Hello friends! Here we are again.
I have changed my pen name to hide my identity. For those of you who DO know my name, well aren't you lucky. Lol.
Sorry for any mistakes, there's probably a couple in there.
"How long does it take to get to where we're going?"
The girls had been driving for about ten minutes or so. Santana said that it was right down the road, but it was taking a little bit longer than expected.
"Don't worry, Britt. It shouldn't be that much longer."
They had stopped at Rachel's place to get her camera and her ukulele, then headed down to the valley. When they reached the lookout, there were a bunch of cars sitting in the parking lot. Santana pulled to the side and put her truck in park.
"Why are you stopping?"
"So many questions. Just come on babe. Follow me." Rachel jumped out of the truck first and ran over to the rock wall. Santana and Brittany followed, interlocking their hands. It had become second nature, a habit.
The view of the valley was incredible. It was similar to Pololu Valley but she definitely liked this one a little better. Brittany walked closer to the wall and sat next to Rachel who was trying to snap a picture for Quinn.
"This is awesome. People are down there?"
"Yeah. Waipio is like, the spot. We used to come down here all the time. That was before everyone started coming down here a lot." Rachel looked a bit irritated. "Like us and the girls would be down here every weekend, then the football boys started coming, volleyball girls, even the fuckin golf team started coming down. And eventually it got too crowded."
"Ugh, I hated when the golf team came down. They always brought all their clubs and shit. It got so fuckin' irritating."
"Oh my God and they'd hit golf balls on the beach yeah? Jesus."
Brittany was still sitting there, admiring the view as the two girls talked.
"Let's get down there." Santana was rubbing Brittany's shoulders. "I can't wait to show you."
They got back into the truck and headed down the hill. It was very steep, much more than Brittany initially anticipated. The cars coming up the hill were stopping for the vehicles coming down the hill which was very considerate.
"We're going down into the valley?"
"Of course! We wouldn't have come this way if we weren't. It'd be a waste of a trip."
Once they got off of the steep hill, Santana drove until they were driving near the water. It looked like a regular beach, just not as crowded and had black sand.
"It's beautiful down here." As they were driving, Santana plugged in her iPod and started to play music.
"This is the playlist that I always play when we come down here."
Brittany was listening to the song playing and she couldn't help but start to bob her head to the music.
They got to a little house near the river that flowed through the valley, and Santana parked her truck in the empty spot in the garage.
"Whose house is this?"
"It's my uncles. He's away in the mainland right now, I texted him earlier. He told me we could come and hang out."
They got out of the truck and walked towards the house. Santana found the spare key under the mat and opened the front door to let everyone in. To Brittany's surprise, the house was really nice. It looked brand new.
"This is so nice."
"Right? I remember coming down here with Santana during our sophomore year and just chilling. Her uncle was always surfing so we'd have the house to ourselves.
Rachel was sitting in the beach chair that was placed near the couch in the living room. It seemed to have one bedroom, with a bathroom and a kitchen. It was a cute little house, so secluded and so far away from the town.
"I'm guessing that your uncle doesn't come into town often?"
"Not really, he is super low maintenance. He comes out of the valley, mostly to buy groceries and visit family. Which, might I add, is only twice a year. Christmas and Easter." Santana was opening a couple windows now, letting the breeze that was making its way through the valley enter the house and fill it with cool air. "He sells taro to local stores and that's his income. There's no electricity in the house, and he has a water catchment. That's how he was running water in the house."
"Interesting." Brittany was walking around the house and looked at the pictures that were all over the living room. She recognized a picture that had Santana's mom and another man in. "Is this your uncle?"
"It is. He's my mom's older brother."
Brittany continued looking around the living room at the pictures while Santana went back into her truck to grab her phone and Rachel's things. As she was scanning through the picture frames, Brittany came across one that made her a bit uncomfortable. It was a picture of Santana and Kehau, from what looked like a concert. Santana was wearing a tank top and basketball shorts while Kehau was sporting a crop top with jean shorts. They looked absolutely happy.
"Don't think too much about that, Britt. I see you looking at it. San's uncle loved Kehau, when she came out to him, he was the most excited. She introduced her to him and he couldn't get enough of his favorite nieces girlfriend. He used to work security at the concerts that went on at the ranch down the road from your place." Rachel got up and grabbed the picture. "Bob Marley fest. I remember. Because the entire team went and we were all supposed to have a good time, but Kehau went and fucked it all up."
"You still haven't let that go huh?" Santana came walking back into the house and handed Rachel her ukulele, and she handed the picture over to Brittany. "Just won't ever let it go."
"What do you want me to do?! The entire night she kept nagging and nagging about how you weren't spending time with her. Blah blah blah." Rachel sat back down and quietly tuned her ukulele. "And she made you leave before Lauryn Hill even went on."
"I gotta say, I was pretty upset about that." Santana turned back to Brittany who was now putting the picture back down on the table and sat down on the couch. "I'm sorry babe, all of this doesn't even matter anymore."
"I know how you guys get, it's alright. Honest. It doesn't bother me when you talk about Kehau." Santana sat next to Brittany and threw her arm around her. "And don't you love Lauryn Hill? She made you leave before she went on?"
"Yeah! I fuckin' love her. But she made us leave because she wanted to spend time with me. Alone. And I was like, can't we spend time after she sings my favorite song? No. We couldn't. So bullshit."
Rachel started strumming, and the song sounded so familiar, but Brittany couldn't put a finger on it. "Let me just say, Lauryn Hill was amazing that night."
Santana shot a look over at her best friend, and Rachel started to laugh. She continued strumming, until Brittany finally caught on. She got up from the couch and grabbed Rachel's camera off of the table where Santana had placed it.
As the melody continued, Santana started to get into it.
Brittany pressed record, and Rachel started to sing.
Turn your lights down low
And pull your window curtain
Oh, let the moon come shining in
Into our life again
Saying ooh, it's been a long, long time
I got this message for you girl
But it seems I was never on time
Did I want to get through to you girl?
On time, on time
I want to give you some love
I want to give you some good, good loving
Oh I, oh I, oh Yeah, I
I want to give you some good, good loving
Brittany was holding the camera steady on Santana, who was excited because her verse was coming up. She had said on many occasions that Lauryn Hill was one of her favorite singers. She began to sing, with Brittany admiring her from behind the lens of the camera.
Turn your lights down low
Never ever try to resist, oh no
Oh Let your love come shining in
Into our lives again
And ooh, I love you
And I want you to know right now
Ooh I love you
And I want you to know right now
That I, that I
I wanna give you some love
I wanna give you some good, good loving
Oh I, oh I, oh I
I wanna give you some good, good loving
That verse was Santana's favorite part in the entire song. And of course, it was also Brittany's, whenever Santana sang it. Whenever they were alone or in Santana's truck and the song came on, she would always look into Brittany's eyes as she sang it. She found it difficult to look into Santana's because she'd always be blushing and trying to look away.
Rachel stopped playing and Brittany turned the camera off. She yawned and laid down on the couch, putting her head on Santana's lap.
"You tired babe?" Brittany nodded, getting comfortable. "It's quiet down here huh? Peaceful."
"It really is." Her eyes were still closed, taking a deep breath in and relaxing. All Brittany could hear was the sound of birds chirping and the water running down the river towards the ocean.
"Do you mind if while you sleep, Rach and I head down to the beach?"
"Go ahead babe, sounds like a plan." Santana leaned down and kissed Brittany before getting off of the couch and walking towards the door. "I'll lock the door on my way out okay? Have a good nap. I love you."
"I love you too."
As Santana shut the door, Rachel looked at her and smiled.
"We aren't going to the beach are we?"
"Do you think I'm gonna come down here on a super nice day like this and go to the beach? You know where we're going. Hi'ilawe (He-e-la-ve)."
Hi'ilawe is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Hawai'i. It is also one of Santana and Rachel's favorite places to hike to so they can have some time to themselves.
The hike from her uncles place to the falls wasn't long, maybe about 10-15 minutes. When they got to the pool of water and looked up, the majestic Hi'ilawe was flowing. Santana still remembered the first time her and the team came to visit Hi'ilawe. It didn't take her long to realize that it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen in her entire life.
Santana took her shirt off and sat on one of the big rocks at the edge of the water. Rachel joined her, only to jump into the water a little after. She stood in the water while looking at Santana.
"So I know that you didn't bring us all the way down here just cause it's a nice day. What's on your mind?" Santana was looking down at her feet and then looked back up at Rachel. "Come on, San. You can tell me anything."
"I guess I'm just a little scared? I have never felt this way for anyone in my entire life. Brittany is, just amazing. After seeing Kehau again it made me realize that since then I haven't fallen for someone so hard. I don't think that I've ever fallen for someone this hard."
"You're not trying to say that you gonna break up with her right?" Santana's eyes shot up to Rachel's in a panic.
"No. No I'm not saying that at all! It's not like that. I'm just afraid that one day, she'll go back home to the mainland and I'll still be here."
Rachel swam back over and jumped out of the water and sat next to Santana, recognizing the sound in her voice. "You have nothing to worry about San. What brought this up?"
"I was just thinking about college and stuff, and all the times we've had so far."
"And you're afraid that everything would be for nothing?" Santana nodded. "Well I can tell you this much. Brittany loves you. And I know that for sure."
"But how do you know that? How do you know that when we get out of school, that she won't leave me."
"Trust her, San. She isn't Kehau, she isn't Kristen, or anyone you've ever dated. Just trust that her love for you is strong. Because it is." Rachel put her hand on Santana's shoulder. "In all honesty, I don't think anyone can compare to Brittany. As long as you guys just talk everything out and stuff, everything will be okay."
"Don't even trip on this stuff right now." Rachel hugged her. "You got this San, and you'll know how to handle anything that comes your way. And I'll be right here with you no matter what. Till the end."
"I know. And the same goes for you. What's going on with you and Quinn? You haven't really talked about her in a while." Rachel jumped back into the water, with Santana following.
The water was nice and cool compared to the hot weather that consumed mid-day. Santana brought her head out of the water.
"We're good. I mean, the distance gets really difficult at times. All I wanna do is be with her. Be able to make her feel better when she's sad. But all I can do is see her through pictures or on Skype."
They were in the middle of the pool of water now, just relaxing.
"Do you know when you're gonna see her again?" Rachel simply shrugged, because neither her or Quinn knew when the next time would be. "I don't know how you do it, Rach."
"It's hard. But we've talked about plans, I mean if we are really serious about staying together. Like going to the same college."
"Britt and I have talked about the same thing. Imagine how epic it'd be if we all went to the same college?"
The two girls continued talking about their futures and the rest of softball season when they realized that it was already12pm and they had left Brittany at the house for quite some time.
"Let's get back before Britt freaks out that we left her at your uncle's for so long." The girls got out of the water and went to grab their things.
Santana turned back to the waterfall and smiled. She knew that whenever she came to visit Hi'ilawe that she would leave with her worries washed away and she'd be refreshed and ready to go back to reality. She quickly mouthed the words 'thank you' and turned to follow her friend back to her uncle's where her girlfriend was probably awake and wondering where they were.
When they reached the house, they walked in to find Brittany still asleep on the couch.
"I'm gonna sleep too, if you don't mind." Rachel took a seat on the recliner and pulled the level to get it to recline.
"Go ahead. I'm gonna be on the porch. You'll know where to find me."
"Don't play too loud, San. Not that I mind or anything, I was just sayin cause.." And she points over to the blonde fast asleep on the couch.
"I won't."
Santana walked towards the back of the house and sat on the porch. It overlooked the river, and had a gorgeous view of the rest of the valley. She picked up the 2010 Les Paul her uncle had and turned on the battery-powered amp.
She only knew one song on the guitar, and she had learned it specifically for the winter talent show her junior year. Her uncle helped her for weeks on the song, knowing the exact reason why his niece chose it. She was going threw a terrible break up, and he wanted to be there for her.
Santana started playing, quickly adjusting the volume on the amp. She didn't want to wake them up. She always enjoyed the sound of downtempo songs.
But Brittany had gotten up anyway, slowly and walks towards the porch, so that she could hear Santana better. Santana had her legs up on the railing as she sat on the chair and continued playing. She was completely unaware that Brittany was standing behind her. Her eyes were closed.
Rachel was now standing next to Brittany, watching as her best friend played the guitar. "You should've seen her perform this song," She whispered. "She got her first standing O. And it was first time performing a solo on stage."
The two girls walked back into the living room. Rachel grabbed her phone and searched Santana's name on YouTube.
"Here." She plugged in the headphones and handed one side to Brittany. "You can tell she's nervous yeah? Look at her."
The video was playing, and Santana was slowly walking up to the microphone that was standing on the middle of the stage. She had a guitar slung on her. Brittany and Rachel leaned back on the couch and watched the video as it continued.
"WOO! Go Santana!" Nalani was screaming from where the softball team was sitting. "We love you!"
Santana started playing, and within the first seconds, she messed up. She took a deep breath, and started playing again.
When I get to Warwick Avenue
Meet me by the entrance of the tube
We can talk things over a little time
Promise me you won't step outta line
When I get to Warwick Avenue
Please drop the past and be true
Don't think we're okay, just because I'm here
You hurt me bad, but I won't shed a tear
Her posture and composure had changed now, and she looked completely comfortable on stage.
I'm leaving you for the last time baby
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I've been confused outta my mind lately
You think you're loving but I want to be free
Baby you've hurt me
When I get to Warwick Avenue
We'll spend an hour, but no more than two
Our only chance to speak once more
I showed you the answers, now here's the door
When I get to Warwick Avenue
I'll tell you baby that we're through
The crowd was going crazy now, which only pumped Santana's adrenaline more.
I'm leaving you for the last time baby
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I've been confused outta my mind lately
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I want to be free, baby you've hurt me
All the days spent together, I wished for better
But I didn't want the train to come
Now it's departed
I'm broken hearted, seems like we never started
All those days spent together, when I wished for better
And I didn't want the train to come
Everyone in the crowd was on their feet, as the song came to a close.
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I want to be free, baby you've hurt me
You don't love me, I want to be free
Baby you've hurt me
Santana looked out into the crowd and smiled. Her first performance had gone much more amazingly than she had ever imagined. She walked off stage and was greeted by the team, who group hugged her.
And the video came to an end.
"That, was really good. Holy shit." Brittany took the earphone out of her ear and handed it back to Rachel. She turned to look out the door at Santana, who was still quietly playing the tune to the song. "The song was for Kehau wasn't it?"
"It was. It was like, her way of some closure. After that, she was happy. She didn't cry, she didn't talk about how she wanted Kehau to be hers. We got our Santana back and it was like old times. And we always said that because she got up on stage, she became herself again."
They heard her put the guitar down and turn the amp off.
Santana walked in and smiled at Brittany.
"Come on, B. I wanna show you something."
She grabbed her by the hand and they walked towards the front door.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see, babe. You'll see."
AN: For anyone that is wondering, I don't have an uncle that lives down in the valley. And I have also never been to Hi'ilawe, which is upsetting because from what I have been told it's breathtaking. I've seen pictures and watched videos of friends that have gone to the falls and it would be wrong to say that I wasn't jealous.
It's considered trespassing to go to the falls if you don't have permission from the land owners. You have to walk through private property to get there.
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Alright, that's all for now :)
Songs used are - Turn Your Lights Down Low by Lauryn Hill and Bob Marley and Warwick Avenue - Duffy