Chapter 5: Info
I wake up on Saturday morning and get ready for my noon shift at work. One of the first thoughts that runs through my head once I wake up is Santana. I wonder if she made it home okay.
I hop out of bed and get in the shower. I feed Lord Tubbington and get the mail. At quarter to twelve, I head out of my apartment and over to the bar.
I scan the parking lot to see how many customer's might be in the bar. A thought runs through my head, and I look for a specific car. A black car, that I've only seen once before, but I would know it if I saw it again. But, it's not there.
My shoulder's sag as I realize that Santana's car isn't in the parking lot. She must have come and picked it up already. I don't know how because I was barely able to get out of bed at eleven and I didn't even drink anything the night before. I don't know how someone who drank as much as her could be functioning properly before noon.
I skip up the steps and into the bar. "Hi, mom." I greet as the bell over the door chimes when I come in.
"Hi, honey. How did things go after we left last night?" She asks.
"Fine. No problems. Everyone left and we closed and Sugar and I cleaned the bar. The usual." I shrug as I round the end of the bar. It was pretty usual except for one thing. The same thing as the Friday before. That dark-haired woman that sat at the bar and didn't want to go home.
There are three regulars sitting at the middle of the bar sipping beer and eating peanuts. I never understand how anyone can drink beer this early in the day but they still do. I don't think I will ever understand that one.
"Good. So, I saw that Santana girl in here last night."
"Yeah. And?" I say at lean against the counter at the back of the bar with my hip.
"And- how did that go?" My mom asks as she wipes down the already clean bar. Nervous habit, I know.
"Fine. Do you know anything more about her? Cuz I can't get a damn thing out of her." I cross my arms over my chest.
She stops wiping at the bar and turns to face me, a couple feet away. "Yeah, I asked around." She pauses and I raise an eyebrow, silently asking her for more information. "I only know a couple of things. Like two or three. I told you that there is a Dr. Lopez at the hospital." I nod. "Well, that is her father."
"Okay, her dad's a doctor. What else?"
"Her mother apparently owns an insurance business and she sells all sorts of insurance. I feel like I should have known that already but that's not really the point, now is it."
"No, mom it's not." I smile a little.
"Right, well, I also heard that Santana went away to college and then came back when she finished and now she sells insurance with her mother. She works for her mother's company and the rumor is that when the older Lopez retires Santana is set to take over the business."
"Hmm. Interesting." I mumble. The new information swirling around in my head. "I'm gonna go punch in." I walk away from my mom and into the kitchen.
"Hey Will, how's it going?" I say passing through.
"Good Brittany. How are you?" The cook says in reply.
"I'm okay." I say and head into the break room and punch in for my shift. I ponder the new information that my mother has just given me. Some of it seems to fit Santana but other parts don't.
It's my favorite work day of the week. It's Friday, again, it's dinnertime, it's busy, and we are making money. Doesn't get much better than that.
I'm filling a pitcher of beer for a group of guys when the door bell rings above the door and I look up. I smile immediately.
"Hi, Brittany." Santana says as she sits down in her spot. I go over to her once I am done with the pitcher. "Beer me." She smiles, like actually smiles.
I giggle. "Tap or bottle?"
She puts her index finger on her chin and tilts her head to the side. It's so cute. "Um- bottle."
"Coming right up ma'am."
Santana stands from her bar stool, her palms flat to the counter, leaning over the bar. "Oh hell no. You did not just call me ma'am. I'm not an old fucking lady." She says offended. "Ma'am is my mother, not me."
I hold my hands in the air in front of my face. "Sorry. Sorry. How is Ms. Lopez? Is that better?" I offer.
"Better- but not ideal." She says, leaning back a little bit.
I put my hands on my hips. "What would be ideal then?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Santana or-or-" She trails off. "How about that beer?" She raises an eyebrow at me. I nod and she sits back down. I wonder what she was going to say. What 'name' or perhaps nickname she wanted me to call her. I go get her drink and bring it back.
Santana seems to be in a better mood than I have ever seen her before. It's refreshing and I like it. Seeing her smile makes my feel a little better. I was starting to think that she was mad all the time and never smiled. But, this is proof that that isn't the case.
After her second beer and the bar has calmed down a bit after the dinner rush, I head back over with another beer for her. I intend to start up a conversation with her because she seems to be in such a good mood. Hopefully, that works to my advantage.
I think I know a few things about her now- thanks to my mom- and hope to confirm those things. "So, Santana, you know that I am a bartender, but what is it that you do?"
She takes a drink of her beer instead of answering my question. When she puts the bottle down on the bar top she looks down the length of the bar before her eyes come back and lock on my face. "I sell insurance." She shrugs.
"That sounds-" I'm not sure how that sounds. Selling insurance doesn't seem like it would be a fun job.
"Boring. It sounds boring." She fills in for me. "And it is. Boring as hell." She says it in that monotone voice.
"Hmm. Right. If it's so boring then why do you do it?" I can't help but ask. I might be pushing some sort of invisible boundary but I can't think to care much about that.
She shrugs again and takes another drink. "It's not like I have much of a choice."
"Why?"
She narrows her eyes. "Because."
"Because why?"
She sighs. "Because my mother own the insurance business that I work at and I am the future of said business. When she retires, early I might add, I am expected to take over the place."
"Oh." I don't know what to say to that. I would say that taking over after her mom is pretty awesome, but she doesn't seem too excited about it, so maybe it's not too awesome for her. "Do you not want to take over after your mother retires?"
"I don't know." She mumbles. "I don't really want to talk about work right now."
"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know, Brittany. Just not work or my mother." Just like that she is harsh and cold.
"Mmm." I hum to acknowledge what she said. I look around and see someone waving at me. I go over and lean across the bar and give them a hug. "Hey, Mike, what are you doing in here?"
"Night out with the guys." He says when we separate. "They're over there." He points over his shoulder at a group of his friends standing around one of the small tables away from the bar. I recognize a few of them. I can't remember their names but I know that I have seen them before and Mike has probably even introduce me to them, at some point in time. "Can I get two pitchers of beer and six glasses?" He asks politely. He's always so polite.
"Yeah, sure." I reached for the stack of plastic glasses and hand them to him. "Here ya go. I'll get the beer." I get two pitchers and start filling the first one. When it's full I set it on the top of the bar and Mike takes it in one hand with the stack of glasses in the other and goes over to his buddies. I fill the other and he comes back for it.
He hands me a twenty. "Keep the change." His says and takes the pitcher and returns to his friends.
"Thanks, Mike. Have fun." He looks over his shoulder and smiles at me. He's so polite.
I refill two glasses for two different patrons that are sidled up to the bar on my way back to the other end. "Is that your boyfriend or something?" Santana asks as I approach her.
I laugh. Like really laugh. "No." I shake my head. "He is definitely not my boyfriend. He's just a friend of mine."
"Oh. Why is that so funny?" She asks with a straight face. Apparently, she didn't find any humor in that.
"Because he's like a brother to me." I shiver. "I can't even imagine- that-" I say vaguely. She looks away from me uncomfortably. "But- uh- yeah."
"Yeah." She says awkwardly.
I look around the bar but nobody seems to need my attention. Bummer, cuz this is super awkward. I need to think of something to say, quickly, that will get me out of this situation. "So, where did you go to college?"
"How do you know I went to college?" She shoots back immediately. Doesn't miss a beat this one.
I shrug. "I just assumed." It's a lie but she doesn't need to know that.
She takes her eyes off the tv and turns her head towards me. "You know what they say about people who assume?" She says with a little smirk. I roll my eyes and nod. "Makes an ass out of u and me."
"Yeah. Yeah." I grab my towel off my shoulder and wipe down the bar around her.
"Well, you assume correctly. I did go to college." I look up from where I was watching as I wiped the bar. "Ohio State." Santana adds.
"Cool. Did you like it there?"
"I guess. I liked it better than I like it here. I don't know if that's good or bad."
"How so?"
"Well, first of all I'm still living at home with my parents. God knows why? And second, at school, I could do what I wanted without thinking what other people thought. Or have to watch what I do because I might make a bad impression on my family. Or some bullshit like that."
I ponder over her words for a few seconds. "Why don't you just move out?" It seems so simple to me.
She shrugs. "I don't know. At first it was because I was just out of college. And I didn't have any money. And I had a bunch of student loans. But those aren't going away anytime soon so…"
"You could like get a roommate and split rent or something like that." I offer.
"Yeah. Maybe." She mumbles and turns back to the tv. I look up and a hockey game is on. Yuck. Hockey is boring. I never have any idea where the little black thing is. What's it called. A nugget. A saucer. No, I know a puck. Puck. That reminds me of this guy from high school named Puck. Well, that wasn't his real name but that's not the point.
I shake my head from my thoughts. I check Santana's drink and see that it's empty. "I'll get you another beer." I grab the bottle and see her nod in my peripheral vision.
A few hours pass. A few more drinks pass too.
"Hey." Santana slumps forward, her elbows digging into the bar. "You want to control my life, again, tonight?" She asks me and I look around to make sure that she is talking to me, but there's no one around us, so she must have been. The thing is, I don't know what she is talking about. I don't think I have ever had any control over her life, ever.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you are talking about." I take a step closer so that I am standing in front of her. A few feet and the bar separating us.
She points her left index finger at me. "You." She points for emphasis. "Gon." Her finger is right in front of my face. "Call." It wobbles a little in her drunken state. "Me." I wrap my hand around her wrist but don't attempt to remove her hand from in front of my face. "A." Her finger is an inch away from my nose and I stare down at it. "Cab." She juts her hand forward and jabs me in the nose.
I laugh. I can't help it. It's cute and silly and she's drunk. "Sure." I pull her hand away from my face now. "I'll call you a cab." I let go of her wrist and turn to grab the phone.
"What are you doing?" She nearly yells as I pick up the phone.
I turn back to face her. "Calling you a cab."
"I don't want to go home." She sits back. Her arms folded over her chest. And that scowl is on her face again.
"How come you don't want to go home?" She keeps mentioning it and now I am determined to get to the reason why.
"For the same reason I don't wan talk bout work." She slurs. "Cuz my motha is a bitch."
"Oh, I'm sure that's not true." I offer. I don't know her mom, though, so I guess technically, she could be a bitch, but the odds are that Santana just thinks that.
"No. It's true. She's a bitch and she never stops nagging me."
"I bet she just wants you to succeed." It doesn't necessarily make sense but it's the best I can think of at the moment.
"Whatever, she's a bitch." She says and rests her head on the bar like she is going to go to sleep right there.
I kind of feel bad for her. Her mom probably just wants the best for her daughter and wants her to succeed and take over the family business. I can't imagine that really. I mean I will probably take over the bar when my parents retire but that's not for a long time and I love my job and I love this place. So it's different.
I don't know anything about her life, really, but something in me wants to protect her from whatever it is that makes her feel that way about her mom. I want to take the pressure off her shoulders and take some of the brunt myself. If it will, at all, make her life a little easier and less stressful.
And, I think, I might have an idea, that might help. "What if-" I nudged her on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Hmm." She groans. I know that she is listening, at least, even if she isn't looking at me.
"Santana, what if I drive you home." She picks her head up off the counter and looks up at me with glazed over eyes. She doesn't say anything, so I go on. "I'll drive you home and then you don't have to pay for a cab."
"Why?" She asks and I'm not really sure what she is asking.
"Because I want to." I shrug. I don't really know why either, other than I want to.
"What about work?" She asks.
I look around and Sugar is talking with the other three patrons left in the bar. I know she can handle them herself and I highly doubt anyone else is doing to come in tonight. It's already after one in the morning.
"Sugar can handle it. And I will come back to help her close and clean."
"Okay." Santana mumbles.
"Let me go tell Sugar."
"Okay." She says and puts her head back down on the bar.
"Hey Sug. Will you be okay if I step out for a few minutes?"
"Yeah." She cocks her head to the side. "Why?" She asks and I can tell that she is already suspicious. She makes a good bartender because she is nosy and a huge gossip and needs to know about everything.
"I'm gonna take Santana home." I point of my shoulder at her.
Sugar leans around me to look at the woman at the other end of the bar. She leans back and cocks an eyebrow at me. "What do you have up your sleeve, Brittany?"
"Nothing." I tell her but I know she doesn't believe me.
"Fine. Go. But you better be back to help me close."
"I will be." I promise.
I get Santana outside and into my car. We had to walk over to my apartment building parking lot, but it's only like 50 yards away from the bar parking lot, so it wasn't that far to go. I unlock the doors and open the passengers side door and help her in before going around and getting in and starting the car. It's not a new car but it's not that old either. It runs fine that's all that matters.
"You're gonna have to give me directions, okay?" I turn to the passengers seat. Santana is slumped over against the door.
"Okay." Santana sits up a little and looks around. "Go right."
I throw my hands in the air. "We're not even moving." I chuckle.
"Then start moving and turn right out of the parking lot."
"Alright." I sigh. This might be a longer adventure than I realized.
Twenty minutes and two wrong turns later we pull up outside Santana's house. "Holy shit." I mumble. Her house is huge. I wouldn't want to move out either if I lived in this mansion. "It's huge."
"That what she said." Santana giggles from my right. I swing my head around to look at her. She's looking up at the house though. "My mom's still awake can we just sit here until she goes to bed?" She points to the house. There is one light on upstairs.
"I guess." I should really get back to work. If my mom found out about this little extra curricular activity she probably wouldn't be to pleased.
"Great, thanks." She turns her attention from the house to me. I watch as her head rolls against the headrest until she is facing me. "You're great." The corners of her lips curl up but she doesn't smile fully.
"Uh- thanks." I smile at her. "And you're cute."
She takes in a deep breathe of air, moves around in her seat, leans back until her back is up against the door. "Ms. Bartender, are you flirtin wit me?"
"Would you be opposed to that?"
She scrunches up her face and it's so cute. "Ummmm- no."
"Well, then I'm definitely flirting with you." I take my eyes off of her to look around the yard. It's really nice. Great landscaping, a brick sidewalk with fountain that leads up to the front door. I look up at the house again. It is really big. The light is still on upstairs. "So, what's up with you and your mom?" I ask quietly and turn to gauge her reaction.
Santana's shoulders slump and she turns in on herself. "She just- I don't know. She just wants the perfect daughter. I'm an only child so-" She trails off with a shrug.
"I see."
"No- no." She protests. "She wants me to be the best insurance sales person, the best daughter, the best young adult this town has even seen, the best everything, really. She's a pain in my ass."
"That sounds tough."
"Yeah, like, I know she means well, but she just never relents. She's always on my ass about something or another. It used to be school and grades. Now it's work and my social life."
I just nod. I don't really know what to say to that.
"She's probably going to rip my ass for going out again, but I don't care." She seems so much more sober now than she did when we first pulled up outside her house. She doesn't say anything else. I look over at her and she is just staring out the window too.
I don't know how long we sit there in silence. But, eventually the light in the upstairs window goes out. "The lights out." I whisper.
She doesn't say anything. I don't say anything else. We sit in silence for at least another ten minutes. Shuffling sounds next to me make me turn me head. I see Santana reach for the door handle and push the door open. She leans back into the car once she gets out.
"Thank you, Brittany."
I'm not really sure what she is thanking me for. The ride home, I assume, but it seems like there is more in her thank you than just for a ride home.
"You're very welcome." I smile weakly.
She presses her lips together in a tight-lipped sort of smile. She waves awkwardly with her left hand and then steps back and shuts the door.
I watch as she walks up the brick sidewalk, passed the fountain, and up to the front door. From the porch light, I can see her pull out a key and put it in the lock. She twists the knob and steps inside. The door shuts and she is gone.
I start the car and drive back to the bar to help Sugar close up.
So theres another chapter. Things are starting to progress between the ladies. Hope you all liked it.