Chapter Ten

Cold Hot Chocolate

Santana tapped her fingers on the steering wheel impatiently as she waited for a parking spot outside of Starbucks.

"Aye dios mio, it's about time lady!" She shouted as an old woman pulled out of a narrow spot.

Santana whipped in and quickly parked, before climbing out of her car and heading inside the small shop.

It had been one hell of a weekend, thinking back on it made Santana shutter with conflicted emotions. Naturally Saturday had been utterly perfect, so perfect that Santana was nearly convinced it had all been a dream. After their shopping trip, she and Brittany spent most of the night curled up on the couch together watching horrible tv shows. When they grew bored with that they went up stairs to Santana's room and played music until it was time for Roman to take Brittany home.

"You could just stay over..." Santana muttered shyly under her breath. She knew it was probably the most masochistic thing she had ever suggested, but the thought of letting such a perfect day end made her stomach knot.

"That's really sweet Santana, but I can't. My brother is sort of weird about me staying over at other people's homes..." Brittany trailed off not offering anymore information on the subject.

"Who cares what he has to say about it. I never listen to Roman." Santana balked and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, that's not cool." Roman chided

"I'm sorry. I just can't." Brittany said more firmly. "I'll see you both soon. I'll be around at McKinley now, so you'll see me so much that you'll get sick of me."

"Not possible." Santana countered folding her arms in a bratty pout. Brittany's small chuckle turned into a hug that made Santana's knee's turn to mush and her pout vanish.

"Have a good night." with one small squeeze Brittany let go and Roman ushered her out the door. Santana gave a small sigh and decided to turn in for the night.

Compared to Saturday, Sunday had been a nightmare. Santana's father had show up unexpectedly for Sunday church, with more of an attitude than usual. He had hardly spoken to ether of his children and forced the family to skip their usual trip to Abuela's house. When Santana's mother had asked what was the matter, a shouting match began that lasted an hour. Santana had spent most of the day in her room with her ipod blaring in her ears feeling emotionally exhausted.

Santana stood in line waiting her turn for coffee. She could practically feel the bags under her eyes from waking up so early. She impatiently tapped her foot and checked the time on her phone over and over. School started in a half in hour—correction, Brittany's first day of school at McKinley started in a half hour and Santana didn't want to be late.

"This is a stupid idea. Who the hell gets up this early anyway." Santana thought bitterly looking around at all the suits who needed their morning fix to function everyday. Santana loved a good cup of coffee like the next girl, but getting up so early seemed ridiculous, yet here she was.

"Good Morning, what can I get for you today?" Said an overly cheery male barista by the name of Nick. Santana shot him a signature dirty look. Anyone who was that cheery this early in the morning couldn't be trusted.

"Yea I'd like a venti ginger bread latte and grande hot chocolate to go. Make it quick too, I've got places to be." She snapped.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have ginger bread on the menu for another two weeks. Can I get you anything else." The young man said with a smile. What was with this guy?

"No, you can't. I know you have some in the back storeroom so you better make it toot-sweet before I call my mother, Maria Lopez—heard of her? She's one of the biggest Lawyers in Ohio, so I suggest you gets to making my coffee before you find your self facing legal action." She narrowed her eyes and handed her card over to him. "That will be all."

The barista rang her up and dashed off to the back storeroom to get what Santana asked for. Sure, maybe bullying the poor guy wasn't the best way to start her morning and maybe she was making up that whole bit about suing, but Brittany was waiting for her or so she liked to think. Once her coffee was made in a timely manner, she thanked the boy and headed out for McKinely.

By the time the arrived the front of school was bustling with students waiting for first bell to ring. It was odd to see everyone standing on the green considering she always did her best to arrive fashionably late, without being sent to study hall.

Santana put her car in park and pulled out her phone.

"Two missed calls a three texts already?" Santana rolled her eyes. It had only taken fifteen minutes for her to get here from Starbucks. Quickly she grabbed her backpack, tucked the hot chocolate firmly in one arm, while holding her own coffee in her hand and used her free hand to check her messages as she kicked her car door shut.

Puck:

San where u at? Q is looking for you. Ps. Wont be in class, but I'll b there at lunch. I've got something I have to take care of. Miss u tho babe. See u soon. Lets mac.

Quinn:

I really need to talk to you. Meet me by the gym before class.

Britt:

I'm lost. Where are you? Please come find me there are so many people I don't know.

Santana flipped through and saw that the phone calls where from both Quinn and Brittany.

'Quinn can wait' Santana thought as she set off in search for Brittany. Santana pushed the dial button hoping Brittany would pick up, but she didn't. "Damn it Britt, where'd you go?"

"Santana!"

Santana looked around the crowd of student and saw Quinn pushing her way through the kids. She gritted her teeth and fought back the bitchy look she had waiting for her captain.

"There you are. I've tried to get a hold of you all morning." Quinn said in an uncharacteristically flustered tone.

"Well, I can't now. I'm looking for Brittany, have you seen her? Today is her first day at McKinley and I'm trying to make things right." Santana muttered under her breath as she began to look around again.

"Wait, Brittany actually transferred here after what happened?" Quinn looked a little taken aback which made Santana roll her eyes. "That's nice of you to try to fix things, but I really need to talk to you."

"Nice of me? It's not like you gave me much of a choice. It was ether make up with Brittany or spend the rest of my days getting slushied by you and the hokey jocks, like the other day." Santana snapped angrily at Quinn. It wasn't until she looked the blonde in the eyes that Santana realized she had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy, but Quinn would never admit it.

"What, I never said that. Sure I was pissed off and threatened to kick you off the team, but I never sent anyone to slushie you. Look, I don't need more shit this morning. I think Finn is cheating and I need my best friend right now. Can we please just go somewhere?" Quinn practically begged. It was so unlike her to be this upset over a stupid boy, let alone Finn Hudson.

"I need to find-"

"Please Santana-" Quinn's fingers touched Santana's bicep sending a tingling sensation through out her body. Quinn's deep green eyes locked with her own and Santana couldn't deny that she felt something. Quinn had always been her first real girl crush. Saying no to her was almost as hard as saying no to Brittany, almost.

Giving a small sigh Santana shoved her phone into her jean pocket and followed Quinn into the gym where they found the small girl's locker room. Santana set her bag down along with the two drinks.

"First off let me start off by saying that there is no way in hell Finnocene blubber tits is cheating on you. If he is then he's a total idiot, because he can't do much better then you." After many years Santana found it was best to stroke Quinn's ego when she was upset. It made these annoying talks about feelings so much shorter and easier to deal with.

"I mean, I know you're right, but ever since the dance I feel like he's been pulling away from me. He takes forever to reply to my texts, he never takes me out anymore, and all he wants to do is talk about Noah."Quinn sighed glancing down at her hands.

"Boys are dumb. They smell and they never text back. That's just a thing they do. At this age they're just a huge waste of time."Santana back her hair over one shoulder. "Trust me, you could do so much better."

"How do you and Noah work? I mean does he blow you off or talk about other girls around you?"

Santana looked around the empty locker room trying not to groan. She hated these talks because they were so uncomfortable. She didn't even know what was considered normal behavior in a hetero-relationship.

"Puck and I ….just kinda do our own thing. I mean I trust him not to cheat on me, so I don't really think about it too much" Santana offered. It was a crappy response, but she really didn't know what to say that would help.

"So haven't noticed him disappearing and not knowing where he is? I'm kind of shocked you have so much faith in him, because this is Noah we're talking about. He can hardly keep it in his pants when a cute girl comes along. I know if I were you I'd be paranoid all the time." Quinn confessed.

Santana gave a small shrug, but Quinn's words had struck a chord. Could Puck really cheat on her? She thought back to his text and how it was hard to find him when she needed him to carry her books or buy lunch.

"I don't know what to tell you Q. Puck and I just...fit." Santana felt as though she were choking on her own words.

There was nothing about their relationship that fit. Hell it started on false terms anyway. Why should she give a fuck is Puck was hooking up with someone else? She was in love with Brittany after all. However, there was still a small part of her that knew her pride would be hurt if Puck ever did what she was doing to him.

A loud buzzing broke the silence for first period.

"Thanks Santana, this was actually a little helpful."Quinn stood with her old confident flare back. "As for Kitty, I'm going to have her running laps for the next month to make up what she did to you. No one goes behind my back. You're more than welcome to sit at our table again, but bring Brittany with you. I have a feeling she's going to have trouble adjusting to the social ladder at this school. We don't need her making friends with the wrong people on her first day."

Santana gave a half-smile and gathered up her things, but before she set off to class she checked her phone.

Britt:

I hope you didn't get swallowed up by a sink hole on the way to class this morning, that would make me super sad. I've made a few friends standing here. One's named Brett. He's going to show me to first period. I hope I see you there.

Santana couldn't help grinning at how utterly adorable Brittany was and even better she actually cared.

San:

Hey B, sorry I missed you. Something came up, but I'll see you soon! :D

She hit send and then opened up her message box to send another text.

San:

Alright sounds good, but where do you keep running off too. I'm starting to think my boyfriend is a drug dealer or something. Also, you better be at lunch. There's a frat party this weekend for my brother's football team and I wanna go. We should talk about it when I see you.

Puck:

Sounds like plan. See u lunch.

Santana shoved her phone deep into her bag and picked up her drinks in both hands. She gritted her teeth in frustration because it was now cold. Her fist day surprise for Brittany was totally ruined and she had gotten up at the butt crack of dawn for nothing.

Santana sulked all the way to home room until she was met with a brilliant pair gem-like blue eyes. She hadn't expected Brittany to be in her home room, but there she was sitting close to the middle back beaming up at Santana. Her hair was pulled back in a neat pony tail and little star earrings dangled next to her cheeks. Brittany gave Santana a small wave to come sit by her, but the brunette's legs didn't seem to work.

"Miss. Lopez would you please stop standing there like a fool and take a seat." said the grumpy old witch who taught home room. The class snickered, but Santana shot them all a nasty look which made them shut up right away.

Santana walked steadily toward Brittany, who reminded her of the barista from earlier. The only difference was, Brittany's smile was infectious.

"Morning Santana." Brittany cooed reaching out to touch Santana's arm for no real reason other than to be close.

"Morning. I—uh-brought you hot chocolate for your fist day. I remember you had some when we met at the mall—I...thought I'd get you some this morning." Santana felt like such an idiot. She could feel her face grow warm and tingly as Brittany looked at her with curious eyes.

' Friends don't get up in the early morning hours just to get their other friend hot chocolate. What the hell were you thinking Lopez! She's going to think you're creepy or weird and never talk to you ever again.'

Santana quickly took her seat behind Brittany without waiting for her to say anything in return. The whole thing was awkward and so foolish. Santana wanted to bury her head in the sand. It didn't help knowing the hot chocolate was cold.

The teacher began a short lesson on proper study habits, before letting them loose to work on homework and get help if they needed. Santana pulled out her math book and began double checking her answers, when Brittany spun around in her seat to face her.

"Thank you for the hot chocolate. How did you know I like it cold?" Brittany whispered with a small twinkle in the corner of her eye.

"I didn't mean for it to be cold. I came to look for you, but Quinn dragged me into the locker room to talk about something. Sorry if it's weird, I just know starting over at a new school can be hard and I thought you might like something to comfort you..." Santana mumbled looking down.

"Why would it be weird? I think it was really thoughtful and sweet of you. I'm happy you did it."Brittany whispered back, but someone next to her shushied her anyway. Santana quickly wadded up a bit of paper and threw it at the back of their head. When they turned around she flipped the boy off.

Brittany cupped Santana's angry fist with her own hand and gave a quiet laugh.

"It's okay. I'm a big girl."

"Keep it down" The teacher snapped to no one in general.

Santana's heart leapt, but when she realized Brittany was holding her hand in a way of speaking she quickly pulled away, afraid someone might be watching. An odd look of curiosity returned to Brittany's features as she puckered and bit her lips, drawing Santana's eyes right to them, but before Santana could daze off Brittany had turned back around in her seat.

'This girl will be the death of me.' Santana thought

By some stroke of luck Santana had landed with Brittany in almost all of her classes except for third period math and she couldn't have been happier. The two spent the morning texting, writing notes, and talking with each other, hardly paying attention to what was going on at all. Santana wasn't sure she would ever get anything done again, when all she could think about was Brittany.

In fifth period before lunch the teacher finally had to separate them. He sent Brittany to sit on the other side of the room for good. Santana gave him a nasty look, but settled for sharing silly glances when he wasn't looking. When the bell rang, Brittany popped up out of her seat and rushed right to Santana's side giving her a warm glow inside.

"So Quinn and Puck are waiting for us at our table. It's in the center of the room. You remember where that is right." Santana mused linking her arm with Brittany in desperate need for contact.

"Actually, I kind of wanted to sit with Rachel. I made a promise." Brittany gave Santana a small sad smile.

"Britt you can't go sit with them, not on the first day. No one knows you and if they see you sitting with Rachel people are going to be mean. Trust me, you do not want a slushie facial. Shit hurts. You're on the Cheerios with me and Quinn, that automatically makes you cool. Sitting with us keeps you from being picked on, plus Roman would kill me if I let anything happen to you." Santana said as sincerely as she could. She hated being such a blunt about it, but that's the way the McKinley world worked.

"Please Britt. Sit with me." She said in a sweet voice that sounded as though a stranger said it. Brittany glanced over at her and then rolled her eyes breaking out into a wide grin.

"Okay! Okay! I'll sit with you, just stop with the puppy eyes."

"Score." Santana said with a proud smirk on her lips.

"I'm going to go buy lunch. I'll meet you over there." Brittany said unhooking her arm from Santana's and walking off. Santana couldn't help the small frown she had as the blonde moved away from her. She felt alone once again. Collecting herself she marched over to the table where her so-called friends sat.

"Hey babe!" Puck called wrapping his arms around her, he gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"What's up, where have you been?" She asked shooting a look over to Quinn, who looked a little guilty.

"Here and there. Nothing important. How was class so far. We didn't have an English essay today did we, cause I'm not ready for that." He said taking a bite of his sandwich.

Santana pulled her own lunch out of her bag. It was nothing special, just a turkey sandwich, some tortilla chips and a little salsa.

"No, Mr. Wilkins post-pone it until next week. So are you down for this party? It's Friday night at Ohio state campus, but you would have to D.D." Santana eyed him as she bit into her lunch.

"No way. If I'm going to a frat party, I want to get hammered. I'm not going to look like a pussy in front of your brother and all his football friends. " Puck grunted.

"Well what if we stay late? You can get waisted the first few hours and sober up the last few? There's no way I'm driving. "

"Driving where?" Brittany's angelic voice chimed in taking a seat next to Santana, who couldn't help her smile.

"I want Puckerman to drive me to the frat party Friday night, but he's being a little bitch about it." Santana shot him a mean look to which he simply shrugged.

"You mean the party we just went shopping for super-hot-tight-dresses-that-leave-nothing-hidden this past weekend. " Brittany asked with a wild look in her eye. Santana decided to play along.

"Yup, that's the one."

"Wow Noah. You must really trust Santana to let her go to a party dressed like that. I mean, I've seen her and other guys are going to be all over her asking for a dance. Don't worry though, I'll make sure she doesn't get too sloppy." Brittany tossed a wink at Santana who blushed slightly.

"Dude, You have to go to that party. You'd be even more lame for not going at all." Finn said kicking his friend under the table. "You have to go and tell me all about it. Think of all the football connections you could make. Roman is already Santana's brother, but you could meet Jason Pierce and Remy Michel ...and like fifty other dudes who could totally help you out later."

"You actually want to meet Jason?" Brittany frowned looking confused. "I mean he's cool and I totally love him, but is he actually that good at football?"

"Wait, do you know him?" Finn's expression made him look constipated.

"Yea, he's my big brother. That's actually how I started dating Roman. Personally, I thought he should just stick to motocross, but he thought going to Ohio state to play football would be better in the long run." She said taking a bite of her lunch and sneaking one of Santana's chips, which didn't go unnoticed by Santana.

Santana didn't bother to hide her laughter when Finn's head looked like it was about to blow.

"Hold up. You're telling me Jason Pierce, the best wide receiver in college football is not only your brother , but also a motocross rider?" Finn's jaw practically fell to the floor.

"Mhmm. We both are actually. We've been riding since we were kids. It's kind of a family thing." Brittany mused thoughtfully.

Santana turned quickly in her seat to gape at Brittany unabashed as did everyone else at their table.

"Britt, I never knew that, why didn't you mention it before? Isn't motocross for, like... boys or something?" Santana was utterly astonished. She had no idea Brittany was even into that kind of thing let alone so tomboy.

"I don't usually talk about it, because people think it's for boys. Girls can ride too and just as well" Brittany said with a hint of soreness in her voice.

"Dude Britt, that is so bad ass." Puck said reaching across Santana to give the beautiful blonde a high-five, which seemed to cheer her right up.

"Do you still ride? I mean, can I come watch sometime" Santana asked softly trying to keep the others from hearing.

"I sure do, but not very often. I'll let you know when I enter my next race and you can come watch then if you want." Brittany smiled sweetly at Santana, who had to look away or else get swept up in longing.

Santana bawled her fists up under the table and closed her eyes trying to still the rapid pounding in her chest. Brittany sat so close, she could smell her perfume and it made her feel dizzy. Santana didn't know what it was about that moment, but she felt over come with nerves and butterflies that hadn't been there all morning. Sure, Brittany always made her tingle, but this was different. This was like the set your nerves on fire panic she had felt when she had first met Brittany in the locker room.

"Santana are you okay?" Brittany said rubbing her back lightly, but Santana couldn't take it. It was too much to handle.

"I'm sorry I have to go." Santana quickly stood up and grabbed her things off the floor leaving her sandwich and everyone else at the table. She quickly ran through the halls looking for somewhere to hide, but eventually found herself sitting alone in her car. Her breathing was heavy and she could relax. She felt frightened and anxious as she closed her eyes. Tears dripped down her cheek as her breathing eventually slowed.

'What just happened to me?' She thought resting her head against the steering wheel. 'Everything was going so well today, why did I just freak out?' she groaned and covered her eyes trying to find any explanation for her sudden panic attack, but she came up blank.

She sat in her car for a long time, until she felt comfortable enough to drive home. There was no point in going back inside and trying to explain something she had no answers for, besides she was already way too late for sixth period. Santana drove home in silence, slipped into her pjs, and curled up in her bed. The best thing to do was to try to stay calm and being comfy always did that for her.

Her phone buzzed several times on her night stand, but it took an hour for Santana to get the nerve to read everyone's messages. When she did it was ,of course, Brittany's that stood out to her.

Britt:

Hey San, is everything okay? You're not texting back and I'm worried. If you don't want to talk that's fine, but please just let me know you're okay.

Santana pulled the blankets closer along with her favorite teddy bear before she finally decided to reply.

San:

I'm really sorry for rushing out of their so fast. I wasn't feeling good, so I went home.

Britt:

You don't need to be sorry honey. It's okay, I was just really worried. What's the matter? Is it your head or your stomach?

San:

Stomach. I'm just curled up in bed. I should be better by tomorrow.

Britt:

Do you want me to come over and make you soup? I can rub your belly after. Lord Tubbington loves it when he doesn't feel good.

San:

No it's okay B, I don't know if it's contagious, but thank you.

San:

Who's Lord Tubbington? I love the name.

Britt:

My kitten. It fits him really well. :D

San:

Ah! Well I'm going to try to nap, but I'll text you when I wake up okay?

Britt:

Deal. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed pixies bite,

San:

I think you mean bed bugs*

Britt:

Bed bugs aren't real. Everyone knows that. Bed Pixies ARE real and they suck. Seriously, don't let one bite you. Alice did and look what happened to her.

Santana laughed to herself and said goodbye to Brittany one last time before settling back down into her bed. How was it one person could be so utterly amazing and perfect at the same time. Brittany was cute, cleaver, funny, brave—she was everything Santana wanted to be and so much more.

'If she knew how much she means to me,'Santana thought with a small yawn. Santana pulled the covers up to her chin and with her teddy tucked in her arm she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of only Brittany once again.

A/N-Hope you liked this chapter, I know I do. I think Britt and Santana are so cute. They're warming up to each other little by little.

Next chapter will be the party so brace yourselves for some Brittana fun :)