After making light conversation on their way to Quinn's house, they finally arrived at the party. The minute they walked in Brittany pecked him on the cheek and with a quick "see you later" left to go mingle. Or so he hoped. She hadn't mentioned meeting a guy here so there was no reason to think otherwise.

Santiago made his way to the kitchen where he knew there would be lots of free alcohol. Quinn's parents usually left her with a wad of cash when they took an impromptu vacation and she usually spent it on alcohol and snacks.

Just as he opened a bottle of beer for himself, Mike and Tina, came up to him, light beers in hand, looking like the world's happiest freakin' couple. He wondered if maybe he should have brought some beers instead of being a freeloader. Whatever, free beer is free beer.

"Santiago, how are you?" Tina greeted him with a hug.

"Good, good. How are you? I hope Mike is still treating you well and if he's not, I'd be happy to show you how a real man looks after a lady," he responded jokingly. Him and Tina always liked to wind Mike up by pretend flirting and it never failed.

"Hey man, back off. You know I treat Tina with the respect she deserves, isn't that right baby?" Mike was so predictable.

"Of course Mikey," Tina winked over Mike's shoulder to Santiago and playfully rolled her eyes.

Santiago had to smile though, they were definitely made for each other and Mike was a great guy who deserved a great girl.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Asian Persuasion and the wannabe Latin Lothario, how are y'all doin' on this wonderful evenin' full of booze, ladies and food?" Puck was clearly already buzzed and was quickly followed into the kitchen by a less than pleased looking Quinn. Although Santiago struggled to remember a time that Quinn looked anything other than that so it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hi guys. Tina it's so nice of you to join us. Did you bring any of your friends from that little club of yours?" Quinn asked condescendingly.

"Thanks Quinn. No, they're actually having a party at Rachel's but I wanted to spend some time with Mike so I came here instead." Tina replied completely oblivious to Quinn's tone.

Santiago couldn't control the loud laugh that tumbled from his mouth. It was met with an icy glare form Quinn.

"So, they ditched this party for Rachel's? I wonder if we should pop over later?" He was half serious. He would go to a Glee party if it meant Brittany spent time with him and he was all too happy to see the look of indignation cross Quinn's face.

"You mean Rachel Berry is having a party on the same night as mine?" Quinn looked furious.

"Yeah, she has one on the last Friday of every month. I'm pretty sure you've been invited to them Quinn, they're pretty good fun," Tina seemed to want the floor to open up and swallow her up.

Santiago stepped in to save Tina the wrath of a scorned Fabray; "Yeah Q, seems like you've been missing out on all the fun. Anyway, I was just gonna suggest we all go into the living room, seems like the party is going down in there." He said before side stepping Quinn and gesturing for Mike and Tina to follow.

"I can think of another reason why you wanna go in there Lopez and it's not the party you wanna be going down on," Puck shouted after them.

"Who?" he heard Quinn ask him but walked faster so that he didn't have to hear Puck embarrass him even further.

The dance floor was packed with sweaty, drunk teenagers. This was totally not Santiago's scene. He couldn't dance so usually he sat around the kitchen talking to people until he found some girl to make out with but he was determined to spend a little time with Brittany and she usually gravitated to the dance floor like a moth to light.

"I'd never tell Rachel this, but I totally prefer her parties," Tina half shouted over the music.

"Well, let's make the most of it baby." Mike said before grabbing her hand and leading her to the middle of the make shift dance floor. That dude could dance.

He was standing awkwardly over by the coffee table and taking the occasional sip of his beer, his eyes eagerly scanning the room for Brittany. When he saw her bright blonde hair in the middle of the crowd he was mesmerized. Her body moved like she was in a trance. She was sweating. Her hair was disheveled. And she looked stunning. That was the only word he could think of.

He was about to go over to her and see if she wanted a drink when he saw that a guy had wrapped his arms around her waist. It was Sam Evans from the swim team. Brittany started dancing in tune with Sam's movements. Fuck Sam. Damn it. Santiago knew he shouldn't have let himself become nothing more than Brittany's friend because now Sam was taking the place that he felt should have been his.

He quickly pushed his way out of the living room and back into the kitchen where he bumped into Sugar.

"Oh Santiago, you're looking totally hot tonight. I would totally tap that if it wasn't for the bro code. You know how it is. Sorry Aspergers."

Santiago hadn't a clue what she was talking about but he found himself realizing that he never did when it came to Sugar.

"Thanks, you look great too." Was all he thought to respond before reaching for the fridge. He wanted a cold beer. A lot of it.

"Do you want a drink?" he called to Sugar from where his head was buried in the fridge looking for the coldest drinks at the back.

"No I've got drink here. Thanks though. I can totally get why you're so attractive." Sugar responded airily, like she was barely aware of the conversation.

"Oh right. Thanks?" he was totally confused. Was she coming onto him or what?

"You're welcome. You know, I'm totally not feeling this party tonight. It's just so….bleugh, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do". And he did. He couldn't get the image of Sam's hands wrapped around Brittany's waist out of his head.

"Do you wanna head somewhere else? Maybe go get food or something?" he actually really liked Sugar, even if she was a bit strange. She was upfront and honest with people. He had no interest in hooking up with her though and he hoped she understood that.

"Are you asking me out Santiago Lopez?" she batted her hand on his chest lightly.

"Actually, I'm not…" he started to say before Sugar cut him off; " I know, I just like messing with you. You're totally crazy about Brittany and I'm totally crazy about Artie but we can be friends," she said casually as if him being crazy about Brittany was common knowledge. Oh no was he that obvious? Did Brittany think he was some freak stalker or something?

"Don't worry San, she doesn't know it. Even though you're both totally obvious about it and sometimes I think I might melt from the scorching hot sexual tension between you when you just look each other."

"Well. I really have no idea what to say to that," he mumbled, mortified.

"Don't say anything because here she comes…. hi Brittany, I've just been talking to Santiago here, he's feeling hungry so I was thinking we should go get something to eat?" she carried on the conversation like she hadn't just embarrassed the life out of Santiago right before Brittany came into the room.

He turned to see Brittany leaning against the counter where the punch bowls were.

"I'm totally starving, so I'm in. Sam?" Brittany asked the blonde haired asshole beside her. Ugh, he's not even an asshole but Santiago can feel himself getting irrational jealous of their close proximity.

"Yeah sure," he smiled with his ginormous fish lips. How big were those things anyway? Santiago wanted to ask him whether he had considered a career as a lifeboat with those inflatable monstrosities on his face but he bit his tongue.

Brittany walked over to him and grabbed the beer from his hand, and took a big gulp of it and handed it back.

"Sorry San, I was parched," she smiled at him, apologetically.

Oh crap. Brittany just drank from his beer.

"No problem B," he grinned back at her and took a sip. He wanted to moan at the thoughts of her lips being there a few seconds beforehand but he realized what a total fucking creep he would look like.

"Let's go, I'm starting to feel like Bono and Bob Geldof should dedicated a song to me I'm that hungry," Sugar said before pulling Sam by the front of his shirt and leading them to the front door.

"Someday I'll get you to dance with me at a party Santiago," Brittany whispered in his ear and linked her hand through his arm.

"You know I can't dance Britt. I don't want to ruin my reputation as the badass of McKinley by showing off my two left feet," Santiago winked at her.

"You are so not a badass Santiago Lopez and I refuse to believe that anyone thinks you are," Brittany laughed loudly.

"Hey, way to bruise my ego. Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean you can get away with hurting my manly feelings," he word vomited all over her.

She blushed deep red on the pale skin of her perfect face.

"San. I think the Lopez charm is showing up again," she squeezed his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm just speaking the truth, the charm is just a bonus," he turned his head to smell her hair when he spoke. He was being creepy but he couldn't resist.

"Hey, you two, hurry up. We're going to Breadstix. And Santiago, you are not getting us thrown out again. It's not normal to be that obsessed with food," Sugar called from up ahead of them.

"What? It's not my fault they refused to stick to their policy of unlimited breadsticks. It took me ages to get a loan of a big enough wheelbarrow." He really did love his breadsticks. And it wasn't like he did anything wrong, maybe next time they'd think twice before refusing to serve him.

"That's a story I've got to hear about," Brittany chuckled out beside him.

"No way. Some things are better left unsaid," he was quick to reply.

"Don't worry Britt, I'll totally tell you tomorrow," Sugar, who was now getting a piggyback from Sam, called back.

"I can't wait," Brittany responded with a big smile on her face, showing off her white teeth and lighting up her whole face.

"Nooooo," Santiago groaned. Sugar would be the death of him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Badass, I'm sure I can handle it," Brittany shifted so that she could grab his hand and move it so that she could snuggle into his side, his arm over her shoulder.

"It's not you I'm worried about," he almost squeaked out at the change of position. Her left hand was now slung across his waist and it almost made him lightheaded.

"I'm cold," Brittany murmured into his chest.

"Here, take my jacket," he went to take it off but Brittany stopped him.

"No, it's fine. I'll warm up like this. And we're almost at Breadstix anyway. Thanks though. That's really sweet," she spoke against his neck.

His heart was in his mouth for the rest of the walk to the restaurant. He couldn't believe Brittany was cuddling up to him. He saw Sam look back dejectedly a few times and he couldn't help the smug smile that worked its way onto his face.

Yeah, take that Guppy face.