Chapter 2

Quinn has played in small roles before in various TV shows, where she popped onto set for a day or two and only had to recite a few lines before she went home with a small sum of money, enough to last her a few weeks if she was being economical. Normally in those roles she felt like a nobody – as she should really, she only played a small part and all the focus was on the main star, the main character.

Now that she was the main character, she was under a lot of attention under set, everybody involved in the production seemed to want to talk to her, and it was a little overwhelming. It wasn't unwelcome, however. But she was nervous. Nervous about disappointing people, given the biggest role she had was being a college waitress in an episode of a TV show.

She never did well with new people. And she will have so many lines to learn, probably the whole script all in one go. What if she couldn't do it? Or worse, what if she was simply not good enough?

"I told them to lay off you for a bit," Holly suddenly appeared and Quinn jumped. "You look like you're ready for the floor to open up and swallow you whole."

Quinn felt her muscles relax under Holly's jesting tone, mustering a small smile. "I'm fine," she reassured. "I'm just not used to being under this much attention."

"Well, you better get used to it then," Holly winked. "If this movie blockbusts you'll be under a lot more attention, trust me. Oh, and people will start shipping you and Santana together."

The mention of Santana's name made goosebumps rise on Quinn's skin. "They will?"

"Please," Holly waved a hand. "It's a love story."

Quinn bit her lip and looked beyond Holly and over her shoulder, where Santana and Sam were goofing around. It was her second day on set and she still hadn't spoken to Santana after Holly told her it was in fact not Lola. After all, what could she say? She made such a fool of herself in front of one of her favourite actors.

"Look," Holly lowered her voice as her tone turned gentle and less playful. "You don't have to do this if you're not comfortable with it. I was surprised when you signed the contract so fast, you didn't even give it a day of thought."

"I want to do it though," Quinn affirmed, nodding her head and looking up into Holly's eyes. "I want this."

"But do you?" Holly said, a small crease between her eyebrows. "You're very talented, Quinn, there's no question about that. And I'm not doubting you in any way, but are you sure you're ready… for this?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Quinn said.

"I feel you might have skimmed through the details of the movie," Holly replied. "You'll be working with your co-star a lot through this. You will have intimate scenes with her, quite a few in fact. And that's not to mention after this film gets produced, given Santana's previous success, they will consider you… Santana's new 'thing'. A lesbian, even. And if you're not comfortable with Santana, I feel this will be very painful for you. And as much as I wish you'd stay and play Sarah's part because I genuinely believe you're perfect for the role, I want you to be a hundred percent sure you're comfortable with this. Because at the end of the day, your happiness and wellbeing is my priority."

Quinn looked at Holly for a long time, letting her words sink in. She had never met a director like this… was this how the actors playing main parts usually get treated? She was dumbfounded.

She did read through the terms of the role when she was offered it, thoroughly, in fact. But maybe she hadn't thought about the full extent of what this movie would do to her career, and more importantly, her mental health.

It was a huge step, but it could be so rewarding.

And if she didn't take this step, when would she ever?

"I didn't skim through it," Quinn said. "And yes, I'm sure I want this. A hundred percent."

Holly searched Quinn's eyes for sincerity before her lips curved into a huge grin.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Holly beamed. "You'll be amazing, kiddo," she patted Quinn's shoulder. "I know it for a fact."

Quinn and Holly shared a smile before Holly gave one final encouraging nod and left her alone to her thoughts.

Thoughts that promptly drifted to Santana and how she should probably clear the air before it got a little too awkward.

"Here's our star!" Santana cheered when Quinn approached them. "How you doing, Quinn?"

"Not so bad," Quinn said, Santana's infectious energy causing a small smile to appear on Quinn's lips. "How about you, Santana?"

"Santana?" Santana echoed, a frown playing at her eyebrows. "I told you my name was Lola." She then elbowed Sam in the ribs which made him cough.

"Ow!" Sam complained, rubbing his solar plexus. "Yeah, um, her name is Lola and definitely not Santana," he wheezed.

"You're in this too?" Quinn rolled her eyes. "Santana, I'm not falling for it again," Quinn reprimanded. "I know you're the Santana Lopez."

"Damn it," Santana said. "Who told you, by the way? I'm sure it's not Sammy-boy, I made him pledge his middle finger to keep the joke running."

"Sorry?" Quinn frowned, perplexed. "Why middle finger?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Santana grinned. "So he can't…" Santana paused for a moment, before locking her two thumbs and flapping her hands in sync.

"What the hell?" Quinn is completely confused now.

"So he can't flip the bird," Santana huffed. "You don't get it?"

"You're losing your touch, San," Sam chortled and Santana slapped his shoulder to shut him up.

"Sorry about that," Santana said, looking back at Quinn. "Oh, not about my bad joke. But about Sam. His life is the whole joke," she rolled her eyes which made Quinn laugh. "Anyway, so who told you?"

"Holly did," Quinn answered. "Why, you can't have expected to keep the façade up for long?"

"I didn't," Santana admitted, a playful smile appearing. "It was fun while it lasted though."

Quinn averted her gaze as a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Aww, Quinnie is blushing!" Santana grinned as she reached a finger to touch Quinn's now very warm cheek but Quinn slapped it away.

"Stop it!" Quinn scolded, pouting as she put both her hands on her cheeks to hide the blush. "God, I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?"

"I doubt it," Santana smirked. "Anyway, I saw you speaking with Holly earlier. Care to elaborate?"

"It was nothing," Quinn waved her hand dismissively. "She was just giving me an out in case I didn't want to do this film."

"Hmm," Santana hummed contemplatively. "And what did you say?"

"I said I wanted to do it," Quinn affirmed.

"Attagirl," Santana winked. "I'm really happy you're playing Sarah, by the way. Your lips look very kissable, my fair lady."

Quinn blanched before she felt a blush creeping up her neck.

"I better shut up," Santana sighed. "I'm just making things weird for all of us."

And the trio fell silent for a second too long for any of their liking.

"Um," Sam spoke up to break the awkward silence. "It's nearly lunchtime, maybe we should…"

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me," Santana perked up as she eyed Quinn again. "You know I'll be playing your eventual girlfriend in the movie, right?"

"Yeah…" Quinn drawled.

"So I was just thinking, since we're obviously going to be in each other's personal space a lot over the next few weeks…" Santana licked her lips. "Maybe we should head somewhere so we can… get to know each other better?" Santana raised an eyebrow.

Quinn choked on her own spit. "Sorry?" she wheezed, coughing.

"Just somewhere," Santana shrugged. "Where we can… know more about each other. Privately," Santana grinned.

Quinn's jaw dropped as her cheeks felt like a stove. "I-I…"

"I know a nice sandwich place not far from here," Santana said, looking at her watch. "We can grab something to eat and head back when lunch break is over, we'll make it easily."

"Oh," Quinn's eyes widened. "Oh. I-I see. Yeah, that would be nice."

"You look a little flustered," Santana's smirk was back as she reached up and poked Quinn's cheek. "Wow, burning hot too! Why, did I say something?"

"No!" Quinn said. "Well, uh, I just thought…" She paused.

"You thought?" Santana raised an eyebrow, prompting.

"It's nothing," Quinn shook her head. "So where's this sandwich place you were talking about?"

"It's about ten minutes' walk away," Santana replied. "Should we go now?"

"Sure," Quinn said, giving a small smile. Santana stood up and they were about to leave when they were interrupted.

"Ahem," Sam coughed, making the two women turn around.

"Yes, Sammy boy?" Santana asked.

"You're not going to invite me?" Sam said.

"Wasn't planning on it, no," Santana replied, grinning.

"What?" Sam frowned. "But I'm your bestie!"

"Mm-hmm, but you aren't playing my love interest. Sorry, Sammy boy, but we've gotta go on a practice date first so we can actually… do well in the movie," Santana winked. "Anygays, see you in an hour."

Quinn wanted to say goodbye to the blonde boy too but Santana pulled her wrist and they were outside.

"Date?" Quinn questioned when Santana bade goodbye to Holly and left the set.

"Yep," Santana popped the end of the first word. "And the first step to a successful date…" Santana drawled. "Is to hold hands," her tone suddenly changed to an incredibly bashful one as she slid her hand down Quinn's wrist and interlocked their fingers.

Quinn's breath hitched as she looked to her right and into Santana, who was looking up at her shyly with her head slightly bowed, biting her lip.

"U-Uh…" Quinn's brain was short-circuiting with sensory overload. Santana's hands were warm. And soft.

"That was good, wasn't it?" Santana's shy demeanour was gone in a click and she was beaming widely. "Damn, why didn't I play in a love movie before? It'll be your turn in a bit." Santana winked before swinging their hands back and forth, feet still stationary. "Follow me, to our date we go!" she announced and pulled Quinn along.

"Interesting sandwich choice," Santana remarked when they sat opposite each other in a booth at the sandwich shop.

"What do you mean?" Quinn said as she looked at her plate and at her sandwich. There was nothing special about it.

"Where to start?" Santana hummed. "You asked for a BLT. Okay, that's fair enough. But then you were like 'Can you replace the lettuce with bacon? And the tomato too?' What is in front of you, Quinn," Santana pointed at the sandwich on Quinn's plate. "Is no longer a BLT. It's a BBB."

"Fine," Quinn frowned with a small pout on her lips. "You have a point. But bacon is the most expensive ingredient out of bacon, lettuce and tomato. I'm just making the most out of my money."

"Sure, sure," Santana side-eyed Quinn before picking up her salmon sandwich and taking a bite. "You sure it's not because you're addicted to bacon?"

"Definitely not," Quinn said before taking a huge bite out of her sandwich too. And the way the flavour of delicious bacon exploded inside her mouth was so euphoric she couldn't help but let out a appreciative moan.

"Hmm," Santana smirked when Quinn covered her mouth, embarrassed. "Don't worry. It's good practice for… what's going to come," Santana winked. "You ever played in a sex scene before?" She asked so casually, it was as if she was asking about the weather.

"I'm sorry?" Quinn choked.

"You ever played in a sex scene before?" Santana repeated.

Quinn gulped her bacon down before shaking her head.

"Me neither," Santana picked out a strip of smoked salmon and sucked it into her mouth suggestively. "You know, I've heard from some of my connections that the way to make it convincing is to come up with your unique aphrodisiac. I don't know mine yet, but I think I know yours already," Santana grinned, licking her lips clear of the cream cheese.

Quinn gulped as the room felt ten degrees hotter. "What would that be?" Her lips were dry.

"Bacon," Santana stated, her grin widening. "Don't look at me like that, Quinn, you know it's true. Those strips make you…" Santana nodded her head and didn't finish the sentence, but Quinn knew very well what she meant.

She was going to blush again. She needed to change the topic as soon as possible before she died of embarrassment.

"You're very different," Quinn noted and Santana looked up curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"From your on-screen characters, I meant," Quinn said. "The characters you play… typically aren't very likeable."

"Aww, are you saying I'm likeable then?" Santana put a hand over her heart. "That's so sweet!"

How Santana could twist Quinn's words into her favour like it was her job, Quinn had no idea. And how Santana could make Quinn embarrassed and flustered all the time, Quinn wasn't sure either.

"I mean, you're the polar opposite of who you play. As much as I hate to admit it, you're nice, and your characters are complete bitches. And you are really mischievous, and like poking harmless fun at other people, and your characters do anything they could to cause harm."

"I know," Santana shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee. "Through appearance alone, I come off as the bitchy cheerleader. So that's who I played. But now? I'm twenty-two, I don't want to play in high-school dramas anymore. I kind of want to break myself from… that stereotype, because that's not who I am. Which is why I'm participating in this project in the first place. I want a break from the constant publicizing of me being the head bitch in charge. I'm… repainting myself, if that makes sense."

"No, that makes perfect sense," Quinn smiled as she took another bite of her sandwich. "I've also played a few roles like that before, but I don't like them because I don't like being mean to people. But then I appear on one episode at most, so I can't say I relate to your experience."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to –" Santana started before sighing. "I'm not ungrateful, just for the record. I just want to move on to a new era of my career."

"I understand," Quinn nodded. "Likewise, really. Except I'm more trying to find my break, trying to kickstart my career instead. It's a lot harder than I thought."

"True," Santana concurred. "Well, I guess this is your chance then. Your break. Which is why we gotta make it good, huh?" she smiled.

"Definitely," Quinn agreed.

A few seconds passed in quiet before Santana piped up again. "You know, it's funny. We're both looking for a break, but in different contexts."

"Really?"

"You're searching for your break, one that would rocket your career. I'm searching for a break, one that would erase my image as HBIC. Same word, different meanings, huh?"

"You're right," Quinn smiled. She liked how they were engaging in mature conversation. Not to say she didn't like the playful ones, but at least she didn't have to blush in these more intelligent conversations. And Santana was very smart.

"To be honest, playing HBICs comes with a perk," Santana said. "You are less likely to get harassed by the general public. They either don't know who you are, and if they do they tend to be too scared to approach me. You know, because I play a mean bitch…"

"I know what you mean," Quinn said. "People just don't know how to separate the actor from the character…"

"Oh, a hundred percent," Santana agreed. "So is this why you think so highly of Santana Lopez?"

"What?" Quinn frowned. "Oh, now you're just getting full of yourself."

"Oh, please," Santana waved a hand. "You fangirled over Santana Lopez in front of me, before you knew who I was," she laughed. "If I may say so myself, she is one of your faves."

"Yeah," Quinn sighed as she broke eye contact and looked down. "To be honest, I can hardly believe you're sitting opposite me right now. Talking. And not because I've always had some… celebrity crush on you," Quinn wrinkled her nose. "But because of how talented you are and how much I respect that."

She half expected Santana to make a narcissistic joke but Santana's voice was surprisingly soft. "You think that?"

Quinn nodded as she made eye contact again. "To a casual watcher, people will just think your character is a bitch. But the way you portray her, you add a layer to her character, one that I doubt is in the script. You add this… sense of vulnerability behind her shell, since of wanting to be accepted and appreciated. You gave your character a whole backstory without telling us or having flashbacks or whatever film technique," Quinn rolled her eyes. "You showed, not told. It's your work ethic, your obvious passion, your talent. That's why you're one of my faves."

Since Santana stayed silent, Quinn looked up after her wordy speech to see Santana staring at her sandwich. And even though her skin was dark, Quinn could swear the hint of a pink teasing her cheek.

"I would say thank you but," Santana said slowly, looking up to meet Quinn's eyes again. "I don't feel that's enough. So um…" she brushed a tendril of hair from her face as she racked her head for ideas. "Here, have some salmon." She pulled a strip from her sandwich and plopped it onto Quinn's hand.

Of all the things Santana could've done, that was not what Quinn expected.

The absurdity of the response made Quinn snigger which turned into a laugh. And soon Santana was laughing too. The playfulness was back and whatever moment they had before dissipated.

Quinn suddenly felt very lucky. She didn't grow up with many friends and if she could say so herself, she and Santana just kind of fit. She knew Santana in person for only two days and Santana was already a better friend than anyone else in Quinn's life. She could only hope that was reciprocated.

"Um, I have something you might want to see," Santana said when the laughter died down, reaching inside her bag to pull out a stack of paper.

"What is it?" Quinn questioned, taking the stack from Santana.

"It's the script," Santana shrugged. "You know, the script of the movie we'll be playing."

"What?" Quinn gasped in disbelief. "H-How did you get this? I thought it was still in its finalisation process?" She said, rapidly flipping through the pages.

"I stole the draft from the producer's office," Santana grinned. "Shh, don't tell anyone."

"I won't," Quinn promised.

Quinn grew up being an avid reader of fictional novels. And she was ensorcelled by the expanse of text before her, the dialogue, the stage directions, et cetera. Script writing was such a different process but it was nevertheless fascinating.

"Damn it," Santana cursed which made Quinn look up. "I was planning on going through it with you but lunchbreak is nearly over."

"Why don't we go through it when we get back?" Quinn suggested.

"It would get confiscated if we were caught," Santana laughed.

"First rehearsal's next Monday anyway, right?" Quinn said. "So what if it gets confiscated? We'll go through it soon anyway."

"You make a point, but I kinda don't want the fear of people intruding when we read through it. Especially through the sexy scenes. Hey, how about this? You can come over to mine tonight after work and we'll go through it together. How's that sound?"

No way did Santana just invite Quinn to her place of residence.

"Oh," Quinn breathed. "Look, um…" She was suddenly tentative.

"It's okay if you don't want to," Santana smiled. "You don't seem too eager."

"No, I'd love to!" Quinn frowned. "It's just, um, maybe not tonight. It's a bit… soon. We can go over it tomorrow?"

"Think I may kidnap you?" Santana scowled. "No, I totally understand," she laughed. "Of course, we'll go over it tomorrow."

"Thanks," Quinn smiled gratefully.

"So," Santana said as she shoved the last bit of sandwich in her mouth. "Ready to head back?"

Quinn stood up and grabbed her cup of coffee. "Yeah."