Sorry for the long ass wait, writers block and stuff. but this is quite long so maybe you won't hate me :)
BTW Tobi is pronounced exactly the same as Toby (you probably already knew that but if you're like me you might spend the entire time pronouncing it weird and i was worried) sorry for mistakes, there's only so many times you can go over it without slipping into a coma.
When Mike knocks on the door there's two thoughts running through his head. One was of who would answer the door- he was praying it wouldn't be Brittany's mother, ever since that time she caught him alone in her basement and that one dirty scene in a movie came on, she never looked at him the same- the other was of the slim chance that Brittany wouldn't be alone and he couldn't think of anything worse than that because the slightly stoned girl and blonde boy behind him still didn't know. And even though they'd all been spending a lot more time together and were all somewhat friends, he didn't want to be the reason they found out, Brittany would be majorly pissed with him. (He was more afraid of what her girlfriend might do more than anything, he'd heard the rumors of what Santana did to people that pissed her off and he didn't like the thought one bit)
He was still on the fence when Brittany's ten year old brother, Tobi, answered the door "Wazzup my bitches!" Tobi was still very deep in the belief that he was from the 'hood'.
Mike straightens "Hey Tobi"
"How many times I have to tells you, its T-dog now" Tobi says, tugging on his baggy clothing and adjusting the cap on his head.
"Right, sorry…..T-dog" Mike gestures behind him "this is Sam and Quinn"
Tobi lets them in, walking with as much swag as her can muster into the living room. Behind him Mike can hear Quinn fighting back a laugh at the boy- Mike was all too familiar with Tobi's different phases and obsessions, it was only last year that he was hatching a plan for world domination and the year before that he was trying to become a world famous sprinter. They were all saddened the day he got the rejection letter from the Olympics. – He threw a disapproving look back at her.
"So… where's Brittany?" Mike asks, sitting down next to Sam on one of the couches, Quinn sits on the armchair in the corner- mesmerized by the wallpaper- and Tobi chills on a bean bag chair in front of the TV.
"Upstairs" he says distracted by the exuberant music video, hands coming up to try and imitate the movements in front of him. He catches Mike before he makes it up the stairs, still not fully paying attention "I wouldn't go up there, listen to the music" Mike stops, pricking his ears, and true to form he can hear music. Faint, like its lost most of its volume on the way down but was loud where it began. "You don't go into Brittany's room when you hear the music" Tobi smiles, a mixture of a knowing smile and a smirk.
Sam leans forward in his seat, intrigued "Why not?"
Tobi laughs "just trust me, it'll be the worst decision you ever made" he says, and then a moment later under his breath "it was definitely mine"
Mike sits back down fumbling nervously with the zip of his hoodie, him and Tobi both knew what was going on in that bedroom. Tobi didn't know that he knew but just as well it wasn't good.
About an hour later- after countless amounts of rap videos and Tobi had managed to perfect the lyrics to most of them- the music stopped. They all sat up in anticipation, waiting on baited breath until they heard Brittany's door open. There was faint laughter before they could her footsteps down the stairs.
And who came bounding in wearing only a The Flash jersey- which Mike recognized from Brittany's bedroom floor- and her underwear shocked most of them. Tobi was used to it.
"Sup t-dog, how's it going" Santana says, leant against the door, arms crossed and with an easy going smile, Sadly not yet noticed the other occupants of the room.
Tobi smiles at her "you know how I do"
"Kicking ass and taking names?" she asks laughing, he fist pumps, head nodding and lets out a 'whoop'. "Good to hear"
Sam for his part looked like a deer caught in the headlights plus a slightly open mouth and a severe case of being frozen with fear – he'd never been around anyone so popular unless they were throwing him in dumpsters or calling him a dork, so to see one of the most popular girls in school making idle conversation with one of his friends brothers, in her underwear, kind of set into his natural fight or flight instinct.- Quinn on the other hand was indifferent, too busy watching the way her hand moved in front of her face really to notice.
But this meant she had to let out quite a loud laugh – because really how funny are people's hands, they're just there, like, all the time- driving Santana's attention from Tobi to the three other occupants. With lack of anything else to do they all give her very awkward, put on smiles. She stares at them in succession, mouth gaping until she mumbles something about coffee and fast walks into the kitchen.
Moments later Brittany comes bounding in, coming up next to Tobi and discussing the exenterate raps on screen-similarly dressed except instead of underwear she's wearing a pair of short shorts and her shirt has the cookie monster on it- . A harsh whisper of her name from the kitchen gets her attention and she finally turns around to see them all looking at her.
From the kitchen Santana is frantically waving her over a panic look on her face, Brittany excuses herself- tries to excuse herself but all that comes out is rang of different noises- and rushes off to the kitchen.
"Oh my god" Santana breathes out when she gets there, fingers running through her hair.
Brittany breathes out a little chuckle escaping "I know"
"It's not funny" Santana says smacking her arm lightly, fighting off a laugh herself.
Brittany sobers "you're right, it's not funny" They stare into each other's eyes for a long time, both daring the other to laugh first. Brittany's the first one to cave, body erupting with unabashed giggles "Oh god, the awkwardness" she gets out to a Santana who is failing to suppress the giggles with her hand.
Quinn and Sam appear in the doorway –Sam stands there awkwardly while Quinn leans on his shoulder- "Now, this is all speculation" Quinn says gesturing wildly with her hands "but are you guys together?"
Santana gives a bashful smile, leaning into Brittany who puts an arm around her shoulders and kisses the top of her head "yeah"
Of all the reactions Santana expected, Quinn giving a cool nod of approval then Sam jumping around the room in excitement, only stopping to look at them in adoration and whisper out "just precious"
Santana spent the rest of the day in Brittany's living room, half listening to Quinn talk about some new band and types of weed, half watching Tobi teaching Sam, Mike and Brittany how to walk with swag.
He was unsuccessful.
Biology was Santana's favorite subject. Not particularly because of the subject itself, in which she got straight A's like every subject, or the teacher – Mr. Perry was a prick, on good days- but it was more of who she got to sit next to.
Well, sort of sit next to. There was an aisle way between them but theoretically they sat next to each other.
And in those boring ass moments of class – they were at the back so no one could see them- they would occasionally share notes or in Santana's case send flirtatious looks, lick her lips a lot and make sure to accidentally hitch her skirt higher than normal so Brittany could get optimal viewing of her legs. It's only what good girlfriends do.
So when Brittany walked into class- wearing instead of the usual superhero t-shirt, she'd opted for a light beige sweater with her jeans- holding onto the straps of her backpack and with the glasses she only used for school slipping down her nose; Santana, with her legs crossed, casually ran her right foot down the length of Brittany's left leg, before she could sit down.
Making Brittany falter, and she practically fell down into her seat. Santana feigned innocence, leaning her head on her right hand and only looking over with a smirk when she saw Brittany roll her eyes.
And out of the sheer kindness of her heart she leant back and stretched her arms behind her head letting out a far too sexual moan, the cheerios uniforms didn't show nearly enough skin for her. It had the desired affect though, Brittany's eyes visibly switched from the board to the small amount of midriff on show. Eyes raking down to watch her as she uncrosses and crosses her legs slowly, gulping audibly when she brought her pen to pouty lips, tongue coming out slightly to play with the end.
By this time Mr. Perry had started walking around the room, reading aloud from the textbook in his hands and when he reached Brittany's desk she was still shamelessly staring at Santana's legs.
Used to kids not paying attention in his class, he did what he always did and took the book in his hand rolled it up into to a bat and smacked her on the back of the head with it.
For the rest of the lesson her focus hadn't wavered once and Santana glared daggers into the back of the teachers head. Stupid prick never lets her have any fun.
She stared out the window eyes aimed towards the sky in a vain attempt to see where the rain fell, what part of the cloud did the droplets fall from? Was it to the side, all over it or right in the middle? How would you find out? Send robots up into the sky to locate the precise area, she'd have to add that onto the list of things the robot in her basement will do. She says robot but really it's just an old vacuum cleaner duct taped to a picture of Ben Stiller. Her mother's dubbed it a work in progress.
There's a tap on her shoulder, and she only glances at the shorter girl next to her, eyes still focused entirely at the sky. "It's raining" she states.
Rachel looks outside, arms wrapped around the books against her chest "True" she pulls on Brittany's arm and the blonde reluctantly turns away from the window, holding onto the straps of her backpack. "Walk with me?"
Brittany shrugs with a friendly smile "if you want"
She makes sure to not make eye contact with any passing jocks or cheerios as she walks; two geeks walking side by side down the hallway was like prime bait, it set off the little sensors inside a bullies head which with one foot wrong will send them on a beeline for the nearest iced beverage to throw or fresh dumpster and she'd gotten thrown in a dumpster that morning and wasn't looking for round two.
"Who's your partner on the English project?" Rachel asks, rearranging the books against her chest.
"Umm Quinn I think… yeah Quinn" she smiled down at Rachel, amused "but I doubt I'm gonna get a lot of help, a story about Identity isn't really Quinn's thing"
Rachel laughed, though she didn't really get it, instead she reveled in the cute way Brittany smiled, until the joke hit her "Wait, Quinn Fabray?" Brittany nodded, focusing more on someone at their locker that she couldn't see "as in the girl that hangs around the bleachers smoking cigarettes?"
"I don't think those are cigarettes, but yeah that girl." Brittany looks down at her eyebrows furrowed "Why?" then the confused look gets replaced with a coy one "do you have a crush on Quinn?"
This in turn causes her to blush like an idiot, shouting "No!" too loudly for a normal person and attracting unwanted stares.
"You so do"
In that precise moment Sam had to catch up with them. "Who does what?"
"Rachel has a crush on Quinn" Brittany bumps shoulders with Sam who lets out a girlish squeal.
"I do not!" again too loudly, with a new set of blushes and when she turned around again Mike was behind them laughing along.
"We have to hook you two up" Sam says and Mike nods in agreement.
"No I don't-"
"Too late it's happening" he shouts over his shoulder as he runs off to class, Mike following.
Brittany gives an uneasy shrug, running after them before Rachel could shout at her.
Nervous fingers drummed against the steering wheel, Quinn pressed her lips into a thin smile and looked to the girl in the seat next to her "I had fun tonight on our, err, date"
As soon as she said it, Rachel sat up in her seat "This wasn't a date" she demanded hands curled into fists.
Quinn looked out at the night sky, eyes flicking over each star, a deep crease to her forehead "but I thought-"
"No" she simply said, Quinn raked her fingers through her hair leaning back into her seat "this was just friends going out" she said in a condescending tone which Quinn didn't appreciate. She may spend half of her existence stoned but she isn't stupid, dim yes but not stupid.
Quinn rolls down the window of her truck, sighing in relief when the cool air hits her face. She thinks back to the day before when Brittany, Mike and Sam had come up to her at the comic book store, interrupting her intense staring contest with a ladle, and wouldn't stop going on about how much Rachel liked her. Even going so far as to say she worshipped her, it was a little weird but she'd heard worse, especially coming out of Sam's mouth. He could over exaggerate everything. Anyway, it seemed Rachel didn't like her at all and now her heart was starting to ache, which totally wasn't from feelings or anything. "Why…?" Rachel lets out a quiet squeak in surprise, seaming to have also been daydreaming "why did you agree to come?"
She can see the swirl of emotion in Rachel's eyes and leans her arm on the window in anticipation. "It seemed, beneficial"
"Beneficial? What could be, even remotely, beneficial about going on a date with me?" Quinn says letting out a shaky breath, her hands returning to the steering wheel and squeezing.
Seeing this Rachel puts a reassuring hand on the blondes' right bicep "Fine, not beneficial. More like…" her mind searches for the right words "It helps me get what I really want"
Anger welled up inside Quinn and she pulled her arm out of Rachel's' grasp "And what's that then? Brittany!" Rachel lets out an outraged gasp, trying to seam appalled by the idea "Oh please, like I don't notice you all over her"
Wait, no, she doesn't notice. Why would she when she's indifferent to everything Rachel does, she doesn't care about anyone. "I don't like you" she blurts in a squeaky and somewhat pained voice, eyes bugging in shock at what she just said.
"I never said you liked me"
"Well good, because I don't, you're high maintenance and annoying." She's in full panic mode, right about now she would have lit the joint in her coat pocket and smoked until it all went away but the outraged look on Rachel's face stops her.
"Well at least I don't need to smoke weed just to get through the day" she spits.
It's a sore subject for Quinn and she retaliates in the only way she know how, by blurting the first thing that comes to mind "Well at least I'm not practically in love with someone that spends all day fucking the head cheerleader"
Rachel gapes at her and for what felt like two months but was probably only two minutes there was awkward silence. Rachel staring at Quinn, Quinn staring the dashboard. Until finally in a weak voice Rachel mutters out a "What"
Quinn scans the horizon, looking for anything that could possibly save her but once again the fates seem to be forever not in her favor "I didn't- I didn't say anything, it must have been the wind"
"No, you did" Rachel says still gaping "Is Brittany…" she doesn't finish her sentence, instead pulling on the door handle in an attempt to get out but the door is old and rusty and refusing to open for her. "Unbelievable" she shouts still yanking on the handle.
Quinn lets out a sigh "You have to jiggle it" another failed attempt and Quinn ends up having to lean over and do it for her.
She turns back and mutters a "thank you" before slamming the door and storming off in no particular direction.
With a dejected sigh Quinn leans back, banging her head against the seat. "Real smooth Quinn, real smooth"
Brittany squinted up at the midday sun, hand coming up to wipe at the sweat on her forehead as she yawned for the hundredth time that morning. She leant back against the wire fence that encased the basketball court, fingers drumming against the textbook in her hands and watching as Santana scored again against Sam and Tobi. Beside her Mike marked a large eighteen on the score board; the collar of his shirt was drenched in sweat and his hair was disheveled.
On the court Santana does a victory lap, her arms above her head and fist pumping into the air, from the benches Brittany cheers her name. Tobi punches Sam in the stomach for letting Santana get past him, readjusts his doo rag and throws his water bottle at Brittany to try and stop her cheering.
She catches it in her lap and takes a swig, smiling mischievously.
"Like you can do better" Tobi growls, glaring at her.
She stares back at him, the smile never wavering "Oh, I know I can"
"We're meant to be studying" Mike grumbles, his hands running through his dark locks only making it messier.
Tobi and Sam retreat to the bench, leaning on each other in exhaustion, Brittany catches the ball Santana throws at her and stands. "This won't take long" she gloats.
Santana rolls her eyes.
Before the ball even touched the ground it was snatched out of her grasp and Brittany watched stunned as Santana dribbled all the way to the hoop and scored. Tobi cheered loudly from the benches, nudging at Sam who was asleep on his shoulder.
"You cheated" Brittany huffed, still stood in the middle of the court.
Santana laughed, sauntered up close to Brittany and looked up so their noses were almost touching; she whispered "Nope, I'm just better"
Brittany leans down for a kiss but gets cut short by Mike shouting about a car coming and Santana ducks away into the shaded part of the court that couldn't be seen from the road.
A beaten up truck pulls up onto the grass before the court, kicking up dirt behind it and leaving huge indentations in the once prized grass. The driver's side door creaks loudly as it opens, Quinn's worn out pair of Doc Martins gets thrown onto the grass first, then Quinn jumps out. Her face contorted in anger as she hops on each foot to get the shoes on, a string of vibrant curse words leaving her lips.
She doesn't bother to close the door –'who's going to steal that piece of shit?' her dad had said when asked about money for a new lock- storming through the gate and all the way to Brittany, landing a hard push against the taller blondes shoulders and knocking her off balance. Brittany falls to the ground, scraping her elbow on the rough asphalt and staring up at Quinn in confusion.
Not mere seconds later Santana is out from the shadows, chest puffed out and terrifying glare set in place "Alright Cherie Currie, how 'bout you calm ya'self-down before I have to go all 'Freddie Krueger' on your ass and commit your worst nightmare of making you take a shower"
Quinn ignores her, pointing an accusing finger down at Brittany "You said she liked me!" she shouted at her.
"Actually that was me" Sam stands, now awake. Quinn goes over to him and pushes him too but expecting the blow he doesn't fall, just takes a step back from the momentum.
Observing the scene Tobi turns to Mike, saying bluntly "What be up with these bitches?"
Mike leans in; whispering inconspicuously like it's a secret "Last night Quinn and Rachel went on a date-"
"Rachel? Who dat?"
"Rachel's this girl from school that me and Britt used to be sort of friends with, until she got this random creepy crush on Britt and it got awkward fast. Anyway, Rachel and Quinn went on a date because we told Quinn Rachel liked her, but it might have been part of a joke" he trails off trying to think back "I don't know I came in late, right now it seems Rachel doesn't like Quinn by her reaction and that's all I know"
Tobi reflected for a moment before grabbing his oversized hoodie pulling out an old Nokia, he sighs deeply "that shit cray" Mike ignored the curse word, tuned back into the scene in front of him; Quinn seems to have calmed down.
"Just tell us what happened, Fabray, and spare the sappy crap. It's too early in the morning and you've already majorly pissed me off" Santana sneers crossing her arms defensively, Brittany nudges her right arm and she reluctantly uncrosses her arms and links her fingers with Brittany's.
"We…we were having a good time" Quinn explains fingers running through her messy locks "then she starts saying mean things, like I don't even matter. She was using me to make you jealous" she points to Brittany, who's trying really hard not to focus on the look Santana is sending her. "And then I got angry and let something slip"
"What did you let slip?" Sam asks using his hand as a fan against the heat.
"Well…I…umm…"
Santana panics, untangling her fingers from Brittany and poking Quinn square in the chest "What the fuck did you let slip, Fabray?" she says, each word accented by a poke.
"I might of sorta', maybe, told her about you and Brittany" Quinn says hands up in defense against the storm of anger swelling in Santana's' dark eyes.
Instead of getting seven shades of shit kicked out of her like Quinn thought, Santana turned to Brittany "I told you this would happen! And now some bitch I don't even know is going to tell everyone!"
"I can fix it" Brittany placates "just let me try and fix it" the look on her face is heartbreaking, like she's on the cusp of losing everything and she doesn't know what to do. Santana looks up at her for a moment; the sparkling blue eyes she fell in love with, lips that she's forgotten how many times she's kissed and the little creases in her forehead that always appear when she's scared. Her anger dissipates slowly, replaced by fear and she stops her hand from stroking a delicate cheek and instead waves in a dismissive manner for Brittany to go.
The blonde leans in for a kiss but at the last moment Santana turns her head so it lands on her cheek.
Brittany runs for her bike where it stood discarded against the fence; jumping on and pedaling faster than she ever has before, even faster than that time the neighbor's dog chased her for nine blocks.
A mile later she stood out of breath at Rachel's lawn, the tank top she wore sticking to her with sweat and a few new grass stains on her shorts. Mr. Berry was busy washing his car in the driveway and when she asked where Rachel was, he flashed a cheesy grin and told her "She's in the shed out back, practicing her scales" she walked quickly past him, his cheerful demeanor too much right now.
The shed turned out to be nothing like what Brittany would consider a shed; for one it looked sound proofed and the walls were sturdy, nothing like the rickety piece of crap in her garden.
She knocked loudly on the door, head pressed against the frame. There was no answer. She knocked again and shouted Rachel's name into the wood, then she remembered it was soundproof and let herself in. Rachel was stretched out on a daybed, which was built in to the wall and covered in old blankets and pillows, reading the latest issue of Vogue. The very same issue Brittany's mother was reading that morning.
"You're all sweaty" Rachel says ominously, eyes never shifting from the magazine.
"It's your fault for living so far away"
Her eyes finally look at Brittany "Far away? You live four houses down" she says then goes back to reading. In the brief moment that Brittany saw her eyes she thought they were different. Duller than usual, like she didn't care anymore and Brittany couldn't blame her.
"Never mind" Brittany says sitting down on the bed.
"I know why you're here" she turns the page with decisive flare "If you're worried about me telling people, don't be, because I'm not going to"
"Oh"
"Yes, well, it doesn't interest me. I don't care" she says but even with all the years of acting Brittany sees through it. Sees past the forced tone and notices the look of pain in her eyes.
"I never meant to hurt you Rachel, I mean we used to be friends and then you suddenly have all these feelings and I-"
"Wait" Rachel interrupts her, throwing the magazine down and standing up "you knew and you never said anything, just led me on because it felt good to be wanted!"
"No, no I didn't-" Rachel puts a hand up to stop her and she does.
Her voice comes out clean and calm as she paces the small room "I did a lot of thinking last night, about life and about you Brittany. And you know what your problem is, you're always in your head and you never tell anyone about your feelings because you'd rather keep it inside. So I'm glad we're not together because I don't want someone that's so closed off"
At that Brittany finally stands, every word repeating in her head until she was stood toe to toe with the shorter girl, eyes cold "Don't act like you're the innocent party here. I never lied to you or led you on about anything; you just chose what you wanted to hear. But I accept that, because that's who you are and I'm your friend. We can only be friends, Rachel, because we don't go together." She gestures between them, staring into Rachel's stony expression "It's like we're Cheese its and Orange Juice" Rachel frowns "disgusting until you're drunk" Brittany shrugs.
Despite her best efforts Rachel cracks a smile, "You wanna hug it out" Rachel nods, rapping her arms round Brittany neck. "I'm sorry" she hears whispered into her hairline, Brittany's arms tight around her waist.
"Me too" she mumbles into her neck.
Awhile later, Brittany walked up to the basketball court with her bike at her side. Santana sat on her own staring up at the setting sun, eyes unfocused and hands gripping at the bench.
She sat down next to her; taking her hand and said "I love you"
After a moment of silence, Santana looked into her eyes and plainly said. "I know"
the next one will be up sooner i promise, and again thanks for reviews and alerts and stuff :) makes my day.