Chapter 15

"Where are my shoes? I need my shoes?" Santana says rushing around Mack's living room.

"I don't know." Carter says from the couch. "Are you okay?"

Santana stops and look at the girl sitting on the couch. Carter still hasn't answered her question and Santana thinks she's messing with her.

Now that Santana is really looking at her. Carter is cute. She is totally someone Santana would go for….if she was single. But she's not and her girlfriend is on her way.

"Can you help me find my shirt?" Santana says breaking out of her thoughts. "And answer my question please."

"What question was that again?"

"Did we sleep together? I kind of have a feeling that we didn't. Which is so good… like really great…because I have a girlfriend."

"No. We didn't sleep together." Carter says looking behind the couch for Santana's shirt. "Even though I really wanted to."

"Did we kiss?" Santana holds her breath and waits for the answer.

"No." Carter sighs. "We could have had fun together though." Carter steps closer.

"Um…no thanks." Not having any luck at finding her shirt in the living room, Santana starts to make her way to Mack's room. Santana has her hand raised to knock on Mack's bedroom door when Toni's bedroom door opens down the hall.

Santana cannot believe who just stepped out of it.

"Oh hey San!" A grinning, half naked Brittany waves at her before entering the bathroom.

"What…I'm never drinking again." Santana shakes her head, doesn't bother knocking and just pushes open Mack's bedroom door. "Get up." Santana pushes make on the shoulder. She's relieved that Mack at least has on a t-shirt.

"Dude, stop talking so loud." Santana roll her eyes and starts looking around the room for her shirt.

"Oh thank you!" Santana beams when she finds her shirt on the floor next to the bed. She only wonders for a second what her shirt is doing on Mack's floor. After picking it up she drops it back down on the floor. It smells like beer and has puke on it. All of a sudden she starts to remember bit and pieces from last night. Santana remembers drinking and doing some innocent dancing with Mack and random girls. She also remembers bumping into Brittany. They talked and danced a little but that's it. She also remembers seeing Carter in the club but she doesn't remember talking to her. The last thing she remembers is feeling sick and throwing up.

"Who the hell is this Carter chick and why is Brittany here?"Santana asks when she can't remember what happened after she throw up.

"Oh yeah," Mack groan as she sits up in bed. "I soooo had Carter in her screaming my name. You should be happy you were passed out or her screams would have kept you up." Mack brags.

"She's weird man." Santana says while looking through Mack dresser for a shirt to wear home. "She's still here. Like who does that?" Santana slides a band t-shirt over her head. "She's like sticking around. She must think you guys are going to start dating or something." Mack laughs at the confused look on Santana's face.

"Chill. This is not our first time sleeping together. Carter and I have an understanding. We sleep together every now and then. Sometimes we even get breakfast or lunch together." Santana just shakes her head. "Hey she's a good lay. And you can't say she doesn't look good. I bet if you weren't tied down… you would sleep with Carter."

"True." Santana admits. "Why is Brittany here again?" Before Mack can answer there is a knock at the front door. "Shit." Santana says almost tripping over herself to get out of Mack's bedroom and to the apartment door. Santana steps into the living room and see's she's too late.

"You passed out last night." Mack says walking up behind her. "After you puked in Britney's car. Why did you stop right here?" Mack asks when Santana stops in the doorway between the hall and the living room. "Oh."

Rachel is standing just inside the apartment with a polite smile on her face. Carter is introducing herself. She still only has on a robe which she's not doing such a good job at keeping shut. It gets even worse when Santana looks over to see Brittany leaning against the wall by the kitchen holding a cup of water. She hadn't bothered putting on pants. Brittany's still only has on a t-shit and her panties.

"Hey Rachel!" Mack calls over Santana's shoulder. Rachel just nods at her. "I think I'm going to go back to bed. Get luck my friend." Mack says patting Santana on the back and walking back down the hall to her bedroom.

"Let me grab my purse and we can go." Santana says when she's finally able to open her mouth. Rachel doesn't say anything. Rachel's to busy surveying her surroundings. Mostly the two half naked girls that are standing around.

"Later hot stuff." Carter says as Santana crosses the room to stand next to Rachel. Santana roll her eyes.

"Bye Britt."Santana waves at Brittany. "Carter." She then opens the door for Rachel.

$^&*^(&()^%$

The car ride was quiet. Anyone who knows Rachel knows that girl has to at least say something every five minutes. Like up into this point, Santana thought it was impossible for Rachel not to speak. So after stopping to get some milk and greeting Quinn when they get home, Santana cautiously follows Rachel into the bedroom.

Rachel still doesn't say anything. She just leans against Santana's closed bedroom door.

"Nothing happened." Santana decides to break the scary silence between them.

"Britta…"

"Are you fucking serious Rachel?" Santana says flopping back onto her bed. She groans when the landing make her head start hurting again.

"She was standing there in her underwear Santana." Rachel starts. "I come to pick you up and there are half naked women everywhere I look."

"Well…hell I woke up and they were like that." Santana sits up. "I don't even know why Brittany was there. And Carter slept with Mack last night."

"You know she wants to sleep with you, right?" Rachel asks while checking the time on her watch. She has to be leaving for work soon. "She kept staring at you."

"Yeah…she's weird." Santana shrugs. "Are you coming over when you get off of work?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Rachel walks further into the room and sits down next to Santana on the bed. "You got pretty drunk last night, huh."

"I didn't get drunk enough to cheat on you." Santana sighs out.

"I didn't say you did." Rachel is quick to respond.

"Yeah right, Rachel." Santana says in disbelief. "You saw Carter and let that go because you know Mack was there, but the moment you saw Brittany you thought I slept with her."

"Why are you attacking me?" Rachel stands from the bed.

"Because…"

"Because what Santana?" Rachel huffs. "Because you got drunk last night and can't remember anything and now you might have to explain to your girlfriend why you were in the same place with your half naked ex."

"She's not my ex." Santana mumbles out.

"That's all you have to say? Seriously?" Rachel rolls her eyes and throws her hands up. "I have to go."

Santana just sighs and lay back on her bed. She would try to stop Rachel from leaving so they could talk more, but Rachel has to be at work and Santana's not sure she's ready to talk anyway.

$%^&*U(&^%

"Dad?" Santana gulps when she opens her apartment door to find her father standing on the other side with a wide eyed Mike standing behind him.

"Michael you can go home. I'll change Santana's tire." Carmelo says stepping into Santana's apartment. "Thanks for showing me where she is living now."

"Are you sure sir? I don't mind…."Mike tries.

"It's fine." Carmelo says eyeing the empty living room.

"Thanks Mike. I'll call you later." Santana says hugging Mike quickly before turning back to her father.

"What's going on Santana?"Santana dad says following her into the kitchen where they at least have a little cheap dining table and chairs set up.

"I told you I've been busy."

"You didn't tell me you moved out the dorms."They both take a seat across from each other. "I'm guessing Quinn stays here to?"

"Yeah. She's taking a nap right now." Santana says thinking of ways to get out of talking to her dad right now. "You know…I went out last night and don't feel my best right now. Do you think we could talk later?"

"No." Carmelo doesn't buy into her little act. "Santana, I drove here because I'm afraid something is going on with you. So we are going to talk now and you are going to tell me everything that has been going on with you lately. I want to know about how your classes went last quarter, any new friends you might have gained since we last spoke, and when you decided to move out of your dorm. Everything Santana. Do you understand me?"

Never has she seen her dad like this. Even when she was growing up and living with her parents Carmelo Lopez never questioned her like this before. As long as he knew the basics and she was fine, he didn't read too much into anything. But now….it's kind of like he is trying to make up for lost time.

So they spend the next hour talking about the classes Santana took last school quarter and how she think her finals went. Santana tells him how since her and Quinn both have jobs; they decided to get out of the dorms and try to live on their own. She also mentioned Mack. Santana watched closely for his reaction when she also mentioned that Mack is lesbian who has the tendency to flirt with Quinn. He didn't show any sign of disproval of her new friend.

"Santana…I worry about you. You know that, right?" Carmelo waits for her to show that she heard what he said. She nods. "I know I've missed out on a lot concerning you're up bring but I have never not loved you. I've always silently watched who you hung around or what kind of activities you were a part of. I'm trying my best to be more vocal about my interest in what's happening in your life because it's important to me. You are important to me. Please…try to help me."

Santana looks at her dad. Really look at him. Carmelo looks like a man who is trying to be better. Be a better person. Be a better father. And she feels like maybe she should try to be a better daughter. And maybe she should start by telling him about one of the most important things going on in her life right now. Her relationship with Rachel.

"I um…I actually been seeing someone." The words just come out before she can stop them. "I want you to meet them tonight."

(*&%^^&*

Santana waits five minutes after Rachel is scheduled to get off of work before dialing her number.

"I got your text," Rachel starts as she answers the phone. "I just don't think I want to be around you tonight."

Santana wasn't expecting that. Yes she had texted Rachel since she left asking her to come over after she got off of work. And yeah she had prepared herself to argue if Rachel said no. But she didn't expect Rachel to be so blunt about not wanting to see her.

"My dad's in town." Santana whispers into the phone. Like that's going to change Rachel's mind."Look…I know you're mad. I also know we really need to talk, but can we just put our drama to the side for tonight and you come have dinner with me and my dad. I told him I was seeing someone and…"

"You told him about us?" Rachel gasps.

"Sort of."

"Santana." Rachel sighs.

"He knows I'm seeing someone. He just doesn't know it's a girl…or that it's you."

"San…I don't know. Will he be here tomorrow night?"

"I don't know what his plans are. Why does it matter?" Santana says annoyed.

"I just don't think it a good idea to introduce him to our relationship when we can barely be in the same room without arguing."

"What the…gosh Rachel. I don't even know why we are arguing." Santana barks. "What happened to trust, huh? I told you nothing happened. You know I don't do this girlfriend shit. But I've been trying for you. Oh but the minute you see me around another girl you think something's going on. I just have to be cheating on you, right? This is total bullshit. This is why I don't do relationships. Too much fucking work." Santana rambles into the phone.

"Well excuse me for being human. How would you feel if you see your girlfriend in a room with the girl she's slept with before in nothing but her panties?" Rachel argues back. "Trust? I never said I didn't believe you when you said nothing happened. I was just trying to understand what did happened. I think I have the right to asks questions when I walk into a situation like that. And you being all defensive only makes me think something did happen."

"Whatever."

"You really need to get a hold of your emotions. I really hate when you get defensive and aggressive every time someone says something you don't like. Its ridicules."

"Whatever." Santana roll her eyes at her own childish behavior.

"Look…tell your dad I said hi but I'm not going to be able to make it to dinner. My feelings are hurt right now and I think you need to take some time to figure out if you really want to be in this relationship."

"Oh so you want to break up now? Like where did that even come from?"

"I don't want to break up. You are the one who is action like this relationship is too much of a task for you."

"You know I was mad and didn't really mean that."

"Do I?"

"I'll call you later." Santana hangs up before Rachel can respond.

When Santana gets off the phone she walks back into the kitchen where she left her dad. When she walks in her dads is laughing about something with the now awake Quinn.

"So we are going to have to reschedule dinner. Tonight's not going to work for my…friend." Santana says sitting down next to Quinn.

"Well that's a shame. I was looking forward to meeting this person you refuse to tell me about." Carmelo says disappointed.

"I know it sucks." Santana looks over at Quinn. "How about the three of us go get something to eat?"

"That's a great idea Santana. I would love to catch up with Quinn here."

"Free food. I'm in." Quinn adds.

TBC