The next two weeks passed by and Brittany and I had only become closer since that day when she turned up at Snix's and suggested a cuddle session to distract me from my emotional breakdown. It had quickly become a new habit for us with Brittany keeping up with her spontaneous surprise appearances at the club and would come back to my apartment to cuddle and have dinner.
Brittany's cuddles were fucking awesome. It was like I was engulfed in a tight bubble of delicious vanilla smelling warmth, and my senses were overloaded with everything Brittany. I was never really a big fan of cuddling, it either seemed too intimate or I just didn't want to cuddle with the person offering them. Cuddling with Brittany was my favourite place on Earth. She was always so comfortingly warm and she would hold me so tightly that the curves of our bodies fit so perfectly; it was like we were made to fit together. Her skin felt soft against mine and her fingers would often draw delicate patterns that sent shivers through my body.
The affection that she consistently showed me felt so different to anything I had ever felt with anybody else, so much more loving and intimate. It was like she instinctively knew whenever I needed comfort through her touch, or what words I needed to hear, and I had never felt so understood in my entire life.
I was beginning to think that she was my very own Angel, sent down to Earth to protect me and make me feel safe whenever I needed her. It was a feeling that I couldn't get enough of, and I wondered whether Brittany thought the same about me.
"S, where are you going?" Quinn asked with a frown as I tried to sneak past the bar without being noticed.
Shit, way to go, Lopez, you fucked that one up.
"For a cigarette," I lied with a tight lipped smile and inched closer to the door while Quinn continued to watch me with suspicion.
"Santana, you haven't smoked for months," Quinn called me out and I just laughed nervously.
"How would you know that? Maybe I wait until I'm alone to smoke," I smirked at her and she just raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow at me, making me roll my eyes. I hated that she was able to make me tell the truth with that same HBIC look that I was usually giving to her. "Okay, fine, drag it out of me why don't you?" I sighed, moving to sit on one of the bar stools in front of her. "I'm clocking out early," I told her casually with a small nonchalant shrug.
Quinn just looked even more amused, as if she could see right through me and all of the lies I was spilling to her. She leaned onto the bar with her elbows and leaned her face closer to me, "I think..." She sang teasingly, "I think that you're sneaking out to see Brittany."
I gasped, over-dramatically, and brought my hand to my chest. "Why would you think that? T-That's crazy," I accused and Quinn sniggered.
She moved to take out more bottles from the delivery box and winked at me, "Santana, you've left with her like five times in the past two weeks, it doesn't take Einstein to figure out where you're going. Especially because you've got that really unnerving smile on your face and you had that weird bounce in your step that you do whenever you're thinking about her."
"I don't do a weird bounce step," I defended myself.
"Whatever you say, Lopez," Quinn winked and turned around to place the bottles on the shelf. I glared at the back of her head, hoping that my eyes would magically shoot lasers at her and somehow set her on fire for calling me out.
"Okay, so what if I'm going to see Brittany? I can leave early if I want to, I'm the boss, I can do whatever the fuck I want," I reminded her with a smug smile and she just chuckled, giving me a knowing look.
"Did you ask her out yet?" She asked me.
"I asked her out like two weeks ago," I told her and she just smirked.
"So, you've mentioned it to her again?" I frowned, standing up from the bar stool.
"I'm leaving now before you make me actually want to have a smoke," Quinn's chuckles turned into a full on laugh as she threw her head back as I shuffled away from the bar and back towards the door.
"You need to get on that, missy!" She shouted over to me.
"Fuck you, Fabgay!" I shouted back, not turning back and rolling my eyes when I could still hear her laughter as I walked out of the building; Quinn could be so annoying sometimes, especially when she was right and I didn't want to admit it.
As I made my way to my car to drive to the theatre where Brittany was working, I let her words settle into my brain and I knew that they had truth to them. Although I did technically already ask Brittany out on a date when we we're at the club after making out, neither of us have mentioned it since and I wasn't even sure that she remembered because we did have a lot of alcohol in our systems- and we were pretty delirious from our first amazingly hot make out session.
I wasn't sure if Brittany was just waiting for me to mention it again, but I was definitely sure that I still wanted it to happen. A proper date with Brittany? Who wouldn't want that to happen to them.
Quinn was right; I needed to hurry up and get back onto that if I didn't want the opportunity to pass. I couldn't let the opportunity pass.
It wasn't that I was scared about bringing up a date...fine, I was scared. This thing between me and Brittany, it was already so strong and I knew that going on a real first date with Brittany would only make it even stronger. Normally, I didn't feel this way until like the fifth or sixth date, but with Brittany, this feeling? It had been there right from the beginning, since the moment I first saw her dancing at the club.
I really, really wanted to explore it. I really, really wanted it to become stronger. But I also knew that with that, the possibility of getting hurt and my heart getting broken would be more likely. I suppose that was the risk that came with falling in love. Fuck, when did you become such a hopeless sap? "Right about the same time when I first seen Brittany," I mumbled to myself, huffing and unbuckling my seatbelt as I looked up at the theatre in front of my parked car with wide eyes. My heart felt like it had dropped into the pit of my stomach, resulting in the fluttering of them goddamn butterflies and I was itching to see her; it had been way too long, even though it had technically only been like two days. That was still far too long for my liking, my entire body ached to see her.
With that last thought, I hurried out of my car and locked it, making a conscious effort not to do the bounce that Quinn accused me of earlier and silently hoping that I wouldn't be interrupting Brittany doing anything important. She normally came to the club at around four, and it was now three fifteen, so I knew that she would almost be done, but that didn't stop the nerves from pulsing through my body. I bit my lip and walked into the building, going straight over to the front desk. "Hi, I'm wondering if you could help me? I'm look-"
"You're Santana Lopez!" The young looking boy behind the desk gasped as he looked up from his computer to see me.
"Yeah..." I breathed out sheepishly through a small grin, giving him an awkward wave. "I'm looking for Brittany Pierce. Is she still here?" I asked him and he just nodded with wide eyes.
"Oh!" He quickly stood up after a few seconds of us just staring at each other in silence. "I'll take you.. I'll take you t-to Brittany," he stuttered out nervously and I almost laughed at how quickly he moved from around the back of the desk to beside me.
"Thank you," I smiled kindly and followed him as he lead me further into the theatre. I looked around me as we walked, taking in how gorgeous the detail of the theatre was and made a mental note that I would have to bring Kurt and Rachel here to watch one of Brittany's shows with me. We were only walking for a few minutes and the nerve-fiddled boy would turn back to glance at me every couple of seconds, making me chuckle and just smile back at him. When he stopped walking, I glanced around and frowned when I still couldn't see my favourite blonde and turned to him with confusion.
"She'll just be running through this last number with the dancers and then she'll be out. I'll tell her that you're waiting for her."
"C-Can you not tell her that it's me?" I asked and he cracked a knowingly smile, nodding his head as he motioned for me to sit down in the front row of seats.
I watched as he disappeared and made myself comfortable, my eyes burning into the stage. It felt like hours, when in reality it was probably only a few minutes, until she walked out onto the stage with a group of dancers. My eyes lit up and that fluttering was back full force, and I shrunk further down in my seat to keep myself hidden, thankful that the stage was blocking her view of me completely.
Brittany walked across the stage, "Alright guys, last time, this needs to be perfect! I need energy and I need you all to tell the story through your movements. Use your faces, I want to see expression!" Brittany instructed, her words were firm but I could see that bright smile on her face. She looked so sexy being all authoritive and in charge. She clapped her hands together, "positions," she instructed and the dancers all moved into their positions without another word.
As the music started, I felt all of the air being sucked out of my lungs when the dancers almost snapped instinctively into the routine, it looked like it was almost as easy as breathing to them. My eyes went wide and my heart was racing wildly, getting caught in my throat and making my mouth go completely dry, and as soon as Brittany joined in at the front of the stage, I just about melted into the seat.
There was absolutely no doubt about it- Brittany was definitely born to dance and be on stage.
I had seen a lot of professional dancers over the last couple of years, but none of them compared to what I was witnessing right now; and this was a freaking rehearsal.
It was magical and my eyes were completely drawn to her and she wasn't even going completely full out, she was merely marking the routine in front of the dancers and it was still enough to leave me breathless and wide eyed. I barely registered the music getting cut off and I could feel how fast my chest was rising and falling as my eyes stayed glued to the blonde on stage.
"Amazing guys, it's all coming together perfectly!" Brittany gushed, "make sure to do your stretches and we'll finish the ending of the number tomorrow!"
I grinned through a quiet giggle, and watched as the boy from earlier made his way onto the stage and whispered into Brittany's ear. I could see her frown with a bit of confusion and nod her head, before she fully turned around for the first time.
Her eyes widened and I sent her a flirty wave as she hurriedly made her way off the stage and over to me. I chuckled at how fast she was walking and smirked, "hey, Britt-Britt."
"What are doing here?" She asked, pulling me into a hug that was way too quick.
"I thought I would return the surprise," I told her with a casual shrug, watching as her smile widened. "Also, I wanted to see your work," I admitted and her eyebrows raised questioningly.
"Soo.. What did you think?" Her voice was shy and she looked so cute looking at me through fluttering eyelashes and a tilted head.
"I think…" I stepped closer to her, my arms moving to her hips, "I think that you make magic, Brittany." Brittany's cheeks instantly flushed, her sun-kissed skin becoming adorably rosy, and I rubbed at the skin of her hipbones with my thumbs as her loose fitted top rose up slightly. "I can't wait to see the show when it's finished," I added softly.
Brittany sucked in her lips to try and hide her widening smile and I giggled at how flustered she was becoming, feeling so many emotions from how adorable she was being. "What about the club?" She asked me suddenly, "you don't usually finish until four."
I shrugged my shoulders, "I make the rules."
Brittany laughed, shaking her head, "you're crazy."
"Maybe," I giggled, "I thought we could go and feed the ducks at the park and then go back to my place for a bit? I miss my Britt-Britt cuddles."
"Could you get anymore perfect? I love feeding the ducks!" Brittany beamed, beginning to bounce on her toes with excitement. She glanced around her, biting her lip and I dropped my arms from her hips regretfully. "Let me grab my bag and we can leave," she told me, leaning in to press a soft kiss to my cheek, before turning around and walking away.
I froze from the feeling of her lips on my skin, heat rising to my cheeks and I watched as her hips swayed from side to side as she walked, almost teasingly. Although it had been two weeks of us hanging out and flirting crazily with each other, we hadn't kissed since that first evening at my apartment in that game of questions. Her lips felt softer than I remembered, and I didn't even know that was possible, and that urge to kiss her senseless was coming back.
As I stood motionless in a daydream of Brittany kisses, my hand cupping my cheek dreamily, I didn't even realise that she had appeared back in front of me until I heard her laughing.
I blushed with embarrassment at being caught in a complete daze, rolling my eyes shyly when she gave me a flirty wink. "Shut up," I mumbled and she laughed louder, reaching down for my hand and lacing our fingers together.
"How'd you know that I love feeding the ducks?" Brittany asked randomly as we walked out of the theatre and to my car. She moved her face closer to mine and eyed me suspiciously, "are you psychic?"
"Nope," I laughed, "just a lucky guess."
"Feeding the ducks is one of my favourite things!" She told me with excitement, "they just look so cute all swimming around fighting over pieces of bread!"
"You're so fucking cute," I told her with a smirk.
"Always the flirt," Brittany laughed, her cheeks bunching and her hand squeezing mine a little tighter. "Do you have bread?" I furrowed my eyebrows in momentarily confusion, and Brittany clarified, "for the ducks, San."
"Oh," I smiled, nodding my head. "Yeah, it's in my car. There's a small park next to my apartment building so we can just go to that one," I told her as we reached my car, dropping our tangled hands so that I could open the door for her.
"Thanks, San," Brittany whispered.
I just gave her a soft smile before quickly making my way round to the drivers seat and joining her in the car. We clicked in our seatbelts and Brittany instinctively reached out to mess with the radio as I started the car.
The drive was silent, comfortable, and I sang along quietly to the songs on the radio while Brittany's hand rested gently on my thigh.
"You have a really beautiful voice, you know that?" Brittany complimented after a couple of minutes. I blushed, "have you always sang?"
"I guess but I really started to get into it when I was in high school. I was in Glee club," I told her and her eyebrows raised.
"You? Glee club?" She teased.
"Hey, don't make fun of me!" I laughed, and Brittany just smirked at me. "Quinn and I only joined at first to mess with them. Our cheerleading coach hated the glee club coach and made us join to get information that she could use against them, but we ended up loving it."
"I bet you looked hot as hell singing and dancing and being all happy," Brittany's smirk widened and I rolled my eyes at her. "I was a cheerleader, too," she told me and my eyes left the road in a second, moving to instinctively drop down her body as images of Brittany in a cheerleading outfit rushed through my mind. "Eyes on the road, San," Brittany teased, and I quickly shook away the thoughts and focused my attention back on the road.
"I wonder if we ever competed against each other," I mused at the possibility.
I could see as Brittany shook her head out of the corner of my eye, "nah, I'd totally remember seeing you in a cheerleading outfit."
I raised my eyebrows, "and you say that I'm a flirt?"
"Hey, I didn't say that I wasn't a flirt," Brittany defended and I scoffed playfully, making her giggle.
"The bread is down there in the carrier bag," I pointed to Brittany's feet as I parked up the car near the entrance of the park. Brittany picked it up, wriggling in seat and her eyes bright, and my stomach started doing that familiar churning. "Let's go before the ducks die of starvation," I croaked out, forcing myself not to look at her lips.
"Santana!" Brittany scolded with a frown and I chuckled as we both hopped out of the car. "I haven't been to feed the ducks in forever!" Brittany told me as her free hand that wasn't holding the carrier bag found mine again. I smiled at the gesture, how familiar it started to feel to hold her hand, and breathed out shakily.
"I've never fed the ducks," I admitted and Brittany abruptly stopped walking, turning to face me with widened eyes, "what?"
"You've never fed the ducks?" She asked in shock and I shyly shook my head. "Why not?"
"Nobody ever took me," I told her pathetically, my voice coming out quiet, and she softened, the blues in her eyes becoming warmer and more inviting.
"San," she cooed softly, using our joined hands to pull me closer to her before her hand dropped mine to gently cup my cheek. "I'll show you everything that you're missing out on," Brittany's voice was quiet but it echoed with unexplained meaning, like she was making a silent promise to fix everything that had ever been wrong in my life.
My skin tingled under her touch and my whole body tingled from her words, the meaning behind them sending a wave of something I had never felt before straight to my heart, and my eyes fluttered shut under her kind eyes. "I-I'm," I stuttered, pausing to take a deep breath before I looked back into her eyes, "I'm glad that my first time is with you."
"Me too," Brittany smiled affectionately, "you'll love it. Come on, don't want them to die," she dropped her hand from my face and giddily pulled me to the pond, giggles tumbling from her lips.
"Britt, slow down," I laughed as my feet tried to keep up with her as she was practically running and dragging me across the grass until we reached the edge of the pond.
I watched as she immediately dropped to the ground, sitting cross legged. She looked up at me and patted the ground beside her, so I quickly followed suit and mimicked her position. Brittany reached into the bag and pulled out the pieces of bread, passing half to me, and I chuckled when she immediately began tearing it up and throwing small pieces into the pond.
"Look, San, there's so many!" Brittany beamed when a flock of ducks began swimming towards the pieces of bread she had thrown into the water.
"They are all fighting," I laughed in amusement when noticing the ducks snatching the pieces of bread from each other.
"They are hungry," Brittany pouted.
"Good job we brought lots then!" I grinned and started throwing pieces of bread into the pond.
It was quite soothing, actually, and I felt a sense of peace wash over me as we fell into a motion of alternating between throwing pieces of bead into the pond and watching the ducks race to eat it. The air was warm around us and the water in the pond splashed as the ducks moved around, and after a couple of minutes, I felt Brittany's eyes burning into the side of my face.
I tilted my head to the side, catching her eye and blushed. "How do you feel?" She asked softly.
"Surprisingly, at one with nature," I giggled. "I didn't know that it would feel like this. It's like all of the stress of life has just left my body," I admitted and Brittany's bashful smile was back on her face.
"That's how you make me feel," Brittany told me, and I frowned in confusion.
"At one with nature?"
Brittany sniggered, shaking her head lightly. "No… calm," she chuckled and I felt myself smiling back at her as my heart began hammering loudly. "Even though you give me crazy butterflies and my entire body feels like it's on fire whenever I'm around you, you somehow manage to make me feel so calm at the same time."
"Go on a date with me," I blurted out without a second thought and then my eyes widened.
"W-What?" Brittany stuttered, her eyes scanning my face as she pulled back from me slightly.
"Go on a date with me," I repeated with more confidence, dropping the bread into the grass beside me and turning fully on my knees to face her. "I would really, really like if you came on a date with me. This Saturday?"
"I thought this was a date," Brittany frowned slightly and I giggled, "but I would love to go out on another date with you, Santana."
Holy fucking shit, I'm going on a date with Brittany Pierce.