Nine
Thursday had been just as eventful as Wednesday; Santana had actually been able to get her car started, getting both her and Dani to and from school. Because Santana had glee rehearsal, Dani had gone to the movies with her small gaggle of friends. When Santana had got home, her house had been completely empty, her mom had left her a note saying she had gone out for dinner with her friends from work, she had guessed that her dad was still at the hospital.
She had been more than bored without any company. She had kept looking out of the window waiting for Dani to get back home. When the blonde finally climbed out of her friend's car at around six p.m. Santana sent her a text asking her to go over there. Dani hadn't taken much convincing and by six-fifteen she was knocking on Santana's door.
They had decided to watch Santana's Game of Thrones DVD's Dani had never seen it, but had said how she wanted to. On hearing that Santana had rushed to get her season one box set. Dani had enjoyed what she had seen of the show, but a lot of the time, she found herself watching Santana as she spent most of her time swooning over Cersei Lannister. Dani had much preferred Daenerys Targaryen; both her character on her looks.
Though Dani had said that she hadn't minded the state that Santana kept her bedroom at first, after roughly three episodes of Game of Thrones, her urges to clean had taken over her. She had apologised to Santana for it, though, the taller girl hadn't actually minded at all. If anything, she was thankful that Dani had sprung into action, it had motivated her to do the same, resulting in her helping the blonde tidy. Santana had made some good natured jokes about Dani's neatness. dubbing her Monica Geller for the rest of the night. Yet another nickname Santana could add to her catalogue of things to call Dani.
Daniellaaar was definitely still the forerunner though.
Dani had goen back home not long after that, at around ten-thirty, after they had once again spent longer with each other than they had originally planned. It was easy for Santana to lose track of time around Dani. Time just seemed to speed by whenever she spent time with the blonde. Santana had settled into bed not long after Dani had gone home. The shorter girl had promised that she wouldn't keep Santana up half of the night with text messages and that she would allow her to get some sleep for once.
Still, there was something that wasn't going to let Santana get a full nights sleep. Santana sat bolt up right in her bed when she heard her phone buzzing loudly across her bedside table. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She looked at her phone and squinted at the bright light, glaring at it slightly. As if her death glare would suddenly make it stop.
She knew that someone was calling her, and she knew who she wanted it to be. Even though Dani had said she wouldn't interrupt her sleep, she still wanted to see her name flashing across her screen.
When she saw Brittany's name, her heart skipped a beat, the blonde hadn't been in touch with her all day, which was a very unusual thing. Even when Brittany was in Lima and only lived ten minutes away from Santana, she was texting her can calling her.
Typical Santana thought, the one night that Dani allows me some sleep, Brittany comes back around to keep me up at night. Yet again.
She took a deep breath and answered the call, she hadn't heard Brittany's voice since she had left. All she had done was message her. She was more than a little worried about why Brittany would feel the need to call her this late at night.
"Heyyy! How are you?" Brittany said from the other end of the line, she sounded happy, maybe a little too happy for that time of the night and her words were coming out slightly slurred. It was obvious that she had been drinking.
"Hey Britt, I'm fine." Santana said, it wasn't a total lie, she was fine. She'd definitely felt worse. "How are you?" She asked through a yawn.
"I'm fine!" She shouted happily, making Santana wince slightly, she moved the phone away from her ear for a brief moment, before placing it back against her ear. "I'm at a part. I just wanted to see if you were okay?"
Santana sighed, feeling a little sad, She's only calling me because she's drunk, "What the hell are you doing at a party on a school night? That's not like you." Santana said.
"Oh, we have tomorrow off! A strike about the teacher's wages or something!"
"Oh." Santana said quietly, she didn't quite believe that this early on into the school year Brittany's teachers were already going on strike over their wages. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Yes!" Brittany said, "This party is so much fun!"
"That's good." Santana said, "Though I didn't only mean the party," she explained. "Are you enjoying yourself out there in general?" Santana asked, she didn't know what she wanted to hear more; that Brittany loved everything about Washington, or that she hated it and wanted to get back to Lima as soon as possible.
"Yes!" Brittany said in the same excited tone as before, "Washington is amazing Santana. I really love it here. The people are so nice. I've made lots of new friends."
"That's great Britt." Santana said, not really knowing what to say on the matter. The blonde sounded more than just happy to be where she was right now. Which, Santana was happy about; of course she wanted Brittany to be happy, no matter where her life took her, she wanted Brittany to be able to smile and enjoy herself. But still, hearing it didn't help Santana's case in the slightest.
Santana was coping, and she was happy that she had someone to talk to about all of this, she would never stop thanking Dani for what she did for her last week. But apparently, Brittany was living the high life.
"Are you having fun?" Brittany asked, Santana could hear the innocence in her voice.
Santana smiled as she thought about all of the stuff she had done since Brittany had been gone, even though Brittany couldn't see her, she nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, I am." Santana said, honestly, she was having fun, lots of fun. She knew that spending time with Dani was going to be good for her. The girl was carefree and laid back about pretty much everything.
"Well I'm really happy to hear that." Brittany said. Santana could hear people starting to get a little noisy on the other end of the phone.
"Anyway, Britt. I really wish that I could stay and chat, but I have to be up early tomorrow for school. So I am going to have to go to sleep now."
"Okay Sanny. Good night. I love youuuuuuu! So much. And I really miss you!"
"Me too." Santana replied dryly, just as she had the night a week ago. "Bye."
Santana hung up and sat in the silence of her own bedroom, staring blankly into the darkness. The realisation of just how long it had been since she had seen Brittany hitting her like a ton of bricks.
Santana took a deep breath and rolled her eyes slightly, she didn't like what she was about to do, but it was the only thing she could think to do in that moment. She grabbed her phone and went into her contacts list. She clicked on the familiar name, one that she had seen hell of a lot of in the past week.
Usually, she would just text this person, though, that night she couldn't stop herself from pushing the 'call' button.
The phone only rang three times before she got her answer. "Hey Santana." A raspy voice said, "So much for letting each other sleep." She joked.
Dani's voice sounded hell of a lot raspier when she had just woken up. Santana found herself strangely loving how it sounded. "Dani, I'm so sorry, but I need to talk to you."
"Hey it's okay, don't worry about it." Dani said, "What's wrong?" Dani asked, concern filling her tone of voice just like it had that night last week.
"It's nothing major, I'm fine... I guess." Santana said.
She heard Dani sigh from over the line, "Do you want to talk about this in person?" She asked,
"Yes." Santana replied with a small sigh.
"Okay then." Dani said softly, "Can you meet me in my back yard in about ten minutes?"
"Yeah. That's no problem." Santana said. She quickly hung up the phone and jumped out of her bed. She pulled on a pair of old sneakers and an overly large sweater. She sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for the right time to go to Dani's.
She felt guilty that she had woken Dani up at this hour, but the girl had said if she ever needed someone to talk to, she'd be there. To make herself feel a little better, Santana told herself this, and that in actual fact, Dani wouldn't mind it all that much. She just hoped that she was right in telling herself that and that she hadn't annoyed the other girl.
Dani was fast becoming the closest thing she had to a best friend with Brittany being away. It had only been a week, but it was the truth.
Around ten minutes later, Santana left her house, making sure that she was quiet in opening and closing the door. She trudged along the yard and walked down the side of their houses, to walk around to the back of Dani's house. She pushed the gate open slowly, hoping it wouldn't squeak and disturb anyone.
When she walked into Dani's garden, she saw her sitting on a blanket on the ground near the back of the garden, there were bright lights around Dani, and a pond just next to her. The blonde was pulling small handfulls of grass from the ground and dropping them into the water.
Her hair was pulled into a high pony tail, leaving small bits down to frame her face. From what Santana could see the girl had no makeup on her face at all, but still she looked great and Santana knew that. She rolled her eyes at how bad she looked compared to the other girl. Santana was starting to think that way a lot around Dani lately. A couple a months ago, Santana wouldn't have cared how she looked compared to the girl.
Dani looked up from the grass and smiled softly when she saw Santana approaching her. She held a cup out to the other girl, who took it from her silently as she sat down on the blanket beside her.
"Whenever you're ready." Dani said quietly, she'd sit there all night if she had to, just waiting for Santana to get whatever was troubling her off of her chest. She didn't want to push her into spilling everything.
"It's Brittany... again."
Dani nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, I kind of figured that much out just from the phone call." She said, "So, what's happened this time around... Is she okay?" She asked, before taking a sip of her coffee. Her eyes scanned Santana's face, trying to read her expression.
Santana brought her own cup up to her lips and took a sip of it, burning her mouth and tongue slightly. It surprised her how Dani could drink her coffee while it was that hot without flinching.
"Yeah, she's fine." Santana said, "She just drunk dialled me." Santana said, "Honestly, had she been sober I don't think she'd have bothered. She hadn't been in touch with me all day and then when I finally hear from her, she's wasted."
"What did she say?" Dani asked.
Santana sighed, "She told me that she loved me and that she misses me." She admitted.
"And that's a bad thing?" Dani asked, feeling slightly confused, she thought that Santana would have wanted to hear something like that. Brittany always could have said worse to her.
"It's not exactly a good thing." Santana explained, "Hearing her saying stuff like that to me, doesn't exactly help with the whole moving on process." She said turning her head to look at Dani. "I didn't say it back to her." She admitted, "I don't think I can."
"Why not?"
Santana shrugged, "I do still love her, I know I do." Santana admitted, "I haven't told her that since the break up. I just keep saying 'me too'." She continued, "I just don't think that it's fair that she keeps doing stuff like that." She explained, "She made the decision to call it quits. She broke my heart. What right does she have to make me feel like this, all over again?"
"Yeah but, by the looks of things, she obviously didn't want to br..." Dani started.
"Then she shouldn't have." Santana said cutting her off, "Her telling me that she loves me doesn't change anything. It just makes all of this harder on me. How the hell am I supposed to move on from her, if I have her telling me that she still loves me?"
Dani shrugged her shoulders slightly, "Do you want to move on from her?" Dani asked, "Because if not, maybe you should tell her how you feel. You might be able to try and salvage something."
Santana shook her head, "I wanted to try and do the whole long distance thing, she didn't." Santana said, "I've told you all of this before, Dan." Dani tilted her head to the side slightly. "It's over." She said, with full certainty in her voice, "I can't see us ever getting back together."
Dani grabbed Santana's hand and entwined their fingers together, she gave her hand a light reassuring squeeze. "I promise you. It'll get easier."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
Dani shook her head, "I'm not. I never would." She admitted. "I know that it seems like the end of the world right now. But one day, you are going to wake up and all of this will just be a memory." She said. "And I honestly believe that if you and Brittany are supposed to be together, then you will get back together at some point in time. Weather it's a week from now, a year from now. Or seven years down the line. If it's meant to be it will be." Dani said. "But for now. Try not to hold on too tightly, try to let go, because you never know; it just might work out in your favour if you do." Dani sighed before saying, "Are you gonna be okay?"
Santana nodded her head slowly, "Yeah but can we just sit and talk about stuff for a little bit?"
Dani nodded her head, "Yeah we can talk about anything you want." She said.
Santana turned her mouth down, "Why are you being so nice to me?" Santana asked.
The question had taken Dani by surprise, when she had told Santana that she would talk about whatever the taller girl wanted, she hadn't thought that this would be the first thing to leave Santana's mouth.
"Because we're friends?" Dani said, "And you called me and said you needed to talk." Dani admitted.
Santana shook her head slightly, "I'm not only talking about tonight." She said, "I mean, why were you so nice to me last week, why did you sit and comfort me? We weren't friends back then." Santana said.
Dani bit her lip before saying, "Let's just say, I've been where you are right now. And I know how shitty I felt. So when I saw you crying last week, I knew it had to be something big." Dani said, "Let's face it, you're Santana Lopez, you don't cry." Dani said. "So I asked what was wrong and you told me. And when you did, I remembered what it felt like for me when I got dumped. So, I offered you a shoulder to cry on. I know that I needed someone to talk to when I was feeling low. But I didn't really have anyone. I didn't want you to feel the same." She admitted with a shrug. "And you know, I'm actually just a nice person sometimes."
Santana nodded her head, "Yeah I'm starting to realise that."
"And?" Dani asked.
Santana smiled at the other girl, "And I'm happy that you are. You could have easily made me feel worse last week." Dani shook her head.
"I wouldn't even do that to the people who I hate." Dani admitted, "So I wasn't going to do it to you." She shrugged.
"You're a really good friend to me." Santana said, "And I am actually really thankful that I get to call you that."
"Yeah I know... I'm kind of awesome." Dani joked smiling.
Santana sighed, "I hate to admit this," she said, "but you really are." She agreed with a small smile. Dani picked up her cup of coffee and drank a mouthful of it before screwing her face up slightly. "What's wrong?" Santana asked.
"My coffee's going cold, you should probably drink yours before it gets too bad." Dani advised. Santana quickly drank her coffee and handed Dani her cup. The girl took it from her and placed it on the ground next to her own.
"So is there anything troubling you, young Daniellaaar?" Santana said, "All we ever seem to do is talk about me."
Dani smiled and said, "No. I'm totally fine, and I don't mind. I've told you."
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad about the fact that I dragged you out here tonight just to talk about my ex-girlfriend." Santana said. "So, if you ever need to talk to me about anything. Know that I'm here for you, too." Santana said.
Dani nodded her head, "I will. Thanks." Dani sighed, "So are we done here or are you still wanting to talk, because I really don't mind either way."
"No." Santana said quietly, "I'll leave you to sleep now."
"Are you sure?" Dani asked, "Because I really don't mind staying awake as long as you need me. That's why I made the coffee, just in case." Dani admitted.
"Ahh so you just want to keep me awake so you won't be alone." She joked.
Dani nodded her head, "That's exactly what it is." Dani said sarcastically. "But seriously, Santana if y..."
"I'll be okay." Santana said, she smiled at Dani reassuringly. It felt odd to Santana that she was the one reassuring Dani that she would in all actual fact be okay. She didn't know who long it would take her to be fully okay. If ever. She just hoped it'd be sooner rather than later.
Dani stood up pulling Santana up with her, their hands were still laced together, Dani used it to her advantage, pulling Santana towards her, she only let go of Santana's hand to wrap her arms around her.
"I hope you will be okay." Dani said.
Santana wrapped her arms around Dani's waist, pulling the girl even closer to her. "Thank you once again for being here for me." Santana mumbled into Dani's neck.
Dani shook her head, ""It's okay. You're welcome to my company." Santana reluctantly let go of Dani. When Dani felt Santana's arms move from around her waist, she let go and stepped backwards. "I'll see you tomorrow." Dani said.
Santana nodded her head, "Yup. You're driving." She said.
"I know. And I can't wait." Dani said dryly.
Dani walked back around to the front of her house with Santana. She walked to the porch and didn't go back inside until she knew the brunette was in her own house.
Santana quickly walked back into her house, locking the door behind her, she hadn't realised how cold it actually was that night until she climbed back into the warmth of her bed, pulling the covers all the way up to her chin.
She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind of all thoughts of Brittany, leaving room for only one thought and one alone.
The world needs more people like Danielle Mitchell.
Okay so a bit of a faster update-and a shorter chapter- but I got two days off this week as well as my weekend, rather than just the one day off and my weekend. And I didn't use the days for study time like I was supposed to, instead I wrote this chapter and got a tattoo, that hardly anyone knows about.
Moving on! I really hope that you liked this chapter, please tell me what you think and I am sorry if this is a boring one, I feel like they all are at the minute. But I am just trying to set the story at the minute. I assure you they will get better as the two girls get closer.
Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story and thank you to those of you who have favourited this story and or added it to your alerts, I really appreciate it. :D