It's not even 10 PM yet when the girls arrived at the dorm and they are physically exhausted. But the adrenaline from the fear is still keeping them way too energetic to go to bed right away. When they got to the dorm, Elaine is nowhere to be seen and Santana finds the note her roommate's left on the fridge saying that she's going out for the night. The red hair also pinned a Christmas market leaflet beside her note, that some management major kids organized for charity.
"Let's go tomorrow!" is written on a scrawny handwriting Santana recognized as Elaine's.
Quinn takes a quick shower and finds Santana sitting tensely on the edge of her bed, busy with her phone. The Blonde looks at her weirdly before brushing it off and continues putting on clothes. It doesn't take long for Quinn to realize that Santana is following her around. It's so obvious, it's almost comical. It's not like Santana is clinging on her, but every time Quinn moves to a room, Santana will follow suit in an instant, acting busy with her phone. She finally loses her patience after a while and confronts Santana.
"Okay. What the hell, Santana? I feel like I have to get a restraining order for you", Quinn whips around facing a surprised Santana.
"I don't know what you're talking about. This is my dorm and it's a small place", Santana shrugs before putting her phone on the coffee table and sit on the sofa to turn on the Playstation. Quinn rolls her eyes and folds her hands on her chest. She might know what's going on with the girl. When Santana is scared, she can't handle being in a room alone.
"You can just stand there or sit here with me", Santana says trying to look cool.
"I'm getting my book then I'll company you in the living room."
Santana didn't miss the sarcastic tone but chooses to ignore it. She's feeling really uneasy after what happened in the Sanatorium. They still don't know who or what that was following them and she's afraid that it's following them back to the dorm. Not to mention the final tour in the morgue. She can't forget the image of those empty doorless drawers.
Quinn returns with a book and sit on the same loveseat as Santana. She gets a comfortable position to read while Santana keeps playing the playstation. After only reading about three pages long, Quinn feels like she needs to rest her eyes for a minute and fell asleep on the sofa.
...
The next morning Quinn wakes up and doesn't remember how she fell asleep. She's just about to stretch when she feels something heavy weighing on her. She opens her sleepy eyes to find a very snuggly Latina is sleeping right on top of her. Somehow, sometime in the night they both fell asleep on the sofa and in their lumber found each other as a substitute of a warm blanket.
Quinn thinks she should get up and continue to sleep in the bedroom but she doesn't have enough energy yet to move. Besides, she's not going to lie that it feels very comfortable. Instinctively Quinn brushes Santana's hair that is covering the sleeping Latina's face to check if she's awake and rested her hand on the other girl's cold cheek.
A repeated sequence of a music track can be heard from the TV. The Latina seems to fail on turning off the game herself, having the character still on the screen, waiting to be moved. Santana didn't even pause it.
Quinn feels a bit creepy watching her sleeping friend but the Latina looks so peaceful. Also she's enjoying her view and the situation she's in. What is it to complain? Santana's body is warm and soft and her hair smells so good. She can just lie there for hours. Or maybe it should be the activity of the day. Snuggling.
"Santana, are you awake?" Quinn calls the Latina gently, while moving her thumb to rub Santana's cheek. As much as she likes the idea of spending the day lying like that, she thinks that she shouldn't.
The sleeping girl, completely unaware of the living world, only responds with a grunt and shifts upward just so she can find a more comfortable position to sleep. Accidentally one of her thighs that is already nestling between Quinn legs rubs against The Blonde's lady part. In a good way.
Quinn's breath hitched and her hand slipped to the back of Santana's head as she involuntarily presses her legs together. But the act only resulting in more pressure to her because Santana's thigh is already trapped in between.
Santana suddenly is fully awake from the movement and lifts herself enough because her "bed" seems to be alive. They both lost the warmth from each other's body heat.
Quinn can feel her cheeks warming. She's also painfully aware of how warm her bottom half that is still against Santana's.
They looked at each other like a deer caught in a spotlight and against Quinn's will, her eyes darted at Santana's lips. Santana didn't miss where Quinn's eye goes but no one dares to make a move.
They didn't hear the sound of door being unlocked until it's abruptly opened and Elaine comes in, catching them in a very compromising position. Both of the girls look at Elaine with a blank face.
"It's not what it's look like," Santana blurs out still hovering on top of Quinn.
Elaine raises her eyebrows and grins, "Did you accidentally fell and lodged your leg between Quinn's?"
Santana gets off from on top of Quinn as gracefully as possible without a comment and walks to the kitchen, trying her best to regain control of her breathing.
That escalated quick, Quinn thinks as she sits up and smiles awkwardly at Elaine, fixing her hair.
"I'll uh, make some breakfast for us," Santana breaks the silent. She decides that busying herself preparing the coffee and pancake will take her mind off from what just happened. Everything was just nice and warm until she feels Quinn's legs pressing her thigh. She's sure it was all an accident and maybe even caused by her moving around but she's glad that she's awaken before things can go even weirder. Or maybe she should have waited to see what happen next? Damn it, Elaine.
"We'll be going to the Christmas market thing tonight", Santana speaks up trying to diffuse the awkwardness.
"Yea, I saw the posters everywhere in campus. I haven't got any plan for today anyway. Hey, should I turn off the Playstation?", Quinn asks.
"Oh right. Don't, I'll do it because I still have to save the game. Can you take over the pancake?"
Quinn walks to the kitchen and takes the spatula from Santana as the other girl change place with the blonde to turn off the game.
Elaine watches the exchange and shakes her head in disbelief, "Seriously, it really was "not like it looks like"? Wow, I can cut the sexual frustration with a butter knife."
"Shut your maw, clown fish", Santana responds.
Elaine raises her hands in defeat and retreat slowly to her room. "Vanja will pick me up at 7. Let's make it a double date then!"
...
"Santana, what should I wear? I've never been to these kinds of Christmas market before," Quinn asks while rummaging her own bag, stacking a messy pile of clothes in the bedroom floor.
"Seriously, woman. It's minus degree out there. We'll be covered in a winter jacket anyway, doesn't matter what we wear inside of it," Santana says as she put on a bright red lipstick in front of the wardrobe's mirror.
"You're right," Quinn quickly snatched a white long sleeves shirt and put it on before standing in front of the mirror to put on her own makeup in a hurry, accidentally pushing Santana out of the frame. Making Santana's lipstick strays to her cheek.
"Quinn!"
"What!?"
Quinn looks at Santana's face and laughs, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry". She quickly takes some tissue from the bathroom and returns to Santana. The other girl let her lifts her chin and gently wipes the trail of excessive lipstick off. It's the second time today she's focusing on Santana's lips and she can't help wondering what it feels like to kiss it. She blinks to clear her thoughts and steps back to look at Santana.
"There. Now you look less like Joker."
"I'd better be", Santana looks back to the mirror to check if Quinn misses any spot. "Why are you taking this whole Christmas market thing so serious?"
"You heard Elaine. It's a double date. I'm going with one of the hottest girls in U of L, I have to look good," Quinn answers as she cleans up the thick smudge off of her eye shadow, continuing applying her make up.
"You know she's just yankin our chain."
"Doesn't mean we can't still have fun. So who is this..Vanja?", Quinn asks while pronouncing the new girl's name carefully.
"A Math major girl that Elaine has friend-with-benefit thing with. She's a really sweet girl," Santana answers while motioning Quinn to get out of the room once they're both done.
The girls are greeted with a view of Elaine making out passionately with a blonde short-haired girl, with the said girl being pressed against the kitchen counter.
"Ehm!" Santana clears her throat loudly to get the couple attention. The kissing stops immediately and as Elaine pulls back to look back, Quinn can see the other girl more clearly.
She initially thought the girl was sitting on the counter but she is actually quite tall. She is wearing a stylish fitted black winter coat with high collar that matches her pants and a cute bang that covers half of her eye. The short hair helps accentuate her jawline.
If she doesn't know better, she would've thought the girl is a model or a very chic biker.
"Hi, Lopez," Vanja greets Santana with a shy smile. Quinn didn't miss the light foreign accent. Santana walks to the girl to give a warm hug.
"Quinn, this is Vanja. Vanja, this is Quinn," Elaine introduces the two. Vanja proceeds to offer her hand.
"Pleased to finally meet you, Quinn. Santana has been talking a lot about you lately."
"Am not."
"H,hi..", Quinn stutters as she shakes the girl's hand. She continues to be surprised as how shy the girl is.
Santana rolls her eyes, "I know what you're thinking. I mentioned she's a math geek and sweet and then you see her."
"I'm sorry. But you're gorgeous. I mean, it's not like Math majors should have a certain look, but I would've guessed that you're a model," Quinn explains herself to Vanja.
Vanja is visibly blushing and brushes her bangs aside, "It's okay. If I didn't know that you're a law major student from Yale, I would've thought the same about you."
A loud smack to the back of Vanja's head is then heard and she looks back, holding her head in pain to find that Elaine and Santana have hit the back of her head at the same time.
"I was being nice!"
Quinn chuckles at the trio in front of her.
"Okay, time to go, Ladies," Elaine gets out of the dorm after giving Vanja a stinky eye.
...
The market is being held in the biggest field the University has and by 9PM the place is fully packed with students. From afar Quinn can already see all the pretty and colourful LED lights and the loud music blaring from the speakers. She can't contain her excitement.
If she didn't just get some ovaries to spend Christmas holiday far from her family for the first time ever, she knows that right now she'd probably just be sitting on her room balcony, reading a book alone and bored. She would've missed out a lot of things and not getting to know new interesting people. And it's only the third day.
Most of all, she would've missed a really good chance to reconnect her friendship with Santana. Which she thinks is going well considering some weird awkward moments or normal bickering that she knows is unavoidable.
Once they get in to the market area, they can see there are dozens of wooden stands that serves as the market outlines selling wide ranges of beverages, snacks, games and Christmas stuffs. In the middle they put up several festival rides like Drop Tower and a huge ski ring.
"Shit. Who would want to freeze their nipples off in that height and then being dropped down?" Santana apparently looking at the long line of queue of the Drop Tower, instinctively holding her breasts as if it might fall off.
Quinn is a little distracted when she sees a Ferris wheel by the end of the market.
"Let's get on that Ferris wheel," Quinn says excited, pointing at it.
"Did you just hear what I said?"
"I haven't been in a Ferris Wheel since I was twelve. I missed the senior ditch day because of my accident, remember?"
"Probably for a good reason. Who knows about the safety of these things? Especially with huge ass like yours, nuh uh. That's going to be extra on the maximum weight."
"The only extra maximum weight the ride will have is your two bags of silicones. Don't worry, if they are frozen in cold, I'll warm them up", Quinn takes Santana's hand and pull her away, towards the Ferris wheel. The Latina finds herself in a Deja Vu situation like inside the Sanatorium, feeling helpless. Yet..happy.
Elaine and Vanja can only look at each other in silent, listening to the conversation before following the odd pair.
The four of them get on to the Ferris wheel. Each of the carriages can only fit for two persons so naturally Quinn is with Santana and Elaine with Vanja. It's the mini version of Ferris wheel with only about a dozen carriages and because it has an open space seat, the staff has to secure the safety rod that keeps them on the carriage.
The staff signalled the guy working on the control panel and the girls' carriage are moving slowly to the top. Stopping once in a while every time there are people getting on and off the carriages. Quinn forgot how lose a Ferris wheel car is. Every little movement makes the car swings so she sits closer to Santana trying to minimize unnecessary movement.
It doesn't really take that long to fill up the Ferris wheel and soon it slowly rotates without interference.
Santana takes a look around while they're ascending again for the second time and realizes that she never really took the time to enjoy the beauty of the city. The last six months were filled with studying, cheer practices and her free time are reserved to go back to Ohio to meet Brittany. She couldn't barely breathe.
Quinn is doing the same thing and she hums to the music playing inside their carriage before recognizing it as the slightly faster music box version of Take My Breath Away. She chuckles thinking how cheesy the ride is.
"Something wrong?", Santana asks.
"Can you guess what song is playing right now?"
The Latina listens carefully against the wind that makes it a bit difficult for her to hear it well. But then she sings the chorus and smiles at the memory. When the girls were chosen to sing a duet ballad for the slow dance part in their senior prom, it started with (what else?) a fight. It wasn't easy to agree on a song because the two of them have distinctively different taste of music and also vocal range. They both finally decided to choose an old song that they both would hate so it would be fair.
So on a weekend, Santana went to the Fabrays and they borrowed Judy's cassette love songs collections to pick a song they can both sing. By the end of the day, Santana claimed that she was ready to claw someone's eyeballs out after listening dozens of ballad love songs of from the 80's to the 90's. It was a miracle that they managed to agree on a song in the end.
"I think I drank half a bottle of Pepto when I got home. It was torture", Santana says.
"Don't exaggerate. You sang all of the songs while we were choosing. You knew most ofthe lyrics."
Santana rolls her eyes, "Doesn't mean that I like them."
"In what world that even make sense?"
"In a world of can-you-please-shut-up and not ruin the good feeling of this ride."
So much of trying to make a nice conversation. The Blonde eventually sighs, "Thank you for helping lifting myself up from the wheelchair.."
"It was in front of the whole school, I can't just stand there watching you getting all the glory from people's pity", Santana waves indifferently.
Quinn raises her eyebrow, "You're a pure jerk, you know that? And this is the worse date ever."
"This is not a date."
"What would you know what a date is anyway. The only dates you did was if someone paid you upfront for a peep show between you and Brittany or a later service on the back alley of Breadstick."
"And a frigid nun like you would know what a date is? You're infamous for your fake let's pray routine."
Quinn really wants to retort but she feels like it's a lost cause and can only look away in frustration. She wishes she can walk away and not stuck 17 metres off the ground with Santana.
Talking about stuck 17 metres off the ground, Quinn notices that the ride haven't been moving for quite a while now. Longer than they should have been on the ride.
She looks down carefully so she won't tip off the car and sees that several people are crowding on the bottom of the ride, most of them looking up. One of the staffs is pushing a button over and over while another staff is starting to climb the Ferris wheel.
"Santana, I think there is something wrong with the ride," Quinn pulls Santana's jacket.
"What do you mean? Don't freak me out, Fabray."
"I'm serious."
"Again, Girls and Bros. Please stay calm. Our technician is looking into the issue and we will have the ride working in no time. For the meantime, please stay inside of your carriages and keep calm. Thank you for your co-operation."
Apparently, they missed the first time the staff announced there is a problem with their ride.
"This is not happening. This is not happening. Oh My God, this is all your fault," Santana starts panicking. "AND I'M GOING TO SUE THE CREW OF THIS FESTIVAL", she adds, screaming to the people on the ground.
"How is this my fault?"
"If you didn't force us to take this ride, we wouldn't be here in the first place!"
"Oh, very mature, Santana. Blame the technical problem on who wants to take the ride first. Are you high?"
"Yes, apparently 100 metres high off the ground!"
Quinn groans and folds her hands as she throws her back to the seat, making the carriage swings a little bit more violent than when they were sitting still.
"Are you trying to kill us?!" Santana grabs the safety rod, praying that the swing will stop soon. She's definitely in panic mode.
Quinn takes a deep breath and holds both of Santana's side, pulling her closer to a hug, to calm her friend down, "Breathe. We're okay. You're okay. This carriage is not made to be able to tip us over and the swing will stop soon. Okay?"
Santana takes a deep breath and nods.
Soon the carriage does stop swinging and Santana is calmer. But then the Latina notices that Quinn is shivering. The Blonde forgot to bring gloves and right now, holding Santana is preventing her to keep her cold hands in her pocket.
"You didn't bring gloves, Yalie," Santana says while trying to take off her gloves to lend it to Quinn.
"No. Then it will be you, who will suffer from the cold, genius," Quinn stops Santana.
"Then you can let me go and put your hands back in your pocket. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Well, there is a better solution..."
"And what would that be?"
"I can use your body heat."
"Isn't that the one..HOLY MOTHER OF SANTA MARIA!", Santana yelps when she feels Quinn cold hands slips under her jacket and shirt to press them against both sides of her stomach.
"You could warn me the next time you're going to do that."
"There's a next time?" Quinn asks playfully.
"You know what I mean," Santana looks at Quinn feigning annoyance but put her arms around Quinn to hold her closer. She can feel Quinn's ice hands moves around, against her stomach, trying to produce heat.
"Now this feel more like a date," Quinn quips and finds a better position so she can rest her head on Santana's shoulder after she can start feeling her own hands again.
"I'm being a jerk, am I?" Santana asks.
"You most definitely are."
There it is, the unspoken apology that they are used to. Santana doesn't know what comes over her that makes her mood become easily irritated tonight.
Though she knows. It's guilt. She just broke up and she's already having these thoughts about hitting on Quinn. She's not even sure if she's really is attracted to Quinn or she's just being playful.
As both girls sit in silent waiting for the ride to be fixed, Santana feels that the situation is eerily too intimate, especially with the stupid music box songs still playing in the carriage. She can't guess what song is playing right now but it's nice and at the same time she feels weirdly comfortable having Quinn's body pressed against her with her bare hands on her bare stomach. She feels a bit light headed but she's not sure if it's caused by the height or the cold. Maybe both, maybe Quinn. Fuck, why am I overthinking this?
They stay like that for the whole 15 minutes they were stuck on top of the Ferris wheel, making successful small talks that don't end in fight, until the technician fixed the problem and the ride slowly descend to put all the passengers back on the solid ground.
Not a surprise at all that Elaine nor Vanja were remotely affected or probably not even aware by the Ferris wheel incident. They were too busy making out and see the unfortunate situation as a chance to be 'affectionate' with each other.
When Santana sees a beverage stand that sells mixed alcohol, she suggests that it can help warm them up. Quinn says yes but Elaine answers with something gross about being warm enough rubbing at each other in the Ferris wheel. So, Santana tells her friends to just stay where they are while she's buying a couple of alcoholic Tonic ale.
While waiting for the drinks being made, Santana looks to where Quinn is waiting. The Blonde is seen having an animated conversation with Vanja. Soon Quinn's laughing because of what Vanja is saying. She looks so happy. And with the snow starts falling all around her, Quinn looks almost angelic.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" Elaine shows up beside Santana.
"Who?"
"Don't play stupid."
"Pft. That's the Fabray genes. Except for her father that looks like an overly ripped tomato, the ladies in that family are all handsome. Too bad they are all crazy."
"You honestly never fell for her?" Elaine inquires.
Santana looks at her roommate as if she just asked if she believes in Santa Claus.
"Only would happen in the minds of perverts like yours. Beside she's straight. One of the first rule of baby dykes is to never fall for your straight best friend", Santana nods in confident.
"But she's not straight", Elaine says matter-of-factly.
"I know right", The Latina responds with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
The barista calls Santana's number and gives her the drinks. They both then return to their "dates".
They found out that by midnight there will be a firework show so they agree to wait. They kill time by trying to one up another through several booth games and pairing up as a team. No one is able to win a single game, instead Santana has one of her famous temper tantrums, screaming the game is rigged when she hits one of the bottom bottles hard on a toss game, but it won't budge an inch.
Santana threatens to stone the crew guy to death and soon she receives a giant stuffed killer whale as a tribute for his life.
Afterwards they decide to just stroll around the market, eating snacks, drinking more warm cocktails and find a good seat on the field for the firework show.
By the time the fireworks start, Quinn is already quite buzzed with a couple bottles of apple ciders she took. She can feel the world is not as steady as it's supposed to be. So, she rests her head on Santana's lap and sometimes instead of watching the fireworks dancing in the sky, she pays attention more to Santana's face. When Santana looks down to smile at her, the Blonde feels a tug on her chest.
...
After the firework show is done, the market is closing the stand one by one. It's time for them to get out of there too. The only lights left are soon the tall lamp posts of the university and the girls are walking side by side.
"So, how long have you been together? I thought you were going to marry that high school girlfriend of yours. You seemed so in love," Vanja suddenly asks insinuating that Quinn and Santana are a couple. It wouldn't be a problem if not the mention of Brittany is still a sore topic for Santana. Quinn looks at Santana cautiously and let the other girl answers.
"We're not dating," Santana answers as calmly as possible but doesn't elaborate.
"Oh. Sorry. It's just that Elaine said that this is a double date. And you guys are like, acting like it is."
"We're just really good friends and Elaine is joking about the double date," Santana gives Elaine a look.
"Hey, it was a double date. It's not like Vanja and I are a couple either. This is 2012, Santana. There are all types of relationships other than friends and lovers," Elaine defends herself, although now she's walking slowly behind Vanja, using the tall girl's body as a shield in case Santana decides to attack her.
"It's okay, really. I had a really good time. So thank you, Elaine for the idea. And of course, Santana," Quinn adds, giving a quick kiss to Santana's cheek and throw a smile at both Elaine and Vanja. Santana manages to tug a smile before suddenly wrapping her arm around Quinn's mid-section and picks her up, twirling the Blonde around. The four of them laughing.
Once they're on the path where Elaine knows they have to split ways, she tells the girls that she'll be staying at Vanja's dorm for the rest of the holidays. "Just call me when you girls want to hang out," she says as she gives Quinn and Santana each a hug.
...
Quinn is about to unlock the door, when she promptly turns around. She doesn't really calculate how buzzed she is and almost fall if Santana doesn't catch her.
"Whoa there, Barbie. I should've remembered you're a lightweight."
Quinn chuckles at herself and holds Santana's arm back to keep her steady. She looks straight at Santana appreciatively, "Look, I want you to know that I meant it. This might be one of the best Christmas holidays I ever had."
"Duh, there's not much to compare it with."
"There you go again."
"Hey, I did too."
"I know," Quinn drops her head and sighs.
"So, if this is supposed to be a date, isn't this supposed to be the time when you let me kiss you goodnight?", Santana teases playfully.
Quinn takes a step closer and their lips are mere inches of each other before whispering, "Well I would've if our sleeping arrangement doesn't consist of us sleeping in the same room."
"I need a cold shower," Santana takes a silent deep breath when Quinn finally turns around to open the dorm, chuckling more.