ch3! lol unbeta'd as always (any volunteers?)
A/N: So I reread chapter 2 and edited a couple spelling errors/added a few sentences to help the flow a bit. I did write that one at like 3am, so yeah.
To those who asked..there will be no Finn!loving in this story. Not too much about him at all if I can help it lol.
Also, a huge thanks to everyone who takes their time to read and review :) I'm blown away by the number of hits and alerts on this.
It was nearly half 5 by the time both cars reached 1526 Lima Heights Adjacent. Turning into the driveway first, Santana quickly clicked her door open and skidded into the far side of the spacious three car garage. Quinn, who arrived in a much more subdued manner, parked directly behind Santana to avoid blocking the other two doors; she never knew what schedule Dr. Lopez was on so it was better than guessing wrong and having to move later.
Santana held the door to the kitchen open for Quinn, and as soon as the blonde made it inside she leaned back out to hit the garage door button. She accidentally left it open the night before and her papi had found a 'surprise' from their neighbor's cat in the seat of his convertible this morning. Needless to say, there would not be a repeat performance this evening. 'Stupid fat cat', she thought, closing the kitchen door with a bit more force than was really necessary.
When Santana finally made her way into the room, she saw Quinn sitting at the island with two bottles of water. She made her way to the center of the kitchen and sat down on a barstool across from her guest.
Quinn rolled an unopened bottle of water toward Santana, causing it to leave a small trail of condensation on the granite countertop. "Nice to see you still know your way around the fridge, Q." Santana joked, secretly happy that the other girl still felt comfortable in her home.
"Well if I had waited for you to offer, we would have both gone thirsty," she teased back.
They sat in awkward silence for a while just staring at one another. Neither girl seemed interested in bringing up the aforementioned conversation. Instead, each pretended to be content with basking in the fading sunlight that shone through the patio doors.
Well this is getting us absolutely Hell-To-The nowhere, Santana thought to herself. Maybe she should let it be for a while and just enjoy having her friend over; it wasn't like they did this multiple times a week anymore. She sighed deeply at the thought, and using the tips of her fingers, began to trace the shimmering veins of white that were confined within the dark granite. Their lack involvement was just as much her fault as it was Quinn's…
Santana glanced up from the contrasting patterns to observe her friend. Quinn had peeled the label off her bottle and was attempting to fold it into a mini airplane when Santana finally broke the silence. "Okay so this is stupid, why don't we go see if there is anything on TV? I might even let you watch that weird creature channel you used like so much."
Quinn chuckled despite herself, "You mean National Geographic? What are we, ten?"
"Shut up Q, you used to love that show, especially when they did those hidden lion cam episodes and you could see-"
"Okay, okay, enough reminiscing," Quinn interrupted! They were so not going to revisit the time she made them watch the special about lion prides, not realizing the whole thing was basically about mating rituals and not about the cute little cubs she'd seen on the previews. Santana had teased her about it for weeks afterward. "You go get the chocolate," Quinn pointed toward the pantry "and I'll put in some popcorn," she ordered, eying her friend suspiciously.
The girls gathered their respective food items and settled on the massive brown couch in the living room. Fortunately (in Santana's opinion) there were no animal programs on, but they did find one about deep space exploration that neither of them outright rejected, so they just let it play and began munching on their snacks.
"Fuck this is so good." Santana groaned moments later, causing Quinn to snort into her mug of chocolate and dribble the hot liquid down her face and chin. "What?" she'd said as the blonde wiped her upper lip with the back of her wrist. "You know I can't make popcorn without burning it. It's not fair, yours always comes out perfect," the darker girl whined, before pointedly nodding toward her own mug in front of them. "Too bad I can't say the same thing about your chocolate," she taunted, stuffing her face with more of the buttery goodness.
Soon as she managed to clean herself up, Quinn took one final sip from her cup before setting it on the coffee table beside Santana's. She then grabbed the pillow beside her and tossed it straight at Santana's head, knocking the girl's fist full of popcorn all over the couch.
Oh no she didn't...
Santana stared at her empty hand in disbelief for a few moments before grabbing the pillow and chucking it back at Quinn twice as hard. After that things quickly escalated into an all-out war, snacks and television show long forgotten.
Mrs. Lopez opened the kitchen door to loud, pitchy squeals coming from the den. Santana hadn't had anyone over in a while, and she wasn't expecting the girl to bring home company so she quickly dropped the grocery sack in her arms and headed towards the great racket fearing the worst.
When the older woman realized who it was she brought her hand to her heart in relief. Thank goodness it was only Quinn and- "Mijas!" She shouted when she saw the popcorn strewn across every surface of the living room. "Ay Dios…What is all this commotion?"
The girls, who had ceased their wild game upon hearing Mrs. Lopez's shout, looked up at her with wide innocent eyes and popcorn laden hair, each pointing to the other.
Apparently the arrival of Mrs. Lopez, as well as the popcorn incident, had been an effective ice breaker for Santana and Quinn. While they painstakingly cleaned up every last kernel (as ordered by one Mrs. Lopez), the glee-mates talked and groused about the ridiculous taffey plan and what new movies and songs they were into. Santana decided that is was actually pretty fun hanging around Quinn without any pressure to perform and/or the stress of disagreeing friends and boyfriends.
Right, boyfriends, Santana thought absently. If she truly wanted to be there for her friend then she would have to bring up that awkward topic eventually. But before she could figure out a way to steer the conversation down that road, they were interrupted by Santana's mother calling them into the kitchen.
The girls dropped the last of the scattered popcorn into the bag and grabbed their mugs of cold chocolate before heading toward the kitchen. They found Maribel hovering over a pan of stir-fry vegetables and chicken. The older woman was humming familiar tune to herself as she added just the right amounts of seasoning.
Quinn gave Santana a silent, 'aw she's so cute' look behind Mrs. Lopez back. Santana rolled her eyes, but she couldn't quite hold in her smile when Maribel hit the chorus (it was one the glee club had performed earlier that year). Incidentally, Mrs. Lopez took that moment to turn around and saw both girls smiling sweetly at each other.
"It's so nice to see you girls getting along again," Maribel said, interrupting their moment as she turned back around to stir the vegetables. "Quinn, I'm glad you came over tonight; you can keep Santana company this evening because her father has asked me out to a late dinner. Apparently he can't manage to get off at a decent hour so he is bribing the manager of Breadstix to keep it open late for us." Santana was about to interject, but Mrs. Lopez cut her off with a wave of her spatula. "Don't worry mija; I wouldn't dream of leaving without bringing you home a goody bag." The older woman grinned in the girls'direction, showing the faintest of laugh lines around her eyes.
Quinn couldn't help but laugh out loud when she realized that Mrs. Lopez was entirely serious. "Oh wow, Santana, I thought you had outgrown asking your parents for a doggie bag every time they go out," she laughed.
"Hey! I don't do it every time" the Latina argued, "…just Breadstix!"
"Uh huh, sure," Quinn teased as she caught Maribel winking over her shoulder.
"You guys always gang up on me," Santana protested as her walked over behind her mother and tried to steal a vegetable.
"Ay muchacha!" She slapped her daughter's hand with the spatula and Santana squeaked out in surprise. "Can you not wait five minutes?" "But I'm hungry now," the dark headed girl pleaded, hugging her mother's waist from behind.
Maribel huffed, "Stop trying to butter me up and go set the table for the both of you. And whose fault is it that you are hungry? Maybe you will think before flinging your afternoon snack all over the furniture next time, hmm?" Santana and Quinn exchanged sheepish grins as they set out a couple plates and some silverware.
"Speaking of ganging up on Santana," Mrs. Lopez continued wryly. "Would you like to spend the night, Quinn? I know Carlos would love to see you, and it will be fairly late before he and I make it home tonight. Since you and Santana are no longer on the Cheerios I thought we could all have breakfast together before you two leave for school?"
"I, uh," Quinn stuttered. The invitation to stay the night definitely caught her off guard. It had been months since she even stepped foot in the Lopez household, yet she was being treated like it was just yesterday.
"Don't put her on the spot, mami," Santana cut in after sensing her friend's hesitation. She smiled at Quinn to let her know she shouldn't feel obligated to accept her mother's invitation, even though Santana really hoped Quinn would say yes. She hadn't had a sleepover (that didn't involve Brittany ;) in a very long time. "Besides," Santana added humorously, "Quinn probably has way more interesting things to do in the morning than plot my epic downfall over pancakes with papi." All three of them laughed this time.
"No pressure, Quinn," Mrs. Lopez offered with a kind smile as she tipped the contents of the frying pan into a large bowl. "There's always another time."
"I'd love to." Quinn had spoken before she even realized the words were out of her mouth, but she continued on anyway. "Mom is working late as well, so it's not like she will miss me for dinner. I'd better leave her a voicemail just in case though."
"Wonderful! I'll make sure to pick up some chocolate chips for the pancake batter on my way to the restaurant. I know they're your favorite," Mrs. Lopez added cheerfully.
Quinn blushed. "Yes, ma'am, still my favorite," she said shyly.
"Well, now that that's settled, I need to shower and shave before my hot date," Maribel winked while Santana made a gagging noise. "You two eat up, and Santana, see to it that the dishes actually make it to the dishwasher and don't just sit in the sink until I come home."
"Gotcha covered, Mrs. L," Quinn saluted playfully before nudging her friend who was sitting on the stool besides her, already eating. "Yeah, okay," Santana managed between bites. Quinn and Maribel exchanged a knowing glance before the older woman disappeared up the stairs.
tbc
I haven't had time to watch the last episode of Season 3 yet, so sorry if any of the details about Santana's parents conflict with cannon