A/N: First song that was also on Glee. First date and Britt's history here. trigger warnings apply. Thanks for readingI dont own glee or paramore.The Only Exception by Paramore
Chapter 7: The Only Exception
Santana is nursing a cup of coffee that morning, after Brittany told her to not eat breakfast. Her stomach growls, its 10 am and Santana, admitelly, loves food. Especially breakfast. When the doorbell goes off, Diego and Ali are quick to beat her.
"Great, you're gonna scare her off" Santana grumbles as she joins them. Despite her gravelly tired voice, Santana looks put together. Foundation is covering the bruises to her best ability. She has a white long sleeve button up on under her leather jacket and black ripped skinny jeans. Her bright red high tops reflect her lipstick.
"Good Morning!" A cheery voice breaks through Santana's fog and her lips curl upwards.
"Hi Brittany, this is my son Diego" Ali welcomes the blonde inside. Santana smile softens when she sees the girl in a flowy yellow dress. She has yellow chucks and tall white socks on and her hair is braided. She looks a bit cold, but Santana told her not to bring a jacket.
"Its nice to meet you, Santana adores you." Brittany shakes Diegos hand.
"She admits it, huh?" Diego says, quickly turning a handshake into a hug "Hurt her and you'll regret it" he whispers in Brittany's ear.
"You can trust me." Brittany says, pulling away and turning towards the one she came for. "Santana you look beautiful."
"You too." Santana smiles "But, you'll look perfect in this" Santana hands Brittany the jean jacket. Brittany smiles at the back and slips it on, tracing a finger over the embroidered lyrics.
"I love it, thank you San." Brittany hugs the girl tightly "Now, we should go, I heard your stomach growling from a mile away."
"Fine but you better plan on buying a huge breakfast." Santana huffs jokingly.
"Only the best. Gracias Ali, Diego. I'll bring her home tonight." Brittany smiles, leading Santana out to her car.
"Aren't you too young to drive?" Santana asks.
"Yes" Britt smirks "Worries?"
"Does Tia know?"
"Yeah"
"Then, no. Your parents are okay with this too?" Santana is bewildered
"Yeah. I have my permit and I know how to drive really well. So?" Brittany starts the car
"Breakfast!" Santana announces as soon as Brittany pulls out of the driveway.
"As you wish." Brittany giggles.
They end up at a coffee shop/diner, known as The Lima Bean. Santana downs two more mugs of coffee (which she now recognizes as the same coffee Britt brought to school) and a whole plate of pancakes and bacon. Brittany, on the other hand, nurses a mug of cocoa and settles he stomach with a blueberry banana muffin.
"An't you hungwy" Santana says over a mouthful of food.
"My mom forced a protein shake on me before I left." Brittany smiles. Even off the Cheerios, her mom still wanted her getting some of the benefits.
"Gwoss" Santana swallows.
"Not really. Now finish, we have plans. Besides, there will be more food in, like, an hour and a half." Brittany hands Santana another napkin, as the girl insists she'll be ravenous by then- which Brittany will later learn to be true.
Their next stop is the park, specifically the one with the pond.
"Why are we at a park, and why do you have bread?" Santana asks, lacing her hand with Brittanys.
"Feeding the ducks silly!" Brittany says as if its obvious.
"Aren't you a badass?" Santana raises an eyebrow.
"Only when I need to be. I can let my guard down around you and the duck." Brittany smiles, splitting the bread so they can throw it to the ducks.
"So you're a softy?" Santana concludes, watching Brittany's face light up at the ducks.
"I'm like a turtle, soft with a hard shell." Brittany looks at Santana "What animal are you like?"
"I don't know. I've never thought about it." Santana plays with her shoelaces "its hard to know who you are when you're broken."
"You're not broken." Brittany says "You're hurting. But I think you're a lot like a turtle too."
"I think you're right." Santana smiles.
"Okay, ready for a next stop?" Brittany says standing up and offering Santana a hand.
"Only if it includes food. Feeding those ducks made me hungry." Santanas stomach growls and Brittany laughs.
Brittany pulls up to a little woodland park, and Santana spots treehouses built among the trees.
"Come on, I want to show you my treehouse!" Brittany opens Santanas door before grabbing a picnic basket from the trunk. She leads Santana to a more secluded tree houses and helps her up the ladder. Once they get up there, she lets Santana look at the view from the balcony while she sets up lunch, grabbing the guitar she keeps in the treehouse.
"This place is great." Santana enters from the balcony "You play guitar?"
"Yeah, it made the bad days better. Can I play you something before we eat?" Brittany nervously asks.
"Of course Britt." Santana smiles as Brittany strums the chords that she recognizes as Paramore "The Only Exception"
And that was day that I promised
I'd never sing of love if it doesn't exist
But darling
You are the only exception
Santana smiles, her eyes watering as Brittany plays the song with such grace.
Oh and I'm on my way to believing
Brittany looks up from the guitar nervously and she's a few tears on Santana's face.
"Oh no you didn't like it" Brittany says, immediately wiping the tears away.
"You're right, I didn't like it...I loved it" Santana throws her arms around Brittany.
"You did?" Brittany asks to be sure.
"Yes of course. Thank you Britt. Thank you" Santana shyly looks at the girl before kissing her softly.
"When did you learn to do that?" Brittany smiles.
"When I realized you were the only exception." Santana taps Brittany's nose and they both giggle before having a quiet lunch.
From there on, their date is about as classic as it can get. Brittany takes Santana to see a rom-com, and they definitely steal a few kisses throughout the movie. She then treats Santana to dinner at Breadstix, the local Italian restaurant. When they finish dinner, Santana knows their date is about to end.
"I'm not ready for this to be over." Santana says as she sits in the car with Brittany, neither of them ready to leave the parking lot.
"Me neither. We could go get ice cream, and I bet your aunt would let us look at the stars in your backyard." Brittany shrugs.
"Are you sure you want to be bothered by Diego? My cousin can be really nosey." Santana shakes her head "But he really will like you."
"Well then I don't see the issue. Besides, I kind of have a thing for stars." Brittany smiles "Whenever I was feeling really down about school and bullying, my dad would take me outside and show me the constellations. And when he was done he'd tell me I was the prettiest star of all. That I shined brighter than the rest."
"I wish I had memories like that." Santana laments "My best memories are playing piano with Diego and Tia."
"I told you we are going to make memories together. I've been sneaking pictures all day. But maybe we can take one together once we get ice cream?" Brittany is sporting a pout and Santana giggels in agreement. They get ice cream from the local shop and take a picture of them eating it while sitting on the roof of Brittany's car. She takes Santana home, and Ali immediately insists the girl stays over because she hasn't seen her niece smile like that ever. Brittany tries to make an excuse but when Diego steals her phone and texts her parents for her she's out of luck. All her parents say is "use protection" and she blushes, shoving her phone in her pocket. Santana laughs at the entire thing before sending Diego outside with Britrnay to help her set up a blanket while she makes her famous cocoa.
"So, Diego, you're like Santana's brother?" Brittany asks, spreading a thick blanket over the grass.
"Yeah, we were always closer than cousins. Santanita is beautiful and no one ever appreciated that about her. Especially when she only wore her glasses. She started wearing contacts when her glasses got shattered and some glass got in her eye." Diego shakes his head "Buts its not my place to tell you about her past."
"I know about Emma." Brittany states and Diego's face hardens.
"What did you do snoop through her stuff?" he doubts Santana would tell the story to someone.
"No. She told me. After she got beat up at school, your mom brought us both here and Santana showed me the photo album." Brittany sees Diego's face soften. "Lo siento Brittany. I just...how come she took to you so fast?" he can't understand his cousins reaction to this blonde.
"Well, a mighty lot of persistence and similarities. Diego, San doesn't know how similar we are. I'm going to tell her more about me tonight" Brittany holds a hand up when Diego tries to stop her "I need you to be inside, waiting for her, in case she needs you. I'm not going to hurt her but she's been through hell and so have I" Brittany lifts her skirt up revealing a scarred thigh.
"Brittany, I can tell you're good for her but she is fragile. You have to be careful what you tell her." Diego runs a hand through his hair "Does she know?"
"She saw the ones on my stomach. I promise I'll be careful. Do you trust me?" Brittany nervously asks.
"With Santanita? The only person since Emma other than myself and Mami." Diego hugs the blonde "Whatever you've been through, it all needs to come out now. San bared her soul to you."
"Si, gracias Diego." Brittany wipes a stray tear away as Santana comes outside, Diego brushing past her.
"Is everything. Sit with me?" Brittany settles on the blanket next to Santana.
"Whats wrong B?" Santana says after a few moments of silence.
"I want to tell you my story." Brittany grabs Santanas hand "Like yours, it's hard to hear."
"I can handle it Britt." Santana assures.
"Well, I was always special as a kid, you know. The kind of special parents worry about. I saw the world through a rose colored lens. I thought everyone was good. And my parents are. They're the sweetest. But the kids on the playground weren't. I didn't realize what all their words meant. I didn't understand. My parents took me to get tested when I was five. I was still fumbling words and barley reading. I was diagnosed with dyslexia." Brittany bites her lower lip and sees only compassion in Santana's eyes "My tutor, as I called them, was of course my therapist. I read really well now because of her. She was also my speech therapist, and we spent most of our time reading and singing lyrics. Its why I love music so much. When I was diagnosed with ADHD a year later, dance became an outlet. My childhood was sparkly until my mom got sick. My dad's best friend at the time stayed with us to help take care of me and my younger sister. He adored Liv. But he hated me. He was the first person to call me stupid. My parents never caught him doing it. Or caught him hitting me. He stayed with us until I was eight, and my mom got better. My mom relapsed when I was twelve. It was around this time I had started to make it clear I liked girls. He stayed with us again, seeing as he'd been "so good" the first time." Brittany shuddered and she saw Santana crying but the Latina pushed her to continue "It was inevitable that he would rape me. It triggered my fighting in school. The self harm. All of it. I was 13 when I got the abortion and my parents realized who was responsible. They've apologized profusely since. I wish they'd forgive themselves. And now I've been clean for about 3 months. Its been two years." Brittany shook her head. "Not to mention the fact that I started school late. It doesn't bother you that I'm older does it?"
"Whens your birthday?" Santana tangents.
"July 16th…" Brittany arches an eyebrow.
" Mine is October 9th. We are only a few months apart." Santana giggles "I'm turning fifteen you goof."
"So, my story…" Brittany looks down.
"How's your mom?" Santana asks.
"Shes beat breast cancer twice." Brittany smiles.
"Britt. I hate that you went through that, with an adult especially. But te amo. Your scars." Santana runs a hand up her thigh tracing them knowingly "Are your strength. You want to know something? Since Monday, I've been clean. Even with my locker you healed me." Santana kisses Brittanys cheek "Now I want to know some constellations."
"Youre adorable. Ursa Major and Minor. Also known as the big and little dipper."