Leave the Lights On

Chapter 2

When you arrive to the gym where the culture fair is happening, Tina immediately seeks you out and points you to the Germany booth. You're glad that you got to run home and change into some jeans. You would have felt a little weird in scrubs.

You look down at the little bags of pretzels and bread that you are pretty sure is pumpernickel. You find a piece of paper outlining what you're supposed to do. Basically hand out food. That you can do. You're just really awkward with kids. Even worse with kids' parents.

You look around for the Japan booth. You spot the white flag with the red dot on it, but no Brittany. You sigh.

When the first kids come in with their parents, you straighten out the little bags on the carbs on the table and get ready for the onslaught.

Kids are asking you questions and parents are chatting you up when you look through the crowd and see her. Brittany's standing behind the Japan booth talking to a shaggy haired blonde man. He laughs and she does too. You wonder if that's her husband or something.

As you're looking, her eyes find yours. She smiles wider and waves at you. You automatically smile and wave back. The blonde man steals her attention again and you look away from her. You wish that she could have come over or just...looked at you longer.

But that's stupid. You put on a smile for the parents in front of you and hand the kids the food.

You're about out of supplies by the time you hear someone on the intercom announce that it's almost over. Someone won a dinner to some place in town from a raffle. You weren't sure what the point of this thing was. Culture sure, but you're not entirely sure how authentic everything is.

The crowd has thinned considerably not even a minute later. You can see most of the teachers are talking amongst themselves and you're alone in your little eastern European region. You sit down in the chair and sigh. You wonder if all three years are going to be like this. People shun you because you're a doctor and not a teacher.

"Hi Santana!" Summer calls to you from across the gym. You look up and see the little blonde girl. She's pulling Brittany behind her toward you. You subconsciously smooth out your hair and take a deep breath to calm yourself. When she gets close enough Summer looks up at you, "We're going to get pizza. Do you wanna come?"

Your mouth opens, but you have to check to make sure this is okay with Brittany first. The tallest blonde smiles at you without hesitation. "I know the best place in town. Unless you've filled up on German food." She pokes one of the left over bags of pretzels.

A laugh escapes you. "Oh no. I did not eat any of the local cuisine." You put your hands in the pockets of your jeans and rock back on your heels, "Pizza sounds great."

"Awesome," Brittany pulls some keys out of her pocket. "I'm going to go grab my purse and then we can leave."

You nod and pick up your own purse. Summer looks to be staying with you so you follow her to the door leading out of the gym where you both wait for Brittany.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Summer asks looking up at you.

You quirk an eyebrow at her, but shake your head in a reply. You haven't had a boyfriend in years. Friends with benefits, yes. But nothing serious. It was just too much to deal with through med school.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Summer looks around the empty area around you both.

This time both of your eyebrows rise up. That wasn't something you expected. You didn't think that Lima would be the kind of town to be a welcoming place for things like that. You shake your head again.