Twenty-Three

Around an hour later, Santana was stood at the drinks table with the guys, trying to focus on the conversation as the alcohol coursing through her veins was starting to make her all kinds of emotional. Their chatter had faded into the thump of the music as she watched her girlfriend across the room playing a very intense game of beer pong; from the look of things, Dani was on a team with Blaine, Mike and Marley, and they appeared to be winning.

"Dani is such a good kisser, don't you think?" Puck asked, the sound of Dani's name pulled Santana back into the conversation, she looked around the group of guys to see Ryder and Sam nodding their heads enthusiastically in agreement. Puck, Sam, and Ryder all looked to Santana for her input.

"Oh, yeah," she replied, giving a slight nod and a weak smile.

"Yeah, but who was better, Dani or Rachel?" Sam asked Puck.

"Wait, what?" Santana asked, as uncomfortable as she was to be stood talking about how great her girlfriend was at kissing, she was even more uncomfortable to think about someone comparing her girlfriend to someone else.

"I think I'd have to say Dani," Puck decided, taking a drink of his beer, "Now, don't get me wrong, Rachel is a great kisser, but there was something about that kiss with Dani, I just felt something and I think she did too."

"Yeah, probably the raging boner you had," Santana remarked snidely; she didn't need to hear Puck saying things like that about Dani. She knew that Puck liked Dani a lot, maybe more than that, and she knew that he didn't stand a chance with her on account of Dani being a lesbian, but still, when he acted like this, Santana couldn't help but feel jealous.

She wished that Dani would let her tell Puck, above anyone else she wanted to rub it in Puck's face that Dani was with her, just so that he'd stop this type of behaviour. But Dani had said on countless occasions that she didn't want Puck to know. So Santana knew that meant she just had to deal with it.

"San, what do you think, Dani or Quinn?" Sam asked.

Santana rolled her eyes slightly, "Uh… Dani?" she replied with a small shrug, like I even need to think about this! She nodded her head confident of her answer, "Yeah. Definitely Dani… she's a lip biter and I really like that," she said with a small shrug. Okay so that's not the only reason she was the better kisser, it's one of the reasons I like kissing her so much though… that and the girl just knows what she's doing.

"Whoa, she bit you?" Puck asked.

Santana quickly realized that while Dani had been biting her lip during their kisses earlier that night before the others arrived, she hadn't actually done it during the game. However, she couldn't exactly correct herself, so she simply nodded her head, "Yeah… did she not bite any of you guys?" She asked, looking at Ryder, Sam, and Puck, they all shook their heads slowly, "Huh, that's weird," she teased, "She moaned though, right?" She asked, loving the look on Puck's face more than she should.

Once again Puck shook his head, "What did you do to make her moan?"

Santana smirked, "Well, after she shoved her tongue in my mouth, I couldn't help but tease a little bit. I think it was a combination of the biting and the sucking that made her moan," she shrugged her shoulders, "I guess she liked kissing me more, too."

Puck rolled his eyes, "Yeah maybe… I really doubt that though, I mean, did you see her and Quinn, who knew Fabray had that in her, they couldn't stop kissing each other."

Santana tensed her jaw slightly, "Yeah. I know… I saw that."

"Oh, come on San, we all know that you're like in love with Dani, but try not getting so jealous next time, it's not pretty on a girl."

"I'm not jealous," Santana snapped, well that's a lie I am… I am extremely jealous, why did Quinn get more kisses than me? And why the hell did Dani kiss Quinn for longer than she kissed me? Danielle Jennifer Mitchell, you've got some 'splaining to do!

"Yeah, okay, sure you're not and I don't wanna fuck Dani," Puck said, only making Santana's jealousy and anger heighten.

"I thought you told me that you actually really like Dani? Not just the way you like other girls," Santana asked through gritted teeth.

"Well yeah, I do really like her… but I'd also really like to feel her thighs tighten around my hea-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Santana snapped.

"Like you're not thinking the same thing?" Puck scoffed.

oOoOo

Santana dipped her head and placed a sweet kiss on Dani's lips, the shorter girl kissed her back slightly, before pulling away, Santana chuckled and placed her hand on the back of Dani's neck pulling her in for another kiss, only to be rejected by Dani turning her head, allowing Santana's lips to connect with her cheek.

She looked up at her girlfriend to see Santana's jaw tensing slightly, Dani shook her head slowly, "Not here, okay?" she asked, her voice soft, trying not to hurt the other girl with her rejection.

"Why not?" Santana hissed, "Everyone here is so wasted, plus they've already seen me and you making out tonight."

"They might be wasted but they're not morons… and yeah they have seen me kiss you. But they saw me kiss Puck and Quinn and all the others too… Does that mean they can just kiss me whenever they want?"

"Dani I am your girlfriend," Santana whispered.

Dani nodded her head, "Yeah. I know you are bu-"

"Y'know what Dan, for the rest of the night just, do whatever the fuck you want, you wanna go make-out with everyone when you won't even give me one kiss, go fucking do it, see what I care." She turned on her heel and stormed away from the shorter girl.

oOoOo

"You can't even say that you don't like her anymore," Quinn said, "Not after you just tried to kiss her again when she was dancing with you… you can be honest with me, I am probably the only person you can be honest with," she sighed.

Santana scoffed, "Oh please, I'm the one that likes her, after the way you acted during that game, you couldn't stop kissing her." Santana could hear the clear jealousy in her tone, and knew that Quinn would hear it, too.

Quinn shrugged halfheartedly, "There might have been a reason I did it."

"Like?"

"To get you jealous and clearly it worked," she replied smugly, "Santana if you like the girl, just say you do. I'm not gonna judge you, you can tell me anything."

"Yeah… I know I can," Santana mumbled; she wanted to tell Quinn, she trusted Quinn with her life. Quinn was one of the first people that she came out to. Santana knew that she and Dani could trust Quinn with this secret, and she also knew that Quinn would love to be part of the secret.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Santana asked with a small shrug.

Quinn chuckled and shook her head; "I'm not leaving you alone until you say it… seriously, if I just have to follow you around for the rest of the night saying 'well?' to you, I will," she smiled.

Santana couldn't help but smile at the blonde haired girl, "Fine," she sighed, "I do like her… I like her a lot… I think that she is unbelievably pretty and she's so nice, and she's funny and talented… I just really like her."

"Yeah… I know you do," Quinn nodded, smiling softly at Santana, "And you're right about all of those things… she is pretty and she is nice-"

"Are you crushing on Dani?" Santana asked jokingly, I'm saying it like it's a joke, but if Quinn actually is attracted to Dani, I am telling her right here, right now that Dani is mine!

Quinn rolled her eyes, "No I am not into Dani, I'm not into girls at all, kissing her was fun, and what I did clearly worked, but I'm straight… and I think maybe Dani is, too." She shrugged, "I saw you try and kiss her again and she turned her head."

"I know she did," Santana replied, her jaw clenched slightly. She didn't need to be reminded of the rejection she had just faced, she definitely didn't need to be reminded of the rejection by someone who had made out with Dani and then kissed her three extra and unneeded times in the game.

oOoOo

Santana was swaying in the corner by the beer and liquor table, it's where she had spent most of her time since the game of spin the bottle had ended. She leaned backwards slightly, holding herself against the wall, hoping that it would help keep her balanced. She watched as Dani talked to Puck and Lauren. Lauren was moving her arms around animatedly as she launched into the climax of her story. Despite the distance between the two of them, Santana could still hear Dani's laughter.

It was her loud laugh, the laugh that only made an appearance when she found something to be truly hilarious- like she clearly did now- it was the laugh that also made Santana smile uncontrollably and the laugh that she made sure she heard at least once when ever they spent time with each other. She found that laugh rather endearing, she found a lot of the things that Dani did endearing.

The shorter girl looked over to Santana and waved at her by jiggling her fingers slightly, she threw Santana a smile for good measure. Santana didn't wave or even smile back; instead she turned her head away and looked down at the contents of her almost empty cup.

Dani handed Lauren her cup of Absolut cherry vodka and coke before she turned on her heel. "Yeah don't worry about it Dani, I can hold that for you," Lauren said sardonically as Dani started to walk away from the two of them.

She crossed the room to where Santana was standing, "Hey. Are you okay?" She asked; she nudged Santana lightly in the ribs, smiling at her. Santana sighed and ignored the girl once more. Dani furrowed her eyebrows at the other girl, feeling more than a little upset about Santana brushing her off. "San, are you okay?" Dani asked, once again, Santana didn't acknowledge the girl; her eyes never left the contents of her cup. "Are you annoyed at me because of what happened with the kiss?" Dani asked, Santana sighed but stayed quiet.

"Jesus Christ, why the fuck are you ignoring me?" Dani asked in a whisper shout. Santana looked away again quickly, it was then that Dani noticed that tears had started to form in Santana's eyes. Santana looked up to meet Dani's eyes, the shorter girl's features had grown much softer. "Come on, come with me," Dani said, grabbing Santana's hand and entwining their fingers together before she dragged her out of the den.

Santana remembered the first time that Dani had grabbed her hand like this, it had been in a very similar situation, though back then, Santana had been upset over a different matter. Brittany had caused her to feel low at that time, when she had just broken up with her.

"Where are we going?" She asked, her words coming out slurred and broken.

"You'll see," Dani said; she pulled her up the stairs and in the direction of the kitchen before she made her sit at the kitchen island. "Stay there," Dani said letting go of Santana's hand.

"What are you doing?" Santana sniffled.

"I am going to make you a very strong cup of coffee in the biggest cup that I can find," she explained as she started to search in the cupboards in the kitchen.

"Why?"

"Because, I think that you need to sober up just a little bit, baby," Dani looked over her shoulder at the taller girl, she watched as Santana gripped onto the edge of the kitchen island to keep herself from swaying too far and falling off of the stool.

"I am find," Santana sighed.

Dani smiled slightly, "Yeah… you crying and the fact that you just put a 'd' on the end of the word 'fine' are all very reassuring to me right now," Dani replied sarcastically.

She quickly made two cups of coffee placing one in front of Santana before she made her way around the breakfast bar to join the other girl. "Thanks," Santana said, looking down at the floor.

"So are you going to tell me why you're crying?" Dani asked and Santana shook her head, "Why not?"

"Because it's stupid," Santana replied, looking up, her dark eyes meeting Dani's.

"Santana, I am not gonna judge you, why don't you realise that yet?" Dani asked.

Santana sighed, "Maybe you won't judge but… look I just have my reasons for why I am crying right now."

"What are they?"

"You, mainly," she replied harshly. Santana caught the look of hurt on Dani's face and started to cry again. "I just… I feel like you would be having so much more fun without me being here." She sniffed, "I feel like, if I went home right now, you wouldn't even know that I was missing."

"That's ridiculous," Dani said quickly, "I really want you to be here; everything is so much more fun when you're around," she admitted. "It's been that way since we first started talking," she said with a small shrug, "And I know that I would miss you if you went home. I mean, if you weren't here, who would I snuggle with tonight?" She asked, giving Santana a soft smile.

"Oh I don't know," Santana snarked, "What about one of the many people you made out with tonight?" She asked dryly, "I'm sure Quinn will snuggle with you, who knows if you're lucky you might even get more from her. She seemed to like kissing you earlier and you looked pretty into it too."

Dani quirked her eyebrow at Santana, "Is that what this is about?" Dani asked, keeping her voice soft. "Baby, that kiss meant nothing, I didn't even enjoy it," she admitted with a shrug, "The only kiss that meant anything tonight was the one I had with you, it's also the only kiss I liked… I'm so into you Santana, it's like other people don't even exist."

"Then why did you reject me when I tried to kiss you afterwards?"

"You know how I feel about all this, yeah we kissed in front of everyone, but that was in a game, so people don't know it meant anything. I am so sorry that I hurt you, I didn't mean to."

"But they've all been drinking. They'd probably just think you were like any other drunk girl wanting to experiment." Santana pouted. Dani smiled softly.

"I know that all of this is really frustrating for you, and you are being so patient with me and I can't thank you enough for that baby, it really means so much to me and I am so sorry for hurting you, I'll do anything to make it better, but I just need you to be patient with me just a little longer, okay?" She asked.

Santana nodded her head slowly, "Yeah. Okay," she whispered.

"Are you gonna stay the night? Or do you want to go home? I feel so awful, knowing that I'm the reason you feel like this and I will honestly do whatever it takes to make it right. I really don't like seeing you sad, it hurts my heart."

Santana started crying again, "I just got super jealous when I saw you kiss her and then when you pulled out for the first kiss, you kissed her three more times and you didn't need to and it just upset me."

"I didn't have much choice, she had a pretty tight grip on my hair," Dani admitted, "I promise you, those kisses between me and Quinn meant nothing. I tried to pull back but couldn't."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise," Dani replied softly.

"Is she a better kisser than me?" Santana asked meekly through another sniffle, "you can say yes… I mean she's better than me in a lot of ways so this wouldn't change anything."

Dani shook her head, "God no," she replied, "She wasn't even close to being as good as you baby… you're the best kisser, trust me, out of all the people I have ever kissed, you are definitely at the top of that list, it's not even a close competition."

"Thank you."

"Do you want me to end the party now so we can go to bed, because I will, you just say the word and I'll do it."

Santana shook her head, "No… just ignore me," she said, "I just get like this sometimes and I guess that tonight I just got really jealous that you kissed Quinn after the initial kiss, but not me."

"I'm sorry," Dani said quietly. "But I promise the only lips I want to kiss are yours."

"I'm really sorry I ruined your night," Santana whispered, resting her forehead on Dani's.

"You haven't," Dani replied quickly, "I just really wanted to make sure you've been enjoying yourself?"

Santana nodded her head; "I have been… well, until that game of spin the bottle and all this happened."

Dani wrapped her arms around Santana and pulled her closer, she kissed the side of her head before resting her head on Santana's shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Santana nodded her head and sniffled, "I am now… thanks to you… you always seem to know just what to say to cheer me up." There was a beat of silence before Santana sniffled and said, "You don't smell like you; you smell like hair dye."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Santana shook her head, "No, definitely not… I just miss that other stuff."

Santana gave her a soft smile, Dani leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Santana's lips, smiling when she felt Santana eagerly return the kiss. She moved her lips slowly, setting a pace that Santana was happy to match.

Dani's hand moved up to Santana's hair, giving it a gentle tug, smiling one again when Santana moaned quietly, Santana traced Dani's lower lip asking for entrance that Dani quickly granted her.

Dani pulled out of the kiss abruptly, and noticed the pout forming on Santana's face, she rolled her eyes and chuckled as she pushed the chair back gently, giving herself room to move around and straddle Santana's lap, quickly connecting their lips once more in a heated kiss.

Santana's hands came to rest on Dani's thighs as the shorter girl's hands found their way into her hair, tugging on it gently, pulling Santana's lips away from her own. Dani placed hot, opened mouthed kisses along Santana's neck, working her way to Santana's sweet spot, sucking it gently, before biting down hard at the same time she gave Santana's hair a harsh tug.

"Hey Dani?" Santana panted, her hands moving up Dani's thighs slowly until she could feel the lacey panties Dani had on under her dress. Dani hummed quietly as her response, her lips never moving away from Santana's neck. "Do you wanna move this to your bedroom?"

Dani pulled away, her eyes locking with Santana's, both pairs of eyes almost black with lust, Dani nodded her head slowly. "Yes," she almost growled, before kissing Santana once more. Santana was about to deepen the kiss and stand up to lead Dani to her room when they both heard the sound of a dish smashing followed by a voice shouting 'oops my bad.'

Dani sighed and rested her forehead on Santana's, pecking her lips one last time, "Wanna take a raincheck on this?" She asked, chuckling slightly.

Santana nodded her head slowly, "Definitely," she replied.

Her jealousy from just minutes earlier now replaced by want, lust, and sexual frustration.

oOoOo

"I had so much fun tonight," Dani said as she walked back into the bedroom, her face now clean from all its make-up. "I am so glad that I said the party could be held here," she admitted, "Although, if Puck or any of you guys think you're having another party here, you're all wrong and you can think again," Dani said, "I am really not looking forward to having to clean all of this up tomorrow.

Santana laughed, "Don't worry, I'll help you out with it all… I'm happy you had fun."

"Yeah. I've enjoyed myself," She admitted, "And you're okay now, you had fun too right?"

"I won't lie, the first hour and a half was murder for me… but after that, I was fine and I am fine now… thank you for cheering me up and spending the rest of the night by my side… sorry, if you thought I was clingy."

Dani shook her head, "Don't worry baby, you weren't that bad," she said with a small wink. She walked over to her girlfriend and placed her hands on either side of Santana's face, pulling her down for a chaste kiss.

"Oh, so I was clingy, it just wasn't a bad clingy?" Santana challenged.

Dani nodded her head, "Exactly."

Santana shook her head, "I'm not amused."

"You never are," Dani chuckled; she pecked Santana's lips before moving away from the taller girl and pulling her dress over her head, taking her headband off afterwards. She turned around to see Santana's eyes fixed on her body, "You okay?"

Santana nodded her head, "Yeah… it's just… you are so fucking beautiful," she whispered. Dani smiled slightly.

"So are you."

Dani climbed into her bed, wearing only her bra and panties. Santana laughed as she joined Dani in the bed wearing only her underwear. The drinking had made them both feel warm and overheated.

Santana nodded her head and smiled, "Yeah you're right."

Dani chuckled, "I usually am," she shrugged, smirking slightly. She leaned closer to Santana and placed a chaste kiss on the other girl's lips before pulling away. She bit her lip momentarily and smiled at the taller girl.

Santana returned the smile before she leaned closer to Dani, closing the small gap between them. She pressed their lips together once more. Their mouths started to move in sync, picking up a steady rhythm. It didn't take Santana long to push her tongue into the other girl's mouth. Dani moaned quietly when her tongue met Santana's. Hearing the sound spurred Santana on and made her smirk into the kiss.

Dani's hand found its way to the back of Santana's neck, her fingers getting tangled in her long dark hair. Santana wrapped her arm around Dani's waist pulling the shorter girl even closer to her. Santana moved her kisses away from Dani's lips, trailing them down to her neck slowly. She nipped at her pulse point and soothed it with her tongue, another soft moan escaped Dani's mouth, before Santana's lips were once again on hers.

"I want you," Dani mumbled, allowing her lips to brush over Santana's lightly. Santana smiled into the kiss and moved so that she was lying on top of Dani.

The shorter girl opened her legs a little wider to allow Santana to lay there more comfortably. Dani ran her hands down Santana's back as she continued to kiss her.

One of Santana's hands trailed up Dani's side, nails scratching gently over the soft skin; it skimmed over the lace of Dani's bra before moving higher to tangle in her black hair as she deepened the kiss.

Dani moaned as she reveled in the most skin-on-skin contact she'd had with the taller girl. The persistent throb between her thighs convinced her that she needed even more and she moved a hand up to the clasp of Santana's bra, ready to expose even more skin.

Santana pulled away and shook her head, "I can't," she said quietly.

"No, no. We can," Dani said, slightly breathless.

"No, I can't." Santana said moving once again. She rolled off of Dani and sighed.

"Is it me?" Dani asked sheepishly.

"No," Santana said quickly, "No it's not you… trust me, it's definitely not you… I want to… believe me I really want to… I just can't, not when I can hear that." She said pointing to the wall next to them. They could hear muffled moans coming from the room next to them. They couldn't be sure who it was, at least that was until they heard the name 'Blaine'.

Dani sighed, "Baby trust me, once we get going, you won't be able to think about anything other than what I'm doing to you."

Santana nodded her head, "Yeah… I don't doubt that, not even for a second… but that's just way too much of a turn off for me," she admitted, "Not to mention, if you didn't want our friends to see me try and kiss you earlier, I'm sure you definitely don't want them to hear you moaning my name."

"Who says you're good enough to make me moan like that?" Dani challenged with a smirk.

Rather than getting offended, Santana merely smiled as she shifted to face her girlfriend. She reached over to slowly ghost her fingers along Dani's stomach, heading south. The teasingly soft touch caused a shiver to run down Dani's spine as her back arched gently into the touch to feel more pressure. However, just as Santana reached the top of her panties, she pulled her hand away.

"I know I'm good enough to make you moan my name loud enough the whole house would hear it," Santana confirmed with a cocky grin.

Dani sunk back into the mattress with a frustrated huff, "Who's the tease now?"

Santana's pleased smile fell into a disappointed frown, "I'm sorry, I just can't with that going on next door."

Dani rolled onto her side and ran her fingers along Santana's side in a soothing caress, "That's okay," she replied with a reassuring smile, "Hey, this is the closest we've ever been," she teased with a wink, "We're getting there."

Santana sighed, "We're never gonna have sex are we?"

Dani's hand came to rest on Santana's hip, "No… we will," she promised with a small smile, "And once we do, it will just be amazing… and then you'll realise that everything that stopped us, be it me, or you, or whatever, you'll realise that they all stopped us for a reason… so that when it happens it'll be perfect." She rolled her eyes at how cliché, and cringe worthy she sounded.

"You know something, you're right," Santana said, "I didn't think I'd ever agree with you on your whole 'fate' stuff, but right now I kinda do," Santana said, smiling at the other girl. She leaned forwards and stole a kiss from her.

As the moaning continued Dani pulled away from Santana "Those sheets are going to need changing and that is not my job," Dani said as she pointed at the wall.

"Make them do it," Santana suggested.

Dani nodded her head, "Yeah it's only right, they stop me from getting mine, they're cleaning the sheets after they've got theirs."

Another huge thank you to my amazing girlfriend for beta-ing this chapter for me, if you haven't already you should check out her fics. Her user name is Shananigans402 She has a few Dantana stories of her own called: What's A Lebanese To Do?, I'm On Fire And I know That It Burns, Say You Won't Let Go and Vibeology