Eye of the Tiger

Part 6

Dani POV

"Dad please! I'm dying of boredom here!" I groaned as I followed him into the kitchen. Ever since that shit show at the tournament I have been grounded and he didn't seem like he would let up any time soon.

"I said no Dani." He huffed out. I've been dying being cooped up in this house. I didn't even have training anymore to break it up and that hurt my soul on another level. Working out was my therapy. I had nothing to release all my lent up energy anymore and I was going to explode.

"Dad it's been driving me crazy not even being able to train. I've never done so much homework so quickly in my life! It's one movie with Finn and Rachel. I NEED A LIFE!" I pout and he just sighs as he opens the fridge to look for something to eat.

"Well sounds like this is a good thing for you then, I hope to see straight A's on that report card."

"UGH! Dad you're missing the point." I fold my arms over my chest and he finally faces me.

"No Dani, I think you're just being a brat. You lied to me, you went out to drink UNDERAGE and come back with that shit on your neck. So no, you're going to suck it up and finish your grounding. You're lucky you still have your phone."

"But my phone doesn't get me out of the house." I mumble before I can stop it, hoping he didn't hear me.

"Would you prefer me to take that away too?" He retorted as he held out his hand.

"No sir..." I whisper defeated. He gave me a small smile before leaning over to kiss the top of my head.

"Good, now what do you want for dinner?"

"I'm actually not really hungry right now. I think I'm going to just go to my room." He raised an eyebrow and can see the concern reach his face.

"Dani I know things suck right now with boxing being on hold but you still need to take care of yourself." He rests a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine dad really, I can make something for myself later if I get hungry. I promise." I give him a reassuring smile before heading up to my room. I plop down on my bed and pull out my phone to text Rachel.

Dani: It's a no go :(

Rachel: lame :/ we'll miss you!

I sigh as I exit out of the message. I suddenly am just overwhelmed with sadness rather than boredom. This week has been so shitty. I miss boxing, I miss my friends, I miss FREEDOM. All because of one night. That one god damn night. But I can't even be mad at the same time because that one night was one of the best I've had. I scroll through my phone looking for the girl who made it the best night of my life, I'm going to attempt one more time to actually send a message. I need to stop being such a pussy about it.

The freaking blinking line taunts me to type something but nothing comes out. Why can't I think of anything to say? I guess I have always been a shitty texter in general but usually I can spit out a message. I groan as I click on her name and then the phone icon. Here goes nothing...

Santana POV

"¿Hola, quién eres?" I always answer in Spanish to numbers I don't know because I absolutely HATE telemarketers and they seem to crumble under foreign languages. But anybody that knows me will just say my name in their greeting so I can relax and return back to English.

"Um hey...is this Santana?" Her voice was familiar but I couldn't quite figure out who it was.

"Yeah, who is this?" I plop down on my bed and start picking at my nails.

"Uh...it's Dani." My face scrunched up in confusion and I can hear her breath fill the awkward silence. "Or half-pint as you like to call me." Fuck did I really never get her name this entire week of us going back and forth? Am I that shitty?

"Oh hey..." I breathe out, embarrassed. "I'm sorry I didn't even realize I never got your name..."

"Maybe it's because I didn't mention it a hundred times like you did on that first night." I can hear her chuckle on the other end. I relax a bit even though my cheeks were burning red.

"Or maybe you just look more like a half pint to me."

"Whatever poms poms." And this time I laugh with her.

"So like do you think that your parents knew you were going to grow up being a lesbian giving you a boy name?" An obnoxious laugh bursted through the phone and it was contagious. It was the cutest fucking laugh ever oh my god.

"Dani is short for Danielle and no I don't think they knew..." She giggled out.
I'm usually not one to talk on the phone but it felt natural with her and I actually loved hearing her voice. Oh god what was happening to me? I didn't even realize how long we were talking, or more so bantering, until my phone was nearly burning my face.

"Danielle get off the phone and go to bed." I heard a deep voice in the background. I pull my phone away to look at the time. We've been talking for 2 hours?

"Dad just a few more minutes..." I heard Dani muffled, she must have covered the speaker with her hand.

"Now Danielle." I cringe, I feel kinda bad for keeping her up and getting her in trouble. I hear her grunt before coming back to the phone.

"Hey...I gotta go before that vein in my dad's neck explodes." She chuckled, I'm just going to assume her dad left the room. "Night pom poms." I roll my eyes.

"Night Dani." I finally say her name and I must say it feels nice rolling off my tongue. But as great as her name felt on my lips I couldn't help but type half pint when I went to save her number into my phone. I don't think I stopped smiling in two hours.