Chapter 7 - The Girlfriend
Aja got home late from her shift to an empty apartment, which was odd because wouldn't at least Ethan be home? Aja didn't want to think about where or what Fae was up to. Or should she say who? Aja shuddered to herself trying to get that image out of her head and got ready for bed. Aja heard a car door close outside the apartment and decided to look down out of curiosity.
"Ethan?" Aja said aloud as she peered down onto the street to spy on her roommate. She couldn't hear quite what they were talking about, but the tone was suggestive and flirty. No way. Go, Ethan!
Aja let out an audible gasp as she watched the man pull Ethan close to himself, kissing them tenderly. Aja widened her eyes and ducked down from the window. Can't be interrupting them during such a private moment! He better not be coming up here though.
As Ethan came through the door of the apartment, Aja turned off the lights to give off the impression she was asleep. Aja listened intensely. Okay, only one set of footsteps. Thank god. This needed to be addressed once Fae got home because this was juicy.
/
The next day was business as usual for everyone, with the exception of Fae in the morning. She must have gone to work from wherever she slept last night.
Aja's second shift at Spotlight went by fast, with them deciding to scrap 'Love Song' into what they called the shitlist, essentially songs that were never to be played again at the diner due to bad performances or bad events such as last night's. The shitlist was on a poster board pinned to the back of the dance studio.
"Run Joey Run? What kind of song is that?" Aja read off the list.
"Don't even ask-" Santana wrapped an arm around Aja's waist. "Berry's idea. She decided to get the kitchen staff involved."
"I wish I could've seen that," Aja chuckled.
"It wouldn't be advisable." Santana held Aja tighter. "Hey…"
"Hm?" Aja turned her head in Santana's direction.
"The Diner is closed on Saturdays, so we get the day off. Would you like to go on a proper date? It's nice to see you at work but I don't get any time to see you."
"Well, we could always meet up before work or you could always stay over after?" Aja's tone turned seductive.
"Well, that will have to happen soon," Santana started. "But even though we had our fun at BushWackers that one night, I really want to make this special with you. I don't want to rush into things, you know?"
"Right," Aja nodded in agreement. Ugh, what! Does this mean what I think this means?
Santana sighed in relief. "Aja, I really want to get to know you better, and then I want to recreate that night at the club, but this time with feeling."
"I get that-"
"You're mad about it aren't you-"
"No, I mean it, I get that. We were being whores that day" Aja brought a smile to Santana's face.
"Haha, yeah, we kind of were, weren't we." Santana laughed, thinking about their time at the club.
"Alright, let's go out Saturday. How about a dinner date since we usually work during the dinner hours?" Aja suggested.
"Yeah, sounds good. Santana smiled. "Do you like Italian food?"
"Hell yeah I do!" Aja's smile grew bigger.
"Alright, I'll pick you up at 7 on Saturday."
"Can't wait," Aja said as she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend.
/
"Aja!" Fae sat on the couch, holding up a glass of some sort of brown drink, ice cubes clinking around in the glass as she raised it.
"Hey Fae, Ethan." Aja nodded to Ethan who was sitting at the kitchen counter with some headphones in, on their laptop scrolling through Tumblr.
"Hey." Ethan didn't even look up.
Aja put away her bag, took off her coat, and sat down on the couch with Fae who was yet again drinking going through her Facebook.
"Hey Fae," Aja whispered.
"Hmm? What is it? How was work?" Fae mumbled back. "Why are you whisp-"
"Shh!" Aja hushed the older girl. "Work was fine, anyways, I saw Ethan kissing some dude outside the apartment yesterday."
"A what!?" Fae blurted out.
"Shhh, shut the fuck up!" Aja smacked Fae's leg lightly. "Listen, Ion know who that dude was, but whoever he was, obviously he and Ethan are on some more than friendly terms."
"Oh please," Fae started. "Musical theatre kids are such whores, trust me I would know. They were probably just saying goodbye or something. Y'know, like, 'great rehearsal, let's have an orgy back at Tom's place!'"
"Fae." Aja was over it. "Look, you said Ethan has been single, what, forever?"
"Right, well besides the beard guy," Fae added.
"Right. This could be a big deal for them!" Aja and Fae both looked behind the couch to see Ethan still glued to the computer screen.
"Well, what should we do?" Fae asked her friend.
"Well, for starters, we shouldn't bring it up, we should let Ethan bring it up to us."
"Right."
"Also,"
"Yeah?"
"Me and Santana have a date on Saturday."
"Oh my god no way," Fae almost spat out her drink. "So what are you guys, you official now?"
"Well, you could say that" Aja flashed a cheeky smile.
"No fucking way, Aja Cenae!" Fae pushed Aja and the girls laughed through the night.
/
Saturday
"Hey Hazelnut, how do I look?" Santana was fixated on the mirror running her hands through her hair.
"You look beautiful Auntie Tana" Hazel smiled so purely, looking up at Santana through the mirror.
"You think Aja will like the dress?"
"Aw yeah!" Hazel giggled. "When is she gonna come over?"
"Well, maybe if your mom is okay with it," Santana said, eyes still directly on the mirror.
"Mom had a lady over last night. The pink-haired lady." Hazel looked confused.
"Well, if mommy can have her playdates over, so can I then!" Santana turned to smile at the little girl. "Speaking of playdates, isn't Piper coming over soon?"
/
Aja heard the sound of a honking horn from outside the apartment followed by a buzz of her phone. "Babe, I'm outside!" From Santana of course.
Aja pulled on her jean jacket and ran down the apartment steps onto the street. Santana was there waiting with a taxi's door swung open.
"Hello, my gorgeous girlfriend." Santana smiled to greet Aja.
"Well hello, my even more gorgeous girlfriend" Aja playfully recited back.
The two stole a quick kiss from one another and got into the taxi.
"After you, madam" Santana bowed and gestured to Aja to get inside first.
"Such a gentlelady-" Aja played along with Santana's act. She was really the biggest dork in the world.
/
The pair arrived at the restaurant, this one was titled 'BreadstiX'.
"Huh," Aja said while looking up at the sign. "Never been here before."
"They have a couple of locations, but only really on the east coast. They had one where I'm from in Ohio as well. It was my favourite place to go"
"Okay, if that's the case then it must be good! Let's get inside" Aja was so happy to go somewhere her girlfriend had such personal memories with.
The host sat them down at the table, leaving Aja to take in the ambiance of the restaurant. It was a cute little place, accordion music playing softly (if that was even possible) over the speakers and waiters dressed in white shirts carrying around trays of delicious smelling pasta dishes.
"Ciao, I'm Jessy and I'll be your server tonight!" Jessy gave the pair a toothy smile while placing glasses of ice water on the table. She had a genuine Italian accent which was rare for these kinds of joints.
"Hi, yes what's the wine special for tonight?" Santana asked so naturally. Aja could tell by the way she asked if she'd been here many times before.
"We have a Franciacorta tonight, a sparkling wine-"
"We'll take that." Santana cut the girl off.
"I'll be right back!" Jessy smiled sweetly as she walked to the bar.
"She's sweet," Aja smiled warmly at her girlfriend.
"She's a good one, back home, they were so crabby, rude, and definitely not from Italy."
"Back in Lima, right?" Aja asked while taking a sip of her water.
"Yeah, god that place is such a crack hole." Santana scoffed.
"Oh yeah? What's even there?"
"Nothing. My family. So, nothing." Santana looked down at the menu, avoiding eye contact with the darker girl.
Aja was taken aback by the comment. "Bad ties with your family, huh."
"Yeah, you could say that. My mom is maybe the only decent family member in my life. My dad, non-existent, and my Abuela, well…" Santana trailed off.
"What about her?" Aja reached across the table to place her hand warmly upon Santana's.
"She really didn't approve of my coming out, and it got ugly. I haven't seen her since. She wanted nothing to do with me." Santana placed her other hand on top of Aja's, rubbing her thumb over the top of Aja's hand.
"Hey, it's okay-" Aja whispered to Santana whose eyes sparkled with little tears. "To be honest, I haven't come out to my parents at all, no one in my entire family."
Santana lifted her hand to wipe her tears.
"I don't think you realize how brave you really are."
"Yeah? Yeah-" Santana was quickly cut off by a booming voice.
"The Franciacorta, ladies!" Jessy came back to set large wine glasses on the table and began to pour the pair a sparkling glass of wine.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Jessy looked concerned, holding back the bottle. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No, no, in fact," Santana grabbed the full glass in front of her and threw back the entire glass. "You're good sweetheart, pour me another."
"A-Alright ma'am," Jessy hesitantly poured the wine, this time only filling about half before pouring Aja a full glass. "I'll give you another moment to look through the menus." Jessy hastily left the two to carry on with their conversation.
"Santana," Aja looked at her girlfriend disappointedly.
"What?" Santana huffed. "I was thirsty."
"Right."
"I'm serious!" Santana raised her hands.
"Alright, but babe, you can't just run away from your problems, you gotta do something about your Abuela." Aja crossed her arms.
"I know, she practically raised me." Santana looked away in thought. "I just don't know what to say, 'Abuela, take me back!'" Santana threw her hand over her forehead dramatically.
"If you do it looking that cute maybe she will," Aja giggled at the sight of her dorky girlfriend.
Bzzt Bzzzzt, Bzzt Bzzzzt
Santana picked up her phone. "Oh, huh, speaking of family." Santana held up her phone to Aja to reveal "Mami" on the call display. "I'll be right back!" Santana got up, kissed Aja on the forehead, and stood outside the restaurant to talk on the phone.
Aja let out a sigh and looked through the menu to see what looked good. This was a lot of white people's food, but I guess Santana came from Whitesville, Ohio, so this made sense.
After a couple of minutes, Santana came almost jogging back into the restaurant in a panic.
"Aja," Santana almost fell to her knees upon arriving at the table.
"Santana, babe, what's the matter?" Aja looked at her girlfriend concernedly.
"It's Abuela, she's sick-"
"What kind of sickness?"
"I don't know- I-" Santana was choking on her words. "They don't know how much longer she's gonna live-" Santana was sobbing at this point.
"Oh my god, babe…" Aja held onto Santana's arm. "Okay, we can't stay here,"
Aja dropped a couple of bills on the table and tightened her grip on her girlfriend's arm, helping Santana out of the restaurant.
Outside the restaurant, Santana was able to get some fresh air.
"Aja-" Santana calmed down a little.
"Yes babe," Aja held both arms around Santana, rubbing her back.
"I-I have to go back-" Santana said, pulling out a packet of tissues from her coat pocket to blow her nose.
"To Lima?" Aja couldn't believe this was happening. She had just got the girl of her dreams and now the girl she cares about so much is in pain and has to leave her?
"Yes, back to that crack hole-" Santana laughed between her tears.
"When are you going?"
"Well, I'm calling Mercedes tonight. They'll have to understand." Santana looked up to the sky. "God, why now…"
"Hey, babe it's gonna be okay, okay? It's only for a little while?" Aja asked sheepishly.
"I don't know," Santana burst into tears again. "Aja, I-I don't want to l-lose you… I-"
"Babe I'm right here!" Aja held onto her girlfriend tightly. "We'll sort this out okay, trust me, we will." Aja acted confident, but she knew she was falling apart inside.
Santana leaned back from the embrace to look into her girlfriend's eyes. Aja could see the gleam of tears, moonlight reflecting in her eyes.
"You look so beautiful," Aja breathed out impulsively. The two leaned in for a kiss, full of emotion. The kiss was raw, plagued with the salt of sadness yet hungry for love and wanting.
"Aja," Santana looked heavily into Aja's eyes. "I need you tonight, I do, I just-"
"Shh, I understand babe," Aja smiled. "Let's go back to your place."
And so, they did.
/
