Chapter 17 -Brittany's POV

I couldn't help but smile as I read the text message I had just gotten from Santana. Rachel and I were lying on the beach taking in as much sun as we could and enjoying the beautiful day when I felt my phone vibrate. I love you was all it said, everytime she said that to me, no matter how I smiled and got crazy butterflies.

"Are you two dating yet?" The frustration was evident in my best friends voice. I shook my head no and then laughed when she rolled her eyes. "Ugh, what is wrong with you, do you not realize you are perfect together?"

"No we realize that and that is why we don't want to change how we are."

Rachel shook her head at me again. "What you two are is stupid, I see how you look at her and how she looks at you. Then there is the bickering, you two bicker like you're an old married couple who have nothing better to do but bicker over which of you likes to argue more."

I frowned and laid back and closed my eyes. Rachel had no idea how right she really was, but I wasn't about to tell her that. More and more lately I'd been thinking about what it would be like if Santana and I were an official couple. It dawned on me that it wouldn't be any different than it was now, except I could kiss her more and be more vocal about how I was feeling. What we have is great and amazing and I really didn't want to ruin that. Sometimes when I'm with her though, and she doesn't even know this but it's as though I don't want to cross a line, I don't want to scare or push her away. I turned my ipod back on and drifted back into my daydream, about Santana of course. Everyone knew that there was no one or nothing else I could think about unless it concerned her. As I lost myself in thought, I was no longer aware of the time and I could have been laying out for a minute or 20. I heard some laughing from next to me, but Rachel had a tendency to laugh whenever someone she found to be entertaining walked by.

What I hadn't realized was that I was the one being laughed at. That is until I felt the cool water drip onto my stomach; my eyes shot open and I pulled the ear buds out. "Santana!" I screamed as she stood up and laughed as I jumped to my feet. She took off running into the water as I wiped the cold water off my stomach. There was no way I was going to let her get away with that, oh no she was going to pay. She must have thought the water was going to stop me but I was completely focused on paying her back, somehow. Then it struck me, that wasn't the way to get her back, so I stopped when my feet hit the water. I turned around and walked back towards Rachel and picked up my stuff. Soon enough Santana walked out of the water and Quinn went to give Rachel a big wet hug but true to form Rachel didn't let that happen.

She stuck her hand out. "If you so much as drip on me, you are going to be sleeping alone, and the winter is coming, it gets cold." Santana and I looked at each other and laughed, I loved when she laughed. What can I say I've turned into an absolute sap, but I was okay with that, most times, still that didn't mean Santana was going to get away with ruining my tanning time.

As we walked back to our apartment, we all decided that we'd grill out and just have a relaxing dinner, just the four of us. Although it rarely turned out to be the four us, I was sure everyone else would stop by sooner or later.

We didn't bother changing, I just threw on one of Santana's hoodies since she stole my favourite gray zipper sweater. As Rachel and I walked back down to the pool where the barbeque was I smiled when I see Santana standing in front of the food flipping it, she's an amazing cook, especially on the grill.

A half hour later we were all seated at the table outside, watching the sun begin to set. I was glad to see my best friend as happy as she was, her and Quinn made the perfect couple, well aside from Santana and I of course. Then again we were still a couple without really being a couple. We were all having such a good time I almost forgot my payback, as I'm sure Santana had.

As she got up to turn the pool lights on I asked her if I could borrow the sweater she was wearing because my legs were cold, they really were but that was besides the point, naturally she obliged and got. Once I was sure her back was turned I took both sweaters off and jumped up and tackled her into the water. Quinn rushed over and took a picture and when I came back above the water I started killing myself laughing as I climbed out. Santana splashed some water at me and I turned my head and kept laughing.

Later on, after Quinn and Rachel had left Santana and I decided to curl up on the hammock and just relax. We were both exhausted from a long day in the sun and we hadn't gotten to spend a lot of time together lately. "I love you." I whispered in her ear.

"I love you too." She wrapped her arms around me and I laid my head down on her chest. Lightly she scratched her fingers up and down my back and lightly over my shoulder blade.

"How many times have you truly been in love?" We had conversations like this sometimes, and it was always just about getting to know one another not about trying to figure out how she really felt about me.

She thought for a minute and kissed the top of my head. "Before you, once."

There were those butterflies, turning my head I kissed right above her heart. She already knew my answer, I'd told her before. "There is honestly no other person I would rather be with. I haven't been treated the way you treat me in a long time and I am so thankful for your friendship and love everyday." I looked up into those beautiful eyes and I saw them tear up a little.

"I love you Brittany, with everything I am. I love how you make my day so much better just by talking to me. You light up my day, if I don't talk to you I actually feel mopey. I don't want to be with anyone else. You're all I want and all I need."

It was my turn to tear up a little bit, and with those words and how they touched my heart, I knew that I wanted Santana all to myself with the labels and the whole nine yards. Now all I had to do was work up the nerve to ask her out, and make sure that I wouldn't get turned down. As much as we loved each other I was still very uncertain if Santana wanted to be in a relationship, even if it was with me. We had had so many conversations about not wanting relationships and just having fun that the line was so blurred I had no idea where we really stood. We both knew what everyone else was thinking, they were more than vocal about it but we always laughed it off and continued our non-relationship ways. I guess a part of me was still scared that Santana would find someone and change her mind about her and I. It's easy to say that you trust someone but to actually do it is another story, especially when there were no labels. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't trust her, I was just scared. Scared that everything her and I had was too perfect, it was too like the movies and we all know that movie romance is completely different from the ones in real life, though I wish that wasn't the case. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and maybe it does happen that way sometimes.

TBC…