New York, 22nd July
Brittany, 9:02am
Waking up in New York for the first time in over a year had Brittany feeling delirious.
Or, that could have something to do with last night.
Brittany rolled onto her back, she closed her eyes and let out a sudden, loud squeak of excitement. "Britt?" Brittany's eyes widely popped open and she jumped up, her eyes squinting to adjust to the light as she looked around her room with confusion.
"S-Santana?" Brittany asked with furrowed brows, bringing her hand up to her forehead. Did she drink more than she remembered last night and then suddenly black out? Because she's sure that she remembered kissing Santana goodnight as she left at the end of her party with Maribel and Quinn.
"Hmm, morning, baby," Santana's voice mumbled again. Brittany looked down at her bed to where it was coming from, rolling her eyes when her gaze landed on her phone poking out from beneath one of her pillows.
"Did I wake you up?" Brittany asked when she picked up her phone to see Santana still tucked up in her bed on the screen. She could feel her cheeks turning red with embarrassment when Santana grinned widely.
"Maybe," Santana giggled. "What's got you so happy this morning?"
Brittany just smiled at Santana, because as if she didn't already know.
The night before was replaying endlessly over in her mind, flashes of seeing Santana for the first time, flashes of being able to touch Santana, flashes of kissing Santana.
At the thought of kissing Santana, Brittany gulped. "I can't believe last night really happened," she whispered, voicing her inner thoughts.
Santana smiled softly, "me either. I miss you already," Brittany wanted nothing more than to kiss away Santana's shy smile.
Brittany licked her lips, "I miss you too, and I miss kissing you. You're really good that that you know," Santana rose her eyebrows and Brittany added, for clarification, "at kissing."
Santana laughed loudly and rubbed her eyes, seemingly a bit more awake. "You too, Britt. Looks like our sweet lady kisses are gonna get steamy," Brittany's mouth went dry from Santana's suggestive comment and her knowing smirk.
"You suck," Brittany whined with a small pout, "I want to kiss you now."
"Later," Santana promised and Brittany grinned.
"I'm so excited for our date," Brittany beamed, and Santana matched it instantly making her dimples appear on her bunched cheeks, "It's been a long time coming."
"Yeah…" Santana agreed softly and then admitted quietly in the next breath, "this is my first date that has ever really mattered."
Brittany paused, feeling a weight hit her chest at the sentiment of Santana's words. All of her emotions from last night and all of their phone calls suddenly squeezed around Brittany's heart. She gasped a little, the sound getting caught in her throat as she cleared it. "San," she whispered thickly, "you matter to me and I'm honoured that I get to be that person for you. You're that person for me too."
"Brittany…" Santana sighed with those dreamy eyes.
Suddenly, Santana's alarm clock rang through the line and Brittany was wincing at interruption. Santana leaned her to knock it off and when she turned back to Brittany, her bottom lip was jutting out slightly.
"Are you working today?" Brittany asked her.
"Yeah. Just for a couple of hours. Quinn's gonna come in and help me finish up checking all of the stock, so that I can get done a bit quicker," Santana explained.
"Will you be ready for six or do you want to push back a little?" Brittany asked, not wanting Santana to feel rushed after work.
Santana grinned, shaking her head. "Definitely not," she giggled and Brittany blushed, "six is perfect."
"Okay, perfect," Brittany breathed out, "let me know if anything changes though, okay?"
Santana nodded, "of course. I'll text you, but I better go and have a shower before I'm late. Speak to you soon?"
"Yeah, San," Brittany said, "have a good day."
"You too, baby, bye!"
After the call disconnected, Brittany dropped her phone onto the chest and let out another loud squeal, feeling all of her energy refuelling. Before starting her first mission of the day in preparation for their date, Brittany quickly went to the bathroom to focus herself a bit.
A quick shower and a change of clothes later, Brittany was waltzing into her parent's kitchen with a spring in her step and a smile on her face.
Susan's eyebrow perked up when noticing Brittany's dazed expression as she walked straight over to the refrigerator with a small grocery back hanging over her wrist. "What you got there?" She asked curiously, chuckling into her mug of coffee when Brittany spun around quickly and held her hand to her chest.
"What the hell, mom!" She gasped, letting out a breathless laugh. Brittany then held up the plastic bag and pulled out the contents to show her mom, "it's white chocolate."
"Why do you have a bag full of white chocolate?" Susan asked her suspiciously, wondering what her daughter was planning to do with a large amount of white chocolate first thing in the morning.
"It's dairy free white chocolate," Brittany added, then explained further in a quieter voice, "Santana is allergic to dairy."
Susan's mouth formed a silent 'oh' and then she began smiling widely. "And?" She further prompted, even more curious.
Brittany rolled her eyes at her mother, then sighed, because it could potentially work in her favour to get her mom on board to help. She turned to her mom shyly, "so, I had an idea…"
Santana, 3:46pm
"You've been like a ticking time-bomb all day, Santana, you're making me dizzy," Quinn groaned when they arrived back at Santana's apartment, watching from her place on the couch as Santana returned to her pacing.
"Don't watch me, then," Santana snapped and then paused her steps. She looked at Quinn guiltily. "Sorry, I guess I'm just nervous and over-thinking," she explained, finally sitting next to Quinn.
Quinn frowned, "what's there to be nervous about? You already got the hard part out of the way of actually meeting her."
Santana knew that was true, but it didn't lessen her nerves about the date. She rolled her eyes, "yes I know that," and then took a deep breath. "Look, yesterday was amazing but it was so unexpected. Somehow my brain is having trouble believing that everything could go that well," she added.
Quinn looked at Santana knowingly. Because after being friends with Santana for a whole twenty-four years, she was somewhat an expert at being able to read Santana's self-destructive episodes. "You've got to get over this, S," she started out carefully.
Santana frowned, "get over what?"
Quinn laugh, "you thinking that you don't deserve anything good!"
"I don't think that!" She defended herself, then cursed under her breath when Quinn just rose her brows in response.
"Santana, every time something good happens to you, you push it away and try to convince yourself that you're not good enough." Santana felt suddenly vulnerable from how well Quinn was reading her. Quinn smiled at her encouragingly and told her in a more serious tone, "you can't do that with Brittany!"
Santana smiled a little and nodded in agreement, "I know, Q. I'm in far too deep this time. I haven't even thought about running," she admitted.
"She's changed you," Quinn observed, and Santana looked at her curiously. "I mean, Brittany is making you see that you deserve happiness and I like seeing you embrace that. Seeing you two yesterday, and just listening to you both for the past three months, I'm so proud of you."
Santana smiled widely, "Quinn…" she laughed a little, "thank you," she ended up saying, pulling the blonde into a tight hug. "I think she's good for me," Santana told her as she pulled back.
"Me too," she agreed, "want to go shower and I'll help you with your hair when you get out?" Santana nodded when Quinn smiled at her and hopped up from the couch, heading down the hallway to her bathroom.
Thirty minutes later, Santana freshly walked back into her bedroom dressed in her bathrobe, to find Quinn lying comfortably on her bed with Rachel.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" She yelled out as jumped in shock and then looked at Rachel nervously, "when did you get here?"
Santana knew Rachel. She also knew Quinn. Although Santana personally spoken to Rachel about Brittany, Quinn definitely had. That meant that she was due a grilling that was inevitable, which also meant that Rachel wasn't going to stop with her questions until Santana was unleashing a very pissed off Snix.
"About ten minutes ago," Rachel said with a large grin, and patted the space she had created between herself and Quinn. "Come lay down with us, Santana," she encouraged.
"Not a chance," Santana groaned, instead taking a seat at her dressing table.
Rachel frowned and sat up, "why didn't I get to meet Brittany and Quinn did?"
Santana sniggered, "Rach, I didn't even know that I was meeting Brittany!"
"I know, but you could have called me!" Rachel added, folding her arms over her chest.
"She was too busy making out with Brittany in her parent's liquor room," Quinn joked.
Santana glared at Quinn, "was not!"
"What else did you do in there for a whole hour?" Quinn asked her, "because we thought you were deciding what rum to bring back but you still both came back to the party empty-handed."
Rachel snorted in amusement and Santana's face flushed red as she picked up a hair brush and threw it at Quinn across the room. "Maybe I drank some whilst I was in there and didn't want anymore," Santana told her.
"Well, did you?" Rachel pressed.
"No, but that's not the point-"
"So you did make out with her in there?" Rachel laughed and Santana rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. So what if we did," Santana threw her hands up in the air.
Rachel and Quinn laughed at Santana's embarrassment and how easy it was to get her flustered about Brittany. Santana had never been like this, and they found amusing at how much Santana seemed to soften around Brittany.
"Was it good?" Rachel asked.
"Rachel- what?" Santana chuckled, then wiggled her eyebrows. "Wanna find out?" Santana puckered her lips at Rachel and Rachel leaned over with one foot off of the bed to push Santana's face away with her hand.
"Gross," Rachel laughed.
"Always knew you wanted to make out with me," Santana teased and Rachel rolled her eyes and then did a dramatic fake heave that had Quinn giggling. Santana pouted at Quinn, "are you gonna help do my hair or have you both just came here to annoy the crap out of me while I get ready?"
Quinn laughed, "a bit of both!"
Santana, 17 years ago, aged 7
Santana loved going to the Sugar Shack with her parents.
It was the fanciest, most romantic, restaurant in the whole of New York City, and she loved those rare times when she would join her parents on their date night and they would let her enjoy the most delicious Italian food she had ever tasted.
Live music played casually in the restaurant and Santana would find herself entranced by the performances and how beautiful it was.
Fairy lights would twinkle and candles would light up the restaurants, and Santana could feel the love in the room overflowing from how happy everybody around her appeared to be.
Santana was heartbroken when her parents told her about it closing down when she was seven years old.
She had sobbed into her Mami's arms, "now I'm going to be alone forever and nobody is going to love me!" She cried hysterically. Maribel chuckled at her daughter's dramatics whilst reassuring her that she definitely wouldn't be alone forever, and had suggested that they would go for dinner at the restaurant one final time.
Santana could still remember the night that the Sugar shack closed down.
She sat in a booth with her parents, her awe filled, sad eyes looking around the restaurant as if she was surrounded by pure magic that was about to disappear into thin air.
"Santanita," Antonio had said softly to his visibly upset daughter, "we can find a new restaurant."
"It's not the same, Papi," Santana replied, her bottom lip beginning to tremble. Then, her whole face lit up, and she turned to ask her Papi hopefully, "Can we buy it?"
Antonio chuckled, "I'm sorry, mija, that's not how these things work."
Santana pouted and crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. "Well, that's stupid!" She argued, "but how will I get somebody to love me? Everybody in love comes here!"
Maribel and Antonio smiled softly as Santana looked at them both with confusion. "Santana, the Sugar Shack doesn't create the love between two people," Maribel told her. "It's created between two people that care for each other anywhere in the world, not just in one place, sometimes not even in the same space."
Santana frowned as her mother's words, "so, why does everybody seem even happier here?"
Antonio grinned, "because we're spending time with the person we love. But I would just be just as happy as I am now, if I were sat with nothing but only you and Mami," he explained.
Santana thought she understood what her parents were saying and just nodded her head as she thought about the conversation internally. It seemed to take Santana by surprise the possibility of falling in love anywhere, when she had always associated the Sugar Shack with the place where she wanted to fall in love.
"Mija, as much as I love your love for love, you're thinking too much, you've got all of your life to worry about getting married and falling in love!" Santana giggled at her Mami who had a big smile on her face. "How about we finish up here and go to get some ice cream for dessert?"
Santana nodded, and pushed her empty plate to her Mami and began pulling on her jacket. When slipping out of the booth as her Papi payed the bill, Santana let her eyes wonder around the Sugar Shack one final time.
As she lingered on every detail, Santana grinned widely, and then her eyes briefly met blue.
She focused on the other young girl starting back at her with a beaming smile. Santana felt herself smiling back before her hand was taken by her Mami and she was being urged to walk out of the restaurant. "Let's go, Tana," Maribel whispered gently, and Santana nodded at her, her head moving to look back in search for the girl again as her Mami practically pulled her along.
Santana frowned a bit when looking back in the same direction, to see the girl and her family had moved and were no longer in sight. Santana snapped her gaze back in front of her and walked with her parents out of the Sugar Shack for the last time.
Brittany, 5:54pm
Brittany gripped the handmade bouquet securely in both hands as she momentarily stared up at Santana's apartment building, everything seemingly hitting her all at once.
She was only slightly nervous, but she also felt excitement and anticipation for the night with Santana. Because even though she had the usual pre first date jitters, and was anxiously psyching herself up to enter the building, Santana brought here a peace and a calmness that Brittany knew would engulf her when finally in her presence.
"You can do this, it's just Santana," Brittany whispered encouragingly. Then she rolled her eyes, a habit undoubtedly from Santana, and muttered, "just Santana."
With another glance down at the bouquet in her arms to check that everything was still in tact, Brittany took a deep breath and finally stepped into the warmth of the building. She shivered a little at the change in temperature and welcomed the heat, she briefly looked around the prestigious decor to gather her surroundings and headed over to the elevator when spotting it in the corner.
For the entire thirty two seconds it took to get to Santana's floor, Brittany stared at herself wide eyed in the mirror and internally prepped herself to be taken over by everything Santana.
She walked a bit down the hallway and took a deep breath when approaching the door. Brittany grinned when doing a final bouquet check and having successfully transferred the fragile gift from her parent's house to Santana's apartment. "Score!" She cheered to herself, and then steadily balanced the bouquet securely in one arm as she quickly patted down any fly-away strands of hair with her free hand.
Before she could think a second longer, she knocked softly on Santana's apartment door. Brittany forgot how to breathe from the time she knocked until Santana was answering the door and she choked out a breath and a stunned, "wow."
Seeing Santana again right now, it felt like meeting her all over again and Brittany was beaming.
Brittany's eyes dropped to take in Santana's appearance and could feel the beating of her chest getting louder. Santana had a simple strapless red dress with matching red heels, a cropped leather jacket and a diamond necklace that matched the sparkle in her brown eyes.
Santana licked her lips at Brittany's blatant staring and Brittany blushed when she tilted her head, "you wanna come in, or?"
Brittany giggled, "yeah…" she replied, still in a bit of a Santana haze, and followed Santana into her apartment. She turned back to face Santana and shyly lifted the bouquet up to Santana, who only now really took focus of it. "I made you this," Brittany whispered softly.
Santana's eyes widened, "oh my god… Britt, you made all of this?" She asked in shock, "are those- did you make them?" Santana's eyes were scanning the bouquet that Brittany was handing to her with adoration, a mixture of red roses mixed with white chocolate covered strawberries.
Brittany blushed, "they are dairy free. I found a store in LA that sold the best dairy free white chocolate then made them this morning with mom. I've got some spare chocolate at home that I'll bring for you at some point too, we didn't end up using it all. I bought way too much."
"Brittany," Santana said affectionately, placing the bouquet onto the shelf in her hallway and turned back to Brittany. "Thank you so much," Santana told her, lifting her hands to cup Brittany's cheeks.
"You're welcome," Brittany grinned when Santana leaned their foreheads together.
Brittany's hands silently reached up to run soothingly down Santana's back, and landed steadily on her waist to pull Santana in closer. "Hey," Santana finally giggled.
"Hi, you look beautiful," Brittany told her, her eyes dropping slightly to Santana's lips. They were standing so close that Brittany could feel Santana's breath hitting her lips and she wanted so badly just to kiss her.
"You look beautiful too, Britt-Britt," Santana whispered hotly against her lips and Brittany's eyes fluttered close as she whimpered into Santana's mouth as she finally pulled Brittany into a much needed kiss that had them both breathless.
Brittany felt her stomach tighten at how soft Santana's lips felt, moving against hers so smoothly. Santana knew just how to kiss Brittany, it was inane how well she knew how to make Brittany's knees go weak as she opened her mouth to slip her tongue against Brittany's.
"Hmm," Brittany hummed at the warmth of Santana's tongue mixing with hers and subconsciously pulled Santana in closer to her.
Brittany could stand and kiss Santana like this all night. But, she also wanted to give Santana the best night of her life, and she kind of needed to pull away to breathe anyway. Brittany pulled away with a gasp and tried collecting air back into her lungs, staring deeply back at Santana.
Santana grinned, "that's something I can definitely get used to."
Brittany bit her lip and briefly contemplated just kissing her again, as she looked from Santana's rapidly rising chest to her plump lip. She gulped and her cheeks reddened, as she managed to whisper, "me too," to Santana.
Santana giggled at a flustered Brittany and kissed her cheek softly, before pulling out of the embrace. "Thanks again, Britt. I really love this," Santana picked up the bouquet, "I'll put this in the kitchen and then we can go?"
Brittany nodded and followed Santana further into her apartment, "sure, baby."
Santana, 6:29pm
"Can you tell me where we're going yet?" Santana asked Brittany for the millionth time from the passenger seat as Brittany drove them.
"Still no, San," Brittany told her. "I promise it'll be worth it," Brittany reached over to take one of Santana's hands, bringing it to her lips and giving the back of Santana's hand a gentle kiss.
Santana's heart swooned at the gesture and she was nodding before she could speak. "O-Okay," she agreed. "You're not taking me to kill me are you?" She teasingly asked afterwards, "was this your plan? Take me to the forest and kill me?"
Brittany scoffed playfully, "please, San. You're too hot, nobody would ever kill you. Don't worry yourself, just trust me."
Santana grinned and relented trying to convince Brittany to tell her where they were going and instead busied herself with messing with Brittany's radio. She grinned when hearing Adele's familiar song coming on the radio and turned the volume up a little higher.
"When the rain is blowing in your face, and the whole world is on your case" Santana started singing along as she watched Brittany's head swiftly snap to meet hers in surprise. Santana grinned widely, and motioned for Brittany to pay attention to the road as she sang, "I could offer you a warm embrace,To make you feel my love…."
"Santana, what the fuck?" Brittany asked in disbelief, her eyes filling with wonder as she tried her best not to loose focus on the road ahead as Santana continued singing along to the music.
"I could make you happy, make your dreams come true, Nothing that I wouldn't do," Brittany reached to turn down the volume of the radio as she listened to Santana sing the final verse of the song.
"Go to the ends of the earth for you. To make you feel my love," Santana was too focused on singing the song that she had barely noticed that the car was now parked. Because as soon as she opened her eyes, Brittany was staring back at her with so much awe that it made her head spin.
"You never stop amazing me, Santana," Brittany grinned, she quickly leaned in to kiss Santana.
Santana appreciated the small kiss and it left her breathless enough that she didn't even notice Brittany jumping out of the drivers seat and practically running to open her car door.
"Thanks, Britt," Santana giggled with rosy cheeks when Brittany held out her hand to help her out of the car. When she stepped out and her eyes caught sight of what was in front of her, everything froze.
In big ass fancy letters, the Sugar Shack.
"Britt- how… what?" She gasped in shock, looking at Brittany with wide eyes.
"Come see," Brittany told her with a smile, taking Santana's hand and leading her over to large wooden cabin on the hilltop, the familiar sign at the top hitting her with a wave of nostalgia.
Santana silently let Brittany pull her in through the doors as she took in her surroundings, and felt the air leave her lungs when she looked around.
The live music, the lights and the candles, couples dancing, people looking happy and in love, everything was so familiar and Santana felt tears stinging her eyes.
"How did you find this place?" Santana asked in a small breath, turning her attention to Brittany.
"I used to go to this place all the time with my parents when I was little. It used to be a little diner in the upper east side, but then it closed down," Brittany explained to Santana, "I went to college with Sugar and found out her dad actually ended up opening up another diner in an even better location. I couldn't wait to come back here."
"That's-" Santana breathed out, her eyebrows raised and her stomach tightened. "Brittany, this used to be my favourite restaurant, I can't believe you brought me here. This is where I first really saw all kinds of different people in love."
Brittany's eyes widened in shock, "holy shit! As if you know the Sugar Shack!" Brittany giggled and then tilted her head at Santana, "imagine we were both there at the same time without knowing!"
Santana threw her head back with a laugh, "Rachel would eat that shit up!" Brittany chuckled and guided Santana further into the restaurant.
A young woman round their age approached them and wiggled her eyebrows at them, "what's up sexy ladies!"
"Sugar!" Brittany smiled and gave Sugar a side hug, not wanting to let go of Santana's hand. "Thanks for doing this!…This is Santana!" She added with a smile, lifting up their interlaced hands.
"Hey," Santana gave Sugar a small wave and smiled shyly at her, finally snapping her attention from either looking at Brittany or around the restaurant with awe.
"Nice to meet you! God, you two are the hottest lesbians I've ever seen!" Sugar told them, Santana frowned warily and Sugar chuckled, "sorry Asperger's," then motioned for Santana and Brittany to follow her.
Brittany just squeezed her hand with a quiet laugh and pulled her along with her as they followed Sugar further into the restaurant. As Sugar lead them through a small side door and onto a balcony, Santana gasped.
A singular table with a perfect view off the side of the hill, exposing the beautiful view of a waterfall and the sound of the water filling the air. Santana grinned at the typical fairy lights and candles that decorated the balcony and she was overwhelmed from taking everything in.
"Brittany," Santana whispered, as Brittany pulled out a chair for her to sit down once Sugar had handed Brittany the menus and suddenly disappeared. "All of this is so special, thank you for bringing me here," she told Brittany with a shy smile.
Brittany grinned widely, "those invisible strings always appearing between us."
Santana smirked at Brittany, "I supposed the universe has always been telling us something."