Disclaimer: I still don't own Glee or any of the characters ;)

Tuesday…

Santana and Sugar are getting the bar ready to open while Puck is in the back unloading a new shipment of alcohol into their stockroom. Sugar figures this is a good time to press Santana for details of her dinner with Brittany last night.

"How was dinner last night?"

Santana smiles softly before answering, "It was good."

"That's all you're gunna give me?! C'mon! Tell me the play by play of what happened!"

Santana gives in and tells her everything about last night, up until their goodbye. She purposely leaves out the part where she and Brittany almost kissed. She doesn't want Sugar thinking it was a real date.

Too late. "Sooo, when's your next date?!" the bubbly girl bursts out, clearly excited for any gossip related to Santana's love life.

"IT. WAS. NOT. A. DATE. I already told you, it was just a casual dinner to say thank you."

"Did she make you blush at all during the night?"

"I don't see how that would have anything to do with whether it was a date or not," Santana replies, not answering Sugar's question.

"I'll take your avoidance to answer my question as a yes," Sugar grins. "Was there a kiss goodnight?"

Santana hesitates.

"Oh my god! There was, wasn't there?!" Sugar cries out.

"No!" she sighs, "There wasn't an actual kiss."

"What does that even mean?"

"Umm," the Latina hesitates again before mumbling quickly, "there might have been an almost kiss that got interrupted by Roxy barking."

Sugar just stands there, mouth gaping. She knows Santana is starting to like this woman, but didn't think her walls would start to come down so quickly. The fact that Santana was going to kiss her if they hadn't been interrupted spoke volumes.

"What?" the raven haired woman begins. "It doesn't mean anything. We were caught up in the moment. We're just friends," she defends.

"San..." Sugar says softly, "you and I both know it's a little more than that. You like her, I can tell," she calls her out.

"I don't like her," denies the brunette. At Sugar's pointed look, she concedes, "Okay, maybe I am slightly attracted to her. I mean, c'mon, you HAVE seen her, right?! But it doesn't matter...nothing's gunna happen."

"Why not? From everything you've told me, she seems to be a great person. And you just said that you guys almost kissed, so obviously she's interested, too!"

"Maybe it's a good thing Roxy interrupted us. Even if Brittany is interested in me, I don't know if I'm ready for anything. And she IS great...maybe too great. Like, seriously, she's the sweetest person I've ever met. I don't think there's a mean bone in her body. As soon as she gets to know the full me and sees my vicious side, she'll be running for the hills. Also, I'm a rollercoaster when it comes to anything involving my love life. She probably wouldn't wanna deal with someone who's emotionally stunted."

"You seem to be making progress in that area though. Last night was totally a date, just without the title. That's a big step for you!"

Puck decides to walk into the room right as Sugar makes that statement. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is this about Santana having a date?! Why didn't I know about this?!"

"Hold up, Puckerman. I did not have a date last night. It was just a friendly dinner with Brittany to thank her for taking care of me when I injured my ankle."

Sugar complete ignores Santana's response and tells him, "It was totally a date!…they just didn't call it one."

"Again, I ask, why did I not know about this?!"

"Because I didn't want THIS to happen! You two don't know what you're talking about. It was not a date."

Sugar scoffs and gives Puck a quick recap of Santana's night with Brittany. When she's done, he turns to Santana and says, "It was totally a date. That's my girl, Lopez!"

Santana, who sat down at a table during Sugar's re-telling of the previous night, hides her face in her hands and groans. She misses Sugar mouthing "She likes Brittany" to Puck. She also misses Puck's face softening, knowing this isn't the time to tease if Santana really does finally find herself interested in someone.

"Hey," he says, "why don't you just hang out with her again and see where things go?"

Santana lifts her head, glaring at him. He raises his hands in defense, "I didn't say to ask her out on a date! I just said to hang out. Spend time together as friends and see if it leads to anything more. If it doesn't, at least you'll have a new friend. If it does lead to more, that's even better!"

"Yeah!" Sugar chimes in, "It's a win-win situation!"

"I don't know…" Santana trails off, unsure of what she wants to come out of this situation with Brittany.

Before Puck or Sugar could say anything else, Santana's phone beeps, alerting her to a new text message. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and as she reads the message, a smile forms on her face.

From Brittany: I had a great time last night! Can't wait to spend more time with you :)

Santana bites her lower lip as she replies.

To Brittany: Same here :) How's your day going?

Puck and Sugar exchange a knowing look, but don't say anything. They unlock the front door and wait for the first patrons to show up.

Friday…

Santana doesn't see Sugar again until she gets to work on Friday night. She was supposed to have the night off, but her plans to catch up with an old college friend got cancelled when he was forced to work late. The bar is already open and packed when she shows up. When Sugar finally gets her break, she heads in back to the office, knowing that's where Santana currently is.

"Hey, mama," Sugar greets her friend/boss as she sits down in a chair across from Santana's desk.

"What's up?" Santana asks as she looks up from some paperwork she was just finishing up.

"Ohh, nothing…"

"Sugar…"

"Okay, okay. Have you talked to Brittany at all?" the smaller girl asks excitedly.

"Yeah, we've actually been texting a lot over the last few days," Santana grins a little.

"Aww! About what?"

"Just random stuff. You know, how our day is going, interesting appointments of hers, crazy patrons here. And more typical getting to know each other stuff."

"Well, that's good! Does it seems like just friends texting or have you two been flirting, too?"

"Umm, there has definitely been some flirty banter. But I don't know if she's just naturally flirty or if she's only doing this with me, so yeah…" the Latina trails off.

"Stop doubting yourself so much. From everything I have heard, which you've probably downplayed, it's obvious she's interested in you. I haven't even seen you two interact and I'd be willing to bet you're the only person she's flirting with," Sugar reassures her.

When Sugar's break is over, Santana joins her out front to see how busy they are. They see the bar has become even more crowded, with plenty of people still waiting for drinks, so they both dive in and start taking drink orders. Things settle down at the bar enough for Santana to take a step back and look over the crowd on the dance floor. She sees a circle forming around some dancers and notices it's Brittany and the tall, Asian man from the first night she saw the blonde. A wave of jealousy washes over her as she sees the duo dancing very close and very suggestively. The man keeps his hands in appropriate places, but Santana still doesn't think that is how two people who are just friends dance. They have to be something more. The jealousy turns into a feeling of betrayal. Brittany never mentioned she was seeing someone. She didn't flat out say she was single either, but based on their conversation the day she got injured and then all the flirting they've been doing the last few days, almost always initiated and escalated by the blonde, Santana thought she was safe to assume the blonde was not attached to anyone. As each second passes, the Latina continues to watch the pair dance, glaring in their direction. She finds herself consumed with a variety of negative emotions. She feels betrayed and angry; angry at herself and at Brittany. Angry at herself for allowing herself to feel anything for the blonde, when to her, it's obvious that was a mistake; angry at Brittany for seemingly being so careless with Santana's feelings and leading her on as they've gotten to know each other. The brunette's walls are back full force as she realizes she does not want anything to do with the blonde from here on out.

A group of people distract her as they bombard the bar right where she's standing, requesting shots followed by mixed drinks. After Santana finishes making the last mixed drink for the group, she looks up into surprised blue eyes.

"Santana!" Brittany says, quickly looking back toward the Asian man who is now talking to another guy at a booth across the bar. "I thought you had the night off to meet up with an old friend," she says, more as a question than a statement. She smiles at Santana, but it goes unreciprocated.

"My plans fell through," Santana answers shortly. "What can I get you?"

Brittany frowns at Santana's response, but chalks it up to Santana possibly being a little stressed because the bar is super busy tonight. "Umm, I'll just have a beer. It'll be on the tab open under the name Mike Chang."

Santana scowls upon learning the name of the Asian man. She's also upset he is buying the blonde her drinks tonight, as this just reinforces her theory that they are together. She brings Brittany her beer.

Brittany tries to start a conversation with her. "Hey," she looks into stormy brown eyes, "is everything okay?"

"Yup. Fine," Santana answers coldly. "I gotta take care of the other customers." And with that, she's gone.

Brittany waits by the bar for a bit to see if she can catch Santana once she's done taking people's orders, but it seems like the brunette is trying to stay busy; trying to avoid her. Mike eventually comes to get her and they go back to the booth with their other friends. She shoots Santana a text asking what's wrong since she could tell something was bothering the Latina when she got her beer. A while later, Mike says he's heading home and goes to close out his tab. Brittany hangs back, saying she needs to talk to Santana, or at least Sugar or Puck since Santana hasn't responded to her text from earlier yet.

Brittany sighs out a breath of relief as she approaches the bar, seeing that the crowd has dwindled significantly. She walks over to where Sugar is wiping down the counter and notices Puck behind her replacing some empty liquor bottles on the wall of the bar.

"Hey, Sugar."

"Hi, Dr. Pierce! What can I get you?"

"Actually, I was wondering if Santana is still here."

"I think so. She's probably in the back office. Why don't you text her to come out front?"

Brittany frowns at this, "I texted her like an hour ago but she never responded."

At this point, Puck has been listening in and while he doesn't know what's going on with Santana, he knows he needs to cover for her, at least for now.

"Hi, I'm Puck. Sorry to butt in, but umm, Santana mentioned heading out before we closed, since she was actually supposed to be off tonight anyway. Maybe she already left?"

"Hi, Puck. I'm Brittany. It's nice to officially meet you. Santana's told me a lot about you," the blonde smiles at the mohawked man. "Thanks for the info. I guess I'll just head out then. Bye, Puck. Bye, Sugar."

"Bye," Puck and Sugar say simultaneously. As soon as Brittany is out the door, Sugar turns to Puck.

"What the heck was that? You know Santana is still in back. She never leaves without saying goodbye to us."

"Yeah, I know, but I also know that she would not be ignoring Brittany's text unless something was going on. Right?"

"Hmm, yeah. You're right about that. Think one of us should go ask her about it?" Sugar asks, not necessarily wanting to pry if Santana hasn't come to her first.

"I'll go. I was the one who just covered for her, she owes me an explanation."

Puck walks into the office and finds Santana face down on the desk with her forehead resting on her arms. Her phone was open to Brittany's text but no reply was typed out.

"Sup, Lezpez."

Santana doesn't even lift her head up when she groans out, "I'm really not in the mood, Fuckerman."

"Well that's unfortunate," Puck goads her. "I just officially met Brittany. Very briefly, but long enough to cover for your ass. Wanna tell me why you're ignoring her?"

Santana finally lifts her head up and Puck immediately softens when he sees unshed tears in the Latina's eyes. She fills him in on what happened tonight, ending with how stupid she feels for letting herself be played like this. She admits that she was actually starting to trust the doctor and have feelings for her. Puck stays quiet while she talks; knowing that this much vulnerability from the Latina is a very rare thing to come by.

When Santana finishes speaking, Puck finally voices his thoughts. "Are you sure they were together? Like, did they kiss or anything?"

"I didn't see them kiss, but friends don't dance like that. They were seriously breaking it down on each other. Enough to draw a crowd. And he was paying for her drinks tonight. She probably only agreed to come here with him tonight because she thought I wasn't going to be here. You should have seen the surprised look on her face when she saw me behind the bar. Then she had the audacity to act like she wasn't doing anything wrong!" the brunette starts getting worked up again.

"Calm down, San. If she really is with that guy, it's truly her loss. Don't waste any more time on her. C'mon, I'll walk you to your car. Go home and try to get some rest."

Puck walks Santana to her car after she stops to say goodnight to Sugar. Before she gets in her car, Santana leans in and gives Puck a hug and a soft, "Thank you." Puck hugs her back and whispers, "Anytime, babygirl."

Over the rest of the weekend, Santana actively avoids all of Brittany's phone calls and texts. She throws herself into work at the bar and spending time with Roxy. Santana makes sure to avoid her favorite trail at the park when they go for their runs and even stays away from the dog park itself, for fear of running into Brittany before she figures out what to say to the blonde.

Monday…

Monday morning rolls around and Santana finds herself re-reading Brittany's texts from this past weekend…none of which received a reply from the brunette, and all of which were preceded by an unanswered phone call.

Friday night: What's wrong?

Saturday morning: Hey, Santana. I hope everything is okay. Please call or text me when you see this.

Saturday afternoon: Hey, San. I'm worried about you. Are you alright?

Saturday night: Are we okay? If I did something to upset you, I'm sorry. Please let me know what's going on.

Sunday morning: Hey, umm, didn't see you on the trail today. I was kinda hoping to run into you. Can you please tell me what I did wrong so I can try to make it up to you?

Sunday evening: Look, Santana. I don't know what's going on, but I miss talking to you. It was my favorite part of the day. Can you please call me when you get this so we can work out whatever our problem is?

Monday morning: Santana. Please…just talk to me.

Each text was wearing her down. She could feel the sadness in Brittany's texts, and felt bad for being the one to make her feel that way, but then Santana reminded herself that Brittany brought this on herself by leading Santana on when she is clearly unavailable. Santana distracts herself with payroll and some invoices, and then decides to go home for the day to eat junk food and cuddle with Roxy.

Monday…

"Ugh!" Brittany grumbles after checking her phone for the millionth time since Friday night, seeing that Santana has decided to continue ignoring all her attempts to contact the Latina.

"Still no answer?" Tina asks, already knowing the answer.

"Nope. Nothing. Not a word since Friday night! I have no idea what happened or how I managed to piss her off so bad! We had been texting fine all week, even right up until Friday afternoon. As you know, Mike and I went out dancing at her bar that night and I unexpectedly ran into her when I went to order another beer. She wasn't even supposed to be there that night. She was super cold to me from the get go. I know I didn't say anything to piss her off because she barely even spoke to me that night!"

"Well, let's see. Did your last text convo seem awkward at all?"

"No. She mentioned she was supposed to meet up with an old college friend for dinner. Then our last appointment showed up here so I shot her a quick text telling her so and that I hoped she had a good time. After we finished up with that patient, I checked my phone and had a reply from her saying "Thanks, you too" with a smiley face at the end."

"Hmm...well let's think then. Something must have happened between when you texted last and when you saw her at the bar. Did you talk to her as soon as you walked in or later on in the night?"

"Later on. Like I said, she wasn't even supposed to be working anyway so I didn't look for her when we got there. I saw her when I went to get another drink after Mike and I had been dancing for a while."

Tina's eyes light up as she says, "Let me guess, you two were bringing it hardcore on the dance floor, weren't you?"

Brittany scoffs and replies, "When do we not?! I don't see what that has to do with my Santana problem though."

"Don't you see?! I bet you anything that Santana thinks you and Mike are together! If I was an outsider and saw you two dancing, I'd think the same thing!"

"Oh my god! You probably just hit the nail on the head, Tina. Why didn't I think of that?! This is obviously one huge misunderstanding! Shit! I can tell she has trust issues and just when I feel like I'm starting to get her walls down a bit, this has to happen! I need to fix this."

"How do you plan on doing that when she won't answer any of your calls or texts?"

"I'm going to her house tonight. She needs to hear me out face to face to see that I'm not lying to her. I need to make her believe me."

"Do you think that's smart...going to her house unexpected?"

"Well, she's leaving me no choice. I can't just let her go. There's just something about her. She's special."

Brittany and Tina finish up their day at the clinic and head out to their cars.

"See ya tomorrow, Tina."

"See ya, Britt. Go get your girl!"

Monday Evening...

Santana is sitting on her couch cuddling with Roxy and binge eating mini M&Ms.

"Ya know, Rox, this always happens. I always fall for the girl who'll break my heart. Not that I had fallen for Britt or anything...but I could maybe see myself getting there. I really thought Brittany was different. Things with her just felt different, better. Guess I was wrong, yet again."

Roxy snuggles further into the Latina's chest and licks her face.

"You're the only girl I need in my life. You won't betray me, right girl?" Santana mumbles into soft fur as she holds the pup close.

There's a knock at the door and Santana groans, assuming it's Puck because Sugar knows she wants to just mope around her apartment tonight. She turns her head toward the door and yells, "Leave me alone, Fuckerman!"

As she's leaning over to grab more mini M&Ms, Santana hears her door open and immediately regrets forgetting to lock it after she took Roxy out this afternoon. Still trying to reach for her candy without jostling Roxy too much, Santana says "Seriously, dude, you know I've had a rough weekend...I'm really not in the mood for company."

Santana freezes when she hears her visitor's soft voice say "I'm sorry to hear that, although I can't say mine was any better."

She whips her head around and standing in the doorway to her living room is the last person she wants to see.

"Brittany." Santana stands up, crossing her arms across her chest and scowling at the blonde woman. "What are you doing here? Actually, ya know what...I don't wanna hear it. You can leave now."

"Please just hear me out. I think I know what happened. Let me start off by saying that I'm not with Mike. He's just a friend..."

"Pssh, please!" Santana cuts Brittany off. "Friends do not dance like THAT. It doesn't even matter, it's not like you and I are together or anything."

Brittany is taken aback by the bitter vulnerability she hears in that last statement. Before she can reply, Santana moves closer to Brittany and starts in on her again.

"What, did you think you could just flirt and have some fun, then go back to your man when you got bored or something?! Jeeze, how could I be so stupid to think... Ugh, I don't even know. It doesn't even matter. Same shit, different day."

Santana continues glaring at the blonde, hoping she gets the hint and leaves. She finally turns away and quietly mumbles, "I should have known you were too good to be true," but it wasn't quite soft enough.

Brittany is surprised by the brunette's admission, but still obviously has some explaining to do. She's also pissed that after everything they've learned about each other thus far, Santana could think Brittany would ever play her like that.

"Well, clearly you don't know me at all! It looks like SOME friends do dance like that together. Mike and I have never been anything more than friends. He's dating my friend, Tina...you met her at the clinic. He and I have known each other for YEARS and we both share a passion for dancing. Tina sometimes lets me borrow him, just to dance, because she knows other people tend to not be able to keep up with us AND because she knows we only see each other as siblings," the blonde defends herself. "Yeah, we break it down on the dance floor, but have you EVER seen us touching each other inappropriately while we dance?"

Santana, who's been standing there slack jawed at Brittany's outburst, answers with a meek, "No."

"Exactly! Because Mike and I would never cross that line. If you had simply talked to me about it, we could have avoided this entire weekend! I thought we were making progress. I thought you were starting to trust me!" Brittany's voice softens as she continues, "I can tell you don't trust easily, but please believe me when I say I have absolutely no intention of lying to you or hurting you."

The brunette realizes how big of a mistake she's made and is now having a staring contest with her floor, unable to look Brittany in the eyes.

"San..."

Thinking she's gone and ruined everything, the brunette whispers, "Can you please just leave?"

Brittany cautiously walks over to Santana, stopping right in front of her. She puts her finger under a tan chin and gently forces the smaller woman to look up at her. When Brittany sees unshed tears in the Latina's eyes, her heart breaks.

"Hey now, why are you crying?" Brittany asks as a few tears spill down the Latina's cheeks. The taller woman is quick to wipe them away.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. For everything. I shouldn't have assumed anything. I just...I just have a really bad track record when feelings are involved, and now I've ruined whatever this is," Santana motions between herself and Brittany, "before it even really started."

Brittany pulls the shorter woman in for a reassuring hug and says, "It's okay. We talked it out and can now hopefully just move past this."

Santana steps back and runs a hand through her hair in frustration. "It's not okay. You've been nothing short of absolutely amazing to me and this is how I treat you? You don't deserve to have to deal with someone like me."

"Sweetie, don't say that. We had a misunderstanding. It happens. Don't beat yourself up over this. Just learn from it and in the future, talk to me if something upsets you so we don't end up in this same situation, okay? Aside from this little blip, you've been amazing to me as well."

Santana bites her lip, then nervously asks, "So we're still friends then?"

Brittany's eyes meet Santana's once again before asking, "Is that really how you see us...as friends?"

Santana's eyes widen and she stutters out, "I...well, I mean...ugh, I don't know."

"Would 'friends' be having the kind of misunderstanding that we just had?" the blonde inquires.

"Well, umm, no. I suppose not."

Brittany takes a step toward Santana, which makes the brunette take one back in an attempt to keep some space between her and the gorgeous blonde. But Brittany is having none of it. They continue this dance a couple more times until Santana's back hits the wall and she has nowhere else to go.

Santana's breath hitches as Brittany removes the last of the space between them. The blonde places her left hand on the wall beside Santana's head as her right hand lands gently on Santana's hip, lightly caressing the thin strip of skin she finds there. She moves her head back to look the Latina in her eyes and asks, "What you're feeling right now...has a FRIEND ever made you feel like this?"

The brunette breathes out a soft, "No."

Brittany moves her face so close to Santana's that when she speaks next, their lips are mere millimeters apart. The blonde whispers, "I didn't think so," and then softly presses her lips to Santana's.

A/N: Ahh! Perfect spot for a cliffhanger, don't you think?! Don't worry, the next chapter picks up right where this one leaves off ;)