For this chapter just thought I should clarify for anyone who might not know - in golf par is the number of shots you're "supposed" to need to complete a hole and a bogey is when your score is one shot over par.
Over the next few weeks I see Santana every now and then around the club house, but I never have a good reason to speak to her. I don't know where my fixation with this woman is coming from but she just fascinates me.
One Saturday I'm lingering by the first tee waiting for my client to show up. I'm pretty early because he's not teeing off for another 15 minutes, but I didn't have anywhere else to be. Suddenly Joe shows up and joins me, looking like he's ready for a round too.
"Hey," I greet him with a small wave. "Who've you got?"
"You'll never guess," he grins, "Santana Lopez herself."
My mouth actually falls open. "What?" I can't believe it!
"Yep. One of the other guys and I were about to go home for the day when the Director found us and asked us if we could do a round. Apparently she usually takes a cart but there aren't any left."
Ugh. I'm so jealous! "When are you going?"
He looks at his watch. "Should be any time now. The director said five minutes when we saw him." Sure enough, when I look behind me, I see her coming round the corner by the parking lot, talking to some older guy. I bite my lip in thought.
"Switch with me?" I blurt out.
He looks surprised. "What? No way, man! Why?"
"Um, it's just…well, the guy I have isn't due for another 15 minutes or something and I have a feeling he'll take a while to play the course. And I was really hoping to get away early today cause I have a shit ton of work to do…" I lie spontaneously.
Joe seems to consider this but still looks unsure. "But she's like…famous, Britt."
"Please?" I practically beg. "I'll…let you have my Spanish homework for the rest of the semester," I offer, knowing Joe's kind of a stoner and hates doing school work.
His eyes widen at this. "For real? Sweet! She's all yours, man."
I grin widely. "Thanks!"
"No, thank you."
Just then, Santana arrives beside us and I suddenly feel a rush of nerves as I realize I will be playing 18 holes with her. The other caddy is lingering behind us; I think his name is Rory.
"Hi," she says lightly. "I think two of you are waiting for us?" she questions, looking between us.
"Um, yeah, that's me," I say, stepping forward.
Rory comes to stand beside me. "Me too."
"Cool," she says, pulling her glove onto her right hand. She must be left-handed. "I'm Santana." She holds out her gloved hand and I shake it, nodding like I didn't already know that.
"I'm Brittany."
She smiles at me and I just about die. "My bag is the white one over there," she says, nodding to the side.
"Okay," I say, hurrying to pick it up before Rory gets any ideas.
"This is my agent, Will," she says when I rejoin them, gesturing to the man she's playing with. Rory shakes his hand and goes to take his bag.
Santana goes first, placing her ball at the ladies' tee as is customary, which is several yards in front of the men's. Her drive is perfect, soaring straight down the centre of the fairway. She places a hand to her forehead to shade her eyes from the sun as she watches it land. She seems satisfied with her shot and walks towards me, handing me her driver.
"Nice shot," I offer as I place the cover back on the club and put it back in the bag.
"Thanks." She looks at me for a moment. "First one's always the worst cause everyone in the club house is watching," she says with a smile. I look behind us, and sure enough, a fairly large group has gathered on the balcony to watch them tee off.
Will goes next and his shot is alright, but it doesn't go as far as Santana's.
We start to walk up the first fairway and I'm surprised and a little flustered when Santana walks right beside me. I take a blank scorecard out of my pocket and start to fill in her name.
"It's Lopez, by the way. Santana Lopez." I almost laugh because of course I know her name, but just nod and write it in anyway.
"So have you worked here long? I don't think I've seen you around much before," she asks me. I swallow nervously. She's actually talking to me. Right, Brittany, don't screw this up and embarrass yourself.
"Um, for a few weeks, maybe a month," I reply. "I don't work all that much except around weekends because I go to university during the week."
"Oh, right," she nods. "Well that makes sense then. I don't usually play on weekends because it gets so busy." I nod because it's true; the tee is usually fully booked on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
We pause to watch Will play his next shot before arriving at Santana's ball. She stops to study the shot for a moment.
"Can you give me a seven iron, please?" she asks me. She's so polite. Usually the player just grunts a number at me and holds out his hand. I remove the club and hand it to her, watching her run through a practice swing. I notice now her position is reversed compared to other players and I realize she must have a whole set of special left-handed clubs.
Her shot bounces up and lands on the edge of the green. She nods very slightly to herself and hands me back her club.
"You're really good," I comment as I put it away, then feel stupid for saying so, because of course she's good; she's a professional golfer.
"Thank you," she grins at me and I decide I'm happy I said it. "So what do you study at school?" We set off towards the green.
I smile back, happy that we're actually having a conversation. "Well I'm just a first year and I haven't picked a major yet. So I'm taking lots of classes at the moment. But I'm thinking science of some kind."
She nods, actually looking interested. "That's cool. I used to like math a lot in high school." I smile to myself, imagining Santana as a mathematician, wearing glasses and doing complex equations on a chalk board.
Santana continues to make conversation with me as we play around the course and I gradually relax as I start to realize that's she's just a normal girl, like me. She's actually pretty easy to talk to. While we're playing the eighth hole I learn that she left her whole family behind in LA when she was just nineteen because she got signed by a sporting agency out here in Miami.
"Don't you miss them?" I ask her.
She shrugs indifferently. "I see them every now and then. To be honest I've never really been super close with my family so I don't really mind. And I like it out here a lot."
"Fair enough," I say.
On the thirteenth hole I ask her what else she likes doing besides playing golf and I receive another shrug.
"It might not seem like it but my career actually takes up a lot of my time. I mean, obviously I practice a lot and compete and stuff but I also have to go to all these really boring social events that Will drags me to. Like parties arranged by the agency. And there's sometimes photo-shoots and stuff too." She rolls her eyes a little, with a small smile which lets me know she doesn't really hate it. "But when I'm not doing that stuff I tend to just relax at home. And I have some good friends from the club who I can hang out with."
I nod, falling silent while she takes her putt. Her ball slowly travels the length of the green and loops around the lip of the hole but doesn't go in.
"Oh, fuck it." She says. "Guess that's a bogey, then."
I giggle, surprised to hear her curse. Everyone at the club always pretends to be so proper.
"Language, Santana," Will warns as he passes, but he's smiling. I see Rory suppressing a grin.
"Oh whatever, Will, are you my dad now?" She rolls her eyes playfully as she hands me her club.
By the time we reach the eighteenth hole the sun is starting to go down and it's a good thing we're nearly done because it's getting harder to see. Santana's been playing really well the whole round – far better than anyone I've ever caddied for before – and I'm actually pretty impressed.
"So what made you want to be a caddy?" she asks me as we make our way up the fairway. "You don't strike me as a golf enthusiast."
I laugh a little because she's right. I always thought golf was a boring, snobby sport for old people. I guess I still did until today.
"Well, once I got settled in at university I had to find some kind of job to help pay for all those textbooks." She smiles. "And this was just the first one I applied for," I say with a shrug.
"I see. And how do you like it so far?"
"It's pretty good," I say. "It's not exactly difficult, and I guess it's good exercise too."
She nods in agreement as I hand her a chipper. "It's been nice walking the course for a change instead of sitting on my ass in a cart. Maybe I'll start using a caddy more often." She smiles at me before taking her shot and I feel a small surge of excitement at the implication of her words.
Santana putts for par on the last hole and after picking up her ball she takes off her glove and shakes my hand again, thanking me for carrying her bag. I try to ignore how pathetically excited I get about touching her bare skin. She hesitates for a second.
"Do you want to come and have a drink in the club house?" she asks.
My hearts leaps in my chest for a second. "Um, sure!" I say, trying not to sound too eager. "Although, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to hang out in the bar…I mean, technically I'm not a member…"
She waves a hand dismissively. "It's fine," she says with a smile. "You're totally allowed." I think I'll trust her judgement.
Will goes off somewhere with Santana's bag and I head to the changing room with her. I wonder if he's going to be joining us for a drink or if it will just be me and her. I suddenly imagine the two of us sitting together at the bar having drinks. What if she's asking me like, romantically? I'm dating Sam! Wait… no, Brittany, that's totally ridiculous. She's obviously straight and people go for drinks after golf all the time. Just calm down.
I throw Santana a nervous smile, hoping that miniature freak out didn't show on my face.
Once we reach the locker room we change out of our golf shoes and then head up to the bar. Santana shakes her hair out of its tight ponytail and I try not to notice how hot she looks doing it. We find some seats out on the balcony and Santana tells me to wait while she goes in for drinks.
"What are you having?" she asks me.
"Oh um…I'll just have some orange juice." She gives me a curious look.
"You don't want anything stronger?" she says with some amusement. I blush, feeling like a little kid.
"No, thanks…I mean, I'm not old enough yet."
"Right," she nods, still smirking a little. "Of course."
She disappears inside to go to the bar and I spy the bartender serve her almost as soon as he sees her. I look around me as I wait. I've only ever been up here once or twice, and never as a customer. It's still warm out and now that it's getting dark they've turned on the white fairy lights that run around the edge of the balcony, casting a dim glow over all the tables. It's actually really nice up here. I don't see any sign of Santana's agent, Will. I guess he went home?
"Here you are," Santana returns and places my drink on the table in front of me. She has a beer for herself.
"You know I could have just ordered you a real drink, it's not like they would have carded you," she jokes. I laugh.
"It's okay…I wouldn't want to risk it, seeing as I work here."
She nods. "Fair enough."
"I'll be twenty-one real soon though," I say, remembering that my birthday is coming up next month.
"Yeah?" She looks at me over the top of her beer. "Well I guess we'll just have to do this again when you are." She gives me a small grin and my heart leaps in my chest at the thought of hanging out with her more.
"So I take it you didn't go straight to college if you're only in first year then?" she asks.
I shake my head as I sip my juice through the straw. "No, I waited a couple years so I could save up some money first. I used to work as a waitress in a café in my hometown." She smiles at that.
She asks me more about where I grew up and what kind of things I like doing in my free time and we make easy conversation. She really seems to show an interest in me and I feel kind of flattered.
At one point the blonde haired girl who I saw Santana with before comes up to our table to greet her and she introduces us.
"Oh, hey, Quinn. This is Brittany, she was my faithful caddy today," she says with a grin.
"Nice to meet you," Quinn reaches forward to shake my hand and smiles warmly at me. I echo the sentiment and fall silent while the two of them exchange conversation that doesn't involve me, about people I don't know. She's very well spoken and I notice how carefully she holds herself, as if absolutely determined to be as delicate and ladylike as possible.
Eventually Quinn wanders back to her table where she sits with a middle aged couple who I assume are her parents. Santana looks behind her, watching her go. Once she's out of earshot she turns back to me. "Sorry about that." I wave my hand to say it doesn't matter. "That's Quinn Fabray. Her dad is super rich and is buddies with the director. She's kind of a snob but she's alright to hang out with," she says with an almost mischievous look on her face. I grin. "She's one of the only people here who's actually under forty, so…" she trails off. I wonder if she ever gets lonely without many people her own age to hang out with.
"Do you ever get lonely without many people your own age to hang out with?" Oops. Guess I wondered that out loud.
She seems surprised by my question and hesitates for a second before shrugging. "I'm not sure. I've never really thought about it before." She pauses. "I mean, it's not like I have no friends or anything," she says with a small smile.
"Sorry," I say quickly, realizing how my question must have sounded and feeling flustered. "I just mean, it must suck having to hang around with old people all the time."
She laughs out loud. "I guess it does, sometimes. There aren't many people to party with round here. Even Quinn's kind of a wet blanket. My high school friends were a lot wilder." I nod in understanding. I kind of want to blurt out that she should come hang out with me and my friends all the time instead but I don't want to sound crazy and weird her out. I'm not sure that would be very appropriate.
We talk some more before I realize that it's coming up to ten o'clock and my roommates are probably wondering where the hell I am. It's fully dark now and we finished our drinks a while ago. I really don't want to leave though. I waited so long just to talk to her and I'm worried I'll never get another chance.
A few minutes later though, she saves me from my dilemma, looking at her watch and announcing that she should probably get going. I agree and stand up with her.
"I'm gonna go say goodbye to Quinn before I go, but I guess I'll…see you around?" she says, almost hesitantly. I smile and nod, probably looking ridiculously enthusiastic while doing so.
"Yeah, bye! Thanks for the drink and everything."
"No problem," she smiles. "Thanks for carrying my clubs! See you later."
There's a beat in which I wonder if I should hug her goodbye or shake her hand or something, but she doesn't make any move and neither do I, so I just turn awkwardly and walk away, heading through the bar and downstairs.
As soon as I'm alone with my thoughts I'm inwardly flailing. I can't believe I just spent the whole afternoon with Santana Lopez. And I thought today was just going to be another boring day spent carrying some old guy's bag.
When I get to my locker I take out my phone and see I have several texts waiting for me. We're not allowed to take cell phones onto the course with us so I haven't checked it since earlier this afternoon. I open the first one from Mercedes.
"Hey Britt, you still working? We're doing dinner at home, let me know if you'll be joining."
Oops. I probably should have texted her when I finished my round but I was too busy freaking out about Santana talking to me. She sent me another about an hour ago.
"Leftovers in the fridge :)"
I smile, glad I don't have to feel guilty about missing dinner and also happy that there's food waiting for me at home; I'm starving. I open a text from Joe.
"So you were serious about the spanish right"
I laugh to myself before checking my last message from Sam.
"Hey Britt, we still on for breakfast tomorrow?"
Crap, I totally forgot about that. Sam wants to go to some space themed diner we passed by the other day. He got really excited about it because the tables look like planets in the solar system. I groan slightly at the thought of getting up so early on a Sunday but text him back.
"Sure, I'll see you at 9 :)"
"So how was work yesterday?" Sam asks me as we take our seats at Jupiter. "You must have finished up pretty late."
"Oh yeah, well my client bought me a drink after so I ended up staying on for a bit."
Sam looks a little creeped out. "What, the old guy? Isn't that a bit…inappropriate?"
"No, no, no," I say, waving my hand. "I ended up switching with Joe and I got to caddy for Santana Lopez. She's like, our age and she plays pro. She's basically like, a celebrity at the club. It was super awesome."
Sam nods slowly. "Oh yeah, I've heard of her actually. I think she's pretty good."
"She's really good," I gush. I mean, she is compared to my usual clients. I think Sam meant compared to other professional golfers. He actually follows sports and watches golf on TV and stuff.
Sam smiles. "So what's she like? You must have got on pretty well if you went for drinks after."
"Oh she's super nice. And not stuck up at all, like most people at the club." I don't mention that she is also super hot and I'm totally attracted to her. I don't think Sam would feel too good about us having drinks if I did. "I had a lot of fun actually. It was nice working with someone who actually talks to me for a change."
"Nice," he says. "Think you'll caddy for her again?"
I think of the comment Santana made near the end of the round about wanting to have a caddy more often and smile to myself.
"I hope so."