Brittany woke up earlier than usual on Saturday morning. On weekends, she usually slept in and lazed around her apartment, but this morning, she felt rejuvenated. Feeling an urge to get out of the house, Brittany threw her hair into another braid, brushed her teeth, and got dressed to go outside. It felt nice to throw on an old pair of jeans and a sweater. New York winters might be tough, but at least the clothing was super comfy and warm. Before she walked out the door, she wrapped a bright red scarf around her neck, enjoying the feel of the soft texture against her skin.
She strolled down the sidewalk for a few minutes, and before she knew it, she was standing outside a very familiar coffee shop. It had been over a week since she'd gotten coffee here for Mr. Perkins, and she missed how good it was. It was low-key and quiet, the prices weren't outrageous, and the coffee didn't taste like cinnamon mocha or pumpkin spice or any other ridiculous thing. Just plain old coffee. Walking inside and deciding to also get a pastry or something to eat for breakfast, she noticed a very familiar face sitting at one of the small, spindly tables in the middle of the room. The woman was gorgeous, even in plain clothes. She too was wearing jeans; Brittany could see a small hole at one of the knees under the table. Her gray sweatshirt had two big blue letters, "CU," written on the front. Brittany wondered idly if they stood for the school Santana had attended. Her black hair was pulled into a ponytail, and Brittany once again was taken aback by her beautifully sculpted face. She loved how her hair always fell in perfect curls, but with it off her face, she could see the woman's every feature.
Santana was looking down and hadn't noticed her. She had a stack of two or three books and a folder of papers on her table. She was bent over one of her books, hastily making more notes. Forgetting to order completely, Brittany abandoned her place in line and walked over to the small table.
"Good morning, Ms. Lopez."
At Brittany's words, Santana immediately snapped shut the book she'd been writing in. Brittany thought she may have startled her.
"Oh, Brittany, hi." She looked up at the blonde. She had large, dark circles under her eyes. Brittany wondered how much sleep she'd gotten last night.
"So, you like this place too? Their coffee is the best." Brittany tried making conversation that wasn't work-related.
"I...yes, I do like it. I was just grabbing a quick breakfast while I got some work done."
She indicated a half-eaten bagel on a small paper plate. The cream cheese on it had a blue-ish tint to it.
So...she likes the coffee here, bagels, and possibly blueberry cream cheese. Brittany committed these things to memory right away. For some reason, it was refreshing to know something about this mysterious woman.
Feeling a little bold, she sat down in the other chair across from Santana. The brunette's face looked a little puzzled, but she didn't object.
"You know," Brittany started, looking directly into Santana's eyes, "you don't have to work all the time. You look really tired, Ms. Lopez." Brittany was not at all prepared for Santana's response.
"You really look at me, when you look at me," she said lowly. She was once again giving Brittany that piercing gaze.
"Wh—what?" What does that mean? Of course Brittany looks at her. When Santana's even remotely near, it's all she can do not to look.
"Nothing. It's nothing. You're right, though. Maybe I should take a day off."
She began packing up her books into a shoulder sling that was hung over the back of her chair.
"You don't have to go."
Brittany had no idea why she said it. Well, she knew she didn't want Santana to go, but she didn't know why she'd said it out loud.
"I do, though. The weekdays are hard enough."
Santana stood at these words, threw her bag over her shoulder, and started to walk away.
"See you Monday, Brittany."
Brittany didn't respond, and before she knew it, Santana was gone, leaving her more confused than ever.
Monday morning finally rolled around, bringing rain and the forecast of a snowstorm with it. Brittany didn't care, though. She had a solid eight hours of stealthily looking at Santana ahead of her. It could rain fire, and she'd still fight her way to the 17th floor. She weaved quickly through the foot traffic on the sidewalks, occasionally twirling her umbrella just because she felt like it. When she reached the revolving glass doors, the raindrops were just beginning to turn into flurries. She shook off the residual water from the umbrella once she got inside and happily made her way to the elevators. She had a spring in her step today.
Truthfully, she didn't know why she was so excited. Her last encounter with Santana hadn't exactly been friendly. Hell, she didn't even understand half of what the woman said to her that morning in the coffee shop. But it was a new day, and something was giving Brittany a good feeling.
As she rounded the corner to her desk, she once again looked first to Santana's office. The lights were on and the door was open, as usual. Not for the first time, Brittany wondered what time Santana got here every morning. Then, she wondered what time she usually left, since Brittany was always the first to leave in the evenings. She sat down at her desk, placing her purse by her feet as usual. Then, in what she hoped was a nonchalant glance, she peeked up to see Santana also sitting at her desk.
She was wearing a white button-down shirt again, and it seemed the other associates' fashion sense was starting to rub off on her. Over the white shirt, she wore a pair of black suspenders. But holy hell, Santana Lopez made them look good. It was the most wonderful combination of sexy and nerdy Brittany had ever seen.
Remembering she was trying to be sneaky, she quickly looked back down and picked up the phone to answer voicemails. Both clients Santana was supposed to see today had canceled; they didn't want to come out in the snow. Brittany quickly checked her calendar for any other scheduled meetings. There weren't any. It'd be just the two of them all day. As she was putting her calendar back in her desk drawer, she heard a high-pitched howling sound coming from all around. The wind was picking up; the storm must be rolling in already.
Stepping a few feet into Santana's office, Brittany cleared her throat.
"Good morning, Ms. Lopez."
Santana looked up, and for a brief moment, a small smile crossed her lips. It disappeared just as quickly, though, and was replaced by a look of indifference.
"Hello, Brittany."
"Ms. Lopez, your two client meetings have been canceled today. Neither of them wanted to risk getting caught in the snowstorm."
Santana knitted her brows at these words.
"Snowstorm? I didn't know it was supposed to snow today."
"It was beginning to already by the time I walked into the building."
"Hmph," said the brunette with a small shrug, as if this news didn't faze her in slightest. Then, she stood from her seat and picked up a small folder from one of her bookcases. She walked back across the room and handed the folder to Brittany. Now that she'd stood up, Brittany could fully appreciate her outfit. The brunette's boobs pushed the suspenders out just enough that there was a gap between the straps and her flat stomach. Brittany fought the strange impulse to grab onto them and pull the woman forward.
"...can you do that for me?"
Brittany shook her head a little bit. Apparently, Santana had been talking the whole time Brittany had been staring. Again.
"Huh? What?"
She pointed to the folder now in Brittany's hands. "I said, these are the notes I've made on the case I just completed. Will you go and make a copy of them?"
"Oh! Oh, yes—yes I will."
A small smile was playing around the corners of Santana's lips. "You get distracted easily, don't you?"
If Brittany hadn't been so flustered at that moment, she might have come up with something better to say. As it was, she spat out the truth before she could stop herself. "That's more of a recent development."
Realizing what she'd said, she felt her cheeks growing hot. Santana's smile widened slightly.
"Um, I'm gonna go make that copy now."
She backed out of the room, Santana's eyes never leaving hers.
As she walked down the hall to the copier, she muttered to herself under her breath. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Why did she have to turn into such a pile of mush around that woman?
Standing at the copier, she took Santana's notes out and began to place them in the machine. As she stood there waiting, she let her eyes roam over Santana's handwriting. It was small and slightly cramped but still neat. She put the papers back into the folder one by one as they came out of the copier, and one particular footnote caught her eye as she was putting it in the folder. She skimmed it quickly and laughed out loud at Santana's assessment.
"Make sure this man speaks as little as possible in front of the judge. Though he's done nothing wrong, he is also a moron. Judges don't pity morons."
Brittany kind of wished she could read through the rest of the notes, but she knew Santana would wonder what was taking so long. Grudgingly, she kept the rest of the papers in the folder without reading them.
As she made her way back down the hall, she again heard the raging wind outside. She was just wondering how bad this storm was going to get when the lights above her head started flickering. She hadn't even finished her wish that they wouldn't lose power when the lights flickered one more time, and everything went black.