Brittany woke up late on Sunday and lazily walked downstairs. In the kitchen, she was surprised to find a sweaty Santana, in her tight workout clothes, sitting on top of a counter drinking blue Gatorade and chatting with Quinn, who was seated at the kitchen table having a cup of tea and looking like she was in much better shape than the day before.
When the brunette saw Brittany had just walked in, she quickly excused herself and left without even returning the shy smile Brittany gave her as she walked past her.
Brittany dejectedly sat beside Quinn, who declared she was feeling much better. Brittany just eyed her warily, "We'll see about that. Right now, we need to Skype my mom before she thinks we have cut ties with our past lives and joined a cult, like Tubbs did in 2012," she said.
They went into Brittany's room and called her mom. Freya gave Quinn about a thousand recommendations for getting rid of her cold and reminded Brittany to keep her physical therapy appointment the next morning. Brittany asked about her dad and about her cat. Then Annie made an appearance, blew a kiss to her sister and gave Quinn the finger while sporting a shit eating grin, which got her into a discussion with Freya about her rotten manners. Brittany took the chance to say a quick goodbye and end the call.
"I think we should go out only for a short while today, if you don't have a fever," Brittany suggested. They were both seated on Brittany's bed. Quinn made a frustrated gesture and explained that she felt just fine, but she gave in and concluded that they could take it easy, if that would make Brittany feel better.
There was something else Brittany wanted to ask her friend, but she was anxious about the questions she was going to have to answer in return. Still, she couldn't help herself. She bit her lip until she couldn't hold out any more and she asked, as casually as she could, "Hey, Q, what were you and Santana talking about when I walked in?"
Quinn smiled knowingly and answered, "Oh, nothing. She was just asking for your hand in marriage, you know? The usual..."
"Ugh, just... She was weird, wasn't she? When I walked in and she suddenly looked like she couldn't get out of the room fast enough?" Brittany asked.
Quinn frowned, "I didn't think she was being so strange. We just made small talk. I asked her about school and she told me she was a Poli-Sci major at Berkeley, but she didn't think she'd go back, I told her I was a Drama major. We talked a little bit about Buenos Aires and what other places we have planned to visit. Then she hopped off the counter and left," she answered. "I think you are reading too much into it, or maybe there's something else that you are not telling me," she concluded with a pointed look.
Brittany knew, in that moment, that she looked guilty. She scratched the back of her neck nervously, "There's something, but i'm not ready to talk about it, yet," she admitted.
Quinn smiled sweetly, indulgently and just nodded slowly. They would leave the conversation, but Quinn would surely insist on having it later.
They decided to go out after lunch. Quinn wanted to go to the Buenos Aires Zoo. Brittany loved animals and getting to see them up close would be nice, but she thought wild animals belonged in the wild. No animal belongs in a cage, no living thing exists solely for entertainment purposes. In the end they agreed that they would go to the botanical gardens, that were located just across the street from the zoo.
When they got off the bus that left them at the zoo's entrance, Brittany was glad she didn't have to go in. The place smelled foul. After a moment, Brittany saw that right by the main door there was a skinny and energetic, middle aged woman holding a megaphone to her mouth with her stringy arms and shouting angrily into it. A few feet away, some younger activists had set up a table and were gathering signatures; they were protesting the zoo's mistreatment of the animals. Brittany walked towards the table and signed the petition with a smile. After she was done, she turned to her friend and offered her the pen, and a pleading look. Quinn begrudgingly signed the sheet that a very pretty dreadlocked girl had been holding up for them. Before Brittany could get further involved, Quinn pulled her by the elbow and directed her across the street and into the botanical gardens.
The gardens were pleasant, but soon they left and walked towards the area known as Palermo Soho, which looked nothing like Soho in New York, but was still nice enough, if not a bit too full of hipsters. They walked for a while, and headed back home while it was still daytime.
Quinn did seem to be feeling much better, save for the occasional coughing fit.
They had a small dinner at home and wondered where Nina had been the past couple of days, since neither of them had seen her lately.
On Monday morning, Brittany woke up early and headed to the hospital on Las Heras street, to her physical therapy appointment. The sky was clear blue and the sun warmed an otherwise cold day.
When she was on her way back from physical therapy, she saw Santana jogging down the street with the dog in tow. The way she moved her body when she ran, reminded her of the way she had moved the night that they had sex.
Santana had such a calculated and controlled way of moving that it had, on occasion, made Brittany think that perhaps Santana would be much better suited for ballet than her. There was a discipline to Santana's actions and it made Brittany want to make Santana lose her infuriatingly beautiful composure.
When she walked back into the house, she went upstairs to find Quinn. Her friend's room was empty, so she headed back downstairs, hoping to find her in the kitchen, most likely, already several pages deep into her latest book. But she never made it to where Quinn was, as she came to a stop at the foot of the stairs after she heard the sound of two familiar voices involved in a conversation, coming from the room directly across from her:
-You can't keep spending all night in your study. I know you've been having trouble sleeping, I went through your bathroom drawers and found enough pills to sedate not only you but an entire hoard of rich, old ladies.
-I told you to stop going through my stuff, Santana...
-Oh, relax. It's just a thing I do. Plus, with the help of good old Johnnie Walker here, it's not like you are going to need any of the pills. How about you stop soaking yourself in scotch and just try to rest?
-I had a drink late last night, quit making me sound like an alcoholic.
-No, not an alcoholic. I'm pretty sure I made you sound like a drunk.
-Your grandfather would have loved you, you know? He always enjoyed smart, yet mean women.
-Not this again. I'm sure he would have been great, Nina, but you need to sleep in your own bed.
-Oh, stop. I'm okay. I'll tell you what he wouldn't have liked, though: his soft and complacent children. I don't know how they ended up being this band of flighty little nomads. They are always so pleased with themselves and the world around them. He would have disowned them. In a heartbeat!
-Seriously, abuela, just go to bed. I'm sure he would have high fived you for dealing with your shit in this way, but you are gonna scare the blondes if they find you here like this.
-They are such nice girls, so driven. You should learn from them, San. They go after what they want...
-Seriously? I can't listen to this again. I'm leaving. Just try to get yourself into your bed. Okay?
-Okay, just think about it... Oh, I forgot to tell you. You are going to the estancia.
-I am?
-Yes, the dog has to go back home and I need you to bring some cash to Antonio. You should invite Brittany and Quinn to go with you.
-This is like the fourth time you've suggested I spend time with them, or invite them someplace. Don't think I didn't realize that you've got me two pet blondes. What's your angle, lady?
-No angle. And as for the blonde thing, I do remember that is your type.
-I was seventeen and it was just one time!
-That I know of! And it was with my very catholic childhood friend's granddaughter. We were lucky no one else caught you two...
-Look, fine. I'll bring them with me if they want to come, but you tell them. And in return, you'll make sure Maribel doesn't show up while I'm there.
-Deal. And your mother is not going to show up; She's at a spiritual retreat thing in Cordoba. Or was it UFO sighting? I forget...
-I'll go buy food and stuff. I leave at twelve, blondes or no blondes.
-Fine. And, Santana?
-Yeah?
-Be nice.
The conversation had ended. Brittany started to walk towards the kitchen before Santana could leave the study and catch her creeping around the hallway. She felt embarrassed and slightly guilty that she'd eavesdropped, and that she'd done it for so long, but she couldn't help herself. Every insight she got into Santana's world made her want to learn more about the girl.
When she walked into the kitchen, Brittany found Quinn exactly where she'd guessed she would be. She walked towards a cabinet and announced, "I think we are going to receive an invitation soon." Her friend mumbled a response absentmindedly, too distracted by the local newspaper she was reading. Brittany just got herself some cereal out of the cabinet and sat down at the kitchen table.
Half an hour later, and after Brittany had tried and failed to understand more than five words in a row of the Spanish language newspaper, Nina walked in the room. She'd clearly just showered and had surrounded herself with her characteristic cloud of perfume. She looked only slightly more tired than usual, so if it was true that she hadn't slept all night, Brittany thought she had masked it pretty well.
"Girls, I have a proposition for you. Santana has to go to the family's estancia and I thought, if you wanted to, that you could join her, get to know this country's Pampas," she explained cheerfully, in her thick accent.
Quinn smiled politely and replied, "Oh, thank you for the invitation. How long is Santana staying there?" Nina seemed to consider the question for a moment before answering that it would most likely be just until Thursday, when Santana would have to be back in the city for work. Then she gave the girls some supplementary details: the place was a two hour car trip away, to the west of the city of Buenos Aires and their destination was a working, authentic argentine estancia that had belonged to Nina's family for over a century.
Quinn turned to Brittany and asked, "What do you think? Wanna go?" Brittany answered honestly, "I think it sounds great, but you are the one in charge of our itinerary, so you tell me."
She could see the gears turning in Quinn's head. Finally, she spoke, "Well, we can rearrange a couple of things, go to the estancia now and still manage to see most of what we had planned to see," she concluded. Brittany just smiled and let out an excited "Awesome!" which made Nina chuckle and say, "Great, go and pack, you leave in an hour." And even though an hour was more than enough time to pack for a four day long trip, Brittany could see panic flash in her rather obsessive friend's eyes.
Brittany was not quite as meticulous and had everything she needed packed and ready in fifteen minutes. So, once she was done, she took the time to write her mother an email and let her know they had changed their plans, and would probably not be able to video chat in the next four days, since they would be pretty deep into the countryside and she suspected they wouldn't have Internet access.
At ten to twelve Quinn was ready, so they went downstairs. They found Santana standing by the front door, drinking coffee. She was dressed in a thick flannel shirt, that she'd left opened, to expose the deep v neck of the white top she had underneath it. She was also wearing light gray skinny jeans, and a pair of well worn Nike Dunk.
She looked them up and down, sighed and loudly whistled at the dog.
Once Cerbero had joined them at the door, she simply said, "Okay, let's go." She led them all out of the apartment and towards a big, dark wooden door in the back of the building's lobby. She opened it and they all stepped into a small garage. Santana gestured for them to follow her and stopped in front of a dark gray Land Rover Defender.
She opened the back door on the driver's side and the dog jovially jumped onto the back seat. Quinn paused and looked momentarily disturbed by that, so Brittany jumped in the back with Cerbero, who was frantically sniffing the air, panting and letting out excited little cries.
Even though the truck was huge, it sure could go fast. And fast was Santana's favorite speed, apparently. Soon enough, they were out of the city and gliding down the highway. Quinn and Santana started talking about Porteños and their habits. There was the extreme jaywalking, the chronic inability to be punctual and their friendliness, which, according to Santana, "bordered on harassment on many occasions". It was easy for Brittany to see why those two could get along really well: they shared the same quick, ironic, witty humor and they had seemed to instantly recognize and respect eachother's intelligence.
After about forty minutes, the highway ended and turned into a narrow road. Santana kept going just as fast as before, and weaving through the large trucks that populated the road. Brittany saw Quinn set her jaw and grip the handle that was over her door after a particularly sharp overtake with a rather large truck coming from the opposite lane. Santana looked as cool as ever, if not a bit bored.
The landscape to the sides of the road had started to become less and less populated by buildings and was occupied by vast crop fields instead, with the random house or gas station here and there.
At some point Santana grabbed her phone and made a call in Spanish. Whoever it was that she was talking to, was clearly her friend. Her tone was teasing and she laughed a couple of times, until she frowned, and aggressively spat out a string of words, most of which, Brittany recognized as insults.
Twenty minutes after they had passed a town called San Antonio de Areco, they turned to the right onto a dirt road. Cerbero let out a sharp bark and Santana answered, "Oh, no. I'm not rolling down your window. I don't need dirt in my hair right now." Brittany turned to the dog and pouted as she petted his huge head, "He just missed his home," she sympathized.
Santana looked at her through the rear view mirror and said, "We'll be there in half an hour." Brittany smiled at the reflection, and saw that Santana quickly settled her eyes back on the road ahead. She was avoiding even looking at her.
How Santana could, on one day, shamelessly fuck her and watch her face as she came, but couldn't even stand to casually smile back at her the next day, she'd never know. She was left feeling like needed to undo whatever tangle Santana had made of their situation. She knew she could sort her out, she just needed to figure out how.
The drive ended up lasting longer than Santana had stated. The rain on Saturday had left several muddy parts where the brunette had to slow down the car and expertly slide through the mud. Santana had clearly done it before; from the smile that was on her face, she seemed to be enjoying, not only driving the truck, but also the way a nervous Quinn had craned her neck forward and was watching the road closely as she kept making little worried comments.
Finally, after a particularly large puddle, they turned left and were at the main gate of the estancia. The gate was open, and there was a man standing by it. Brittany couldn't make out what name the ornamented iron letters on the old sign on the gate formed. Santana drove through the entrance, she stopped the truck in front of the man and rolled down her window.
The guy was tall and had broad shoulders and muscular arms. He was very tan and had shaggy brown hair. He had a sharp, square jaw, a long and straight nose, strong, thick eyebrows and amber colored eyes with long dark lashes. He looked to be around their age and even though he was quite manly, he had a boyish air about him. He smiled wide at Santana, "Hola, 'Tanita," he said teasingly in a deep and sweet tone. Brittany thought he had a beautiful voice and was really handsome.
Santana answered him, "Hola, idiota." And although she'd called him an idiot, it was evident that she couldn't hold back a smile. He must have been the person Santana had talked to on her phone earlier.
She introduced them by their names and the guy gave each of them a wave and a warm smile. Finally, Santana said, "This is Juan Ignacio," and the guy quickly corrected her, "Juani." The brunette rolled her eyes and continued, "We call him Juani."
That was the time Cerbero chose to loudly bark as he tried to climb onto Santana's lap. With a firm "No", she managed to dissuade the dog. Then she turned to Juani and asked, "Te lo llevas vos?" He just nodded and moved to open the back door and let the dog out.
It was only when Santana got the car moving slowly, that Brittany noticed a huge black horse that was standing by a tree close by. She watched as Juani quickly closed the main gate, walked over to where the horse was, grabbed the reins and mounted it. With a small kick, the horse started galloping and flew past the truck, with the dog running behind it. After it had gotten ahead by a safe distance, Santana accelerated the truck.
Quinn turned around in her seat and gave Brittany a delighted smile.
The road that led to the main house in the estancia was flanked, on both sides, by tall trees. They had lost some of their leaves, since it was winter, but they still managed to look imposing. The rest of the landscape was composed by endless expanses of fields, and scattered groups of trees.
Soon enough, Santana stopped the truck's engine and announced: "We're here," then she opened her door and slipped out of her seat. The other two girls followed her. Brittany felt her feet sink in the cushioned grass beneath her and her nose instantly caught the smell of it, mixed with the scent that the wind carried, as it sifted through the leaves of the Eucalyptus trees around her. There was also a hint of smoke from an aromatic wood, and finally, a sweet smell that wafted from the flowers on some plants that were nearby.
They started walking towards the main house. It was an old, yet well kept, two storey building. The lower half of it was surrounded by a porch. The walls were mostly covered with dense ivy and had big windows with dark green wooden blinds. It looked like the type of place that is especially designed to stay cool in the summer, yet cozy and warm in the winter.
There was another building several yards away. It'd been constructed in the same style as the main house, but was smaller and more modest. A small figure waved from the house's porch.
A tall and athletic looking, middle aged man exited the main house, followed by a smiling Juani who stopped in front of them and said, "Welcome to La Madreselva!" in his sweet, low tone of voice and heavy accent.
After they shook hands with the older man, whose name was Antonio and who was Juani's father and the estancia's manager, and after Juani had planted a single cheek kiss on each of the blondes and given an annoyed Santana a bear hug, they were led inside the main house.