Chapter 9
A few weeks had passed since Santana and Brittany's first date and things were going great. Brittany loved spending time with Santana and Sophia, it was the best part of her week. As Brittany lay in bed, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to Santana and what she might be doing. She really wanted to make things official with the woman, but she didn't know if it was too soon. Realising that she wouldn't be able to sleep until she figured some stuff out, she picked up the phone to call Mike.
"Hey, Brittany! What's up ?" Mike answered his phone.
"Hi, Mike. Can you get Tina? I need both of your help with something," Brittany said.
"Sure thing, hold on a second," Mike said.
Brittany waited patiently as Mike called Tina over. "Hey, Brittany. What's going on?" Tina asked.
"I need your advice, about Santana."
"Ooo, the mysterious Santana that has been keeping you occupied for the last few weeks, what's she like?" Tina asked curiously.
"She's great, and she has the cutest little daughter as well," Brittany smiled, thinking about them.
Mike and Tina exchanged a knowing look. "We're glad stuff is working out for you finally, Britt."
"So am I. It's just I don't know how to ask Santana where we are in the relationship."
"You mean like you want her to be your girlfriend," Tina smiled.
Brittany sounded shy. "Yes, I guess that is what I want to ask her."
"Aww, look at our little Brittany all grown up," Mike laughed.
"She's gonna be married with a kid before we get there," Tina looked at Mike pointedly.
Brittany cleared her throat. "Excuse me guys! This is about me."
"Sorry, Britt," they laughed. "Just talk to her about it. You could try bringing it up casually to see how she reacts."
"That's a good idea. I don't want to come on too strong, but I also don't want to wait too long and miss my chance," Brittany said.
Mike chimed in. "Yes, it's important to be clear with her, Britt. Remember what I told you about you and Jake and communication. If you're ready to be in a committed relationship with Santana, then you should let her know, there really is nothing better."
Tina smiled at Mike on the other end of the line. "Aww, you two are going to make me cry," Brittany laughed. "Also, yea Mike what the hell are you doing, get down on one knee for god's sake."
"I'm working on it, Britt," Mike laughed, putting his arm around his girlfriend.
"Well, I'll let you go. Thanks guys, you're the best," Brittany said before she hung up.
Brittany lay in bed gathering her thoughts, she really did want to take her relationship with Santana to the next level. She was about to turn the lights out when she got a text. It was from some of her high school friends inviting her out, they wanted to meet Santana as she was all Brittany talked about when they got drinks the other week.
Brittany first met them because she went to a prestigious private school in Manhattan when she was younger. She never really liked it there and struggled to make friends. She eventually made a group of friends; Martin, Phillip and Toby, and her parents did not approve. It's safe to say that these friends were a bad influence on her, they skipped class to drink or do drugs and they bullied other students. Brittany wanted to get out of the friendship, but she couldn't go back to how it was before. When she got accepted at Julliard, she figured it was her opportunity to leave all of that behind. But she ended up dropping out of Julliard and these friends were all she had left.
When everything happened, she reconnected with Mike and Tina, two people who she had known when she was growing up, however, they had lost touch when Brittany moved to New York. Mike and Tina came back into her life when everything was falling apart, and she never felt like she needed anyone else. But Martin, Phillip and Toby still stuck with her through a lot, and even though they were probably too childish for their age, she went out with them from time to time and it was okay.
Brittany replied to the message saying that she would ask Santana and get back to them. With that done she turned off her light and finally went to sleep.
Santana invited Brittany over later that week for dinner. She hadn't seen her in a few days and both her and Sophia missed the bubbly blonde woman. When there was a knock at the door, Sophia got up, bouncing excitedly. Santana opened the door and was immediately pulling in for a quick but passionate kiss. "Hi, honey," Brittany said, laughing as Santana stood with her mouth open looking shocked.
She stepped further into the apartment so she could greet Sophia. "Hey, sunshine," she said picking up Sophia and spinning her around. "How are you?"
"I good, Britty. Been waitin' for you!" Sophia kissed Brittany on the cheek and hugged her neck.
Santana walked back into the living room and put her hand on Brittany's shoulder. "She really has been. She talked about you all day, I think she's forgotten about me," Santana laughed.
"I missed you too, Soph. But we could never forget about mama, right? Because mama is the best," she asked, bouncing the little girl in her arms.
"Love, mama," Sophia giggled.
Santana stood on her tip toes so she could kiss Sophia three times on her cheek, she then tilted her head to kiss Brittany three times causing Brittany to also giggle. Santana loved this, her life had changed so drastically in the last few weeks, and it was truly amazing.
Later when they had finished the dinner, Sophia was playing in her room whilst Brittany and Santana washed up.
"So some of my friends from school messaged me," Brittany casually brought up.
"The ones that you went out with the other week. What did they want?" Santana asked.
"They wanted to know if they can meet this woman who I can't seem to stop going on about," Brittany smiled.
"What did you say?" Santana questioned.
"I said I would have to ask you if you wanted to meet them. I know that my friends aren't the most mature people around, but they stuck by me through a lot," Brittany said softly.
Santana reached and put her arms around Brittany's neck. "Well I would love to meet them," Brittany smiled. "But my mom is out of town right now and I don't want to leave Sophia alone with a sitter.
Brittany laughed. "You can bring Soph. Of course she is invited, she's the only reason I put up with you."
"Oh really, so it has nothing to do with this then?" Santana tilted her head up and caught Brittany's lips, she slowly started trailing kisses down over Brittany's jaw before she sucked lightly on her neck.
When she pulled back Brittany looked dazed, and Santana giggled at how adorable she was.
When Brittany came back down to earth she looked properly at Santana. "That is amazing. But seriously, honey. We are not going to go to a bar or a club or anything, just dinner at a restaurant, my treat."
"Brittany, you don't have to do that for us," Santana sighed.
Brittany touched Santana's jaw to lift her eyes to meet her. "I know, but I really want them to meet you two."
Santana smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. "Fine, you get your way again."
Brittany walked into the living room to see Sophia scribbling in her colouring book. She sat down next to the little girl running her hands through her hair. "So Soph, me and your mama were thinking you might want to watch a movie," Brittany laughed as the girl's eyes immediately lit up.
"Nemo, Britty!" She yelled, clearly excited.
"Okay, let me put it on. Do you think you can go and get the blanket out of the hamper, sweetie?" Brittany walked over to grab the remote from next to the tv before returning to the couch.
She smiled as she saw little Sophia trying to drag the blanket over towards her. She was about to get up to help her when Santana sat down in her lap. "What are we watching then, Britt?"
"Soph wants to watch Finding Nemo," Brittany laughed looking at Santana's face.
"Why am I not surprised? It's about the 15th time in three weeks," Santana looked at Brittany. "You know I blame you for this, I have never met someone who loves Disney movies so much."
"Come on, babe, don't be a spoil sport," Brittany said frowning. "You know that Nemo is a classic."
Santana smiled wider at her new nickname and snuggled her head into Brittany's chest.
"Mama! My Britty!" Sophia pulled on her mother's shirt.
Santana giggled at her daughter. Brittany poked her head out to the side so she could properly see the girl. She was the spitting image of Santana when she was scowling, and it was all kinds of adorable.
"Mama! Off!" Brittany figured she should do something before there was a full-on breakdown, so she scooped up Sophia with one of her arms and brought her round to sit on Santana's lap.
"There you go, Soph," Brittany smiled. "This better?"
Sophia nodded grinning before also cuddling her head into Brittany's chest.
Brittany smiled down at both of them before switching on the movie. Halfway through she got a leg cramp, and she was about to ask Santana to shift positions before she noticed that both her and Sophia were asleep. Brittany didn't want to wake them, but she really needed to get up, so she carefully reached around to get a firm grip, one arm under Santana's legs and the other supporting her back, she gently lifted her up, with Sophia still sat in her lap, and placed them back on the couch. Santana immediately curled her body around her daughter and Brittany pulled out her phone to snap a quick picture.
After that she messaged her friend back to see the time and place for dinner with Santana and Sophia. She then checked the time and realised that it was eleven o'clock, no wonder Sophia was so tired. She bent down to wrap her arms around the little girl and lift her up off of Santana. She slowly carried her back into the bedroom trying not to wake her up.
After Brittany placed Sophia on the bed, she went looking around for some pyjamas for her to wear. When she went into the drawers, she saw that one side was sectioned off for Santana and the other for Sophia. She grabbed some white pyjamas with flowers on them and gently dressed Sophia. Brittany then slowly picked up the sleeping girl and put her under the covers before tucking her in and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
Brittany walked back into the living room to see Santana sitting up rubbing her eyes.
"I just put Sophia down to sleep, babe, I hope that's okay," She said, hoping she hadn't overstepped.
Santana opened her arms for Brittany to crawl into. "Yea that's okay."
She kissed the side of Brittany's face before slowly trailing kisses down to her jaw. Brittany felt Santana turn her over as she pressed more kisses to her jaw. She pulled back looking deep into blue eyes before leaning in, their lips met in a soft, tender embrace. The sensation was delicate and slow, each of them taking the time to explore each other's lips. With every passing moment, their desire grew, and the kiss intensified. Their lips pressed harder against each other, and their tongues entwined.
Brittany suddenly flipped them over, so Santana was lying on her back. The warmth between them became more intense, and they lost themselves in the moment, lost in each other. Santana was breathing heavily as Brittany slowly kissed her way down her jaw and started sucking gently on her neck. They could feel the heat of each other's body and the rhythm of each other's breathing.
Finally, they broke apart, gasping for air. "We shouldn't do that here," Brittany said, still struggling to catch her breath.
"I need to tell you something," Santana said timidly.
"What? You can tell me anything, you know that" Brittany replied.
"It's just that it's been a while for me," Santana said quietly.
"Okay, that's fine, we can take this as slow as you want," Brittany said, leaning in to peck Santana on the lips.
Santana lay her head on Brittany's chest as Brittany settled in the corner of the couch. "Thanks, Britt. But when I say a while, I mean a long while."
"How long?" Brittany asked, curious.
"Since Soph was conceived."
"So that's like three years, right?" Brittany said casually, whilst trying to do the maths in her head.
"Yes, but there is something else," Santana turned to face Brittany.
Brittany questioned. "Okay, what is it?"
"It's kind of a long story," Brittany nodded urging her to continue. "Basically, everyone in high school thought that I was kind of a slut. They thought that I slept around a lot because guys would date me and then brag afterwards about how far we got. I mean obviously I was gay and trying to hide it, so I did some stuff with guys, but nowhere near what they claimed. However, I let people believe it because it was easier than them finding out who I really was. I come from a really small town in Ohio and there was no other lesbians in my town, well at least no out lesbians. The point I'm trying to make is that I am not a virgin, obviously, I have a child, but I have never had sex with a woman before," Santana rushed out.
Santana bit her lip nervously waiting to see Brittany's reaction. "First of all just because you slept with some guys in high school when you were confused and figuring yourself out doesn't make you a slut, so don't listen to those people," Brittany said, pulling Santana back down to lie on her chest again. "Second of all, I don't care that you have never been with a woman before. That doesn't make me think of you any differently. Okay, sweetheart?"
Santana tilted her head up to kiss Brittany's jaw one more time. "Okay, babe."
Brittany picked them up for dinner the next Friday. When she got to the door no one answered but the door was open, so she pushed her way in.
"Santana, Soph, I'm here!"
Santana came out of the bedroom in a frenzy. "I'm looking for my earring, sorry, Britt."
Brittany walked around the sofa to help Santana in her search. "Where was the last place you had it?"
"I don't know," Santana put her hand on her forehead. "Earlier in my bedroom."
Brittany reached and pushed Santana's hair over her shoulder. "Honey, you already have them both in."
Santana reached up to feel her ear lobes. "Oh yea," she laughed nervously.
"Don't worry, babe. Everything's going to be fine. We are just gonna have a chill evening."
Brittany pulled her in for a kiss, mumbling against her lips. "You look beautiful by the way."
Santana smiled at her, god she was so smitten.
"Oh, can you go check on Soph whilst I find my purse?"
"Obviously," Brittany walked down the hallway towards Santana and Sophia's room. She saw the little girl struggling to pull on her tights underneath her light blue dress. Brittany bent down next to her to help. "Let me do that, sweetie"
"Britty! You like my dress?"
"I love it. I think you look adorable," she picked up the girl before sitting on the bed and pulling her onto her lap. "Do we have shoes then?"
Sophia pointed to the white ballet flats on the floor. "Mama got me new shoes."
"These are super pretty, baby girl," Brittany reached her hand down to the floor to grab the shoes before gently pulling them onto Sophia's little feet.
She picked up the little girl and carried her back into the living room to see Santana quickly pulling her bag over her shoulder. "Are we ready to go then?"
"Yes, let's go!"
They arrived at the restaurant around thirty minutes later, Brittany had made sure that she could choose one with a kid friendly menu because she didn't want Sophia to have to eat something she didn't like. As she was thinking about this, she realised that she had never given her friends a heads up that Santana had a daughter, it would be okay though she thought. None of her friends had kids but they had never given the impression that they were averse to them.
When she got to the table she was greeted by Toby, probably the most mature of the friends, and his new girlfriend. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!"
"It's new, and it's not exactly the kind of thing that Martin and Phillip want to talk about. Anyway, what about you and your little family, when did that happen?" He said quietly so Santana couldn't hear as she was across the table meeting Toby's girlfriend.
"This is also kind of new. I'm just so happy right now though."
"Good for you, Britt. You've been through it," he pulled her in for a hug.
"So have you, I'm so proud of you. We both really grew up from how we were in high school," Brittany laughed.
"I really think that Lucy is the one," he gestured to the woman talking to Santana. "I know, I don't think we can say the same for Phil or Marty though. You know Martin just got fired?"
"Really? For what?"
"Coming in to work late and hungover, or worse drunk. You know the usual with him."
Brittany sighed. Her friends had all been through a lot, but Martin and Phillip really seemed to be lost causes. Toby was probably the only one she would choose to be friends with if she met them today. Santana walked over to Brittany and took her seat putting Sophia next to her. "Your friend's girlfriend is really sweet actually, and totally in love with him," Santana whispered.
"It's new apparently. I'm so glad he found someone, he's a really great guy."
Santana smiled. She loved meeting the people that were important to Brittany, it just meant that she was becoming a bigger part of her life and Santana really liked that idea.
The waiter came over to take their drinks orders. "What do you want, babe?" Brittany looked to Santana.
"Can I get an apple juice for Soph and just any white wine for me, thanks?"
"White wine! Get something harder than that!" A voice boomed out from behind them.
Brittany turned around to see Martin walking in followed closely by Phillip. She rolled her eyes at their behaviour already. "Sorry, honey. They're just being idiots."
"It's fine, Britt. I go to college remember," she laughed it off.
"You're still in college, how fucking dumb are you!" Martin laughed, sitting down next to Brittany.
Santana stared daggers at the man. "I would appreciate it if you didn't swear in front of my child," she said as calmly as she could.
Brittany put her hand on Santana's knee, giving her an apologetic look. "Martin, shut up!"
"Hey Britt. God you are a babe," he laughed turning to Santana. "I swear she gets hotter every time I see her, congrats for getting to bang her," he reached up his hand to high five Santana.
Santana looked at him, disgusted. Before she could say anything a person she could only assume was Phillip interrupted. "Mate, stop talking, let's go get a beer."
As they both went to the bar to order a drink, Brittany looked to Santana. "I'm so sorry about him, babe."
Santana waved her off. "It's fine, Britt. Maybe they've just never met a woman before, or a kid."
Brittany looked over at Sophia who was happily scribbling on the back of the menu, completely oblivious to the commotion. "I'll tell him to stop swearing in front of Sophia."
When Martin sat back down a few minutes later Brittany leaned over to him. "Can you please stop with the swearing! Santana has a two-year-old daughter," she whispered angrily.
"You brought a kid, Britt! We were gonna go to a bar after this!" He practically yelled.
"Shut up, Marty. We said dinner!" Toby leaned over to say.
Brittany looked at him gratefully. She was too busy focused on Martin to see Phillip walk over to Santana.
"I just wanna say, you are the hottest milf I have ever seen," Santana shrugged off his hand, disgusted.
"Back off man! Seriously!"
He held his hands up in mock defeat and walked around to the other side of the table. The waiter brought over all of their drinks breaking up the tension. Santana reached and took a big gulp of her wine before handing Sophia her apple juice and a straw to sip it out of. After that there was a long silence, Brittany was still mad at Martin, and Phillip was unsure of what was going on.
Toby was the first to speak. "So Sophia, how old are you?"
"I'm two," she held up two little fingers.
"Your mom says you love dance?" Brittany looked at him and mouthed a thank you for including the small girl in the conversation.
"Yep, Britty teached me. She's the best dancer!" Sophia said with conviction.
"Brittany is a really good dance teacher. Did you know that she's been dancing since she was your age?"
Sophia looked at Brittany in awe. "Maybe I could be like Britty then?"
"If you work at it, you can do anything you want. Brittany was always dancing around in high school, she couldn't stay still," Toby smiled at his friend.
Santana laughed. "I can see that. She still dances everywhere now. I bet you were super cute when you were younger, babe."
Martin was sat at the end of the table with Phillip rolling his eyes at the conversation. "Who cares about all of this, let's do some shots. I just got fired!"
Toby looked to Brittany as though saying, sorry, I tried.
Martin called over the waitress. "We need shots," he looked her up and down. "And we also need your number."
The waitress turned to Brittany. "I'll get you guys your shots."
Brittany looked at Santana who was scooting closer to her daughter and she felt guilty. It was probably a mistake to bring them here, but she wanted her friends to see who was making her so happy. She didn't think about the fact that two of said friends were immature assholes who wouldn't be great around a child.
Martin and Phillip were quiet for a while after they got their shots, leaving the others to have a pleasant conversation. Santana talked enthusiastically with Toby about her degree as he did the same course in college. Brittany loved listening to Santana talk like this, she was so passionate, and it was very hot.
It was halfway through the meal when Sophia was talking more about her dance classes and the moves she had been practicing at home that Martin started to speak up again. "Okay, okay, let's talk about something interesting. No offense little girl." He started laughing. "Do you remember that time in high school when we got totally wasted and drove our car into a tree."
Toby frowned. "Shut up Martin!" He looked at Brittany as though scared to see her reaction.
Santana saw the interaction and looked towards Brittany. Her head was bowed really low, and she had a regretful look on her face. "Are you okay, babe?" Santana put her hand on Brittany's back.
"Yea, I'm fine."
Martin leaned closer to Brittany. "I'm sorry, Britt. I didn't think. It's just that your friend's kid is just really bringing down out party mood," he actually looked apologetic for once. Brittany looked him in the eyes angrily, warning him.
Thankfully Santana was talking to Toby, and she didn't hear the exchange. Brittany got up to go to the bathroom after the waiter had cleared the plates. Santana wanted to follow her to see if she was okay, but she couldn't leave Sophia alone at the table.
"Who wants to go to a club after this?" Martin said, clearly drunk.
"Hell yes!" Phillip cheered.
"I think we're going to go home, work tomorrow and everything." Toby looked to his girlfriend in confirmation.
"We'll probably go home as well. I've got to put this one to sleep." Sophia was pretty much passed out by now with her head in her mother's lap.
"Come on you guys. This sucks! Toby, you won't go out because of stupid fucking work, how boring is that. And Brittany can't come out because she's got a boring kid now. Just stick the kid in a damn taxi and let her make her own way home!" Martin slurred.
Toby looked at him as Santana stood up. "Martin that's enough, you're embarrassing yourself."
"Toby! You know it's true. Brittany used to be fun, we would all go out and get hammered together back in the day. But know all she cares about is her stupid girlfriend and her dumb kid, I mean who the hell cares about dance? We should have been at a club right now picking up girls!"
Santana didn't stay to hear the rest of his rant. She picked up her stuff and lifted up Sophia heading out of the restaurant. At that moment Brittany walked back in to see all the commotion and Santana heading out. "Santana! Wait!" She reached into her purse and threw some cash at the table, looking at Toby, who nodded signalling that he would take care of it.
She ran outside to catch Santana who was starting to head down the street. "Santana, let me take you home, please."
"No, Brittany! We'll get a cab."
Brittany froze. Santana was shutting her out, what had her friends said to her. "Santana, come on. I'm sorry about tonight, but please let me take you two home so I can make sure you get back safely," Brittany begged.
Santana eventually gave in and got in Brittany's car. It was silent all the way back to her apartment and when they got in Santana just ignored Brittany in favour of going putting Sophia to bed.
When she came back out Brittany stood up. "Santana-"
"It's fine, Brittany. You can go," she pointed to the door.
"Santana no, listen to me!" Brittany pleaded.
Santana's eyes were red. "No, Brittany, you listen to me! I can't do this."
"What are you saying?" Tears started to run down her cheeks.
"I'm saying that you're in your twenties, Brittany. You should be going out to bars and clubs and picking up girls. I want you to have a life, I don't want to trap you," Santana said quietly as she cried.
Brittany reached out to wipe the tears from the girl's eyes, but she stepped back pushing away Brittany's hands. She felt a sudden pang in her heart. "I don't feel trapped by you Santana, don't you get that."
"You will. Eventually you will grow to resent me, and I can't have that. You shouldn't have to deal with this Brittany, your friends were right. Them saying it just made me realise how different our lives are. I have a child, I have responsibilities. Hell, I can't even afford to take you out to dinner, that's how pathetic I am."
"Santana, I don't care about any of that. I love spending time with you and Sophia, that is when I'm happiest. I could never resent you, how could you think that?" Brittany felt like someone was ripping out her heart, she didn't want to lose Santana over something stupid like this.
"Maybe I care though, Brittany. Maybe I care about what people think of us. They think I'm using you or they think that I'm trying to tie you down. Everyone at dinner thought that tonight. I don't want this to feel like that," Santana sat down and put her head in her hands. "I want you to have the life that you always wanted. You should spend your twenties going out and partying like a normal person, and then some day you should marry someone and decide to have a child, you shouldn't have to just be stuck with one. I don't want you to grow to resent me."
Brittany kneeled down in front of Santana to try and catch her eyes. "I have a daughter, Brittany. Do you know what that means?" She looked up at her. "It means that I don't have to just protect my own heart. I have to protect hers too."
"I would never do anything to hurt you, Santana," Brittany reached for her hands. "I don't want that life. I want you… I want you to be my girlfriend."
Santana's eyes widened in shock. "I want you to be my girlfriend, San. I want to spend days at the park with you and Soph. I want to do normal stuff like go shopping together. I want to have food fights in the kitchen with you. I want us to watch movies together where you both fall asleep on me halfway through. I want to sit in this room with you and watch Sophia draw us, all of us together. I want it all with you. Please give me that chance. Please." Brittany pulled Santana in for a passionate kiss and as their lips met they crackled with the electricity between them.
Santana smiled into the kiss. "I want it all with you too, Britt," she whispered onto her lips, before kissing her again. She pulled Brittany's bottom lip into her mouth and tangled her fingers into her hair causing Brittany to gasp in pleasure.
When they broke apart, Brittany stroked her hand down Santana's cheeks and across her lips. "God, my girlfriend is so beautiful."
It was later that same night when Santana and Brittany were in bed curled up together and trading kisses back and forth that Brittany spoke up.
"I want you to know everything about me, San."
Santana leaned in and kissed Brittany once more. "I want that too, Britt."
"I guess, I want you to know why I was so… sad at dinner."
Santana nodded. "Of course, baby, you can tell me anything."
Brittany started to tear up. " I don't want you to look at me differently though."
Santana pulled Brittany in closer and let her rest her head on her chest. "I would never, Britt. I'm in this for the long hall, you cannot get rid of me."
Brittany sniffled and giggled slightly. "Okay, basically, it happened in senior year of high school…"
Brittany was sat in her classroom casually scrolling through her phone when a notification came up. It was an email from Julliard. The email from Julliard. She nervously clicked on it and read the contents.
Dear Brittany S. Pierce,
We are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted for our four-year technical dance course…
"Oh my god!" Brittany jumped up.
"Miss Pierce, please sit down!" her teacher said sternly.
"Oh my god, oh my god!" She jumped up and ran out of the classroom, ignoring the yells of her teacher.
When she got outside she ran around the school to reach the steps. The steps were usually where her friends hung out in between and sometimes during classes. The first person she spotted was Toby, he was trying to get signal on his phone to check his own college acceptances.
"Toby, I got into Julliard!"
He jumped up and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "No way, Britt. This is huge!"
Phillip got up and patted her on the back. "Congrats, Britt. You deserve it."
Martin was over in the corner smoking. He flicked his cigarette before stepping on it and walking over to the group. "Well done, babe. I'm so glad that all of you will be following along in your parents boring footsteps and going to college."
"What else are we supposed to do, man?" Toby looked at Martin pointedly.
"You could come travelling with me. I'm getting the hell out of New York. You'll have to get your own rooms though. Except you, babe" Martin turned to Brittany. "My bed is always open for you."
Brittany scoffed at him, and Phillip laughed.
"Whatever, we need to go all out tonight then. There is no more school after today and we need to relax before you all get shipped off to college." Martin grabbed Toby's shoulder. "Come on man, you in?"
"We were just so stupid you know?" Brittany said, fully sobbing. "I mean, Martin had always been an idiot, but I didn't think that anything bad would happen."
Later that night the group of friends met at a park. They had to be picked up there because if any of their parents saw that Martin Powell was driving! They would have never been allowed to go. He had two DUI's already, though his father had been able to get him out of any real charges. It paid to have a lawyer as a dad.
They each took turns taking drags from the same joint and swapping around the bottle of tequila.
"This is the life," Martin said, squeezing Brittany's knee.
"Aren't we going a bit fast, Marty?" Toby said. "If we get pulled over and the police are involved again, I am fucked."
"Relax, Toby!" Martin laughed. "Britt likes it when I go fast, don't you babe?"
He started to move his hand further up her thigh as he accelerated the car. "Martin, back the fuck off! I am not into you like that."
"Really? I know when a girl is turned on babe. I can see it in your eyes, you want me! I know you like it when I go fast," he put his foot down on the gas, making the car go faster.
"Marty! Fucking pay attention to the road!" Toby yelled.
"Chill man! I've got it!" He turned back to yell at Toby. "I'm trying to get Britt here to admit she wants me. I know you do, babe," he moved his hands up further, going under her shirt.
Brittany aggressively pushed his hands off at the same time a truck suddenly turned the corner.
It was as though everything happened in slow motion. Martin gripped the steering wheel trying to stop the car from spinning out of control. All Brittany could hear was the sound of the trucks horn and all she could feel was her heart thumping in her chest. She reached out to try and grab onto something but all of a sudden the car smashed into a tree, and everything went black.
Santana had her hand over her mouth in shock. "The truck came out of nowhere, San, and Martin swears he didn't see it coming. However, I guess it's hard to see something coming when you are going one hundred miles an hour."
Brittany remembered waking up a few times in the ambulance to people calling her name and flashing lights in her eyes.
She was taken into emergency surgery and had to have an operation on her knee. One of her legs had been trapped when the car hit the tree and it caused a clean break. She also had a few broken ribs, but she didn't care about that in the moment.
Here dance career was over before it even begun, and she spent the whole night crying out for her mom.
When her parents hadn't shown up after 14 hours Brittany started to wonder where they were. She asked the nurses and they said they had called her parents hours ago and been told they were coming right in.
It wasn't until later that night when two police officers showed up in her room that she realised something was really wrong.
"I want my mom. Can you please get me my mom," she sobbed out.
"Miss Pierce, we are afraid something has happened to your family."
She felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and someone was on the floor stomping on it. All she heard through her tears was "trying to get here" and "their own car crash" and "dead instantly."
Brittany jumped out of her bead and pushed the police officers out of her room screaming at them to leave her. She collapsed onto the floor sobbing. In one night, everything she loved had been taken away from her and it was all her fault.
Brittany didn't speak to anybody at the funeral. They didn't know her parents or sister. They just worked with them. They didn't really care about her, they felt obligated to come. She didn't want their empty condolences or pity, she just wanted her family to come back to her.
Brittany didn't have any close family and it didn't matter because she could look after herself, she was eighteen. She spent every day in the cold, empty apartment where she had grown up. She slept in her baby sisters bed every single night and cried into her pillow. Her sister, Ashley, had only been seven years old. She had so much of her life left to live.
Brittany couldn't bear to look at any pictures of her family for eight months after the accident. She didn't have many left anyway as she had torn the place apart one night after a full bottle of vodka that she had stolen from her parent's liquor cabinet. She then sat there crying because no one was there to yell at her anymore for getting drunk and it wasn't even her parents liquor cabinet, it was now technically hers. She spent all night on the floor crying for her family. She just wanted her mom to hold her and tell her it would be okay, she wanted her dad to uncomfortably pat her on the shoulder and then make a silly joke and she wanted her sister to tell her stories like she always did when she was sad.
But she couldn't have that. She didn't have anyone.
Santana looked at the sobbing Brittany and her heart wrenched. No one should ever have to go through something like that. She pulled Brittany into her chest and rocked her as she sobbed. "I don't have a family anymore," she cried into Santana's shoulder. Santana didn't know how to comfort her, she wasn't prepared for how awful this was going to be.
Brittany felt guilty for putting all of this onto Santana, but she couldn't stop crying. She didn't know how hard it would be to tell Santana about her past and once she opened the floodgates she couldn't stop them. Santana continued to rock her and whisper over and over again. "You are not alone, you have us. We aren't going anywhere."
Brittany fisted Santana's shirt willing the tears to stop. She couldn't let Santana see her like this, she didn't want her to think of her as a burden. Santana had enough on her plate without all of her baggage.
Brittany thought about Jake and what Mike had said about her needing to be open with Santana. Jake hadn't been in the car accident with her and her friends. He didn't go to the same school. Brittany shut him out after her family died no wonder he didn't come to the funeral. Brittany willed herself to stop her tears, but her brain wouldn't listen. She suddenly felt a small pull on her shirt.
"Britty, cry?"
Santana looked at her tiny daughter. "Brittany will be okay, Soph, don't worry."
"No mama! Britty cry?"
Brittany lifted her head off of Santana's chest and reached around to grab Sophia pulling her in between them.
Sophia put her hands on Brittany's face and looked into her bloodshot eyes. "Why cry, Britty?"
"I'm just sad, Soph," she didn't want to tell Sophia something she wouldn't understand but Santana nodded her head to Brittany as though to tell her that Sophia would be fine knowing. "My whole family died in a car accident a few years ago," she sighed.
"Your mama?" Sophia questioned and Brittany nodded. "Your daddy?" Sophia looked curious as Brittany started crying again.
Santana pulled her tiny daughter down to lay between her and Brittany before wrapping her arm around them both. Sophia looked again at her. "S'okay, Britty. Mama and me be your family."
Brittany looked at the little girl and kissed her on the forehead before bursting into tears again.
Santana was lost for what to do. She didn't want to upset Brittany any further so she just pulled them both in, hoping that Brittany would feel protected and safe in her embrace.
Authors Note:
This was a longer chapter which I hope makes up for the lack of them. Also, I have a lot of college work to do which is unfortunately going to keep me quite occupied but I will make sure to write some every day, it might just take me longer to update xxx – HN.