Chapter 18

The bell rang and Santana looked up sharply, tearing her gaze away from the blonde who had so firmly held her interest throughout the lesson and clearing her throat as she addressed the rest of her students.

"Ok good lesson guys, you can go, just leave your test papers on my desk and I'll try and have them marked for next lesson"

The volume picked up as the class began to leave, chairs scraping against the floor, Puck shouting laughingly across the room to Sam, and Santana raised her voice to be heard above the noise.

"Mike, can I see you before you leave please?'

She paused, forcing a casual tone so her next words seemed like an afterthought.

"..and, Brittany..I need to see you quickly too"

The two students looked at each other, Brittany feigning matching surprise as the dark haired boy raised his eyebrows at her questioningly, before making his way over to the teacher's desk as the rest of the class filed out.

Brittany stood a little behind, zipping up her bag as he stopped in front of Santana with a slightly apprehensive smile.

"Ms. Lopez?"

"Mike, right-"

The dark haired woman rifled through a stack of documents in front of her, located one halfway down the pile and held it out towards him with a reassuring smile.

"-Your test scores from last week."

He reached forward to take them, still looking a little worried.

"...Are they bad?"

"No, you did well"

Santana paused, suddenly realising that her hastily planned cover for talking to Brittany after class wasn't going to go quite as smoothly as she had hoped. She had been so busy thinking about what she wanted to say to the cheerleader that she had barely thought about her excuse for keeping Mike behind, past handing him back his paper. And sure his test results had been good, but since when had she ever singled a student out after class just to tell them that?

Mike seemed to be wondering the same thing as he looked blankly down at the paper and she floundered for a second, avoiding the amused blue eyes staring at her over his shoulder, and trying to quickly think up another reason she might have needed to talk to him.

"...And, well, because you're doing so well...I thought, maybe..you could give Azimio a hand with some of his revision?"

The boy's head snapped up, eyes filled with horror and she instantly felt bad for not coming up with something better. It wasn't even like she was looking for someone to give Azimio extra help, he was a nightmare student and a bully, she didn't care if he passed the class or not. But she had said it now and it was still the best cover she had, so she smiled encouragingly at the boy in front of her, pretending not to notice his expression.

"You think you could do that, Mike?"

He grimaced, looking back down at his test paper for a long beat before answering reluctantly, his tone conveying everything his politeness prevented him from vocalising.

"I suppose...I could try...if you really think it's a good idea"

Santana nodded, still feeling bad she had even suggested it and making a mental note to tell Mike next lesson that she had made alternative arrangements for Azimio to study with a different student. It would be another lie, but that seemed to be something she was getting fairly proficient at these days and so she tried not to dwell on it.

"Ok, great, Mike. That's really helpful, thank you"

He shrugged and slung his bag dejectedly over one shoulder.

"Yeah"

Santana looked at the clock above his head, noting that the next period started in 2 minutes and she hadn't had a chance to speak to Brittany yet.

"Well, you should probably get going to your next class..but thank you again, I really do appreciate this"

The boy nodded in grim acceptance and turned to leave, too distracted by the unwelcome idea of tutoring Azimio that loomed in his near future to remember Brittany and offer to wait for her. Santana watched him go, urging him to walk faster with her eyes, desperate to be alone with the blonde for the last few minutes before she would have to rush off again for class.

Finally, the door shut with a welcoming click and she turned to Brittany with a smile, hesitating for a second before getting out of her chair and walking around her desk without speaking. The blonde watched her shyly, not really sure what to say now they were finally alone and still half terrified the woman would suddenly decide to call it all off again.

She waited until Santana stood a few feet away from her, reaching out her hands to clasp the blonde's in her own, before matching the woman's smile with a small giggle.

"Hey"

The brunette squeezed her hands gently, reassuring them both that things hadn't changed since yesterday and looked up into the girl's face with a soft, happy sigh.

"Hey yourself"

Intertwined they pulled each other closer, their faces stopping inches apart but neither moving forward to close the small space for a kiss just yet, happy for a few silent seconds to just look at each other with delirious happiness.

"How are you?"

The cheerleader smiled and leant forward till their foreheads were touching, breaking their hands so she could wrap her arms loosely around the smaller woman's waist to pull her closer.

"Pretty good, how about you?"

Santana laughed and allowed herself to be tugged closer, positioning her own arms over Brittany's and around the girl's shoulders, marvelling at how well they seemed to fit together.

"Can't complain"

The blonde paused, seeming to consider something as her smile faltered for a second and when she next spoke her words were cautious.

"I was scared you wouldn't talk to me this morning"

"What?"

Santana looked up into the blonde's face and seeing the tiny furrow in her brow, instantly wanted to lean forward and kiss it smooth again but forced herself to concentrate on what Brittany was saying.

"I thought you might try and pretend it didn't happen. Or that it didn't mean anything again"

Santana frowned.

It was going to be hard to explain to Brittany why that wasn't going to happen this time. She could barely even explain the change of heart to herself, it was more of a feeling rather than any logical reason and she sighed sadly before answering.

"I promise you that won't happen again, Brittany"

She looked down, ashamed of how badly she had hurt the girl before.

"You don't know bad I felt the first time...I wouldn't do that again...I need you to know that I didn't want to...I just..."

Brittany smiled, obviously having heard what she needed to and leant forward to land a fleeting kiss against the woman's mouth, silencing her mid sentence.

"It's ok. I just needed to check"

Santana nodded, glad the girl wanted to move on.

"Ok"

She reached up to brush an unruly strand of hair behind Brittany's ear before she spoke again, knowing what she wanted to say but deliberating with how to phrase it, unsure of how it would sound.

"Brittany?"

The girl leaned into her hand, still marvelling at how good it felt to be so close to the woman that had been occupying her every thought for so long. Every moment seemed special.

"Uh huh?"

"I wanted to ask you something"

"..Ok"

Feeling her heart pound against her chest, Santana looked up at the clock, realising she had to forget her apprehension and hurry this along before she made Brittany late for her next class.

"Well..I was thinking..."

She swallowed, almost laughing at how young she suddenly felt.

She hadn't been this nervous since her first year of college when she had finally worked up the courage to ask Gabrielle Montez, the prettiest girl in her Politics lecture, to be her date for the Winter Formal. Of course the girl had said yes, why wouldn't she? But it had been frightening all the same. And suddenly the memory seemed a lot stronger, her body transporting her back to her 18 year old self, as her heart hammered faster, urging her on.

"I just thought, maybe if you weren't busy...maybe we could do something this weekend?...Out of school, you know?...You might be busy, you don't have to, but we could..I don't know...just if you're free"

She could feel her cheeks turning pink and she mentally scolded herself for getting so tongue tied.

Brittany must want to go on a date with her, hadn't she already made that pretty clear? But for some reason she could hardly get the words out.

Maybe it just felt strange because she was still getting to used to this girl as more than just her student. She was an adult. Asking out a girl still high school. That was bound to be nerve wracking. But it also felt like the next step.

They liked it each other a lot, that much was clear. But they didn't know all that much about each other, and Santana wanted more than anything else to get to know the girl properly. And they could hardly do that in the 5 minute turnaround between lessons.

"So, yeah...what do you think?"

She tailed off, raising her eyes to see Brittany gazing at her with an unreadable expression.

The girl had watched as her teacher got more and more flustered, her heart almost jumping through her chest with happiness as she heard the words she had been praying to hear for months. It felt like a dream, an enchanted morning, where everything she had wanted so desperately to happen seemed to be happening and if it weren't for the warmth of Santana's body next to hers she would have been sure she was about to wake up from the best dream she had ever had.

"You want to go on a date with me?"

Santana nodded silently, unwilling to open her mouth and embarrass herself again before Brittany answered. Fortunately she didn't have to wait long, as the blonde took a deep breath and answered quietly, a soft smile ghosting along her lips as she stared into deep brown eyes.

"I would love to go on a date with you"

"You do?"

Brittany beamed, nodding,

"More than anything"

The brunette visibly relaxed, laughing in relief at the blonde's soft assurance and hesitated for a second, before leaning forward happily to place soft kiss on Brittany's pale pink lips.

"Great"

In the hallway outside, the bell for the next lesson rang out and they broke apart reluctantly, keeping their fingers brushing together as Santana walked the cheerleader to the door.

"So, maybe you could text me later?"

She paused and leant for the handle, holding the door open for Brittany.

"..Do you still have my number?"

The blonde nodded with a shy smile.

"Of course"

"Ok. Well are you free sometime this weekend?"

They stood in the open doorway and Santana was careful to keep her body language neutral and her voice low, aware that the deserted hallway could become populated with students at any moment.

"I have Cheerio's practise tomorrow morning, but my parents are away this weekend so I'm pretty much free after that"

"Your parents are away?"

Brittany nodded, looking around to make sure they were still alone.

"Yeah, they're taking my little sister to visit my cousins in Cleveland."

She shrugged,

"I would have gone too but it's getting close to nationals, and Saturday practises with Coach Sylvester are mandatory"

Hearing that, Santana couldn't help but be pleased for once that Sue was such a maniac about her cheerios. If it meant Brittany staying in Lima for the weekend instead of disappearing upstate with her family then it was ok by her. It seemed like an ideal turn of events.

"Maybe we could meet up tomorrow then?"

The blonde looked delighted at the prospect and nodded fervently.

"That sounds perfect"

"Excellent. I'll sort something out"

They smiled excitedly at each other, both hardly believing it was really happening and Santana leant forward, almost daring to place a chaste kiss on the girl's lips, when a door swung suddenly open further up the hallway and she jumped back quickly, almost toppling over as she struggled to regain balance in her heels.

In front of her, Brittany had already launched into a fake conversation to cover their real one with surprising effiency, keeping her tone level and not even turning to look at the student walking down the corridor.

"-and then I can just finish the exam next week. I need some extra time to go over the material but I should be ready by then. Is that ok?"

Santana caught on straight away, finding her footing and straightening up as she nodded brisquely,

"Yes that should be fine. I'll try and find the right test paper for Monday's lesson"

Brittany smiled, pleased at them both for giving such a convincing performance.

"Great. Thanks . I'll See you Monday"

"See you then"

The student, a freshman who neither of them recognised, walked past them, barely noticing their conversation and looking with only mild interest as Brittany lifted a friendly hand in goodbye to her teacher and then fell into step behind him down the hall.

Santana watched her go at the door of her classroom, stifling a laugh as the blonde turned around to give a brief thumbs up, smiling widely, before turning the corner and disappearing off to her next class.

...

You don't even know how bad I feel, after how patient you have all been, to just be giving you this, which I suspect is not my best work and is super short as well.

I'm sorry but it's literally hectic at the moment. I had to write this during my breaks at work. That's why it's not all that and why you didn't get the first date as promised. But, I was thinking with the date, maybe y'all could give me some ideas of what you want to see them do and I can try and work a couple of different things in?

Anyway, sorry again, and if you are struggling to keep up with how infrequent and increasingly shoddy my updates are, I really recommend you read 'The Workaholic, The Recluse and The Wild Woman' by Oatis, if you haven't already, to make you feel better because it is brilliant and I can't see why you wouldn't love it.

Thanks for reading.

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