs as she strokes Cam. "I've seen you naked before. Well, at least half naked."

"What?" I ask, alarmed. "When?"

"When we went to Sugar's cabin. Don't you remember? I went to your room to wake you up and you-"

"Stop, stop. I remember."

"They were really nice," Brittany says, and her eyebrows shoot up joined by a mischievous grin.

"Brittany!" I scowl.

"What?" She laughs as she sets the cat down and nears me. "Why are you being so shy, huh?" She pokes one of my breasts.

"Brittany!" I laugh as I cover my chest with my hands.

"Can I get a little peak?" She asks and pulls at my shirt's collar. "Just to refresh my memory."

"No, stop it." I slap her hand away.

"I have needs, you know? At the very least let me see the goods."

I feel my smile fade a little because I can't tell if she's joking or not. It's been a little over a month since we started… well… being… close, but we haven't done anything past first base, which is something I can't even believe. If she were any other girl, I would most certainly have made a move by now.

Noticing my reaction, Brittany chuckles and says, "San, I'm kidding. I'll go pull some shorts on while you change, okay?"

"Hey, wait," I say as she turns to leave. "I was thinking that maybe you could bring your stuff in here. I can make room in my closet."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I should have offered sooner. You shouldn't be living out of your suitcase." I say as I open my closet and start pulling some of my clothes out.

"Well, Sugar made some room for my things in the linen cabinet, and I'm not going to be here for much longer, remember?"

I pause for a second and without turning around, I say, "I thought we agreed that you were going to take your time with that."

"I know. I am. But I don't think finding a place of my own will take more than a month or two."

"Then we can share for a month or two." I pull the last shirt out of the right side of my closet. "I don't even use half of these. I should take them downstairs and see if Sugar can get rid of them since she seems keen on selling my stuff."

"You definitely can't let her sell this one," she says, holding up a t-shirt with The Elephant written across the chest and two elephants intertwining their trunks. "It's so cute."

"You want it?".

"You'd give it to me?" She asks, surprised.

I shrug. "Sure. I don't really use it anymore. It's from some stupid club I joined while I was going to school."

"You joined a club?" She asks, slipping the shirt on.

"It was a diversity promoting club. All we did was walk around and hand pamphlets out." Brittany stands in front of my mirror and looks at her reflection. "It fits you well," I comment. "Keep it."

"Thanks! I really like it," she says with a smile. "How come I never heard about this club? I would have asked for a shirt." She runs her finger across the elephants now fitted over her chest and smiles.

"Well," I chuckle. "I only joined because there was a girl in the club who I had been talking to, but it didn't work out so I quit a few weeks after. It wasn't really worth mentioning."

"Oh." she breathes out as I begin plucking the clothes off their hangers. Brittany picks up a University of Chicago t-shirt and examines it. "Would it be okay if I trade it in for this one instead?"

I look up at her and frown a little. "I thought you liked the elephants? And that shirt is really worn out. I bought it during my first week there."

"It's okay," she assures me as she slips the shirt off and pulls on the old, faded one. "This one has more character, you know?"

My eyebrows dip in confusion. "If you say so."

"I'm gonna go put those shorts on now," she announces before giving my hip a squeeze to get my full attention. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For the shirt, silly." With a smile, she holds her lips against mine and inhales deeply. When she pulls back, she leans in again to peck me once, then twice, then a third time.

I laugh at her playfulness. "What's with you?"

"Nothing!" She smiles. "I just really like kissing you. Can you blame me?"

"No." I shake my head, arrogantly. "I really can't." Before she turns to leave I take her by the hand and kiss her one more time. "I really like kissing you too."

At this, her face breaks into a wide smile and she skips out of the room in the old, faded shirt.

/

Back down stairs, Sugar is approached by a guy that looks as if he just time traveled from the 60s. "Hey, uh… you selling these?" He mumbles at no one in particular.

"No, we're just having a public show and tell," I bark as I set down the clothes I brought from upstairs.

Sugar throws me a look. "Yes, we are selling them. Do you see anything you like?"

He stays silent for a long time before picking up a ring. "This one shines a lot… like- kinda like a star," he chuckles.

I scowl. "Is this the first time you see a ring? Did they not have rings in the 60s? Or showers? Seriously, when was the last time you saw a bar of soap?"

"Santana!" Sugar slaps my arm. "Do you like it? I can give you a discount on it," she offers him.

"Nah…" He drops the ring back on its place before finally looking up at us. "Whoa... You guys are like- kinda hot."

"Thanks!" Brittany chirps next to me.

I frown at her and she shrugs.

He tucks his coarse, shoulder length hair behind his ears and smiles at Sugar. "I'm Nico."

"Of course you are," I mumble.

"Oh, I'm Sugar."

"What! That name is so cool, dude."

"Thanks," Sugar replies with a blush. Oh god.

"You know, if you weren't selling these stuff yourself, and if I had like- some money, I would definitely buy the shiny star ring for you."

"Aw," I hear Brittany whisper, and again I frown at her in disapproval.

"But hey!" He starts as if he just had the greatest idea ever and probably the only idea ever. "We should hang out."

"W-what?" Sugar stutters.

"You want my phone number?"

"I… Sure. I guess."

Nico pulls a marker out from his backpack and asks Sugar for her hand where he jots down some messy numbers. "I hope to hear from you soon, Sugar," he says with dopey smile. As he begins to leave, he glances at Brittany and points at her. "Hey, cool shirt. It has character."

Brittany's face lights up. "Thanks!"

"What the fuck just happened?" I ask once he's gone. "Sugar, you just got a pothead's number."

"What? He's not a pothead!"

"Are you serious? Either he just smoked a joint or rolled around with a skunk. Actually, it's probably both."

"He was nice. Wasn't he nice, Brittany?"

Brittany nods. "I liked him. I think you should give him a call."

"What? Don't do that, Sugar. Think of what your parents would say if they even saw you walking with him."

"Oh my god, Santana! I'm not going to marry him! You're such a drama queen," she says before pushing past me and storming into our building.

"She's crazy," I comment.

"Don't you think you exaggerated a little?" Brittany asks.

"I'm just trying to look out for her. She always dates the most awful guys. Did you know she dated a dog walker once? I mean, that was his full-time job."

"What's wrong with that?"

I finish laying out my clothes and sigh. "Nothing. I don't want to argue. I was just trying to save her from heartbreak and me from having to put up with weeks of her crying and seeking more attention than usual."

"Bringing her parents up was probably not necessary though."

"Yeah, I know. I'll apologize to her."

Brittany takes my hands and holds them between us. "You're sweet, you know that?"

I scoff. "That's the last thing I am."

"You wish that were true, but it isn't." She smiles.

I roll my eyes and ask, "Alright, can we change the subject?"

"Well, since we're talking about parents. I was wondering if you'd like to take a trip down to Ohio soon. I need to go pick some stuff up from my mom's house and I really want to see my sisters."

"How soon? Aren't you barely getting situated at work?"

"I am," she nods. "So maybe after I move into my new place?"

I hate talking about her leaving. "Okay," I agree. "I actually need to go visit my mom. It's been a while and she's been bugging me about it."

"It's a date then!"