A/N: Sorry for the slight delay. School has started, and therefore updates will be slightly longer. However, I have the goal of having a chapter up at least every one to two weeks. Thanks again for all the alerts, favorites, and reviews, I do read all of them and it's greatly appreciated. I'm too slow to reply back though.

And Nikki, I don't miss you.

Of Coffee Shops and Comic Books

Ch. 3: Some Enchanted Evening

To both Santana's dismay and relief, she didn't have much face-to-face confrontation with Brittany over the rest of the week. It finally clicked as to why Santana didn't see Brittany on Tuesdays. She was off teaching those summer dance classes, like the one Quinn was attending. When Santana did see Brittany at the coffee shop, it was only from afar since Brittany got swamped with people's orders. But without fail, Brittany would look over, across the room, and find Santana's eyes within a few seconds. Santana didn't dare look away from those familiar blue eyes she became accustomed to. A shared smile, a small wave, or a quick, sly wink would usually be accompanied with this. Which, of course, left Santana as flustered as ever, leading her to awkwardly push up her glasses in attempt to cover up her embarrassment. Brittany saw right through it all and Santana could hear that angelic laugh that was directed towards her. They chatted a little bit when Brittany had her breaks and made finalizations to Saturday.

Santana would pick Brittany up by 6:45, they'd go to this sandwich place for a quick dinner, then Santana would drive them to the acoustic set, and finally Santana would take Brittany home. That's it.

Or at least that was how Santana hoped it would end. She wasn't sure if she could handle anything else, both physically and/or emotionally.

Saturday rolled around and the reality of it all finally crashed down on Santana. She was taking Brittany out. Just her and the girl that she's been silently pining over for the past month.

"Oh god, please don't let me mess this up." she silently prayed, once again laid out on her bed. "I'll stop using Quinn for target practice with my weapon replicas for a week. If this somehow pulls through,"

To prevent herself from backing out of tonight's... special arrangements, she busied herself with finishing up that Brightest Day trade and starting up The New 52 in the DC Universe. When that didn't satisfy her anymore, she turned to arranging her cape collection in her closet. Yes, Santana had a superhero cape collection, and she wore them from time to time in the apartment. Quinn didn't even question it anymore when this occurred. The Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman capes were obviously together, since you know... they're the Trinity in DC. Next she had Flash, Green Lantern and the Joker. The last two were Captain Marvel and a blue "DC Universe Online" one.

The hours passed by too quickly for her taste because before she knew it, it was already 5:30 in the afternoon. Quinn was out and wouldn't be home until that night, so Santana had to fend for herself with getting ready. She decided to leave her hair down, keeping it simple. Her outfit -on the other hand- was another story.

"You can do this, just dress in something casual." she exhaled audibly and began to look through her dresser.

It took Santana another hour to decide on her outfit. She settled on a pair of blue denim shorts and a nicely fitted black Venom logo, distressed t-shirt. If Quinn knew how long it took for her to simply chose shorts and a comic-book shirt, Santana was sure that she would have never heard the end of it.

She glanced at the clock and her eyes went wide when she realized that she had 15 minutes to pick up Brittany.

"Shit, oh shit. Where the hell are my keys?" Santana scrambled around her room frantically before finding them on her counter next to her glasses. She double checked that she had her purse, phone, wallet, and keys and slipped on the glasses on her face. She sent a quick text to Brittany saying that she was leaving now and noticed that Quinn had sent her a text as well.

Have fun on your DATE tonight. And if you need the apartment to yourself just tell me beforehand ;)

Santana scoffed at the message. Quinn would send her something like that.

Not a date. And shut up, that's not necessary. I'll talk to you later.

With that Santana made her way out the door and to her car. Her anxiousness and anticipation grew, however, with each minute that passed as she drove. It marked a minute closer to her being at Brittany's place. She pulled up to another apartment complex, parked, and took note of the address on her phone screen.

"Okay, you can do this, Santana. This night is going to be fun. You're just spending time with a friend." she told herself in a confident matter, before she continued. "A really, really pretty friend... Great Scott, I'm hopeless" She lightly pounded her head on the steering wheel and groaned in frustration. It took her another couple of minutes to gain some composure, but she got herself out of her car and walked to the front door. She rang the doorbell and waited, looking down at her shoes and kicking a random rock on the floor.

The door opened to... someone who wasn't Brittany. Instead it was an Asian girl with a couple of blue streaks in her hair who looked right back at her.

"Uhh, Hi. I'm here to pick up, Brittany?" Santana started off, unsure if she was at the right place or not. A flash of recognition became evident in the other girl's eyes even though Santana was sure she had never met her.

"You're Santana," the girl stated, taking a good look at Santana, who began to feel incredibly awkward under the scrutiny, "Hmm, very nice... I'm Tina by the way, Brittany's roommate," Tina said the first part mostly to herself before her introduction and stuck out her hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you..." Santana hesitantly took her hand and shook it. She smiled at Tina and went back to awkwardly standing in the doorstep.

"Brittany, it's for you!" Tina called out, her head turned towards the side.

"Thanks, Tina! I'll be right there!" Santana heard Brittany reply back from inside the apartment. Another small smile formed on her lips and Tina took notice of this.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you around more often... and have fun tonight. Bring her back safe and sound, okay?" It sounded like Tina was giving her a warning with that last part.

"Yeah- Yes. Of course" Santana nodded, she didn't want Tina to hate her for no reason. Tina looked her over once more before grinning and going back inside, leaving the door open.

Santana re-adjusted her glasses and rubbed her nose, she didn't know what to make of Tina's words. She didn't have time to dwell on that more because Brittany showed up at the door with that beautiful smile. She wore a simple, light yellow shirt tucked into a pair of black shorts. Thin black suspenders accompanied it. Santana noticed that her hair was straightened out. The contrast of the yellow really brought out Brittany's eyes.

"Holy beautiful, blue-eyes, Batman," Santana unconsciously uttered out loud. Brittany's smile widened and she let out a giggle.

"What was that?" Brittany asked, she looked at Santana curiously with her smile still in its place.

"Oh, god." Santana started, realizing what had just happened. The embarrassment began to sink in, "I just said that out loud, didn't I? I'm so sorry... I have a tendency to say those types of things," she explained with a nervous laugh. She set her gaze back down to the floor and bit her lip. On the inside she mentally slapped herself.

"She probably thinks you're the biggest nerd on the planet right now and doesn't want to go out anym-"

"It's cute," Brittany's reply caused Santana to stop all thoughts and direct her eyes back up to her. She didn't expect her to say that and had nothing to say in return. Brittany licked her lips before continuing on, "Come on, I'm starving. Bye Tina!" The door closed and she locked it before making her way down the steps. Santana quickly followed and they both walked to the car.

"So, sandwiches?" Santana began as the two got in and started to drive. "And you can go through my iPod if you want..." she felt self-conscious about the music that was playing in her car for some reason. She really wanted to impress Brittany.

"Sandwiches sound perfect. Actually, I was wondering if we could listen to what's going to be playing at the show tonight," Brittany picked up Santana's iPod from the center console.

"Oh, right. Well it's going to be just a bunch of independent artists. We're listening to one of them now," Santana glanced at Brittany before looking back to the road. She saw that Brittany nodded her head and didn't say anything back.

"I like it" Brittany told her after couple of minutes of listening.

"You do?" Santana said in surprise, keeping her attention forward. She could see in her peripheral vision that Brittany was going through her iPod.

"Yeah, the lyrics are really good and it's really simple with the music," Santana could hear the truthfulness behind Brittany's voice. She smiled and felt a little relieved.

"They're just as amazing live. A lot of their stuff is on youtube, so if you're interested you can look them up there"

"Cool,"

"I'm actually a sucker for acoustic stuff... so that's why I really wanted to go" Santana added, explaining herself.

"You were gonna go by yourself?" Brittany inquired, turning her head to look at the driver. Santana shrugged.

"Yeah, but not anymore, since you're going with me now," Brittany smiled at Santana's response.

"Not a date, Santana... this isn't a date, don't make it sound like a date!" Santana internally panicked, realizing her words. She felt Brittany's eyes on her while she kept driving and she cleared her throat.

"Uhh, you know, spreading the good music..." Santana continued on hoping to save herself.

"Yeah...?" Brittany stated in more of a question, teasingly. Santana rubbed the back of her neck with her right hand while keeping her left on the steering wheel. She gave a one-sided grin. Brittany lightly chuckled but said no more.

A few minutes later Santana parked in front of a sandwich shop. The two got out of the car and walked towards the store in a comfortable silence. Santana sped up a little to reach the door first. She pulled it open and gestured for Brittany to go in before her.

"Why, thank you," Brittany said with a smirk, her eyes locking with Santana's before walking in. Santana tried to hide her growing smile when she followed.

They found a table and sat across from each other. Both of them picked up a menu that was placed towards the side and looked through it. After a few minutes, Santana adjusted the left side of her lens frames with her pointer finger and thumb but got a feeling of being watched. She directed her eyes up at Brittany and found her looking back curiously.

"Have you always worn glasses?" Brittany asked as she set down her menu and rested her chin on her hand. Her full attention was on Santana.

"Um, y-yeah." Santana's eyes darted around a little, "Too much late night reading when I was younger, I suppose" she set down her menu as well.

"Reading what?" Brittany pressed on, her eyebrow raised.

"Anything, really... but mainly comics," Santana tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and shrugged slightly. Averting her eyes to the table, she tried not to seem embarrassed at her confession.

"So what are you, man or Superman?" Santana immediately looked back up to see Brittany smiling at her. She knew her face must have shown obvious surprise because the other girl started to laugh.

"Smallville," Santana breathed out and Brittany nodded.

"That's as far as my comic-book knowledge goes... It was one of my favorite shows," Brittany told her, a smile still intact. Their waitress showed up with a couple of waters and took their order before Santana could reply back.

"Lana and Clark were always so cute, but I knew that Lois and Clark were destined to be together when she showed up in fourth season," Brittany picked up where she left off when the waitress left with their menus. Santana grinned at Brittany after blinking back her surprise.

"Of course." she agreed, "Lois and Clark are soul mates, no matter what. But Lana and Clark have a special place in my heart." Santana decided to ask a question of her own, "So you didn't watch any of the animated stuff growing up? Batman, Superman, X-Men Evolution, Spiderman, Teen Titans, or Justice League?" Brittany shook her head.

"No, not really. I caught some of those here and there, but I never got into them," Brittany waved her hand from side to side.

"That's a shame. They're really good... So what did you do when you were younger?" Santana asked daringly, while taking ahold of her water cup and bringing it up to her lips for a sip. Brittany bit her lip and smiled again before answering her question.

The next hour passed with Santana and Brittany getting to know one another with question after question. Their respective sandwiches came and went rather quickly. There wasn't any awkward silences. It was always filled with laughter or conversation. They seemed to just... click. One of those rare connections between two people.

Santana found out a lot about Brittany. She was a born and raised Southern California girl, right here in Los Angeles. She grew up wanting to be a professional dancer, but all that changed during high school when she learned that she had a knack at writing. Despite her slight dyslexia (she tended to misspell and confuse one word for another a lot in high school, but she's gotten better at it now), she set her sights on becoming a journalist and got into UCLA for a major in Communication Studies. She still has a love for dance, which is why she still attends a few classes here and there and even helps out some instructors. Here she was, also going into her third year of college. Santana observed how Brittany lowered her eyes and changed her usually cheerful demeanor to a more timid one when she said how people didn't believe that she got into UCLA.

"They don't know what they're talking about. You just have a different way of seeing things, Britt," Brittany's gaze met Santana's. Her eyes lit up at Santana's statement and even brought out a tiny smile. It was Santana's turn to look away shyly but she was drawn back to blue eyes when she felt warm fingers wrap around her wrist. Brittany had reached across the table where Santana rested her forearms.

"Thanks Santana, that really means a lot" Santana was too caught up with the sensation of Brittany lightly grasping her wrist to reply back. She was being so gentle and even rubbed her thumb up and down the side of Santana's hand. It was comfortable, Santana grinned and they shared another smile together.

The beeping of Santana's phone snapped them out of their moment. Santana cleared her throat and Brittany retracted her hand. Instantaneously, Santana missed the warmth that radiated from that small touch.

It was a text message from Quinn that caused Santana's phone to go off. Of course she would be cockblocking when she wasn't even present.

Did you get into her pants yet?

Santana's jaw dropped at Quinn's rather vulgar message. Sure, she and Quinn joked around, but it was never that blunt.

"Santana?" Brittany's voice held concern in response to Santana's distressed expression.

"I- uhh... Um. I- It was just Quinn. Asking where I put her... errr- book..." Santana stammered. She obviously couldn't let Brittany know what Quinn sent her.

Another message showed up on the screen.

Sorry, that was Puck. Whoops. Carry on with your date.

A grimace replaced the shock on Santana's face.

Remind me to kill the both of you later. With Mjolnir.

Santana felt satisfied with her reply and finally took notice of the time and remembered that the show was at 8:30PM. It was already 8:03PM.

"We better get going," she told Brittany, who nodded and made the motion of getting her wallet out.

"No. I'm paying," Santana held out her hand to stop Brittany from any further movement.

"But-"

"Nope. Besides, I got the show tickets for free. Please, I insist." Brittany held Santana's gaze for a few seconds before she sighed and relented, dropping her wallet back into her purse. Santana smirked in triumph.

"Next time... I got it," Brittany huffed with a playful glint in her eye.

"Deal" Santana agreed as she paid and they both got up to leave.

"Oh my stars and garters. Paying for dinner and acknowledging to go out to dinner... together, again? No, still not a date." she thought to herself while walking out the doors side-by-side with the other girl.

Santana was caught off guard when Brittany decided to wrap her pinky from her right hand with Santana's left hand pinky once they were outside. She looked down at their intertwined digit and then back up at Brittany.

"You pinky promise?" Brittany questioned, pulling a rather cute and innocent expression on her face while keeping her eye contact unwavering.

"Y-yeah. O-of course!" Santana replied, feeling the heat begin resonate on her cheeks. She took a nervous gulp and gave a sheepish smile to Brittany.

"I'm holding you to that," there was that hidden gleam of light-hearted amusement behind Brittany's eyes again. She began to softly swing their joined hands together as they started to walk back to Santana's car. The corners of Santana's lips curved upward in a more genuine smile. The warmth from Brittany spread throughout her body. Santana had never felt so at ease with one person like this in her whole life.

They arrived at the acoustic show venue ten minutes before it was supposed to start. Santana texted Finn saying she was there and got the tickets from him. They waited in the front before a tall, and rather awkward looking, guy came out to meet them.

"Enjoy the show, ladies" he told them after handing it out. His eyes lingered on Brittany a little longer than necessary and Santana gave him a warning glance in retaliation. He promptly looked away and backed off when he noticed this. Santana curtly thanked Finn and walked inside with Brittany, who was rather oblivious to Finn's gawking.

The inside of the hall was filled with people awaiting the music. There were a couple of couches in the back but the rest was just floorspace for people to stand. The stage was set up with a few stools, a couple of acoustic guitars, three microphones, a drum set and a keyboard.

"I hope you don't mind standing for a bit. If you wanna go and sit down during the show, just tell me" Santana said to Brittany once they were situated in a good spot near the stage. Santana tilted her head towards the direction of the couches as well. Brittany just nodded and her attention went back to the stage where a band took their entrance and the lights dimmed down. Cheering erupted from the crowd and the first song of the night started.

Santana could see Brittany sway slightly to the music that played throughout the night. Her blue eyes were focused on examining each band and/or musician that went up. Santana happily hummed along with most of the melodies and even sang along to her favorite lines from certain songs.

"I'm absolutely sure, I won't need anything more, I left loneliness outside of your door..."

"You are the earth beneath my feet, you are my gravity..."

Brittany slipped her arm to loop with Santana's but made no eye contact when Santana turned her head to look at her questioningly. She pushed up her glasses and turned back to the stage, trying to calm her erratically beating heart.

"Let me tell you what she means to me, kinda like the feeling after your first kiss, except that everyday she makes me feel like this, she's exactly what I need..."

"Cause when the time is right you'll be here, but for now dear no one, this is your love song..."

Towards the end of the show, Brittany turned her head, so that her lips were right next to Santana's left ear.

"Can we go sit?" she asked over the music. Santana felt Brittany's warm breath over the shell of her ear, she became paralyzed at that moment, and could only nod in response. They made their way to the back of the hall and sat in a semi-secluded couch. Brittany kept her arm around Santana's even as they took a seat. A few minutes passed before another song came on and Santana resumed to humming along. She gave into softly singing along again at the chorus.

"I've been thinking about you lately, maybe you could save me from this crazy world we live in, and I know we could happen, cause you know that I've been feeling you..."

"Seems like you know a lot of these songs," Brittany spoke up, eyeing Santana once she trailed off. Santana shrugged.

"Yeah, I have most of all their albums and EPs that they have out,"

"You have a really nice voice, Santana," Brittany continued on, still keeping her gaze on her.

"T-thanks... I was in a show choir club back in high school, but that was just for fun," Santana said modestly, shyly averting her brown eyes from blue ones.

"You should sing more often," Brittany said in a nonchalant voice as she looked back towards the stage. Santana looked down at the ground but was hiding a smile.

"I- umm... thank you?" she replied back, unsure of how to take the compliment. Brittany laughed, a smile elicting on her lips, as she turned to look back at Santana.

"You're cute," Brittany told her before resting her head on Santana's shoulder. Santana stiffened at this action, but relaxed considerably after the initial shock. She sighed happily and got lost in the music for the rest of the show, comfortably tilting her head over Brittany's.

"Thank you for inviting me out tonight, Santana"

Santana walked Brittany back to her doorstep and once again stood awkwardly before her, while balancing her weight through scratching the back of her left leg with her right foot.

"Yeah, it was no problem. Thank you for agreeing to go. It was more enjoyable to have you with me" She re-adjusted her glasses while she told her this quietly.

"I'll see you on Monday, then?"

"Definitely,"

"Well, thanks again," Brittany leaned into Santana's personal space and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

Santana lost all coherent thought and her eyes went wide at the sudden contact. Everything suddenly felt increased in temperature, even though it was a cool summer night. Brittany pulled back and had a smile that reached her eyes. Santana just stared back in shock, still at a loss for words. This caused Brittany to giggle lightly.

"Goodnight," she said in a low voice, she turned around and unlocked her door.

"G'night..." Santana barely whispered back before Brittany disappeared behind the front door.

Her mouth was still slightly agape as Santana slowly lifted a hand to touch where Brittany's lips were just a few moments ago.

"By Odin's beard..." A grin tugged at the corners of Santana's lips, causing her to give a lopsided smile. She pushed her spectacles up her nose when she realized that they were almost slipping off her face. She kept beaming stupidly as she walked back to her car. A light spring was in her step.

"QUINN!" Santana called out excitedly as she came through the door of their apartment. "QUINN! I THINK IT WAS A DATE... Great Krypton, I think I just went on a date with Brittany," She walked to the living room still talking animatedly.

"Hey wh-... Berry?" Santana stopped dead in her tracks once she noticed who was accompanying Quinn on the couch.

"Hello Santana!" Rachel greeted cheerfully with Quinn smirking beside her. Santana went over to them and gave Rachel a quick hug.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were staying in New York this summer?" Santana questioned as she took a seat across from them on another couch in the living room.

"Well, I decided to take a short vacation to visit! I've just been so busy with everything at NYADA. It's good to have a little rest every once in a while," she explained, Santana nodded in response.

"So, what is this 'date' that you were just talking about?" Quinn inquired, remembering Santana's antics when she walked in. Santana's smile dropped while Rachel and Quinn upheld theirs.

"Oh shit," Santana thought, not wanting to have to tell Rachel everything. She knew Rachel wouldn't shut up because that was just how she was. Santana couldn't handle all the questions that would be thrown at her so she tried to change the subject.

"Nothing... uhh- you just heard me wrong," Santana told her while shifting in her seat.

"Really? Quinn had told me otherwise, tonight," Rachel raised an eyebrow and looked at Quinn, who still kept that stupid smirk on her face.

"Nope..." Santana pressed on, trying to stand up from the couch.

Rachel began to start singing before Santana could say anything else.

"Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger..."

"No, nope... no, stop it!" Santana put her hands over her ears but it didn't help much in blocking out the singing. Rachel's voice still was heard quite clearly. Santana scrunched up her nose and gave an exasperated sigh.

"You may see a stranger, across a crowded room, and somehow you know, you know even then"

"I'm going to bed now, bye!" Santana walked towards her bedroom to get away. Quinn decided to join in with Rachel and added some background vocals.

"That somewhere you'll see her again and again,"

"Goodnight!" she yelled before entering her room.

"Dream of Brittany, tonight!" Quinn yelled back over Rachel's voice, smug amusement was evident in her tone.

"Once you have found her never let her go,"

Santana shut her door, not wanting to deal with them any longer. She would do it tomorrow morning.

"Once you have found her, never let her go!" Rachel finished on a high note with Quinn clapping enthusiastically. She heard laughter from the other side of the door and she shook her head as she laid down on her bed. She slipped off her glasses and set them on the counter next to her.

Santana smiled into her pillow as she recalled tonight's past events. She slowly shut her eyes as her body relaxed.

Yes, it was some enchanted evening, indeed.

I was having a hard time writing this chapter for some reason. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.
I used songs from a few of my favorite "youtube artists"

1. "I Don't Care" by: Melissa Polinar and Jesse Barrera
2. "Tired and Uninspired" by: My American Heart
3. "Lemonade" by: Jeremy Passion
4. "Dear No One" by: Tori Kelly
5. "We Could Happen" by: AJ Rafael

Some good music right there.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

-Perseids