"And you really don't know what she was referring to?"

"For the millionth time, no!" I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses, frustrated beyond belief and Rachel really wasn't helping.

"Maybe you guys had a drunken hookup?" Quinn suggested while applying sunscreen to her legs.

"Yeah, the thought crossed my mind, but I really don't think that's it. I haven't been wasted enough to forget a one night stand since high school, and that was mostly down to me willing myself to forget the greasy oaf of a football player I had allowed on top of me."

"Why don't you just ask her?" I could tell Quinn was growing tired of this topic of conversation that I had drawn out since we woke up this morning, but it was really bothering me.

"And say what, Quinn? I clearly did something to upset her; I can't imagine that'll do me any favours, besides, I'm pretty sure she's aware that I have no clue what she's talking about."

"Well then why are we still having this discussion? It's at least a million degrees out here, I'm hungover as hell, and you're not doing anything to lessen my raging headache with all this bullshit. Either come out and ask her, or just drop it."

I crossed my arms defensively over my chest and leaned further into my sun lounger, letting out an irritated huff. I knew Quinn was right, replaying the events of last night over and over in my head weren't going to accomplish anything. If I wanted Brittany to give me a chance, I first had to find out what I'd done to rub her up in such a wrong way, and Quinn and Rachel were not going to grant me any of the answers I needed. Still, the thought of confronting Brittany about it didn't seem all that appealing either.

"Oh! You could Facebook stalk her, see if anything jogs your memory!" Rachel called from her spot in the pool.

"Rachel, that's... actually not a bad idea! Q, gimme your phone."

"What's wrong with yours?"

"Her page is probably private and I can't exactly add her; she probably wouldn't accept even if I did."

Begrudgingly, Quinn rooted through her tote bag and dug out her phone, handing it to me. "Let it be known, I do not like being associated with this in any way."

"Mmmhmm noted" I brushed her off, already searching for Brittany.

Surprisingly there were quite a number of Brittany Pierce's on Facebook, but unsurprisingly there was only one I had a mutual friend with. Tina. Guess she wasn't entirely useless.

I clicked the "add friend" button and inwardly rejoiced when just a few seconds later, the red notification icon signalled my (or rather Quinn's) request had been accepted.

I went straight to her profile pictures, getting sidetracked by how pretty she was in all of them. One in particular caught my eye, it was a picture of her on the beach next to an impressive looking sandcastle, her hair blew slightly in front of her face, and she wore the biggest smile, her eyes were covered by a pair of bright pink sunglasses, but the way the sun caught her in just the right light made her look like she was glowing. I envied whoever had been there to capture the moment.

A notification appeared in the mailbox, and though I was a woman on a very important mission, I was also an incredibly nosey woman and my curiosity got the better of me. I clicked the icon and was surprised to see that it was Brittany messaging Quinn.

Not caring that the message was intended for my friend's eyes and not mine, I clicked into it.

Brittany S. Pierce:

Hey Quinn, glad you found me. I was hoping you would. Did you have a good time last night? :)

I scowled at the screen. What was so great about Quinn that Brittany was so thrilled to be her friend? I mean, sure, I liked Quinn but she was no nicer than I was. Not by much, at least.

I almost went to hand Quinn the phone back when I realised that's dumb and I could just respond to Brittany myself.

Quinn Fabray:

Hey Britt. Yeah last night was amazeballs. (Quinn would say something lame like that, right?) Did you have fun?

I knew that Quinn was gonna kill me if she found out what I was doing, but it was all for the cause.

Brittany S. Pierce:

Yeah, it was fun I guess. What are you up 2?

Fun she guesses? What's that supposed to mean?!

Quinn Fabray:

You guess? lol. Just hanging out at Santana's pool. U?

Brittany S. Pierce:

Yeah. Oh. Well have fun. I'm just playing with my cat. I'll let you get back to Santana. See you soon.

Well that was completely useless.

"Brittany messaged you." I decided to just let Quinn know.

"I'll reply later, I'm too hungover to engage in any kind of stimulating conversation right now."

"S'okay, I already wrote back."

Quinn jolted up from her horizontal position, seemingly too fast for her hangover because she rubbed temples and even though she was wearing sunglasses, I could tell she had squeezed her eyes shut. "Why would you do that?!"

"I thought she might hint at something, but she didn't, so calm yo tits."

"You're the biggest pain in my ass, Lopez."

"Yeah yeah, just lay back down." And she did, so I resumed my investigation, glad I wouldn't have to engage in an argument that I knew we were both too exhausted to have right now.

I skimmed through more of her pictures but found nothing that jogged my memory about who she was or how I was supposed to know. From the looks of things, she had only joined Facebook a year ago and all her pictures were pretty recent. I definitely hadn't met her in the last 12 months so she had to be referring to sometime before then. Or maybe she was just confused.

"You know, I'm starting to think Brittany just has the wrong person and is mistaking me for someone else."

"Mmmhmmm." I glared at Quinn for making that noise.

"What do you think, Rachel?"

Rachel, who was resting her arms on the side of the pool, watching something on her own phone looked up, clearly surprised I was asking her opinion on anything.

"I-I don't know. Maybe?" I could see she wished she had she would have had an answer that could please me more than 'maybe' but really, I couldn't expect much more than a maybe. I didn't even know myself.

"Maybe I can just write to her again, pretending to be you and she might tell me!" I thought aloud.

"Don't you dare." Quinn warned without moving from her position, or even opening her eyes.

"Ugh."

"Look, Santana, I'll invite her to Rachel's show tomorrow and you can ask her then."

I didn't like the sound of face to face confrontation one bit, but I was getting desperate. "What makes you think she'll want to go?"

Quinn just smirked, but kept her eyes closed. "Because she's got a crush on me."

"What?! No she doesn't! Jesus, narcissist, get over yourself."

"Oh please, Santana, you're telling me you haven't noticed?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, because there is nothing to notice."

"If you say so." She lifted her shoulders in a subtle shrug and that just managed to piss me off more.

"Rachel, please tell Quinn she's being ridiculous!" I ordered.

My roommate looked reluctant to involve herself, but such was her nature, that she couldn't help it, "I'm not sure she is, Santana. Brittany does seem to be rather taken with her."

I glanced over at Quinn who looked like that cat who got the milk and was half tempted to slap the stupid look off her face but instead I got up and muttered that I was going inside.

/

Brittany didn't like Quinn like that, did she? I couldn't be that oblivious that I missed something that was apparently so obvious to everyone else.

I wasn't sure whether to be happy or furious that Brittany had been so keen to accept Quinn's invitation to Rachel's show. Was there even a point in trying to work things out if she had a solid lady boner for my best friend?

"I don't think I want to go anymore." I announced and I plopped myself down on the couch in Quinn's living room the night of the show, and curled my feet up beneath me.

"Don't be such a baby." Quinn called from the mirror in the bathroom where she was putting the finishing touches to what she called her 'nighttime casual' look.

Even though she couldn't see me, I pouted. "I'm not being a baby! I could just think of better ways to spend my Sunday night than hearing that hobbit screech into a microphone, I get enough of that at home."

Quinn walked out of the bathroom, mascara in her right hand, and a knowing look on her face. "You and I both know Rachel's a really good singer, and I've caught you more than once singing to one of her band's songs."

She was right, but I'd go to my grave insisting otherwise. "Whatever. Besides, wouldn't want to play third wheel on your date."

"Please, you know as well as I do, it's not a date."

"Oh yeah? Then why're you wearing your signature 'date night' lipstick?" I raised a challenging eyebrow at her, daring her to deny it.

She seemed unfazed "It's nice to look nice. You taught me that." She then retreated to the bathroom. I huffed, and threw myself further into her plush couch cushions.

/

The Roxy was busier than I had expected. After all, it was just a bunch of wannabe, no name musicians performing, but I had to admit, the turnout was impressive.

"Just two? 20 bucks." The guy at the door said after we showed him our .

"We're with Pamela Lansbury." Quinn informed him "And there's three of us. Our names should be on the list. Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez, and Brittany Pierce."

The guy looked at his clipboard, lifting the first page and scanning the second. "Oh, here you are. The other one's inside." He wrapped bright green bands around our wrists and nodded his head for us to enter.

I had only been at The Roxy once or twice before, and always forgot how dark and small it was. I scanned the bar area and spotted Brittany. She looked stunning in tight, dark jeans, and a baggy white t-shirt, very fitting to the venue. She seemed a little lost in the crowd on her own so I nudged Quinn and told her to go get her.

"You have to come too or she really is going to think this is a date."

I followed behind reluctantly, this seemed like a better idea during yesterday's hangover. To be fair, no one should be held to anything they agree to when they're hungover, it's a very vulnerable state to be in, after all.

"Hey Brittany" Quinn greeted, tapping her on the shoulder.

Brittany for her part, looked absolutely ecstatic to see Quinn. She leaned forward and gave her a hug, and in a moment of bold decisiveness, added a hasty kiss to hert cheek as they were parting. I wasn't aware I was scowling until Brittany noticed me and I felt my features soften.

"Oh, hey Santana." It was dark but I could still see the hint of a blush creep up her neck. I felt bad, but I really had no reason to, she's the one who made the assumption that Quinn had invited her on a date date.

"Hi Brittany."

Quinn looked between the two of us, clearly growing uncomfortable with the mounting tension. "Let's go sit down, Rachel said she reserved a table for us."

We both nodded and proceeded over to the elevated seating area. We flashed the green bands at the security guard manning the area and found Rachel had indeed reserved the first table to the right.

A waitress came and took our drink orders, and though I knew Quinn and Brittany weren't on a date, I felt like an intruder. Maybe Quinn should have told her I was coming. I didn't want to make things awkward, it wasn't a fair position to put Brittany in.

Quinn, to her credit, had been making a decent effort in engaging Brittany in small talk while avoiding apologising for the confusion. Really, there was no reason for her to apologise, I had been there when she'd called Brittany to invite her and nothing in her tone or invitation had suggested anything deeper than a friendly hang out at another friend's show. If anything, Brittany should have probably thought to ask if I'd be there, after all, Rachel was my roommate.

The waitress returned with our drinks just before the first band took to the stage. I hadn't said anything since we sat down, and was glad for the show starting, relieving me of any pressure to contribute to the conversation.

Quinn and Brittany shared the odd comment here and there as the evening wore on, but the music was too loud for me to hear. I really did feel out of place and that irritated me. I had every right to be here. These were my friends. Brittany was holding some grudge for some reason I couldn't determine and yet here I was, feeling like an outsider in my own inner circle.

By time Rachel's band was up, we were all a few drinks in and I had mellowed a little, though I still felt a chip on my shoulder from all my inner thoughts over the evening thus far.

I could tell Quinn had been overcompensating with Brittany as her own way of making up for not telling her I would be in attendance and that's why she hadn't made much effort to include me in their conversation; I was partly annoyed with her, but the other part of me was grateful that she wasn't making the situation even more uncomfortable than it already was.

The three of us watched as Rachel took to the stage, and even I had to admit, under the bright lights, with decent make up and the soothing sounds of the instrumentals behind her, Rachel looked and sounded pretty damn decent.

Brittany seemed impressed and it only then occurred to me that she had never heard Rachel sing before. Quinn also seemed to be enjoying the performance, but she enjoyed when Rachel sang around the apartment so her opinion didn't really matter.

Brittany caught me looking at her, and though her smile faded slightly, it didn't entirely disappear and that made my chest swell with happiness. Maybe she could just overcome whatever I'd apparently done in the past and I could ask her on a date and tell her outright that Quinn wouldn't be coming, that it would be just us, and she'd see I wasn't such a bad person after all...

Except I was completely running away with myself. She hadn't even really smiled at me, it was just a residual smile from hearing Rachel sing. I wish she didn't make me care so much about such stupid, irrelevant things like how big or small a smile was.

/

The room erupted in shattering applause once Pamela Lansbury's set was done. I joined in, uncharacteristically proud of Rachel. There was something to be admired for really following through with a dream, and Rachel was going for it. She came running from backstage afterward, heading straight for our table.

"So, what'd you think?" Her eyes were gleaming with a barely contained curiosity, but I could see she knew she killed it. And I told her as much.

She squealed and hugged me tight; I saw Brittany looking our way and though I couldn't quite tell, she looked almost baffled by the two of us. I guess to an outsider, it may seem weird that I basically loathed Rachel and bitched about her to anyone that would listen, yet here we were, acting almost like real friends would.

"You were great Rach, the best by far." Quinn praised.

Brittany nodded in agreement "Really Rachel, that was phenomenal! I wasn't expecting a such a jaw dropping performance."

"Thanks so much for coming guys! I really appreciate it. We even sang a song more than we were supposed to because I knew you'd be here."

"Awwwh" Brittany and Quinn said in unison, I didn't really see the big deal, it's not like she dedicated it to us or anything, but I gave her a grateful smile none the less.

"So, do you guys wanna stay and watch the last few acts or do you wanna get out of here?" Rachel asked.

I was surprised. She usually loved to hang around and suss out her "competition" that even her suggesting leaving caught me off guard.

"My roommate's having a party tonight, nothing huge, just some of her friends celebrating a guest starring role on some new CW show, but we could go there if you want? Make it a joint celebration! Your bandmates can come too!" Brittany offered, and I silently hoped the invitation extended to me as well.

"Great! Thank you Brittany! That sounds perfect! Hold on I'll go tell them!" She made to head backstage again, but stopped and turned back. "Actually, could you just text me the address? There's a female performer on next that I'd like to see."

And there's the Rachel I know and tolerate.

"Sure." Brittany smiled, before turning back to the table "Let's go."

I didn't want to ask if it was okay that I come, for fear she'd say no, so just tagged along silently.

Brittany had taken the bus here because she claimed to be a terrible parker, so we all made our way to Quinn's car.

/

The short drive to Brittany's place was even more awkward now that there was no loud music or crowds of people to drown out the tension. I busied myself with checking Twitter on my phone, but of course the Twittersphere all but comes to a standstill once everyone on the east coast goes to bed, so there wasn't much to look at.

Quinn hummed softly to whatever song was on the radio. I didn't recognise it.

And a stolen glance at Brittany informed me she was just quietly looking out the window.

Maybe I should have just gone home, after all, I had work tomorrow, but the masochist in me made me want to stay.

We pulled up to Brittany's apartment block shortly after leaving the club. Tina was right, it was pretty close to where Quinn lived; it almost had me wondering why none of us carpooled to work, surely it'd be like, environmentally friendly or some shit? I bet Brittany'd be into that kind of thing.

Her apartment was on the third floor and seemed to be slightly separated from the others, which was probably a good thing considering I could hear the low hum of music as soon as the elevator reached her floor.

"This is a nice building" I complimented, hoping it would make my presence a little less weird. She responded by giving me her usual tight lipped smile and muttering a quiet "thanks" no doubt for Quinn's benefit.

When she opened the door to her apartment I was taken aback by the stench of weed that hit me and wondered how I hadn't smelled it while coming down the hall. I didn't have a problem with weed, living in Los Angeles it's a smell you get used to pretty fast, but for some reason, I imagined everyone Brittany knew to be as innocent as she seemed.

Quinn, who I knew dabbled in weed every now and then, seemed impressed by the sight before her; I had to admit, so was I. I'm not sure what I expected from a party at Brittany's place, but I guess maybe more Stepford Wives and less Bling Ring.

Brittany went straight for the fridge and pulled out three beers, popping them open and then handing one to Quinn and I. I hadn't expected her to offer me anything, but it just reaffirmed to me that I needed to make whatever it was I had evidently done to her, right. That is, if I even had done something to her, after all she had really just insinuated that I should know her from somewhere, maybe that was all it was. Maybe Quinn was right and we'd hooked up before, but I doubt I'd have forgotten someone as beautiful as Brittany, and contrary to what people may assume about me, I don't get around all that much.

Distracted by my thoughts, I was blindsided by a considerably drunk girl who blew past me, almost knocking my beer, and basically tackling Brittany.

"Brriiiiittttz, you're hoooome! Good turn out, huh?" The short stranger screamed louder than was necessary over the music.

"Great!" Brittany responded less enthusiastically but the other girl didn't seem to notice. She looked up at myself and Quinn and then gestured to the small woman who was practically hanging off her neck. "This is my roommate, April. April, this is Quinn and Santana."

April eyed us up and down for a moment, and then squinted at me but spoke only to Quinn. "Nice to meet you, Quinn. Glad you could make it to my soiree, I told Brittany she should invite some friends but she said no."

"Glad to be here." Quinn replied. This was getting ridiculous, I didn't even know Brittany, but she had clearly told her roommate something that had led her to clearly dislike me too!

"Yeah, thanks for having us. Cool party." I decided to swallow the sour taste I had in my mouth and hold back the venomous words that threatened to lash out at this stranger being so openly rude to me, and try a new approach. The counting thing may have not worked out like I'd hoped, but surely I had some self control in there somewhere, I mean, Rachel was still living, and breathing on her own so I must have some restraint.

"Mmmmhmmm" April did that annoying noise I had so much disdain for, looking me up and down once more before deciding that the guy who just walked in with a giant keg was more worthy of her time, and departed.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, and embarrassed for reasons I couldn't explain, I excused myself to the bathroom. Brittany, oddly enough, told me I could use her bathroom because usually when April threw a party, the plumber was the first call to be made the next day. I was grateful for this offer, especially when I passed the bathroom on the way to Brittany's room and saw a guy taking a dump in the sink through the crack in the door.

/

Walking into Brittany's room felt strange; not only because people had somehow respected the 'Do Not Enter' sign on the door, but because I felt like I was trespassing. Sure, she had given me permission to come through here, but knowing she disliked me so much made me feel like an intruder. Bedrooms were a personal space, I found Rachel in mine once, looking for the curling iron I'd stolen from her, and proceeded to hit her with it... not hard or anything.

A wall of photos pinned to a cork board above a small desk caught my attention, but just as I took a step closer to get a better look, my conscience took over and told me I had no business prying into her life like that. Usually I wouldn't give a damn, I liked to know things, sue me! But whatever came over me, I decided to take a step back and beeline for her en suite.

/

If my willpower lasted as long as my grudges, I'd have made it back out to the party without a hitch, alas it doesn't, and instead I found myself over by the damn cork board looking at pictures of Brittany from different periods of her life.

There was an adorable picture of her as a toddler; she was wearing a pink ribbons in her hair and sitting in some old guy's lap (I assumed it was her grandfather), she had an ice-cream in her hand but most of it was all over her face, but she didn't seem to mind, in fact, she appeared to be laughing hysterically. I smiled warmly at the image before moving on to the next one. In this, Brittany was dressed in a girl scout uniform and smiling brightly at the camera, her two front teeth missing; she held a box of thin mints in one hand while her other arm was slung around her young friend who wore a matching grin. I was still smiling but found myself wishing that it was from this time I was supposed to remember Brittany from, she looked like such a fun loving girl.

I skimmed over more photos, loving how genuinely happy Brittany looked in each, but feeling a little guilty at peering into her past like I had any right to, but I couldn't stop.

In the top left hand corner of the cork board was '2006' written in bubble font and colored in bright pink marker, outlined in navy blue; surrounded by a number of photos from what I assumed to be that year. One was of Brittany and the same old man from the picture of her as a toddler, only he was much older, and his gaze seemed faraway. Another one showed Brittany at the San Diego zoo; she had some puppy fat but it was cute, and she stood in from of a gift shop with a girl who looked like an older version of the girl scout picture, she was hot and I felt like I knew her from somewhere other than the previous picture but I couldn't place why. Next was a picture of Brittany with what appeared to be her high school cheer team, this really made me smile, I was a cheerleader, we'd have probably been friends. Her hair was shorter in that picture but it suited her. It was the final photo I came to that really drew my attention though, it was Brittany and a red headed girl standing by a familiar looking lake, I felt like I knew it but wasn't sure how. The red headed girl had frizzy hair and looked a little bit older than Brittany, but not much, she wore sweatpants and a slightly dated looking jacket, Brittany still had her puppy fat, and her skin wasn't as clear as it is now, but hey, she was a teenager. She wore braces in this picture, and though she had her arm linked with the other girl and a smile on her face, even from here, I could see that it didn't quite reach her eyes. She wore a red and white tracksuit jacket with something written over the left breast that I couldn't quite make out. I noticed in the top corner of the picture were little indents that indicated something was written on the back. Unable to fight my curiosity, I pulled the pin holding the picture to the board and turned it over.

I felt the blood drain from my face upon reading reading those five small words: Sylvester Spirit Cheer Camp '06.

Before I had time to register completely, or have the sense to put the picture right back where I'd found it, the door to Brittany's room burst open, revealing Brittany herself. The confused look she had been wearing quickly changed. First it flashed to what seemed like shock, but quickly flared to anger. Her words were full of hate but tinged with what could only be described as hurt when she spoke next, and for the first time, I wasn't confused or offended by her tone.

"Remember now?"

I looked back down at the picture in my hand, now facing image side up. A lump formed in my throat at the sight of the girl with the half forced smile; I nodded guiltily, choking out a simple, "I remember."

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all the reviews and favourites etc for this story. I really didn't expect such a great response for it! This chapter and the next are kind of a turning point in this fic. I personally can't stand drawn out angst, so I'll do my best to avoid prolonging it, just bear with me a little longer.

Also, if anyone's interested in a not quite so angsty modern day Brittana circus fic, check out my new story 'Above the Sky I Am Limitless' [ s/10345579/1/Above-the-Sky-I-Am-Limitless]