Chapter 3
Turns out the next time Brittany will see the woman is a week from that day. She has been extremely sick and Rachel did not let her out of the apartment. She tries to sneak out once in a while but Rachel seems to know all her techniques. She even makes Tina watch her detective TV shows at their living room just so she can guard the front door. Brittany is miserable. She knows that Rachel has the best intentions but man Brittany is still not happy about her situation.
That is why, as soon as she receives the green light to go back out to the world, she immediately rides the TARC and goes to school. That afternoon she rides the TARC and purposely sits beside the woman. Brittany fidgets on her chair because she is back to not knowing how to break the silence.
"I don't get headaches." The person beside her shares. Brittany snaps her head to her right thus encouraging the other woman to talk. "I've been reading inside moving cars ever since I was a kid, so no I don't get headaches."
Brittany grins. The cheerleader is talking to her! Not only talking but she is following up on Brittany's ramble from a week ago! Her heart soars- the woman remembers her!
"So do you go on lots of road trips too?" Brittany asks. She sees the woman's shoulder relax. She realizes how nervous she must be for starting their conversation. If it is possible, Brittany's smile grows bigger.
"Yea, I've been everywhere." And so their conversation starts. They talk about the crowd at New York City, the wonders of Niagara Falls, the museums at Washington DC. Their conversation is going smoothly. Brittany is not use to click with someone instantly. The way the woman gets her dry humor and understands her metaphors… Some people (outside her family and close friends of course) usually give her a "what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about" glance and yet the person she's talking to right now not even once gave her that glance. Brittany is amazed at how easy it is to talk to a complete stranger about her childhood.
The woman makes a quick glance outside the window; her smile disappears and is replaced by a frown. "My stop is coming up." The words are said in a somber tone. It sounds like a child who wakes up early morning just to find out that Santa forgot to leave him gifts.
"I know." Brittany replies.
The woman gives her a small smile and shrugs her shoulder.
"Eastern Parkway."
"See you around-?" The words are uttered with hesitation.
"Brittany. The name is Brittany. And of course!" Brittany answers with conviction.
She puts her kindle inside her bag, stands up and turns around.
"Wait!" Brittany exclaims. "What's your name?"
The cheerleader turns and gives her a bigger smile. "Santana." Then she turns and walks out the door.
"Santana," Brittany repeats, a smile slowly forms on her face. "Santana." Brittany giggles. She has a name to put with the perfect face and she just feels so giddy about it. "Santana..." If the rewards for her feeling better are great days like this, she wouldn't mind being sick again.
Nothing can ruin Brittany's great day. No, not even watching a teenage boy put his booger under the TARC seat.
vvvvv
Brittany is a sad panda. She thinks she failed one of her midterm test. If she is right, then it will completely stop her from graduating in May. Since she is not going to graduate in May then all her scholarships will end and she will have to pay out of her pocket. She is not rich and she definitely doesn't have five thousand dollars to spare, so she will have to drop out. When she drops out she will be force to go back to Lima, Ohio, live at her parents' house and work at Breadstix. If she goes back to Ohio, then she can't get to know Santana anymore and she will lose her chance of trying to win her affection. So yes, Brittany is a sad sad panda.
That is why when Santana gives Brittany a smile; she completely misses it and just slumps at her old chair across Santana. Santana's smile falters but she notices how distraught the blonde looks. "Hi Brittany."
The voice startles Brittany out of her thoughts and immediately locks eyes with Santana. "Hi" She replies to the greeting, sadness clings to her voice.
Santana moves at the seat beside Brittany, so that they wouldn't have to raise their voices while talking to each other. Brittany appreciates the gesture. "Long day?" Santana inquires.
"I think I failed one of my midterm tests. Now I'm a sad little panda."
"Aw," Santana coos. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yea. I studied hard for it too. But the teacher placed questions that she didn't even discuss in class. So I was not sure which answer to pick."
"That sucks."
"I know." Brittany says with a resigned tone.
Santana's forehead crinkles and she appears to be deep in thought. Silence engulfs them and all they can hear are chatters from other passengers and the sound of the bus' engine.
"Are you free the rest of the day?" Santana asks.
"Mhm." She answers.
"Do you wanna hang out with me for the rest of the day? It is only 3pm after all."
Brittany's face turns to Santana and she sees that the offer is serious. She couldn't believe her luck! Her crush just asked her to hang out for the rest of the day!
"I mean if you don't mind spending time with a total stranger. I completely understand if you don't want to or-"Santana rambles on and Brittany's giggling stops her.
"Oh. Sorry." Santana finally says.
Brittany continuous to giggle; Then she glances at Santana and giggles some more. "Now I understand why you told me I was cute when I rambled the first time I tried to talk to you!" Santana feels her face heat up from the indirect compliment and all she can do is huff to hide her embarrassment.
" You're not a stranger silly! You're Santana and we're friends!" Brittany enthusiastically shares and Santana is taken aback from the simplicity, yet truth from the blonde's words. If Puck sees how she's acting around Brittany, he will definitely laugh and will say that Santana is hopeless. They just officially talked yesterday and yet she is willing to do anything just to cheer up Brittany. She has seen the blonde around. At first she stopped herself from returning the sweet smiles that were sent her way but as the days pass and the blonde didn't stop smiling at her. Santana's guard broke down and she just had to smile back.
"So you want to?" Santana asks again.
"My pleasure!" Brittany replies with a huge grin.
vvvv
"Eastern Parkway." Calls the bus driver.
"Do you mind if we get out here?" Brittany nods and follows Santana towards the door. When she passes by booger boy, she catches a glimpse of confusion on his face. She can't blame him, this is not Brittany's usual stop and she is leaving with a super sexy woman. Brittany thinks that he's jealous because Brittany is the one leaving with the girl and not him.
Brittany 2, Creepy booger boy 0
"Do you mind if we drop by my apartment really quick? I wouldn't want to carry my stuff, and yours looks heavier than mine." Brittany shrugs and appears nonchalant but in her head she couldn't help but perform a victory fist pump. Her fear about failing one of her major exams is slowly being push out of her mind and she has to thank Santana for the distraction. She lives at an area close to Cherokee Park, which is one of the best parks at Louisville. Brittany gawks when they stop in front of a big house.
Santana laughs at her reaction. "It's not mine," Santana explains, "They have 4 rooms. Me and my friends share the rent." Santana opens the door and welcomes Brittany in. "Sorry for the mess."
Brittany laughs at Santana's embarrassment. "This is nothing compared to my apartment. I share it with my high school friends too." Brittany is lead to the living room where they both drop off their things.
"Do you want a tour?" Santana offers. And so tour they did. Santana's house is divided into two parts, the main level and the 2nd floor. Apparently Santana and her "bitchy" best friend, (Santana's words not hers) Quinn lives at the main level while the boys, Puck and Finn, occupy the 2nd level. They walk around the main level but Santana says that they shouldn't go to the boy's area unless they want to "catch weird creepy diseases" from the mess upstairs.
"You have a nice house." Brittany compliments as they walk out the front door.
"Yea, though I still don't know if I'm staying at Louisville after a graduate."
"I have the same dilemma. When do you graduate?"
"This coming May, so one more after this semester."
"Same here!"
"Yay!" Santana turns towards her and raises her hand. "High five me!"
Brittany laughs at Santana's silliness and gives her a five.
"So where are you taking me, my kidnapper?" Brittany jokes.
"Actually I have no idea what to do." Brittany gave Santana a confuse look.
"I know, but we'll wing it. How 'bout for now we'll go Bardstown Roading?"
Brittany gives Santana an even more confuse look. "Bardstown Roading?" Brittany's head comes up with different things of what those words could mean.
Santana laughs at Brittany's facial expressions and decided to finally tell her what it means. Turns out, to Brittany's surprise, Bardstown Roading just means strolling around a long street that has different small shops. And it's literally right around the corner from Santana's apartment. So that's exactly what they did. They walk and stop to check out independent stores and Brittany even finds out shops that she's sure she'll be using in the future ( It's called Books and Music Exchange and Brittany is sure that Sam and Tina will love the things that they sell at this place).
vvvvv
As they walk, they learn more facts about each other. Brittany finds out that Santana is working on her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Apparently she is not sure if she wants to go straight for a Master's degree or to get some work experience first. She finds out that Santana knows how to play the piano since her parents insisted on making her take piano lessons when she was a kid (Their talk about music was spurred on when they passed by Doo Wop Shop). She is an only child and she has known her housemates since she was in kindergarten. She's from Indianapolis and she chose Louisville because they offered her and Quinn full ride scholarship if they come to cheer for the school. "I'd rather cheer for a college that actually has a good sports team, than be stuck at a no-name school in the middle of nowhere town." Santana says. Brittany also notices that Santana likes stripe dresses (Santana ended up buying a couple of dresses and a pair of running shoes. Turns out some of the shops are consignment stores and some of the clothes they sell are cheap.)
Brittany shares that she is taking classes to obtain a Bachelor of Journalism degree. She tells Santana about her quirky but adorable little sister and her loving parents. Brittany has a cat named Lord Tubbington and that he is part of cat gang (Santana smiles at the adorableness that is Brittany Pierce.) She claims that she doesn't know how to play any instrument but she is pretty good at keeping up with the beat while dancing. Rachel, Sam and Tina came up at the conversation about the room mates. She chose Louisville because it's close but not too close to her hometown. She tells her about the full ride scholarship that she won after writing an article that's titled "Who cares?" She promises Santana that she'll share the article to her one day. Brittany buys a frozen yogurt from Ce Fiore and she gets a taro bubble tea for Santana. (Brittany also bought a couple of cute fuzzy hats; she thinks it's best to prepare early for winter season).
Brittany can finally say that her Things Brittany knows about mysterious girl Santana list is full and will need 10 more pages.
vvvvv
When they finally feel tired from all the walking, both decide that it is time to grab dinner. The closest restaurant at their location at that time is Café Mimosa.
"Excuse me." Santana stops the waiter. "I asked for the sweet and sour sauce to be place on the side, not with the chicken." A disappointed tone is evident in Santana's voice and her eyes are sharp, unapologetic and hard. Brittany notices how beautiful and open Santana's eyes are. She then decides that she needs to start looking at things that are deeper than the surface.
"I'm so sorry Ma'am, I'll get a replacement." The waiter apologizes.
When the waiter is gone, Santana realizes how she acted and looks at Brittany to gage her response.
Brittany's smile doesn't falter. "I'm sorry," says Santana.
Brittany's right eyebrow rises. "Why are you apologizing San?" Santana used to say that ethnic people don't blush, but judging from the way her face feels, she is 100% sure that this is what blushing is like. Brittany just took her blushing virginity!
"Because I was being bitchy?" Santana offers.
Brittany keeps the smile but senses that whatever she's going to say next can either make or break whatever chemistry they have. She reaches out and holds Santana's hand.
"You don't have to apologize for stating the truth Santana."
Santana's smile beams, encouraging Brittany. "You keep it real and you're hilarious."
Santana laughs and gives Brittany a smile that she's never seen before. The cheerleader's lips are stretch from side-to-side, cheeks raises, dimples appear, crinkles are visible around her softened eyes. It's like Brittany is seeing Santana's real smile for the first time and now that she knows how it looks and its effect on her, she definitely will like to see it again.
"You're so smart." Santana compliments back.
"No I'm not, I just failed a test remember?"
"There are greater things in life than school exams, and you are truly smart."
"How would you know? This is the first time we hanged-out." Brittany retorts, her personal insecurities showing itself. She also takes her hand away from Santana, retracting it closer to her body.
Santana proceeds with confidence but missing Brittany's warm hand. "Because you know people Brittany, you knew that Rachel needed someone to hold her when she broke up with her arrogant boyfriend. You know that even though Tina wears black most of the time, she actually likes lighter colors such as blue and lavender. You know that Sam is insecure about himself because of his nerdiness."
Brittany is astonished. "Wow, you really listened to all my ranting."
Santana giggles. "Here's another one. You knew when it was the right time to approach me. You knew immediately that I don't trust strangers really easily therefore you kept giving me this cute smile of yours to wear down my defenses. You're a genius Brittany."
Brittany has never been speechless in her entire life. Sure, there was a time when she didn't speak because she thought she had super powers. Therefore she tried communicating with people directly from her brain to theirs. (Turns out only Lord Tubbington can understand her ESP and so she stopped trying it on humans.) Anyway, Brittany is utterly speechless.
"Say something?" Santana whispers, not sure if she crossed a line from saying all the things she said.
"Thank you," is the only thing that Brittany can come up with to show her appreciation.
"Miss, here's your sweet and sour chicken with sauce on the side. We're very sorry for our mistake, please enjoy, and your meal is in the house." The waiter sputters out, his words almost incomprehensible. "Is there anything else I can do for you at this time?" He nervously asks.
"We're fine." Brittany replies. Putting him out of misery and allowing him to leave.
Their topic switches to a lighter oneand they continue to enjoy their meal.
VVVVV
Afterwards, it was time to head back to Santana's apartment. Brittany grabs her things and thanks Santana for making her day "much much much x100 much better."
When Brittany rides the 9pm bus, she is grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.
She takes out a piece of paper, memorizing its content.
Brittany has the number of one Santana Lopez!
Score!
