The Girl Next Door (Brittana Fanfic)

Chapter 14

Santana Lopez grew up always knowing what she wanted but could never really explain it. In first grade her teacher asked the class what they'd like to be when they were older and Santana sat at the very back row so she wouldn't be picked till last. She would stare down at her little red shoes that were scuffed at the toes and worn at the soles and remembered how comfortable they once were. They were her favourite shoes, but soon she found herself loosening the buckle more and more every other week as she grew bigger. Then when it was finally her turn to stand in front of the class, she stood in front of the other boys and girls, said hello with a shy smile and looked down at her shoes.

Many of the children said they wanted to be teachers, fire-fighters, astronauts or the next President of the United States; the usual. But as Santana stood with her hands behind her twisting from side to side, she realised that she had no desire for any of those things.

"I want to be just like my little red shoes," she said.

Some of the kids scratched their heads and chins in confusion and when the teacher asked Santana to explain why, she bent down and un-fastened the buckles on her feet before stepping out of her shoes completely, before lifting them in her hands to show them off.

"When I'm older, I want to be just like my little red shoes," she repeated. "One day I'm going to get old and scruffy and people will start outgrowing me. But if I can make at least one person in the world comfortable and feel good about themselves, then I know I've done a good job in life."

Most of the kids let her explanation fly past their heads and some even blamed Santana for not having a real topic but the teacher sat in the back of the classroom and felt proud to have a student that still embraced the little things in life even though others couldn't understand.

"Mom, please, you don't understand," Santana begs at the front door of her house before anything is even said. Even though she spent a good part of the day walking home in the cold while completely saturated, her blood boils to a thousand degrees and her pulse rings continuously in her ears. She has tunnel vision and all she can see is her mother's outraged face.

"I understand. Completely," Anita replies with no emotion, despite the sinister look she gives her daughter as they stand in the hallway. There it was again, her deadly calm voice that sends crippling chills shooting down ones spine and while she speaks, Brittany latches onto the back of Santana's body warmer, digging her nails into the fabric. "Why don't we have a little chit-chat in the living room, shall we?" Her voice is sweet but sickly so and the invitation turns both of the girl's stomachs to the point of nausea.

Anita doesn't wait for them as she makes her way into the family room and for a moment Santana and Brittany just stand there utterly frozen and it isn't because water is dripping from their clothes. Brittany can't for the life of her figure out why Anita would look at her the way she did but for whatever reason, it makes Brittany feel like the poltergeist which follows Santana and which Anita wanted rid of.

Santana on the other hand knows exactly what her mother was thinking but the outcome is unclear and because of that, it frightens the crap out of her. She finally turns around to Brittany at the door and holds onto her jacket sleeves. Brittany stands, waiting for an explanation as to what was happening but Santana can only look at their feet and take short, shaky and broken breaths.

"Santana, what's going on?" Brittany whispers. Santana's forehead creases as her brows knit together and it unsettles Brittany. "Please?" she asks again.

Santana rubs Brittany's wrists over her jacket with her thumbs and blinks a couple of times at the floor, fluttering her full set of eyelashes before raising her gaze to meet Brittany. Santana's eyes were always warm, even when she was angry or upset; there was always this fiery passion behind them that made very single emotion she let out all that more sincere. But now, as Brittany searches her eyes; there is nothing. The fire has burned out and there's only emptiness that's left. It was as if a significant part of her life was just about to be stripped away from her and it causes Brittany's heart to speed up with dread. And while Santana looks at her, almost pleading silently to herself for things to be okay, she looks hopeless.