Of Coffee Shops and Comic Books
Ch. 7: Anywhere, Anything
To say that the past two weeks of Santana's life was wonderful would be a horrible understatement. It was actually the best two weeks that she had had in a really long time. She and Brittany more spent time with each other after that night at the diner. In fact, every weekday evening -besides Tuesday- they switched off driving home with one another after Brittany's shift at Pinky's. They'd just go anywhere and talk, maybe walk around the streets, have some dinner, or just sit at random benches.
Santana's favorite color was red, Brittany didn't have a favorite color because all of them were so pretty. Brittany's favorite animal was a tie between ducks and dolphins (it would be unicorns, but Santana insisted that they chose real animals) also dolphins were just gay sharks after all. Santana had this weird affinity with lizards.
She also had no siblings, but a ton of extended family which included about twenty cousins, ten aunts and eight uncles. Brittany had a younger sister who apparently looked just like her, and not as an extensive amount of family that Santana had, but a pretty good amount. Santana had gotten into comics when she was young when one of her older male cousins left behind a Superman comic in her room. Brittany had found her love of dance when her parents took her to watch Swan Lake when she was about five.
Santana told her story of her "coming out" and Brittany didn't really have one because her parents somehow always knew. They both liked UCLA, it was a nice campus, the Westwood area was fun and LA at night was always a plus. Santana explained her history with her circle of friends from high school. Brittany told her how she came about her friends along with some random childhood stories.
The morning after they had gone on their "second" date, Santana was rudely awakened by the shrill voices of Rachel and Quinn through her door. She turned over on her bed and wrapped a pillow over her ears to try and block them out. Unfortunately, Rachel began to sing "Some Enchanted Evening" again and before she could get to the chorus Santana yanked open the door with the meanest glare she could muster. Which wasn't all that hard to conjure up since she had just woken up and was already so annoyed with the interruption of her sleep. Snix was about to make an appearance.
"Soooo," Quinn drawled out with that shit-eating smirk on her face, "How was your night?"
"Just peachy,"
"Santana..." The girl in question realized that Rachel was about to begin a long monologue but she was cut off.
"No, Berry. Shut up. I'm going to stop you right there," Santana pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply before continuing on, "I asked Brittany out last night..."
"And?!" Quinn and Rachel asked simultaneously with excited expressions.
"She said no," Santana deadpanned as she kept a straight face on. Their faces, on the other hand, dropped at her words.
"Oh my god!" Rachel gasped dramatically as she set a hand to her cheek.
"What?!" Quinn yelled out in a surprised manner, her jaw had dropped comically.
Santana pursed her lips and crossed her arms but on the inside she was thoroughly enjoying the shock on her friends faces. She let them stay in their unstable emotional states for a minute before cracking a smile.
"She said no because apparently it was her turn to take me out on a date..." Santana put on a smirk and watched in amusement how both Quinn and Rachel's faces changed from despaired shock to relieved surprise.
"You bitch," Quinn breathed out while shaking her head in disbelief.
"Well, I applaud your acting skills, Santana," Rachel complimented before she cleared her throat. "Although it isn't as professional as my ability,"
"You should have seen the look on your faces. That was priceless,"
Santana told Quinn and Rachel the events of the previous night over breakfast in the dining room/ kitchen area (it was better to just tell them already because she didn't want to be cornered again). By the end of her story Rachel was close to tears and Quinn just sat there with a huge grin on her face.
"It's so beautiful. Sapphic romance is such a wonderful thing," Rachel dabbed at the corners of her eyes -truly being the aspiring star that she is-
"I accept cash and checks," Quinn leaned back into her seat comfortably. Santana had an expression of confusion on her face.
"What?"
"I was serious about the monetary compensation for the emotion and physical abuse I had to endure for this," Quinn quirked up an eyebrow and upheld a smirk.
"Yeah. Okay." Santana said with a pointed look before rolling her eyes and settling her attention on of the comic books left on the table.
"Or I could just take one of your various geeky things in your room for hostage..." Quinn retorted back airily. Santana grimaced and narrowed her eyes at her roommate.
"Do that and you die, Fabray" She snapped back as she pushed up her glasses.
"We'll just talk about this later, then,"
"Quinn, Santana is in love! You shouldn't take that as leverage to-" Rachel was about to go on another monologue but was interrupted.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Santana cut in as she put down her comic, "It's a little quick there to suggest that Brittany and I are in love,"
"Well, I was just assuming..." Rachel stated.
"When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me," Santana held an unamused look on her face.
"Oh stop with the vulgar statements," Rachel pursed her lips in annoyance.
"Then don't assume anything, Berry," Santana spat back.
The subject of love was dropped as Rachel shrugged in a diva-like fashion. Quinn tried to suppress the smile etching at her lips and Santana huffed as she picked up her comic again. Breakfast went by with more conversation but the words Rachel insinuated about love stuck with Santana the rest of the day.
When Brittany and Santana weren't together physically, they were texting each other random things that happened throughout their days.
-Monday-
Santana:
I swear Berry just put a crack in my glasses from that ridiculously high note she just sang
Brittany:
I'm sure she'd buy you a new pair
Santana:
But I'm too attached to these
Brittany:
Why?
Santana:
Because asdfjkl; Brittany! You should come over, I need another person to tell me if I was incredible or simply superb on my latest rendition of 3kd;aersljk
Santana:
God dammit! Sorry, she took my phone.
-Wednesday-
Brittany:
Kurt says Hi and that he wants to do a makeover on you
Santana:
Tell Flaming Gay, thanks, but no thanks
Brittany:
Good, I like you and your superhero shirts
Santana:
Part of my charm, huh?
Brittany:
You know it ;)
-Friday-
Santana:
I swear, if Puck mentions another lewd comment about us...
Brittany:
Why don't you hit him with those Batman things?
Santana:
Tempting, but he's been on the defense around me lately
Brittany:
You have awesome aim
Santana:
I told you target practice on Quinn does wonders
Tonight it was Santana's turn to drive them home. She pulled into a parking space right in front of the coffee house at around 11:45 in the evening and sent a text to Brittany.
Hey, I'm here
An instant later she got a reply.
I'll be out in a sec
Santana had a smile on when Brittany slid into her car and shut the door. It immediately dropped when she noticed the slight furrowed brow and a small pout on the other girl's lips.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, concern evident in her voice. Brittany sighed and ran a hand through her light hair not wanting to make any eye contact with her.
"Nothing... it was just a really long night..."
"Well, I have all the time in the world right now if you want to tell me. The place where I'm taking you will be about a 30 minute drive so..." Brittany looked up at Santana, intrigued by this newfound information.
"Where are we going?"
"It's a secret. We're gonna be out a little late, I hope you don't mind," Santana added that last part shyly while Brittany's face lit up.
"Of course I don't."
"Awesome," Santana started the engine and began to drive into the night.
"So are you gonna tell me?" She asked again after a couple of minutes. Brittany exhaled audibly before relenting.
"There was just a ton of people who came in today, which is fine because it's good for business... but for the last two hours of work Kurt and I were on our feet constantly taking orders, running around in the back and there were some really, really rude people. Usually I don't let these types of things to get me down, but today was just one of those days... you know?" She finished, rubbing the side of her face.
"You did the best you could. That's all you can do. I'm sure you did an amazing job, Britt. Screw what anybody else thinks," Santana glanced at Brittany hopefully, wishing that her words would make her feel better.
"That's actually all I needed to hear," Brittany told her, a tired smile formed, tugging the ends of her mouth up.
"Well if you need more constant reminds of how wonderful you are, just ask me," Santana said truthfully, kindness in her eyes.
"Thank you," Santana nodded in response.
About twenty minutes later Brittany was looking out the windows, up at the sky while Santana tapped her finger on the steering wheel and hummed along to whatever song was playing on the radio.
"Santana! Look! A shooting star!" Brittany yelped in excitement with a wide smile on her face. Santana grinned back as she took a second to glance at her.
"Are you sure?" She asked, setting her gaze back on the road.
"Yeah, I-" Brittany leaned forward in her seat with wide eyes, "Whoa! There's three more!" She pointed out, her index finger hitting the front window. Santana gave a small chuckle before she spoke.
"There's a meteor shower going on tonight... Perseids to be exact," She explained, a smile on her lips.
"You knew?" Brittany turned to her in amazement.
"I always keep tabs on this. I've watched it since I was eight. It happens every year and tonight is the best time to see it." Santana nodded as she continued on as she adjusted the glasses on her face.
"It's so cool,"
"I know, I wanted to get to where our destination is before it started, but it lasts for a few hours anyway,"
Brittany took Santana's right hand in her left one over the center console of the car. Santana took a glimpse at their joined hands before taking the initiative and interlocking them and looking back forward. Brittany lightly squeezed back and hummed in contentment. The warmth radiating from their touching hands spread throughout Santana's whole body, which caused another grin to appear on her face.
A song began to play over the speaks and in the middle of it, Santana began to sing along softly with the lyrics.
"We've never kissed, believe me there's no rush. I'd wait forever for that one touch...
cause I'll go anywhere and I'd do anything for you"
Blue eyes settled curiously on Santana, but the other girl didn't seem to notice what she had said since she continued to hum along to the melody with her attention focused before her. Brittany bit her bottom lip to try and cover up a tiny smile, but she turned her head to direct her gaze on the various meteors falling over the night sky as Santana continued to drive on.
A few minutes later, Santana pulled up to an empty playground. There were a few lamp posts illuminating the area, but other than that it was a perfect place to view the meteor shower. The minute Santana parked and turned off the engine, Brittany sprung out of the car and began skipping towards the park.
"Come on, San!" She yelled out enthusiastically, taking a second to spin around and hop up and down a couple of times. Santana got out of her seat and made her way to the back of her car.
"I have to get the blankets in the trunk, Britt!" She called back, pointing to it. Brittany shook her head before shouting out her reply.
"Get them later! I wanna go on the swings!" Santana laughed in response as Brittany turned back around and sprinted towards the playground.
"You're ridiculous!" She cried out with a huge smile on. Amusement was in her tone as she locked her doors and followed Brittany over to the swings.
Santana plopped down to Brittany's left side and couldn't help but gaze at the other girl. Brittany had already began to swing moderately but her eyes were set on the sky, watching a few meteors fall through the darkness. A look of wonder and child-like innocence were apparent on her face.
"I love parks," Brittany spoke up, still focused on the beautiful sight before her. Santana took this opportunity to push off the sandy ground in time with Brittany's swing so they were together.
"Why?"
"It's one of those places where your childhood was constructed from. Everyone goes to the park when they're younger. It's so fun, playing with other kids. Running around all over the place, not having a care in the world. Just... being a kid," Brittany shrugged after making her point. Santana nodded in agreement, even though they were now swinging up and down at different times.
"The swings were my favorite," Santana stated after a few minutes of silence.
"Oh yeah?" Brittany asked, her blonde hair flowing through the air behind her with every upwards motion. Santana felt the breeze over her face as she swung up, just a few milliseconds behind Brittany, before gravity pulled them both back down.
"It's the closest thing that got me to flying like a superhero, besides the fact that you go back down, you always swing back up, towards the sky" Santana waited to swing back before saying, "Up, up, and away," Brittany giggled.
"My favorite part is that split second where you're just floating at the top..." Brittany kicked her feet out quickly at the height of her swing, "before coming back down," she finished as she fell back down.
A few more minutes passed with them swinging and watching the night sky light up with trails of meteors. Brittany would let out a giddy shriek of glee when a cluster of them showed up, causing Santana to laugh and enjoy the night even more. They stopped kicking their legs and let the swings slow down on their own.
As the swings slowed to about moving a foot forward and a foot back, Santana took this opportunity to take a good look at the girl next to her again. She sucked in her lips and her mind began to go into action.
"Kiss her, Lopez. Come on, you can do it," Santana softly sighed to herself.
"Two weeks is too soon," She noticed Brittany drag her left foot into the ground to stop her swing.
"Well if you really think about it, it's been more like a couple of months..." Santana furrowed her eyebrows together.
"What if she doesn't want me to?" Brittany glanced over at her and gave her a warm smile before dropping her eyes swiftly to her lips. Just as quickly as she did, Brittany turned back up at the sky.
"She keeps looking at your lips, she's waiting for you to do it,"
"She's not looking at me now," She sighed, knowing that having an internal conversation with herself was normal, but her thoughts really got the best of her sometimes.
"She's having a good time tonight because of you," Brittany started to push off the ground, swinging.
"Take charge and channel the heroics you've read about into reality,"
"If you don't kiss her, Puck will be more than willing to do it for you," Santana immediately halted all movement as that thought passed though her mind. She looked down at the floor and pursed her lips.
"Over my collection of superhero collectables, he will," Santana didn't catch that she muttered that part out loud, which caused Brittany to turn her head and look at her.
"Santana?" She questioned, tilting her head curiously to the side. She dragged her foot in the sand to stop all swinging motions. Santana looked up at Brittany, who had a concerned expression on, it was all it took for her to solidify her resolve.
"Here goes nothing," Santana wet her lips with her tongue before taking action.
She leaned forward and quickly shut her eyes as she pressed her lips fully against Brittany's. She felt the other girl smile into the kiss, but it faded as Brittany kissed her back. Santana could feel the edges of her glasses begin to dig into her cheeks from Brittany's face being so close to hers, but that didn't stop her from enjoying this moment. It was the simple action of two lips touching, but it felt amazing. Brittany's lips were... so soft. Sure, Santana had expected it... possibly even dreamed about it, but it was nothing in comparison to the reality of it. The warmth she experienced from holding hands with her was nothing in comparison to this new feeling she got from the kiss. It was... This was... simply incredible.
After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality it was probably only a minute, Santana pulled away slowly, but only a breath away. She blinked a few times as her vision returned with Brittany's twinkling blue eyes staring intently back at her through her slightly fogged up glasses. She could see the hint of happiness evident within, along with the sparse freckles scattered on Brittany's cheeks.
"Holy perfect kisses, Batman" Santana whispered, she noticed that her grip on the chained handles were so tight that her knuckles turned a little pale.
"You're doing that thing again, silly" Brittany playfully nudged Santana's nose with her own.
"Sorry."
"But I find it enduring,"
"Endearing?" Santana suggested with a raised eyebrow. Brittany scrunched up her face, cutely and nodded.
"Yes, that. I don't think I'll ever get tired hearing your Batman phrases,"
"Oh, really now?"
"Yep,"
"So... I should be honest with you," Santana began, she cleared her throat, "The whole reason why I brought you here tonight was because I wanted to ask you something..."
"What is it?" Brittany asked softly.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" Santana unintentionally held her breath after her question, but exhaled noticeably when she felt Brittany's fingers cover her own. A giggle erupted from the other girl as Santana locked eyes with her.
"Of course, silly." She replied back, delight was etched all over her face.
"Oh, thank Hera..." A relieved smile formed on Santana's lips but it was cut short when Brittany decided to pull off her glasses and initiate another kiss.
Santana could definitely get used to this kissing business. She felt all sensation to the tips of her toes. Brittany's lips were on hers with a little more pressure than before. It was still equally as wonderful. They broke apart to breathe after a minute.
"Thank you, again for taking me here. I loved every second of it," Brittany told Santana with a wide grin on her face. She slipped the glasses back on Santana, who gratefully smiled back.
"Well, the meteor shower isn't over yet. Let's get the blankets from the car," Santana stood up and extended her hand to Brittany.
"Are we cuddling under the stars?" Brittany grabbed ahold of her fingers and got up from her swing as well.
"As cliche as it is, yes. Unless you don't want to..." Santana linked their hands together and they walked in the direction of her car.
"I don't want to,"
"Oh," Santana stopped in her tracks and looked over at Brittany, who was still sporting a smile on.
"I want to cuddle and make out under the stars," Brittany replied back bashfully with a wink. Santana laughed and gave a one-sided smirk in return.
"That can be arranged," She told her in a direct tone.
"Wonderful," Brittany brought up her free hand, that wasn't interlinked with Santana's, and placed it on Santana's cheek. She lightly rubbed her thumb over her cheekbone, Santana felt as if all the air in her lungs escaped her. It was such a simple gesture, but Brittany was able to get Santana to feel this dumbfounded.
After a few moments, Brittany smirked and then sauntered over to Santana's car, with Santana almost stumbling over her feet as she followed closely behind her. She popped the trunk open with her keys and pulled out two blankets. One with a huge Superman emblem on it and the other was covered in square patches of various superheroes from both Marvel and DC Comics.
"Which one do you want?" Santana asked, holding the Superman one in her left hand and the miscellaneous one in her right. Brittany took both of them and draped the Superman blanket over her shoulders while she placed the other over Santana.
She wrapped the edges of hers over her fingers and proceeded to step closer to Santana and engulf her in an embrace. Brittany set her hands around Santana's neck and tugged them closer together, covering the both of them with the Superman quilt.
"I guess you wanted this one, then..." Santana said as she put her arms around Brittany's lower back.
"Mmmhmmm," Brittany hummed back, their close proximity began to fog up Santana's glasses slightly from their breathing, but neither seemed to care.
They leaned forward, closer together and finally kissed for the third time that night. This time, however, Brittany deepened it, swiping her tongue over Santana's lower lip, which caused her to slightly open her mouth. She was serious about this making out under the stars thing. In which Santana was more than willing to comply. Her senses went into overdrive, she could feel the way Brittany added a little more pressure on her lips. The way they were trying to get closer together, despite the fact that they were practically pressed into one another. How she tightened her grip around Brittany's waist and Brittany did the same with her arms around Santana's neck. She felt Brittany smile into the kiss again before ending it with a sigh. Santana nuzzled into Brittany's neck and placed a single kiss there, which caused Brittany to giggle.
"I'm sorry, was that okay?" Santana looked back up at Brittany, she suddenly felt self-conscious of what she just did.
"That was more than okay," Despite it being midnight, Santana could still make out how blue Brittany's eyes were. What they said back to her.
The tail end of a meteor caught the attention of Brittany, her eyes entranced by the sight.
"Come on. I want to spend the rest of the night wrapped up in a blanket, staring up at the night sky while watching the meteor shower with my... girlfriend..." Santana smiled at the end of her sentence, she said the last word a little more softly. Brittany beamed back at her.
"Yes," Brittany echoed back after pecking at her lips one more time, "girlfriend,"
Hi. There you have it!
Sorry, a little delayed again but I have good reason.
I actually went to the Young Storyteller's Biggest Show event and that kind of threw me off because I was distracted in the days afterward haha. Yes, I DID witness Naya "sing" True Colors and fangirl over 1 Direction as a preteen girl, Kevin, Iqbal, Dean and Darren be the Beatles, Dot being the best ever and everything else that happened that night...
Kevin's shoes were really cool and Naya in the bright pink/ fuschia power suit. Damn.
But anyway, last chapter I actually got the most reviews, and I would like this one to surpass it.
I think I was able to reply back to everyone, but know that I am forever grateful for anyone who takes the time to read this story.
Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-Perseids