Brittany and Santana leave each other cute and romantic notes in the books in the library and it's all fluffy goodness
It wasn't the most glamorous job in the world, but Santanafound a certain peace in surrounding herself with books and the quiet rustlingof pages. Working a few days a week at the campus library provided just enough extra cash to live comfortably while she continued her studies. She liked being able to keep to herself while at work since the library mostly harbored dozens of other students studiously cramming or downing cup after cup of coffee, no one really needed to speak to her and she liked it that way.
Although there was always one person she found herself frequently running into; a blonde whom she accidentally shared one study room with back in her first semester of her sophomore year. Somehow she mixed rooms 201 and 210 and ended up walking in on the blonde who had been surrounded by open books and empty Starbucks cups. She looked groggy but when the door opened, something sparked in blue eyes and a smile filled her face.
"Hi, you must be Mercedes Jones." She said happily and bounced up as she reached her hand out to shake, "I'm Brittany Pierce."
"Uh hey. My name isn't Mercedes, it's Santana..Santana Lopez?" The brunette replied questioningly.
"Oh." Brittany pouted and sat down, "Figures. You don't look like a Mercedes Jones."
"Right.." Santana hummed, eyeing the girl wearily, "Are you here for the study group?"
Brittany nodded and perked up once again, "Yeah. I've been waiting for almost an hour; I think I might've mixed up the times or something."
Santana glanced at the opened pages of Brittany's books and noticed they definitely weren't studying the same thing but she recognized the diagrams, "You're here for astronomy?"
"Yup!"
"Oh, I must have the wrong room then." Santana muttered and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Brittany called and suddenly turned shy when Santana stopped, "You..you could study here? Maybe I can help you instead? What do you study?"
"Literature."
"Oh, okay maybe not." The blonde chuckled, "Not really my best subject, but you could still stay? No use in taking up a study room if it's only me in here."
Santana mulled over the idea of staying; the girl seemed to be cool and it wasn't exactly a struggle to be in her presence since she managed to look beautiful despite the exhaustion etched in her features.
"I promise I won't bother you, I won't even talk. I'll even move all my stuff so you can have most of the table if you need." She added, already closing up a couple of her books. That made something in Santana smile and before she knew it, she was sitting down and pulling out her laptop.
They weren't completely silent as they shared the space, occasionally talking about classes they took and finding out they had mutual friends. Santana thought Brittany was pretty cool and she knew the blonde was attracted, but when the blonde asked for the girl's number, she was hesitant to give it. Maybe it was her lack of social skills or how she was so used to only doing schoolwork and locking herself up in the library that made her shy away. Or maybe it was the blonde's undeniable beauty. Either way, Santana did not want to give the blonde her number.
Brittany was confused that Santana refused to give her phone number, she thought they really hit it off, but she wasn't going to force the girl to do anything she didn't want to. However, she also didn't want to give up so easily considering the brunette was so, so pretty. So, she proposed a deal instead.
"Well, how about this?" Brittany said as they packed up, "If we ever see each other again, we have to exchange numbers."
Santana wasn't bothered by the proposition, she never ran into anyone twice aside from her friends who already had her number and sometimes forced her into hanging out with them. There would be no way she could run into Brittany again, the campus was huge and she was a pro at keeping to herself so she nodded, "Deal."
They don't run into each other again for another six months, but when they do, Brittany still greets her with the same enthusiasm as before.
"Look who it is, Santana Lopez." Brittany beams as they cross paths one day after class. Santana's taken aback by the sight of the blonde who somehow has gotten even more beautiful, but there's a little part of her that wants to hide. She's drawn to the bubbly blonde anyway.
"Hey." Santana smiles, digging her hands into the pockets of her jacket and nuzzling further into her scarf to keep her ears from freezing over, while Brittany barely shivers.
"Long time no see." She says easily, "How's class going?"
"Eh, it's going." Santana shrugs tiredly, "Midterms are killing me. How about you?"
"Same. I'm done thankfully, I'm just passing out these flyer things for my friend. She's going to be singing at the open mic." Brittany nods as silence falls over them and suddenly they're just standing there in the cold staring at each other. Santana shuffles in her spot attempting to keep warm but Brittany continues to smile at her with cat like eyes, "You don't remember our deal, do you?"
That catches Santana's attention and her brows furrow, "Deal?"
"Yeah, when you rejected me.." Brittany teases and Santana's blushes because she honestly doesn't remember doing that. It's been so long since the last time she's seen Brittany that the details of their last encounter are a bit hazy.
"I-I've never rejected you.."
"You did." The blonde grins before remind Santana of their deal as it slowly comes back to the brunette, "So yeah, seeing as how we've met again I think it's fate that's brought us together again and you can't fight fate."
That makes Santana giggle because this girl is pulling out all the stops; like who even uses the word fate anymore? If she was trying to be subtle about this little crush she has on the brunette, any use of the word definitely gives that away. But instead of getting that weird stalker vibe from the blonde, Santana kind of feels smitten by her. For some reason, Santana wants to hold off on finally giving the blonde her number because she kind of likes having an excuse for these run-ins but when they get to talking about the open mic, Santana finds herself having to offer up her number anyway.
"You probably have extra flyers hiding under your jacket or something and you're just not telling me." Santana jokes as she types her number into Brittany's phone.
Brittany giggles and shakes her head, "No, I swear! I gave the last one away when I was leaving the library, but you can search me if you want." She smirks and lifts her arms up but Santana just laughs and tells her to put them down as she hands back her phone, "Cool. I'll text you the details!"
Santana nods and heads into the library to start her usual shift. As promised, Brittany sends her a text with the date and time of place of the open mic and that opens the gateway of conversation between them. Their texts are innocent and casual and sometimes Santana finds herself giggling softly as she almost drops a book she's supposed to be putting away when she glances down at a new text from Brittany. It's a feeling she isn't accustomed to and quickly puts herself in check and stuffs her phone away to get back to work.
It's a couple days later when she's bustling around the library with a cart full of books when she hears her name being called in that same enthusiastic way. She looks up and sees Brittany beaming as she comes closer, "Santana Lopez, tjst the girl I wanted to see!"
"Oh yeah?" Santana smirks as Brittany hands her a piece of paper, "What's this?"
"I need help finding a book." Brittany shrugs and points to the paper in Santana's hands, "That's the title, can you help me?"
Santana smiles and nods, gesturing for Brittany to follow her. They make more small talk and ask how each other's classes are going like always until Santana hands Brittany the book she had been looking for, "Anything else?"
"Mm, nope! Not right now." Brittany shrugs and says her goodbyes before finding an empty table to study. Santana nods and fights the feeling to sit and join her, she still has two stacks of books to put away and she's already a bit behind.
Another week goes by before Brittany and Santana see each other again, only this time it's Santana who spots the blonde first. She sees the girl hunched over a book with a cup of coffee in front of her as she's just now coming in to start her shift at the library. She contemplates letting the girl study, but finds herself walking over anyway.
She creeps up behind the girl and stops when she notices a red carnation lying across the table. She wonders if there's another girl Brittany thinks fate has brought them together. She taps her shoulder regardless, the opposite of which she's standing, and smiles when the blonde's head swivels back and forth confused until blue eyes land on her. The tiredness in her eyes and smile instantly vanish as she smiles up at Santana, "Hi, Santana Lopez."
"Hey." Santana says softly, trying to not think about the possibility of another girl being the cause of Brittany's big smile.
"You working today or studying?" She asks as she turns to give the brunette her full attention.
"Working," Santana sighs and before she can stop it, curiosity gets the best of her, "Who's the flower for? Have you finally developed a crush on someone else?"
Brittany only chuckles as she shakes her head and goes to pick up the carnation, "It's for you actually."
"What?" Santana's surprised, "N-No it's not."
"It is. I had a feeling I'd run into you today," Brittany smiles genuinely, offering up the flower, "I think fate likes us because here you are."
Santana laughs nervously at the gesture, she honestly doesn't believe that someone could do something so sweet especially for her so she of course denies it, "Good one. I'll let you get back to studying."
Brittany's smile falls as Santana begins to walk away, but she doesn't chase after her and instead goes back to reading.
It isn't until Santana's hard at work on the second floor of the library when her phone buzzes in her pocket. She knows exactly who it is before even looking.
Brittany: I can't believe you rejected me TWICE.
Santana laughs because she can totally picture Brittany's smug face when she dangles the idea of Santana rejecting her above her head.
Santana: I didn't reject you.
Brittany: Fine. But my flower still needs a home..
Santana rolls her eyes at how smooth the blonde can be and fights from smiling as she texts her back. They go back and forth about Santana claiming the flower isn't for her and Brittany claiming it most definitely is until Santana finally comes up with an idea.
Santana: If you can find me in the next 5 minutes, I'll take the flower off your hands.
Brittany: Challenge accepted!
Santana smirks because there's no way Brittany can do it, the campus library is huge but she still gets that giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach every time a student walks by. She can barely focus on stacking her books, the suspense killing her as the minutes tick by until finally her phone buzzes again.
Brittany: I can't find you..
Santana: Try harder.
Brittany: I can't, I have so much hw to do can't you just tell me?
Santana finds herself frowning because a little piece of her really wanted Brittany to find her, but as she's putting her phone away it buzzes with another text. She swipes at the screen and it's a picture from Brittany of the back of Santana's head. The brunette instantly swivels around but no one's there. She glances back down at the picture to make sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her when suddenly a book falls off the shelf. She frowns at that and walks to pick it up and put it back when another book falls on the opposite end of the aisle. She finds herself grumbling about dumb college kids and their lack of respect as she walks the short distance to put the book away when she finds Brittany beaming in the gap.
"I found you." The blonde bounces and slides the carnation through the empty space to Santana, "I believe this belongs to you."
"Thanks."Santana blushes as she plucks it up and holds it to her chest, right next to her speeding heart, the same heart she'll manage to give to Brittany within the next couple of months because fate really has taken a liking to them and you can't fight fate.