"Three minutes, Brittany," Sugar said with a shake of her head. "The meeting starts in three minutes and you're just now getting here?"

Brittany tried not to roll her eyes as she headed through the long hallway towards where Sugar was standing outside the door of a conference room. So, she got a late start that morning. It happens to everyone.

"Hello to you, too," Brittany mumbled, stopping in front of Sugar. With a sigh, she asked, "So, who are we meeting with, anyway? And please tell me it's not one those creepy geezers that can never stop checking us out."

"I mean, if you hadn't ditched last night's meeting, you'd know," Sugar shot her a glare, and this time, Brittany did roll her eyes. "But, no. It's not one of those old dogs."

"Then who?"

Sugar was quiet for a second (probably for dramatic effect, because she was just one of those people) before a sly grin appeared on her face and she said, "J.T Williams."

Brittany's face went blank and her mouth dropped open. "J– J.T... Williams," she stammered. Clearly, she must not have heard correctly. "Are you– are you serious?"

A wide smile appeared on Sugar's face and she nodded furiously. "Yes! I, Sugar fucking Motta, scored you a meeting with J.T Williams," she exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "After you left, one of the guys at the meeting last night mentioned that he knew J.T's contact info and, of course, I convinced him to give it to me. Then, I called him and worked my Motta Magic and got him to agree to a meeting. Turns out he had an open spot on his schedule for today, how freaking lucky is that!"

Brittany stared at Sugar with wide eyes, completely stunned. "You... you actually... oh my god, Sugar, I could hug you!" She cheered.

"Shh, keep your voice down," Sugar hushed her. Then in afterthought, she said, "And, I know, I'm awesome, aren't I?"

"Oh my god," Brittany breathed. She couldn't believe this. "J.T Williams is behind that door? Then, what the hell are we still doing out here?"

"You're right, we should totally get in there," Sugar agreed. "Now, remember, look as professional as you can, let me do the talking, be respectful, and don't forget to thank him for his time."

Brittany felt some of her excitement deflate. Of course, even after she had called Sugar out last night about how she was never able to speak, she'd still be silenced yet again.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, "I know how these meetings work."

"Good," Sugar chirped, patting Brittany on the arm. "Now, let's get our cute asses in there and not make Mr. Williams regret seeing us."

Santana awoke with a start at the sound of someone pounding avidly on her door.

"The hell... " she mumbled with a yawn. She rubbed at her eyes, then pulled her blanket over her head. "Go away," she shouted to the best of her abilities due to her dry, sleepy voice at whoever it was knocking on her door. Although, she had a pretty good idea who it was.

Her suspicions were proven correct when she heard Mercedes's voice shout from the other side of the door, "Santana, if you don't open this door and quit acting like a five year old." Her voice was tinged with warning but Santana was too tired to care.

The knocking continued, but Santana ignored it. Then, there was a pause, followed by the door knob jiggling. And suddenly, the door to Santana's apartment flew open and Mercedes stepped in.

Santana pushed the blanket off of her and glared up at Mercedes. "I knew I shouldn't have told you where I hid the spare key."

Mercedes rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her, then made her way to Santana's bed.

"What are you doing?" Mercedes asked, stopping at the edge of Santana's bed. "Normally, by now I would've gotten about five texts from you complaining about something at the recording studio, but you haven't contacted me at all since last night so I figured something was wrong. Come on, what's up, why aren't you at work?"

Santana simply shrugged her shoulders and rolled over on her side "Didn't feel like it."

"Santana, you never miss work," Mercedes pointed out, sounding concerned. "You know, you said you wanted to always make a good impression so your bosses would take you seriously, so you always make sure you're there, bright and early."

Santana stayed still and in a dry tone, she said, "I guess today's the exception."

Mercedes stared at her blankly for a moment before a thought came to mind. "Oh my god, you're hungover, aren't you?"

When Santana didn't respond, Mercedes sighed and shook her head. "Santana, you never get drunk during the week. You always save that for your 'wasted weekends'."

Santana groaned and finally pushed herself off her mattress to sit up.

"Look, I'm not hungover, okay?" She snapped. "Sure, I may have had a glass of wine or two, but I'm fine."

Mercedes raised an eyebrow. "Then, you mind explaining what's up with you? I know you're not a morning person, but you're far more crabbier than usual. Jesus, who fucked you up?"

"Nobody fucked me up, alright?" Santana grumbled. Then with a grimace, she added, "Nobody fucked me at all."

Mercedes gave her a questioning look before it dawned on her. "Ohh," she said with a slow nod. "Is this about that blind date thing? Is that it? You're seriously upset that you didn't find a chick to screw around with?"

Santana threw her blankets to the side and crawled out of bed, narrowing her eyes at Mercedes once she was on her feet. "Don't mock me, alright, because it's honestly your fault that I got involved in all of this," she sneered, brushing past Mercedes to head towards her kitchen.

"I wasn't mocking you, and got you involved in all of what?" Mercedes questioned, following behind Santana.

"Ugh, that stupid blind date bullshit," Santana fumed, opening a cupboard to grab a cup, then slammed it back shut.

Mercedes watched as she angrily sauntered towards the sink and turned on the faucet to fill the cup with water. "Okay, so you didn't meet anyone that interested you. Alright, I just thought you could at least have a little fun, but I'm sorry you didn't meet someone you liked."

Santana took a long sip from her cup, then set it on the counter. She glanced at Mercedes and saw that she had a genuine, apologetic look on her face. Santana exhaled and felt her body soften. Shouting at her friend was going to get her nowhere, even if she was frustrated.

So, in a softer voice, Santana said, "That's just it. The exact opposite happened."

"Huh?" Mercedes asked, confused but grateful Santana had calmed down a bit.

Santana turned around and leaned back against the counter, wrapping her arms around her torso. "I did meet someone I liked," she said in the quietest voice.

She sounded as if she had just revealed a secret that she hadn't wanted anyone to find out. Which made sense. Santana was never one to openly discuss her feelings.

"Okay," Mercedes nodded. "So, you met someone, that's good. Then, why are you so upset?"

Santana let out an angry huff then raised her voice once again to shout, "Because I liked her and I was sure she liked me too, but next thing I know, she's fucking with my head!"

"Okay, can we go back to your quiet voice, please?" Mercedes asked, holding a hand up. "And fucked with your head, how?"

Santana pushed herself off the counter and walked out of the kitchen, nudging her head towards the living room so Mercedes would follow. Mercedes did so, and took a place on the small couch where Santana had already planted herself down on.

Mercedes leaned back into the couch cushions and turned to Santana. "Spill," she said.

"Alright," Santana sighed. "So, basically, on the blind date, I meet this girl called B."

"B?" Mercedes raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, B," Santana repeated. "Now, I knew B wasn't her full name, but y'know, a bunch of people don't give their full names to strangers, so I didn't question it. Anyways, you know how we were all supposed to be blindfolded? Well, B didn't have a blindfold because the Berries forgot to give her one or whatever. So, I was gonna take mine off to make things fair and all, but she told me to keep it on."

"What? Hold up," Mercedes interrupted, "She didn't give you her full name, and then she told you to keep your blindfold on even though she didn't have one? That's... weird and very low-key sketchy."

Santana shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I thought so too, but it didn't bother me that much, so I just kept the mask on and moved on. Then, we started talking and... I wasn't expecting it, but we were totally hitting it off. We were asking each other questions and getting to know one another, we were making each other laugh and having a good time. It was like it was a real date. And I haven't been on a real date in forever."

Even though she knew Santana was upset, Mercedes just couldn't stop herself and cooed, "Aww, that's so cute. Look at you being such a softie, Lopez."

Santana shot her a glare and said, "Shut up. Yeah, sure, I was enjoying myself and actually liked the girl. But then, of course, things got weird."

"How?" Mercedes asked, growing more curious.

"Well, she had just finished telling me this story about when she was in high school," Santana told her, "and then I said some stuff to her and I guess she liked what I said because... well, next thing I know, she's kissing me."

Mercedes jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "For real? She kissed you?"

"Yep," Santana nodded. "Like, full on, making out in the back of the café."

"Damn," Mercedes exclaimed, now full of excitement. "Okay, now you've got me officially invested in this story, please continue."

Santana shook her head. "Well, there's not much else that I have to say except, after she kissed me, she started to totally freak out."

"What?" Mercedes face dropped. "She kissed you, but she freaked out?"

"Uh-huh, and not only did she freak, but she bailed." Santana said, trying her best not to shout again.

Mercedes looked at Santana as if she had just heard the biggest scandal all month. "Girl, are you serious?"

"Yes!" Santana threw her hands up, still beyond confused as to why B had done that. "And I have no idea why! She didn't give me an explanation or anything, she just said she was sorry and she just ran off. And let me remind you, I couldn't see shit because of that stupid blindfold, and by the time I had gotten it off, she was already gone."

"So, you didn't see what she looked like?" Mercedes asked.

"Nope," Santana shook her head once more. "I didn't even get one peek of her before she had vanished and I was stuck at the café by myself."

"Wow. That's... something," Mercedes concluded. "Now I see what you mean when you said she fucked with your head."

"Exactly," Santana sighed.

After B had left, she hadn't stuck around at the café much longer and had gone home. Like she had told Mercedes, she had had a bit of wine, but then put it away, because it was true, she never got drunk during the week. So, she just curled up in bed and was left alone with her confusion and frustration that B had brought upon her.

"You know," Santana heard Mercedes begin to say, "I wouldn't be surprised if that girl wasn't even who she said she was. Maybe she was, like, a catfish or something."

Santana would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about that possibility. However, she disagreed. "Nah. She just seemed too genuine to be trying to trick me or whatever, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on that one."

"I'm just saying, it's weird for someone to just leave without a trace like that," Mercedes said.

"Um, well... " Santana trailed off as she remembered something. "She didn't completely leave without a trace."

Mercedes looked at Santana expectantly, waiting for her to go on.

"She forgot her jacket behind when she ran off," Santana said, looking towards her door. Mercedes followed her gaze and saw the leather jacket hanging from Santana's coat rack that she hadn't noticed when she walked in.

"That's her jacket?" Mercedes asked. "And, you took it? Isn't that, like, stealing?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "It's not like I wanna keep it for myself. I mean, if I ever find out who the hell she is, I'll give it back to her."

"Right," Mercedes said, standing up from the couch. Before Santana could ask what she was doing, Mercedes had walked over to the coat rack and grabbed the jacket, holding it out in front of her. She studied it in her hands and said, "Dang, this is really nice. She must be making quite the pretty penny to be able to afford this."

"Well, I wouldn't know," Santana remarked. "I mean, I asked her where she worked, but she didn't answer."

"Weird," Mercedes said under her breath. She continued staring at it before she threw it over her arm and stuck her hand in one of the pockets.

Santana's face scrunched up in confusion. "Uh, Mercedes, what are you doing?"

Mercedes shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to be a creepy snooper, but did you check to see if there was something in the pockets that could maybe give you an idea as to who this girl is?"

"I... okay, no, that thought slipped my mind," Santana admitted as Mercedes moved from one pocket to another. "But, don't you think going through someone else's pockets is kinda weir– "

"Hey, there's something in this one," Mercedes interrupted, pulling out a small piece of paper.

"What? What is it?" Santana questioned, shooting up to her feet and rushing to stand in front of Mercedes, completely forgetting about the other thing she had been saying.

Mercedes squinted her eyes at the paper. "It just says 'stop by drug store and pick up more gum'."

Santana felt her body deflate. Well, that was a buzzkill. She was about to say so as well, before her eyes caught something. On the other side of the paper, she could make out small, printed writing.

"'Cedes, there's something on the other side," She pointed out.

Mercedes flipped the paper over and her eyes traveled over the words Santana had seen.

"It's a business card," Mercedes said. "I'm pretty sure this is from one of those fancy office buildings downtown. Look, there's an address."

She handed it over to Santana who gazed down at it, making out the numbers and letters of the address. "Yeah... "

Santana bit her lip as multiple questions formed in her head. Was this where B worked? And if so, why had she avoided the question when Santana had asked? Was there something about this office building that made B not want to speak about it? Suddenly, Santana was far more confused than she had been before.

"What are you thinking?" Mercedes's voice snapped Santana out of her thoughts.

"What?" The word fell out of Santana's mouth.

"Come on, I know something is going on in your head," Mercedes tilted her head to the side, knowingly. "What is it?"

Santana didn't answer and glanced back down at the paper in her hands.

Mercedes stared at her for a second then said, "You totally wanna go to that address, don't you?"

Santana's head sprung up. "What, n– no, I don't wanna go there," she said, though unconvincingly.

Mercedes pursed her lips, seeing right through her. "Uh-huh, right. You mean to tell me you seriously don't wanna find this girl who you said you totally hit it off with? I mean, don't you wanna find out why she left you the way she did?"

Santana hesitated. "Well... okay, yeah, I do wanna do that, but seriously? Don't you think going to this address and trying to track this girl down is a tad bit stalkerish? I dunno, maybe she just left because she wasn't that interested in me."

"Santana, come on!" Mercedes cried. "You said you and this girl spent the whole time getting to know each other, making each other laugh, and then she kissed you. People don't do that if they're not interested."

Santana stared off to the side and thought about Mercedes's words. B had seemed to like her. In fact, the girl had even said so. She thought about how nervous B had sounded after they had kissed, like a kid who was scared they were about to get in trouble with their parents. Maybe Santana hadn't been the problem.

"Okay... I guess you have a point," she said, looking back at Mercedes.

"You're damn right, I do," Mercedes said firmly. "So? You wanna do this?"

"I... I don't know," Santana sighed. What if she went around, searching for this girl and didn't find her? Then she'd be yet another pathetic, hopeless romantic. And she had way too much street cred for that.

"Santana, come on, what's holding you back?" Mercedes questioned. "You got an address. That's, like, your first clue to finding her. For all you know, this B chick could be there right now."

"Okay, even if she is, what makes you think I could find her?" Santana asked. "I don't know what she looks like, I don't know her real name. I have basically nothing to go off of."

Mercedes sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Well... you gotta start somewhere," she said, looking down at the paper.

Santana remained quiet and looked down at the paper as well. Truth was, she did want to see B again. If anything, just for an explanation on why she had bailed on her.

Santana let out a breath and looked back up at Mercedes as she said, "You really think I should try to find her?"

Mercedes softened. "Look, do you like this girl? Like, based off of last night, and minus her running off, do you honestly like her?"

It only took Santana a second to gather an answer. "Yes," she breathed.

Mercedes smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Then, yes, I think you should try to find her.

Santana looked down at the business card one last time before a small laugh left her lips.

"Alright, what the hell, I'll go for it," she grinned.

Mercedes squealed and hopped up and down, clapping her hands together. "Yes! Thank god!"

Santana snorted at her excitement. "Okay, maybe you should calm down," she told her friend.

"No way, this is so cool," Mercedes cheered. "You're actually gonna go on a search to try and find this girl you like. You know, this kinda reminds me of that movie I took you to see the other week."

Santana scrunched her nose up. "Huh? What, you mean that movie about towns made outta paper? 'Cedes, that was so lame."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Nevermind that. But still, you gotta admit this is kinda romantic, especially for you."

Santana just shrugged in response.

Yes, she was aware that she was actually about to go on some trek to try and find B. If something like this had happened with anyone else, Santana would've just moved on and hooked up with some other girl, making no effort to remember the other one.

But, there was something about B that was different. Santana could feel it when they had been talking, and she especially felt it when they had kissed. There was just something about that girl that made Santana want to get up and go find her.

And, god, she hoped she did.

Brittany remained still in her chair, trying to come off as calm and collected as she could, despite the fact that her insides were screaming. The meeting with Mr. Williams was on the brink of conclusion after he had looked down at his watch and stated that he had another important place to be soon.

Sugar was taking the rest of the time to finish up with some closing statements. Even though Brittany was upset that the only thing she had even really gotten to say was her name when she introduced herself and a few responses to some questions J.T had thrown her, she still had to give Sugar props for being one hell of a speaker on her own.

Brittany hadn't realized she had zoned out a bit until she heard Sugar say, "Well, I guess we'll let you get going, now. It was an honor speaking with you today. Hopefully, you'll take some of the things we talked about into consideration, and thank you for your time."

Brittany realized that both Sugar and Mr. Williams were standing up and shaking hands and she knew she had to do the same.

She stood up just as the man had turned to her with his hand outreached. Brittany shook his hand and repeated the sentiments Sugar had said, then sent him a friendly smile which he returned before he pulled away and looked between her and Sugar.

"I'll have to say," Mr. Williams began with a satisfied look on his face, "I get called into meetings about a dozen times a week, but this may be one of the rare times I'm not left feeling like I wasted my time."

Brittany could feel her heart begin to pound in her chest. She glanced at Sugar and knew she could feel the same way.

"Of course, I'll have to learn more about you," the man continued, sending Brittany a look, then back to Sugar, "but I admit, I am impressed with what I've heard. I'll have my people get in touch and we could schedule another meeting, sometime soon. Who knows, you might even see a deal coming your way."

At that, Brittany felt like her knees were going to give out. She couldn't believe it. She wanted to smile, jump for joy, and thank Mr. Williams a hundred times over, but she knew she had to remain professional.

With another smile and a wink, the man headed out of the conference room, closing the door behind him, leaving Brittany and Sugar alone.

They waited a total of five seconds before it was as if a bomb had gone off.

"Oh my god!" They both squealed, not even bothering to try and contain themselves.

"J.T Williams was impressed!"

"J.T Williams wants to have another meeting!"

"J.T Williams hinted at making a deal!"

They continued raving over J.T Williams this and J.T Williams that, jumping up and down, bouncing off the walls ecstaticly, like two children who were hopped up on a month's worth of candy.

They continued to express their happiness and excitement until it literally wore them out.

Now, Brittany was leaning up against a wall, heart beating fast and breathing heavy while Sugar was over in her chair, leaning forward with her face in her hands.

"I don't even know what to say," Brittany said, voice hoarse from all the cheering she had done. "I mean... was that meeting even real? Am I awake right now, am I dreaming?"

"You bet your ass it was real," Sugar assured her and raised her head up to look at her. "Britt, can you believe this?"

Brittany shook her head. "No, I... I honestly can't."

"Well, you better start believing it," Sugar said, standing up. "You and I have both worked our asses off for something like this. Okay, we have the fucking golden ticket of opportunities and we cannot let Willy Wonka down, alright? We can't screw this up."

"Believe me, I wouldn't screw this up if my life depended on it," Brittany replied.

Sugar nodded. "Good. Now, let's get out of here, you know how pissy some of these people get when we overextend our stay."

"Right," Brittany said, pushing herself up off the wall.

Together, her and Sugar left the conference room and headed down the hallway.

They had been walking for a minute when Sugar said, "You know, I think our good news calls for a little celebration. There's this really nice, fancy bar about ten minutes away from my house. Wanna go tonight?"

Brittany shrugged. "Alright, sure."

"Cool," Sugar grinned. Then, in afterthought, she added, "And just promise me you won't get wasted and end up making out with some random dude or anything. Remember, we gotta always make good impressions, and I'm not being anyone's third wheel."

Brittany felt her stomach flip at Sugar's words. "Don't worry about it," she mumbled in response, trying to play it cool so Sugar wouldn't think she had been bothered by her statement.

But the truth was, Brittany had been bothered because Sugar's statement had only reminded her of what she had done last night. No, she may not have been drunk, and no it may not have been with a dude, but Brittany had definitely made out with someone last night.

Once again, Brittany felt guilt coursing through her body. She had kissed Santana, then ran off without much of an explanation. That wasn't really making a good impression, was it? If she could go back in time and stop things from escalating between them, she so would. But sadly, the time machine she had tried to make when she was ten wasn't exactly functional.

So, she would have to live with her guilt and try not to let it get to her. God, she just hoped she could.

Author's note: I just want to say thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter of this story. I honestly hadn't expected my fic to get that much attention, so it means a lot that you all like it, and I'll try my best to live up to your expectations!