The Girl Next Door (Brittana Fanfic)

Chapter 12

Brittany idly stares up at her ceiling from her bed, counting the seconds as they tick by at a sluggish rate. She watches as the morning light gradually fills out in her room to let her know that the new day is finally approaching. Her eyes burn with tiredness, even though she couldn't bring herself to fall asleep again and as the deprivation kicks in, she finds herself feeling rather giddy as she hums out small, mindless tunes in her bed. She finally turns her head to make a note of the time - the rest of the night had gone by at an incredibly slow pace so she is relieved when she finds that she's finally able to get up and go and cause a racket in the kitchen, making breakfast without her parents complaining that it was too early. She hurriedly dashes out of her bed and slips into her baby blue robe before she rushes downstairs to crack eggs and dust the kitchen floor with flour.

Santana lifts her head heavily from the table to take another bite of her cereal and yawns extensively in the process. She too, also failed to get back to sleep after Brittany left so instead, she gathered situations in her head of what she could say to or do to make Brittany forgive her. She slurps obnoxiously away at the milk that remains in the bowl, wiping her mouth with her pyjama sleeve and glances across the opposite end of the table where her mother sits hunching her shoulders, wearing dark circles around her eyes as she picks away at her fruit bowl. Santana can only look at her with pity and decides to leave the table without a word at all; there was nothing for her to say.

Brittany rubs her eyes vigorously while she stabs away at her pancakes with her fork with a little more force than necessary. The lack of sleep has definitely had an impact, but more so, her night with Santana is all she can think about.

"You okay there, honey?" her mother asks as she butters some toast on the kitchen countertop. Brittany licks the strawberry jam from her fingers and yawns.

"Tired," she replies. Grace purses her lips and takes a seat next to Brittany at the pine table.

"Well, your father's washing up, so if you'd like some girl talk, I'm right here." Grace nudges her daughter, causing Brittany to giggle. Both of them take a couple of more bites of their breakfast before Brittany turns to her mother with her mouth full.

"Do you..." Brittany mumbles as she chews down the rest of the pancakes. "Do you love dad?" she asks seriously. Grace blinks a couple of times then snorts at her daughter's worried expression.

"Of course I do!" Grace chuckles. "What made you ask that question?"

"I just need to know these things..." Brittany nods and Grace narrows her eyes.

"Why are you whispering?" she asks. Brittany licks the remains of jam from her plate and takes a swig of her squeezed orange juice but then shrugs.

"Why, I mean, how did you know? How did you find out? Wh-what did you feel? I know it's not like my love of science, especially from the Mesosphere all the way to the Exosphere. It's a different kind. Like... um. Well, I don't know really," Brittany replies sadly. Grace smiles at her reassuringly and squeezes her shoulder.

"When I met your dad, it was definitely not love at first sight," Grace begins, with a giggle at the memory. "It was 1981 and he was working in a stinking shoe factory at the age of seventeen; he had been kicked out of school for being trouble and he sure did love the ladies." Brittany watches her mother as she rests her chin on her hand. "I was at school but it was the summer before my senior year and we first met at a friend of mine's party. All the girls knew that James was the 'bad boy' and we knew he had a reputation but no one could ever deny those deep blue, puppy like eyes and his bright blonde ruffled hair, and his smile was so cheeky that it left girls weak at the knees, it still does!" Grace begins to gush and Brittany listens with a wide grin. "But I wasn't having any of it and if I'm being completely honest, I thought I was too good for him. Yet at this party he couldn't take his eyes off me, despite there being many beautiful girls. And at the end of the night, he approached me and asked for my name." Grace moves from her chair to lift the plates from the table and takes them over to the sink before plopping them in the scalding water.