AN: Thank you everyone for your reviews/favorites/alerts. Disclaimers, warnings and acknowledgements as before. Sorry I haven't updated in so long I got caught up in the holidays and then a major case of writers block. Hopefully I am back on track now and will be able to update regularly again. There will be another AN at the end of the chapter to hopefully clarify some things that will be happening but please keep in mind the AN from the first chapter about the science side of this story being considerably exaggerated for literary purposes.
Chapter 5: Santana
Santana's week pretty much continued on the way it started. Busy at college and the labs all day and then talking to Brittany via messages at night. She was so busy in fact that the only reason she didn't pull all-nighters in the lab was because she didn't want to risk not talking to Brittany. She had gotten into the habit of texting her as soon as she would get in the door of her apartment. Brittany had already made a point that she thought Santana worked too hard and Santana didn't want to disappoint her or make her worry or something by working all through the night.
Brittany's opinion of her mattered to her, ok? You would care as well if you had a leggy, blond, blue-eyed, dancing goddess interested in your well-being. And it's not like she let her work suffer or anything. She just finally realised that Quinn was right and she didn't have to focus so intently on only her project and not everything had to happen right away. Not that she would ever admit that to Quinn, of course.
It was finally Friday and she was going to stay away from the lab for a second consecutive weekend. She couldn't even remember the last time she had done that since she had started her graduate research project. She couldn't wait for this day to be over so she could finally go home and talk to Brittany to solidify their plans for the weekend. The more they talked throughout the week the more relaxed and more like herself Santana became. She was actually a bit shocked at how easily Brittany opened her up and put her at ease. But at least she no longer resembled the bumbling, insecure idiot she was sure she seemed like the first few times they talked. Admittedly it was still only small talk really; how their days had been and stuff like that. There is no saying what she would be like if they talked about more serious topics. But the more they talked and the more at ease Santana got, the more confident she became that when the time came (and she is sure it is a matter of when and not if) she would be able to handle it. She had a feeling Brittany would be able to open her up. Get her talking about things only Quinn really knew about. And it had taken her years to find it all out. But Brittany was just special like that.
While she was cleaning up her workstation after her final experiment of the day Santana was so excited to be going home she found herself humming the music to the latest video Brittany had choreographed. So, she may have watched the video a dozen times on the studio's website. So what? It's a catchy song, ok?
She was so distracted and in her own little world she didn't even notice Tina, cleaning up her own workstation and smiling at her from across the lab.
"It cannot be a coincidence! That video has barely been uploaded to the site for a few days and she has been humming it all day today."
"Huh?" Santana said stopping her humming and looking up at Tina, thinking her friend had talked to her out loud.
Tina looked startled for just a second then composed herself quickly and smirked. "You know, Mike and Britt did the choreography to the video of that song you have been humming all day." Tina said with a smug grin.
"I have not been humming all day!" Santana protested.
Tina just gave her a pointed stare and Santana just huffed and mumbled "It's a catchy tune, ok?" She returned her attention to her station not wanting to give her friend a chance to see her blush.
Tina just chuckled and shook her head affectionately, finishing up her own clean-up. "Yeah right." She thought making Santana scowl.
"Any big plans for the weekend?" Tina asked on their way off campus. "I can't believe she isn't just camping out in the lab as usual."
Santana realised that she really was a workaholic like everyone said if Tina was so shocked she would not be spending the weekend working. She wondered if Tina really didn't know that she had tentative plans with Brittany, but she figured she would find out anyway so she might as well just be honest with her.
"Hopefully. I'm supposed to be meeting up with Brittany for coffee but we haven't finalised the details yet." She said.
"Huh, sounds fun. You two seem to have really hit it off." Tina replied with a sceptical look. "I wonder why Britt hasn't mentioned anything." Tina thought to herself.
That caused all sorts of doubts to rear their ugly head in Santana's mind. "What if she is ashamed of me? What if she doesn't really want to meet up? Why wouldn't she tell one of her closest friends we are meeting up for coffee? I mean it's just coffee right? No big deal. So why keep it a secret?" As Santana started to head into a tailspin of confusion and self-doubt, Tina touched her arm gently and snapped her out of it.
"You ok?" she asked tentatively.
"Uhm. Yeah. I just assumed Brittany would have mentioned it to you. I mean nothing is finalised so it might not even happen. And it was just like coffee or something between friends. To get to know each other a bit better or whatever." Santana started to ramble and Tina put her hands up trying to get her to stop and calm down.
"Wow! Easy there, calm down. I didn't mean anything by it. And I've hardly seen Britt all week, that's probably why I didn't know anything. Not that it's any of my business anyway." Tina told her in a calm and assuring tone. "Just friends, my ass!" She added in thought making Santana frown slightly.
"Right. Ok. Sorry. How about you? Any big plans?" Santana asked trying to change the subject.
"Not really. Same as usual probably. Relax and chill out. Maybe organise a game night with the gang." Tina explained. "If Brittany is around anyway." She added silently.
Santana's slight frown deepened. "Does she not want me and Brittany to hang out?" She thought and started to worry her bottom lip. Thankfully they had reached her subway stop so she could get away from this whole awkward conversation.
"Sounds fun." Santana tried to put on a smile for her friend. "Well this is my stop." She said and pointed to the subway sign. "Have a good weekend." She wished Tina as she headed down the stairs.
Santana spent the whole subway ride home internally freaking out. Originally she was worried about Brittany seeming to have kept their budding friendship a secret. Brittany didn't seem like the kind of person who kept secrets and for the life of her Santana couldn't figure out why this would be something to be kept a secret. The only thing that she could come up with was that for some reason Brittany was embarrassed by their friendship or ashamed of Santana. That thought really didn't help with Santana's confidence at all.
Neither did Tina's reaction really. Did she not want Santana and Brittany to be friends? Why go to all that trouble to introduce them then? Did the rest of the gang not like her or something? She knows she can come off a bit stand-offish or even bitchy on her worse days, but she honestly thought she had gotten along well with the others. OK so she might have monopolised Brittany for most of the night but it wasn't like she kept her by force.
She really had no idea what was going on and what to think. For the first time that week, texting Brittany wasn't the first thing she did as soon as she got home. Her head was swimming and she was so confused. She turned on her laptop, signed into Skype and exhaled a deep breath of relief when she saw Quinn was online. She quickly called her as she started to remove her jacket and kicked off her shoes. She was so frazzled and desperate to talk to her best friend she didn't even realise she was still wearing them.
Quinn answered after a couple of rings. "My, my! Three calls within one week! You are spoiling me besty!" she said with a chuckle. Her laughter died in her throat suddenly when she saw Santana's blank expression. All joking forgotten she turned serious in an instant. "Santana what's wrong? Talk to me babe." She asked.
Santana just blinked at the screen and shook her head.
"What happened? Is everyone ok? Is it Marco?" Quinn was getting frantic and her voice caught on Marco's name. The mention of her brother's name snapped Santana out of it.
"What? No! Marco is fine. Everyone is fine, as far as I know." She said shaking her head trying to gather her thoughts.
"Then what the hell bitch!? Don't scare me like that!" Quinn snapped feeling all the anxiety wash out of her.
"Is there something wrong with me? Like is there a reason people wouldn't like me or would keep me a secret?" Santana asked her friend in a quiet voice.
"What you mean apart from your dazzling bitchy personality?" Quinn asked with a chuckle. She wasn't really paying attention to the screen but when Santana didn't automatically snap back at her she looked up. When she saw the look on her friend's face, full of self-doubt and vulnerability, she realised this would be a serious conversation after all and Santana probably wouldn't be able to handle too many jokes or bitchy remarks tonight. Taking a deep breath she apologised.
"Hey. Sorry. I was only kidding. There is nothing wrong with you. You're awesome. Why would you even think that?"
Santana just shrugged and looked down picking at her cuticles; a nervous habit she has when she is feeling particularly low. With a sigh Quinn tried again to engage her friend.
"Ok, what happened? Why would you suddenly think there is something wrong with you?" And then it clicked. "Did something happen with Brittany? I thought things were going well."
"Yeah, so did I. But now I'm not so sure." Santana said miserably.
"OK…" Quinn dragged out the word as she tried to think of her next move. "Wanna talk it through? See if we can't figure it out?" She finally asked.
"Yes." Santana replied in a small voice sounding like a little kid. Quinn nodded her head and waved her hand, motioning to Santana that she had the floor.
Taking a deep breath Santana started to tell Quinn about the past week and how she and Brittany had developed the routine of talking each night once Santana was done at college. How she thought there was some light flirting going on and that they were supposed to make plans to meet up over the weekend. Quinn got a big smile on her face listening to Santana's obvious excitement about Brittany. She was proud of her for putting herself out there and really trying with Brittany. It might not seem like much, especially when compared to high school Santana, but Quinn knew how hard it was for her to open up even a little bit to anyone.
"Sounds like things are going well." She said when Santana took a pause.
"I thought so too; until this afternoon." Santana replied.
"Well what happened to bring on this sour mood and self-doubt? Did she cancel on this weekend? 'Cause even if she did that doesn't mean she doesn't like you." Quinn said.
"No. She hasn't cancelled. Not yet anyway, since I haven't spoken to her today. Nothing has even been confirmed though. So she still might." Santana said sullenly.
"Well what the hell happened today to make you think she might cancel if you haven't even spoken to her!?" Quinn tried really hard not to roll her eyes at her friend. She had no idea why she was acting so dramatically since so far all she had told her seemed promising.
With a sigh Santana tried to explain what had happened to put her in such a funk. "Well I was talking to Tina today and she didn't seem to have a clue about me and Brittany talking let alone about us having plans this weekend. And she didn't seem very happy about it when she did find out. So obviously Brittany has been keeping it a secret so she must think there is something wrong with me. And Tina introduced us in the first place so why would she be mad that we hit it off and had plans?"
"Ok. One thing at a time and we'll break this down." Quinn cut her off. "First off. How do you know Tina doesn't like it that you and Brittany are getting closer? She never seemed like the type of person to care about things like that. I mean from what you've told me and the few times I've spoken to her when she was with you." Quinn said.
"I kinda heard her think it." Santana said embarrassedly. "I mean not exactly that she doesn't want us to hang out. It's just she seemed upset that Brittany never told her. And her thoughts seemed, I don't know, passive-aggressive or bitter or whatever about Brittany maybe being busy with me this weekend instead of available for game night or whatever. And she doesn't believe that we are just friends!" she exclaimed that last part. As if she found that the most offensive part.
Quinn chuckled lightly until Santana's glare cut her off.
"Sorry. But you aren't exactly just friends though are you? I mean you admitted you flirt a bit when you talk and you are obviously interested in more than friendship. And Brittany seems to be interested in more as well." Quinn said with a smug look.
"If she's so interested then why is she keeping it a secret?" Santana snapped. Not actually denying that she herself is interested in more.
"We'll get to that. Let's sort out this Tina thing first. I thought we agreed a while ago that judging people by their thoughts instead of their actions is a bit unfair. Especially when they don't know you can hear their thoughts. And you've said before that you can't always tell the tone of thoughts, just the content. She may just have been having a bad week and was looking forward to seeing her friend. It doesn't automatically mean that she has a problem with you or that she doesn't want you and Brittany to hang out." Quinn tried to reason.
"I guess." Santana conceded with a huff.
Quinn smiled at her friend's petulance and continued.
"As for Brittany, just 'cause she didn't tell Tina doesn't mean she is keeping you a secret. She might not have seen her this week but could have told her other friends. Or she might be waiting for you guys to have concrete plans. Who knows? You might need to just ask her, if it is obviously bothering you this much."
"What, I'm supposed to just come out and ask her 'Hey Brittany, why are you keeping us talking a secret from your friends?' Yeah, that seems likely." Santana mumbled.
"Well if it's going to mess you up so much then yeah. Why not?" Quinn answered.
"We have barely moved passed small talk Quinn. I'll seem insane if I start asking shit like that. We could barely be considered friends at this point and I'm gonna start demanding she tell everyone all about me? What would she even tell them?" Santana said with a huff and Quinn just gave her a smug smile.
"Ugh, I hate you!" Santana groaned and Quinn just raised her eyebrow at her. "Fine I get your point. There isn't really that much to tell and just because Tina doesn't know doesn't mean she is keeping me a secret." Santana grumbled and smacked her head down onto her arms that were folded on the table.
Quinn just laughed. This moody Santana she could handle. This was normal levels of angst and drama from her friend. The earlier desperation and self-loathing though scared her. Those were closeted, high school levels. She really hoped this Brittany girl didn't screw Santana over because she didn't know if her friend could handle that and she wasn't sure she would be able to help her recover. She had to try and remain optimistic though. Because as much damage as Brittany could ultimately do, the benefits of how much better and more relaxed and excited Santana has been since they met made Quinn hopeful that she could finally be truly happy.
"So are you gonna text her now and finally work out the details for this weekend?" Quinn finally asked.
Santana looked up at that and gave Quinn the most pathetic puppy dog eyes. "I don't know what to say now after all this drama." She said with a pout.
"I don't know. How about you start with a 'Hey, how are you?' or however you usually greet her and initiate a conversation." Quinn said with a roll of her eyes.
Just as Santana was about to reply to Quinn, something sarcastic no doubt, her phone chimed in her pocket and she froze.
"Uhm, you gonna get that?" Quinn asked after a moment of just looking at Santana sitting still as a statue.
"What if it's her?" Santana whispered as if Brittany could actually hear her.
"Really Santana!?" Quinn asked with an epic eye roll. "I thought you wanted to talk to her. Just check your damn phone bitch!" She commanded.
Santana grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'Bossy Bitch' while trying to fish her phone out of her pocket. She let out a deep breath she hadn't realised she was holding when she checked the screen and saw that the message was in fact from Brittany.
"It is her." She told Quinn breathlessly.
"And what does it say?" Quinn dragged out the question. Obviously losing patience with her best friend.
Santana just tried her puppy dog eyes on Quinn again, causing her to huff out. "I swear to God, bitch if you don't get your head out of your ass and talk to the girl I'll reach through this screen and slap you!"
"Wow Q, taking the Lord's name in vain and threatening violence through a screen, maybe our high school classmates were right after all and you are straight out of a horror movie!" Santana teased trying to distract Quinn.
Quinn just glared at her.
"Fine I'll check the message." Santana huffed and turned to her phone.
A huge smile bloomed on her face as she read Brittany's message and she just stared at the phone screen for a while until Quinn interrupted her.
"Ahem. Care to share with the rest of the class?" she asked in her best strict teacher voice.
"Hey. I ran into Tina as I was leaving the studio and she said you left the lab together so you should be home by now. I hope this doesn't seem stalkerish or anything, I just got worried that something might have happened to you and I wanted to make sure you're ok." Santana read out the message with a smile.
"Yeah she isn't interested at all." Quinn said dryly.
"Shut up." Santana said as she started to type out her reply.
"So crisis averted then? 'Cause I need to go start dinner before Puck gets home." Quinn asked.
"How very 'Suzy Homemaker' of you Q." Santana teased.
"Excuse you!?" Quinn asked with attitude.
"Right, sorry. Thank you Quinn for calming me down and helping me sort everything out." Santana said in a monotone, as if she was reading her thanks from a manual.
"You're welcome." Quinn said with a huge grin. "Now go talk to your girl and hopefully the next time you Skype me in a panic it will be about what to wear on your date."
Santana started to get a panicked look on her face at the thought of what to wear if it was a date causing Quinn to laugh as Santana muttered "It's not a date."
"Something casual if it's just coffee and it isn't explicitly stated as a date. Now that that has been settled I hope your next call will be about how great your date actually was."
"It's not a date!" Santana repeated more emphatically.
"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later, S." Quinn said and ended the call allowing Santana to focus on replying to Brittany.
"Hey. Sorry. I'm fine. My friend just Skyped me and I didn't get a chance to message you. How are you? So you talked to Tina huh?" Santana sent the text as she moved into the kitchen to make some pasta for dinner while she waited for Brittany's reply.
"It's cool. It's not like you have to message me as soon as you enter your door. I just wanted to make sure nothing happened. I'm good. I was at the studio late because of our monthly meeting with all the instructors. Yeah I talked to Tina. You got me in trouble with her by the way! :p"
Santana gulped as she read the last part of the message. Well she might as well sort of address her insecurities and the questions she had since the subject was brought up.
"I did? How? I'm sorry. I thought you would have told her we have been talking and could possibly be meeting up."
"Oh we are definitely meeting up! I have been waiting all week for that! And I didn't mention it to her 'cause I wasn't sure if you wanted her to know. I know you are pretty private so I figured I would leave it up to you to tell her if you wanted. She isn't really mad anyway. I only saw her Monday before we even talked so I had nothing to tell then."
Santana smiled at that and breathed a sigh of relief. OK so Quinn was right and she was overreacting. But that's what friends are for anyway! To keep your head screwed on right.
"Well I told you I would leave the details up to you. So what is the plan? =p And you don't have to keep stuff from your friends because of me. I mean I've told Q, and I liked your friends. There isn't much to tell anyway." She sent the text and prepared the table to eat since her food was almost ready.
"Well I figured something casual so we could get a chance to talk and get to know each other a bit better. So how does coffee at 'Half 'n' Half' at 11am tomorrow sound? It's a small coffee house by the north entrance of Central Park. You know it? Is Q the friend you were talking to on Skype? Were you busy trash talking me? :p"
Santana's heart skipped a beat as soon as they had definite plans and she knew they were going to meet up tomorrow. She took a deep breath and typed out her reply with a smile.
"Yeah, I know the place. Sounds good. Looking forward to it. And yeah Quinn is the friend I was talking to. She has been my best friend since high school. But I would never trash talk you. You are far too cute and sweet for that. Only good things, I promise. "
"Maybe you could tell me all about these good things tomorrow as well. After you tell me all about your project of course. I haven't forgotten! If we have time I can tell you all about the good things I wanna tell my friends about you. :P"
Santana almost choked on her mouthful of pasta as she read the message. On the one hand she was a bit worried about talking about her research in case she got carried away and seemed like a total science nerd or worse got all emotional over Marco. On the other hand she was excited that Brittany wanted to talk to her friends about her and apparently had lots of good things to say. She swallowed her bite and composed herself before she typed out her reply.
"You really don't have to bother with my project. I'm sure we can find more interesting topics of discussion. And you can tell your friends whatever you want. I never meant to give you the impression that you had to keep things from them on my account." She hoped the message didn't come off as too harsh and completely ruin the playful vibe they had going.
"I told you I wanna know and I don't lie. It's important to you and I wanna know about the things that you are passionate about. And honestly, I didn't really wanna share you with them yet. I liked having you all to myself for a while, but I'm gonna have to sooner or later or they'll start to worry. I rarely keep anything to myself. :p"
Santana relaxed as she read the reply glad that she hadn't somehow managed to offend Brittany or something.
"Well hopefully we can find some things that you can keep completely to yourself then. =)" Santana sent.
"I'm sure we can. ;p" was Brittany's simple reply.
They said good night soon after that, both looking forward to the next day. Santana fell asleep with a smile on her face and a light heart. All worries and anxieties from earlier forgotten. Talking to Brittany always seemed to have that effect on her.
Santana woke up early the next morning, but at least she felt well-rested. She was pretty sure her dreams were dominated by bright blue eyes and soft blond hair. She decided she might as well go to the gym for a while since she had so much time before her date with Brittany. "No wait. It's not a date. Meeting? Ugh, that sounds so formal. Encounter? Powwow? What the hell is wrong with me!? It's just coffee between friends!" Coffee. She finally settled on that.
Shaking her head to get rid of all the rambly thoughts, she got ready for the gym. While she seriously didn't miss the boot camp style training of the Cheerios she did regret not going to the gym as much lately. She was nowhere near as fit as she used to be. "If Sue Sylvester could see me now." She thought to herself with a chuckle.
After wasting a couple of hours at the gym Santana returned home to start getting ready. Taking a long shower to relax her muscles, she tried not to think about the 'coffee' and remain calm. When she was done she straightened her hair and left it down loose as opposed to the usual pony she usually kept it in on a daily basis in the lab. She put on a light layer of make-up and was checking her outfit out in the full-length mirror. She liked the way her boyfriend-cut jeans hugged her tiny waist but were looser everywhere else and she was wearing her favourite printed t-shirt, that fit her like a glove, with her trusty, comfy Vans sneakers to finish it all off. She felt comfortable but she was worried it was too casual or nerdy.
Just as she was about to change, her phone chimed and she rushed to check it, worrying that it might be Brittany cancelling for some reason. 'Quinn – 1 new message' read the screen. Breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't Brittany but frowning slightly as to what Quinn could possibly want since they spoke last night, she checked the message. "What you are wearing is fine. Don't freak out and don't overthink. Be yourself and have fun." Smiling at the message Santana typed out her reply.
"You sure you aren't the mind reader of the two of us!? How on earth could you possibly know what I am wearing and that it is fine!? I might still be in a towel after my shower for all you know!"
Quinn's reply came quickly. "No way would you still not be ready. You would make sure you were ready with lots of time to spare for outfit changes. I bet your first choice is boyfriend jeans and printed T with your Vans. Am I right? :p Good choice. Stick with that."
Santana was stunned. She was almost tempted to check for hidden cameras as she looked down at what she was wearing again.
"What the hell, bitch!? You got hidden cameras or something? You sure it isn't too casual? Should I not change to a shirt or skinny jeans? I mean it's my 'Shiny' t-shirt. You sure it's not too nerdy? =/"
She could practically feel Quinn's eye roll through her reply.
"Like I wanna see what you do in private. Don't change! You're obsession with 'Firefly' is a bit nerdy but that's you and the t-shirt is actually cute. It was your first instinct to wear that and you want her to get to know the real you so start with dressing like the real you on a casual day out."
"So I'm just so predictable, huh? If you insist. But I am totally blaming you if she laughs at my nerdiness or I am super underdressed." Santana sent back.
"To me who knows you, yes you are that predictable. =) And how is it my fault that you are super nerdy!? I laugh at your nerdiness all the time. You are still only going for coffee right?" Quinn's text read.
"Bitch, you've known me since I was 12! If I can't be nerdy in front of you then who can I be with!? And yeah just coffee. Casual."
"Your new girlfriend? =p Your clothes are fine, you're awesome, be yourself and you'll have a great time. You better keep me up to date with any developments!"
"She is not my girlfriend! We are barely friends!" Santana sent back grumpily.
"Yet! =p" Quinn quickly replied bringing an end to their conversation because Santana refused to be goaded by Quinn while she was trying to remain calm for her date. "Coffee! Not a date, just coffee. Damn it, Q!" She grumbled to herself as she placed her phone in her purse and checked she had everything she may need.
'Half 'n' Half' was relatively busy when Santana got there. She was half an hour early but she liked it that way. She was lucky enough to spot an empty table with a couple of comfy chairs tucked away in a corner and made her way towards it before anyone else grabbed it.
She had managed to keep her nerves in check on her way to the coffee house by focusing on listening to the thoughts of the people on the subway with her. New Yorkers could be crazy and weird so she generally tried to avoid focusing on their thoughts lest she stumble across a terrorist attack or some homicidal plan. Thankfully everyone seemed to be preoccupied with the usual mundane issues. The weirdest thing she stumbled across was some guy with an unhealthy attachment to his cat.
Now that she had settled into her armchair at the place she was actually going to be meeting Brittany her nerves started to bubble up to the surface again. Taking a few deep breaths she decided to try the trick from the subway again. Looking around she spotted a little kid holding the hand of a young woman at the counter. He was looking longingly out the door to the park. Santana smiled, figuring that would be a safe place to start and tried to focus on singling out the little boy's thoughts from the hum of the rest of the patrons' thoughts.
"The park, the park! Wanna fly my kite!" Santana smiled again at his impatience as he started to tug on the woman's hand and fidget where he was standing.
Looking around again Santana spotted an old man sitting alone at a table by the window. He was looking kinda morosely up at the sky while he was cradling his cup of coffee.
"My dearest Nancy. Three years today. I never thought I would last a day, but here I am. Holding on. I bet you would be waiting for me with your slipper in hand ready to hit me over the head if I gave up, just like you promised." The man let out a sigh but a small smile seemed to be playing on his lips.
Santana couldn't decide if it was sad or funny. She remembered Brittany talking about her class; how the seniors were inspiring. She could get that now. She was almost tempted to go and talk to the old man. See what stories he must have to share. She chickened out in the end but gave him her warmest smile when he looked her way. She let the dull buzz of everyone's thoughts settle in her brain again and searched for her phone. Just as she was checking her messages she heard a thought stand out from the rest of the indistinguishable hum in the back of her mind.
"Made it and with ten minutes to spare. Now to find and follow the rainbow."
Santana's head snapped up as soon as she heard about rainbows and recognised who the thought belonged to. Standing in the doorway, with the bright sun framing her from behind like she was some kind of angel, was Brittany. She was looking around the coffee shop. Once she spotted Santana a huge smile blossomed on her face and she waved as she made her way towards her.
"Here we go." Santana thought to herself with a gulp as she waved back.
Her gaze followed Brittany as she made her way towards their table. Once Brittany was in front of her, Santana rushed to her feet. Before she could feel like a complete idiot just standing there in front of her, Brittany leaned in for a brief hug. Santana relaxed in Brittany's arms. It surprised her how comfortable she felt hugging Brittany. She was hardly the touchy-feely type. The hug ended all too quickly and they smiled at each other as they took their seats.
"Hey! Nice shirt!" Brittany said cheerfully.
"Hey. Uhm, thanks. You look really good as well." Santana replied bashfully.
"Thanks! I hope you haven't been waiting long. Have you ordered?" Brittany said brightly.
"Not long, I just like being early. I was waiting for you before I ordered. So what can I get you?" Santana asked with a smile.
"Oh, a white chocolate mocha please. But only if I get to pay next time." Brittany said with a cheeky grin.
"Next time, huh? You seem very sure." Santana bantered back.
"Totally! There will be many more next times. I have a feeling." Brittany said while tapping the side of her nose.
Santana just laughed and got up to go and order their drinks. "Be right back." She said and Brittany just hummed her agreement and watched as she made her way to the counter.
She returned shortly with their drinks and reclaimed her seat. They exchanged pleasantries and small talk for a while until Brittany changed the pace.
"So, about this project I keep hearing about…" She said with a cheeky smile.
"You really aren't letting that go, huh?" Santana questioned with a nervous chuckle.
Brittany's demeanour turned serious at Santana's reaction.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'd just like to learn more about the things you are interested in. If you don't want to talk about it we can talk about something else." Brittany said trying to be reassuring but her disappointment still shone through.
Santana sighed and tried to explain. "It's not like it's a state secret. It's just pretty personal so I can get pretty passionate when I talk about it and I don't want to give you a bad impression or something." She said as she looked down and started to pick at her cuticles, too embarrassed to face Brittany.
Brittany tentatively put out her hand and placed it over Santana's fidgeting ones. She waited until Santana dared to look up at her before she spoke.
"I've told you before, smarts and passion are sexy." She gave Santana a wink and a smile hoping her joke would put Santana at ease.
"How about this. Forget about your project right now. I have a better idea. Let's play a game. We ask each other a question and we have to answer truthfully. If we don't want to answer we have to confess to something. We can start off with simple stuff and if you want we can work our way up to more serious topics." Brittany suggested with a bright smile.
Santana kind of hated herself for being so weird about all of this. It wasn't such a big deal, telling Brittany about her research. She was just terrified that the way Brittany made her open up would result in her breaking down and the floodgates opening. Taking a deep breath she tried to smile at Brittany and agreed to her game. Her hands were still covered by Brittany's but she didn't dare look at them in case Brittany removed them.
"Ok. My idea so I ask first!" Brittany said her smile back in full force. She hummed for a few seconds trying to think of a question.
Santana tried to read Brittany's thoughts while she was thinking up a question. She realised the buzz at the back of her mind had been quiet ever since Brittany had hugged her. It took quite a bit of focus but she finally heard her. "What to ask, what to ask? Oh! Singing!"
"Got one!" Brittany exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Shoot." Santana said with a smile.
"So I heard you singing karaoke at the party, great song choice by the way, and you were really good. Where did you learn to sing? You ever take lessons or just natural talent?" Brittany asked with a flirty smile.
Santana chuckled and replied. "Thanks. No real formal training but I was in my high school glee cub. I actually sang that song at a competition junior year. I always loved singing when I was a kid. I used to sing with my mom at home sometimes but there was never time for real lessons. And then in junior high popularity became a priority and I focused on cheerleading. I didn't really sing until Quinn forced me to join the glee club sophomore year."
"So you were both a cheerleader and a glee club member? Wasn't that like a conflict of interest? School choirs aren't usually that popular as opposed to cheerleaders." Brittany asked curiously.
Santana chuckled again. "Yeah the two social circles didn't usually mix but Q had her eye on the lead male vocalist at the time so as my cheer captain and best friend she made me join with her. We got some grief at the beginning but we ruled that school. If we said something was cool, then it was cool and that was that." Santana explained.
"So you were the Queen Bees at high school huh? High school royalty? I bet you had a great time." Brittany said.
"Well yes and no. I mean we were more like the HBICs of McKinley. But with an emphasis on the B. we ruled with fear and manipulation and were loved and feared and hated all at the same time. But I wouldn't say I had a great time. We did what we had to to survive but I pretty much hated every minute of it. I hate who I was back then. The only time I really felt even remotely like myself was in glee club." Santana confessed.
If she was talking to anyone but Brittany she would have been startled by her honesty but she just felt safe and connected with Brittany. She still wanted to remove the spotlight from herself for a bit though so she asked. "My turn now right?"
Sensing that Santana was done talking about her high school experience but appreciating what she had shared with her, Brittany gave her a reassuring smile and nodded.
"So how about your high school experience?" Santana asked.
"Well high school was better than when I was younger. I was a cheerleader as well so I had the popularity from that and the boys started to take notice. But I really struggled academically. Like almost flunked out struggled. When I was younger it was even harder and the other kids were ruthless. But after the treatment it was a bit better and as I said popularity works differently in high school and I kinda learnt how to work that. I only really enjoyed dancing. If I hadn't gotten that place with AMDC I probably would still be stuck in that town and I don't know how I would have survived that." Brittany said seriously and honestly.
Santana had never really heard Brittany so morose. She was tempted to try and lighten the mood with a joke but she didn't want to seem insensitive and she wanted to learn more. She could always just read Brittany's mind but she would rather learn whatever Brittany wanted to tell her.
She settled for "I guess we both did what we had to to survive high school."
Brittany hmmed. "I think that's what everyone does in high school." She said. She studied Santana for a moment and then asked "You aren't curious to find out more?"
Santana was slightly taken aback by that but answered truthfully. "Well yeah, but I didn't want to push you to say more than you wanted. Plus I thought we were supposed to start out light."
"Well the good thing about this game, apart from getting to know each other better, is that if you ask something I don't want to talk about I can just confess to something I do want to talk about and that's that. As for the lighter topics, people aren't made up of just cheerful, easy-going experiences. We are shaped by the bad experiences just as much, if not more, as the good." Brittany replied with a smile.
"True. That's a very smart insight into people." Santana said mirroring Brittany's smile.
Brittany blushed and bent her head in an effort to conceal it. "I don't get called smart very often." She mumbled.
"Well you are. Maybe you're just a secret genius that not many people can understand." Santana said confidently causing Brittany to giggle bashfully.
"So what is it you are curious about? Ask away." Brittany said trying to deflect from Santana's compliments.
"Technically isn't it your turn now?" Santana asked.
"Well technically yes. But it's my game and I say follow-up questions are allowed in order to clarify situations." Brittany stated cockily making Santana laugh.
"OK then. So is it OK if I ask about what that treatment you mentioned was?" Santana asked hesitantly.
"I told you, it's OK to ask about anything. And in this case I don't mind answering anyway. If I did I wouldn't have mentioned it." Brittany replied with her trademark easy-going smile and then started to explain.
"When I was young I got diagnosed with severe dyslexia. It took them a while to decide on that because it was so severe but when they eventually did they said there was no real treatment just ways to learn around it. But I was struggling really bad and all the usual tricks like different fonts and colour paper or even just taking tests orally didn't work. They wanted to send me to a specialised school but that would mean either sending me away to boarding school or our whole family moving since there wasn't anything even remotely close by that could deal with my needs. Then my parents found out about an experimental treatment that involved deep stimulation of brain tissue regions or something, I never really understood the whole thing, and they contacted the doctor in charge of the trial and I ended up getting a spot."
Santana just stared at her with a dumbfounded expression for a few seconds. She cleared her throat to gain a bit of time to compose herself and arrange her thoughts.
"Uhm. I've never heard of a treatment for dyslexia, especially not one like that. Although I'll admit the neuroscience of dyslexia isn't an area I have really studied. So did it work? It didn't hurt you or anything? I mean you said things got a bit better after the treatment." Santana said hesitantly.
"Well it kinda worked. I mean I still have dyslexia but it's much milder and much more manageable. I'm still terrible with academics but at least I can read and write and even managed to graduate high school. It didn't hurt. I don't really remember much about it to be honest. But there were some side effects. I developed syn- uhm, that thing where your senses get mixed up?" Brittany trailed off in search of the word.
"Synaesthesia?" Santana asked.
"Yeah, that's the one!" Brittany replied brightly. "I keep forgetting the word." She said shaking her head. "It's kinda cool. Definitely better than the dyslexia. And it helps with my choreography. It was confusing at first but I've come to love it. Makes life more interesting." She said animatedly.
"So what kind do you have? How does it help with your choreography?" Santana asked feeding off Brittany's enthusiasm and her own scientific curiosity.
"Well I have a few. I see colours with sounds so that helps inspire choreography. I also hear sounds when I touch some things and see words when I taste some things. On vary rare occasions when something is really special I've had other experiences, like when I first read Kurt and Rachel's roommate wanted ad I got shots of the flavours of my favourite foods in my mouth. Oh and I can also see like people's auras." Brittany explained proudly. Other people may think she is weird because of all this but she genuinely loves it and is proud of it.
Santana looked at her in awe. "Wow! That does seem pretty cool. It sounds kinda like a superpower!" she said and then blushed when she realised how nerdy that made her sound.
Brittany laughed but agreed. She seemed relieved that Santana was excited and curious instead of freaked out.
Santana leaned closer to Brittany and lowered her voice. "So what colour is my aura?" She asked in a conspiratorial voice.
Brittany chuckled, finding Santana's nerdy antics adorable. "Well you're just special all around." She said flirtily. At Santana's confused expression she continued. "You were one of the rare special occasions. I saw colours just by hearing Mike say your name. And you have a rainbow aura."
"Rainbow." Santana muttered realising why Brittany kept thinking about rainbows. Now that she knew all this Brittany's thoughts made a lot more sense.
"Yeap." Brittany agreed. "I have never met anyone with a rainbow aura before. I mean I have met people whose aura may change colour depending on their mood but never anyone with more than one colour at a time. And your voice is all deep reds and purples and when I touch you I hear the sounds of a black panther." She explained further with enthusiasm.
Santana just looked at her with a goofy, pleased expression.
They ended up spending the rest of their time together discussing Brittany's extraordinary senses. Santana's scientific curiosity coupled with her nerdy love of sci-fi had her completely fascinated with both the phenomenon of synaesthesia and how Brittany had learnt to not just manage it but to use it and draw inspiration from it. Brittany just liked seeing Santana so animated and excited. She also liked that Santana was genuinely interested and wanted to try and learn and understand as much as she could.
At around 3 pm Santana interrupted their discussion. "Shit is that the time already!?" She exclaimed. "So much for controlling my science nerd side." She muttered.
"I think it's cute." Brittany said. "But we spent pretty much our whole date talking about me again!" she complained and pouted.
"Date huh?" Santana asked bashfully.
"Well I thought so. I even let you pay for the drinks." Brittany said with a smile. Then she seemed to doubt herself and started to ramble. "I mean it doesn't have to be if you don't want it to be. You did say it was just friends getting coffee so maybe you aren't interested in it being a date. And I really don't expect you to pay just 'cause it's a date. I thought I made it clear that I would be paying next time." The smile fell from her face to be replaced by a contemplative pout as she trailed off.
Santana leaned towards Brittany and tentatively took her hand in an attempt to comfort and reassure her.
"This has been the best first date I have ever been on." She said with a shy smile.
"Really!?" Brittany asked, her face lighting up again.
"Really." Santana confirmed with a more confident smile.
"It's a shame it has to end then." Brittany said morosely. "But I have class soon."
Santana squeezed Brittany's hand, which she still had a hold of. "It is as shame but I understand." She said. "And we will be doing this again soon. I might even let you pay." She added with a cheeky grin.
"I WILL be paying!" Brittany stated emphatically. "Hey we are having a game night tomorrow night at our apartment. Just the usual suspects. You should come!" she suggested enthusiastically.
"Uhm… Are you sure the others won't mind? I mean after monopolising you at the party and Tina being upset about us getting closer, I really wouldn't want to intrude and cause friction in your group." Santana said self-consciously.
"Of course I'm sure! It'll be fine and we will have a blast. The guys liked you and it will give them a chance to get to know you a bit better. And Tina has no problem with us spending time together. She was just tired after a long week and surprised I never mentioned it, that's all. Promise!"
Brittany's smile was blinding and her enthusiasm was reassuring so Santana relented.
"OK. Sure. I would love to join you for game night." She said.
"Great! I'll text you with the details as soon as I am done with my class." Brittany said. "Unfortunately I really do have to get going." She added as she started to gather her things with a disappointed look on her face.
Santana stood up with her as soon as she was ready to go and Brittany brought her in for a tight hug before turning to leave. She remained standing and watched Brittany make her way through the coffee shop. When she made it to the door she turned around and blew Santana a kiss, and with a small wave of her hand she entered the hustle and bustle of the busy city moving outside the coffee shop.
Santana dropped back into her seat with a goofy dazed grin plastered on her face. She didn't even notice when the buzz of the thoughts of everyone in the café started to fill her head she was so lost in her own little world. She was brought out of it when she heard her phone chiming indicating she had a new message. Her smile grew even wider once she read it.
"Thanks for the best first date I have ever been on as well. xx"
AN: Obviously dyslexia is a real condition as is synaesthesia. To the best of my knowledge there is no real treatment for either just ways to learn around them and to be able to function in your daily life with these conditions. The supposed treatment for dyslexia that Brittany underwent is completely fictional and not something I have ever heard as even a suggestion of a treatment. While some of the types of synaesthesia Brittany has in this story are actual real cases (like seeing colours associated with sounds) it is rare that someone will have all the types and they are usually not manifested at all like they do with Brittany. A special occurrence will not really elicit a new random and special response. That was added in simply to make the story more interesting. And from all the research I have done Brittany's response to having synaesthesia (liking it and being inspired by it and not at all viewing it as a burden) is actually a pretty common occurrence among synaesthetes. I do not have synaesthesia myself so I can't really talk from experience just what I have gleaned from the research I have done. If anyone reading does then I hope my take and interpretation on the whole thing doesn't cause offence as that is the last thing I would want. I would love to talk to anyone who has any opinions on the matter though. Anyway sorry for the lengthy, wordy authors note. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter regardless!