Glee was practicing only the musical numbers for Les Mis. It was a lot of work, but Santana had found a place backstage where she and Finn could sit together and fool around without anyone seeing them but they were still able to see the stage. Santana was Fantine, Finn was Valjean. Quinn was Cosette and Sam was Marius. They were coping reasonably with having to play love interests. Rachel was Eponine.
And one fortunate day, Rachel was at home with the flu. So Mr. Schue assigned Quinn to practice 'A Little Fall of Rain' with Sam.
"Mr. Schue! I c-can't," Quinn said, the color draining from her face.
"Why not?" Mr. Schue sighed. Santana pressed her lips to Finn's, since they were not needed on stage.
"Because...because it might...ruin my voice for Cosette," Quinn blurted. Mr. Schue sighed, softly reassured her and she walked on stage, looking at Sam with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Santana was vaguely aware the the scene was stiff and awkward. No, she was far to busy with Finn's lips.
"Quinn, Sam. Come here. Let me 'get you into character'. Please, that was...awful," Mr. Schue shook his head. Santana heard snippets of the conversation from across the stage. She heard 'dying' and 'last moments'. Something seemed to change in both of them and they were above the fact that they were singing tenderly to their ex. Santana pulled away from Finn for a minute. She wanted to watch the epic drama unfold.
At first Quinn and Sam were so in character that it wouldn't of mattered who was playing opposite them. But at one point Sam seemed to be so focused that he was connecting dying Eponine with Quinn dying. His acting was real and it was heartbreaking. Quinn also seemed to pretend that this was her last moment of life, her last moment with Sam.
The scene ended and they held onto each other for a few seconds Then they pulled away suddenly. Santana smirked and pressed her mouth against Finn's neck. Quinn was gone now. She was in love with Sam more than ever. And Sam was almost there.
Santana smirked against Finn's skin, soon he'd truly be hers and she'd never be bored again. He was the perfect entertainment.
"She's gone," Santana whispered. Finn looked at Quinn, who was staring at Sam with mixed emotions. Finn pulled away from Santana abruptly, standing up and walking on stage. He didn't look at Quinn lovingly, but protectively. He knew she was broken and even if they didn't love each other, he wanted to make sure she was eventually fixed.
Santana sat, frozen. Suddenly she was under the crushing reminder that she was the 'whore'. She was the 'mistress'. She couldn't be seen with him. Not as long as he had a role to play with Quinn.
Dragging her fingers tips over her arms and shivering, Santana looked out on stage and felt like she was watching their lives. She wasn't a part of their lives, she was just the viewer. During the day, Finn had to pull away from her physically, socially, mentally and emotionally.
Which is why at night -when he belonged to her- she'd nip at his skin gently, leaving teeth marks. She'd put all of her energy into pulling him back. She couldn't lose her toy. She couldn't lose this game - it was getting harder to convince herself that it was a game-. Finn was a pawn. Purely a pawn.
But it was getting harder to convince herself that. She stayed in bed with him after and she even let him cook her breakfast on the nights he slept over.
She'd never felt dirty before, but she certainly felt dirty on the nights that he'd sneak in and out through her window. She felt marked and stained for the first time in her entire life.
"You make me feel like a whore," she admitted to him one night. Finn frowned and rolled over to face her. He cradled her face in his hands as if it were some treasure.
"You aren't a whore. Santana, I'm not using you. I'm not ashamed of you," he said and kissed every inch of her face. His words cleansed her, and her safeguards were restored again. He was purely a little entertainment device again. And Sam was her lousy boyfriend. That's when she realized that Sam's presence was choking her, drowning her. She could have a lot more fun -even if Finn was dating Quinn- if she broke up with Sam.
The next day, Santana walked over to Sam's locker, closing it shut to get his attention.
"Hey, babe," Sam smiled. Santana shook her head.
"Sam, we both know I was never really your babe. We used each other. I was a bitch to you and you thought I was just a darked haired Quinn who you could get some action from," Santana said gently. Sam opened his mouth to protest.
"Sam don't argue, you know it's true,"
"I...well...fine. You're right. We used each other. There, I said it. Where does that leave us?" Sam sighed and leaned his back against his locker.
"Honestly? It means we can go back to being glee pals, not 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'. I think that's pretty good," Santana muttered, leaning against the locker next to Sam's and looking at the ceiling. Sam ran a hand through his hair.
"Yeah. I...I like that. Can we still be...whatever the closest thing you have to a friend?" Sam asked. Santana chuckled softly.
"Whatever you want, Trouty Mouth," Santana said before pushing off of the locker and walking away.
She smirked and pulled her hair up into a ponytail, feeling like she was walking on air.
She was free again. Free, unchained and she had an appointment with Finn in an empty classroom right about now.