Drama ahead...
Chapter 13: Days Go By
I wake up the next day still excited from the day before. Seriously excited. As soon as my eyes open and I remember the day before a smile blooms on my face.
I roll over onto the other side of the bed and bury my goofy grin into the pillow. That's when it hits me. Her scent, on the pillow. I don't know why I didn't think of it before now. The pillow smells exactly like Santana. I breathe in the heavenly scent and roll onto my back holding the pillow to my chest. I wish it were her. Santana, here, that I was holding instead of the pillow.
She said she was going to call me today. I reach for my phone with that thought in mind. No missed calls but it's only ten am. Santana is probably still asleep. Or maybe she is awake and doesn't want to call too early and wake me. But I'm up now, with nothing to do with my Sunday, but wait for her call.
I feed Lord Tubbington and then myself and then I shower. I check my phone after I get out of the shower. No missed call.
I decide to keep my phone on me the whole time so I don't miss when Santana does call. But, in reality, it could be at any point today. She didn't say when she was going to call. It could be ten minutes from now or it could be two hours or it could be tonight.
"I'm going crazy, Lord T." I tell him as I check the time. It's only two pm. I have so much time to kill but what to do? A thought crosses my brain and I pick up my phone and hit the speed dial number 5.
"This is Sugar." The excited voice on the other end answers.
"Hey, Sug."
"Hi, Britt. What's up? What happened with you and your sexy Latina after you guys left work yesterday?"
I know she would ask that as soon as I called her and I debate briefly whether or not to even call her. But, I can't sit at home all day and just wait for my phone to ring. I really will go crazy.
"Well, not that you need to know but I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come over. We can talk about it- or not. So?"
"Fucking sweet. Does this mean I get the whole scoop now?"
I run my free hand over my face. I can't believe I'm about to do this. "Yes. Come over and I will tell you everything."
"Okay. I'll be over in 20."
"Great." I say flatly.
"Bye Britt."
"Bye" I say and hang up. "Well, looks like Sugar is coming over Lord Tubbbington." He blinks up at me from where he sits in my lap. He doesn't seem to excited about it.
Sugar has come and gone. We sat down and talked about everything that's new in our lives. We mostly talked about me and Santana. I told her pretty much everything. The only thing I left out was that I was waiting for Santana to call me.
The more I think about it the most desperate, I think, I seem. Just sitting around all day waiting for someone to call me. I could easily call Santana too. It's not like she is the only one who knows how to use a phone.
As the minutes and hours pass I consider it. Calling her, that is. Why not? Maybe I could send Santana a text instead. Something simple or even cute.
I do eventually.
To Santana: Hey just wanted to see how you're day is going?
It's after 8pm and I've been waiting all day. I didn't get a response to the text that I sent and I am honestly a little worried. About Santana and whether or not something happened. She said she would call and something had to have come up for her not to call. Maybe she is spending the day with her mom or maybe the whole family. I have no idea really. Maybe she just forgot. I really hope that's not the case though.
And maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. I force all the thoughts to the back of my mind and pick up the phone and call her. It rings and rings and rings but no answer. Her voicemail picks up and I hang up. I don't want to leave a voicemail, that doesn't seem right at the moment. I hang up with a loud sigh. The only thing I can do now is wait for Santana's call.
When I go to bed I still don't hear anything from Santana. And I don't think that I will, not today.
Monday comes and goes. I spend my day doing my normal Monday activities. Grocery shopping, running other errands, washing my car, going to the hardware store. I don't hear from Santana at all. I start to worry that something happened to her.
Two more days pass and I don't hear anything from Santana. Each day, for the last three days, I have sent at least one text everyday but haven't gotten anything back in return. It makes me a little sad. I wonder what went wrong. When I saw Santana last, on Saturday, everything was great. When she left my apartment we were on great terms. She said she would call me and I actually thought that she would. That's why it surprises me that she didn't call and makes me wonder if something happened with her or possibly with something or someone in her life.
I am tempted to go over to her house and see if she is home. But I know that she works during the day and wouldn't be home. I work at five and she probably works until at least 5 or 5:30. So that won't work.
I'm at work and it's Thursday night. Sometimes, Thursday's can be really busy and sometimes they are slow. Tonight is on the more busy side. There are four guys throwing darts at the far end of the bar. There are the regular Thursday night guys. There is a group of friends at one of the small tables playing cards. The crowd is very diverse tonight. Young and old. Some new faces but most that I have seen before.
Nothing really exciting happens until the front door swings open and a group of ladies walks in. I can tell that most of them are on their way to drunkenness, if not already there. The last woman walks in and I know exactly what the group is here for.
The woman is dressed in her regular clothes but she is wearing a pink sash with buttons pinned to it. Some of the buttons are flashing and some are regular buttons. She has a sort of crown on her head with a thin white veil attached to it. The woman also has on a bunch of beads around her neck.
A bachelorette party.
One of the girls comes up to me at the bar. "Can I get a pitcher of beer and a vodka cranberry for the bride-to-be over there." She thumbs over her shoulder to the group behind her.
"Sure thing." I shuffle over a few feet and start mixing the drink and when I am done with that I fill a pitcher with beer. I set the two items on the bar top and then reach for some glasses. I pull them out from under the bar and hold them up. "How many?" I ask the woman. She narrows her eyes and then after a second. "Five." I sort out five plastic glasses and hand them to the woman. She takes them, and hands them to one of the woman behind her, and reaches for the pitcher, and turns to pour the liquid into four of the five glasses, before filling her own. "Thanks." She says to me and the group walks off to sit at one of the tables.
A few minutes go by and I thought crosses my mind. It's been a long time since a bachelorette party has come into the bar. I want to do something special for them. So, I get out a tray and put six shot glasses on the bar. I fill the shot glasses then go over to the juke box. A quarter later and the song Shots by LMFAO comes on. I grab the tray and go over to the table that the bachelorette party is sitting at.
"Hello, ladies. I wanted to bring these over and congratulate you on your upcoming wedding." I turn to address the bride-to-be. "I wish you all the best with your wedding and everything that comes after." I set the tray of shots on the table. "These are on the house."
The women cheer in excitement. "Thank you." The bride mumbles to me. It's clear that her friends have been plying her with plenty of alcohol already this evening.
"You are very welcome." I smile cheerfully.
One of the women starts singing along with the song. "Shots. Shots. Shots. Shots." Okay, maybe, it more like yelling.
I laugh and shake my head. "Yes, shots."
The women all take their shot glasses from the tray. I take the tray and head back towards my station at the bar. "To the bride." I hear a cheer from behind me followed by the sound of glasses clinking together.
I'm smiling just from the excitement of the bachelorette ladies. It's contagious really. Fun and excitement are always a good thing. I think that the amount of fun a person has relates directly to that persons happiness. But, life isn't all fun and games. There has to be a balance between work and play. And these women are definitely getting in a good dose of play tonight.
When I look over at the clock and see that it's only 7 pm I groan. Today has just dragged on. There has hardly been anyone in the bar all day. It was a beautiful, warm April, Saturday, afternoon and it seems not too many people wanted to stay inside today.
Old Man Joe has been at the bar most of the day and I have talked with him a lot throughout the day. I few other stragglers are in here now. Three guys in one corner and a man and woman sitting at a table. There is a lone young man sitting smack dab at the middle of the bar, empty bar stools on either side of him.
At this point I just want to be done with work and go home. As much as I love my job, I do not love when it is dead in the bar. I want to go home and get something to eat. Maybe give Lord Tubbington some attention that he probably deserves. And then go to bed.
There is one more thing that I want to do before the day is over. The one thing that my mind has been going back to all week.
Santana.
I haven't heard anything from her and I don't know what to do about it anymore. She hasn't come into the bar. She hasn't called or texted. I really don't know what to think at this point. I have texted and called her with no response and I don't know what to do.
I stare at the clock and watch as the seconds tick by slowly. Tick. Tick. Tick.
"Brittany." Old Man Joe pulls me out of my stupor. "Can a man get a refill down here?" I look over at him and he is shaking his empty glass in the air.
I chuckle. "Yes, sir." I walk over and grab his glass and go over to the tap to refill it. It's almost full when I hear the jingle of the bell as the door open. I don't look up because I don't want to overfill the glass and have a sticky mess slipped down the side.
When the glass is full and I finally look up. There standing in front of me is Santana. Her arms behind her back and what I would describe as a half guilty, half apologetic smile on her face.
"Hey, stranger." I smile big just seeing her in here. Maybe I shouldn't be smiling right now but I can't help it. She just makes me smile even if I haven't heard from her in a whole week.
She gives me a more genuine smile now. "Let me take care of this and then-" I trail off. I'm not sure what the 'then' is. Santana must understand because she nods her head up and down.
I bring Old Man Joe back his refilled glass of beer. "I see that your girlfriend is back." He says as I set the glass down on the tiny square napkin in front of him.
"Shut up, Joe. She's not my girlfriend. We are just friends." I scold him.
"Whatever you say, Brittany." He smirks and then takes a drink of his beer.
I roll my eyes and walk away. I have more pressing matter to attend to at the other end of the bar.
There Santana sits, in her regular spot. I don't know how it's always so convenient that that barstool is always open when she comes it, but it always is.
She is sitting there looking all sorts of timid. Her hands, which I can't see, are resting in her lap, her shoulders are slumped forward, and she looks like she doesn't know what to say. I make it easy for her and start first.
"I thought you were going to call me." It comes out harsher than I intended it to. I guess I am a little irked about the fact that Santana said that she was going to call me and then never called.
"I'm sorry Brittany. Something came up."
"For a whole week." I put my palms on my hips and stare her down.
"Yes?" She scrunches her face up like she isn't sure if that is the right answer.
"Are you asking me?" I ask her. I don't have time for any of her crap right now. "Cuz I sure as hell don't know."
"No." She hangs her head. "I'm not asking you. Please, don't be angry with me, okay? I can explain. Something did come up- last weekend- after I left your house and this whole week has been crap. I wanted to call you. So bad. But, I didn't want to talk over the phone. I felt like I needed to explain what happened- to you- in person. So, here I am." She slowly lifts her head and I catch her eyes. They seem sad or maybe scared or maybe a little of both.
Now I feel bad because I didn't mean to sound so harsh with her but I have no idea what's going on. I'm so confused and my mind is running a mile a minute. "Okay. So, what happened?" I drop my hands from my hips and lean back to rest my butt against the back counter.
I wait but Santana doesn't say anything. I watch her, and she watches me, and then she turns her head away and looks down the length of the bar. I turn to see what she is looking at. But, there is nothing over there except the four customers that are sitting at the bar. They are all engrossed in their own activities and paying no attention to me or Santana.
A small thud brings my attention back to the bar in front of me.
On the bar top is Santana's left hand and it is in a black cast.
"What happened?" I gasp. I push off the back counter and step forward to inspect the cast further.
"It's a long story." She mumbles.
My fingers hover over the cast, afraid to touch it. The cast covers most of her fingers, just the tips are visible. Her whole hand is covered. All the way up passed her wrist has that hard cast material covering it.
"Does it hurt?" It's the first thing that I can think of to ask.
"Not really." She shrugs. "The doctor gave me some pain killers."
I pull my hand back from where it was hovering just over the cast. "So, this is why you didn't call?" I look up to find her eyes.
She nods once. That apologetic smile is back. "Yeah. Sorry."
"No, don't be. This seems like a legit reason not to call."
She hangs her head again and shakes it. "It's not. Really. It's not." She says sadly.
"Santana, just tell me what happened and how your hand got into a cast. Did someone beat you up? Are you hurt elsewhere? What happened?" I panic, all of a sudden, as many terrible scenarios pop into my head
"No." She looks back up at me and shakes her head some more. "I left your apartment last Saturday night and I felt really good. Like, better than I had in a while. I got in the car and started it up. I cranked the radio up and started for home."
"Okay." I follow so far.
"Brittany." A voice calls out from the other end of the bar and I couldn't be more annoyed at the moment. It's Old Man Joe again. He has the most terrible timing. Just when I am about to find out what happened to Santana's hand.
"I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." I smile at her and walk away. I can here her laugh as I go. It's nice. It's been too long since I've heard her laugh.
"What is it, Joe? I'm having an important conversation." I snap at him.
He holds his hands up in defense. "Whoa. I was gonna get going and ya know." He waves his hand in the air like I'm suppose to know what he means.
I do know, though. He has a tab started and wants to pay it off before he leaves. "Right." I take his empty glass. "Sorry." I add and turn away from him. At the cash register I pull up his tab and look at the total. "$21.73" I shout over my shoulder.
"Alright." Old Man Joe says. "Here ya go." I turn around and he hands my twenty five dollars. "Keep the change. And I hope everything is alright with your lady friend." He gets up off of his barstool and heads for the door without another word.
"Thanks Joe." The thing about Old Man Joe is that he jokes about everything and everybody. But, he is genuinely one of the nicest guys and he cares about everyone that he knows and even some he doesn't know.
I put the cash in the register and take my tip and make my way back over to Santana. She is sitting there waiting patiently, both her hands on top of the bar.
"So, where were we?" I ask as soon as I'm in front of her again.
Cuz this was shorter chapter and I will upload the next chapter on Sunday. Next time the story of what happened to Santana.