The next two weeks went by quickly. Camp was filled with an urgent energy; a buzzing need to get things done as the end rapidly approached. There were a few more rainy days which Santana used to her advantage. During the inclement weather she would spend most of her time in the multipurpose building – she'd spend some mornings shooting around with Dan (who was typically doubled over with laughter at Santana's atrocious basketball skills), but the majority of her time was spent watching Brittany's dance classes. Or, more accurately put, pretended to watch Brittany's dance classes so she could just watch Brittany.
Campers waved 'hi' to Santana when they found her sitting on the bench in their dance room and easily forgot about her while they practiced. Santana's eyes roamed Brittany's form freely, drinking in the blonde as she moved around the room. Brittany would toss her playful smirks, and one time even stole a kiss after the campers left. Santana blushed furiously as her heart skipped a beat and looked around quickly, making sure no one in the empty room had seen.
On sunny days Santana reigned over the waterfront, hellbent on keeping her record perfect – no injuries, no accidents. The only almost-accident was when Brittany sauntered up to the beach in a next to nothing bikini, causing Santana to nearly fall from her lifeguard chair. Never failing to make the Latina blush a crimson red, Brittany catwalked up the dock before diving gracefully into the water, splashing playfully at the campers who tried to climb all over her. At the end of the day Tom would blow his whistle and everyone would clear out of the water. Like clockwork, Santana would tell him she'd wrap up for the day, and he would shrug his thanks before heading off to his cabin.
When she said wrap up she meant 'swim with Brittany for a little before she wrapped up', but that was a minor detail. They would splash around, laughing at nothing or everything, and a few times Santana even pulled Brittany into the boat shed to teach her some important things about "CPR". One time Santana had even jumped into the water and surfaced behind Brittany, where she quickly tugged the strings of her bikini top, causing the blonde to shriek and Santana to grin widely before swimming for her life. She paid for it later that night in the best way possible.
They ignored the talk about the summer coming to an end. Or at least Santana did. She found herself extremely interested in her food when conversations at meals turned towards plans for the fall. Brittany on the other hand, joined right in, talking about school and getting back to cheerleading. Santana played with her food and ignored the thoughts of school and going home and leaving camp, leaving camp people. Brittany would give the Latina's knee a little squeeze under the table, but it only made the lump in Santana's throat grow.
Santana faced her half packed bags and the piles of clothes still on the floor. Shit. The summer had really flown, and she would have never expected it to go the way it did.
The last day of camp was always a 'free' day, where the campers were supposed to pack their whole summers back up and be ready to leave the next morning. Staff members didn't leave until the day after. The last dinner at camp was always special – the counselors and staff members waited on the tables, serving the meal in courses. Campers always got a kick out of it.
Dinner time rolled around and Santana made her way over to the dining hall. She saw Brittany standing at the end of a table and quickly went to stand at the end of the table next to her. Brittany smirked at her and mouthed "subtle". Santana rolled her eyes and turned to face the table of 13 year old boys she'd be waitressing for. They howled and she quickly glared at them, silencing even the counselors.
Once everyone was seated, things became a blur of food, pitchers of bug juice, and napkins. Lots of napkins. The dining hall was filled with an unusually loud buzz of chatter accompanied by the clinking of silverware. Brittany caught Santana's eye and stifled a laugh at the Latina, whose hair had bits of food in it. Santana could only smile and shrug. She tilted her head towards the door and Brittany gave a small nod.
In the fray that serving hundreds of rowdy kids creates, the girls slipped from the dining hall easily. They headed back to Santana's room flicking bits of food that clung to them at each other, their giggles ringing across camp. Brittany pulled Santana into the room and pushed her up against the closed door. Santana's giggles died down as Brittany's eyes searched hers, their bodies now pushed flush together. The blonde dipped her head down slowly and brought her lips to Santana's.
Santana's hands cupped Brittany's neck as she pushed back into the kiss, her brow furrowed as she hoped Brittany could feel her; feel her putting herself raw into this kiss. Eventually Brittany pulled back, letting her lips linger near Santana's. She smiled brightly.
"I am literally covered in food."
The darker girl chuckled.
"I need to shower. But there might be some hard to reach places…" she paused, allowing an impish grin to take over her features. Santana smiled and raised her eyebrows, letting Brittany continue. She too busy regulating her breathing to respond, anyways.
"Well I figure I need someone to, you know, help get those tricky spots" Brittany continued, her voice low as her hands found Santana's waist and slipped under the hem of her shirt. Santana licked her lips.
"I might be able to help," she managed.
Brittany smirked and backed away towards the bathroom, never taking her eyes off Santana. "You could also use some, uh, washing up." Brittany motioned to her hair, indicating the food still stuck in Santana's. The blonde peeled her shirt from her body and turned her back to Santana to turn the shower on. Slowly she unclasped her bra, throwing a seductive look over her shoulder at Santana as she moved to slip out of her pants.
The look was enough to snap Santana out of her trance, and although watching Brittany was its own treat, Santana began to undress herself as well. She advanced on Brittany and kissed her hard, loving the heat their naked bodies generated against each other. She stepped forward, backing Brittany up into the shower, and let out a little shiver as the water crashed over them.
Santana broke the kiss momentarily to pull the curtain closed behind them before returning to Brittany, pushing her up against one of the shower walls, her kisses turning hungry and urgent. Brittany let out a small moan as Santana cupped her breasts, massaging them gently and running her thumbs over her nipples. The darker girl kissed down Brittany's neck, savoring the warmth of her skin, the feel of it under her hands and mouth, and the small gasps Brittany let out when she moved in just the right way. One of her hands trailed down the blonde's abs, making its way further down to –
"Santana?"
Santana froze, her heart skipping at least two beats. A voice that was not Brittany's had just called her name. A distinctively male voice called her name again from her room. The bathroom door was open, there was someone in her room, and Brittany was in the shower with her. Fuck. Santana motioned for Brittany to move back and be quiet.
The Latina poked her head out from behind the curtain, holding it up to cover her body as Brittany stood as far back in the corner of the shower as she could.
"Hello? Who's there?" Santana called, hoping her voice conveyed her annoyance and masked her anxiety.
"Santana? Hey…this is awkward." Santana's eyes widened as Tom stood in the doorway of her bathroom, shuffling his feet. "I, uh, can't find a sweatshirt of mine and was looking to see if you had it." Tom met her wide eyes and waited for her to respond. Santana almost laughed at the scenario.
"Can I root around for it? You may have noticed my room's a mess, maybe I'll find it while I'm packing up."
Tom nodded. "Sure. Thanks." He turned to leave. "Sorry I interrupted your shower." Santana only nodded, more concerned with getting Tom out of her room before he discovered just how good of a shower he had really interrupted. Santana listened for the door to close and allowed herself to relax. Brittany giggled.
"That was close," she murmured as she pulled Santana back towards her.
Santana could only mumble a small "yeah" in return. She leaned her head forward onto Brittany's shoulder. Any desire to pick up where she had left off had faded.
"Britt, I'm sorry – that just totally killed it for me."
Brittany pouted before drawing Santana's attention to her. She wrinkled her nose and kissed the darker girl softly, then pulled back smiling and picked up a bottle of shampoo. "Well, I'd still like to shower, if that's okay with you."
Santana smiled. "That's more than okay with me."
The campers left early the next morning. Santana hugged her favorite (not that she'd admit that to anyone) campers goodbye, and waved the buses off with the rest of the staff. Once the buses pulled away, leaving large clouds of dust in their wake, the director instructed everyone to start cleaning. Wherever they worked – had to be clean. Wherever they slept – had to be clean. A few people groaned and everyone split up.
Tom, Santana, and the other members of the waterfront walked down towards the lake and started pulling in all the buoys and any other attachments in the water. They stowed the boats, canoes, and life vests. It took them a couple of hours to get everything fully stored and locked in the shed, and Tom let out a whoop and started clapping once they were done. Santana gave a small smile as the others joined in. She was just happy to be done. With the waterfront, at least. It had been a safe and awesome summer, which was a success by her, and her director's standards.
She walked back to her room after telling Tom she didn't think she had his sweatshirt. Santana had packed everything except her sheets on her bed, the clothes she would wear tomorrow, and her toiletries. Her room was spotless otherwise and she lay down on her bed, telling herself she had earned a nice nap. Santana rolled over and was asleep in minutes.
It was only luck that woke Santana up a few minutes before their last dinner. She has slept a few hours and woke with a start, looking at her phone for the time. Santana splashed some water on her face and walked over to the dining hall, excited for the fancy meal the chefs prepared for the staff members once all the kids had left. She sat with Jen, Brittany, and Samantha, and tried to let herself just enjoy the night. Their conversations were tinged with sadness – none of them wanted to leave the next day. Santana watched Brittany laugh at something Jen said and felt something twist in her stomach. She turned back to Sam who had been watching her. Her friend gave her a sympathetic smile and Santana rolled her eyes at her.
Later that night Brittany came to Santana's room as usual. Santana slid over in bed and made room for Brittany who joined her under the covers. Her touch was familiar and different at the same time. The same energy that had come over camp in the last few days seemed to resonate between them. Charging every move with something extra. They didn't speak and Santana let herself fall into Brittany's command, returning her kiss and shedding her clothing at the smallest motion from the blonde.
Eventually Santana found herself on top of Brittany, rocking against the girl's hand underneath her. Brittany had her bottom lip between her teeth as she looked up at Santana, who slowly opened her eyes to meet crystal blue ones. Santana let a whimper escape her lips and leaned forward. She rested her forehead on Brittany's and felt something rushing up, rushing out of her, there was no way to stop it and she didn't know if she wanted to –
"I love you," she breathed out, closing her eyes as the words flew past her lips. Brittany's lips met hers instantly and her hand pressed up against Santana, causing the girl to cry out as she neared release. Brittany released her lips and continued working the darker girl, whose hair enveloped both their faces. As Santana continued to rock against Brittany's hand, the blonde leaned up so that her mouth was against Santana's ear.
"I love you too," Brittany said softly as she brought Santana over the edge. Santana let out a great sigh and her body slumped forward as Brittany continued to rub gently, working the last of her orgasm through her. Santana shuddered with pleasure and let herself slide off of Brittany onto the bed as she regained her ability to think. Brittany brushed the hair from Santana's face and smiled at her, causing the darker girl to blush slightly.
Santana draped a hand over Brittany's stomach and pulled herself closer to the blonde, kissing her shoulder. They lay in silence for a while, each girl thinking about their quiet declarations.
"I meant it, you know" Santana murmured, deciding as she spoke that she indeed, had meant it.
"I know," Brittany replied. She grinned at the expression on Santana's face. "Well, I did!" The dancer insisted. Santana scoffed but didn't deny it. She just buried her head in Brittany's shoulder as the girl let out a small laugh and kissed the top of her head.
Santana fought the sleep that pressed down on her, not wanting to have to wake up to sad farewells. Brittany continued to stroke her hair, scattering the strokes with soft kisses as she too felt sleep overcome her.
Finally Santana relaxed and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.
There was a bus that morning for everyone who needed to get to the airport. Everyone else either had their own car or was getting a ride from someone. Sam and Brittany helped each other drag their bags to the bus while Santana was allowed to drive her car up to her door and load her bags from there. Dan had been walking by and offered to help, saying it was only right to end the summer the same way they started. Afterwards Santana drove her car back to the parking lot and got out. Everyone was gathering around the bus, hugging, loading last minute bags, and saying their last farewells.
Santana leaned against her car, arms crossed, and watched Brittany hug her friends. Sam and Jen came over to Santana and gave her a hug – Sam's lasted a tick longer than usual, and she may have squeezed a little tighter too – before moving on through the crowd.
Brittany continued to hug people, exchange phone numbers, and tell people to keep in touch. Santana smiled to herself at how popular the girl was. The blonde made eye contact with Santana briefly before someone else tapped her shoulder to embrace her.
They hadn't talked about their plans after the summer, but after last night, Santana didn't know if they had to. Sure, they were going to be hours, miles apart, attending different schools, but Santana thought it safe to say they both knew they weren't done. Even so, Santana felt tears threaten her cool demeanor. She decided she better say goodbye before the waterworks got to be too much. Santana pushed away from her car and strode as calmly as she could over to Brittany.
"I'm gonna say 'goodbye' now, 'kay?"
Brittany jutted out her bottom lip but nodded. "'Kay"
Santana hugged Brittany, squeezing her tightly as she wrapped her arms around her. "I'll miss you," she whispered.
"Me too," Brittany responded. Santana couldn't miss the sadness in her tone, it reached deep inside her and she cursed herself for even being part of the reason Brittany sounded that way. Santana stepped back from Brittany, eyeing the ground and shuffling her feet in the dirt. People still swarmed around them, "goodbyes" echoing in their ears.
"Well, I'll see you then…" Santana trailed off, meeting Brittany's gaze. The blonde gave an almost imperceptible nod. Santana's hand lingered on Brittany's waist and her brow furrowed. Brittany was almost turning away from her before she pulled her back, rocked forward on her toes, and captured Brittany's lips with hers.
Brittany's eyebrows raised in surprise but she met Santana's kiss readily, pulling the Latina closer to her. Somewhere behind her Santana heard Tom let out a loud "Oh, shit", and Sam may have squealed. Santana only kissed Brittany harder, her hand coming to rest around Brittany's neck.
"Call me when you get back?" Santana asked as she eventually pulled back, her eyes not daring to leave Brittany's.
"Mhm. You too, 'kay?"
Santana nodded. Finally she turned away from Brittany, keeping her head held high as she headed back to her car. She felt quite a few sets of eyes trailing her but kept her step strong and steady. Once in the car, she revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, up the path, and out onto the road. Santana sniffed loudly and wiped her face, just happy with herself that she made it out of eyeshot without breaking.
Later in the trip, as she passed through the first small town, her phone buzzed with a text, and she checked it at the next red light.
-I might miss you already.
Santana rolled her eyes but grinned from ear to ear just the same. She tapped out a quick response before the light turned green.
-Well you're in luck, I just might miss you back.
Fin.
Thank you so much for all your positive feedback! I had a lot of fun writing this. There'll be an epilogue, so stay tuned :)