Chapter 3

For the next two weeks, Santana and Brittany met for lunch every weekday at noon. They exchanged phone numbers at the end of the first week and began texting throughout the evenings and during the weekends.

They discovered they were both free all day (after their 10:50am Humanities I class) on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on those days, more often than not, they ended up having dinner together as well.

Brittany knew she was falling fast and hard for the pretty Latina; Santana was smart and funny and Brittany loved spending time with her. After the first week, Santana had begun to be more open, less scared.

"Have you dated a lot?" Santana asked on their second full Thursday.

"I did in high school," Brittany nodded as she ate a couple of fries. "A couple of girls, couple of guys. I had a steady boyfriend the last half of my senior year. He got a football scholarship to Texas A&M. I didn't love him or anything and neither of us wanted to do long distance so we called it quits right after grad." She shrugged. "When I got here, I met Rachel the first week and she asked me out. I realized that we had different goals and values so I broke it off."

She smiled at Santana. "By then, I was captivated by a pretty Latina with a beautiful smile."

Santana bit her lower lip and ducked her head; Brittany had figured out that that meant Santana was blushing.

"And you really haven't dated anyone since?" Santana's voice was filled with disbelief and curiosity.

"Welllll … full disclosure? I have a friend named Jenah and we were dating in April but I didn't know we were dating." Brittany felt her face flush with embarrassment.

"Wait, hold up, what?" Santana giggled.

"I thought we were just friends hanging out. Until the night she tried to kiss me. It was, quite possibly, the worst kiss ever. I wasn't expecting it; I had talked about you with her. I was completely clueless." She shook her head.

Santana laughed. "What happened?"

"Thankfully, we laughed it off. Then we talked about it and we just hadn't communicated very well with each other. We're still friends so it worked out okay." She shrugged.

"What about you," Brittany tried to turn the topic away from her embarrassment; although, if her being embarrassed made Santana laugh like that, she'd gladly embarrass herself on a daily basis.

The smile faded from Santana's face. "I've … um … never dated anyone," she finished with a whisper.

"Boy or girl?" Brittany's nose scrunched up in confusion and, maybe, a little disbelief. Santana was beautiful but, more than that, she was really awesome. Funny and smart and kind … Brittany had to reel herself in to pay attention to Santana's response.

Santana shook her head and took a sip of her soda. "I knew pretty early on that I liked girls. Small town in Northwest, Ohio; nothing but narrow-minded, conservative bigots so I just kept to myself; my friend Quinn was my only friend because we'd met when we were young." Santana paused.

"Are we dating?"

Brittany shook her head and smiled. "Not yet. When you're ready to date, let me know and I'll take you out on a proper first date, okay?"

Santana ducked her head again. "Okay," she whispered.

"So tell me about Quinn," Brittany changed the subject, giving the brunette an out.

Santana smiled gratefully. "She's my best friend. She was raised Christian but she never judged me and she's been so supportive. We actually came to school together and lived in the dorms last year. We rented an apartment this year."

"And you two never thought about dating?"

Santana laughed. "No. She's like a sister to me and it would just be weird, even if she wasn't totally straight."

"Ah. Okay, just wondering."

"So … what made you break up with Rachel?"

Brittany considered for a moment. "Okay, so, you're studying music production and English and minoring in voice, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm studying media and visual arts with concentrations in photography and videography and a minor in dance."

Santana nodded to show she was following.

"Rachel is studying music. Her dream is Broadway. Which, cool, you know? But, somehow, she got it in her head that I wanted to dance on Broadway. She started talking about how we'd be the 'new Broadway Power Couple'," Brittany rolled her eyes, "her singing, me choreographing – but she wasn't hearing me; I don't want to dance professionally. I want to focus on Media Arts, especially photography. I love dance and I'd like to teach and maybe choreograph but not on that scale." She shook her head and took a drink of her iced tea.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to end up hating dance because of the pressure, you know? Once it becomes a high-powered, high profile job, it's not fun anymore." She shrugged.

"I get it," Santana nodded, "I love singing but I'd rather focus on songwriting and production. I just thought about touring and … I don't know …" she paused and ducked her head, her voice becoming almost inaudible, "it just seems like a really lonely life and I'm already pretty lonely." She looked back up at Brittany and smiled softly. "Well, I was."

Brittany smiled back at her. "So, yeah, I don't want my job to be my life. I just want my job to allow me to live my life. Rachel seemed to want the fame and the fortune and, yeah, fortune is nice but … fame? Again, I want a life; with fame, your life doesn't seem to really belong to you."

Santana nodded. "Okay." She smiled at Brittany; it wasn't her full-face, eye-crinkle, dimpled smile but it was more than the slightly shy smile she had been giving Brittany. "Sounds like we kind of feel the same way about that. I … I want to get married and have kids. I want to spend weekends wandering a Farmer's Market with someone special . I want to watch my kids grow up; not get reports from the nanny who's raising them instead of me. I want lazy Sunday mornings. I just ..." she trailed off, ducking her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, didn't mean to …"

"Hey, no, it's okay. You're right," Brittany waited for Santana to look back up, "we're on the same page with personal life goals. I want that stuff, too." She smiled softly.

Santana bit her lower lip and smiled shyly. "Good."

"So," Brittany cleared her throat and changed the topic, "my housemates, Puck & Sam, are going to this open mic night thing tomorrow to scout for a new lead singer. Their lead singer graduated last year so they're looking for someone who can front them. Anyway … um … you wanna join us? Not a date, or anything," she added quickly, "just a group of friends hanging out. Bring Quinn if you want. I'd love to meet her."

Santana looked a little regretful. "Quinn and I have plans with her boyfriend tomorrow but I'll ask her."

"Bring him, too," Brittany smiled, hopeful because Santana actually looked like she wanted to go. "It doesn't start until nine."

"Okay," Santana smiled again, "I'll ask them."

Brittany felt her face split into a grin. "Awesome. It's at the Palace."

Santana's smile grew a little more and she nodded. "Okay."