A/N: This chapter was longer than I expected, but here it is. Thank you everyone for the reviews and...I really got nothing else to say right now, other than I'm glad my friend convinced me to get that tumblr a few weeks ago (everything's filled with pezberry, faberry, and puckleberry, and other nice tings) so enjoy.
To say Rachel was nervous was an understatement. She was so anxious that she couldn't stop moving, so much that instead of using her elliptical, she went out for a jog much longer than her usual workout. She came back exhausted and took one of the fastest showers she ever had, since running made her run a bit later than usual. She came down the stairs and to the kitchen, where Shelby raised her eyebrows at her.
"You're later than usual." Shelby said, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Yeah," Rachel said quickly, getting an apple from the counter. "Bye." She said, giving Shelby a half wave and walking quickly to her car. Shelby watched the girl go and when the door closed her turned back to her newspaper.
"That was weird." She said to the empty room, usually Rachel was never late for anything. She remembered the dinner Rachel mentioned and Shelby wondered who Rachel was having dinner with that made the girl so much more antsy than usual. Shelby thought of the girl, and remembered Rachel saying her friend's name was Santana.
Her eyebrows furrowed at the name, she felt like she heard that name before, like it was a little familiar. She looked at the time and shrugged the feeling off, thinking nothing of it.
Rachel parked into one of the parking spaces farthest from the school, and sighed, that was what she got for being late. When she turned off the car she grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat and opened it. After going through it for a few minutes she pulled out two pieces of paper that had recipes on them. She knew Santana told her not to worry, but she still worried a little bit. Plus, she figured if Santana didn't have a clue what her family could make for Rachel in the end, at least she could give her something they could cook.
She smiled at the papers, thinking of the dinner but quickly scolded herself, after all, it wasn't a date or anything despite what Puck said. She got out of the car and noticed someone else had parked next to her. She didn't think much of it and quickly closed the door to get out of the way when the passenger side door of the other car opened and Quinn stepped out.
Quinn closed her door and raised an eyebrow at Rachel, who stood awkwardly in front of her. Before either of them could do anything, Rachel felt herself be knocked back against her car and strong arms around her. All Rachel saw was blond in front of her and patted the girl's back, already knowing who had tackled her.
"U-um, Brittany, I can't move…" Brittany stepped back and smiled at her. "But it is good to see you too." Rachel said and Brittany beamed at her.
"Hi Rachy, did you know you're really soft?" Rachel blushed slightly and laughed nervously.
"No, I didn't, but thank you for telling me." Brittany nodded at Rachel and someone cleared their throat. The three girls turned to see Santana leaning against the front of the car, looking at them with her arms crossed.
"Hey," Santana paused, as if she wasn't sure what to say. Her face hardened a little bit and she nodded towards Rachel. "Berry." She should have known spending the day at Santana's house would do nothing when they were at school. Still, even though she should have been happy that Santana didn't call her RuPaul or, it seemed everyone's favorite, Manhands, she still couldn't help but feel a little crushed. She looked down to try and hide the hurt look on her face from Santana, who felt guilty.
"Oh c'mon, B, S, let's go." Came Quinn's voice and Rachel looked up to see Quinn already walking away. Brittany bit her bottom lip and looked at Rachel sadly before running up behind Quinn. Rachel looked at Santana, who looked caught between following them and staying behind. Finally, Santana mouthed an apology and followed Quinn as well, leaving Rachel by herself.
Santana and Brittany followed Quinn silently, both of them feeling guilty for leaving Rachel in the parking lot. Quinn stopped at her locker and when she opened it to get her books, she eyed Santana curiously. Sighing, Quinn slammed her locker closed.
"Well?" Quinn asked and Santana looked at her confused.
"Well what?" Quinn rolled her eyes.
"Do you really consider her a friend or not? Because if not I can just get everyone to slushy her."
"No," Santana said quickly and harshly at the mention of Rachel being slushied. Quinn raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing smirk, making Santana groan. "Listen, Q, just say what you want already." Santana spat impatiently.
"You're an idiot." Quinn simply said.
"Excuse me?"
"You're acting like you hate her, and it's kind of bitchy." Santana gaped at her.
"Look at you!" Santana said, motioning to Quinn. "You're a bitch and everyone knows it, and you jump at the chance to insult and slushy people."
"Not like you don't." Quinn said and Santana immediately closed her mouth. It was true, she could make anyone cry with her insults and Rachel wasn't an exception when she first arrived to McKinley. As she thought about her, her eyes instinctively started to search for the small brunette and quickly found her at her locker with Puck. She thought about the time she was with Rachel and saw that the girl wasn't so bad, and was pretty easy to talk to.
"Well, I don't mind her, but if she is a loser slushies won't hurt…" Quinn said, looking for a football player with a cup, and Santana snapped out of her thoughts.
"Oh hells no," Santana said, making Quinn look back at her. "Listen, Rachel doesn't get slushied anymore, cuz she's not that bad," Santana looked back at Rachel and sighed, before turning to Quinn. "I gots to go, later." She gave Brittany a wave and walked to the other side of the hallway to where Rachel and Puck were still at her locker. Quinn leaned against the lockers with her arms folded watching Santana make her way through the hall easily, with the other students practically jumping out of her way.
"Quinn?" Quinn looked over at Brittany, who was looking back at forth between Santana and Quinn. "Does that mean we don't have to be mean to Rachy?" Quinn smiled and nodded, making Brittany smile brightly and jump up and down clapping. "So, you don't hate her?" Quinn sighed and watched Rachel from across the hall.
"I don't hate her, besides, I knew there was something interesting about her the second she came to this school," Brittany hugged Quinn happily at the statement. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to be her best friend either." Quinn said quickly and Brittany smiled at Quinn.
"That's fine, you just need to get to know her."
"First she needs to get better clothes…" Quinn muttered and Brittany took Quinn's hand, making her jump a little and she stared at their joined hands. With a smile Brittany skipped to her locker, forcing Quinn to follow.
When Santana reached Rachel's locker, Rachel was laughing at something Puck said and she slapped his arm. Santana looked back down the hall to see Brittany dragging Quinn away and Santana smiled. Quinn looked back, meeting Santana's eye, and pointed to Rachel in a way that said, you better fix things and Santana rolled her eyes at Quinn. Turning back to Rachel and Puck, who still hadn't seen her yet, she cleared her throat.
Rachel looked over and when she saw it was Santana, she quickly faced her locker again. Puck crossed his arms and stood up a little straighter, giving Santana a dirty look, which she made sure to give back before turning to Rachel.
"Hey, Rachel."
"So it's 'Rachel' now?" Santana cursed under her breath and fiddled with her cheerios skirt.
"Look, sorry about earlier, it was kind of shitty of me to do that." Rachel nodded and Puck scoffed.
"A little?" Santana scowled and glared at him.
"Listen Puckerman, I'm trying to apologize to her and if you gots nothing useful to say shut it before I cut that animal you call a Mohawk off your head." Puck glared at Rachel and brought his hand up to his Mohawk defensively.
"You wouldn't." Santana smiled sweetly at him and before either of them could threaten the other, Rachel slammed her locker hard enough that both of them jumped.
"Don't worry Noah, I'm sure she wouldn't follow through with that threat, not that I would let her anyway." Puck grinned at her last words and brought his hand down.
"Look," Santana said, getting both of their attention. "Q can be a bitch, but she actually doesn't mind you that much, and I made sure she's never going to tell anyone to slushy you again."
"Really?" Rachel asked and Santana nodded. "No more name calling or last names?" Santana nodded again.
"Just Rachel.." Rachel smiled brightly and lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Santana. Santana huffed in surprise and laughed lightly, hugging Rachel back.
"You know, you're not so bad, Lopez," Santana rolled her eyes but gave Puck a smile anyway. Puck grinned and slapped Rachel on the back. "Later bro, have fun on your date with Satan tonight." Rachel untangled herself from Santana and glared at Puck.
"It's just dinner!" "That's not my name!" Both Rachel and Santana yelled at the same time and Puck raised his hands in surrender as he walked away.
"So, told Puck about the dinner?" Santana asked and Rachel nodded.
"I hope you don't mind."
"Nah, it's fine." Santana said with a shrug. Rachel smiled and remembered the recipes and she quickly went through her bag. Grabbing the papers, she turned to Santana and held them out to her.
"I know you said not to worry about it, but I figured I should give you at least some recipes. Though it's not like I thought you couldn't handle finding vegan dishes, but um…" Rachel trailed off, watching Santana. She had snatched the papers out of Rachel's hands and was currently look at them curiously.
"Yeah, my mom got everything under control, but that's cool, I'll just keep these for later," Santana folded the pieces of papers and shoved them into her backpack. She smiled at Rachel and lightly shoved her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go." Rachel smiled and walked next to Santana to class.
"You sure it's not a date?" Rachel sighed as she looked at the ceiling from Puck's bed. She had decided to spend some time with him before going to Rachel's house while he waited for Mike to come over so they could play video games.
"Yes, I'm sure." She sat up and watched Puck play the game on the floor at the foot of his bed. As much as she said it wasn't a date, she was still nervous. It seemed, the more Rachel thought about it, the more she realized she was just nervous in general when she was around Santana. For all she knew, Santana could suddenly remember everything one day when they are with each other. Sighing, she got up and started pacing Puck's room.
"It's just that she remembered things, Noah, she remembered something and maybe she will remember me today, at the dinner," Rachel said, and began muttering to herself. "While eating the dinner, which makes me wonder, what did her family cook?" Puck gave her a confused look as she began talking to herself more than him.
"Rachel," Puck said loudly, making her stop her pacing and look at him. "Chill, bro, even if she doesn't remember anything, at least she'll know you better, right?" Rachel nodded and the doorbell rang.
"I should get going." Rachel grabbed her things and walked to the door, where Mike stood. Mike grinned at her and after saying their hello's, Mike went up to Puck's room and Rachel walked to her car.
Rachel parked her car and looked at the time on her phone, hoping she wasn't too early. Luckily, she wasn't and looked at the Lopez's driveway, and sure enough Santana's car was parked. Getting out of the car, she walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.
She didn't have to wait long and heard footsteps getting closer from the other side, followed by something Spanish that Rachel didn't understand. The door opened, revealing Santana's mother, who smiled at her.
"Hello, Mrs. Lopez." Santana's mother smiled and opened the door wider for Rachel to come in.
"You must be Rachel," Rachel nodded and Mrs. Lopez smiled. "You don't have to be so formal, call me Ana, and Carlos is in the kitchen." Santana had come down at that moment and groaned at the exchange from the last step of the stairs, making both of them look at her.
"Ma, making my friends call you by your first name doesn't make you younger, just to let you know." Ana gave her daughter a stern look.
"You'll be my age before you know, Santana Lopez," Santana scowled at the thought and turned to Rachel.
"Let's go to my room." Rachel nodded and gave Ana one last smile before walking up the stairs with Santana. As they made their way down the hall, Rachel noticed loud music coming from the bedroom across from next to Santana's. Santana stopped in front of the door and began pounding on it. It quickly opened and an older boy leaned against the doorframe, looking at her with a bored expression.
"Hey sis," He noticed Rachel and smiled widely at her. "Who's your friend? I haven't seen her before." The boy winked at her and Rachel frowned a little, unsure f what to do.
"You're disgusting," Santana said with a scoff and turned to Rachel. "This is Felix, my annoying brother."
"Older brother." Felix corrected and Santana rolled her eyes.
"Turn the music down cuz me and Rachel gots to work on the song." With that she walked to her room and Rachel smiled politely at Felix as she walked past him. Once inside Santana's room, she sat on the bed as Santana closed the door.
"I didn't know you had a brother," Rachel said as Santana grabbed her laptop and sat next to Rachel. "How come I didn't see him last time?"
"He's usually busy with college, since it's his first year and all, and he's got work, plus he spends a lot of nights at friend's places." Santana said with a shrug.
"Oh." Rachel said and watched as Santana grabbed her laptop and sat next to Rachel, looking at the laptop the entire time. As she got a page with the lyrics open, she looked at Rachel and smiled.
"What about you? You got annoying siblings?" Rachel shook her head.
"I'm an only child," Rachel said a little sadly. "So it can get lonely sometimes." Rachel knew Shelby wouldn't adopt another kid, and she wondered if her dads would have gotten another child if they were still alive.
"That sucks…" Santana muttered and looked at the wall separating hers and Felix's room. She guessed that she was happy that Felix was around, especially when she was younger. He watched out for her and when she was feeling down he tried to make her days a little brighter. When their parents were gone all day, he was around so she wouldn't be stuck at home bored out of her mind. Other than her parents, he was the only other person that made her feel loved when she was first adopted, making her first few days more bearable.
"Well, there's nothing I could do about it." Rachel's voice snapped Santana out of her thoughts and she looked up at Rachel, who was leaning towards her to look at the lyrics on the screen.
"You're not lonely now, right?" The question caught Rachel off guard and she looked up at Santana. Santana was looking at her curiously and Rachel bit her lip as she looked away. She hadn't thought about bit much since moving to Lima, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn't lonely.
Shelby was trying to be more in Rachel's life, and make up for past mistakes. Rachel had Puck, who was her best friend since the first day she arrived at McKinley. She the Glee Club, and even though she was originally there just for Santana, she thought everyone there was great. She looked back up at Santana, who was stilling staring at her. She had Santana again.
"No," Rachel said with a smile. "I'm not." Santana smiled back and they turned to the song and started practicing.
They had been practicing for an hour non-stop. They were finishing up the song again, the laptop long forgotten about and laying closed on the bed since they had the lyrics memorized by the tenth run through. Rachel was dancing around the Santana as they sang their last lines, and Santana laughed at the short brunette.
When they were done, they sat on the bed for a break. Santana grinned at Rachel and began talking about how they were going to be the best ones. Rachel laughed and nodded.
"We do sound pretty good together."
"Hell yeah we do, I wonder if Mr. Schue's gonna give us something for winning." Rachel watched as Santana began naming off things that would be useful to get if did give them some kind of reward.
"I'm sure you're hoping for something involving Breadstix." Santana's face lit up at the mention of the name and Rachel laughed.
"Hey," Santana said, playfully pushing Rachel's shoulder. "Don't mess with me and my Breadstix."
"Oh right, I forgot how precious it is to you."
"Damn right," Santana said with a smile. "Me, Q, and Britt go there all the time, you should come with us next time." Rachel's eyes widened and she shook her head.
"Quinn doesn't like me." Santana rolled her eyes.
"Were you even listening to me today? Quinn doesn't not like you, she just doesn't know you," Santana said and shrugged. "It's hard for her to open up and shit, but she's cool once you do, just don't get on her bad side, it's a bitch." Santana knew what it was like to deal with a pissed off Quinn, and she usually didn't have the energy to deal with it. Rachel nodded, but wasn't completely reassured and Santana decided to change the subject and began talking about school in general again.
Soon their conversation turned into Santana telling Rachel stories about the Cheerios. It started when Rachel was curious why Santana was always so tired, and she was horrified of the stories of Sue tormenting all the Cheerios, including Santana. A knock on the door made Santana stop talking and she looked over to see Felix opening the door and looking in.
"Dinner's ready." He said and turned around to walk downstairs. Santana got up and Rachel did the same, still looking a little afraid from the stories.
"I'm going to have nightmares now…" Santana laughed and pushed Rachel forward. "I'm serious, I don't know how you handle her all the time," Santana grinned at the words because sometimes she didn't either. They walked to the kitchen and Felix was already sitting while Santana's parents were doing last minute touches on the food.
"You guys sound pretty good." Felix said when Rachel and Santana sat down across from him. Santana looked at him, surprised.
"You were listening?" Felix nodded and Rachel smiled.
"She does sound nice." Santana blushed and sank lower down her seat.
"Nah, I'm just decent." Felix grinned at her.
"Awe, is Santi getting embarrassed." He said in a baby voice. Santana glared at him and kicked his leg under the table, making him wince in pain.
"Fuck you." Santana spat and Felix smiled innocently at him.
"Santana, you should be nice to your siblings," Rachel said and smiled at Felix before turning to Santana, who was still scowling. "I know I would if I had one."
"See," Felix said. "She'd be an awesome little sister," Santana rolled her eyes as Felix leaned towards Rachel across the table. "Santana hates shooters, do you play them?" Rachel grinned as she thought of all the times she beat Puck in the games they played.
"I do, actually."
"Oh god," Santana muttered and Rachel shoved Rachel lightly, making Santana smile anyway. Just then the dinner was placed on the table and Santana's parent's ad down and began serving themselves. Ana and Carlos looked rather excited to eat, Felix looked curious as he took a tentative bit, and Santana looked completely unsure. Rachel smiled at Santana, who had served herself the least amount of food, and took a bit. Rachel thought it was pretty good, and wondered if Ana and Carlos had ever cooked vegan food before.
"It's not poison, you know." Rachel said when she noticed Santana still hadn't taken a bit.
"I know, but…" Santana sighed and stabbed the food with her fork. She had to tell herself it was for Rachel, and it smelled good, which was a plus. She looked at Rachel, who was smiling at her and took a bite for emphasis. Santana looked back down at her food and whined lightly before taking her first small bite. She had to admit, it was pretty good. She looked back at Rachel, who was giving her a knowing smirk. Santana huffed and turned back to her food.
"It's okay." Rachel's smirk stayed on her face and she turned back to her food as well.
"I know you liked it." Santana and Rachel looked back at each other and gave each other a grin. Rachel continued eating and Santana filled up her plate with more food.
"Felix, you suck." Santana said and Felix scowled.
"Shut up, why don't you play then?" Felix spat back and Santana grinned as she watched Felix's character get shot. After dinner they had gone to Santana's room a little bit and were practicing again when Felix barged in and asked Rachel to play Call of Duty. Rachel stopped in the middle of the song and nodded, leaving Santana in her room. Santana, having lost Rachel and couldn't do anything without her, had no choice but to follow them to Felix's room and watch them play. Or rather, watch Felix lose.
"Yeah, Santana, why don't you play?" Rachel grinned and Santana lightly smacked the back of Rachel's head.
"Don't side with him." The doorbell rang and Felix got up.
"That's for me," He threw Santana the controller and motioned to Rachel. "You got a pretty cool friend," With that he walked out and called back from the door. "Later, dorks." Santana grabbed his pillow and whipped it at him, which he ducked under easily and stuck out his tongue at Santana. Santana stuck her tongue back out at him and turned back to the TV, and Felix took the opportunity to throw the pillow, which hit the back of Santana's head. Santana turned around to glare at Felix, but he was gone. Sighing, she turned back to the TV and looked at Rachel, who was grinning up at her. Santana smiled as she grabbed the pillow, and smacked Rachel with it as well, making the other girl laugh.
Santana smiled and sat down next to Rachel and began playing the game, with Rachel telling her how the controls worked. Sure enough, Rachel killed Santana's character more than once, and Santana forced her to go easy on her. They fell into a comfortable silence as they played the game, and Santana let out a frustrated sigh, making Rachel turn to look at her.
"What's wrong?" Santana looked at Rachel with an unreadable expression, and kept staring intently at Rachel, as if she was thinking about something. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again.
"Nothing," Santana finally said and turned back to the game. Rachel frowned and thought of saying something when Santana grinned and spoke up again. "Shot you." Rachel blinked and looked back at the screen.
"What? Wait, no way." Rachel said in surprise and Santana laughed.
"Not so tough now, huh?" Rachel smiled and silently played the game, watching Santana out of the corner of her eye. In the end, Santana never said what she seemed like she was going to say, and Rachel had to go home so Santana walked Rachel to the door.
"Thank you for the dinner, it was nice." Santana smiled.
"The food was good." Rachel grinned and patted Santana's shoulder.
"I knew you liked it."
"I still like meat, just to let you know." Santana said and Rachel nodded.
"Of course," Rachel laughed and hugged Santana goodbye and the other girl stiffened under Rachel's touch. "Oh, sorry, I just figured…" Rachel mumbled as she started to let go. Santana quickly hugged her back before she could step away completely, making Rachel slam into Santana again.
"N-no, it's fine, I just…remembered something." Rachel simply nodded against Santana's shoulder, her voice suddenly gone. She was still pressed tightly against Santana, feeling the softness of the other girl's body and her chest rise and fall. After a few seconds she tried to step back, but Santana's arms held her in place and she cleared her throat.
"Santana, um, not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but, um," Santana seemed to snap out of her daze and she let go of Rachel, taking a giant step back. The two stood in front of each other awkwardly and Rachel spoke up again. "I-I should go now."
"Oh, yeah, right." Santana said and Rachel gave her a slight wave before walking off to her car. Santana sighed and watched Rachel drive off before she closed the door. She walked up the stairs and went straight to her room, thinking about the night. It was fun, and Santana thought the food was great, but then she had to make everything awkward in the end. Santana groaned in frustration as she fell face first on to her bed, frustrated with herself.
When she was with Rachel she felt more like herself and it was easy for her to open up to her, but she couldn't help that something was missing when she was around Rachel, like she was forgetting something but had no idea what. She shook her head, figuring it was nothing. She looked at her hands and remembered the feeling of Rachel in her arms. She blushed slightly with embarrassment when she remembered how tight she held the girl. She had no idea why she had done it, but it felt familiar and…nice. Sighing, she stood up and got ready for bed. When she was in bed she decided to try and forget about everything and get some sleep instead.
Santana and Rachel were playing hide and seek outside, in the only part the children were allowed to play at. Rachel was hiding and Santana was looking for her, which was quite a challenge with the tiny girl.
It took a long time, but she eventually found her hiding in a ditch at the end of the fenced area that Santana nearly fell in and broke her arm. Instead, she slowly made her way to the bottom and to Rachel. At first she frowned at the girl when she noticed Rachel didn't move and was laying on her side on the ground. Walking closer, she realized Rachel had fallen asleep.
Santana let out a breath of relief and smiled down at the sleeping girl. Santana noticed Rachel had a frown on her face and her eyebrows were furrowed together. Santana crawled on top of Rachel and ran her fingers along her eyebrows, trying to smooth them out.
When Rachel began whimpering in her sleep, Santana began shaking Rachel lightly. Slowly, Rachel started waking up and blinked, she still had a frown on her face and she looked a little panicked. She started looking around until she looked up and saw Santana staring down at her. Rachel quickly leaned up and wrapped her arms around Santana hard, making Santana almost slip and fall on top of her.
"What's wrong?" Santana asked after getting her breath back. Santana pulled herself back unwrapped Rachel's arms from around her and held the girl's hands instead. Rachel had tears in her eyes and Santana frowned.
"I had a nightmare." Rachel said oftly as Santana sat next to her and began wiping away Rachel's tears. "You forgot me," Santana paused and looked at Rachel, who was staring at the grass instead. "It's okay, I'm forgettable, I know…" Santana scooted closer to Rachel and hugged her.
"It's not okay, and I'd never forget you." Rachel sniffed and hugged Santana back.
"Promise?" Santana nodded.
"Promise."