Chapter 2
Day two.
When she wakes up, Santana feels a little different.
It could be for different reasons actually, but she's starting to think it's about one thing only; the way yesterday tore her out without her even doing something tiring. It must be her.
Santana hates the way this unbelievable new instinct is taking over her in so little time.
It's not like she feels totally insecure, but she's hesitating more than she would usually do and she isn't used to it.
She is rolling under the sheets, trying not to think about the confident smirk on Sebastian's face, like he's already won this. It makes her anxious now that she feels like there's something different. Usually, she doesn't worry about anything because she already knows for sure that she is going to win. This time is different and she has no idea if this is just some stupid worry or it actually makes sense.
The only thing she knows is that, after the lessons, she is going to go to the Lima Bean, hoping that she's going to get a better chance to get closer to Brittany than yesterday and not only to give Brittany her order. She needs to move some steps towards her because, all of a sudden, nine days seem too little and minutes seem to run faster, just like hours do.
She won't allow someone to mock her. It doesn't matter how worried she gets, how much it seems that this is not going to be that easy like the other times, Santana still believes she can do this. All she has to do is make it faster, just to be sure.
This is why, when she throws the sheets away and puts her bare feet on the pavement of her room, Santana is sure about two things (or maybe she just pretends she is).
Firstly, she is going to have a different coffee today. No mocha for her because she wants to impress Brittany: people who do the same things everyday hardly impress someone, and she needs to do just that.
And then, she is going to find a way to get better in touch with her: phone number, Skype, something that she can show to Sebastian to hush him for one night at least, so she's going to feel less anxious and she won't think about stupid stuff like the charm of those blue eyes.
Also, she is going to stare so much at her, drinking her with her eyes, that Brittany is going to feel naked in front of her, she's going to notice and stutter senselessly. And Santana is going to flirt then.
It looks like it's going to be an awesome day.
/
When she sits at the Lima Bean table today, she suddenly has an abrupt doubt. She has planned everything feeling sure that Brittany is going to work today, but she isn't sure about it anymore. Beside the fact that she seems to be late, Brittany worked yesterday and Santana doesn't know if she has daily shifts. Maybe it's alternate days or some shit like that which is awful: it's going to make her lose days over this bet (she is going to win anyway, of course, she knows; You always win, Diabla, she thinks to herself).
She spends almost twenty minutes fighting the spontaneous anxiety and trying to set up for the tranquility she wants to force, before she finally notices Brittany moving through the tables, with her notebook in her hands. Instinctively, she looks to the light tight jeans that bend her ass perfectly. It looks like it's done to be squeezed, and she sighs in relief subconsciously. At least her day isn't wasted.
The awareness that comes with it gives her the strength to wait for the girl to come to her. She doesn't have to wait too much, six or seven minutes, and then Brittany is standing in front of her, with a smile on her face and a pen on her notebook.
"Mocha?" She asks naturally and Santana shakes her head.
Her plan starts now.
"Well, let's say I want to try something different today. How about you tell me 'Hi, how are you doing?' first?" She asks, winking in suggestion and Brittany shakes her head, looking down at the paper with a serious expression slowly replacing her wonderful smile. Santana thinks Brittany looks down when she does something wrong and she feels guilty about it.
"I can't," She says indeed, immediately, wrinkling her lips, probably subconsciously. "The boss said that if he finds me chatting to customers again, I'll get fired. He says I make everything slow, and I can't understand. Why would you have a coffee if you don't have someone to share it with? I always talk to customers who are alone."
Santana arches an eyebrow. She isn't sure about what she actually thinks. Does Brittany think she can stop and talk to her customers while she works? Does she really do that because she is afraid they might be bored? If that's the truth, well … that's a really sweet thing to do.
Santana shakes her head immediately.
The word sweet doesn't suit her.
"Maybe I could wait." She replies instead, trying to show an innocent smile to Brittany. It isn't that innocent, but she's sure that Brittany won't notice. "I've got a lot of stuff to study for the test tomorrow, so I would like getting a few coffees to keep me awake. When you're done working, I might be here still, and then we could chat a little."
"Why do you want to chat with me?" Brittany asks, and Santana can't believe she doesn't even catch a little of her flirty attitude towards her. It seems pretty evident in Santana's eyes, more than she wanted to actually show yesterday.
"Don't you want to?" She asks then, shrugging, because maybe all that Brittany needs is for the conversation to sound normal, just like when she is talking to other customers.
"That's not it. It's just a little weird. We don't even know each other. I'm usually the one who bores people with my chatting. They never ask me to." She answers, shrugging lightly. "But I think I can do it after I'm done working. Tubbs doesn't need me tonight and I end up before the Lima Bean closes tonight, so I can stay a little."
Santana looks confused, while she tries to understand who Brittany is talking about. She has no idea what sort of name Tubbs is, what it stands for. Maybe it's her little brother's nickname or something.
"Bien," she just answers, her Spanish accent sounding seducing at the mere word, "I'll wait for you here when you're done."
"Are you going to tell me which kind of coffee you want? You said coffee might help you!" Brittany says and there's something honest in her voice like she really wants to support Santana with her studies. A spontaneous and enjoyable interest, Santana would say.
"Well, we can play a game." She answers, a sudden idea forming in her head. "Why don't you try and find a kind of coffee that I like more than mocha? So you can prove how good you are at understanding customers, since I haven't had a different order in years."
"Hmm," Brittany considers, putting her pen against her temple and looking at the ceiling for a moment, "Melya?" she asks, a proud smile on her face. "I don't know what kind of person you are yet, so …"
"What is it made of?" Santana asks and the answer is so automatic than Brittany sounds like a vocal menu.
"A coffee mixed with one teaspoon of unsweetened powdered cocoa and drizzled honey."
She giggles, imagining how long it might have taken her to learn the orders like this. She puts a hand in front of her mouth to cover it, so that she doesn't seem too unkind. When she stops laughing, she nods. She doesn't think about the fact that she isn't used to giggle like this.
"Okay, let's give this Melcia a try." She smiles.
"It's Melya!" Brittany complains, wrinkling her lips.
"It's a very sweet order though," Santana says allusive, unable to let it slide, especially when Brittany is wearing such a lovely funny expression, "as sweet as you are."
She hoped the girl would blush or something, but instead, she just smiles and half-bows in front of her before she's walking to the counter and giving the orders. And then she's buzzing around the room again.
While Santana follows every single movement of her body – mostly to stare at her ass -, all she can think of is that this girl is able to confuse her somehow. She has no idea how she's going to react and she's usually pretty good at anticipating other girls' behaviors. Brittany surprises her and Santana has no idea whether this is positive or not. It's surely a stirring to do better and it makes her more interested in her prey, but she can't deny that it also worries her somehow, even if it's just about the bet that she isn't ready to lose to Sebastian.
She lets the thought drop when a few moments later, a wonderful long-fingered hand (just like she noticed yesterday) leans in front of her to put a cup in front of her. Brittany whispers a soft 'Here's to you' before she's gone again.
Santana sighs and she finally turns to get the books from the bag hanging on the back of the chair.
She puts them on the table too and opens to find the pages she's got her bookmarks on (different colors for different chapters). While she keeps her eyes focused on the pages, she leans a curious hand towards the drink Brittany brought her. She grabs it superficially, maybe because she doesn't want to admit to herself how anxious she is to try it, and then she pushes it to her lips. She barely presses her mouth along the borders, turning the pages to calculate the approximate time she's going to need as she slowly declines the cup.
As soon as the flavor hits her mouth, the immediate sensation that comes with it – no matter how pleasant it is – it's that this coffee's way too sweet for her. Maybe Brittany is too.
But somehow she also thinks that to reject the coffee order that girl's chosen for her is a terrible way to start working on her the way she wants. She has to play the pretty part, so she lifts the cup and drinks it all in one long sip. The coffee would have been good, but the unsweetened cocoa is the worst thing ever. Plus, the honey is what forces her to wince in disgust. It's dense, sticky and ultra-sweet and it goes down into her throat and spreads inside her mouth, making her grimace even bigger.
She tries to push the sensation away and swallows it all down, putting the cup on the table. Showing Brittany that she has drunk all from the coffee she chose for her might be a good way to get friendlier with her.
She goes back to her book, focusing on it completely and trying to lift her gaze every time she feels like Brittany and her ass are passing by. No matter how much she cares about the bet and making out with a hot girl, her school grades are still important to her.
This biology test is essential because even if her score is high in general, she wants to humiliate Smythe in his own winning field. Yeah, they always fight and challenge each other in everything, and Santana can only imagine how much Quinn and Kurt make silent fun of them every single time. But this is sort of the balance in their group, so they won't stop doing it.
After she's organized a way to divide the paragraphs and analysis so that she can manage to do everything, she starts reading the first of the three infernal chapters about breathing phases (this book is way too detailed for high school, she's sure of it, especially for public high school), trying to remember as much as she can, gathering the topic into her head. Time starts to fly then, while words repeat – sometimes softly, sometimes into her head. An hour has gone by when Brittany shows up in front of her, her notebook proudly held between her fingers.
Santana lets her gaze run all over Brittany's body until she is looking into these ice-eyes that seem able to paralyze people, and yet they're sweet and innocent at the same time.
"So?" She asks and Santana immediately winces in confusion.
"So what?" She asks back, staring as Brittany leans a pen on the paper.
"I thought you were waiting for backups and I've wondered if one hour is enough for you to have another coffee." Brittany says, shrugging lightly. "Lord Tubbington says that drinking too many coffees in short times might be bad and I didn't want it to hurt you, so I stared at the clock until the arm completed its rotation, and I thought it was enough."
Santana smiles, maybe she even giggles, as she blinks; she's partly confused at her behavior, but she's also partly amused. The fact that she worried about her might be a positive thing, like Brittany cares about her. And yet, she's not really sure who this mysterious Lord Tubbington or Tubbs is.
"Well, yeah. I'd say it's about time to take advantage of the nectar." She laughs, shrugging. "What's your advice this time? I'd say I'm still on for Mocha for now, even though that … Melcia thing was kinda good."
"Melya!" Brittany complains immediately as she shakes her head. "What about Cafe Latte?"
"Hmm, that's simple but cool. Trying won't hurt me." Santana says, a bright smile appearing on her face.
"Okay, I'll be back in a moment," Brittany answers, walking away in a beat.
Santana immediately feels like Brittany is enjoying this game and that makes her giggle spontaneously. Okay, maybe she would just have to admit that this is funny.
She lets her go, now sure that she'll come back to her quite soon. She focuses on the paragraphs again. This time, while she repeats, she finds herself smiling as she thinks of Brittany's happy face while she tries to figure out coffee orders for her, just in case. It's stupid, Santana knows, but it's still amusing somehow. She relaxes against the back of the chair and she doesn't watch around to look for her this time; she knows that the sooner she's over with biology, the better she is going to work on her next conquest. These are her plans for the day. She can't come down to having only eight days and not even a closer contact with her.
This time, it takes a little longer for her coffee to be brought to her, so that when the cup gets leant on the table, Santana startles with surprise.
"Did I scare you?" Brittany asks. "I know what it feels like. Once a horse cut my walk while I was following a butterfly, and it wasn't even a unicorn; that's sad and it scared me."
Santana laughs instinctively, thinking that it must be some joke. Then she shakes her head to reassure her.
"No, seriously," she answers, already wrapping her fingers around the cup, "You didn't scare me. I was just too focused and got surprised. A good café latte might fix it though."
"I hope it works," Brittany says, "I'm done in another half-hour, and I can't bring you another coffee until the clock-arm finishes another rotation; so I hope this one wins."
"Well, if it doesn't, we're having a coffee together when you're done." Santana answers, winking. "So you've got another chance for today."
"Let's try this one first. Maybe I'm lucky."
The adorable smile on those lips makes Santana hold back from telling her that she had drunk Cafe Latte before. She decides to pull the cup closer, until it brushes against her mouth.
"See you later then." Brittany says, probably because she's afraid of stopping too long to chat, and also because she doesn't want to risk catching a grimace over Santana's face as she tastes her café latte.
"See you later." Santana whispers and this time she's actually closing her mouth around the porcelain of the cup.
This time the flavor is good, not only because milk and coffee is a lovely blend but also because the sugar is just at the right dose. She swallows the drink down quickly, without wincing this time, and she puts the cut back on the table, going back to the book as she does.
She already knows the result of this test. She already likes Café Latte, but it's not enough to make her give up on her usual order. And yet, at least it's better of the thing Brittany made her taste before. Maybe it's thanks to the wonderful flavor, but the rest of the day is calm and relaxed for Santana. The next sixty minutes pass quickly, even though she's been studying hard. It's so true that a good coffee can changed your day, Santana is sure about it now. Maybe she could study at the Lima Bean every day. It doesn't seem that bad.
She looks over the counter in the exact moment the arm of the clock marks 6 o'clock.
Brittany comes out of the service door from behind the back of the guy working at the counter, holding an apron in her hands. She sees her run along the room until she enters another door (that's probably some small laundry or something) to come out of it a moment later, all fixed and smiling.
She walks between the tables until she reaches for the one Santana's sitting at and she sits down opposite to Santana.
"All yours." Brittany says with an innocent smile on her face (luckily though, because as far as Santana is concerned, she could take her words literally).
"I wouldn't say that." She answers, unable to hold it. "So, since now you've got some spare time, how about you tell me about yourself?"
"My name's Brittany Susan Pierce," she starts automatically, like it's instinctively, like she's introducing herself in front of her new classmates, "And … hey!" She suddenly stops, "Why should I do that first? Why don't you introduce yourself?" She asks, a little suspiciously, tightening her eyelids just slightly.
"Hmmm, because I asked first." Santana replies, shrugging lightly, to show her – fake – good intentions. "It's not like I want to do something bad to you, Brittany. Calm down. I just wanted to talk a little."
"Well, okay," She complains, lifting her chin. "I'll talk to you if you tell me who you are and introduce yourself first."
"Can I pay you a coffee?" Santana sighs, wondering what the hell she's going to go through to win this bet. "Then, I swear I'm going to introduce myself."
Brittany hesitates for a moment, unsure if accepting or not, but she gives up a moment later.
"A Frappuccino." She answers, with a grin. "And I want you to try that to. I still have to guess your new coffee order and you might like something denser."
Once more, Santana doesn't tell her that she's already tried Frappuccino before. She has to play her game if she wants to gain Brittany's sympathies. She calls the waiter that has shifted with her by lifting her arm. She tells him their orders in a moment.
"See? No problem." Santana says and she lifts her hands a little, to show her she doesn't have any hidden weapons. "Now that I've ordered, what do you need to know about me?"
"What's your name?" Brittany asks. "Full name, I mean." She adds, like it's clear that she can't just say her first name.
"Santana Lopez."
"Hmmm okay," Brittany wrinkles her lips thoughtfully, like she doesn't trust her. "Favorite color!"
"What?" Santana asks skeptically. It's one of the most banal questions ever. She would have expected it during auditions for a reality or something, not when she's trying to flirt with this girl. "Why should you want to know about my favorite color?" She asks, but Brittany seems totally comfortable with the topic.
"Because you can understand lots of things from someone's favorite color, especially if they answer honestly." She explains, while the boy that gave her the shift comes back and hands two Frappuccinos to put them on the table. Considering how fast he had taken to them, Santana suspects it's prefabricated. "It's like, essential information. One's favorite color tells more than someone's name. It should be on the documents."
"Why would that be?" Santana asks curiously.
"Because it's something you get to choose." Brittany answers, "Actually, it's the color that chooses you. A name it's just something your parents give to you. How could you be represented from something you didn't even get the chance to choose?"
Santana thinks about it for a moment, deeply confused at her words. Anyway, she decides to go on with it once more, as she starts flipping her straw in the big glass.
"Red." She says and she stare as Brittany wrinkles her lips. "What? Is red bad news?" She asks and this time she's sincerely curious to know the answer.
"Not really." Brittany answers as she brings the straw to her face. "It's just that red is a very passionate color. It's the color of movement, of heat, of so many things and none of those just stay still like you're doing right now."
Santana smiles as she wraps her lips around the straw and sucks up the fresh drink to her mouth, enjoying the way the sweet taste of cacao mixed with cream hits her taste buds. She's about to answer, maybe to add something about how passionate she can actually be, when she finds herself frozen.
Brittany is wrapping her pinks lips around the straw too and Santana forgets in a moment everything she's thought of before. Her predatory eyes trace every single feature of her face, from the blue eyes that are staring at her, waiting for an answer, to her cheeks hollowing everytime she sucks the Frappuccino and her mouth tightens around the strew.
Santana's fingers tighten around her own thigh, right where the material of her jeans fits like a second skin. She silently curses everybody who's in the Lima Bean right now, because she's feeling like she would just press this girl's body onto the table and win that bet she's almost forgot because the price seems too delicious to remember about the rest.
Brittany is still looking at her with curiosity, waiting for an answer, but Santana's got her mouth still wrapped around the straw and she's starting to bite it to contain her momentarily sexual frustration that comes from what's before her eyes; this girl looks so nasty and innocent at the same time, in a way Santana wouldn't have thought it was possible.
She's so caught up with her staring that she doesn't even notice she's lifting her glass just too much. She doesn't even realize the melted chocolate is sliding down the perfect cream, warming up the glass until it's falling from it.
Just when an icing drop collides with her chest, challenged by gravity, Santana startles, putting the glass back on the table and looking down to her own white shirt, suddenly stained with chocolate on her breast. She's about to lean and take a tissue when she sees that Brittany is already doing the same; so she stops.
She stares while Brittany gets closer to her, carrying her chair in the movement, and looks down. Santana doesn't know if it's actually good for this to happen now, especially when Brittany is already lifting her hand to move it slowly where the stain is enlarging slowly.
Santana startles when those long fingers press the tissue on her breast determinedly. Santana feels her body being immediately shaken with desire, which is probably making her eyes even darker if possible. She holds her breath, looking down at where she's almost touching her. Brittany's hand moves smoothly, like nothing bad is happening, and Santana finds herself having to press her legs together in a few seconds, as a warm wave runs through her body and she tries to breathe in and out slowly.
All of a sudden, the imagine she's been picturing in her head earlier becomes cleaner; she can see that perfect body pressed against the wood of the table, long and muscled legs wrapped around her waist, swollen lips from kissing harshly …
"Fixed it!" Brittany announces proudly, nodding at the spot where the stain was.
Santana shakes her head, trying to push the thought away and she looks down again, as she comes back to reality. The stain is still there of course, but it's not as dark as before and it doesn't seem like it can't be washed off at least. Not that she cares about the stain anyway, not by now.
"Thanks?" She asks, feeling her chest inflating awkwardly as she gets a little anxious. What is this feeling supposed to mean?
Santana usually doesn't wonder so much; indeed, she's pretty good with making other people uncomfortable, and she barely knows how it is possible for the opposite to happen. And yet here it is and it messes with her head somehow. The thing itself that someone is making her this confuse with a mere touch – which is usually what she wants from a girl, touching – scares her even. Why does it have to be so hard to win such a stupid bet?
"You're welcome." Brittany says easily and damn, Santana would want to see some trick in her eyes, something that might prove that Brittany did this on purpose, that she's just provoking; but that's not the case. There's nothing on her face. She looks innocent, she's grinning. That only makes it more frustrating. "So, you were … talking about yourself."
How the hell is she even supposed to keep on talking after such a thing? All of her body is trembling with desire, anxious to get in real life what she had already imagined.
"Hmm yeah," She finds herself murmuring like an idiot. Seriously, Santana would want to slap herself right now.
"Okay, so your favorite color is red." Brittany says again. "Cats or dogs?" She asks and Santana can't keep from rolling her eyes at the question. It's totally not what she would want to listen to now.
"I don't know. I can't stand animals, so I wouldn't choose anyway." She answers, shrugging, but then she notices the disappointed look over Brittany's face.
"You don't like animals?" She asks, looking skeptical, like it's not even possible.
"No. Well, it's not like I hate them." Santana tries to fix it. "I just I'm used to their company."
"Which kind of company do you prefer then?" Brittany asks immediately, barely giving Santana the time to take a breath. Santana has to keep from answering The company of gorgeous girls like you.
"Humans' I would say." She shrugs lightly.
"Humans aren't that nice." Brittany complains. "Animals are way more loyal and honest than human beings."
"No doubts." Santana answers. "It's just that human beings don't lose their hairs."
They look at each other for a moment and then they're both laughing.
"Well, it was an amazing afternoon." Brittany says, shrugging a little as Santana arches her eyebrows.
"Do you have to go already?" She asks confusedly.
"Yeah, I have to. Before Lord Tubbington takes advantage of my absence to read my diary." She smiles but she's already standing up. "But we can meet again tomorrow if you're okay with it. This week I'm going to have a shift every day because Valerie is sick and my delay costed me a harder schedule."
"Hmm," Santana forces herself not to make questions about who Lord Tubbington and Valerie might she's starting to feel way too curious. "See you tomorrow, then, I guess?" She murmurs unsure but Brittany nods.
"See you tomorrow!" She gestures with her hand and the turns away.
"Ah, Brittany!" Santana calls her name and Brittany turns to her with a questioning look on her face. "I'm still ordering mocha tomorrow."
Brittany grins, but her lively gaze makes Santana understand that she'll give it another try tomorrow.
/
She looks at her own picture in the mirror as she passes the hairbrush through her dark hair. The make-up is perfect, and the tight red dress fits her curves amazingly. She shakes her head to give her wavy hair a rebel look which still looks sober somehow before she walks out of her personal bathroom. There's something that is making her anxious. It's probably the fact that she's feeling the hardest desire she's ever felt because of that girl. It's frustrating and it makes her fill like naïve – and she's not: usually, even if she feels needy, Santana is able to control her desires. This time it has been way too hard for her to do so.
Therefore, while she's walking out her place, tonight, walking along the small path that bringer to the sidewalk, where Sebastian's car is parked, Santana has got one aim: to prove herself that nothing has changed. Just like every single time, she'd just felt an attraction to a body, not to the person itself. So it wasn't about Brittany, but just about Santana's need for sex which hasn't been fulfilled too well lately.
Knowing that she's going to prove it easily to herself, she opens the car door and enters the car, smiling to Quinn, already sitting beside the window.
"Someone needs to recover tonight?" Sebastian asks, looking at her through the rearview window. "Are you trying to give some decency to your sexual life since you're going to fail with the blondie?" He asks smirking, but Santana just sighs, willing to ignore him.
"Can I borrow your eyeliner, Q?" Kurt groans from his front seat as he's almost laid beside Sebastian.
"Ouch." Sebastian says, while Quinn hands her pencil to him and Kurt leans to take it. "Someone is trying to look too sexy tonight …"
"Like that might be useful." Quinn sniggers and Sebastian turns the engine on as he frowns a little.
"What is that supposed to mean, Q?" He asks, looking to Kurt who's lowering the rearview mirror.
"There's no need to look sexy to get in your pants." Santana cuts, rolling her eyes and passing a hand through her hair. "All it takes it to breathe."
"You know that's not true." Sebastian complains ironically, but Santana is already looking out of the window, letting the conversation drop.
She spends the entire trip in the car looking at the road outside the window. She tries with all of herself to push away the sense of anxiety that is invading her who knows why and she prefers letting go. It's just a friendly night and she doesn't want to screw it, not matter which is the reason for it; not to mention for something she doesn't even know yet.
She lets her whole body relax against the seat.
Nothing is going to be wrong tonight, she won't let it happen. There's something weird in the air, something that is changing and that she doesn't want to change though. She wants everything to go back to normality, to when she was anxious to go out with her friends because she knew Quinn and she would fight over who wins more hook-ups.
She wants to be Santana Lopez again because she didn't even understand when she started changing and what she's changing exactly.
She wants to go back to enjoy every single moment of her life like she's done until two days ago.
Santana is going to rock her own world tonight.