The sun shines in through Santana's bedroom windows. The sound of Nicki Minaj's Pound the Alarm disturbs her from her sleep.
"Fuck you, Brittany," she groans into her pillow. Her eyes pop open as she remembers the girl sleeping next to her. She quickly answers the phone.
"Brittany, what the hell!" She hisses into the phone. "Hang on a second."
She hears Brittany's muffled laughter as she gets up out of bed and moves quietly outside the bedroom, making sure not to wake the sleeping girl.
"Okay, what do you want?"
"Good morning to you too, sunshine." Brittany says in a singsong voice.
"You know happy morning people irritate the fuck outta me. What's up?"
"I just wanted to check up on you and let you know I won't be able to meet up with you tonight. Dance thing."
"Damn. I'll miss having my wing woman there. But at least you have a very good excuse. Nice going by the way."
"Thanks, I'm excited about it!" Brittany pauses. "Waaaaiiittt, we didn't go out last night, where did you pick up a girl?"
"What girl?" Santana asks innocently.
Brittany's silence on the other end of the line lets Santana know she isn't falling for it.
"Ok, this is embarrassing…" Santana responds, a hint of color reaching her cheeks. "But after we parted ways yesterday, I got hungry and I decided to eat at Applebee's—"
"You picked up a girl at Applebee's?!" Brittany asks incredulously, "Aren't there children there?"
"OK. You're making this sound a lot worse than it is. And for your information, she was hitting on me as she was recommending which salad—"
"She's a waitress?!"
Santana frowned a bit. "If you would stop interrupting me—"
"Wow, San. I don't even know what to do with you sometimes. I feel both proud and disgusted at the same time."
Now it was Santana's turn to chuckle. "Seems about right. I gave her a nice tip though."
"You have serious issues."
The darker girl nods and responds a bit more seriously this time, "I know."
Brittany seems to pick up on her change of tone and bounces back with, "Well, is she hot?"
Santana nods in spite of herself. "Oh yeah, think Liv Tyler…" A look of horror crosses her face. "Wow. Referencing Lord of the Rings two days in a row is not okay. I feel dirty now. I'm going to go take a shower."
"That's what makes you decide to shower?" Brittany teases. "And here I thought all the sweaty sex you had last night might—"
Santana hangs up as she hears movement from behind the bedroom door. She quickly sends Britt a text message.
She's up. Ttyl babe. xP
The brunette quickly adjusts her clothing before re-entering the bedroom.
"Morning," she says somewhat awkwardly. "Do you need anything? I can make some toast or something…" She offers half-heartedly.
Thankfully, the girl seems to be on the same page as she's already walking about picking up her clothing.
"No it's okay, thanks anyway." She flashes Santana a smile. "And thanks for last night."
The girl is fully dressed now and walks toward the Latina and wraps her arms around her neck.
"Call me if you wanna hook up again, ok?"
Santana wraps an arm around the girl's waist and gives her a small kiss on the lips. "Sure, babe."
The girl seems satisfied with her answer and pulls away from her. "I'll show myself out."
The Latina breathes a sigh of relief once she hears the front door close. She walks into the bathroom and gives herself a once over in the mirror. She isn't too sure if she likes the girl who stares back at her but before she gives it any more thought, she strips and steps into the shower.
[\\]
Quinn blows on her hands to keep them warm as she sits on a bench in Central Park with Jeremy. "Wow, it's lovely out here."
"I knew you'd like it."
"I'm not too sure how I feel about this hot dog though." She scrunches up her nose. "It's really good but I feel guilty now."
"Relax, one hot dog isn't going to kill you."
"You're such a guy sometimes."
"I thought you liked that about me?" Jeremy pauses before continuing. "So what did your mom say about you coming out here?"
Quinn's face darkens a bit. "She's okay with it, not that she really had a say it in anyway…" Her voice trails off before she grins back at Jeremy. "But let's not talk about that right now. I came out here to have some fun with you. I'll figure things out later."
He nods understandingly and knows not to push it any further for right now.
"So are you thinking you'll go with the cliché I heart NY t-shirt or the statue of liberty foam crown?"
She laughs and responds enthusiastically. "Um, bring on the foam crown, please!"
[\\]
The club is especially busy tonight. Neon colored lights flash wildly on the dance floor as people sway more (or less) to the beat of the bass heavy pop tracks. Santana laughs to herself and shakes her head as she watches some guy trying to pick up a girl way out of his league.
Good luck with that, buddy.
"Hey, brown eyes," Some guy drunkenly slurs in her direction.
This should be good.
"What can I get you?" She shouts over the loud music.
"How about a Dirty Mexican?" He chuckles as he shoots her a sleazy smile. Boldly he places his hand on top of Santana's. When he looks back into her eyes though, he gulps and his hand grows cold as he realizes that this might not have been the smartest move.
"Wow. A) Do you really think I haven't heard that one before? B) I'm Puerto Rican you ignorant motherfucker. C) Touch me again, and I will go Lima fuckin' Heights on your ass. D) Pay your tab now and I suggest you leave a generous tip or option C is going to happen regardless." With that, she pulls her hand out from underneath his.
The man's stunned expression is still on his face, as his brain doesn't seem to be processing her words at a normal rate. "Lima, what?" He asks dumbly.
"Money. Now."
He seems to be up to speed now as he hurriedly grabs his wallet from his back pocket. "All I have is—"
Santana snatches the $100 out of his hand. "That'll do." When he doesn't walk away, she finishes the exchange with a sarcastic, "Thanks, come again." He seems to finally get the hint as he trudges off to a different end of the club.
Fucking old bastards.
A soft voice interrupts her thoughts. "Um, Santana, right?"
Santana turns her head and gives a wide smile. "Subway girl."
Quinn returns her smile, "I'm not sure I'm sold on the nickname. It'll only make me think of those $5 foot-long commercials—"
"Speaking of foot-longs…" Jeremy comes up from behind Quinn and wraps his arms around her shoulders. "Hey, ladies."
The blonde girl scrunches up her face before slapping him on the side of his arm. "You're truly disgusting."
He grins and turns his attention toward the Latina behind the bar. "And you must be Santana. God, you really are insanely hot."
"Thanks," Santana responds as she gives Quinn a somewhat confused look.
"Oh, this is Jeremy," she adds. "He's my cousin. I told him about meeting you the other day."
"Yeah, only you didn't tell me how hot she was."
Playing along, Santana pretends to be hurt, "You didn't tell him I was hot?"
Quinn blushes slightly. "I didn't tell him cause he had already assumed you were since you worked here…" She looks up at Santana as she finishes, "And it's not like I could really argue with him."
"So can I buy you a drink, Santana?" Jeremy offers.
The darker haired girl chuckles at his persistence and shakes her head. "Sorry Romeo, I'm more of a Juliet kind of girl," she says as she turns her attention back to Quinn.
Jeremy holds his hand over his heart. "Ah, all the best ones are. Can't blame a guy for trying. Well, I'll let you ladies catch up. I'm sure someone around here is looking for a Romeo."
"Good luck." Santana says with a smile.
"Yeah, get lost, jerk." Quinn teases. They watch as he disappears into the crowd.
After a couple moments of awkward silence, Santana offers, "Let me get you a drink… I just received a very generous tip from one of my customers and I like to see my money put to good use. What'll it be?"
Quinn smiles, "Hm. A cranberry vodka sounds good."
"Coming right up." She feels the blonde girl's eyes watching her as she works.
"So do you like working here?"
"It's alright. I make some decent money and I'm surrounded by music and alcohol. And occasionally, like tonight, pretty women." She sets the drink down in front of her. "So to answer your question, it's not so bad."
Quinn sips on her cranberry vodka before responding, "You're a little bit too good at this, you know?"
Santana laughs and shakes her head. "I'm really not actually. I might be good at this part but I don't really do relationships... I try to be upfront about that to avoid hurting people."
The blonde girl keeps the drinking straw in her mouth as she studies the darker haired girl, almost as if she was a puzzle that she's trying to solve. She finally responds with, "So let me get this straight… You invited me down to the club so you could make me a drink and then tell me you don't want a relationship?"
Now it's Santana's turn to blush as she realizes it does sound a bit ridiculous when she puts it like that. "Well—"
"I don't get a dance?" Quinn shoots her a teasing smile.
The darker haired girl lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and returns the smile. "Of course. I'll get a break in a few minutes."
"And I'll be right back," the blonde girl announces as she disappears into the crowd.
Santana shakes her head in amusement.
Women.
Quinn returns a few moments later with a big smile plastered on her face. "So are you ready for this?"
"You being all mysterious and weird is kind of making me doubt myself." The darker haired girl teases.
"Oh, just come on." She grabs the Latina's hand and drags her onto the dance floor just as Buy U A Drank by T-Pain starts playing. Santana cracks up.
"Oh my god. Throwback!" They both start singing along to the song as they goof off for each other.
"I'ma buy you a drank,
I'ma take you home with me,
I got money in the bank,
Shawty what you think 'bout that,
I'll be in the gray Cadillac."
The crowd closes in around them, as the effects of the alcohol seem to set it amongst the other club patrons. One of the guys nearby them stumbles into Quinn sending her forward a bit. Santana grabs her by the waist to steady her.
"Hey watch it, asshole!" The darker haired girl shouts at him. Quinn doesn't seem to mind as she's too caught up in the feeling of Santana's arm around her body. She leans into the touch for a moment as she notices the vanilla scent of her skin. Getting caught up in the moment, she traces up the tanned skin of the other girl's arm with one of her fingers. The girl shivers at the touch, not really expecting it. When the blonde girl's eyes travel back to her face to meet dark brown ones, she realizes that she now has Santana's full attention.
Quinn blushes a little bit and straightens herself up. "Thanks," she mutters.
Santana pauses, not really sure of what's happening to her. Suddenly, her whole body feels awake. She shoots Quinn a smile and grabs her arm as she leans in, using it as an excuse to touch her again, "No problem," she says into her ear. The blonde girl smiles and they continue dancing together.
As she drops her grip on the girl's arm, the feeling begins to set in. Parts of her that she hadn't known existed before now are responding to the heavy thump of the bass, and anticipating Quinn's every movement. As if some feeling that she wasn't aware of had been hiding, dormant inside of her, waiting for something to awaken it from its slumber.
And it feels so good. It feels like she's on a high; one that she doesn't want to come down from any time soon. So she keeps dancing as she revels in every smile and laugh that comes from the beautiful girl's lips, the warmth of her happiness emanating from her body. She feels it as the girl grabs onto her from laughing too hard, and the heat shoots straight to Santana's heart, melting it just a little bit further with each passing touch.
For the first time in a long time, Santana feels alive.