Chapter 27 – Lesbos

"Britt … I think we should hear them out."

Brittany is surprised by Santana's willingness to listen to these women and half turns toward her, not wanting to turn her back on the women.

"Are you sure?"

Santana nods. "They don't seem to be looking for trouble. I mean … look at how and where they're standing."

Brittany looks back at the women and sees that Santana has a point. All of the women look to be in their mid-to-late-twenties. They're well, if casually, dressed and seem to be calm; not angry or upset.

Brittany nods. "Okay. Why don't we head over to that little park and sit down?" She gestures across the street.

The women nod and they all walk over and find a small gazebo to settle into.

Once they're all seated, the woman who initially talked to them speaks up.

"I am Ava. This is Ingrid, Gertie, Adrienne, and Solile. We all speak English but I am the most fluent so they have asked me to speak for the group."

"I'm Brittany. This is Santana."

Ava smiles slightly. "We know. We have been to all of your performances. You are, both of you, very talented." She sighs softly.

"There are six of us who have been coming to the festival for five years. Kirsten isn't one of us. Our sixth, Deirdre, fell ill and sold her spot to Kirsten." Ava shook her head. "Deirdre works with Kirsten; they are not friends, precisely, but they are civil. The rest of us do not like Kirsten. What she did to you, she has done before." A scowl creases her face.

"We do not spend much time with her but we have been at clubs with her. She, for reasons none of us understand, is rather arrogant and entitled. She will see a woman she likes and grab her, push her against a wall, and kiss her."

Brittany notices Santana flinch at the description. She slips her arm around Santana's shoulders and pulls Santana into her side.

Ava seems not to notice Santana's discomfort. "Sometimes, she gets slapped. Usually, though, she chooses a woman who is too drunk to fight … or is simply looking for a quick hook-up.

"When we found out she would be joining us, we met with her ahead of time and let her know we would not tolerate that behavior. We would not defend her, protect her, or help her if she chose to accost someone." Ava shook her head again. "We are so very sorry …"

Santana cuts her off. "Hey, it's not your fault. It's funny, a lot of people are blaming themselves; trying to take responsibility for her actions. You know who isn't taking responsibility? Her. She's not sorry. So … I appreciate your apology but it's misguided."

Ava smiles at her. "I appreciate that but we should have known something like this might happen. We were at your first performance last Friday and, afterward, Kirsten couldn't stop talking about how beautiful you were, how talented, how … forgive me …" she looks at Brittany "much better for you she was than Brittany. After about twenty minutes of her nonsense, we all told her to shut up; that you were, obviously, quite happily committed to Brittany. That, even if she were able to meet you, you wouldn't give her a second look." Ava looks a little sheepish. "I know this is uncharitable but she is not very attractive. Perhaps, if her personality were more palatable she would be but her personality simply highlights her physical ugliness."

Santana nods and looks at Brittany.

"She does seem to have a better opinion of herself than she has reason to." Brittany says.

Ava nods. "She had become obsessed with you; we just didn't realize how bad it was. Last night, we were looking for her to tell her we were headed back to the hotel. When we saw Brittany pull her off you, Ingrid and I were furious. She tried to tell security she didn't know who you were, didn't know you had a girlfriend; that you wanted it and were enjoying it." Ava shakes her head and scowls, her anger evident. "We told security she was lying. We told her we would not defend her. Encountering you exiting the station was serendipitous; we had hoped to find you later and apologize. Ingrid and I were going to sign our statements. We were going let Kirsten know that we had packed her belongings and they were being stored at the hotel. We called her parents and that would be the end of our association."

Santana nodded. "Thank you. Truly, I appreciate it but I want you to enjoy the rest of the festival. Don't let this ruin it for you. I'm okay. I'll be fine. You didn't do anything wrong; this isn't your fault so don't keep it on your shoulders, okay?"

The five women smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. You are not just beautiful and talented, you are incredibly kind and generous. Will you perform tonight?"

"Thank you and yeah, I will. Tonight and tomorrow night."

"We look forward to it." The women stood up and each of them shook Santana's and Brittany's hands.

Santana and Brittany sat there for a moment after the women had walked away.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I am. That was … interesting. It seems a lot of people feel guilty about what happened last night. Everyone except the one person who should."

Santana falls silent for a moment apparently lost in her head.

"San?"

"Hm?"

"Talk to me?"

Santana looks over at Brittany and her eyes re-focus.

"I was just thinking that I have spent a lot of time today telling people it wasn't their fault. That they had nothing to apologize for. I think … after saying it often enough to others that I'm finally understanding it. I don't like what happened, obviously, and it's going to affect me but … it wasn't my fault and I'm not going to blame myself. I shouldn't have to be glued to your side for people to understand I'm taken. Even if I WAS single she had no right to touch me without my permission. This is on her. All I did was get distracted by some fudge. Which, now that I think about it, I never did get." Santana grins at Brittany.

Brittany laughs. "What do you wanna do now?"

Santana looks at her phone and sees it's just after two. She frowns for a moment.

"I want to walk around the festival; I want to hear whatever rumors are floating about. I think I'm going to address the attack and the rumors tonight before my performance."

"Okay. If that's what you want. I don't think we should spend a lot of time wandering the festival, though. You look like you could use a nap before your performance."

"You aren't wrong."

Brittany stands up and offers Santana her hand. "Let's go settle some rumors."