It had definitely been an interesting week working for Santana Lopez. She often didn't give Brittany anything to do, which meant Brittany mostly just sat at her desk, watching the second hand on the clock tick the hours away. Occasionally, she'd throw a covert look in Santana's direction just to see what she was doing. As distant as the woman seemed to be, she intrigued Brittany. And Brittany found herself enjoying watching her. Though she'd found it odd at first, she was really glad now that Santana always kept her door open. She'd already made several observations from those furtive glances.
For example, Santana never opened the blinds to her office window. When she talked on the phone, her eyebrows were almost always knitted together. She wrote with her left hand. And when she read from any of her law books, she'd hold it in front of her and pace the room. When she had meetings with clients, she was almost just as distant with them as she was with Brittany. All she seemed to care about was getting the facts and completing the case. Brittany had been working for her for four days now, and she still knew absolutely nothing about her. She was infuriating and fascinating all at the same time.
It was now Friday morning. Brittany was just getting off the elevator a few minutes before 8. When she reached her desk, she automatically looked at Santana's office to see the lights on and the brunette pacing inside. Brittany was coming to expect Santana being there before her, as she had been every day this week. Today, she was wearing a gray pantsuit. That was another thing Brittany had come to expect. Santana liked power suits. Brittany herself had chosen a light yellow blouse to go with her usual pencil skirt. She thought it was flattering with her blue eyes and blonde hair, which she had styled in a long over-the-shoulder braid this morning. Without greeting Santana (since they didn't do that), Brittany sat down at her desk and took notes on the two voicemails waiting for her. Then, she checked the calendar for Santana's Friday meetings. Having gathered everything together, she knocked quietly on the open office door.
"Er, Ms. Lopez, I have notes from two voicemails. One of your previous clients, a Mr. Jackson Harding, would like another consultation with you regarding a new case. Also, Mr. Phillip Browning called for you, also requesting a consultation."
Santana finished writing whatever note she'd been making when Brittany had entered the room, put her pen down, and looked up. Brittany wasn't entirely sure, but she though Santana's eyes widened for a split second when she looked at Brittany.
"Make an appointment with Harding for sometime next week. As for Browning, I have spoken to that man directly myself and told him I would not take his case."
At this, Santana mumbled something under her breath. Brittany thought she heard the words "creeper" and "greasy" thrown in. She suppressed a smile.
"If he calls again, feel free to tell him to stop. If he persists, don't bother taking notes or reporting it to me."
"Yes ma'am...er, Ms. Lopez."
Santana sighed and picked up her pen to begin writing another note. "Is there anything else?"
"Oh, yes actually. Your morning is clear today, but there is an associates meeting at noon. Lunch will be provided. And then you have a client meeting at 2."
"Right. Thanks."
"Is there anything else I can do for the time being?"
"No, that is all."
Brittany nodded, although she was sure Santana didn't see her, considering her head was looking down at her papers.
When she sat down at her desk, she began her usual routine of switching between staring at the clock and staring at Santana. Brittany started to think she was developing a problem. People don't just stare at other people like this. But then again, other people don't look like Santana Lopez. She'd been so caught up in staring at the brunette that she was quite startled when her phone rang at 11:30. Jumping wildly, she managed to knock over a large stack of papers on her desk in her attempt to answer the phone. She saw Santana look up at the commotion, and this time, she was certain she saw a slight smirk flash across her face. Feeling like an extreme idiot, she answered the phone. After 10 seconds, she hung up and began to rise from her seat but found Santana standing in front of her desk.
"Anything important?" The ghost of her earlier smirk was still on her face.
Feeling a little flustered, Brittany stumbled over her words trying to get them out.
"Er...the associates meeting has been cansmelled—um, cancelled, I mean."
Santana's smirk came back full-fledged at Brittany's stuttering, and Brittany felt even more like an idiot. Cansmelled? Really?
Santana put her hands on the edge of Brittany's desk and leaned down toward the blonde. Completely unable to help herself, Brittany let her eyes fall to the open space between Santana's light blue top and her skin. She could just barely see the top of a black bra, covering the brunette's perfectly-shaped breasts. Brittany gulped and looked back up quickly.
"You know," said Santana in a very low voice, "the phone might not startle you so much if you weren't so caught up in the staring game."
Brittany gulped again. Shit. Fuck. Fuck shit. She knew Brittany had been staring. Say something, you idiot!
Brittany opened her mouth to say God-knows-what when Santana straightened back up and said in her normal voice, "You said the meeting is cancelled?"
"Er—yes?"
"That's good, actually. I wasn't quite at a stopping point yet. Why don't you go to lunch now instead? After you sort this out, of course." She inclined her head towards the mess of papers on the floor.
"Right. Okay."
With that, Santana turned and reentered her office. Feeling slightly relieved, but still mostly just stupid, Brittany stooped down to pick up the papers. After reorganizing them, she stood at Santana's open door and cleared her throat to announce her presence.
"Um, I'm going to lunch now. And since the meeting is cancelled, well, that was your lunch and all so..." Brittany started twiddling her fingers together. Why the hell was she so awkward around this woman?
Santana was looking at her with mild curiosity.
"Well, I just wanted to say that I'd be happy to bring something back for you. That way, you don't have to stop what you're doing."
Again, Santana looked as if she was considering Brittany's offer, but after a few seconds, she shook her head and once again declined. Brittany nodded and left the office.
When she got out onto the street, the cold air seemed to help clear her head a little bit. She made her way to a little soup and sandwich shop Mr. Perkins used to like getting lunch from. She ordered her sandwich and as she sat eating, she internally scolded herself for being so obvious with her staring. She vowed from now on to not stare at Santana Lopez. Or at least not so much.
When she finished eating, she stood to leave, but after a moment's hesitation, she walked back to the counter and made an order to-go.
"One large tomato soup, please. Crackers in the bag."
Santana may have declined her offer, but the woman needed to eat. And it was winter in New York. Soup was a perfectly acceptable lunch to bring her.
When she was finally back on the 17th floor, she felt oddly nervous again. All the clarity the cold air had brought sort of vanished as soon as she started getting close to Santana's office. Just when she reached the brunette's door, she saw Santana putting her phone back on the receiver and putting her head into her hands. Brittany felt strangely concerned to see her like that.
"Is everything okay, Ms. Lopez?"
Santana snapped her head up at Brittany's voice and cleared her throat.
"Fine. Everything's fine. Just tired, I guess."
"You should probably eat something."
"I can eat when I get home."
"Well, I brought you some soup. I don't even know if you like soup, or tomato soup, since that's what I got. If not, you can just throw it away."
Santana seemed mildly stunned at Brittany's words. The blonde walked forward and placed the paper bag on Santana's desk. She was kind of starting to regret getting it now, since Santana hadn't said anything yet. She decided to just leave it there and quickly leave, but before she could, Santana cleared her throat once more.
"Erm...that was...very nice of you, Brittany. You didn't have to do that," Santana said, looking everywhere but at Brittany. It was the most awkward Brittany had ever seen the woman. And she loved it.
"It's no big deal, really. I used to get lunch all the time for my old boss."
This wasn't strictly true. Only occasionally would Mr. Perkins ask her to get lunch for him, and she certainly had never offered.
"Well, um, thanks again."
The rest of the day passed without any more interaction with Santana, but Brittany did get more satisfaction than she should have when she saw the brunette eating the soup. When 5 o'clock rolled around, Brittany gathered her things and internally debated whether or not she should tell her boss goodbye. Deciding it would be rude not to, but begrudgingly admitting to herself she just wanted another reason to talk to the woman, she stood once more at the door to Santana's office.
"Ms. Lopez, I'm leaving for the day, if you don't need me for anything else."
"Oh, right. No, I don't need you for anything else."
"Have a good weekend," Brittany said with a small smile.
"Er, yes. You too."
Brittany left the office, relieved to be going home and to have the weekend off. Then again, she kind of wished there wouldn't be two whole days where she didn't get to see Santana Lopez.