fanfic: Midnight Breakfast, PG-13 (Finn/Santana)
Title: Midnight Breakfast
Author: ipickquinn & absentego
Pairings/Characters: Finn/Santana
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 4,279
Spoilers: None
Summary: He looked up in confusion. He thought the voice sounded familiar, which wouldn't really be a surprise since he knew everyone here, but he was a little shocked to see that it was Santana Lopez yelling at him. It seemed like they had known each other forever without really knowing one another, if that made sense. It kind of hurt Finn's brain to think about it.
A/N: This fic was written by ipickquinn as Finn and absentego as Santana.
Midnight Breakfast
By senior year at WMHS, the football team was considerably better. They weren't near amazing, but Santana didn't feel so bad cheering for them now that they weren't completely losers. Once Quinn was off the Cheerios, Santana had clawed her way to the top and was now Captain and Head Cheerleader. The Titans had won the night's game, something that was happening more and more often. In celebration, the football team, the Cheerios, and a whole bunch of others had put together an impromptu party.
Santana showed up at the party on the arm of Brad Longchester, the Titans' tight end and her current flavor of the month. Half an hour into the party she was standing next to the punch bowl and glaring across the room at Brad who was getting to second base and trying to suck the lungs right out of Jennifer Goodrow, her fellow Cheerio. Jennifer took the phrase 'team spirit' to a whole new level. The cup of spiked punch in her hand was all but forgotten as she plotted Jennifer and Brad's demise, her brown eyes dark.
Being the Captain of the football team and Quarterback, Finn had managed to hold on to his popularity surprisingly well. Sure things had been a little rough Sophomore year when he joined the Glee club, but once they started winning and the hockey team was still the worst team in the Midwest, people stopped giving Finn so much crap about dancing and singing for fun.
After their win that night one of the football guys had announced his parents were out of town and there would be a celebration party at his house. And being as popular as he was, Finn was expected to mingle around the room and talk with people. He had thrown the winning pass after all. Everyone was slapping him on the back, some sloshing their beer on him (he didn't like that too much), and telling him what a great game it had been. He was in the zone right now. He even had a hot date. Jennifer Goodrow had rushed up to him after the game and thrown her arms around him, telling him how amazing he had played. So naturally he asked her to accompany him to the party. It was what anyone would have done. She was hot and obviously liked him, so why not?
But it seemed like Finn had only been gone for a few minutes and when he returned he found Jennifer making out with Brad. Definitely not cool. And a total breach of the bro code. He grumbled and walked over to the drink table, looking for something to distract him.
Santana didn't see Finn coming until he was blocking her view of Jennifer and Brad, effectively killing her day dream where they'd been spouting blood from various knife wounds. "Hey, move." It was only after she's snapped those words that she looked up to see who had gotten in her way. Other than in Glee for the last two years, Santana hadn't talked to Finn much. They were both around at parties like this, but they didn't talk or socialize. Santana tended to go with one crowd, and Finn with an entirely different kind of crowd within the football players and Cheerios. She might see him across the room at a party, but they didn't hang out.
Finn was looking over the drinks on the table, wondering if any of them weren't spiked. He was driving tonight and promised his mom he would never drink and drive. It's not like she didn't know what happened at these parties, but he tried to be responsible so Mama Hudson couldn't protest too much at his attendance. Though with how much beer people had spilled on him, it may take a breathalyzer to convince her of his sobriety. He frowned at the thought. Then a voice brought him out of his thoughts. Someone telling him to move? He looked up in confusion. He thought the voice sounded familiar, which wouldn't really be a surprise since he knew everyone here, but he was a little shocked to see that it was Santana Lopez yelling at him. It seemed like they had known each other forever without really knowing one another, if that made sense. It kind of hurt Finn's brain to think about it. "Uh, what?"
Santana shook her head, her ponytail bobbing behind her. She, along with the Cheerios, hadn't taken time to change out of their uniforms after the game. Turning, she set her full plastic cup of punch back on the table. "Nothing." She turned her back on Brad and Jennifer. "Just watching my date play tonsil hockey with a girl that's not me. It would fucking figure that the one time I don't drive myself, my date ditches me." She shook her head then muttered, "Asshole."
Finn looked over his shoulder to look at what Santana was looking at. And there was really only one couple making out, so he figured they were looking at the same people. "Oh Brad has a car? That's good. Now I don't have to worry about driving Jennifer home. I mean, it would be kind of awkward since she totally ditched me to make out with him," he shrugged, not really caring at all. After staring at the couple a few moments more he turned back to Santana. "So, do you need a ride home then? I mean, we don't have to go now. If you even want a ride." He shut himself up. He didn't even know why he was babbling like this. Probably because he'd never had a real conversation with with Santana before and he was nervous. Yeah, he'd go with that.
Santana's eyebrow rose as she waited for his babbling to stop. He really should try to get that under control. "You came with Jennifer? Well, that was a mistake, wasn't it?" She kept her back to the pair on the couch and picked up a cookie. After giving the cookie a disgusted look (she could tell it was some Chips Ahoy knock-off, gross) she put it back on the tray and dusted the crumbs from her fingers. She looked up (and up) at Finn. Why the hell not? At least she knew he wouldn't try to put his hands under her skirt like most of the guys on the team. "I could use a ride."
Finn's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion when Santana said bringing Jennifer was a mistake. What did she mean by that? It was probably just some catty girl thing. He really didn't want to get into chick politics, so he decided to ignore that comment. Maybe Santana was just angry and kind of drunk too. He didn't really know how she normally acted and he didn't need her to be drunk and belligerent at him. He looked down at Santana with a tight smile. "So do you want to stay for a while longer or go now? I don't really care either way."
Santana sighed. "This party isn't going anywhere anyway." She lifted her arm to look at her watch. It wasn't even midnight. How pathetic. The party officially blew. Next time she was going to take charge and make it a party none of them would forget. But for now... "Let's go."
Finn nodded in agreement and dug in his pockets to make sure his car keys were still there. Luckily they were and he motioned towards the door before beginning to walk. He received a few more slaps on the back from his teammates and after pushing his way through the crowd of people just standing around (Finn assumed some of the people were too busy drinking to realize they were in the way) he finally made it to the front door. He looked back to see if Santana had made it through alive.
Santana wove through the crowd of people, detouring over to Brittany to let the blond know she was leaving. Brittany tended to worry, and she didn't want her thinking Santana had wandered off drunk or gotten hurt. Knowing Brittany, she'd have the cops out looking for her. Once that was taken care of, and she'd (hopefully) convinced Brittany that she was not leaving to hook up with Finn, she wove her way through the people and to the door. She was almost out when someone bumped into her, causing her to bump into Finn and her hand to slid into his. As soon as it happened, she jerked back, jerking her hand away and righting herself. "Sorry."
Finn didn't see that someone had pushed Santana into him and he looked back at her, a look of concern on his face. She was obviously a lot drunker than he thought if she was stumbling around and falling on him. It was okay though. He had a lot of practice of sobering people up. He did used to be best friends with Puck after all. It wasn't like they were enemies or anything now, but after everything that had happened things obviously weren't the same. "Uh, yeah. I mean, that's okay," he was tempted to put his hands in his pockets because it was a little chilly out but he knew it was a bad idea. What if she stumbled again? He needed to be prepared to grab her and prevent her from doing a face plant on the pavement. "So my car is up this street," he pulled his keys out and began walking towards a battered up station wagon. He wasn't that great with parallel parking so he made sure he had a lot of street space when he parked. He unlocked the passenger side first then his own door and slid in.
Santana frowned at the strange look on Finn's face, but she didn't care enough to question it. She waited for him to unlock her door, her eyes drifting down to his jeans. He has a nice ass. Where did that come from? With a smirk, she slid into the car and put her seatbelt on. Ordinarily she wouldn't be caught in a POS like this, but seeing as it was Finn Hudson's, she didn't think it would hurt her reputation too much.
Finn turned on the car and jumped at the loud classic rock music blaring out of the speakers. He reached forward to turn it down as quickly as he could. "Sorry. I was a little pumped up after the game," he chuckled nervously. "You can change the radio station if you want," he said as he checked his mirrors then pulled onto the road. He knew where Santana lived, but he was still convinced that she needed to sober up. He also knew that the town's Perkin's was in the direction of Santana's house, so he drove on, hoping she wouldn't mind too much at their little detour.
Santana tensed but didn't jump at the loud music. Her brow rose, her eyes darkening. "No problem," she said coolly. She spun the dial to the local pop station and sat back, crossing her long legs. "Do you know how to get to my house?" There had been parties at both their houses so he should know, but this was Finn Hudson and things everyone knew weren't always things Finn knew.
Finn nodded his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "Yep, I've been there before," he said before making a right turn where he should have made a left. Finn knew he wasn't perceived to be the smartest crayon in the box, though to his defense he did pick up on a lot more than people gave him credit for. The Perkins was just a mile down the road so he was hoping he could just laugh it off as a mistake then sneakily pull into the Perkins. Santana didn't seem the type of girl to do well with surprises. Or maybe it was just the alcohol making her more angry than usual. Not that he knew what her usual was. They never hung out with each other. He only had other people's word to go by.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Well, you're going the wrong way." She looked at him. "You were supposed to take a right back there."
Hmm, surprisingly perceptive for being drunk. "Oh yeah, whoops. I guess it's been a while..." He drove forward a few more blocks and spotted the Perkins. Perfect. He pulled into the parking lot and parked. "Well we might as well have midnight breakfast while we're here," he said before turning the car off.
Santana frowned. "Are you drunk?" She looked at the Perkins then back to Finn. "What the fuck, Finn? Take me home." Whoops. I guess it's been a while... That was a blatant lie. What was he trying to pull?
Finn pulled the keys out of the ignition. "No I'm not drunk." You are He added silently, though decided it would be best if he didn't accuse her of being the intoxicated one. She was already angry enough. "I'm just hungry. Thought you might be too. My treat?"
Santana looked at him a moment, then nodded. "Sure." A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth but didn't make it all the way across her lips. "Your treat." Sliding out of the car, she shut the door and headed for the door to Perkins.
Finn held the door open for Santana then followed her inside. It was around 11:30 so the place was pretty empty and the hostess called for them to pick a booth. Finn led them to a booth in the middle of the vacant restaurant and the hostess brought over menus a few moments later. He looked at the menu, even though he already knew what he was going to order, because he thought it would be weird to look at Santana. They weren't even really friends or anything yet here they were sitting across from each other at Perkins. "Uh, so do you know what you want?"
Santana glanced over the menu then set it down. "Yes." When the waitress came back, she ordered a vegetable omelet with egg whites only, a whole wheat muffin, and skipped the hash brown/potatoes option. For her drink, she ordered grapefruit juice. Handing her menu to the waitress, she sat back to let Finn order.
Finn listened to Santana order, sort of surprised she actually ordered so much food. But he was surprised in a good way. Girls who didn't eat bothered him. Before Quinn got pregnant she was like that. They would go out to eat and she would order a salad. What was the point of that? It was just like... crunchy water. Finn ordered the blueberry waffles and a large glass of milk with a grin. He handed his menu to the waitress and after she walked away, he turned to Santana.
"So." He didn't actually know what to say to her. He didn't even really know Santana. Like at all.
Santana bit back a smile at his grin. "Blueberry waffles make you pretty happy, huh?" That was a lot of joy for some waffles and a glass of milk.
Finn shrugged, but kept grinning. "Well it's like common knowledge that midnight breakfast is perhaps one of the greatest things ever. And how can you not love waffles? Especially blueberry waffles." He could feel his stomach growling just thinking about them.
Santana had to work harder not to smile, but his grin was contagious and the corners of her lips turned up. "What about pancakes? You don't like pancakes?"
Finn shrugged again. "They're alright. But when you think about pancakes versus waffles, waffles are the obvious winner. I mean, they have little squares to hold the syrup and everything. That way it doesn't get as messy. And they don't get as soggy as pancakes." He was too into his waffle talk to notice her sort of smiling. He wasn't sure he'd ever really seen her smile. But then again he'd never really talked to her. He just knew she had a reputation for being a hard ass.
Santana's lips curled more until she had to take a sip of her grapefruit juice to hide her smile. "Well, clearly waffles are better." Setting her cup down, she gave up the fight and smiled at him. He was so serious about waffles vs. pancakes that she could swear he'd thought of this argument before now. "Sausage or bacon?"
Finn bit his lip as he thought, though if he was being perfectly honest with himself he would admit that he was just a little bit distracted by that smile she was giving him. "Um, that's a tough choice. Because I like them both. But if I really had to choose... bacon. Only if it's crispy though. What's your choice?"
Santana shook her head. "Neither. Do you know how bad that shit is for you?" If Coach Sylvester heard that she was eating stuff like greasy bacon and sausage, she'd have Santana's head. Each of her Cheerios had a strict eating plan that kept them in prime condition so they could be the best that they could be. It was harsh, but Santana was dedicated and she wouldn't let something like a craving for bacon let Sue have a reason to rethink Santana's position as Captain of her Cheerios.
Finn's smile faltered a little. "Oh... Well, yeah, I guess so. But you work out so much because of the Cheerios. I doubt one piece of bacon would really be all that bad."
Santana was surprised at how disappointed she felt when his grin disappeared for a moment. What is that about? What do I care if Finn Hudson smiles? She frowned and sat back, crossing her long legs under the table. "It would if Coach found out I went off the plan." And Sue seemed to know everything, even things there were no way she should be able to know.
Finn took a drink of his milk. "Oh yeah, she's kind of crazy..." He made a face. "But at least you won't have her as a coach forever. Then you can eat bacon, or sausage -- I don't know which one you like since you never said -- all you want."
Santana looked at him. "Sausage. I like sausage." She smirked, then nodded at the waitress set down their food. Using her fork she opened her omelet to make sure it was what she ordered. Once satisfied, she cut off a small bite and ate it.
Finn just sort of stared at Santana for a few moments because what was that smirk about? And sausage? That was mighty suggestive... Luckily the smell of his waffles distracted him and he looked down at his food with an excited grin. He poured the syrup on his waffles, making sure each square got the same amount, before digging in.
Santana tore a piece off of her muffin and ate it. She looked over at Finn for a moment then back at her omelet as she took another bite. A silence stretched between them but it didn't make her nervous or awkward. She was too put together for that.
Finn was having an epic battle with his waffles. He wasn't the greatest at cutting, so he mostly just ended up with his mouth really full. He realized he should probably be embarrassed about this but it's not like he and Santana were on a date or anything. He was just trying to sober her up. But he was actually kind of self conscious now so he attempted to make an effort to cut his waffle into smaller bites.
Watching Finn was like watching a child try and cut up their own food. She smirked and swallowed the bite in her mouth. "It helps if you use a knife."
Finn was a little disappointed in himself for being shown up by an intoxicated person about cutting up waffles but he just nodded and grabbed his knife. "I just generally don't like knives..." he trailed off. It was weird and awkward having to coordinate the two utensils at the same time, but he managed to finish cutting up his waffles.
Santana's smirk grew. "Do you want me to help?" Really? He didn't like knives? She wondered if his mom let him use matches or if he had a problem with those, too.
Finn sort of grumbled. How embarrassing, having a drunk person to offer you help in cutting up waffles. "No, that's probably a bad idea. I mean, your hand-eye coordination isn't at its best right now. It would be dangerous. Besides... I managed just fine," he motioned down to the horribly cut up waffle. He set the knife down and switched his fork to his right hand before spearing a piece.
Santana's eyebrow rose. "What's wrong with my hand-eye coordination?" She knew Finn was weird, but this was beyond weird.
Finn looked around the rest of the room so he wouldn't have to meet Santana's gaze. "Well, you know people's hand-eye coordination goes funny when they're drunk. That's why you're not supposed to drive. Or play with knives." He bit his lip hoping she wouldn't turn into the angry drunk Santana again. He sort of liked it when she smiled. It made her look really pretty. Whoa. What?
Santana stared at him. "I'm not drunk." What the fuck? "Why would you think I was drunk? I haven't had any alcohol."
Crap. He could like feel her eyes staring at him. "Uh, well I saw you holding a cup and then you were stumbling and I don't know..."
"Did you see me drink out of the cup?" Santana rolled her eyes. "I was stumbling?" She paused, trying to think of when. "Oh my god. When I bumped into you. Some asshole pushed me on my way out the door, probably trying to cop a feel. I'm not drunk."
"Oh, well I guess that makes sense... Guess I didn't need to sober you up before dropping you at home then. Sorry..." He put a piece of waffle into his mouth feeling kind of stupid.
Santana gave something that was halfway between a smirk and a smile. "You were trying to sober me up? Really?"
Finn finished chewing his bite of waffle then nodded. "Uh, yeah. I thought it might be bad if you showed up home drunk. Parents don't really like that... Well at least my mom doesn't. But I usually don't ever drink because I drive. Uh, yeah," he repeated, sort of feeling embarrassed for some reason.
Santana's smirk-smile turned into a full smile. "That's sweet."
And there was that smile again. Finn wasn't sure how to react really so he kind of just mumbled out a thanks and tried not to blush too much.
Santana laughed softly. His blush was cute. Wait, what? Did I just...? No way. She finished up her food.
Oh this was just surreal. All in the span of less than an hour Finn has made Santana smile and laugh? Though he was sort of confused what she was laughing at. Maybe she thought he was a big loser or something for thinking she was drunk and trying to sober her up. He finished his waffles in silence, not really sure what else to do.
When she was done, she wiped her mouth and set her napkin aside. The check came and she handed it and her credit card back before the waitress could leave again. While she waited for the waitress to come back, she took out her compact to make sure she didn't have food on her face. She didn't and was as hot as always. With a smirk, she snapped her compact closed then signed the credit card slip when the waitress came back to the table. She had nothing to say, so she didn't make idle small talk like most people would. Chit chat was a waste of time and breath.
"Hey I thought I said this was my treat. That was lame. That you paid." He was sort of pouting but he wasn't really sure why. "But, um, thanks." He wiped his hands on his napkin one last, because syrup was pretty messy and even though he had tried to be careful his hands were still a little sticky, then slid out of the booth. "I guess I should take you home now. You know, since you're not drunk."
Santana smirked. "Please forgive me. You can pay next time." Sliding her credit card into her purse, she stood. Tilting her head back she looked up at him. "You'd know if I was drunk. Trust me." She was a horny drunk.
Next time? That threw Finn for a loop. But he wasn't sure if he was more confused by her saying there would be a next time or by how much he wanted there to be a next time. "Uh, yeah, sure," he said quite delayed in his response. He lead her out of Perkins wondering what she meant by him knowing if she were drunk. He wondered if it was a bad thing. And that smirk on her face made him think this even more. He really didn't know a thing about Santana Lopez and it kind of bothered him. This thought confused him too.
Santana moved to the car and waited for him to open it. Once he opened her door, she slid in. Guys were so easy, and she could see each thought an emotion written all over Finn's face. He was going to be too much fun to play with.
Author: ipickquinn & absentego
Pairings/Characters: Finn/Santana
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 4,279
Spoilers: None
Summary: He looked up in confusion. He thought the voice sounded familiar, which wouldn't really be a surprise since he knew everyone here, but he was a little shocked to see that it was Santana Lopez yelling at him. It seemed like they had known each other forever without really knowing one another, if that made sense. It kind of hurt Finn's brain to think about it.
A/N: This fic was written by ipickquinn as Finn and absentego as Santana.
Midnight Breakfast
By senior year at WMHS, the football team was considerably better. They weren't near amazing, but Santana didn't feel so bad cheering for them now that they weren't completely losers. Once Quinn was off the Cheerios, Santana had clawed her way to the top and was now Captain and Head Cheerleader. The Titans had won the night's game, something that was happening more and more often. In celebration, the football team, the Cheerios, and a whole bunch of others had put together an impromptu party.
Santana showed up at the party on the arm of Brad Longchester, the Titans' tight end and her current flavor of the month. Half an hour into the party she was standing next to the punch bowl and glaring across the room at Brad who was getting to second base and trying to suck the lungs right out of Jennifer Goodrow, her fellow Cheerio. Jennifer took the phrase 'team spirit' to a whole new level. The cup of spiked punch in her hand was all but forgotten as she plotted Jennifer and Brad's demise, her brown eyes dark.
Being the Captain of the football team and Quarterback, Finn had managed to hold on to his popularity surprisingly well. Sure things had been a little rough Sophomore year when he joined the Glee club, but once they started winning and the hockey team was still the worst team in the Midwest, people stopped giving Finn so much crap about dancing and singing for fun.
After their win that night one of the football guys had announced his parents were out of town and there would be a celebration party at his house. And being as popular as he was, Finn was expected to mingle around the room and talk with people. He had thrown the winning pass after all. Everyone was slapping him on the back, some sloshing their beer on him (he didn't like that too much), and telling him what a great game it had been. He was in the zone right now. He even had a hot date. Jennifer Goodrow had rushed up to him after the game and thrown her arms around him, telling him how amazing he had played. So naturally he asked her to accompany him to the party. It was what anyone would have done. She was hot and obviously liked him, so why not?
But it seemed like Finn had only been gone for a few minutes and when he returned he found Jennifer making out with Brad. Definitely not cool. And a total breach of the bro code. He grumbled and walked over to the drink table, looking for something to distract him.
Santana didn't see Finn coming until he was blocking her view of Jennifer and Brad, effectively killing her day dream where they'd been spouting blood from various knife wounds. "Hey, move." It was only after she's snapped those words that she looked up to see who had gotten in her way. Other than in Glee for the last two years, Santana hadn't talked to Finn much. They were both around at parties like this, but they didn't talk or socialize. Santana tended to go with one crowd, and Finn with an entirely different kind of crowd within the football players and Cheerios. She might see him across the room at a party, but they didn't hang out.
Finn was looking over the drinks on the table, wondering if any of them weren't spiked. He was driving tonight and promised his mom he would never drink and drive. It's not like she didn't know what happened at these parties, but he tried to be responsible so Mama Hudson couldn't protest too much at his attendance. Though with how much beer people had spilled on him, it may take a breathalyzer to convince her of his sobriety. He frowned at the thought. Then a voice brought him out of his thoughts. Someone telling him to move? He looked up in confusion. He thought the voice sounded familiar, which wouldn't really be a surprise since he knew everyone here, but he was a little shocked to see that it was Santana Lopez yelling at him. It seemed like they had known each other forever without really knowing one another, if that made sense. It kind of hurt Finn's brain to think about it. "Uh, what?"
Santana shook her head, her ponytail bobbing behind her. She, along with the Cheerios, hadn't taken time to change out of their uniforms after the game. Turning, she set her full plastic cup of punch back on the table. "Nothing." She turned her back on Brad and Jennifer. "Just watching my date play tonsil hockey with a girl that's not me. It would fucking figure that the one time I don't drive myself, my date ditches me." She shook her head then muttered, "Asshole."
Finn looked over his shoulder to look at what Santana was looking at. And there was really only one couple making out, so he figured they were looking at the same people. "Oh Brad has a car? That's good. Now I don't have to worry about driving Jennifer home. I mean, it would be kind of awkward since she totally ditched me to make out with him," he shrugged, not really caring at all. After staring at the couple a few moments more he turned back to Santana. "So, do you need a ride home then? I mean, we don't have to go now. If you even want a ride." He shut himself up. He didn't even know why he was babbling like this. Probably because he'd never had a real conversation with with Santana before and he was nervous. Yeah, he'd go with that.
Santana's eyebrow rose as she waited for his babbling to stop. He really should try to get that under control. "You came with Jennifer? Well, that was a mistake, wasn't it?" She kept her back to the pair on the couch and picked up a cookie. After giving the cookie a disgusted look (she could tell it was some Chips Ahoy knock-off, gross) she put it back on the tray and dusted the crumbs from her fingers. She looked up (and up) at Finn. Why the hell not? At least she knew he wouldn't try to put his hands under her skirt like most of the guys on the team. "I could use a ride."
Finn's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion when Santana said bringing Jennifer was a mistake. What did she mean by that? It was probably just some catty girl thing. He really didn't want to get into chick politics, so he decided to ignore that comment. Maybe Santana was just angry and kind of drunk too. He didn't really know how she normally acted and he didn't need her to be drunk and belligerent at him. He looked down at Santana with a tight smile. "So do you want to stay for a while longer or go now? I don't really care either way."
Santana sighed. "This party isn't going anywhere anyway." She lifted her arm to look at her watch. It wasn't even midnight. How pathetic. The party officially blew. Next time she was going to take charge and make it a party none of them would forget. But for now... "Let's go."
Finn nodded in agreement and dug in his pockets to make sure his car keys were still there. Luckily they were and he motioned towards the door before beginning to walk. He received a few more slaps on the back from his teammates and after pushing his way through the crowd of people just standing around (Finn assumed some of the people were too busy drinking to realize they were in the way) he finally made it to the front door. He looked back to see if Santana had made it through alive.
Santana wove through the crowd of people, detouring over to Brittany to let the blond know she was leaving. Brittany tended to worry, and she didn't want her thinking Santana had wandered off drunk or gotten hurt. Knowing Brittany, she'd have the cops out looking for her. Once that was taken care of, and she'd (hopefully) convinced Brittany that she was not leaving to hook up with Finn, she wove her way through the people and to the door. She was almost out when someone bumped into her, causing her to bump into Finn and her hand to slid into his. As soon as it happened, she jerked back, jerking her hand away and righting herself. "Sorry."
Finn didn't see that someone had pushed Santana into him and he looked back at her, a look of concern on his face. She was obviously a lot drunker than he thought if she was stumbling around and falling on him. It was okay though. He had a lot of practice of sobering people up. He did used to be best friends with Puck after all. It wasn't like they were enemies or anything now, but after everything that had happened things obviously weren't the same. "Uh, yeah. I mean, that's okay," he was tempted to put his hands in his pockets because it was a little chilly out but he knew it was a bad idea. What if she stumbled again? He needed to be prepared to grab her and prevent her from doing a face plant on the pavement. "So my car is up this street," he pulled his keys out and began walking towards a battered up station wagon. He wasn't that great with parallel parking so he made sure he had a lot of street space when he parked. He unlocked the passenger side first then his own door and slid in.
Santana frowned at the strange look on Finn's face, but she didn't care enough to question it. She waited for him to unlock her door, her eyes drifting down to his jeans. He has a nice ass. Where did that come from? With a smirk, she slid into the car and put her seatbelt on. Ordinarily she wouldn't be caught in a POS like this, but seeing as it was Finn Hudson's, she didn't think it would hurt her reputation too much.
Finn turned on the car and jumped at the loud classic rock music blaring out of the speakers. He reached forward to turn it down as quickly as he could. "Sorry. I was a little pumped up after the game," he chuckled nervously. "You can change the radio station if you want," he said as he checked his mirrors then pulled onto the road. He knew where Santana lived, but he was still convinced that she needed to sober up. He also knew that the town's Perkin's was in the direction of Santana's house, so he drove on, hoping she wouldn't mind too much at their little detour.
Santana tensed but didn't jump at the loud music. Her brow rose, her eyes darkening. "No problem," she said coolly. She spun the dial to the local pop station and sat back, crossing her long legs. "Do you know how to get to my house?" There had been parties at both their houses so he should know, but this was Finn Hudson and things everyone knew weren't always things Finn knew.
Finn nodded his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "Yep, I've been there before," he said before making a right turn where he should have made a left. Finn knew he wasn't perceived to be the smartest crayon in the box, though to his defense he did pick up on a lot more than people gave him credit for. The Perkins was just a mile down the road so he was hoping he could just laugh it off as a mistake then sneakily pull into the Perkins. Santana didn't seem the type of girl to do well with surprises. Or maybe it was just the alcohol making her more angry than usual. Not that he knew what her usual was. They never hung out with each other. He only had other people's word to go by.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Well, you're going the wrong way." She looked at him. "You were supposed to take a right back there."
Hmm, surprisingly perceptive for being drunk. "Oh yeah, whoops. I guess it's been a while..." He drove forward a few more blocks and spotted the Perkins. Perfect. He pulled into the parking lot and parked. "Well we might as well have midnight breakfast while we're here," he said before turning the car off.
Santana frowned. "Are you drunk?" She looked at the Perkins then back to Finn. "What the fuck, Finn? Take me home." Whoops. I guess it's been a while... That was a blatant lie. What was he trying to pull?
Finn pulled the keys out of the ignition. "No I'm not drunk." You are He added silently, though decided it would be best if he didn't accuse her of being the intoxicated one. She was already angry enough. "I'm just hungry. Thought you might be too. My treat?"
Santana looked at him a moment, then nodded. "Sure." A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth but didn't make it all the way across her lips. "Your treat." Sliding out of the car, she shut the door and headed for the door to Perkins.
Finn held the door open for Santana then followed her inside. It was around 11:30 so the place was pretty empty and the hostess called for them to pick a booth. Finn led them to a booth in the middle of the vacant restaurant and the hostess brought over menus a few moments later. He looked at the menu, even though he already knew what he was going to order, because he thought it would be weird to look at Santana. They weren't even really friends or anything yet here they were sitting across from each other at Perkins. "Uh, so do you know what you want?"
Santana glanced over the menu then set it down. "Yes." When the waitress came back, she ordered a vegetable omelet with egg whites only, a whole wheat muffin, and skipped the hash brown/potatoes option. For her drink, she ordered grapefruit juice. Handing her menu to the waitress, she sat back to let Finn order.
Finn listened to Santana order, sort of surprised she actually ordered so much food. But he was surprised in a good way. Girls who didn't eat bothered him. Before Quinn got pregnant she was like that. They would go out to eat and she would order a salad. What was the point of that? It was just like... crunchy water. Finn ordered the blueberry waffles and a large glass of milk with a grin. He handed his menu to the waitress and after she walked away, he turned to Santana.
"So." He didn't actually know what to say to her. He didn't even really know Santana. Like at all.
Santana bit back a smile at his grin. "Blueberry waffles make you pretty happy, huh?" That was a lot of joy for some waffles and a glass of milk.
Finn shrugged, but kept grinning. "Well it's like common knowledge that midnight breakfast is perhaps one of the greatest things ever. And how can you not love waffles? Especially blueberry waffles." He could feel his stomach growling just thinking about them.
Santana had to work harder not to smile, but his grin was contagious and the corners of her lips turned up. "What about pancakes? You don't like pancakes?"
Finn shrugged again. "They're alright. But when you think about pancakes versus waffles, waffles are the obvious winner. I mean, they have little squares to hold the syrup and everything. That way it doesn't get as messy. And they don't get as soggy as pancakes." He was too into his waffle talk to notice her sort of smiling. He wasn't sure he'd ever really seen her smile. But then again he'd never really talked to her. He just knew she had a reputation for being a hard ass.
Santana's lips curled more until she had to take a sip of her grapefruit juice to hide her smile. "Well, clearly waffles are better." Setting her cup down, she gave up the fight and smiled at him. He was so serious about waffles vs. pancakes that she could swear he'd thought of this argument before now. "Sausage or bacon?"
Finn bit his lip as he thought, though if he was being perfectly honest with himself he would admit that he was just a little bit distracted by that smile she was giving him. "Um, that's a tough choice. Because I like them both. But if I really had to choose... bacon. Only if it's crispy though. What's your choice?"
Santana shook her head. "Neither. Do you know how bad that shit is for you?" If Coach Sylvester heard that she was eating stuff like greasy bacon and sausage, she'd have Santana's head. Each of her Cheerios had a strict eating plan that kept them in prime condition so they could be the best that they could be. It was harsh, but Santana was dedicated and she wouldn't let something like a craving for bacon let Sue have a reason to rethink Santana's position as Captain of her Cheerios.
Finn's smile faltered a little. "Oh... Well, yeah, I guess so. But you work out so much because of the Cheerios. I doubt one piece of bacon would really be all that bad."
Santana was surprised at how disappointed she felt when his grin disappeared for a moment. What is that about? What do I care if Finn Hudson smiles? She frowned and sat back, crossing her long legs under the table. "It would if Coach found out I went off the plan." And Sue seemed to know everything, even things there were no way she should be able to know.
Finn took a drink of his milk. "Oh yeah, she's kind of crazy..." He made a face. "But at least you won't have her as a coach forever. Then you can eat bacon, or sausage -- I don't know which one you like since you never said -- all you want."
Santana looked at him. "Sausage. I like sausage." She smirked, then nodded at the waitress set down their food. Using her fork she opened her omelet to make sure it was what she ordered. Once satisfied, she cut off a small bite and ate it.
Finn just sort of stared at Santana for a few moments because what was that smirk about? And sausage? That was mighty suggestive... Luckily the smell of his waffles distracted him and he looked down at his food with an excited grin. He poured the syrup on his waffles, making sure each square got the same amount, before digging in.
Santana tore a piece off of her muffin and ate it. She looked over at Finn for a moment then back at her omelet as she took another bite. A silence stretched between them but it didn't make her nervous or awkward. She was too put together for that.
Finn was having an epic battle with his waffles. He wasn't the greatest at cutting, so he mostly just ended up with his mouth really full. He realized he should probably be embarrassed about this but it's not like he and Santana were on a date or anything. He was just trying to sober her up. But he was actually kind of self conscious now so he attempted to make an effort to cut his waffle into smaller bites.
Watching Finn was like watching a child try and cut up their own food. She smirked and swallowed the bite in her mouth. "It helps if you use a knife."
Finn was a little disappointed in himself for being shown up by an intoxicated person about cutting up waffles but he just nodded and grabbed his knife. "I just generally don't like knives..." he trailed off. It was weird and awkward having to coordinate the two utensils at the same time, but he managed to finish cutting up his waffles.
Santana's smirk grew. "Do you want me to help?" Really? He didn't like knives? She wondered if his mom let him use matches or if he had a problem with those, too.
Finn sort of grumbled. How embarrassing, having a drunk person to offer you help in cutting up waffles. "No, that's probably a bad idea. I mean, your hand-eye coordination isn't at its best right now. It would be dangerous. Besides... I managed just fine," he motioned down to the horribly cut up waffle. He set the knife down and switched his fork to his right hand before spearing a piece.
Santana's eyebrow rose. "What's wrong with my hand-eye coordination?" She knew Finn was weird, but this was beyond weird.
Finn looked around the rest of the room so he wouldn't have to meet Santana's gaze. "Well, you know people's hand-eye coordination goes funny when they're drunk. That's why you're not supposed to drive. Or play with knives." He bit his lip hoping she wouldn't turn into the angry drunk Santana again. He sort of liked it when she smiled. It made her look really pretty. Whoa. What?
Santana stared at him. "I'm not drunk." What the fuck? "Why would you think I was drunk? I haven't had any alcohol."
Crap. He could like feel her eyes staring at him. "Uh, well I saw you holding a cup and then you were stumbling and I don't know..."
"Did you see me drink out of the cup?" Santana rolled her eyes. "I was stumbling?" She paused, trying to think of when. "Oh my god. When I bumped into you. Some asshole pushed me on my way out the door, probably trying to cop a feel. I'm not drunk."
"Oh, well I guess that makes sense... Guess I didn't need to sober you up before dropping you at home then. Sorry..." He put a piece of waffle into his mouth feeling kind of stupid.
Santana gave something that was halfway between a smirk and a smile. "You were trying to sober me up? Really?"
Finn finished chewing his bite of waffle then nodded. "Uh, yeah. I thought it might be bad if you showed up home drunk. Parents don't really like that... Well at least my mom doesn't. But I usually don't ever drink because I drive. Uh, yeah," he repeated, sort of feeling embarrassed for some reason.
Santana's smirk-smile turned into a full smile. "That's sweet."
And there was that smile again. Finn wasn't sure how to react really so he kind of just mumbled out a thanks and tried not to blush too much.
Santana laughed softly. His blush was cute. Wait, what? Did I just...? No way. She finished up her food.
Oh this was just surreal. All in the span of less than an hour Finn has made Santana smile and laugh? Though he was sort of confused what she was laughing at. Maybe she thought he was a big loser or something for thinking she was drunk and trying to sober her up. He finished his waffles in silence, not really sure what else to do.
When she was done, she wiped her mouth and set her napkin aside. The check came and she handed it and her credit card back before the waitress could leave again. While she waited for the waitress to come back, she took out her compact to make sure she didn't have food on her face. She didn't and was as hot as always. With a smirk, she snapped her compact closed then signed the credit card slip when the waitress came back to the table. She had nothing to say, so she didn't make idle small talk like most people would. Chit chat was a waste of time and breath.
"Hey I thought I said this was my treat. That was lame. That you paid." He was sort of pouting but he wasn't really sure why. "But, um, thanks." He wiped his hands on his napkin one last, because syrup was pretty messy and even though he had tried to be careful his hands were still a little sticky, then slid out of the booth. "I guess I should take you home now. You know, since you're not drunk."
Santana smirked. "Please forgive me. You can pay next time." Sliding her credit card into her purse, she stood. Tilting her head back she looked up at him. "You'd know if I was drunk. Trust me." She was a horny drunk.
Next time? That threw Finn for a loop. But he wasn't sure if he was more confused by her saying there would be a next time or by how much he wanted there to be a next time. "Uh, yeah, sure," he said quite delayed in his response. He lead her out of Perkins wondering what she meant by him knowing if she were drunk. He wondered if it was a bad thing. And that smirk on her face made him think this even more. He really didn't know a thing about Santana Lopez and it kind of bothered him. This thought confused him too.
Santana moved to the car and waited for him to open it. Once he opened her door, she slid in. Guys were so easy, and she could see each thought an emotion written all over Finn's face. He was going to be too much fun to play with.