Okay so I don't usually write anything up here, but today I really feel the need to so….
Hey, it's me again and me is very sorry about the long wait for an update, but like I said before, I'm back at university now (though luckily it's only a short semester so I should find time to write again soon) and I've had A LOT or work to do, like writing four scripts- one of which could win me £500 if mine is the best and of course I want the money so I've been putting a lot of effort into that.
P.S: I just wanna say that no matter how long I leave it between updates I can't ever see me dropping this story- unless something majorly bad happens God forbid- I am just a little bit shit sometimes, and I can lose motivation fast or other things get in the way and I get distracted and pulled from one thing to the next. So once again, I just want to say a huge sorry for keeping you waiting and leaving it so long, but things happen... but I will keep going with this until it's finished. *pinkie promise*
Anyway, here you have it. The Dantana date! :)
Sixteen
That week passed by painfully slowly for both of the girls; Monday was extremely dull, well until they had Spanish class with each other. Once again Dani joined Santana at the back of the room, both of them sitting in their usual seats, just in front of the window. All the way through the lesson Santana had whispered things to Dani in Spanish, (most of which she had to translate for the shorter girl since Dani wasn't as familiar with the Spanish language as she was). Dani had been thankful that Santana had said it all in Spanish, not only did she love how it sounded coming from Santana's moth, but also, most of it had been about their activities of the day before, and their upcoming date- among other things that weren't very nice about some of the other people in class.
Tuesday was just as dull, if not duller, they only had two lessons with each other that day; science and gym. In science class at the start of the day, they had had to watch their science teacher, Mr. Edwards, dissecting a pig's heart, which Dani had complained about so much that she had eventually been thrown out of the lesson for- and this is according to Mr. Edwards himself; 'Upsetting the rest of the class' Dani hadn't realised she had done anything wrong, she didn't mind he'd said it to her though, she didn't really want to be involved in the lesson anyway, she didn't want to watch someone cutting up a heart. So she had walked out of that classroom with pride and had spent the rest of the hour pulling faces at Santana thought the small glass window in the door.
Gym class was ever the same, with Dani refusing to do absolutely anything and everything that coach Beiste suggested. But even though this was the case, and that Dani always acted like this in lessons, it was clear to see that she was still one of coach Beiste's favourite students, which of course annoyed everyone else.
On Wednesday, since they didn't have a glee meeting, Santana and Dani decided that they were going to have a junk food and movie night at Santana's house (her father was back to working night shifts at the hospital and her mo, was out having dinner and cocktails with her friends), so after school they went straight back to Santana's house knowing that they'd have some more privacy there.
Santana had called the local curry house and had order two of the spiciest curry on the menu, they'd eaten the food with ease, and had made jokes about calling the curry house to complain that the 'Flaming Dragon' curry was more 'dragon' than 'flaming'. After Dani had helped Santana wash the dishes they made their way into the living room. Dani and Santana had finally picked a movie from the Lopez's large collection and after Santana had popped it into the DVD player and had dimmed all of the lights, they had cuddled together on the couch. Stealing kisses from each other as they tried to watch the movie.
Compared to Wednesday, Thursday was dreadfully boring, they didn't have any classes together that day, in fact after Santana had driven them to school, and they had gone their separate ways for their first period classes, they hadn't seen each other again until glee at the end of the day. Of course, Dani and Santana had seen each other briefly at lunch, when Dani had said a quick hello to Santana as she passed by her table. But neither of the girls were really counting that as 'seeing' each other.
In glee club, a huge argument broke out between Rachel and a few of the others, as per usual, Santana was caught up in the argument with Rachel, Santana wasn't even really all that mad, she just couldn't resist having a few digs at the shorter girl. Rachel had obviously tried to drag other people into the argument, but when she tried to get to Dani she had been unsuccessful. The blonde had simply shook her head and had refused to join in with an argument that didn't really involve her anyway.
Once glee was over, they made their way back to Dani's place, hoping that they might finally be able to spend some time together just the two of them; however, as soon as Dani had walked through the door her mother had caught her and had dragged her into the kitchen to tell her that her aunty Lilly (her mom's sister) was coming to stay for Christmas with her twin daughters, Casey and Ashley (apparently their father and Dani's uncle Ed had walked out on them after sleeping with another woman for the past two years). Which was obviously all a little shocking for Dani.
Dani hadn't seen her cousins in years, all she remembered about them was that they were both spoilt brats who got everything there own way and never got in trouble, even when they were in the wrong, like the time that they pushed Dani off a high up wall she had been walking along, she had fallen and broken her arm in two places, her aunt Lilly had written that off as kid's just being kids.
After that Jennifer had kept the two girl's down stairs telling them stories about when she and Lilly were younger. Some of these stories were news to Dani, and she wondered why her mother was only just telling them now. Dani thought that she and Adriana had their share of 'wild stories' but they had a little competition from their mom and their aunt.
Friday was uneventful, until they got back to Dani's house and realised that even Will wasn't home, giving them the alone time that they had been craving since Thursday. Like usual, they spent most of the night in Dani's bedroom or in the den watching movies, though this time, they missed the plot line of most of them since they seemed incapable of not kissing each other every five minutes. Once again, Santana spent the night at Dani's and once again, both girl's cuddled as close together as humanly possible.
They kept each other awake until the early hours of the morning, asking each other pointless questions and talking about random things, telling each other stories from before they were friends, and some stories from when they were kids. Dani feel a sleep first, she had told Santana to just keep talking and that just because she had her eyes shut that didn't mean anything, still, when Santana heard Dani's breathing grow softer she knew that the shorter girl had fallen sleep. She had looked at Dani's face and smiled briefly before kissing her head lightly and going to sleep herself, pulling Dani as close to her body as she could.
Saturday was the same as it always was, Santana had gone home early; however reluctant Dani had been in letting her go, the taller girl had eventually made her see reason, thus she went back home just in time for her abuela getting to the house for we weekly visit, during this time Dani once again went out for her weekly run. Spending at least half an hour longer running than she usually would, this time though she made sure not to stop and sit on any benches, she didn't want a repeat of last week. So when she felt herself getting tired she had stopped next to a tree, leaned on it briefly, took a long drink of water before setting off running again.
Later on in the day, Santana did go back over to Dani's house; they watched a terrible movie (which was bad but came nowhere near to being as bad Just One Of The Guys in their competition). But instead of her staying over like she had done for the past few weeks, Santana went home again, promising Dani that she would be there to pick her up bright and early for their first date. For the first time in weeks on a Saturday night, Santana spent the night in her own bed.
By the time that Sunday rolled around, both of them were more than ready to finally be going out on their date. Never before had a week passed slower in Santana eye's, even that first week when Brittany very first moved away hadn't dragged like this past week had. But then again, Santana hadn't been anticipating anything that week, she had just been trying to get through it, and she had, with Dani being by her side.
Santana was up far earlier than she was used to, even when she and Dani went out on their usual Sunday day trips, neither of them were up this early, they never got out of bed before nine o'clock usually, but that day it was eight a.m, and Santana was already trying to get ready for her first date with Dani. She'd been up since the early hours of the morning, six-thirty to be exact, making sure that everything was for today.
Big deep breaths, Santana, that's all you need to remember, big deep breaths, she told herself over and over again as she sat in front of her mirror staring blankly ahead at her reflection. Everything is going to be okay... there is nothing to worry about; I have spent the day with Dani lots of times, and I've also been on a hell of a lot of dates with other people before, putting those two things together it's easy, this is easy, I can totally do this... Dani is gonna love today, you're gonna love today, it's gonna be great, I know all of this because I know her... or at least I think that I do... oh God, what if I've got this all wrong? What if this isn't what she wants on a first date? Oh God, oh God, oh God. No! Stop it! And stop it now.
I have been planning this thing for a week now, and it's happening, nothing can go wrong, nothing will go wrong, this date is fool proof... well it's fool proof unless the whole Cleveland fiasco happens again, and then we both get stuck by the roadside for hours on end all the while waiting for some guy in a truck to come rescue us, but really, when you think about that; we'd both have to be seriously unlucky for anything like that to happen to us both again.
Santana took a deep breath before looking at herself in the mirror and checking the outfit that she had chosen, she hadn't even started on her make-up yet; she had just wanted to make sure that everything was right, starting with her clothes, and until she felt confident that her outfit did in fact look good, she wouldn't start on her make-up. She needed to make sure that all of her 'assets' looked good in the clothing that she had picked out last night with the help of Carmen over Skype, before moving onto the next part of the pre-date preparations.
Her elder sister hadn't been able to resist teasing her over how she was acting over a girl.
Santana was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of her phone buzzing lightly.
From Daniellaaar
Hey you! How are you feeling today? xxxx
To Daniellaaar
I feel great thanks, what about you? xxxx
Santana was just hoping that Dani was okay and that she hadn't started this conversation so that she could cancel their date at the very last minute. She'd done that to people in the past, sure they were all guys and she never really liked any of them, but still, Santana knew that that would be a pretty big kick in the teeth for it to happen to you. But she couldn't help but think about it would be her rotten luck that Dani would do it to her now. And she definitely couldn't help but imagine the shorter girl shrugging her shoulders at her and calling it all karma.
From Daniellaaar
I'm very good thank you... I'm just really excited about today... I hope that you're still wanting to go out with me? xxxx
Santana felt her heart skip a beat slightly, she was nervous while Dani was excited. That's just typical; of course she isn't nervous, the girl is far too confident for any of that… do I still want to go out with you? Stupid question, Danielle! Of course I do!
To Daniellaaar
Yeah I'm pretty excited too and yeah of course i'm still on for today... why the hell wouldn't I be? xxxx
From Daniellaaar
I was just checking, nothing worse than getting ready for a date and then the other person cancelling, I didn't want that to happen to me! :) xxxx
To Daniellaaar
Trust me, D, where I'm involved, that is NOT going to happen to you… I am gonna have to go now though, I really need to put my face on xxxx
She put her phone down while she got out all of her makeup, she checked the time quickly, she'd told Dani to be ready for around nine o'clock, but she was hoping the girl would be ready a lot sooner, just so they could get going. Just as she locked her phone and put it down again, it buzzed along the table and Dani's name flashed along her screen.
From Daniellaaar
Okay, good well I'll leave you to get ready then, I will be seeing you very soon, beautiful xxxx
To Daniellaaar
Yeah you best leave me to it, otherwise, you won't be seeing me soon, because you won't be seeing me at all! xxxx
From Daniellaaar
Honestly, I think I could live with that ;) xxxx
She shook her head and placed her phone down as she continued to get ready, she applied her makeup, taking extra care with how she looked; she looked in the mirror, checking her whole image from multiple angels. She was pleased with how she looked; she just hoped that Dani would feel the same way.
To Daniellaaar
I hope that you're nearly ready. I am practically dying over here! xxxx
Santana was more than eager to see Dani that day, and she was more than eager for this date to start, she'd been waiting a week, and honestly, it seemed like the longest week of her life. But she had wanted this for a while now and it was finally happening. The only reason she had wanted to wait until a Sunday was because she felt Sunday's were their day, they usually did something together on a Sunday, plus it did mean that they'd be able to spend the entire day together rather than just a couple of hours with each other on an evening after school or an a Saturday like most people did.
Since Santana had become friends with Dani, she was used to waking up with Dani by her side or more aptly, with Dani in her arms on a Sunday morning. The fact that Santana had not only woken up alone, but had also woken up in her own bed that morning seemed like a strange concept to the girl now. She felt like it wouldn't really be a Sunday until she saw the shorter girl and spent the whole day with her.
From Daniellaaar
Yes I am almost ready… I honestly have no idea what I should wear though, other than that I'm good to go… wanna give me a hint on how I should dress for this? xxxx
Santana smiled when she saw Dani text and sent her a reply quickly.
To Daniellaaar
Well you could just always come out here naked… I really wouldn't complain xxxx
No sooner had Santana locked her phone than it had started to buzz again in her hand.
From Daniellaaar
Santana! Behave yourself xxxx
Santana chuckled; she knew that Dani was probably wearing a beaming smile of her own at her last message. She sighed and tapped out her reply.
To Daniellaaar
Okay I will... If you want a tip on how to dress, I'd say go casual. For what I have planned for us, you don't need to be dressed fancy xxxx
From Daniellaaar
Casual, got it! I swear to god Santana if when you get here you look amazing and I look like shit I am going to be sooo pissed at you and I just won't go anywhere with you xxxx
Santana rolled her eyes at the reply.
To Daniellaaar
I promise you there is no way on this earth you will look like shit. I think it's impossible for you to look like shit Dan xxxx
Santana threw her phone on her bed while she looked in the mirror one last time. She was more than excited; she couldn't wait to see Dani. She frowned slightly when she realised that she had been waiting much longer than usual for a reply off of the girl next door.
She stood looking at her phone momentarily, wondering if she had missed the quiet buzzing that it made whenever she received a new message, as she watched the phone, the screen lit up and the buzzing sound filled her ears.
She practically jumped on it and opened the text with a beaming grin on her face.
From Daniellaaar
Okay. I'm trusting you here San... I'm ready xxxx
Santana didn't bother replying; instead she grabbed her leather jacket and pulled it on before quickly running down the stairs and leaving her house, locking it swiftly behind her. She all but ran across her garden to get to Dani's house.
Santana knocked on the door to Dani's house quickly. Her heart was racing in her chest. She knew it was stupid, she had been many places with Dani before and had done a hell of a lot of things with her in general. But the fact that they were calling this a date had changed everything for Santana.
She was excited and nervous all at once, it was a strange but enjoyable feeling at the same time.
She felt the need to impress the girl no end. She didn't want this to be the typical movie and something to eat date she usually went on for a first date. That's why she had gone all out in trying to figure out something for them to do.
Dani answered the door almost instantly, when she came into view, Santana felt her jaw drop slightly.
She was wearing a pair of black leggings, and a white cropped top, that left an inch gap in between the hem of it and her leggings, and of course, her pair of black Dr Martens.
Her blonde hair had been straightened instead of her having it in its usual style of loose curls. She had backcombed it slightly to add just a small amount of volume to it. She had her usual dark eye makeup on and instead of her usual shade of lip-gloss she had bright red lipstick, which made it hard for Santana to look away from her lips.
"Wow." Santana said, "You look..." She trailed off trying to find an appropriate word, "Wow!" She said again.
Dani chuckled, "You look pretty wow, too." She said.
Compared to Dani Santana felt very under done. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a low cut, red v-neck, thin sweater and a pair of high heeled black boots, making her just that little bit taller than Dani than she usually was anyway.
Dani leaned up and placed a soft kiss on Santana's lips, as the taller girl tried to deepen the kiss Dani pulled away slightly. "Can we just get in the car before I do something really stupid?" She smiled.
"What do you mean something stupid?"
"Well..." Dani said trailing off, "Not a lot of people know about me around here and I'd like to keep it that way if I can," She explained. "And seeing you looking like that it's pretty hard to control myself." She admitted. She saw a light blush creep up Santana's face. She loved how she could make the girl react like this with just the simplest things that she said. "So where are we going then?" She asked as she locked the door to the house.
"Okay well, I thought that you'd probably wanna do this thing away from Lima, y'know, to be safe." Santana said.
Dani nodded her head slowly, "You thought correct." She smiled.
"Exactly, and i also thought that since we never actually got there, that we could finally make that trip to Cleveland and I could take you to see the titis." She said, Santana heard the worry creeping into her voice, she just hoped that she made the right choice in taking Dani to Cleveland for the day/
"Oh so I get to see titis on the first date?" Dani asked smirking slightly, "Usually girls make me wait a little longer, but I like the way that you work." She said sending the girl a quick wink.
Santana let out a small breath of relief, one that she hadn't even realised that she was holding in, "So you're okay with going to the zoo with me then?" Santana asked, "I mean I know it's not the typically, movie and dinner first date that most people have but-"
"Santana," Dani said cutting the taller girl off from her rambling, "The zoo is absolutely perfect." She said, "Honestly, I'm sort of glad it's not the hole dinner and a movie thing, we basically did that on Wednesday." She said smiling slightly. "So, I love that you picked the zoo."
"Good." Santana said, "I mean, we're not only going to the zoo, I do have something else up my sleeve, but I'm not telling you what that is." She said shaking her head.
"That's fine, you don't have to tell me." Dani said, "I like surprises."
oOoOo
They hadn't been driving for long before Santana turned her head to glance at Dani, the shorter girl's face was contorted in thought, Santana started to worry that Dani had suddenly changed her mind and that she didn't actually want to be there anymore, she took a deep breath before saying, "What's wrong with you, cutie?"
A small smile flashed along Dani's face, before it quickly vanished again, "It's nothing, really." She said, "It's just... I hate that your car isn't an automatic," Dani said, "I knew I should have suggested my car... you could have still been the driver but..." Dani said trailing off slightly.
"Okay... why should we have brought your car?" Santana asked, prying her eyes off of the shorter girl's face to look back at the road ahead of them.
"Because," Dani said, she smirked slightly before starting to sing, knowing that it annoyed the taller girl ever so slightly whenever she did it, "I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand."
Santana rolled her eyes at the other girl, "Dani, do you seriously have to do things like that?" She asked smiling slightly, no matter how annoying she found it, she couldn't help but smiling when she heard the shorter girl sing. Plus, she was too happy about the fact that she and Dani were finally going on a date to complain about anything.
Dani nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, of course I do." She said, "It's a compulsion, can't help it." She shrugged.
Santana smiled at the shorter girl and shook her head, "God you are such a nerd," she said good-naturedly.
"Yeah but it's all part of my charm, right?" Dani asked smiling slightly.
Santana scoffed, "What charm is this?"
"The charm that got you to ask me out on this date." Dani pointed out, "The same charm that got you to kiss me back last week, the same charm that-"
"Okay I get it." Santana said cutting Dani off from speaking, she chuckled and shook her head slightly, "And you know, if you really wanna hold my hand all that badly, you still can. Just because this car isn't automatic doesn't stop hand holding." She said.
"Yeah?" Dani asked, "How in the hell am I supposed to hold your hand when you need both of them?"
"Well that's easy." Santana said, "We'll just have to hold ands around the gear stick, that way you can help me change gears."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
Santana shook her head, "No I've done it hundreds of times, so long as I can still control it, we'll be fine." Dani rolled her eyes and gave Santana suggestion a try. "See, nothing bad is happening, and we still get to hold hands."
"Yeah but this doesn't feel safe, I don't feel safe." She said she said shaking her head.
"You worry too much." Santana said nodding, "Do you know that?"
"Yeah, blame my mom for that one, she's a worrier." Dani said, "She seems to think the world is this big bad place that's worse than it actually is, she just worries about a lot of things, and I do too, it's rubbed off on me." She shrugged. "That's why we won't ever be able to go on a date in Lima if we have any more after this one." She said, "I'm too worried people will figure it out." Dani sighed, "God I am so de-funked." She said, "I blame the parents."
Santana shook her head, "You're not de-funked." She said, "You're pretty damn amazing." She said, "And if you're really just that worried, then I guess that means that me and you are just gonna have to travel Ohio together." She shrugged, "Just think, of how many trips we can make to the sign museum," Santana said, Dani chuckled and shook her head.
"You complain about it, but I honestly think that was the best day trip ever." She said, "And I stand by my decision to take you there, you said yourself that night you had fun with me."
Santana nodded her head, "I did have fun with you, and it was a good day out, but I don't think we can call it the best ever." She said.
"And why not?"
Santana shrugged, "Because we don't know how this one's gonna go yet."
oOoOo
"We made it to Cleveland!" Santana cheered loudly as she pulled her car up in the parking lot, Dani gave her a questioning look, quirking her eyebrow at the taller girl, Santana turned her head to face the shorter girl, "What?" She said.
"Nothing," Dani said smiling slightly, "I just didn't think you'd be so excited to make it to Cleveland." She said.
"I'm excited because look at what happened last time." She said climbing out of the car, Dani rolled her eyes and climbed out the car herself, walking around to the drivers side to join Santana.
"I've told you, we were stopped that day." Dani said, "By the forces of nature, we were stopped from going to Cleveland that day so that we could come here today and do this," Dani said, "Everything happens for a reason, this is the reason." She shrugged, "I told you it was a clear cut sign." She said with only a hint of joking in her tone of voice.
Santana rolled her eyes slightly at the girl, thinking that it was best not to say anything about Dani and her 'signs'. Dani laced her fingers through Santana's and squeezed her hand lightly, she wasn't worried about anyone in Cleveland seeing them together, it wasn't like they could report it back to anyone that knew her. It wasn't like Lima; where news travels fast, and you can barely sneeze without everyone finding out about it. No, Cleveland was big, no one knew her here, to everyone at the zoo that day she was just another girl. Another girl, out on a date with yet another girl.
"Okay then," Santana said, "What is our first port of call?" She asked looking down into Dani's eyes.
"Hmm, I don't know." Dani said with a small shrug, "Obviously, I really wanna see the tigers, but I don't wanna rush into seeing them, if you know what I mean?" She said, Santana nodded her head slowly.
"So no tigers yet then," she said, she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before saying, "I have an idea, hows abouts we finally see them titis?" She asked.
At that exact moment, a group of four people (two boys and two girls)- who liked looked slightly older than them, walked past Dani and Santana. The two boys widened their eyes slightly and smirked at the two girls, while the girls they were with- Santana suspected them to be their girlfriends- scoffed and rolled their eyes before grabbing the boys and dragging them into the zoo.
Dani looked at them and shook her head slightly, "Well, that was odd." She said, Santana nodded her head in agreement, "But sure," she smiled, "Take me to see these illusive titis you seem to love so much." She said as they both started to make there way into the zoo, failing to pick up a map as they went.
oOoOo
"Are you okay?" Santana asked as she and Dani continued to make their way around the zoo, Dani hadn't let go of Santana's hand once, which made a nice change for the pair of them. Usually, by now, Dani would have stopped showing Santana any signs of affection that couldn't be passed off as anything other than 'friendly'. Santana hoped that now that it was out in the open, that they were definitely attracted to each other, Dani would show her affection more often, she definitely had so far whenever they were alone, what with the kissing and the cuddles, Santana just hoped that it'd stay that way.
Dani nodded her head and smiled, "Yeah I'm fine." She said as they approached the next part of the zoo.
Santana rolled her eyes, "I guessed that much," she said, "But what I mean is, are you enjoying yourself? Are you having fun with me or are you sort of wishing we hadn't bothered?" She asked.
"Santana I am having an absolutely amazing time with you," she said smiling, "This feels so easy for me, honestly, this is making a huge change for me and I really like it." She said, "trust me, I don't regret this one bit... why do you?"
Santana shook her head quickly, "No... that's not what I meant by asking you that." She said, "I honestly just wanted to make sure you were having fun and were regret free."
"Well I am." Dani said, "Like I said; I always have fun with you, no matter what we're doing, but this, has been really fun so far." She said smiling. "And honestly, the only regret that I have in all of this, is that we haven't done this sooner." She admitted with a small shrug, "I've had a crush on you for a while now." Dani said.
"Really?" Dani nodded her head slowly, Santana smiled, "I'll be honest, I've kind of had the hots for you for a while too, I just never knew how to tell you." She said.
Dani shrugged and smiled, "Well you don't have to worry about that now," she said, "because I did the all the work last week." She joked, Santana opened her mouth to say something to the girl before Dani cut her off, "I'm kidding!" Dani said. "I'm kidding."
"Good, you'd better be." Santana teased, Dani smiled before grabbing Santana's chin lightly and pulling her towards her for a quick kiss.
Dani smiled shyly before saying, "I'm really sorry, I couldn't help myself." She shrugged.
oOoOo
"Holy fuck!" Dani all but screamed, she quickly dropped Santana's hand, letting go of it for the first time that day since they arrived at Cleveland, she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands blocking them from the view.
Santana looked around them, taking in the faces of the many mothers who were all giving Dani disapproving looks due to her outburst. Santana gave them all a quick apologetic smile before looking at the smaller girl, "Come on Dan," she said keeping her voice soft and even, she took Dani's wrists in her hands and tugged on her arms gently, trying her best to get her to uncover her face.
"Nope." Dani said quickly, "I am not looking at them... you know what I refuse to look at them." She said, Santana sighed quietly, "I honestly don't even know why you would want to bring me to this part of the zoo!" She continued, "You know I hate them, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked. Once again, Dani's choice of words earned her some disapproving looks. Santana had to fight against her laughter when one of the mother's had to escort their six year old daughter away from them after she had repeated the word 'fuck' after hearing Dani say it twice. "I'm sorry." She said weakly, still not opening her eyes, the older woman shook her head as she walked past Dani. she looked at the shorter girl like she had left a bad smell under her nose.
"Dani, I didn't even bring you in here." Santana said, "You do realise that you have pretty much been leading me all the way around this place right?" She said, "I have literally been following you all day now."
"Wait, you were following me?" Dani asked.
"Yes."
"Well I was following you." She admitted, she moved her hands away from her face, keeping her eyes closed tightly. "If we come here again, we get a map okay?" She said.
Santana chuckled and nodded her head, even though she knew that Dani couldn't see her, "Yes, we'll get a map next time." she said, "But seriously, Dan, would you just look at them, please?" She said, Dani shook her head firmly, Santana rolled her eyes, "Just look at one of them, and if you don't like it and you feel scared, I will gladly guide you out of here... and I really do mean guide, you can close your eyes all you want and I will lead you out of this place." Santana chuckled, "Look, I don't really like spiders all that much either, but I suppose one of us is gonna have to be brave in this," she said, "And since you made me throw out Shelob that night, I don't feel as scared, because I've faced it and it didn't hurt me." She said, "So look at one." She pleaded, "And when you do, I will be standing right here next to you... that and they can't actually get to you... they're in glass tanks," she said, Santana sighed and took Dani's hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. Once again, just like that night, Santana could feel Dani shaking slightly.
Dani took a deep breath before saying, "Okay, fine... I'll look." She opened her eyes slowly, and as soon as they landed on one of the large spiders, she shook her head quickly, "Nope." She said, closing her eyes to them all once again.
Santana rolled her eyes and slipped her hand out of Dani's, she placed her hands on the shorter girl's hips before slowly moving them through the arachnid house, she couldn't keep herself from looking at some of the tarantulas as she walked past them. She just wished that Dani had been able to stand it in there, because the more Santana looked at them, the more she got over her fear, and the more she got over her fear, the more she started to find them fascinating.
"Okay," Santana said as she came to a stop, holding Dani in please just in front of her, her hands never leaving the shorter girl's hips, "We're outside now." She said.
Dani shook her head, "No we're not; it's still dark." She said.
"That;s because you still have your eyes closed, you dummy." Santana joked.
Dani sighed, "Yeah I know that, but even so, I know that we're not outside because there was no change in the light." She said in a very matter of a fact tone of voice, "My eyes may still be closed, but had we been outside there would have been a shift in the light, and I would have been able to notice it, y'know because you can." Dani shrugged, "Now, seriously, please get me out of this place, San. I don't like it." She said, her voice growing much softer.
"Okay... fine." She said, she lead Dani away from the arachnid enclosure, stopping just outside of it, she turned Dani around so that she was facing her.
"See," Dani said "Now were outside," she said opening her eyes slowly, she smiled up at Santana, before blinking a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the change in the light.
"Yes, we are."
Dani smiled up at the taller girl, "So, when we were still in there and you tried to get me to open my eyes, what exactly did you have me looking at?"
"Another one of those Rose Haired Tarantulas." Santana admitted, "But, like, a really, really big one. Like the biggest one that I had seen." She said.
Dani shook her head, "You are such an ass." She said before standing on her tiptoes and pacing a chaste kiss on Santana's lips. She wrapped her arms around Santana's neck and pulled her closer to her.
Santana pulled away first and smiled at her date. "All part of my charm." She said jokingly, sending a wink Dani's way.
Dani smiled and nodded her head, "The sad part about that is that it actually is part of your charm." She said, she moved her arms from being around the taller girl's neck so she could entwine her fingers with Santana's.
Dani started to guide Santana through the zoo once again, swinging their arms between them as they went.
oOoOo
"Santana, look at them!" Dani said, her dark eyes widening in awe as she watched the tigers, Santana couldn't help but smile at the shorter girl, she had thought that Dani's reaction to all the animals that day were cute (yes even her reaction to the tarantulas), but they were nothing compared to this, Dani was like a kid in a candy store as she stood there watching the tigers walking around their enclosure, she stood there, with a huge smile forming on her face. She let go of Santana's hand and moved closer to the tiger enclosure. "God they're just so gorgeous."
"You're gorgeous." Santana said quietly, she went to stand behind Dani, wrapping her arms around her waist, pulling her closer to her body. She placed a quick kiss on the apple of Dani's cheek before resting her chin on the shorter girl's shoulder.
Dani rolled her eyes good-natureldy, "Well thank-you, but i have to say that I disagree, just a little bit with you." She said, she turned her head to look at Santana the best that she could, "I want one." Dani said, before quickly looking back at the animals.
"Hmm, well I hope you get one," Santana replied in a way that reminded the shorter girl so much of her mother.
Dani rolled her eyes, "Can you not get like that, please?" She said, Dani sighed as she watched them, "They're just so much bigger than I thought they would be." She admitted, "I mean, obviously I knew they were big... but seriously, look at those paws," Dani said, "I bet it's bigger than my head, easily."
"Probably." Santana agreed.
"You're not impressed with the tigers are you?" Santana said, she shrugged.
"There a'ight," she said with a small shrug, "There no ocelot but they're okay."
"What's an ocelot?" Dani asked, Santana's jaw dropped open in mock astonishment, she let go of the other girl and backed away from her, already missing the small amount of contact.
"I cannot believe you have just asked me that."
Dani shrugged, "Sorry, I just don't know what one is."
"I'll show you what one is when we're done here, I am sure they have some here and if they don't then this is a shit zoo."
Dani nodded her head slowly, "Okay, you can take me to see these ocelots..." She said smiling, "but first let me spend another hour with the tigers." She said, with only a hint of joking in her tone of voice.
oOoOo
Dani and Santana had finally pulled themselves away from the zoo after spending the best part of the day there- they had been there since just after opening times to closing times- they had both pretty much loved their trip to the zoo; though, Dani had insisted on staying with the tigers for a good while, Santana didn't exactly mind that, it just meant that she got to spend a good part of the day in an enclosure of their choosing, so of course, once they had made their way to the ocelots Santana had pretty much demanded that they stay there for a fair amount of time.
Which Dani had happily agreed to.
"So what have you got up your sleeve for us now then?" Dani asked.
"Sorry, I'm not telling you." She said shaking her head slightly.
"Santana, please?" Dani said, pouting slightly and making her eyes look bigger than they usually would, Santana looked down at the girl and almost caved right there and then. She had never seen puppy dog eyes like them, and she hoped that she never saw them again, because she knew that it was going to be hard to deny Dani of anything with her looking like that.
Santana shook her head slightly, "Nope." She said turning her head away from Dani.
"Why?"
"Because, I wanna surprise you." Santana said. "If I tell you, it's not gonna be a surprise is it?" She asked.
Dani sighed, "I guess not."
"Please don't be like this okay, it's good, you'll like it." I think, oh God what if she doesn't like it? What if she thinks it's cheesy, or too much, or God forbid what of she thinks it's tacky and lame? No Dani isn't like that. She'll like this, she'll appreciate it... I hope.
"Okay then," Dani said, with a small shrug. "I guess you'd best get taking me to part two of this date then." She smiled. Santana Dani walked back to the car hand in hand.
oOoOo
"You've brought me home?" Dani asked, turning her head to face Santana, "This is your part two? Home." She said.
Santana shook her head, "No, we're not going home... well not your home anyway... look my mami and my papi are out and I knew they would be so I planned something." She said, Dani gave Santana a questioning look. "No!" she said quickly, "This isn't like that, it's not that," she said, Dani nodded her head slowly, "It's just... follow me, okay?' she said. Dani nodded her head and agreed to follow Santana.
They both climbed out of the car and Santana rushed around to join Dani at the passenger side, before taking her hand, lacing their fingers together. "Okay so seriously, San, what is all this?" Dani asked as they started walking in the direction of Santana's back yard.
"You'll see soon enough, stop it with the impatience," she said good-naturedly. Santana pushed open the gate to reveal her yard, Dani widened her eyes when she saw it, it was fairly bigger than her own, and looked much nicer, she could tell that a lot of work had been put into this yard, to make sure that it looked nice and neat.
The first thing she noticed about the yard, was the small part of it right at the bottom, the one that was illuminated by a small string of fair lights that were strung up around a small wooden structure. Santana led her down to the bottom of the garden, opening the small wooden gate that partitioned the two parts of it. in front of the pond, Santana had laid out a small checkered blanket for them both.
She came to a stop and turned to face Dani, "Okay... so I know it isn't much," Santana said with a small shrug, "In fact, it might even be a disappointment, and if it is I'm sorry but... here it is all the same." She said. "Part two of our date, dinner." She said.
Dani smiled and shook her head, "It's definitely not a disappointment." She said. She leaned upwards and captured Santana's lips between her own, she pulled away from Santana smiled at her, "Thank you for an amazing date." She said.
Santana let out a breath of relief, "So I'm guessing you've enjoyed it then?" She said.
Dani nodded her head, "Yeah. I've loved it; you took me to see the tigers," she shrugged, "And now all of this?" she said, "This is the best first date that I have ever been on." She couldn't stop herself from smiling, "So thank you once again."
Santana shook her head, she leaned forwards slightly and pressed a chaste kiss to Dani's lips, "Trust me, all of that was my pleasure." She said, "I had an absolutely amazing time with you… thank you for going with me." Dani stole another kiss from Santana, she smiled before pecking Santana's lips three times in a row, Dani pulled away and sat herself down on the blanket, smiling up at the taller girl. "I'll be right back, just make yourself comfortable, well as comfortable as you can." She said.
Dani nodded her head, she watched Santana as she walked back into the house, she couldn't keep herself from looking at the taller girl's ass as she walked away from her. No sooner had Santana gone in side than she was walking back out into the garden, carrying what looked like a small picnic basket. Dani smiled and shook her head slightly.
"What?" Santana asked once she got closer to the girl, "Why are you shaking your head at me?"
"It's not in a bad way." Dani said defending her actions.
"Then why?"
"I don't know, guess I just can't believe how cute you're being right now, with the little picnic by the pond," she said, "and the lights," she said, she sighed, "Here's a question, how do I not know about these lights until now?" She asked, "I can see into our back yards from my bedroom window, and I've never seen these lights."
"Maybe because the lights aren't usually here, I put them up for you." She admitted, "Honestly, usually, it's just dark out here, if my dad comes out to do anything, he brings a flash light."
"You put the lights up for me? She asked, Santana nodded her head, "Well when?" She asked, "Because again, I can see the yard from my window."
"I did some of it late last night, when you were texting me saying you were watching stuff on Netflix, I was out here." She said, "But I couldn't finish it last night, so I did a little of it this morning as well," she said, "I waited until I knew you'd have already opened your curtains." She shrugged, "I've been up since around six thirty." Santana admitted with a small smile.
Dani quirked her eyebrow at the taller girl, "But you told me that you hate getting up early." She said.
Santana nodded her head, "Yeah, I do." She said, "But I wanted to do this for you... I really, really like you Dani." Santana said, "And I wanted to show you that." Dani smiled at her. "And this was my way of doing that."
"I really like you, too. And I'm happy that you did all of this." Santana placed her hands on either side of Dani's face and pulled her closer for a kiss, Dani eagerly kissed Santana back; and it didn't take her long before she was sat on Santana's lap, her legs on either side of the taller girl's body while Santana pulled her closer.
When Santana slipped her hands underneath Dani's shirt she noticed just how warm the other girl was. She ran had hands over the shorter girl's body, Dani placed her hand on Santana's chin, as she slid her tongue into her mouth, Santana's breathing hitched slightly, and she felt her heart lurch forwards. Santana loved everything about kissing Dani, the way that her lips felt against her own, how warm she was, as well as the way her mouth tasted.
And right now, Dani tasted like the Mountain Dew that she had been drinking in the car on the way home, something that Santana usually hated the taste of, but something she could definitely get used to if she was tasting it on Dani's lips.
oOoOo
Around an hour later, only after checking the time and seeing what time it actually was, Dani pulled herself away from Santana, and their date. "So I guess this is goodbye then?" Santana said, Dani nodded her head and smiled at the taller girl.
"Yeah for tonight, but you'll be seeing me tomorrow at school." Dani said.
"That's true." She said, "Speaking of school, Dan what are we telling people, y'know about us?" Santana asked, "Because I know that you're still in the closet and that you're scared about all of this, but what are we telling our friends?"
Dani sighed, "Well I was thinking that maybe we just keep it quiet for now." She said, "Y'know, just stick to the story that we're friends?" She said, "That is okay with you, right?"
Santana nodded her head, "Yeah don't worry about it, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."
"Thank you." Dani said quietly.
"Can I just ask… does anyone know about tonight other than us?" Santana asked.
"If you're asking me if I told Will the answer is no." She said, "He knows about the first time we kissed but only because he guessed, said he could see it written on my face that I'd kissed you… he then asked what was happening, I said there might be a date- this was before you asked me- and he said okay." Dani said, "But I didn't tell him that there actually was a date and he doesn't know about all the other times that we've kissed this past week… he doesn't need to know so he doesn't."
"Okay…" Santana said.
"I mean, you can obviously tell people you went out on a date with a girl… they don't need to know it's me though." Dani said "because trust me, I'm gonna be telling my friends all about this date… they just won't know that I went out with Santana Lopez." She said, using a Spanish accent on the other girl's name.
"That was pretty bad… but you'll get there," Santana smiled before stealing a kiss from the shorter girl. "Anyway, you should probably get going, it's later than I thought."
"Okay." Dani said pouting slightly.
"Don't get like that… Dani, I really wanna spend more time with you right now, but we can't," She said smiling, "I need some sleep, I was awake until late and I was up early, and I'm not complaining, because it's been totally worth it." She said, with a small smile, "But, I do need to sleep."
"Okay fine…" Dani said, "I'll see you later." She wrapped her arms around Santana's neck; Dani placed a chaste kiss onto Santana's lips, which the taller girl immediately deepened. Santana placed her hands on the small of Dani's back, she lightly ran her fingers over the patch of exposed skin on Dani's back. As their lips started to move together at a steady rhythm, Santana slid her hands to Dani's ass and squeezed it lightly, making Dani's hips buck forwards into hers slightly, as in involuntary reaction.
Dani smiled slightly into the kiss before biting on Santana's bottom lip and pulling away ever so slightly, Santana mumbled, "I'll have to remember about that sensitivity." She smirked; she allowed her lips to brush over Dani's before stealing a kiss from the shorter girl.
Dani nodded her head, "Yeah please do." She said she chuckled slightly.
"Anything else like that, that I should know about?"
Dani nodded her head slowly, "Yeah a few things, but I'm not telling you what they are, I'm gonna leave it up to you to find them… it's more fun that way." She said before connecting their lips once more.
oOoOo
Once Dani and Santana had finally said there goodbyes, Dani walked the very short distance from Santana's house to her own, she looked through the windows and realised that all of the lights were off.
She opened the door slowly, and tried to sneak into the house, she knew Will would be in, and she didn't really want to draw attention to herself, or the fact that she had been gone for a good portion of the day, she closed the front door quietly behind her, and turned on the lights, hoping that no one else was awake, as soon as the lights turned on a shrill voice sounded out through the house, grabbing Dani's attention.
"Danielle Jennifer Mitchell, where have you been?" Will yelled in an overly loud and an overly shrill voice, Dani winced at the sound before shaking her head at the younger boy. He was stood at the other end of the hallway, just in front of the kitchen door, with his hand on his hip and his foot tapping. Dani would never admit it to the boy, but he did a stellar impression of their mother.
"I've been out." She said with a small smiled. walking straight past her brother to get to the kitchen.
"Anywhere good?"
"Drove to Cleveland, went to the zoo, saw some tigers." She said, "And now because I am absolutely exhausted, I am going to bed." She said as she pulled out a can of coke from the fridge.
"You went to Cleveland alone?" He asked in a knowing tone of voice, Dani looked away from her brother and tapped the top of the can of coke three times, before opening the can. "You shouldn't really be drinking that shit if you're going to bed... high caffeine content."
"So." taking a big gulp of her drink. She sent him a quickly smile and walked past him once again, once she reached the top of the stairs, she realised that Will was still behind her, she abruptly stopped and turned around to face him, "What?" She asked, looking into his eyes, trying her best to stare him down, even if he was taller than her by several inches.
"You never answered my question on if you were alone, which makes me think you definitely weren't." He said, "Please tell me you went out with Santana?"
Dani sighed and and rolled her eyes, "Yes. Okay I did go out with her today... can I go to bed now?"
"What like out on a date out?" He asked, "or just like, out as friends like you sometimes do?" He asked, once again Dani looked down and avoided his eye contact, giving Will the answer he so desperately wanted. "Well how was it?"
"Jesus Christ you're worse than a woman." She said she said with a joking tone to her voice.
"Look, I just wanna know how it went for you, Dani." He said, "You know, considering I am the guy that told you, you should just go for it with her... and I was right to, because to me is looks like it might have paid off, but I don't know because you won't tell me anything."
"It went great." Dani said, "I'm gonna ask her on another date, but it's up to her weather it happens or not." Dani said.
"So potential girlfriend?"
Dani nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, I think so." She said smiling, "Well, I hope so." She added. She chewed on her bottom lip momentarily before saying, "Anyway, it went really well." She said, "But just remember do-"
"Don't tell anyone, yeah I know Dan." He said smiling at the older girl, "I've had your back on this one for a while now, I'm not just gonna suddenly stop."
"Thank you." Dani said, she wrapped her arms around her bother pulling him closer to her for a hug. "I love ya bro." She said quietly.
"Yeah, you're okay too I guess." He joked. Dani pulled out of the hug and quickly placed a kiss on his cheek, making sure to leave a lipstick mark, purely to annoy that boy. "Urgh!" He said wiping his hand down his face, "Do you have to do things like this?" He asked.
Dani nodded her head, "Yes... yes I do." She smiled before making her way into her bedroom.
She dropped herself down onto her bed and replayed the events of the day, Sunday had definitely become her favourite day of the week, and it appeared that they were just going to keep getting better and better.
She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and quickly wrote a text to the girl next door.
To Sandbags
I just wanna say another huge thank you for an absolutely amazing day! I've loved it, I can't wait to do something like this with you again... what do you think about Friday? :) xxxx
From Sandbags
Once again, it was my pleasure, so there is no need to thank me, I loved it too, I had a great time with you. And I say hell yes to Friday! I can't wait to go on more dates with you and to explore Ohio with you! :D xxxx
To Sandbags
Great! I'll start figuring something out for us to do that's just as good as today, don't want you getting bored of me ;) xxxx
From Sandbags
I'm not gonna get bored of you! :) xxxx
To Sandbags
We'll see ;)... anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now, because I'm exhausted, so I'll see you again in the morning :) xxxx
From Sandbags
Yeah me too, I really do wanna stay up and talk to you, but I need my sleep too, so I'll talk to you again tomorrow... good night gorgeous! xxxx
That night both of them fell straight to sleep, with thoughts of their date running around in their heads, replaying their kisses over and over again.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter (it's a pretty long one to make up for the waiting on the update, which once again I am really sorry about, but i've been busy), anyway, there you have it, the first Dantana date of this story… I wish I had someone to take me to see tigers on a date, but I'm just not that lucky.
Thank you to those of you who have read and reviewed this story so far, you guys are seriously amazing and you're reviews are lovely :)
Also a huge thank you to those of you who had added this story to there favourites and or follows/alerts you guys are amazing, too :D