A/N: I would like to apologize for how long this has taken me, guys. Long story short, I've been busy. But, my school year is over, so I should be able to write a lot more this summer! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, and I love ya awesome Gleeks!
"Ok seriously, you can't just go through my stuff like that!" Stacie looks over at Santana incredulously, but the Latina simply shrugs.
The two women just started living together a couple of weeks ago. Stacie's other roommate, Blaine Anderson, moved in with his boyfriend Kurt, so she had to find a new one in order to pay rent. She put up an ad, and that's how she found Santana. Or, Santana found her, really.
The Latina had gotten evicted from her apartment because she was "throwing too many parties" or whatever. Anyway, after being rudely kicked out of her home, Santana was forced to find somewhere else to live. She was just walking down the streets of New York when she saw an ad by someone named Stacie Conrad taped to a light pole.
"I do this to literally everyone, I need to make sure I'm safe. My friend was living with a male prostitute once, and I was the one who figured it out." Santana announces proudly, and Stacie shakes her head in mild confusion.
Stacie would've picked literally anyone else for this if she could have, but the only other person who answered was an ex, and that's a very bad idea. He wasn't even really an ex, he was a hookup. Still, though, even Stacie knows that's wrong.
"I need boundaries, Lopez."
The Latina shrugs again. "I've already gone through it all anyway."
Blue eyes meet brown ones in a wordless stare-off, and Stacie's the first one to blink and look away in annoyance. But, because she and her new roommate need to bond, and because she's genuinely thirsty right now, she asks, "do you want to go to Tom's with me before I go to work?"
Santana mentally pauses to assess the situation right now. She doesn't really want to do anything with Stacie; she's only living with her until she gets enough money to live on her own. It's not like she has a desperate need to bond with the brunette, she already has friends. But... coffee sounds good right now, especially considering she didn't get much sleep last night. "I could be down for that. There's this really hot guy there anyway, I've been waiting for a chance to tap him."
Stacie sighs; she had been somewhat hoping she would say no. "Get dressed then, we leave in ten."
The two women go to their own rooms and close the doors behind them. It doesn't take Stacie long to get ready, as she already has her makeup on; all she does is slip on her scrubs and tie her hair back with her favorite black scrunchie. She's a child pediatrician by day, but while she enjoys the work, it isn't her dream: her whole life, all she's ever wanted is to be a model. The doctor came to New York to achieve said dream, but she's working at a hospital, for now, to make ends meet. She's at the bottom of the hierarchy right now though, so the income isn't much. That's why she needs Santana to help cover rent.
After a few minutes of deliberation, Santana slips on a red dress with a black design in it. She's always known red is her color, and when she wants to impress a guy, she wears it loudly and proudly. Lately, though, the need to flirt with guys- or even interact with them at all- is fading. It's starting to feel like something she has to do, rather than something she wants. Sure, the guy she mentioned earlier is hot, but she's not actually interested in him. She's just keeping up appearances.
Nonetheless, the Latina applies a light coat of makeup, and then the two are out the door. Santana doesn't understand why Stacie wants to go to Tom's of all places- it's like twenty minutes away from where they live. "Why the hell are we going all the way over there?" She voices her confusion, and Stacie rolls her eyes at her.
"It's on my way to work."
Stacie glances over at her roommate as she simply hums in response. Normally, Santana Lopez always has something to say, so to see her fall silent right now is sort of shocking. It's not like she's always running her mouth off, per say, she's just always complaining or offending something or someone. It's just who she is, something Stacie has to learn to live with. Not that she likes it, though.
What shocks her is when Santana starts singing along with the radio, which is playing Taylor Swift's "Mine." Like, holy crap, the girl can sing! Her voice is smoother than the singer's, and it's more legato than the original, but it pulls Stacie in. "You can sing!?"
Immediately, the Latina stops singing, and the brunette worries she's pushed a boundary until Santana says, "don't act so surprised, Doc McStuffins." With a small shake of her head, she starts singing again, but this time she turns and looks out the window.
It's not like Santana is ashamed of her voice. No, she knows she has a hell of a voice. It just happens to be the one thing she doesn't like to flaunt all the time in other's faces. The whole reason she's in New York is that she wants to become a singer- she just isn't exactly sure how yet. She's made demos and sent them to record labels, but no one has picked her up. Well, not for her voice, anyway. She booked a commercial for something called Yeast-i-Stat, but she only said yes to that for the publicity.
After a beat, Stacie joins in with a small harmony. It visibly shocks the other woman; she falters and whips around to look at the doctor. Stacie simply smirks at her, and Santana blinks before continuing to sing again.
They just sing the rest of the way to the café, neither one of them commenting on the other's voice or anything. Stacie's sort of disappointed when they get to the small building; she had been enjoying this bonding time with her room. But alas, she really wants some hot chocolate right now, so the two climb out of Stacie's truck and walk into the building.
When they walk in, they see Quinn- the barista- talking to two other women. Santana audibly groans and rolls her eyes at the fact that they have to stand in line, and Stacie chuckles at her.
"Oh my God, could these two be any slower?" Stacie glances over at Santana as she says this, but the angered look on Beca Mitchell's face has her feeling slightly amused. Beca could destroy her if she wanted to; she's like the actress version of Eminem in that field. She's destroyed careers before.
"Excuse me?" Beca takes a step forward, and Santana holds back a laugh. She knows who she is, but she isn't scared of her; if anything, she's about to see the famous Beca Mitchell run away with her tail between her legs. She's sure of it. "What the hell did you just say?"
"Oh, you don't want to pick a fight with me." The Latina also steps forward, and the two women glower at each other with matched anger and annoyance. "See, I'm from a little place called Lima Heights Adjacent." She takes a moment to trail her eyes down Beca's body, pretending to take in her jeans and flannel shirt. "Although, you look so homeless you may not even know where that is."
"Santana, really?" A voice interrupts, and Santana turns over to look at Quinn. She almost gives in and apologizes right then and there- it is Quinn after all, they have a history- but she decides her reputation is more important.
"Fuck you, Fabray." She softens a little bit though, to let the blonde know she doesn't really mean it. By the look in her eyes, Santana figures she knows.
"Just ignore her." Quinn turns back to Rachel Berry and Beca Mitchell, and Santana lets out an inaudible sigh of relief. If there's one person that scares her sometimes, it's Quinn Fabray. But then again, the blonde knows more about her than anyone...
"She likes acting like a bitch." Stacie jokes in agreeance when she sees the way the Latina bites on her bottom life. She only does that when she's worried or embarrassed about something, (which is next to never), so she takes it into consideration. Continuing with the joke, she adds, "I'm Stacie, the best friend." The brunette ignores the glare the Latina sends her way- they are not best friends.
"I'm Rachel Berry." Rachel immediately shoots her hand forward, and Stacie opts to simply smile politely to stop herself from snorting with laughter.
"I know who you two are." The doctor ends up chuckling lightly, and Rachel looks as if her ego has been inflated.
"Oh."
"Alright, let's go, before your ego gets too big to exit this room." Santana glares back at Beca as she looks at her one last time before dragging the Broadway star to the door.
"What can I get you guys?" Quinn asks them, still looking a little annoyed with Santana, but she smiles softly at Stacie.
"Hot chocolate for me, please." The doctor says, and the blonde nods and turns to Santana.
"You know my order, Blondie." The barista smirks, and Santana lowers her glare. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Still grinning, she disappears into the back room.
The two brunettes fall into an awkward silence as they wait for Quinn to come back with their drinks. Santana is still positively annoyed at Beca, and Stacie just doesn't have anything to say at the moment.
Quinn comes back a couple of minutes later and sets both drinks down on the counter, but as she does so, she looks right past them and her eyes light up. "Aubrey?"
As soon as Stacie hears the name, she whips around. Indeed, her eyes meet light green ones, and her heart starts beating faster than normal. It isn't like she has a crush or whatever on the lawyer; she just thinks she's hot. That's all.
"Damn girl, do you have a name, or can I call you mine?" She asks when the blonde walks up. Santana smirks at the brunette, but Aubrey rolls her eyes.
"You left your phone in my car." She instead says to Quinn, and Stacie tries to ignore the way her spirits fall a little bit. It annoys her, because she doesn't do feelings.
"Aubrey!" Someone screams, and the small group turns to see a ginger bounding up to them. Aubrey and Chloe exchange hellos and hugs, but Stacie can't stop watching the blonde. There's just something about the way she moves that drags her in, makes her unable to look away. She plays it off with pickup lines, but... no. No, she doesn't have a crush on Aubrey. Aubrey, whose last name she doesn't even know.
Another girl walks up to them. "She's been ecstatic about it for the past five minutes." The blonde with blue eyes laughs, and Aubrey takes her into a hug as well.
"Do you know who they are?" Santana whispers to Stacie, but the brunette shakes her head. She's never seen these two women anywhere, but apparently, Aubrey knows them.
"Alright, I have to go." The lawyer's voice brings Stacie's attention back to her. She smiles at everyone but Stacie as she turns to leave, and so the doctor decides to try one more time.
"What's it gonna take for you to give me your number?"
The blonde slowly turns, and the glare on her face is enough to make Stacie gulp. "It's not going to happen." After telling Quinn she'll see her later, she storms out of the building.
Stacie allows her face to give away her emotions for a millisecond, slightly tired of fighting it. Unfortunately, it's the same moment Quinn decides to turn and look at her. "She's not interested in you, Stace. I'm sorry. I've asked her about it several times, and she glares at me and tells me to stop asking every time."
Stacie forces a smile and shakes her head. "I won't give up. The Hunter wants what it wants."
"Wanky." Santana says, shaking her head at the taller woman.
"Is it really just about sex to you?" The ginger asks, and Santana turns and raises an eyebrow at her.
"You got a problem with that, ginger?"
"Santana." Quinn growls, and she inwardly sighs. "Seriously."
Santana and Quinn glare at each other, but the Latina knows it's only because the blonde cares about her. Which she never asked for, by the way. It isn't her fault- "whatever, I gotta get to work anyway." She shuts the thought down and grabs her mocha, then leaves the buidling.
"You ok?" Stacie follows her out after a moment, and Santana rolls her eyes.
"I'm fine. Just take me to work, please?"
The doctor blinks in shock; she's never heard the word please come out of her roommate's mouth. "Uh, yeah."
"Oh my gosh..." Stacie groans as her car lightly scrapes across another one. If there's any damage, her insurance company is going to positively flip out. She quickly gets out of the car and walks up to the other car, and a women with short, blonde hair gets out.
"My LeCar!" The woman says, and Stacie freezes. She knows exactly who this is... "How dare you! What's your name?"
"Uhh..."
"Oh I'm sorry, do you not understand English?" Sylvester gets in her face, breathing heavily. "NAME. NOW. SAY."
"I can speak English." Her courage to speak comes back. "And my name is Stacie Conrad."
"Do you even know who I am?!" Sue Sylvester screams. "I'm a 6th National Title Cheerleading Championship winner! I was the Vice President!"
"Yes, I know, and I'm very sorry about your car-"
"Do you think sorry is going to fix the damage you've done?!" She exclaims, and Stacie instinctively takes a step back. Sue Sylvester has been known to throw people into things when she's having a good day; her life could literally be at risk right now. "I'm suing you! For every penny you have!" With that, she storms back into her car and speeds away.
"Shit."
"This is the stupidest thing I've ever been a part of!" Santana calls to the manager of the commercial as she positively storms out of the building.
Shooting for the commercial went fine. The Latina knew it would. But it's just so... boring to her. There's no spark. There's nothing there that makes her feel like herself, like this is what she should be doing. Because she knows she shouldn't be. She should be on a stage performing her own music, or being a manager for a celebrity, or something, anything other than this.
As she pushes her sunglasses onto her face in frustration, her phone starts ringing, playing Toxic by Britney Spears. With a small groan, she answers and presses the phone to her ear. "No offense Q, but I don't really want to talk to you right now."
"Fuck you too, then." Santana freezes when she hears the blonde's defeated tone, which can only mean one thing.
Immediately changing her demeanor, she says, "what happened this time?"
There's some shuffling on the other end, probably the result of Quinn putting Beth down in the crib. "He's an asshole. He's never going to change, I don't know why I keep hoping he will."
The brunette sighs and leans against the wall, her eyes squinting against the sun despite the sunglasses on her face. "Puck is always going to be a dick, you know this. I warned you to stay away from him in high school."
Santana and Quinn grew up together, though they don't really talk about it if they don't have to. Their friendship took a lot of rocky turns, especially when the head cheerleader got knocked up by Santana's brother. The same brother that is now serving life in prison for child pornography and molestation. The same brother Santana made Quinn promise she would never fall for, yet gave up her virginity to him.
"You're going to keep reminding me about that until we're dead, aren't you?"
The Latina lets out a humorless chuckle. "I will if I have to. Why do you keep going to see him, anyway? I haven't visited him once."
"Beth."
"Ah." Santana doesn't exactly understand, as she had two doting parents growing up, but she pretends to. Despite everything, she has a softness reserved only for the barista. "Just be careful. You know how he is."
"You're right. Thanks S. I just... needed to vent for a moment? You're the only person I can talk to about this stuff."
Yeah, because he's my brother, Santana thinks, but she doesn't say anything other than, "of course. Look, I gotta go, but call me if you need me, ok?"
"Always. Bye S."
"Later, Q." She hangs up and sighs, running a hand down her face. She has always tried to escape the wrath and infamous legacy of one Noah Puckerman-Lopez, but she's been unsuccessful. He's technically only her half-brother (same father, different mothers), but everyone who knows what he did looks at her as if she's about to do the same thing. She can't stand it, she's obviously nothing like him. One of the main reasons she left Lima was to escape the stares and soft whispers everywhere she went. And honestly, she knows Quinn did the same thing. She always said she didn't want to be a "Lima loser," but Puck was definitely a reason behind the big move after graduation.
God, I'm gonna have to talk to him. She thinks as she hails a taxi and hops in the back.
"Ok, walk me through what happened." Aubrey pushes a pair of glasses onto her face and grabs a notebook, and Stacie has to refrain from mentioning how hot the lawyer looks in glasses.
"I was just driving down the highway, trying to get to work. I was already late from Santana's little outburst at the cafe, and I was driving maybe a little faster than I should have been." She looks down, feeling slightly guilty, but Aubrey doesn't say anything. "I lightly grazed the car in front of me. Like, it was so light there was barely any damage. You wouldn't notice the scratch if you didn't already know it was there."
"So Miss Sylvester got out of her car?" The blonde looks up momentarily and makes eye-contact before looking back down, scribbling more notes.
"Right. She started screaming at me, saying she was going to sue me for everything I own." The brunette furrows her brow in a mixture of frustration and confusion. "Can she even do that?"
Surprisingly, Aubrey snorts in slight amusement. Looking up again at Stacie, she shakes her head. "No, she shouldn't be able to. But knowing Sylvester, she'll be damned if she doesn't try."
"Thank gosh." Stacie leans back in her chair and lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
With a soft smile, the blonde nods. "It's my job."
