Side Effects
Chapter 15
A/N: Special thank you to Sam for being my Beta once again!
Warning! This chapter is kind of sad...
Also I realize I changed Brittany's mom's name in last chapter. I was going to change it back to Ashley in this one, but her name is Susan in my other stories, so it's just easier to keep it the same. So her new name is Susan lol
Brittany walks into the cafeteria and spots Santana sitting at her usual table with Puck and Mike. She was laughing at something Puck had said, and had her head tilted back with her beautiful smile that took up her entire face almost. The Latina glances over in Brittany's direction and catches the blonde's eyes, keeping the smile on her face. Brittany waves to her, returning the smile, before walking into the lunch line.
Someone comes up behind Brittany in the line, and the blonde glances behind her and sees Quinn. Brittany turns back around, and closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She didn't feel like dealing with the Cheerio; she tried to avoid her at all times. "So I heard you and Santana are dating." The blonde says casually, as they take a few steps up.
Brittany just nods her head silently, keeping her eyes forward. She knew Quinn and Santana had a history and the girl was more than likely jealous once she had found out about the two of them. Brittany knew this was coming; she had been waiting on Quinn to actually approach her about it.
"That's a shame." Quinn says with an airy sigh, making Brittany just roll her eyes. "She's great in bed. It sucks I can't have her anymore." She adds, and once again Brittany just mutely nods her head. She knew Quinn was going to try and screw their relationship up, but Brittany wasn't going to have it. The blonde lets out another airy sigh from behind Brittany and the taller blonde can tell she is just trying to get Brittany's attention; but she wasn't biting. "How long have you guys been dating now?" The blonde Cheerio asks, making Brittany close here eyes and breath in deeply in annoyance, before turning around to Quinn with a fake smile.
"Just a couple of days officially." Brittany replies, as she grabs a tray from one of the lunch women. She smiles at the older woman and continues walking down the line, wishing the people in front of her would just hurry up and pay already so she could get away from Quinn.
The Cheerio let's out a humming noise, "Interesting." She replies, making Brittany turn to look at her, to see her eyebrows furrowed as if she was thinking. Brittany studies her for a few more minute debating on whether or not she should ask what. She knew Quinn was probably just baiting her in for some trouble, but she couldn't help but be a bit curious as to why Quinn had reacted that way.
"What?" Brittany finally asks, almost hesitantly. She turns to the cashier and hands the woman her money as Quinn continues talking.
"Nothing." The Cheerio replies shaking her head. Brittany glances back at her as the lunch lady digs out change. Deciding she should probably brush Quinn off and not speak to her about Santana, she turns her head back to the woman and takes her change. "It's just that, I was with Santana on Sunday and believe me I was the only blonde's name she was saying." Quinn adds, making Brittany pause in her motions. She looks back at Quinn who smiles sweetly at the lunch lady, before walking out of the line, leaving Brittany.
The blonde stands there speechless for a few moments as she let's Quinn's words sink in. Last Sunday? She couldn't have slept with Santana this past Sunday. That was only days after their first date; their amazing first date. And days before she asked her to be her girlfriend officially. She wouldn't have done that would she?
Brittany feels someone brush past her, nudging her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts. She realizes she was still standing close to the lunch line, and she was in the way of the exit. She looks up and sees Santana still sitting at the table with an empty seat next to her. Brittany quickly makes her way over, brushing off everything Quinn had said. She knew the other blonde was lying. Quinn was jealous and Brittany knew she would be. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she came after Brittany, trying to break them up; it wasn't going to work.
"Hey beautiful." Santana greets with a smile, as Brittany sits down next to her. Brittany looks over at her, and musters up the best smile she could, trying not to let it be obvious she was troubled over anything. "Did I see you talking to Quinn?" Santana asks, turning her body towards the blonde. She had lowered her voice, so the guys wouldn't hear their private conversation.
"Yeah." Brittany breathes out with a nod. She studies Santana's face closely, looking for any hint of a facial feature that may give her away. Maybe fear or guilt, but she got nothing.
Santana picks up her water bottle and screws the lid off, "What did she say?" She asks with a shrug, trying to be nonchalant. She could feel her heart beating against her chest, she just hoped Brittany couldn't hear it.
Brittany rolls her eyes, and waves her hand, brushing the question off as if it were no big deal, "She was talking to me about you." She says, making Santana's head snap up. Her dark eyes dart back and forth between Brittany's, looking for any sign that the girl was angry. She got nothing which made her let out a sigh of relief. Surprisingly Quinn must not have said anything to upset Brittany, "I knew when she found out we were together she would come up to me out of jealousy." The blonde continues, making Santana nod. "I mean she was trying to convince me you guys slept together this past weekend." The blonde says with a small chuckle.
Santana swallows hard and her eyes widen, but she quickly shakes off the look trying to replace it with an amused look and forces out a laugh. The laugh comes out more hesitant, and nervous than she had wanted, and Brittany looks over at her the smile slowly fading from her face.
"You didn't, right?" Brittany asks, studying Santana intensely. The brunette pulls her lip in between her teeth, and debates on what she should say. She knew telling Brittany the truth would piss her off and she'd probably break up with her, but if Santana was trying this whole honesty thing then she had to be 100%.
The blonde gets her answer from Santana's silence and she abruptly stands up from her chair, causing everyone else at the table to halt their conversations and look up at her. She glances down at Santana who's eyes were pleading at her, before turning on her heel and storming out of the room.
Santana stands up abruptly after the blonde and chases her out of the cafeteria. She brushes past Quinn on her way out, and the blonde Cheerio gives her a smug look. Santana stopped briefly, considering walking over to her and punching her in the face. She decides that would only make things worse and besides she didn't need to waste her time on Quinn; she needed to find Brittany. She throws the other Cheerio a glare and just about snarls at her before storming out into the hallway.
She looks both directions and sees a flash of blonde hair turn a corner at the other end of the hallway and Santana quickly takes off in the direction, "Brittany!" She yells, trying her best to catch up to the furious blonde. She rounds the corner and can see Brittany furiously marching forward, "Britt! Please wait!" Santana shouts, pleadingly.
"WHAT?" Brittany shouts, turning around abruptly, startling Santana.
The girls eyes widen and she comes to a halt. She studies Brittany for a few moments, and can see the girl almost shaking in rage. Santana swallows hard and takes a few courageous steps towards Brittany. "Brittany, I'm sorry that Quinn told you. I should have told you." Santana starts, as the blonde looks at her unimpressed. Was this her form of an apology? "I'll kill her." Santana mutters, looking down briefly, as different methods of torture for Quinn pop into her head.
"I'll kill you first." Brittany retorts, making Santana's head snap back up, meeting the blonde's blue eyes.
Santana actually looks fearful for a moment, but quickly shakes that off. She takes in a deep breath, and slumps her shoulders, "I'm sorry Brittany." She repeats, not knowing what else to say but sorry at this moment. "I shouldn't have slept with her, I know. But we had an amazing date and then you hadn't called me all weekend." Santana begins to explain, taking another couple of brave steps towards Brittany. "I thought you changed your mind, and I got…I was angry, and I called Quinn." She finishes, looking up to meet Brittany's harsh eyes, making Santana wince. She had never seen Brittany this angry before.
Brittany looks back and forth between Santana's dark eyes. She stayed silent for a few good moments, making Santana squirm in the uncomfortable silence. She was nervous and she needed Brittany to say something…anything. "So what? Every time you get insecure you're going to go and fuck someone else?" Brittany asks angrily. She wasn't one to curse and Santana knew that; which made her even more afraid of the blonde in front of her. She was definitely angrier than she had ever seen her.
"Of course not Britt." Santana tries, only to have the blonde roll her eyes, and fold her arms over her chest. "We weren't together yet and that's no excuse, that's not what I am saying." Santana says, holding her hands out defensively. "But I wasn't sure if you wanted to be with me yet and then you ignored me and I just freaked out. I've never felt this way for anyone Brittany and it scares the hell out of me." She explains desperately, but Brittany was unrelenting. "We're together now and I'm not worried about you leaving me…well not as worried. I am still afraid you will, because I've never been this happy and I feel like at any moment I am going to wake up from this dream and you're going to be gone." She says in a small voice.
Brittany's face stays hard, and she clenches her jaw as she peers down at the Latina. She lets the girls words soak in and Brittany can't help, but let her face soften at the girls admission. She knew Santana didn't do feelings or vulnerability, but here she was standing in the hallway, putting it all out there on the line. "Santana, I told you from the beginning I needed to earn your trust." She says with a sigh, "And you just lost it." She adds sadly. She wanted to be with Santana; she wanted to trust her, but she just couldn't right now.
"Brittany…" Santana chokes out as tears begin forming in her eyes, "Please don't do this. I shouldn't have done it and I regretted it as soon as I did. It won't happen again." She says, but Brittany simply shakes her head, "Britt, I don't want Quinn or anyone else. I want you."
Brittany lets her arms fall to her sides and she looks up at Santana, who had some stray tears running down her tanned cheeks. It made Brittany's heart break seeing the girl like this, but Brittany had to protect herself. "I want you too Santana, but I don't want to get hurt. I'm sorry." She says, before turning to walk away.
Santana feels a sob wrack her body and she starts to walk after Brittany, but the blonde picks up her speed, letting Santana know she didn't want to be followed. "Brittany…." Santana tries once again, but it came out a mere whisper as the blonde turned the corner. Santana's heartbreak soon turns into rage, and she turns to the nearest locker and punches it as hard as she could, before leaning against it, sliding down the wall.
Santana brings her knees up to her chest and buries her head in her arms, leaning over her knees as she lets the sobs take over her body. She knew anyone could walk into the hallway at any moment and see her, but she didn't care. And just like she thought a couple seconds later she hears multiple footsteps and the bell ring. She knew she needed to get up; she looked a hot miserable mess curled up in the hallway, crying her eyes out. People didn't need to see her like this.
"Santana?" She hears a small voice ask. She looks up and meets the warm eyes of Rachel staring at her in concern. "What happened?" She asks, taking a tentative step towards the Latina.
Santana pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, and considers answering her, but decides not to. She just needed to get out of here and get cleaned up before too many people saw her. "I'm fine." Santana says, as she stands up. She brushes herself off, and begins to walk past the brunette, but feels a small hand on her wrist.
"Santana, you can still talk to me." Rachel says in a gentle tone.
The Latina meets Rachel's eyes once again, looking back and forth between them. She couldn't understand why Rachel would care what was wrong with her, let alone try and help her. "Really, I'm okay." Santana says with a nod. She pries the Diva's tiny hands off of her arm and continues down the hallway to the bathroom.
BXS
Brittany storms into her house after school that day, slamming the door behind her. She sees her parents both sitting in the living room from the corner of her eyes, but doesn't even acknowledge them and storms up the stairs into her bedroom. She knew her mother would come up to her room in a matter of minutes, asking her what was wrong, but she really didn't feel like talking to anyone right now.
And just like she had thought within seconds there is a knock on her door. "Go away." Brittany mumbles into her pillow. She knew her mother wouldn't give up and she'd just walk right in, considering the door didn't have a lock, there was nothing Brittany could really do about it.
The older woman walks into the room and gently shuts the door behind her. She stands in her spot for a moment, watching her daughter. She could hear the sniffles, and see Brittany's shoulders shake slightly with sobs. She lets out a deep sigh and walks over to the bed, sitting down next to Brittany's side. She runs her hand gently up and down Brittany's back, as the girls sobs seem to get heavier. "Baby what happened?" She asks, concerned.
"I'm fine." Brittany chokes out after a minute, her voice still muffled by the pillow.
Susan wasn't dumb; she knew when Brittany said she was fine; she wasn't. Also the sobs gave her away slightly. "Honey, talk to me." Her mom says, in a soothing tone, as she continued rubbing circles on her daughters back, trying her best to comfort the distressed girl. "Is it Santana?" Susan asks carefully.
She feels Brittany's body go still under her hand and the room is silent for a few moments, "Yes." Brittany finally chokes out. She rolls over onto her back, and looks up at her mother through red puffy eyes.
Susan's heart breaks at the look of her daughter, and her face drops. "What happened?" The woman asks carefully. Santana was the first person that Brittany had gotten into a relationship with, as far as she knew and Susan knew your first heartbreak was always the worst.
Brittany lets out a hiccup then wipes her eyes and nose with the back of her hand. She pulls herself up and lays back against her headboard as her mother's hand moves down to her thigh giving her a gentle squeeze, "She hooked up with one of her exes this weekend." The blonde manages to get out in between hiccups. She hated being this upset over Santana. She had never needed a relationship before and now without the girl she felt as if her world was ending.
"She cheated on you?" Susan asks, her eyes widening slightly. She tried not to let her own anger seep through her features. She wanted to kill the girl for hurting her daughter, but she knew getting upset would only make things worse; Brittany needed comforting.
Brittany shakes her head, and lets out a sigh, confusing Susan. "We weren't technically together then." She explains, looking down at her lap. "I caught her cheating on previous girlfriends and I told her that I wouldn't date her until I could trust her." Brittany begins explaining, looking up to meet her mother's sincere eyes. "I finally gave her a chance and we went on the date and then I got grounded." She says, giving her mother a pointed look. "She tried calling and she thought I was ignoring her. She got all insecure and thought I backed out and so she ran back to her ex." She finishes with a sniffle.
Susan lets out a deep exhale of breath, and nods her head as she takes the blonde's words in. "I see." She says simply, as Brittany continues staring at her. She wanted her mother to say something, anything that could possibly make this situation better. "Love can be scary." She finally says with an understanding nod.
"What are you on her side?" Brittany asks, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"No honey." Susan assures her daughter. "But I do understand her fear." She adds, as the younger blonde continues looking at her confused. "I was like her when I was younger, believe it or not." Susan says with a small smile. "I didn't have a relationship that lasted over a couple of weeks. I was terrified of actually falling for someone, and needing someone." She informs her daughter.
"I don't understand what you're trying to say." Brittany says after a brief silence. She folds her arms over her chest and looks up at her mother; her eyebrows still scrunched together.
Susan lets out a small chuckle and stands up, before sitting back down on the bed, back on the headboard next to her daughter. "What she did wasn't right." Her mother says, first off, "But it is understandable. She didn't do it to hurt you Brittany. She was scared of her own feelings and what could happen and she freaked out. Believe me, I had my fair share of freak outs." Susan says, raising her eyebrows as she reminisced on her past. "I actually cheated on your father when we were first together." She admits, making Brittany look up at her confused.
"Really?" She asks, slightly shocked. Her mother never seemed like the kind of woman who would do such a thing. She was the sweetest woman Brittany knew and she loved her father more than anything; Brittany could tell. "And he took you back?" She asks, not necessarily as a question, because she knew the answer obviously, but because she couldn't believe he would take her back after that.
Susan nods her head confirming the questions, "He was angry, for a very long time." She replies, with a thoughtful look on her face. She was replaying those times years ago in her mind. "I didn't realize how much I cared for him and how much I did need him, until I lost him." She confesses, looking down at her daughter.
"So what did you do?" Brittany asks out of curiosity. Her mother never shared much about her past with Brittany and the younger blonde was finding out that maybe she should ask her more about it; it was turning out to be pretty interesting.
"I begged for his forgiveness." The older woman says with a laugh. "I told him everything; basically poured my soul out to him and told him about all of my fears." She tells Brittany. "He eventually forgave me. It wasn't easy at first; it took him awhile to trust me. But we got there eventually." She finishes, wrapping an arm around her daughter. "And now here we are." She adds, before leaning down placing a kiss on top of the younger blonde's head.
Brittany soaks in all the new information on her mother and father's relationship, as she chews on her bottom lip. "So you're saying I should forgive her?" Brittany asks, unsure.
Susan simply shakes her head back and forth at the question, "I'm saying you do what you feel you need to do." She replies vaguely, making Brittany frown. "But if you don't forgive her; make her beg for it." She adds with a chuckle. "Don't let her think she can treat you like that and do what she wants and you will always take her back." She says, more serious.
Brittany simply nods as she exhales deeply, still processing all of the information, "Thanks mom." She says, sincerely, leaning her head down on her mother's shoulder.
"No problem baby." Susan replies with a kiss on Brittany's head. "I'm going to go fix us some dinner." She says, after a couple of minutes of silence. The blonde nods, and watches as her mother gets up and walks out of her room.
Brittany slides back down onto her bed, letting her head hit the pillow with a sigh. She stares up at the ceiling as her mother's words still floated around in her mind. Before her conversation with her mother, she would have never thought even for a second about forgiving someone if they ever cheated on her. It was just wrong and it showed they didn't love you. If someone really loved you they would never do anything that could possibly hurt you.
Although what Santana did wasn't technically cheating. Brittany still couldn't help, but worry that every time they were to get into some kind of fight that Santana would get scared and cheat on her. Brittany couldn't deal with that and she wasn't sure if she could take that chance.
She gets pulled out of her thoughts when she hears her bedroom door open once again. She looks up and sees her mother return to the room, making Brittany sit back up on her bed.
The woman walks over to her, and holds out her hand; Brittany's cell phone in her hand. "You're still grounded and can't go anywhere, but I thought you could use some cheering up." She says with a shrug.
Brittany musters up the best smile she could manage and takes the device from her mother, "Thanks." She says softly. The woman nods her head and walks back out, shutting the door behind her.
Brittany lies back down on her bed, and pulls the device up over her head. This small plastic thing she held in her hand is what had caused her all of her problems. She rolls her eyes at herself being such a drama queen and slides her finger across the screen unlocking it. Her eyes widen when she sees the amount of texts and missed calls she had received.
24 texts from Santana
2 texts from Mike
3 texts from Rachel
13 missed calls from Santana
1 missed call from Mike
Brittany scrolls through the times of the calls and messages. She realizes all the texts from Rachel were of course old. The brunette had still made no attempt to talk to her, since she told her about Santana and Brittany didn't blame her. The texts from Mike were also from this weekend, along with the many from Santana.
Without reading any, Brittany turns her cell phone screen off and sits it down on her nightstand. She moves over to her mirror and wipes the running makeup out from under her eyes. She takes in her red nose and puffy eyes and lets a sigh escape her pouting lips, then turns on her heel and walks out of her bedroom to see if her mother needed help with dinner.
She hadn't had the heart to erase the messages from Santana, because apart of her wanted to read them. She knew she shouldn't, which is why she hadn't yet, but she still hadn't had the strength to erase them.
Thank you guys as always for the wonderful reviews! Let me know what you think! Also my tumblr link is http:/ o0h3ath3rmich3ll30o .tumblr . com/