This story is back and updated, too. A big thanks to my roommate! If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to write this chapter as well as I think I did. Anyway, sorry it wasn't 24 hours after posting the first chapter of my new story About Staying, but I can explain. We had to go to my roommate's parent's house to fix his laptop. So we were there for three hours or so. I apologize, I do. And as we speak, I am finishing up the next chapter for About Staying right now.
The update for The Better Side Of Me will be posted in a couple of days, if I can knock it out soon enough.
This chapter is kind of just a filler, and the next one, well I'll tell you at the end.
The next morning was a lot better than the previous one. I didn't have a single dream about the shooting, no horrible flashbacks; nada, zip, zilch. It was quite amazing, actually, how one good night out has stopped a two year strings of the same recurring nightmare; well, at least for one night, it did. I stretch my arms and my legs, feeling a slight pain from my bad leg shooting through the rest of my body. Oh, right. I remember as I stop the extraneous stretching before rolling over on my side to grab my phone off of my nightstand. Wow, it's been awhile since I actually paid any mind to my cell phone. The thing that struck me odd is that I had a new message from an unknown number.
From: 323-555-9856 (07:47)
Hey, Brittany. It's Santana, from uh, last night. I hope you don't mind, but I asked Quinn for your number. I was just wondering if you had anything planned for the day.
I press my lips together in a smile. Aww, she got a hold of me on her own free will. I think as type out a quick reply letting her know that I had absolutely nothing planned, like most of my days. I save her number and slowly climb out of bed. I take my phone off of the charger and head upstairs to see Rachel and Melanie sitting at the kitchen table, Melanie diving into a bowl of cereal.
"Morning guys!" I exclaim with a smile on my face. Rachel's eyes widen as she watches me head straight for my prescriptions. I dump all of the pills in the pill reminder container into my hand and head towards the cabinet for a glass.
"Wow, Brittany!" Rachel says excitedly, "You look rather… radiant this morning."
"That's because I am! I feel great, Rachel!" I reply as I pop the pills into my mouth and wash them down with water.
"YAY!" Melanie screams, "BRITTY IS HAPPY! BRITTY, CAN YOU WALK ME TO SCHOOL WITH MOMMY?"
"Of course, Mel. But why so late? Don't you start school at like 7am or something?" I question.
"Mommy took me to get my chicky pox shot." Melanie cringes, "She said I could go to school late because I forgots to eat breakfast."
I mouth 'oh' as I sit at the table. My phone vibrates and a smile instantly appears on my face.
From: Santana (07:58)
Sweet. I was wondering if you'd maybe want to meet up. Get to know each other better?
To: Santana (08:00)
That sounds wonderful! I just got to take Melanie to school and then I'll be free
"You've never smiled so widely at a text before. Spill the beans!" Rachel pushes.
"Okay, so Quinn or Mel may have told you," I eye Melanie and she just covers her mouth and giggles, "That yesterday, I was looking out at the ocean at the Golden Gate Bridge. I muttered something about how high up I was and a voice from behind me startled me. My leg gave out and I almost fell over the bridge, but this girl saved me."
"Girls just like saving you, don't they, Brittany?" Rachel jokes.
"That's what I thought at first, but I got a closer look at her… and well, Quinn thinks I'm crazy, but she looked JUST like the girl who saved me back in the Maine. Matching scar above the eyebrow and everything."
Rachel raises her eyebrow, probably questioning my sanity as well.
"Anyway, Quinn asked her out for drinks last night. We concluded that she may not be the girl, but the next thing I know…" I look over at the blonde girl sitting at the other end of the table, "Melanie, cover your ears real fast." I watch as she smiles and covers her ears, knowing that it's grown up talk. "The next thing I know, she has me pressed up against a wall, and she's kissing me. She wants to meet up today, so we can get to know each other better."
"That's wonderful, Brittany. Even if it's not the same girl, you need to get out more." Rachel nudges Melanie, letting her know it's okay to uncover her ears. "I'm glad that you found someone who seems to be interested in you, and I'm glad to finally see a smile on your face." Rachel cleans up Melanie's bowl and puts it in the dishwasher. "Well, girls, I'm off. Thanks for walking her to school, Brittany. And have fun with the girl today!" Rachel calls as she exits the house.
"Britty has a date with a girl, today?" Melanie questions.
"I don't know if it's a date, Monkey." I sure hope so, though.
XXXXXXXX
It's roughly 8:45 when I return home from dropping Melanie off at school. Santana had agreed to come over to the apartment, seeing as I've had an issue with driving ever since the shooting. It may also be due to the fact that I have a Mazda SPEED3 Hatchback which is a 6-speed, manual transmission; and once you've had surgery on the leg you kind need for the clutch, driving isn't that much of an option.
I was just glad Santana understood, however, I'm sure she'll want to ask me questions about it; and I don't know if I'm ready to tell her what happened.
I hear a knock on the door and I launch myself off of the couch to go open it. I'm met with the mocha brown eyes of Santana, and she greets me with a smile.
"Hey, Santana." I breathe out as I lead her into my apartment. She follows suit and smiles.
"Hey, Brittany." She replies, "It's really "homey" in here." She mentions.
"Yeah, well when you live with a soon to be married couple, it always feels more like a home than anything." I show her the way to the staircase of the basement. "I figured we could just go down to my room, watch a movie, and talk. Get to know each other?"
"Sounds perfect." Santana says sweetly as she follows me down the staircase and into my room. "Jesus Christ, your room is huge." She muses.
"It's the smallest room in the house, too." I deadpan. "I didn't really get the option, though. Melanie had so many toys. I think it just looks big because I don't have much stuff." I look around my immaculately clean room. I really didn't have much. Most of my clothes were in the closet, and around my room I had a desk, an entertainment stand, and my bed.
"It's still huge, at least compared to the room I have at my sister's place." Santana walks over to the edge of my bed and sits, crossing her legs. "So what are we going to watch?"
"Well, what's your favorite movie? When you injure your leg and are cooped up in your room for months on end, you start to grow a collection." I joke, opening up my entertainment stand's doors and revealing hundreds of movies.
"Do you have Girl, Interrupted?" She questions. "That's one of my favorite movies."
"That I do!" I exclaim happily as I point my finger at all of the DVD cases, trying find my movies that were began with 'G'. I pin down the movie and yank it out of the stack, gently. I pop open my Xbox and set the disk in the tray, closing it and standing up slowly to turn on my TV on. I pace back to the edge of my bed where Santana was sitting. "You know, you can lean against the wall, I feel like it'd be more comfortable."
"I didn't know if you wanted me to take my shoes off or not before I climbed all over your bed." She chuckles. God, she's cute.
"Shoes are fine, that's what the comforter is for anyway. I don't even sleep with it on my bed." She nods and scoots her onto my bed and leans her back against the wall.
XXXXXXX
We're most silent during the whole movie, except for quoting lines every so often and the small chit chat we made about where we grew up and what we used to do in college. Towards the end of the movie, however, Santana speaks up, and asks a more personal question.
"What happened to your leg?" Oh shit. I knew this was coming, I just didn't want to have to come up with an answer right now.
"Honestly?" I start, "I'm not too comfortable talking about it, yet. It was two years ago. And it happened up in Maine. I'll tell you, Santana, I will. I'm just not ready."
"It's fine, Brittany. No pressure. I totally understand." Santana smiles at me and I swear to God, I melt inside. "But it's cute. We kind of have matching scars on our foreheads." She points to the one on mine, where the sutures had gone when my head hit the ground.
"Mine's a little bigger than that little one you got next to your eyebrow," I mention, jokingly.
"Well, I have one under all of my bangs, from my accident or whatever. It's a lot bigger than yours, though. It goes all the way towards the middle of my skull." I cringe at the thought. I bet that was the impact of her hitting the chairs behind me, or maybe even the next row of tables.
"I'm sorry about your accident." I say, brushing her bangs away from her forehead and gently pressing my lips against the scar. She shivers at the touch, and I immediately pull away.
"It's okay, like I said, it's nothing to remember." She turns to look at me, her brown orbs growing darker. I watch as she barely licks her lips and her eyes are still locked on mine. "I'm glad that I met you, Brittany."
"I'm glad I met you, too, Sant-" but before I could finish saying her name, her lips are on mine, and I can feel her tugging my shirt, pulling me on top of her.
I kind of like this side of Santana. The aggressive and sexy side of her, that is. She deepens the kiss, her tongue gently slides past my lower lip and into my mouth. I groan at the feeling and my hands move to cup her face while hers move to my stomach.
Her hands trail up my sides and for a split second, I couldn't feel her hand on the left side of my body; and that's when it struck. I froze and my body tensed on top of her.
She pulls away and instantly I knew she was going to ask what was wrong, or where the scar on my side came from, but the sound of a cell phone ringing echoes throughout my room.
"Fuck," She mutters, "it's my work, I can already tell by that God awful ringtone." I gently roll off of her and she sits up, grabbing her phone from her hoodie pocket and answers it. I zone out for a couple of minutes and I'm brought back to reality when I feel Santana gently tapping me on the shoulder. "Britt, I'm sorry to cut our hanging out so short, but I got called into work."
I frown, but I'm also thankful because it's less time she has to ask me about all of these scars that I have. These scars that remind me of every night I couldn't sleep, every night that I was woken up by the sound of gunfire in my dreams.
We both get up off of the bed and head upstairs. She turns to face me when we're at my front door and her eyes search mine for answers. I know the questions that they're asking and I know the answers she's looking for.
"The scars…" I start before she leaves, "The scars on my forehead, side, and the injury to my leg. They all happened when I was in college."
"What happened, Brittany? Did someone do this to you?" Santana frantically asks.
"Yeah… and the reason I'm telling you, is because you remind me of this girl in my Psychology class." I bite my lower lip and I fear what she's going to say next.
"This doesn't sound like it's going to end well… Did she hurt you?" Santana gulps. I move closer to Santana and place my hands in hers. "What was her name? I'll hurt her back." Santana's face is flooded with concern, and I knew that if I didn't answer her soon, I'd be asking for a gunfire (HA. HA) of questions to be unloaded at me.
"No, she didn't hurt me. I never knew her name. All I know is that if it weren't for this girl, I'd probably be dead. She… she saved me."
Next chapter will feature a changed POV, just for the sake of the story. AND it will reveal the truth. Is Santana really the girl who saved Brittany? Or was Brittany's head injury starting to catch up and were her eyes just playing tricks on her?
STAY TUNED.