Warning: A bit of mature content on this one.

/

"Almost done," Brittany says as she straights a strand of my hair with the hot flat iron. "I love your hair. It's so soft."

"You know it's not like that when I get out the shower," I say, watching her reflection through my vanity mirror as I sit still.

She chuckles. "I like your curly hair too. It's cute."

"I rather look hot than cute."

"Well, you're a perfect combination of the two, so I wouldn't worry too much if I were you." She sets the flat iron down and runs her fingers through my hair. I catch her watching me through the mirror and she says, "You're beautiful," before slipping a hand beneath my chin and tilting it upward so that she can kiss me. It's an awkward kiss because our chins and noses are in the way, but I really don't mind it; It makes me feel like Mary Jane.

A angry knock on the door interrupts us before Sugar's voice is scolding us for not being ready on time. "Nico's been waiting for us at the restaurant for fifteen minutes! Can you two please save the hugs and kisses for later?"

"Sorry," Brittany apologizes. "We're all done. We'll be out in a minute."

Sugar storms off in a huff and I begin applying my favorite lipstick. "We should make him wait at least an hour. It can be his first test; see how patient he is. We all know Sugar needs someone with a lot of patience."

Brittany rests her hand on my shoulders. "Be nice tonight, okay? Remember you said you'd give him a chance."

I roll my eyes. "Fine. I'll try."

"Thank you," she smiles with a squeeze of my shoulders.

"How do you keep getting me to do stuff I don't normally do?" I ask with a chuckle.

She shrugs, smiling. "It's a gift."

/

A short drive later, we arrive at an Italian restaurant in the city. Sugar all but runs through the entrance and we spot Nico looking like a sad loser who got stood up.

"Hi!" He says when he spots Sugar. He kisses her cheek and she giggles in his arms. "Hi, girls. I'm glad you came."

I smirk. "Is that the first time you ever say that?" I ask as we all sit at the table.

"What?" He asks in confusion..

"It's nice to see you again, Nico," Brittany cuts in. "It's nice to see you awake, too."

"Oh," he chuckles. "I'm really sorry about that. And embarrassed. I was just so tired that night."

"And high," I add.

"Santana!" Sugar scolds.

"No, she's right. I was really high. I'm trying to cut back. I really am."

"Good to know," I say in monotone as I look over the menu.

When the waiter arrives to take our orders, Nico asks, "Should we order some wine?"

"Trading in one bad habit for another?" I say, sarcastically.

Brittany, who's sitting next to me, whispers my name in a disapproving tone.

"What?" I ask. "It was a joke! It's not like he's an alcoholic too." I look at him and frown. "Are you?"

He chuckles. "No, I'm not."

"See? No harm, no foul. Let's get that wine."

It's not that I don't like the guy. Okay, that's exactly what it is. I mean, I might not be able to stand Sugar's over dramatic ways at times, and yes I sometimes picture myself slapping her, but she's still my friend. My sister, almost. She deserves someone that's as great as she is. And I'm not sure that that person is the guy that got high off his mind and passed out on my couch.

"So, Nico," I start, "What do you do for a living? Walk dogs?"

"Uh, no... I work at a brewpub. It's called Revolution Brewing, maybe you've heard of it?"

"Oh, yeah. I've been there a few times. I'll admit the beer there is pretty great."

"I don't remember going to a place by that name," Sugar says.

"I don't think you've been there. I usually go with other friends."

Sugar scoffs. "What friends? Your one night stands? Doubt those count as friends."

I guess I deserve that one. Nonetheless, I didn't see it coming and I don't know what to say while Brittany's full attention is on me. "No. I..."

"Brittany," Nico jumps in. "I hear you're a veterinarian?"

"Oh, um, no not really. I'm just a tech for now."

"Is that kind of like a nurse for animals?"

Brittany chuckles. "Yeah, I guess so. It's not as cool as being an actual vet, but..." She shrugs. "It's ok for now, and it pays enough to be able to rent my own apartment. Which by the way," she says, turning to look at me. "I think I might have found a few places."

"Apartments?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"You've been looking? I thought- Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "I'm telling you now."

"But I thought you were going to wait."

"I have waited. That's why I have enough money to move out now. Plus, not that I don't appreciate you guys letting me sleep on your couch, but my back is kind of tired of it. Either way, I haven't actually gone to see any in person yet, so you can come check them out with me. "

"I'd be happy to go look at apartments with you, Brittany," Sugar says cheerfully. "But for now, you'll all have to excuse me while I go to the lady's room to… freshen up."

"I'll come with you," Brittany says.

Once they're gone, Nico and I are left in a painful silence. I grab the bottle of wine and fill my glass half way before taking a sip. "Pretty good wine."

Nico nods, "Yeah..." He clears his throat and looks around at the people in the restaurant for a moment before clearing his throat once more. "I don't know if this is something I should ask, but for the sake of conversation I'm going to ask anyway."

"O-kay?"

"Are you and Brittany… um, having like… problems or something?"

I scowl. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, again, I might be overstepping here, but I mean, she's moving out so…"

"So what?"

He hesitates. "S-so that usually happens when couples are you know… fighting or having some kind of problem."

"Wha- We're not…" I shake my head. "We're not together."

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were. It just seemed like… Sugar had said there was something between the two of you and you seem close, so I just thought..."

"Well don't cause we're not. We're friends."

"I'm really sorry, Santana. It just looked like… Sorry."

I sigh. He looks like a puppy getting yelled at for having peed on the carpet. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Just don't bring it up again, alright?"

"Yeah, okay. I won't." He chugs the last of his wine before refilling his glass. "I think we're going to need some more of this."

/

"So wait she stepped on a bee or a bee stung her?" Nico asks, intrigued.

"Who knows," I Iaugh. "I mean, I guess she stomped her big foot on the poor thing and it reacted."

Sugar pouts and looks at Nico. "I don't have big feet."

"I know you don't. You're the tiniest thing I've ever seen," he says through a laugh. "I'm sure your feet are as cute and tiny as what I've seen of you so far."

Sugar blushes like she's fifteen again and hides her face behind his shoulder.

"Being tiny sure doesn't stop her from putting that food away!" Brittany adds. "You'll never leave a restaurant with leftovers ever again, Nico. Say goodbye to doggy bags or reheated food at 12am. Believe me, I've got one of my own." She nods towards me as she pours the last of our third bottle of wine into her glass.

I glance at Sugar and she gives me a knowing look. "Let's take it easy on the wine, Britt." I gently pull her glass away from her lips and set it down in front of me.

"I haven't had that much," she protests.

"I know, but you're getting there. I'll drink the rest, okay?"

She pouts. "You've had as much as I have!"

She's right. Knowing my alcohol tolerance, the wise thing to do is not drink any more. I'm already feeling giddy as it is. "You're right. Nico can have it."

"Oh, no. No more for me. I'm driving tonight," he says, then looks at Sugar. "I was actually hoping you'd want to come catch a movie with me."

Sugar smiles from ear to ear but then seems to remember something. "What about them?" She looks at Brittany and me. "They can't drive home. They've been drinking."

I scoff. "Go! We're fine. I'm fine. I can drive home."

"Santana, drunk driving is a serious thing. Who will help me pay rent if something happens to you."

"Glad to hear you care about me," I say sarcastically.

"We can give you guys a lift home," Nico offers.

"We'll take a cab!" Brittany says as if it's the greatest idea ever. "They have those here, right?" she asks me.

"Yes, they do," I chuckle. "I'll call the cab company."

While we wait for our cab out on the curb, Nico opens up his coat and wraps Sugar in it as she giggles and tries to get her arms around him. Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all, not that I'm completely convinced.

"Hi," Brittany says, jumping in front of me and landing a few inches away.

I laugh. "How are you feeling?"

"Great! Are you okay?"

"Mhm," I nod. "I feel good."

"I'm kinda sleepy," she says, resting her chin on my shoulder and slumping her body. "I think it was all the yummy food."

"Aw," I coo as I rub her back. "We'll get you to bed soon."

"That sounds nice," she whispers by my ear.

"Nico?" A passerby asks.

Nico looks back at the stranger and smiles. "Hey, man! What are you doing here?"

"I'm just on my way to meet some people at a bar." He looks down at Sugar who's clinging from Nico's waist. "Who's this lovely lady?"

"Oh! This is Sugar."

"Ah, this is Sugar," he says, smiling knowingly, then offers her his hand. "I'm Jackson. I work with Nico."

"Nice to meet you," she says, shaking his hand. "These are my friends Brittany and Santana."

"Nice to meet you," he says as he takes turns shaking our hands. "Hey, don't I know you?" He asks, giving Brittany a lingering stare. "I've seen you somewhere."

Brittany straights up and hums. "Hmm… Maybe you've seen me on the train or the bus?"

He chuckles. "Nah, I don't think so." Suddenly, he snaps his fingers and points at her. "You work at the vet clinic. I was there two weeks ago. I was the guy with the French Bulldog that swallowed a marble."

"Oh, yeah! I remember you!"

He smiles. "Small world, huh?"

"While I'm sure we all want to find out how Brittany got the marble out that brilliant dog, we'll have to save it for another time," I say as our cab pulls up and I open the door. "Shall we, Britt."

Brittany waves goodbye to the group and hops into the back seat.

"Nice meeting you, Michael."

"It's Jackson, actually."

I shrug as I climb into the car. "Michael, Jackson. It's all the same." I close the door and the taxi takes off.

"You were great," Brittany says, inching across the seat until her shoulder is pressed against mine. "I knew you had it in you to be nice."

"It was the alcohol talking, but I got to admit I had fun."

"Me too," Brittany says before taking a deep breath and dropping her head on my shoulder. We sit in silence for few minutes as we drive through the mostly empty streets of Chicago. I begin to think that maybe she's fallen asleep, but as if on cue her hand twitches on her lap. I follow it with my eyes as it slowly travels across my lap and lands on my leg, her fingers curling around my inner thigh. My hand instantly lands on hers and she becomes still. She cranes her neck to look at me, and her eyes have a look that I've never seen before. I'd say it frightens me, but her lips are on mine before I have time to think about being scared.

Her hand squeezes my thigh and I gasp as she moves her mouth against my own. It's intoxicating, more than its ever been. My grip loosens over her hand, and she wanders into dangerous territory as her fingertips reach the hem of my short skirt. I'm so lost in what's happening, in what she's making me feel, that I forget we're in the back seat of a taxi with a grown man sitting three feet from us. A car nearby honks loudly and breaks me free from the enchanted state I'm in. I pull away from Brittany who moans in disapproval and I notice a pair of eyes looking at me through the rear view mirror.

"Try keeping your eyes on the fucking road," I snap.

The man says nothing and looks away. As soon as he pulls up in front of our building, Brittany digs through her purse and tosses a twenty dollar bill at him. "Thank you!" She says before scurrying out the car. She takes my hand and doesn't slow down until we get to our apartment door where she insists that I hurry and unlock the door. When I do, she zooms inside. "Sit, down. I'll be back!"

"What are you doing?" I ask, as I sit on the couch.

In seconds, she comes back with two cups and a half empty bottle of white wine.

"No, no, no, Brittany. No more." I take the bottle from her.

"Why not? We're home."

"It's just… I think we've had enough."

She sits next to me on the couch and holds her cup in front of me, clearly not caring that she brought two plastic cups and not two wine glasses. "Just a tiny bit."

I sigh. "Fine, just a bit. But I'm not having any more."

She nods with smile and watches as I pour a quarter of a cup of wine. She quickly chugs the drink and sets the cup down. "It's okay if you don't want to drink anymore" she says, her tone serious. "I'll just have to give you a taste from my lips."

A wave of heat instantly rushes to my face, so much that I want to open a window. I think about getting up to do so, but Brittany's fingers snake through my hair and gently push it away from my neck where she begins trailing soft kisses.

The same nerves, fears, and feelings I felt when I had sex for the first time are all coming back except they're so much more intense this time around and we're not even doing anything close to sex. Brittany is kissing me so gently that it feel as if I'm being caressed and not kissed. Her hand finds my waist where a single finger slips under my shirt and my hands squeeze tightly around the wine bottle sitting between my legs.

"Brittany," I say in an exhale. Her lips leave my neck and I immediately miss the warmth of her breath on my skin.

"Are you okay?" she asks in the softest whisper.

I nod, staring into those amazing eyes. She smiles and it's as if that smile turns on my autopilot because I jerk forward and crush my lips against hers. It takes her by surprise but she quickly recovers and responds with the same urgency. As our hungry kisses get sloppier, I begin falling back on to the couch and Brittany follows me, resting some of her weight on me. "You're so hot," she says in between kisses. She skillfully untucks my blouse from my skirt and slips her hand completely underneath my shirt where it caresses my skin. Her touch feels so amazing that I think I'd give up sex for the rest of my life for second base with Brittany.

"Take it off," I say, sitting up as I try pulling my shirt off.

She helps me get rid of the pesky thing and flings it somewhere on the floor. When I drop back on to the couch, I expect her to follow but she doesn't, she hovers over me momentarily as her eyes scan my naked chest in surprise. .

I laugh. "I don't like bras very much," I say, pulling her back down over me. Our kisses become more controlled but our tongues are now participants, moving against one another and making the hottest noises I've ever heard. Brittany's steady hand finds one of my breasts and a tiny moan escapes my mouth when she begins massaging it. She leaves my lips once again, trading them in for kisses down my throat until her mouth reaches my breast. I quickly rise onto my elbows because I have to see this. This is really happening. She removes her hand from my body and replaces it with her mouth, forcing my eyes to involuntarily close and my head to tilt back with pleasure. She sucks gently, her tongue sliding back and forth across my skin.

"Brittany," I moan while the throbbing pain between my legs grows. Brittany tries settling a leg between my own but is rejected by my tight leather skirt. To my dismay, she unlatches her mouth from my breast and looks up at me with cat-like eyes. "Can I?" She asks, her voice thick and her hand grasping the hem of my skirt.

I wordlessly lift my hips and help her raise my skirt until it's bundled up around my waist. She easily fits her leg between my own and begins slow movements against me.

"Oh…" I moan.

Her head drops besides mine where I can not only hear but also feel her breathing getting heavier. She begins sucking on my neck, and I start to think that I might not be able to handle all this for too long until… "How many girls have you fucked?" She asks, her voice laced with something unrecognizable.

I abruptly pull away from her, my eyes wide. "What?"

She ignores my question and leans into me again. "How many?" She asks before kissing me.

"Brittany." I push her a little at the shoulder and hold her there.

"Do they make you feel like I do?"

What the fuck is going on?

"I don't want to be another one of your random fucks," she confesses with a rough thrust of her leg on to my center.

"You're not," I wheeze. I grip her hip tightly in an attempt to get her to stop moving against me. "Wait," I say, "Stop, stop."

"Why?" She asks, becoming still.

"Maybe we shouldn't…"

She holds my gaze, her eyes flicking right and left. "You're important to me."

"...I know. You're important to me too."

She watches me for a long moment as if she thinks I'm going to add a but.

"You are. I swear," I whisper. "You'd never just be… what you said."

She grins a little and straightens up, straddling my hips. "I've wanted to do this for a long time," she says shyly as she slips her shirt off and unclasps her bra.

Her confession causes a rush of tingles down my center. "Oh, yeah?" I joke, admiring her nude chest for the first time.

"You can touch me," she states sweetly.

I gulp back a bundle of nerves. This is it. This is Brittany half naked, mounted on my lap, asking me to touch her. I reach for her waist with almost trembling hands.

"Santana Lopez," she giggles as she places her hands over mine. "Are you nervous?"

I grin. "Of course not…"

Her smile begins fading as she guides my hands up her chilled skin and on to her small breasts. As I carefully begin massaging them, she closes her eyes and begins moving her pelvis forward and back. This might just be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

This next part feels so surreal, that I barely react to any of it.

The front door swings open and Sugar's voice is squealing not too long after. "OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!"

Brittany jolts off me like a cat touched by water. "Sugar!"

"What are you doing?!" Sugar shields her eyes and faces the door. "Oh my god. I can't believe I just saw that. I can't. I can't. I can't."

Brittany pulls on her shirt and tosses me my own which I calmly put on. "Oh, would you relax?"

"I'm so sorry, Sugar," Brittany apologizes. "We thought you were going to be at the movies."

"It was sold out!"

"You can turn around now," Brittany says.

Sugar takes her time turning back around.

"We're not trying to trick you into looking at us naked, Sugar," I say with a roll of my eyes.

"Santana, what the hell! You have a bedroom for a reason!"

"Relax," I wave her off as I fix my skirt. "We hadn't even gotten to the good part yet. I should be the one pissed off." At this, Brittany grins.

"Ugh. I need to go Google memory erasure," she says as she heads to her bedroom.

"Look up electroshock treatment, I think that's what you're looking for."

Sugar slams her door shut and Brittany looks at me for a second before we both burst out laughing.

"We should go to my room," I say, catching my breath.

Brittany nods. "Do you still want to…?"

My phone goes off and I pull it out from my back pocket. "Hold that thought." I look down at the screen and frown. "What time is it?"

"Eleven forty-three. Why? Who is it?"

"I don't know. Its got an Ohio area code though."

"You should answer it," Brittany says.

"Hello?"

"Hi, my name is Dr. Walden. I'm calling from the Hospital in Columbus. Is this Santana Lopez?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"I've contacted you because you appear to be listed as Isabella Lopez's emergency contact."

"T-that's my mom. Is she okay? Is she in the hospital?"

"Miss. Lopez, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."

"What happened? Is she okay?" I ask, panicked.

"Your mother went into sudden cardiac arrest this late evening and has died. She was brought into the ER but there was nothing we could do for her. I'm very sorry, Miss. Lopez… I know this is difficult to understand. It was a very sudden-"

"What did you say your name was?"

"...Dr. Walden from Mt. Carmel Hospital."

"Alright cut the shit. Who is this, really?

"Miss, this isn't a bad taste prank call. I recommend you come in as soon as you can. You'll need to identify the body, and I can tell you more about your mother's condition once we meet. You can also collect…"

"...Santana…Santana...Honey..."

This isn't real. I'm sleeping. This is a dream.

"Santana, what's wrong? Santana?"

"...My mom… She's dead."