Eye of the Tiger

Part 10

Santana POV

"STOPPPP!" Dani giggled out, clutching my hands on her stomach. She has this tickle spot on her stomach. When she is turned on that tickle spot disappears but right now she's in a giggly mood so I'm using it to my advantage. I honestly can't get enough of her laugh. "PLEASEEE SAN. I CAN'T BREATHE!" She finally wheezed out and I let her go.

"You're lucky I'm nice." I smirk at her as she calms herself down.

"Um since when?" She chuckled. My eyes narrowed at her and all I had to do was lift my fingers for her to see it my way. "I'm kidding! Please I can't take any more tickling!"

I just roll my eyes and drop my hand next to her on my bed before capturing her lips. God, I'm so addicted to her lips. And her smile. And her laugh. Basically, I'm so addicted to her. Since our date we've been having more hang outs like this. I mean hours that we spend without jumping all over each other like it was at the beginning. It's not because we lost our spark or anything. Trust me, everything is still mind blowing in that department. But I just...enjoy her company. I enjoy laying here with her talking about stupid things like how to pronounce 'crayon'. It's cray-YON by the way, not cray-YIN like she says it. But we also lie here for hours talking about her dad, my abuela, the kids at school, just life in general. The more I learn about her, the more I want to know, and the more I don't want to ever stop learning about her.

"Dani?" I whisper once I pull away from our kiss. As I hover over her I find something else I'm addicted to, her eyes.

"San...?" She whispered back curiously.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" I can feel my entire body heat up in nervousness. What if she doesn't feel the same? I wait for her to frown and I wait for her to turn me down but she doesn't. Her lips just turn into a smile as she slides her arms behind my neck.

"Of course." I kiss her again, with more hunger this time and being fueled by her fingers grasping my hair. I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest I'm so overwhelmed with happiness. I run a hand over her supposed tickle spot earlier, it was gone now. I take that as my cue to slide my hand under her shirt.

"San...I can't." She breathed out, tugging on the arm that had a hand under her shirt. "I want to, I always want to. But it's getting late I need to get home..."

I frown. I don't like sending her back to her dad. Sure, she tells me good stories about him because he's all she's got but as of late since she blurted out that she was gay he's been an asshole and I don't like him. I don't like how sad she gets when she is home. I hate hearing her sobs on the other end of the phone late at night because her dad has gone another night without talking to her. I have half a mind to go over there and have Snix pay a visit but I won't. Dani said I couldn't.

"But I don't want you to go." Her fingers were now gentle in my hair as she played with the ends. She was focusing on that instead of looking at me. She always distracts herself like this when she doesn't want to cry.

"I don't want to go either." She let out a shaky breathe and I just press my lips to her forehead.

"It'll be okay D." I wish I could believe that for her sake. "I'm only a phone call away." She nods and just pulls me in for a hug. I really wish I could just keep her here with me. My bed is always too empty without her.

"Now get going, I don't want you to get in trouble..." I reluctantly let go to sit up as she starts to gather herself to leave. She leans down for a kiss before she goes and then she is out the door. This part is always the worst, seeing her leave and knowing I can't stop whatever pain that may follow when she gets home.

Dani POV

Honestly the first thing I wanted to do was go home and tell dad about my girlfriend. I use to tell him so much, I use to share all my happy moments with him. But he barely says more than a few sentences to me these days. He doesn't even scold me anymore. He didn't follow through with the grounding or taking my phone away. We just...existed in this house together. We were roommates. We still had dinner together but it was just silence broken up with our silverware hitting our plates...just like tonight. And honestly this silence is becoming too much. I finally drop my fork completely onto my plate and look right at him.

"Dad can we please talk?" He froze at my voice, probably in shock.

"What's up Danielle?" I cringe at hearing my full name. He usually only uses it when he's mad at me.

"Are you still mad at me?" I frown. I wait for his jaw to unclench and for his face to soften into my lovable dad again but he never does.

"I'm not mad." He answers coldly.

"Then why won't you talk to me?" I don't try to stop the tears that roll down my cheek. I wish he would see how badly this is hurting me. But he doesn't answer me, he just continues to move his food around his plate.

"Do you just hate me?" My voice trembles and he finally looks up up at me and I see his eyes soften in the slightest.

"You're my daughter Dani, I don't hate you. Why would you think that?"

"Because you've barely said more than five sentences to me since I told you I was gay two weeks ago." His fork drops at the mention at me being gay.

"Stop with that nonsense Dani." He shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

"It's not nonsense, dad. I'm gay." With that he stands up with the sound of his chair screech on the floor from the suddenness.

"Wash the dishes when you're done." That's all he says back to me as he picks up his plate to go to the kitchen.

"But dad..." I cry out. I just wanted him to love me again. I wanted him to hug me and tell me it's okay and that he will love me for me and it didn't matter if I was gay or not. But he didn't. He just disappeared into the kitchen without another word.

Part of me wishes that I wasn't gay, but that washes away once I pick up the phone and hear Santana's voice on the other end. She lets me cry into the phone like always, and then she makes me laugh through my tears like always. I wouldn't want it any other way. I was so happy to call her my girlfriend. I just wish my dad could be happy for me too.