Thanks for reading, you all have given really wonderful and supportive reviews. I really enjoy writing this story and I'm happy you all like it too. Enjoy.

Friday could not come soon enough. Santana was true to her word. She hadn't been at school the whole week, but she had texted me yesterday asking if I would still go with her. I took it as a good sign, she still wanted me to go. A part of me was holding out for her to change her mind. I just didn't want to get my hopes up too high, I knew Santana was unpredictable, but I had to trust her a little bit. I mean she was driving tonight.

I decided not to go home, I told my dads I was staying at school because a study group was meeting late and I wanted to go to a soccer game. I kind of worried me that they would believe anything I told them, but at least it wasn't that big of a lie. I texted Santana and told her I was staying at school and while I wasn't expecting it, she showed up out of the blue. Actually she scared me at first, she wrapped her arm around my shoulder when I was walking down the hallway, I didn't even hear her approach. She got a good kick out of my facial expression and I had to hit her twice to get her to stop laughing.

But then again I always had this feeling that each time she laughed it might be her last time for a while, so I should always just let her have her moments. Always.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, not unaware that her arm was still around my shoulder.

"No one should be stuck at school, ever." She said with her matter of fact tone, and I nodded in agreement, it was Friday after all. "How was your day? Full of learning and knowledge?"

"As a matter of fact it was." I replied confidently. "So what are we gonna do for the next four hours? I really feel bad that you had to come up here so early, I could've waited." We walked outside and Santana's car was parked illegally in the fire lane, she unlocked her doors and we got in.

"I didn't want you to wait. We could go to the park or something." I smile at that, a park? Santana at a park? I couldn't picture it, but I did want to experience it. "I actually use to go to the park a lot when I was younger, did you?" It didn't take us very long to arrive, Santana was a fast driver. Fast, but still in control.

"Not really, I liked to stay indoors. I still do I guess." We got out of the car and started walking towards the path. There was hardly anyone around, but a few kids playing at the park and a woman walking her dog. "I talked to Brittany today." I said it hoping it would lead to a deeper discussion. I didn't understand why she was friends with her, and why she was her only friend.

"What'd you talk about?" Santana asked skeptically.

"Dance, she's thinking of joining my ballet class." I explained. "Apparently she wants to do hip-hop still, but she's afraid that that won't help her get into college."

"College." The word sounded foreign coming from Santana's lips. Her tone was bitter, and distant. "She'll get in anyway, so will you. You shouldn't be worried about shit like that, not while you're young and-."

"Why are you talking like that?" I asked her suddenly, we hadn't even made it forty feet up the trail, we were moving at this eerily slow pace like we wanted this to last longer than it needed to. An unwarranted, unspoken agreement. "It sounds like you're only talking about us…you're going to college too." She gave me a wary smile before looking up ahead at the path. "If I ask you something do you promise not to think I'm weird?"

"I already think you're weird." Her eyes lit up perfectly with this adorable hint of a smile.

"You and Brittany are just friends, right?" The silence that followed made the pit in my stomach feel heavier. We continued walking, it felt like she was ignoring the question, up until she grabbed my hand and led me towards a bench. We sat down. Her eyes met mine briefly, but then she looked away. "Sorry it was a stupid thing to say-."

"You think I'm gay?" I wasn't expecting that, I was sort of taken aback.

"No, no I didn't mean…I'm really sorry, that was rude of me to ask. I hardly have the right to even say something so dumb." Santana leaned back on the bench and lit a cigarette.

"It's okay." Santana rested her hand on my shoulder. "To be honest it's all kind of confusing." I wanted to ask why but her eyes told me so much more than I ever needed to know. She was confused, but it was more than that. She was curious too. "I don't know what I am, every time I've…been with someone, it's never been the same. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel…no one ever taught me."

"It's not something you're taught."

"Isn't it?" Somehow she was making me think more than I did all day at school. Not only did I not have a response, but the fact that she had an affinity for eye contact, left me tongue tied. Somehow, whenever she asked me things like that, I felt like I couldn't escape.

"Would you stop doing that?" Santana stiffened, her brow furrowed.

"Sorry…I'm sorry if I…" She looked so hurt that I grabbed her hand just to calm her down.

"I just meant that you always keep eye contact with me. I don't know, it makes me feel intimidated." She laughed outright and that relaxed me a bit. Santana looked at a dog that was passing, it was a beagle, Santana whistled at it. It rushed over, the owner offered us a smile as his dog jumped on Santana's legs and wagged his tail in excitement. Santana rubbed the dog's ears, receiving countless kisses on her hands. The dog ran off with his owner after a few minutes but the smile never left Santana's face. "Okay now the whole intimidating thing sounds stupid."

"You're just nervous about all the rumors you've heard about me." She assured me. "No I've never killed anyone, no I don't do acid, and yes I am really really easy."

"Shut up." I didn't say it out loud but I wanted to tell her that I liked being around her. No, I wasn't Ms. Popular, I didn't have a lot of friends, but being with Kurt and being around Santana were two completely different feelings. With Kurt I limited myself, I only really talked about things I knew would interest him too, but with Santana I felt like I could say anything. "So what should I be prepared for tonight?"

"I dunno, it's always a surprise. Do you like surprises?" She asked with a smirk.

"Jury's still out."


I felt like I was naked on a stage. That was the only way in which I can describe what I'm feeling right now. Sure Santana was there, being my tether, but there was so much going on around me that I felt exposed. She nodded to a few people, her way of saying hello, but she led me into the kitchen, there were bottles of alcohol all around us but she didn't make a move to drink anything. "You okay? I came in here to check and see if you're still breathing."

"I'm fine." I told her. "I'm sorry, I'm just…such a loser." Santana reached out, her hand touching my shoulder. It was comforting, but she quickly pulled her hand away like she was afraid of her own empathy.

"You're not." Santana looked towards the door when she saw that someone was walking in. She seemed to recognize the guy because she walked over and bumped his fist. "Hey Ryan, what's up?"

"Nothin much, didn't think you'd make it. Word was you were laying low, how was coming down?" Ryan had a beer in his hand and his scruff on his chin made him look at least five years older than us. He seemed really comfortable around Santana though, so I found myself to be relatively relaxed.

"How do you think?" Santana said with a laugh.

"So you're all cleaned out, huh?" Ryan asked.

"For now." Santana shrugged.

"That's rough, how are you gonna pay rent?" It seemed like Ryan only noticed me right now, because he looked over Santana's shoulder and winked my way. "And who might you be?"

"Don't even think about it." Santana said.

"Hey now the lady can speak for herself, right? I'm Ryan." He held out his hand and I shook it, looking to Santana who only seemed amused at this point.

"I'm Rachel." Ryan smiled.

"Wanna dance with me Rachel?" Ryan asked.

"Fuck no she doesn't want to dance with you. If she's gonna dance with anyone it's gonna be me. Lay off the jailbait Ryan." Santana pushed him back playfully, and he bowed before he scurried off into the other room. Even though I knew it was all in good fun, I was happy that Santana was there to protect me, though I'm positive Ryan was harmless. "Look at you reeling them in already, sorry for stepping in, if you want to dance with him you should."

"No thanks." I assured her. "Thanks for defending my honor." Santana laughed and looked towards the drinks for a moment. "You should make me something." I suggested, she laughed like I was joking, but soon enough she realized that I was serious. She grabbed a cup and pondered for a moment, she grabbed a few bottles and mixed me a drink without saying a word. She turned around and handed me the cup with a smile. "Will this get me drunk?"

"Drink it slowly and you should be fine." I took a sip and it didn't taste bad, a little tangy but I guess it was only because it was a new taste. "Can I ask you something?"

"I don't know, last time you did things got kinda…intense." Her eyes met mine but then she quickly looked away like she was afraid of something. Afraid of me, maybe.

"How are you going to pay rent? I mean if you're not…well you know." Santana leaned against the counter thinking it over.

"I'm not really…I don't know. If I told you what I was thinking you'd think I was…worse than what you probably think of me and that's gotta be pretty bad-."

"Hey mind reader, I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are right now." Santana fought back a smile. "Stay over at my place tonight."

"Are you sure about that? What if I tried something again?"

"I wouldn't be that upset." She couldn't tell if I was joking or not, and neither could I really. My cup was empty and I felt a little dizzy, she'd made this drink way too strong for me. "Should we go out there and brave the crowd?" Santana nodded and we walked out into the living room. Everyone was having a good time, dancing, laughing, chatting, but I was too focused on Santana to really notice.

We danced, it wasn't graceful or perfect, but I'd felt comfortable dancing for the first time in a long time. When I do ballet, it's different, structured, and there's all the pressures of being perfect that it feels so unreal. I'm not perfect, sometimes my body's my worst enemy, but right now with Santana I felt free. We danced for over an hour, until our feet burned and I'd had one more drink in me, Santana told me we should go and I had no problem following her out the door.

We made it to her car, but neither one of us made a move to go inside. We felt the late summer breeze against our skin, basking in the moonlight for a long time before truly noticing the other person's presence. "You're a great dancer."

"I'm average at best." I said with a shrug. "Will you let me try a cigarette?" I'd noticed her twirling one in her hand for a while before I actually asked.

"No way." She said with a laugh. "Two vices in one night might be overwhelming, maybe another time." Santana lit her cigarette and looked around for a moment. "I uh…just wanted to thank you for coming with me tonight." That sparked my interest I looked over at her, wondering if she was struggling with this thank you as much as she did before. "If you weren't here I might've done something I'd regret later…so thanks."

"I had fun, you're not so bad to be around." Santana toyed with her cigarette for a moment before sticking it back in her mouth. "You're thinking about something."

"I think about a lot, a lot of my plate and all. Sometimes I wish it'd all go away. You know?" The change in my voice showed hints of desperation, like she needed me to understand. I felt out of place, trying to understand her was like putting myself in her shoes, and I just couldn't do that. I wasn't there yet. "Wow, look at me trying to get all philosophical but sounding so stupid. Maybe you could teach me some new vocab words next tutoring session." We stayed quiet for a while again, Santana seemed content leaning there with her cigarette, and I was trying to balance my body and not look tipsy. "Are you drunk?"

"What? No, not…not really. I mean tipsy is a better word I just-."

"You're really beautiful." I looked over at her but she was looking down at the ground, pressing her toe against the cement. "I wanted to tell you that on the off chance you might forget, but if you remember..." Santana opened her car door. "That's okay too." She rolled down her window slightly and put her key in the ignition. "Come on, let me take you home."

Let me know what you all think.