She was in awe of her. It didn't matter what the other girl was doing. She couldn't help but be in awe of her. Quinn had never felt so drawn to another person in her life before, whenever she was around, Quinn could feel herself losing focus on whatever anyone else was saying or doing, all she could focus on was the dark-haired girl.
She couldn't help but be entranced by her dark eyes, and dark hair, or the way she walked around like she owned the whole school at just fifteen. Santana Lopez was a force to be reckoned with and anyone that saw her knew that. Quinn had never known another person to have so much confidence before.
From the second she had seen Santana, she had felt the unbearable need to be her friend, and she had been insanely happy when Santana had approached her and introduced herself to her during their first homeroom of freshmen year.
Santana was the first friend she made at McKinley, if she were being completely honest with her, she might be the first real friend she'd ever made- besides her sister and even then, there were days that she and Frannie couldn't stand each other.
In all her life, Quinn Fabray had never known herself to like someone and to like spending time with someone as much as she liked Santana. Usually, she could find something in someone, however small it might be that she didn't fully like, and she would take that facet and lock onto it, focusing on it so intently that it would completely ruin a person and make her see them in a completely new light.
She had done it before in her life. Case and point, Rachel Berry, while Rachel had never done anything wrong to Quinn personally, she hadn't liked how egotistical Rachel could be, or how she clearly thought she was better than everyone else- she would go as far as saying she hated Rachel Berry for no other reason than she was annoying and conceited.
But Santana could be just as cocky, and egotistical, always talking about how hot she was, or how funny she was, and all Quinn could do was agree with her. Quinn found it funny on Santana, of course, it did make it easier that Santana would always compliment her the same way, building Quinn up just as much as she built herself up.
Santana was the type of girl Quinn had always wanted to be and had always wanted to be friends with, and it was finally happening to her. She had never been happier. Of course, when her parents found out that she had befriended a girl from Lima Heights Adjacent, they were less happy.
She'd heard stories about that part of the town growing up, about how the people who lived there could be. In Lima, it was most definitely the wrong side of the tracks. But Santana wasn't like the people she had been warned against.
Santana had been kind to her, she had been helpful when Quinn had struggled with a routine or a specific move, had introduced her to more people, built her friendship circle and helped her build her status as one of the most popular girls in school.
If anything, Santana, and her family, were the opposite of the people she had been warned against. She could hear her father's harsh, distasteful, and often bigoted words running around her mind any time she was with Santana, or any time she went over to Santana's house for dinner or a sleepover.
But the second Santana would smile, or laugh, or tell a stupid joke, her father's words were drowned out with a sound that always made Quinn smile no matter how down she was feeling.
It always made her feel even better when she had been the reason for Santana's laughter when it had been a joke she had made, or a snide comment she had made about someone neither of them liked, because of course, if she hated someone Santana did too and vice versa.
It was so bad, that she couldn't even remember which of them hated Rachel Berry first, just that they both did, and that they both took joy in leaving hateful comments on every single one of her videos.
All of their comments were anonymous, as much as they hated her, and loved to tease and make snide remarks, they preferred doing it knowing there would be no fallback on them, after all, they would have to be caught first and they weren't the only people in the school who disliked Rachel.
They had seen her be slushied time and time again, along with all the other people deemed as geeks and losers, But no one seemed to suffer as much as Rachel did.
A pair of fingers tapping her on her shoulder pulled her away from her daydreams. "Q, are you okay?" Santana asked, her dark eyebrows furrowing tightly over her eyes. "You completely zoned out then," she commented, a slight amount of concern in her voice.
It was very rare to hear in her voice, rare to hear Santana be concerned about anyone other than herself. She'd known the other girl for a year now, and while she was one of Quinn's best friends, she would be the first to admit that Santana could be a highly selfish person, but then again, so could she. She figured that's what made them such good friends, they understood each other for that. Understood each other's need to put themselves first.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she nodded slowly, turning her head to see Santana watching her carefully. She gave the dark-haired girl a quick smile before turning her head away again.
"What are you even looking at?" Santana asked. "You seem distracted."
"No, I'm fine, I'm just tired…" Quinn lied with a small shrug. "I think taking on so much this year has just taken it out of me a little bit, cheerleading, celibacy club… all as a freshman… it's a lot y'know?"
"Okay…" Santana replied unsure. "If it's getting too much for you, you could always quit one," she suggested. "I mean, I doubt you're actually gonna stay celibate until you're married," she chuckled.
She'd admit, it was something she had thought about in the past, she didn't really know if celibacy and abstinence were key, especially not in today's age, but remaining part of that group meant something to her parents, and it also helped try to keep her mind on the right track.
Far away from any thoughts she knew she shouldn't be having about anyone.
"Anyway, what about you, are you okay?" Quinn asked, looking up from her book.
"Yeah, I was just talking about something that Puck said to me last night, I wanted your opinion on it," she explained. "Britt thinks that I'm overreacting and thinking too much into it, but I wanted your opinion… I mean, I love Britt, but she doesn't get me the way you do… at least, not all the time.
"Do you really think that I'm qualified for that?" Quinn asked. "I've never had a relationship."
"No, I know that," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "But you're really good at analysing things, whereas Britt just sees the good in everyone and tells me not to worry about it… I know that you can step away from things like that and look at the bigger picture and focus on what was said."
Quinn nodded her head, trying her hardest to follow what Santana was saying to her, but her mind was on one thing and one thing only and that was the way Santana's mouth moved when she spoke, the way her full lips pulled over her teeth whenever she took on a slightly venomous tone.
At that moment she didn't care what Puck had or hadn't said. All she cared about was that Santana had chosen her for advice, that Santana seemed to trust her the same way she trusted Santana and once again she found herself focusing on Santana's lips.
She tore her eyes away from Santana, hoping to clear her head and actually focus on the words coming out of the other girl's mouth. Her eyes moved around the room, trying to focus on anything she could.
Quinn turned her head slightly to face the table behind her as it erupted into loud, raucous laughter, the football boys in her class always seemed to be the loudest out of any other.
As she watched them carefully, she felt a slight wave of panic wash over her as a few of them turned their attention her way. A small, half smile pulled at the face of Finn Hudson, the quarterback of the team, and a boy she had only spoken to a handful of times.
He was cute, she supposed and was everything she knew she should want in a partner. He was exactly the type of person she knew she should be focusing on. He was the typical all-American boy that she knew her parents would approve of.
She gave him a small wave and watched as his smile grew as he looked away quickly, seemingly shy, and turned his attention back to his friends. Somewhere in the distance, she heard Santana's voice again. "So, what do you think? Am I overreacting? Should I apologise to him because I haven't even spoken to him since he said it." There was a beat of silence before Santana snapped her fingers in front of her once more.
"What?" Quinn snapped, turning back to face Santana, her hazel eyes wide.
"Seriously, what is with you today?" She asked, turning around to look over her shoulder just in time to see Finn turn back to them, his eyes trained on Quinn. Santana turned back to Quinn, watching her carefully. "Wait, are you into Finn?"
Quinn shook her head. "What? No," she replied, almost too quickly for her own liking.
"Oh my god you are," she smiled. "You're into Finn."
Quinn shushed the other girl motioning with her hands for her to bring her volume down. No, she wasn't into Finn, at least, she didn't think she was. But the last thing she wanted was for Finn to think she was and for him to reject her. She wasn't sure she could handle rejection from someone she wasn't even sure she wanted in the first place.
She had known rejection far too much in her life, especially in her old school, especially before she became the person she currently was, and while no one here knew about Lucy Caboosey, she wasn't sure she would be able to handle rejection after all the changes she had made to become a better version of herself, a version she was more comfortable with, a version she was finally happy with.
"I don't know if I am," she admitted. "I don't really know him… I mean, sure, he's cute… but that's really all there is."
"He's the quarterback, you're the head cheerleader," Santana pointed out. "It makes sense."
"You can't just date someone based on status," Quinn rolled her eyes. "I mean, if that's what we're focusing on, maybe that's why you're so caught up on a throwaway line that Puck said to you… if you looked into people a little more maybe these things wouldn't happen."
Santana rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you and I both know high school is all about status… look around you Q, we practically own the place, all the athletes do… if you're not where we are you're just like Berry and the rest of the losers," she narrowed her eyes slightly. "Besides, you wouldn't know if what Puck said was throwaway or not because you were too busy drooling over Finn."
"I was not drooling over Finn."
"If you say so," Santana shook her head. "But there is nothing wrong with admitting to liking someone. "And there is definitely nothing wrong with dating someone to climb the social ladder, everyone does it."
"I'll admit it when it's true…" Quinn replied, her voice barely audible.
"Okay," Santana said, trailing off she sighed and looked down at her notebook. "Well, this has been the least productive free period of all time," she complained looking back up at Quinn. "I'm gonna get a drink, do you want anything?"
"Please," she replied quietly, looking back down at her book, and pretending to get back to work, not that she could focus on anything right now anyway.
"What do you want?"
"I don't know. Surprise me, I guess."
Quinn watched as Santana walked away from her, when the dark-haired girl was out of sight she sighed and looked away from her work, she knew she had a lot to do, and that she couldn't afford to let herself get behind.
But she knew that right now her mind was a million miles away from where it needed to be, where she needed it to be at that moment. Santana's words began to play over and over in her head.
She knew one of the best ways to survive high school was to get to the top of the social ladder, and while she was well on her way there with her own achievements, she knew that there was one thing sure to get her where she truly wanted to be.
She looked back over her shoulder to find Finn Hudson watching her once more, as her eyes landed on him, his smile grew slightly. Maybe giving Finn Hudson a chance wouldn't be an entirely bad thing.
In fact, Finn Hudson might just be the right kind of distraction.
She didn't realise just how much her friendship with Santana would actually affect her life when they first met. She knew that she wanted nothing more than to be friends with her and she knew that she could definitely use a friend like Santana having never really had any real friends through elementary and middle school. But Santana had had a much bigger impact on her life than she had ever really thought possible.
It had been Santana that had given her the push she needed to give Finn a chance, and while that relationship had never been the panicle of a good pairing or even a healthy one and they had been on again off again throughout most of high school it had made an impact on her life in ways she had never thought it would.
It was her relationship with Finn that had been the whole reason she had joined the glee club, of course, she had only joined to try and keep him away from Rachel, but still, her relationship with Finn had led her to most of the choices she had made when she was younger, and while it hadn't ended the way she had once hoped it would, she could look back on their time together and smile.
She felt thankful that at one time in her life, she'd had someone like Finn.
His loss had left a huge hole in her heart and life, she knew that everyone who had known him and loved him had felt the same way when he had been taken from them all far too soon.
Being with Finn, losing Finn, had helped shape her into the woman she was today, her first taste of status of power, her first love, and if she were being entirely honest with herself, perhaps one of the only people she had ever truly loved.
She hadn't realised at the time, just how much Santana's world views had mirrored her mother's, that status and power had meant everything in life.
That picking the right partner meant everything in life.
Of course, her mother's version of the right partner, and her own were vastly different.
That's how she'd ended up with Finn, it's how she'd ended up with Biff, coasting through life in an engagement and relationship she wasn't entirely sure she wanted anymore. She knew that Biff could give her a good life, a comfortable life, but she wasn't sure it was the life she had envisioned for herself.
She had always thought she would get more from life.
"You're quiet," Biff said, peering over his newspaper to watch Quinn closely. She turned her head away from the view from the balcony, trying to give her fiancé her full, undivided attention. "Any reason?"
Quinn shook her head slowly. "No," she replied with a small shrug. "just thinking, I guess."
"About?" He asked.
"A lot of things."
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Are you still annoyed about us moving here?" He asked. "I thought you'd be over that by now, you know that this is what's best for us, for our future."
She shook her head. "No, I'm not annoyed about moving here," she replied, and she wasn't annoyed anymore, not really, sure she preferred New Haven, she would never lie about that, but she wasn't annoyed about living there.
Now she was worried about trying to get back in touch with her old friends, friends she knew that Biff didn't approve of, though he had only met them all once, he had never tried to hide his distaste for them.
He hadn't liked the small town he grew up in, or the mentality most of them had, least of all Santana, and Quinn knew that if she was going to be navigating her life in New York, at some point, Biff and her old friends would cross paths.
She couldn't ignore them.
She couldn't ignore the people who had helped shape her into the person she was, the people who had helped her through her toughest points in life, but she knew it would be hard for all of them to be together in harmony.
"Then what is it?" He asked, closing the paper, and putting it down on the table.
"I'm just stressed, I guess," she said. "The move back here, being without a job right now… I get that we had to move here, but that doesn't mean it's easy for me."
"I know, and I'm stressed too," he admitted. "We knew it would be hard getting used to life here, but we just have to get used to it… you just need to get out and do something, since we got here all you've done is sit in the apartment and look out of the window… go out, go shopping, I don't know."
She nodded her head slowly, seeing it as the perfect Segway to broach a topic she knew would be a sensitive one. "Yeah, I guess I could," she replied. "I mean, I have a couple of friends from high school who still live here… I could always try and arrange something with them."
His jaw tensed slightly. "You're old high school friends?" He asked.
Quinn nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, I mean, there's no saying any of them will be free," she shrugged. "But it can't hurt to try and get reacquainted with them, right?"
"Which friends?"
"Rachel and her fiancé, Kurt and his husband… and Santana," she said, leaving the other woman until the end, knowing all too well about how Biff had felt about her crass attitude and nature.
"Oh," he said, his tone clipped.
"Oh?" Quinn asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," he shook his head. "I just thought that you'd have grown out of all of them and now," he admitted. "You haven't seen them or even talked about them in years."
She knew he was right; she hadn't seen them in years, and that hadn't always been by choice, she would've loved to have seen them, to have been able to spend time with them, but sometimes life got in the way, and when she said life, she really meant Biff.
"You thought that I'd have grown out of them?" Quinn asked, her brow furrowed tightly, and her lips pursed. She had no idea how he could be so flippant about things, about her old friends and everything he knew about them all. "How could I possibly have grown out of them?"
"Because," He said, his voice rising slightly, and his tone harsh. "These things happen… how many people can honestly say they still have all the same friends from high school?" He asked.
Quinn nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, they do happen, and I'm not friends with everybody I was back then… but my friends from glee will always be my friends… it's like this unspoken rule between us… it doesn't matter how long it's been since we saw each other or spoke… we're always there for each other… we're more like family," she said. "That's not the type of thing that just goes away."
He nodded his head slowly. "Okay, if you say so," he said. "Call them, see if any of them want to see you," he suggested. "But don't get your hopes up, after ignoring them for as long as you have, you might find that they've all moved on without you… and you're the only one stuck in high school."
She had been sitting on what Biff had said ever since he left for work that morning. She knew deep down that her old friends would always be there for her, especially the ones that were living so close by now. But she couldn't help but doubt herself slightly.
She hadn't been as active in any of the group chats over the recent years, mainly sending the obligatory replies or laugh reactions to videos and memes they sent, but it was very rare she actually sent anything of substance to the conversations.
Quinn couldn't help but wonder if she had truly shot herself in the foot with all the time she had spent being an absent friend.
She sighed, and headed over to the balcony, before taking a quick selfie of her standing in front of the view of New York, she quickly sent it to the group chat, hoping it wouldn't go ignored.
She sent it with the simple message: Goodbye New Haven, hello New York.
She had been intermittently texting her friends all day, answering all of their questions: how long have you been in New York? How long are you staying? Why did you come back?
It was safe to say that- just like they always had been- her friends were all up in everybody else's business, she couldn't say she blamed them, she knew that if Mercedes or Sam had sent a text like that to the group it would've been the most active, she had been in the group chat for months.
There was just one thing that wasn't sitting right with her, one thing that was bothering her much more than she ever wanted to admit, and that was the fact that Santana had read every single message yet had said nothing herself.
She had been staring at her text thread with Santana for the last half an hour, toying with the idea of messaging her, striking up any kind of conversation she could before asking why she had been ignoring the group chat.
She was just about to write out a message when she heard the intercom buzzing, she sighed and headed over, wondering who could possibly be coming to her apartment at 10:30 on a Wednesday. She pressed the button on the intercom. "Hello?" She said though it sounded more like a question than a greeting.
"Hey," a familiar voice said, and already, she had a good idea of where this conversation was headed. While she liked Blair, it seemed very out of the ordinary for the other woman to be inviting herself over to her apartment at such an early time in the morning.
"Hey, Muffy, are you okay?" She asked, already regretting every answer to the intercom call, usually, where there was a Muffy there wasn't a Vivian too far behind.
"I'm good thanks, Vivian is here too," she replied, her tone slightly bored. "We were wondering if you wanted to hang out today? We could all go do some shopping and see a little more of the city?" Muffy offered. Quinn sighed, already knowing that they had been put up to this by Biff and his brothers. She knew that this was her fiancés oh so clever way of keeping her away from her old friends.
He had said himself that he wanted her to get out more, to explore the city and get away from just sitting and staring out of the window, but it was clear now that he wanted her to do that with the right people. The kind of people that he approved of and wanted her to be around. Unfortunately for Quinn, the only people Biff approved of were his friends and family.
"Uh, yeah," she said, nodding her head slowly despite the fact that neither Muffy nor Vivian could currently see her. "I'd really like that," she lied, trying her best to sound as enthusiastic as she possibly could.
Though if she were being entirely honest, Quinn couldn't think of anything worse than spending the day with Muffy and Vivian, two people that she felt were the most boring people on the planet. Knowing she would be spending the day with them did little to help the ache she had in her heart as she thought about her old friends, and all the time they had lost while she was wrapped up in New Haven spending time with people exactly like Biff and his family.
Quinn missed her old friends dearly and loved them all even more than she missed them. She was hoping that one day soon, she would be able to walk into a café or restaurant and sit with them all reminiscing about the glory days and how far they had all come since graduating.
From what she had seen online they would all have a lot to catch up on.
Rachel was on Broadway, as were Kurt and Blaine, the latter were married and happily living their life together, Sam and Mercedes had shacked up, and then there was Santana who rarely seemed to post anything, which was the biggest shock to her out of everyone.
She knew the other woman was in New York and had seen a few selfies, and some thirst traps, but other than that, she had no idea where the other woman was working or what she was doing.
But she was sure, when the time came for them to talk again, Santana would have a plethora of stories under her belt, Santana had never been one to just sit and wait for things to happen. She knew that after her breakup with Brittany, she had travelled a little, and she was sure that while she was on her adventures Santana would've met some of the most interesting people out there.
She couldn't wait to hear those stories.
Quinn had spent the morning being dragged around from shop to shop, and while she would usually enjoy the chance to spend what seemed to be an endless amount of money, the company she was currently in was putting a damper on the whole activity.
All morning she'd had to listen to Muffy and Vivian talking about their lives with the older McIntosh brothers. And while they claimed to be perfectly happy and content with their lives, there seemed to be an undertone to the things they were saying. Quinn wasn't sure she wanted the kind of life she was talking about.
A life being stuck at home all day while their husbands worked, how kids seemed to be in the very near future though neither of them really seemed ready- yet claimed to be ecstatic both of them proudly proclaiming they were no longer using birth control and how if it happens it happens. But worst of all for Quinn, she didn't miss the way they both spoke about how their husbands expected everything in the house to be perfect while doing nothing to help that happen.
She couldn't help but wonder if this was the life she was destined for, a life she knew was right around the corner for her, and a life she knew she would hate every single second of. The longer she spent in New York with these people, the heavier and heavier that little ring on her finger seemed to become.
Feeling more and more like a handcuff, changing her in place, and tying her to a family and life she no longer wanted to be a part of.
"What about you, Quinn?" Muffy asked, her voice pulling Quinn from her thoughts abruptly. "Do you think you and Biff will have kids soon?"
"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged. "I mean, we've talked about it, obviously, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet, I don't think I'll be ready for that for a while." She had already done the whole pregnancy and baby thing once, and while she knew that time was entirely different to how it would be now, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to go through it again.
"But what about Biff?" Vivian asked. "Is he ready?"
Quinn shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I think so, we haven't really put a time stamp on things yet, y'know?" She asked. "I mean, we're only twenty-four."
"Right," Muffy nodded. "You're twenty-four, you should really start thinking about these things. I mean, we've been trying for years and we're twenty-six… it's something you should really think about."
"Yeah, but Biff and I don't even really have a venue yet," she admitted. "We've thrown some ideas around, but haven't settled on anything… I think, for a while at least, kids can wait."
"You don't have a venue?" Vivian asked. "How can you not have a venue yet?"
"Oh, I don't know I guess—"
"Quinn, you need to find a venue, fast," Muffy said, trying to stress her point as much as she could. "The premiere venues in New York are hard to come by, if you don't act soon you might end up getting married in some cheap hotel… or worse, the courthouse."
"It's not about where you get married though, right?" She asked. "It's about the person and what the wedding means?"
"It is absolutely about the place you get married," Vivian said. "You're going to be a McIntosh, people are going to be talking about this wedding, it has to be just right."
Muffy nodded her head. "You are so lucky you have us," she said, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, Quinnie, we are going to help you with everything, and we are going to make sure you have the wedding of the decade."
"Oh, thank you," Quinn said quietly, trying her best to muster a smile, which really came out as more of a grimace. "I can't wait."
After walking around the streets for a couple more hours, Muffy and Vivian buying everything they saw (even if it had no real use or need for it), and Quinn buying nothing, the two older women decided it was time for some lunch.
"This really doesn't seem like the kind of place you guys would go," Quinn said as she took a seat and looked around the small establishment. She hadn't known what she was expecting from a place called The Spotlight Diner, but it hadn't been this. Especially not when it had been suggested to her by Vivian and Muffy.
"Oh, it's not," Muffy said, shaking her head. "But we like to come here sometimes because it's dumb and cheesy," she explained. "That and if you request a song, the wait staff absolutely have to sing it… it's all part of the gimmick. We like to come here and see just how far we can push things… it's so stupid," she chuckled.
"That seems a little mean," Quinn said, though she knew at one point in her life, it was exactly the kind of thing she and Santana would've relished in. They would've taken great pleasure coming here and making people bend to their every whim. She was happy to say that over the years she had grown out of most of her mean-girl behaviour.
"Mean?" Muffy said, her brow furrowed slightly. "How is it mean?"
"Because they're just trying to do their job, right?" She asked. "And here you are making them do all this stuff, I don't know it just seems…" she trailed off and shook her head, not really having the words for what she was trying to say.
"Yeah," Vivian nodded. "They are doing their job, and it's their job to do whatever we say when we're in here… what's your point?"
"My point is that I don't think it's fair to come here and make them do crazy stuff when they're just trying to make a living."
Muffy scoffed. "A living?" She asked, a snarky smile spreading across her face.
"Yeah, I don't think it can actually be called a living," Vivian continued. "I mean, really, how much money can they make working here… I doubt anyone can really live on these wages."
Quinn knew they were right, she understood how the service industry worked, low wages hopefully made up by any and all tips they could collect. While she agreed, it certainly wasn't a liveable wage, she surely wouldn't judge anyone for working in that industry.
"I honestly wouldn't show my face in public if I worked somewhere like this," Muffy said, shaking her head as she reached for one of the menus on the table. "Could you imagine having to tell people where you worked, and it be here?"
"Well at least they work," she mumbled before turning her attention to the menu. It was a not-so-subtle dig at the two women sitting with her, and most of the other women that ran in their circle, and surely, a dig at her future self if she wasn't careful.
Muffy hummed softly. "Not everyone can be as lucky as us," she shot back. "We don't have to work, and honestly, I prefer it that way."
Quinn would be honest, while she liked not having to get up early, and liked not having to fight against the rush hour traffic, she hated not working. She hated having nothing to do every day. She wasn't made to just sit and wait for something to happen; she never had been.
A tense silence fell between the three women as they each scanned the menu. She couldn't believe there was actually anything on this menu that Vivian and Muffy would actually eat. It all seemed far too greasy and unhealthy for their upper east side lifestyle.
She could hear Muffy and Vivian snickering under their breath about things, talking harshly about the waiting staff in the diner, and Quinn was sure they could hear they weren't exactly being quiet.
Just as she was about to open her mouth, and change the conversation, she heard the light tapping of footsteps heading towards them and silently thanked anyone who might be listening for the small intervention.
"Hello, and welcome to The Spotlight Diner," a familiar, raspy voice said. It was a voice she would recognise anywhere, a voice that she had grown to know all too well in her life, the voice came with its usual bored tone, making it sound like the owner wanted to be doing anything other than taking orders that day. She peered over her menu, watching the other woman carefully, a small smile spreading across her face when her eyes landed on her former best friend. The other woman stayed looking down at the notepad, avoiding eye contact and showing her complete lack of interest. "I am Santana, I will be your chorus girl waitress this afternoon… can I get you started with one of our famous orange freezes?" She asked, finally looking up from her notepad.
As she looked up, her dark eyes locked with Quinn's hazel ones, and a small smile played at the corner of her lips, her expression a little brighter now than it had been before. "Hey, you, saw you were back in town."
Quinn nodded her head slowly. "Yeah… I uh, moved here not too long ago, so I'm still getting used to big city life, I guess…" she smiled. "It's a million miles away from Lima and New Haven."
Santana smiled. "Yeah, it takes some getting used to, but I don't know. I think New York was kind of made for people as hot as us," she teased. "And if you ever need anyone to show you around, you know where I am."
"I'll have to take you up on that sometime," she smiled softly.
The sound of snapping fingers pulled both of them away from each other. "Uh, hola," Muffy said, giving Santana a smug smile. "I really hate to break up whatever this is, but we would like to order, por favor."
Santana widened her eyes slightly as she turned to face the other woman. "Excuse me?"
"You're excused," Vivian said, her eyebrows knitted together. "We'd like three diet cokes, and three small cheeseburgers and fries…"
"Uh, have you asked everyone else what they want or are you just assuming?" Santana asked with a small smile, turning her head to face Quinn.
"I'm sorry, what?" Vivian said, closing the menu and leaning forwards slightly, putting herself closer to Santana.
"Nothing I just wanted to make sure that's actually what everyone wants to eat, I'm assuming everyone at this table can speak for themselves… Quinn?" She asked, turning back to the blonde.
Muffy and Vivian turned their heads to face the blonde, watching her carefully. "Uh, I'll have a diet coke and a BLT, thank you," she replied. She hadn't really felt like having something as heavy as a cheeseburger for lunch anyway.
That, and she couldn't sit and watch Santana struggle.
"Excellent," Santana said. "Would anyone else like to change their order while I'm here? Or are we still blindly following the lead?"
Muffy shook her head. "No, that will be all," she replied, her tone clipped.
"Great, I'll be right back with your drinks," Santana said, a snarky smile spreading across her face. It was nice for Quinn to see that some things never change. She didn't know how she would feel if Santana was no longer the snarky, blunt, snide girl she always had been.
While there were times Santana's blunt honesty had got her in trouble and had made her some enemies. Quinn had always, secretly, admired those traits of hers. It was evident by the looks on Muffy and Vivian's faces that they didn't share the same sentiments she did.
"Ve rapido," Muffy shot back, a snarky smile of her own crossing her face. "Gracias." Santana scoffed before turning on her heel and walking away from them. "Someone is seriously running the risk of not getting a tip with that attitude," Muffy commented as Santana retreated behind the counter with their orders. "Seriously, who does she think she is to speak to us like that?"
"Well, you can't really blame her for being that way given how you spoke to her," Quinn replied. "And she does speak English, so you can stop with the weird, choppy… poorly pronounced Spanish… She's from Ohio."
Vivian rolled her eyes. "Well sorry for trying to add some culture to things, we won't do it again," she shook her head and pulled her phone from her purse. "Sorry to offend you and your little waitress friend."
"How do you know her, anyway?" Muffy asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked back over at Santana. "She really doesn't seem like the type of person you would know… how did you two cross paths?"
There was something about the way she said it, that Quinn couldn't quite place, something that let Quinn know their feelings came down to the fact that Santana wouldn't fit their WASPy nature, and she had a strong feeling as to why they would never accept her at face value.
"We went to high school together," she explained with a small shrug. "We met when we both tried out for the cheerleading squad… and then we both joined the glee club together. She was one of the first friends I made in high school… and while we didn't always get along… and had our moments… she was one of my best friends."
Quinn knew in reality, Santana was still one of her best friends, she knew that if she ever needed the other woman, she would be there for her.
"Did you know she was here?" Muffy asked.
"I knew she was in New York somewhere, a lot of my old high school friends moved to New York after graduating," she explained. "I didn't think I'd ever just bump into any of them though," she admitted looking over at where Santana was standing.
She was standing with another woman, a little shorter than Santana was, with dyed blonde hair and dark eyes. She was an attractive girl anyone could see. They were both talking animatedly, with Santana gesturing trying to articulate something before the shorter woman rolled her eyes and glanced over at them.
She quickly turned back to Santana and continued talking. And if Quinn had to make any bets, she would've bet that Santana and her colleague were talking about them, or at the very least her.
The blonde looked back over at them and flashed them all a quick smile waving at Quinn before turning her attention back to Santana.
"Why do they keep looking over here?" Vivian asked, her tone harsh, and pulling Quinn away from the two women standing behind the counter.
"It's probably just Santana being Santana," she shrugged. "Really it's nothing to worry about."
Though she was saying the words, she didn't fully believe them herself. She knew how bad Santana could be when she wanted to be, she knew how far the other woman would go when pushed the right way.
She just hoped that the blonde she was talking to would be able to defuse a situation rather than throw fuel on the fire.