Chapter 8

After their first date, Brittany and Santana fell into a comfortable pattern; they still had lunch every day at noon and spent all day Tuesday and Thursday together. Santana started sitting with Brittany in their Logic and Humanities classes, then they'd go to lunch and spend the day either talking or at the library studying.

Saturdays were brunch and library day. They spent the day at the library together because they wanted to spend time together but they didn't want to flunk out.

Sundays, they had breakfast then Brittany went to work and Santana went to rehearsal. After rehearsal, Santana waited for Brittany to get back from work and they spent the late afternoon and early evening together.

Brittany was beginning to hate Mondays. They had time for a quick lunch after Santana's last class before Brittany had to go to work, then her late class. Santana had rehearsal and, on Brittany's insistence, she waited for Brittany to get home so she wouldn't have to walk home alone at nine at night. Santana tried to point out that Brittany walked home alone from class every Monday at nine and then walked home alone after she dropped Santana off at home but Brittany wasn't hearing any of it. She would walk Santana home on Mondays.

Wednesdays they met for a quick lunch before Brittany went to work and then they met for dinner when Brittany got off work.

They saw each other every day … and Brittany still wanted to see her more. She knew she was bordering on obsession but … she was in love. Was it wrong to want to spend all your time with the person you love? Especially since they didn't seem to have any objection?

Friday was date night; they had lunch together and separated around three then Brittany would pick Santana up and they'd have a date; sometimes they'd stay in and watch a movie or play a board game. Santana even convinced Brittany to work on a jigsaw puzzle with her. Sometimes, Santana went to Brittany's and Brittany would cook; not often, though, since Brittany confessed she could only make pasta and real mac-n-cheese in the oven. And then they'd have to deal with Puck and Sam. Sometimes Santana cooked. She was definitely the better cook of the two and she'd let slip that her abuela had taught her quite a bit when she was younger. When Brittany asked about her abuela, Santana just shook her head and wouldn't offer any more information.

Brittany was getting frustrated. She knew Santana trusted her but Santana hadn't spoken much about her family or … anything from her past. She asked Quinn and Quinn had told her to give Santana time; it wasn't that Santana didn't trust Brittany, it was that Santana had trouble trusting herself and the past still hurt at times.

So Brittany resolved to be patient. She would give Santana time and just be as supportive as possible.

They'd been dating just over two weeks and Brittany had a plan. She hoped Santana liked it.

Xoxoxoxoxo

They'd been dating just about two weeks. It was Saturday so they were in the library.

Brittany stood up and stretched. "I have to go to the photo lab for a bit. Meet me at the diner at seven for dinner?"

Santana had introduced Brittany to the Rise-N-Shine Diner. It was a twenty-four hour 50s style diner with red vinyl booths, lots of chrome, and tiny jukeboxes on the wall of every booth. Brittany loved going there because Santana couldn't help herself; if Brittany played a song Santana knew, Santana sang along.

Santana looked up from her laptop and smiled. "Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

"Good. See you soon." She kissed Santana on the cheek and headed off to the photo lab.

Santana turned back to her paper; it was almost finished, she just needed to finish up citing her sources and then proofread it again. It wasn't due for another week but she was glad to be getting it out of the way.

Someone cleared their throat.

Santana looked up and saw a short brunette standing next to her. She had brown eyes, olive skin, a rather pronounced nose, and dressed like a Catholic school girl, right down to her penny loafers.

Santana just stared at the girl.

"You need to stay away from my girlfriend. We have plans together and I won't let you disrupt them."

Santana simply looked at the girl as her mind, and stomach, churned. Brittany is the only girl she'd been seeing and she knew Brittany didn't have a girlfriend. Unless … did Brittany lie to her? The doubts started creeping in. The insecurities began to whisper. Still, she wouldn't let this reject from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory know she'd affected Santana in any way. It had been far too long since she'd let Snixx out to play.

"Sounds like a conversation you should have with your girlfriend. I don't know you. I don't care about you. If you're having girl trouble, maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself why she's seeing someone else. Could it have something to do with that great uni-brow you're sporting? Or … maybe it's your man-hands? Maybe … just maybe … she's tired of dating a school girl and is ready to start dating a woman? I don't know and … I really could not possibly care less. You've got a problem with your girlfriend. Sounds like a YOU problem. Not a me problem. Good luck with that." Santana turned back to her laptop, ignoring the girl even as her stomach kept churning.

She wanted to run out of the library. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. How could Brittany … no, Brittany couldn't. She wouldn't.

"You've been warned. We're going to take New York by storm and no little ass-less J-Lo is going to ruin that."

Santana heard the girl storm off and took a deep breath. She saved her work, packed up, and left the library; slowly, deliberately, not running away. She would not give that Shire wannabe the satisfaction of thinking she'd gotten to Santana.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Santana got through her apartment door and put her things in her room. She looked at the little terrarium that Brittany had made for her. No way. She wouldn't. Santana couldn't believe it. How … how could Brittany betray her like that?

She changed out of her jeans and into a pair of sweatpants and went to the freezer. She grabbed a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and a spoon and went to sit on the couch and think. Not cry. No. She would not cry.

The first tear fell with the first spoonful of ice cream.

She was half-way through the container when Quinn came home and found her sitting on the couch.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Quinn was by her side in a minute, taking the ice cream away from her and pulling her into a hug.

It took a few minutes for Santana to calm down; Quinn's hug had opened the floodgates and the steady trickle of tears had become a raging river. Once she finally calmed down, she told Quinn what had happened.

Quinn listened to her calmly.

"Have you talked to Brittany?"

Santana shook her head. "She had to go to the photo lab. I'm supposed to meet her at the Diner at seven. But … I'm gonna blow her off. I can't …"

"Okay." Quinn interrupted her. "I understand what you're feeling. Let me ask you something, though" She waited until Santana looked at her, "what are you going to do when she shows up here looking for you? You can't avoid her forever.

"Look, you know I'm on your side, right?" She waited for Santana to nod. "What was your first reaction when this girl told you to stay away from her girlfriend?"

"That there was no way Brittany would cheat on me."

"Exactly. Your heart knows the truth … but your mind has your past and all that crap in it. It's telling you that there's no way someone as great as Brittany would want someone like you. But, Santana, this isn't high school. Brittany isn't Emily or Kayla."

Santana nodded. Quinn was right.

"From what you said of this girl … you're the better catch." Quinn winked at her. "I'm going to go to the library and see this girl and see what I can find out. You … are going to the Diner and you are going to talk to Brittany. If Brittany is cheating on you, I will be right there with a shovel and a shallow grave but … I don't believe she is. She's in love with you. It's obvious to anyone with eyes. And, besides, when the hell would she have TIME to see anyone else? You two are together almost twenty-four/seven. I mean, seriously."

Santana nodded. Quinn was right. Of course Brittany wasn't seeing someone else. She didn't know if Quinn was right about Brittany being in love with her but she did know that Brittany spent every spare moment in the Latina's company.

"You know those stupid dime store romance novels that we used to devour in high school?" Santana looked confused as she nodded. "You remember how we used to complain about how if the woman had just talked to the guy instead of running away, those books would end in twenty-five pages instead of a hundred and thirty?" Santana laughed at that. Quinn was right. "Don't be that girl.

"It's funny … you know, I almost lost Daniel because I was that girl."

"What do you mean?"

"Daniel and I had only been dating a couple of weeks and we were in Rochester at a restaurant and the waitress was shamelessly flirting with him and he wasn't saying or doing anything to stop her. I was fuming! He just kept talking like everything was fine. Then he seemed to realize I hadn't said anything in awhile and asked if everything was okay. I did that stupid girl thing and said 'fine' where everyone knows that 'fine' is just code for I'm pissed off.

"He called me out. He said I obviously wasn't fine but he didn't want to play games and drag it out of me. I couldn't believe it. Like, in high school, guys would grovel and whatever but … yeah, I was acting like a sixteen year old and Daniel was acting like a nineteen year old. I asked him why he hadn't said anything to the waitress. You know what he said?"

Santana shook her head, really interested in hearing this story; it was one Quinn hadn't shared with her before.

"He told me he hadn't noticed. He was too busy focusing on me, his date. Then he told me, 'no disrespect to the waitress but, she doesn't matter. It's like, you're Jennifer Lawrence and I'm Bradley Cooper … the credits roll and we're at the top and the waitress is billed as waitress number three or something. This is our story, she's just background.' Santana, I got it. You know? He was right. He wasn't interested in the waitress, he was interested in me. So she could flirt all she wanted but … in the end, it didn't matter to him, he didn't notice because I was his co-star. This girl … whoever she is … is, at most, a side chick, definitely not a girlfriend and, honestly, I don't believe she's even that much. My whole point is; if I hadn't actually talked to Daniel, we may not have made it past that date. Don't be that girl." Quinn looked at her pointedly.

"Okay. I'm going to wash my face and put my jeans back on and go talk to Brittany. I mean, I guess, we never really talked about being exclusive …"

"Stop. She's a one person woman, she told me that herself. And, it doesn't matter. I don't believe it for a second. Go get ready, I'm going to the library."

And just like that, Santana felt better.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Santana was at the Diner first. She was fidgety; she wasn't sure how to start the conversation. God. What if it was true? No. She shook her head trying to silence the insecurities. Quinn was right, this isn't high school

Brittany sat down across from her and smiled. "Hi! I hope you haven't been waiting long, I had to make a stop … hey … what's wrong?" Her smile dropped and she looked at Santana with concern. She got up from the other side of the booth and slid in next to Santana, taking her hand.

"Talk to me, honey. What happened?"

Santana took a deep breath and forced herself to look at Brittany. Focused on her facial expression, her eyes. They'd tell her if Brittany lied.

"I met your girlfriend today."