Chapter 2: New York 2013
August 2013
One of my best friends, Rachel moved to New York recently because she got accepted into NYADA which was like her dream school. As much as I tease her all the time, I was really proud of her but another part of me wanted that. I mean it wasn't that I wanted to go to NYADA, I just wanted to go somewhere and find my dream. My other friend, Kurt unfortunately didn't get accepted into NYADA but he wasn't willing to let that ruin his chances of achieving his dreams so a few weeks later he also went to New York. That left me at home, in Ohio twiddling my thumbs and working as a waitress at Breadstix which I must say, I absolutely hated so eventually I decided to bite the bullet and move to New York too.
I don't quite know what my dream is yet but I'm hoping New York will inspire me. I've been at a crossroads in my life the whole summer so I'm really hoping things will change soon and I might be a bit clearer on my life and what I want to do with it. In the meantime though, I'm working at the Spotlight diner and constantly on the lookout for ideas. I know its waitressing and I hate that but I'd rather be waitressing in New York than Ohio.
"Hi" I sigh while throwing myself to the couch.
"Good afternoon to you too Santana" Rachel smiles.
"It's not a good afternoon Rachel, I had to basically show a customer my cleavage today in order to just get a frigging tip" I shake my head. "I mean I wouldn't usually go to all that effort but New Yorkers don't seem to tip well at all so I can use all the cash I can get."
"Rather you than me, that's all I say" Rachel states.
"So what's going on, shouldn't you be at NYADA getting prepared for the semester?" I ask.
"I've already been but I'm as prepared as I can be at the moment so I'm just waiting on classes starting next week" Rachel replies.
"Cool" I nod.
"I do want a little friendly meeting with you and Kurt later though so don't go out anywhere tonight" Rachel warns.
"Don't worry, I ain't going anywhere. I have no money" I state.
"Ok well I'm going to help my aunt with dinner but once we've eaten we'll talk, ok?" Rachel asks.
"Ok" I nod and then Rachel leaves.
The thing is, Rachel, Kurt and I are all living with Rachel's aunt, uncle and two cousins at the moment. Initially the invite was only for Rachel to crash with them because she hated the accommodation they had at NYADA. The classes hadn't even started yet but she hated it already. I mean she had to share a bathroom with a bunch of people she didn't even know and her roommate's boyfriend would constantly come over all the time so that wasn't entirely comfortable for her whenever they started fooling around right in front of her.
However when Kurt arrived in New York he didn't have a place to stay either so he ended up crashing with Rachel's family because they felt bad for leaving her friend with nowhere to go. But then when I show up, its utter chaos because not only don't I have a school to go to that could even provide crappy accommodation, I don't even have anywhere to go since I barely have any money. So basically they felt sorry for me too so now the 7 of us have been living together for a few weeks in a three bedroom place. Rachel's cousins are bunking in together and I've to share with Kurt and Rachel.
XXX
Like Rachel said, as soon as we had dinner the three of us all sat down together to talk.
"Look I love that you guys are here and everything but we can't keep staying with my aunt and uncle. It was ok for me to stay for a few weeks until I found somewhere but now that there's three of us then there's really not enough room" Rachel says.
"Where do we go though Rachel?" Kurt asks. "I mean classes start for you next week, I start an internship round about then as well and Santana is the only one working right now so we really don't have time or money to find somewhere."
"We're going to have to make time then and save up whatever money we have" Rachel states.
"How do you magically save money you don't have Rachel?" Kurt asks.
"We need to make some cut backs" Rachel states, "it's the only solution guys."
"What kind of cutbacks?" I ask.
"For instance, no one is allowed to buy any new clothes right now unless it's an emergency and it's for an audition or something" Rachel says and I nod because it's fair enough. I mean I'm hot enough anyway to rock anything so I'm ok with that.
"I don't know about that Rachel, I mean…" Kurt starts but Rachel doesn't let him finish.
"No more clothes Kurt, you have enough to get by with until we find a place to stay" Rachel states.
"Fine" Kurt huffs.
"Also no one is allowed any more overly priced take out coffee, we'll buy some from the store and make our own coffee if we want it so bad" Rachel says.
"Nah-ah, I can't agree to that, I needs my coffee in the morning. It sets me up for the whole day" I state seriously while shaking my head.
"Tough Santana" Rachel says firmly. "Unless you'd like to live on the streets then by all means buy all the overly priced coffee you want."
"Uh, fine" I say annoyed. I guess if Kurt has to make a sacrifice then I will too.
"That's it settled then, we're making some cutbacks and going apartment hunting tomorrow" Rachel smiles.
"Um…wait a second Rachel" Kurt says. "You haven't told us what you're going to sacrifice yet."
"Oh yeah, neither you have" I point out.
"Look I'll think of something" Rachel states. "Anyway I say we go apartment hunting tomorrow, no one has any plans right?"
"I'm not working" I reply.
"Yeah I haven't planned to do anything either" Kurt nods.
"Good, first thing tomorrow we're going" Rachel smiles.
Apartment hunting hasn't started as bad as we thought because Rachel's aunt's friend is an estate agent out here so last night Rachel's aunt called her friend to see if she could help us. Luckily enough when we met with the friend this morning, she had already a few places in mind for us and took us to see them.
"Ok so I thought you might be interested in this place" the estate agent, Jenni tells us as she opens the front door.
"Wow it's beautiful" Rachel says admiring the place.
"It's only got the one bathroom but there are three bedrooms which is a plus because you can all have your own space" Jenni smiles.
"I'm in love with this place already" Rachel says excitedly.
"Oh I know what you mean Rachel" Kurt agrees just as excitedly.
"What do you think Santana?" Jenni asks looking at me.
"Um…it's nice" I say hesitantly. To be honest I love it myself but I can't get too attached because there's no way we could afford this.
"Nice?" Kurt questions. "It's more than nice Santana" he states.
"Did you see the view you got from the bedrooms?" Jenni asks.
"I didn't actually" Kurt shakes his head. "Come on, let's go and take a look at the view from the bedrooms."
"Ok" Rachel says excitedly but as soon as she starts to walk I pull her back.
"We'll be there in a second" I smile.
"Santana let go of my arm please" Rachel says.
"Sorry" I apologise.
"What's wrong with you?" she asks.
"Rachel this place is way too expensive for us" I whisper so Jenni doesn't hear me.
"We could manage, don't you think?" Rachel shrugs.
"Considering I am the only one with an income right now, not that it's a lot but it's still money, I say we could never afford this in a million years" I state.
"Not even if we…"
"Not even if I agreed to pay the bulk and you two would reimburse me, no" I shake my head.
"But this place is so beautiful" Rachel smiles while admiring the place.
"Exactly, it is beautiful therefore the price is way too much" I state.
"But…"
"No buts Rachel, we're not getting this" I say firmly.
"Fine but you can be the one to break Kurt's heart. He was really set on renting this place" Rachel sighs.
"That's fine by me" I nod. I'm not going to just give in because they both like it. We really don't have the money for it so it would be silly to rent this place.
As soon as we've seen a few more places, we go back to Rachel's aunt's house. There really isn't much to discuss though because barely any of the places were in our price range and the ones that were weren't situated in the best of areas.
"So what happens now?" Rachel asks.
"Well I think we should go for that slightly more expensive one and I can ask my dad to loan us some money" Kurt replies.
"We are not loaning money from anyone" I state firmly. "Plus even if we did, the monthly rent on that place is still ridiculously high so we'd never be able to pay the loaned money back quick enough."
"We get that but we can't stay here either" Rachel sighs.
"I really don't think my dad would mind loaning us some money" Kurt says.
"Are you sure about that because look where we are just now. We're living with Rachel's aunt and uncle so why would your dad loan us money now and not a few weeks back when you had nowhere to live?" I ask.
"Fine" Kurt huffs.
"Look I know you two are mad that I feel so strongly about not renting that place but it's just too expensive. I promise I'll find us somewhere else though" I assure them.
"When?" Kurt asks.
"I'll speak to some friends at work tomorrow and see if they know of anywhere or anyone we could rent from" I say. "There's plenty of customers in the diner too so I'll see if they can be any help."
As soon as I finish my first shift at work, I rush back home to talk to Kurt and Rachel. As luck would have it, I was talking to a customer today who said they had a place to rent so I went to see it on one of my breaks and it looked ideal for us. It's maybe not the prettiest of places but it seems adequate for us.
"I did it, I did it guys" I say excitedly while throwing my jacket to the floor as I walk through the door and into the living room where Kurt and Rachel are.
"Did what?" Kurt looks up at me confused.
"I found us a place to rent just like I said I would" I smile.
"Are you serious, where?" Rachel asks.
"It's a surprise so why don't we all go there now and I'll show you" I say.
"Um…ok" Kurt says excitedly.
"You coming Rachel?" I ask.
"Yeah but this better be a good place Santana" she tells me.
XXX
"Ok I want you to close your eyes until I open the door so you can both see it for the first time together" I tell them and they nod. I then quickly open the door. "Ok you can open your eyes now" I say excitedly.
"Oh, wow" Kurt says lost for words.
"Yeah, wow" Rachel nods.
"It's perfect isn't it, I did good right?" I say triumphantly.
"Yeah it is perfect" Rachel says looking around, "perfect for a frigging animal."
"Excuse me?" I say offended.
"Santana this place is a dump, we can't stay here" Rachel sighs.
"Well we're going to have to because it's the only damn thing in our price range" I state. "Plus it might look a little neglected now but nothing a lick of paint and good dust wouldn't sort out."
"Santana kind of has a point actually. I mean it's a place all the same so that means we don't need to burden your family Rachel and it is close to where we all need to be and if we can afford it then that's better than buying something that's going to leave us in debt" Kurt says.
"Look I really want this place so I'm going to rent it but if you don't want to Rachel then fine. I mean I'm probably going to be in debt now trying to pay all this rent by myself but if there were three of us then…"
"Don't guilt trip me Santana" Rachel sighs.
"Do you know what, I'm with you Santana 100%? We'll just need to have a good clean up before we move in but it should be fine" Kurt nods. "Come on Rachel, come live with us."
"I really don't know" Rachel sighs again.
"Look Santana is the only one working right now so if she's got us this place and only needs us to pay a third of the rent each then you should really take it. You won't get a better deal elsewhere" Kurt says.
"He's right and I'm willing to pay the first rent payment all by myself until you 2 get sorted" I smile.
"Fine, I'll move in with you guys" Rachel says giving in.
"Good, now come on. Let's have a little loft hug" I say pulling them both in to hug them. "Don't get used to me hugging you guys though because it'll never happen often. This is a one-time thing."
"Ok" Rachel laughs.
After I show them around and tell them my ideas to make it seem more homely, we get ready to leave.
"Oh before we go I just want to quickly use the bathroom" Rachel says walking over to it.
"Um…ok, but I hope you have some tissues or something with you because there's no toilet roll" I say, "oh and no hand-wash."
"Good thing I came prepared then" Rachel states before going into the bathroom.
"I really appreciate you saying you'll pay the first rent payment for all of us. I mean I will get a job as soon as I know what days I'll be doing the internship" Kurt says walking over to me.
"Honestly, I don't mind. You guys are my friends and we're all struggling here so it's good to stick together" I say and Kurt smiles at me. "What?" I ask confused.
"Nothing" he shrugs.
"Tell me" I say seriously.
"I was just thinking, you really do have a heart Lopez" he smiles.
"Oh whatever" I say waving off the compliment. "Anyway I need to get back to work now, I agreed to do a double shift so my second break of the day is up now."
"That's cool, Rachel and I will just make our way back home" Kurt smiles.
"Ok no problem" I reply. "Hey if you want we could come back tomorrow and decorate this place and clean it up a little so feel free to choose some paint and stuff for the place while I'm at work."
"You know I enjoy interior designing so I might just do that" Kurt says excitedly.
"Ok good but don't get too extravagant. All the place really needs is some paint and a few things to make it comfortable. I don't want you spending money we don't have on unnecessary things" I tell him.
"But there was a really nice…"
"No Kurt" I state. "You can do that once we're settled in and have got the first rent payment out of the way."
"Ok, fine" he sighs.
"Anyway I really need to go so I'll see you later" I say waving and then leaving.
XXX
The diner is reasonably quiet now so I'm just tidying up around the counter and waiting on more customers coming in. As soon as I see two ladies sit down in one of the booths, I quickly grab my pen and paper and make my way over to them. However as I do that, my colleague comes over to me.
"I'll get this table Santana, you're due your last break" Lindsay smiles.
"No I'm almost at the table so I'll take their order and then go for my break" I state.
"But I was told to let you go for your break right now since you've agreed to do a double shift so you're well overdue a break and I was told to cover your section" Lindsay frowns.
"I know and you can cover right after I take this order now go away" I glare. I probably shouldn't be taking that attitude but I really wanted to serve this table because the blonde is kinda hot.
"Alright, calm down" Lindsay glares back before walking away.
"Hi there, what can I get you" I smile at the two ladies.
"Uh…2 coffees please and I'll just take a blueberry muffin please" the blonde replies, "and what about you Tina?"
"A doughnut for me please" Tina smiles.
"No problem" I say while quickly writing that down. "My name is Santana so if you need anything else just give me a shout" I say.
"We will, thank you" the blonde smiles.
I quickly give their order over to another colleague and then take my break. For some reason I had this instant attraction to the blonde I just served and I don't know why. I mean nothing is giving it away to suggest she's gay or anything but I just can't stop staring at her. I know it's slightly unprofessional to be staring at a customer but I can't help it. She looked so hot and then when I saw her eyes I almost melted. They were so blue and anyone could easily get lost in them.
I know it sounds creepy but I ended my break slightly prematurely because I just wanted to see the blonde again before she left. I didn't want her leaving when I was still on my break in case I missed her. I'm just sort of hovering around her table and cleaning the nearby tables when I hear her say 'excuse me'.
"Is everything ok?" I smile.
"Yeah we just wanted to get the check" the blonde replies.
"No problem, I'll get that for you right now" I smile again before quickly going over to the register and printing out their check. "There you go" I say placing the check on the table.
"Thank you" the blonde smiles.
"No problem" I smile back and then I leave so they don't think I'm harassing them to pay. A few seconds later she makes her way over to the counter where I am.
"Keep the change Santana" the blonde winks and then leaves.
"Uh, thank you" I say shouting after her. "Wow, hot and incredibly kind" I mutter, noticing how much of a tip she just gave me.
"Wow is that money all from one table?" my colleague Mark asks.
"Yeah, it was from that hot blonde out there" I say as I notice her outside getting into a cab.
"Brittany?" Mark asks.
"Is that her name, hmm nice name" I nod.
"Surely you're not talking about the blonde right out there with the skinny jeans, heels and sweater on are you?" Mark asks.
"Yeah that's who I'm talking about, what's the big deal?" I ask confused.
"She's in here all the time and she barely ever tips me" Mark sighs.
"Perhaps Santana is just better at her job than you" Emma, another waitress, says as she joins us.
"Or you just make her rather uncomfortable" I say.
"Me? I doubt that very much" Mark waves off the idea. "I'm as chilled and nice as they come, I don't make people uncomfortable."
"Uh, I beg to differ" I state.
"Yeah me too" Emma agrees.
"What do you mean?" Mark asks confused.
"You're too full on Mark" I reply. "Do you remember my first day here and what you said to me?"
"I can't remember it that well but I'm guessing I said 'hi' or something" Mark shrugs.
"No" I shake my head, "you said 'what's up hot chica, where have you been all my life' so I just glared at you and walked off."
"Oh right, yeah" Mark says laughs. "I remember now."
"You actually told me I had a nice ass the first day we met" Emma points out.
"There you go then, Brittany has probably felt uncomfortable around you. I bet you anything you said something inappropriate to her. I mean she is super-hot so I wouldn't be surprised" I say.
"Oh whatever, I have tables to serve" Mark says annoyed while walking off.
"Hey Santana, next time Brittany comes in give me a shout and I'll take her order. It's only fair I get as good a tip as you" Emma smirks.
"Oh no, if Brittany comes back she's all mine" I smirk back. "I don't share you see" I wink before walking off.
"That's not fair Lopez, I could really use a tip like that to pay my rent this month" Emma says but I just laugh. The more I think about it though, it's starting to sound inappropriate. People are going to wonder what the hell we're talking about.
It's the next day and I'm busy working in the café again when Rachel and Kurt come in and sit at the counter in front of me. They were at our new place doing some decorating and were going to swing by the diner when they were almost done to catch me up on what we still need to do.
"Hey guys, I didn't expect to see you both here already. Do you want a drink or…got to go" I say abruptly while sprinting over to the table in the corner before anyone else can. My favourite customer has just arrived and like I said before, I don't share.
"Dammit" I hear Mark curse.
"Sucks for you honey" I wink before stepping closer to the table. "Good afternoon, what can I get you?"
"Oh I'm not sure yet" Brittany smiles. "I'm waiting on a friend so could you give me a few minutes to decide and for them to get here?"
"Well…I…uh" I don't really want to leave because if I do then whenever Brittany is ready to order the others could beat me to her table.
"It's Santana right?" Brittany smiles.
"Yeah" I nod.
"Good" she smiles. "I thought it was but I wanted to make sure."
"Uh, ok" I say slightly confused.
"What I mean is that when I am ready to order, I'll call you over. I just didn't want to get your name wrong and then no one comes to take my order" she smiles.
"Well yes it is Santana so whenever you are ready, just say my name and I'll be here" I smile brightly.
"Excellent" Brittany smiles back and then I leave.
It's another 5 minutes before I see someone join Brittany at her table. I can see Mark and Emma hanging around but I'm not too worried because Brittany did say she'd call me over, not just someone, she said me. After another few minutes, I see Brittany begin to walk over.
"Santana, we're ready to order" Brittany says while approaching the counter.
"Ok do you want me to come over or shall I just take the order here?" I ask.
"I'll do that, it's your break time" Mark smiles.
"No-no, it's not my break time yet Mark. You must be mistaken" I say glaring at him before turning to smile at Brittany.
"I know what I want so even if it is your break, I won't take a moment to tell you" Brittany smiles.
"Ok so what can I get for you?" I ask.
"I will take a latte and a chicken salad sandwich please and my friend will take a glass of orange juice and the tuna salad" Brittany replies.
"No problem, we'll get that to you as soon as it's ready" I smile.
"Ok thank you" Brittany smiles before turning to walk away. As she does, she looks back at me for a moment, winks and goes back to her table.
Ok so I'm starting to get a vibe from her that she's gay because she wouldn't wink at me like this if she was straight. Plus I must say, I think she's caught me a few times looking at her and all she does is smile. Surely if she was straight she'd be creeped out by me and ask for another waitress.
"Hello, earth to Santana" Rachel says pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Shit, I completely forgot you 2 were even in here" I say shaking my head. "I have been standing here for 10 minutes and not one of you have reminded me you were here. Were you just watching me as I stood here like an idiot?"
"It was rather entertaining actually, it was like you were in your own world" Kurt laughs.
"I'm sure it was entertaining" I say rolling my eyes.
"So were my eyes deceiving me or were you totally checking out your customer?" Rachel smirks.
"She's hot isn't she?" I smile instantly at the thought of her.
"I guess she is but should you really be leering at customers, is that not a little unprofessional?" Kurt says.
"I'm not leering at her, just admiring her" I smirk.
"She looks pretty into you too actually" Rachel points out.
"She does?" I ask while instantly turning my head towards her.
"Yeah she was totally staring at you there but when you abruptly turned around she quickly looked away" Rachel replies.
"I feel like I want to talk to her, would it be too weird to go over there right now?" I ask.
"I don't think you should interrupt their lunch right now but by all means talk to her when she's finished" Kurt replies.
"Yeah, I better not disturb them" I nod in agreement.
"Anyway can we get two coffees to go?" Rachel asks.
"Sure" I nod while sorting them out some coffee.
"We just came by quickly to let you know everything was going fine and we should be finished painting tonight" Rachel says.
"Oh that's good" I nod. "I'll come and help as soon as my shift finishes."
"Cool" Kurt smiles.
"Ok so here's your coffees" I say placing them on the counter.
"Could we get them on the house?" Kurt whispers while looking around to make sure no one heard him.
"Nice try but no" I laugh.
"Come on Santana, Rachel and I have been hard at work painting all day" Kurt says.
"Yeah and I've been hard at work working all day and no one is buying me coffee" I state.
"Play your cards right and she might" Rachel smirks while gesturing with her head to Brittany.
"Very funny" I say shaking my head. "Look since my manager isn't here right now you can have it on the house but I shouldn't be doing this so don't expect me to give you freebies again" I say giving into them.
"Thank you Santana, you're the best" Kurt smiles.
"Now go before I change my mind" I smile.
"Ok, bye Santana" Rachel laughs.
"Yeah see you later" Kurt says and then they both leave.
"Hey hot blonde coming our way" Mark says walking over to me and just as I look up Brittany is approaching the counter.
"Hey, everything ok?" I smile.
"Yeah, I just wanted to quickly pay this because I need to rush off" Brittany smiles.
"Ok sure" I nod.
"I'll just use my card if that's ok, I don't have much cash on me" she smiles.
"Yeah that's cool, if you just use this reader here" I say and she nods.
"So tell me Brittany, are you single?" Mark asks as Brittany scans her card.
"I am, very single as it happens" she says looking at me and smiling.
"I'm also single too" Mark smirks. "I'm on the lookout for someone though."
"That's…lovely" Brittany states. "Hopefully you'll find someone soon then" she smiles.
"I think I just have" Marks says smirking at her again. "What do you say, do you want to go out some time?"
"I do want to go out some time" Brittany nods and suddenly I'm not smiling anymore.
"Cool so when shall we go out?" Mark asks excitedly.
"No offence but I didn't mean with you" Brittany smirks. "You're not really my type."
"Not your type, I'm everyone's type" he says conceitedly.
"Mark…" she says quietly while leaning over the counter towards him.
"Yeah?" he smiles.
"You don't happen to be a woman, do you?" Brittany whispers.
"No I definitely don't happen to be" Mark laughs embarrassingly.
"Then you're not my type" Brittany shrugs. "Anyway I need to go now but keep the change Santana" she smiles at me while placing some money in my hand.
"Uh…thank you" I smile.
I'm sort of writing this story a little differently so the next couple of chapters will detail how things got to where they are in the first chapter. I know this chapter didn't have a lot of Brittana in it but I felt it was needed to set the scene a little.