Pezberry: The Snow is Cold
Fandom: Glee
Title: The Snow is Cold
Author: purrpickle
Rating: T/R (possibly an M rating later *smirk*)
Length: 2,500+
Chapter: Two
Pairing(s): Rachel/Santana
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee nor the characters within.
Summary: All Santana Lopez wants to do with her free day is enjoy her old theatre with its old movies in peace. But then the very infuriating Rachel Berry shows up and won't leave her alone. Of course, to make matters worse, they get snowed in. Dammit.
A/N: Second chapter. Feels like more of a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyways. *smile*
Daddy Berry had taken the news of being snowed in surprisingly well. After testing the front doors like Santana had and getting the same amount of nowhere, he'd shrugged and called his husband. "Well, honey," he started, looking over at where Doug and Santana sat across from him and Rachel, lowering his voice a bit, "Dad promised that he'd save his eggplant parmesan for another day, just in case we're stuck here longer than expected."
"That's nice of him," Rachel smiled widely, "He knows it's one of my favorites."
Having heard him anyway, Santana snorted. However, the affect was lost when she shifted in her seat, stomach growling embarrassingly. Talk of food reminded her acutely of the Red Vines she still had in her pocket, but there was no way in hell that was coming out any time soon with Berry around. The smell of popcorn caught her attention, and she growled, glowering at the popcorn machine. That was pretty much a no-go as well. Maybe if they were stuck overnight - god no, please, not with the motor mouth dwarf! - but she doubted she'd even touch it then.
She felt Rachel's gaze burn into the side of her face. "Yes, Berry?" she asked dryly, garnishing it with a hint of boredom, meeting the smaller girl's eyes.
Taking a breath and smoothing her hands down the tops of her thighs, Rachel smiled hesitantly at her. "Santana," she started, slightly drawing out her name, then seemingly changing her mind, "No, never mind."
"No, what?" Leaning forward, Santana stared at Rachel intently.
Next to his daughter, Daddy Berry crossed his arms, watching the interaction between the two girls with interest; to be honest, it was a bit creepy. What the hell was so interesting?
"It's nothing."
Santana didn't believe that for a second. "What?" she prodded, taking great pleasure in watching an uncomfortable expression blossom on Rachel's face as her eyes looked nervously back and forth between Santana and Daddy Berry; it looked like she was both afraid and relieved that her father was there. Probably thought of him like a handy buffer or some shit.
Well, Man Hands should be happy her father was there, Santana thought evilly, amusing herself with plans on how she was going to make Rachel's next day at school a living hell as she waited for the small girl's response.
"Uhm, San?"
"Yeah?" she replied automatically, turning to look at Doug.
Doug looked nervous and slightly embarrassed. Standing up, he shot Rachel and her father a shy glance, then turned back to Santana. "Could I get your help with something?" he asked, motioning with his chin towards the back room.
Santana had a good idea what he wanted. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to let Rachel off the hook for the time being and stood up. "Sure." Seeing the wide eyed curious expression on Rachel's face, she raised her eyebrow, made a suggestive smirk, and winked at her, enjoying the look of moral disgust that quickly followed. Daddy Berry, for some strange reason, looked almost amused. Leaving that to think about later, she followed her friend into the back room.
"Alrightie, Dougie," she grinned, "What's up?"
Doug grinned back, hopeful. "Uh, since we're stuck here, you know, for a while, I was hoping you could help me with some of those cheer moves again? Coach was really impressed with me last time."
"Oh, well, sure. Why not?" Santana didn't see any harm in agreeing. The moves she was helping him with were pretty general, and there was no risk he and his team would be any threat to the Cheerios. Besides, it would be something to do that wouldn't involve Rachel's infuriating presence. Total plus there.
Stripping off her jacket and leaving herself in her plain white tee and jeans, she fished a hair tie out of her pocket and quickly put her hair up into her normal high ponytail. She waited while Doug removed his theatre issued shirt, leaving himself in his undershirt and black slacks. "Can't do anything about the pants, but good thing I brought my tennis shoes to change into," he quipped, going over to a locker in the corner and changing his footwear. Santana took the time to survey the room and calculate how much room they could make available to use.
Fortunately, the large table that sat in the middle of the floor looked flimsy enough to move easily. And, as she craned her head up, the ceiling was a decent height. "C'mon, help me move this table," she called to Doug, who was just pushing himself up from the ground.
"Sure thing," he replied, and the table was quickly pushed against the far wall, blocking access to the lockers and random boxes of concession goods. Being such an underused theatre, Santana wasn't surprised there was so little in the back room. That was good for them - last time, she and Doug had used the lobby, and while it certainly worked, there was no way she was going to do any kind of physical activity around the dwarf other than within Glee class. 'Sides, the midget'd probably spend the whole time glaring at them while going off on a tirade about how 'cheerleaders were slaves to society' or something self righteous like that.
Running through and demonstrating the moves Doug wanted to work on was going surprisingly well. Santana had even started to work up a sweat, her t-shirt sticking to her back. She felt smug that Doug looked worse than her; like last time, she'd come to the realization that for all the shit Sue put the Cheerios through, it certainly gave them a leg up on physical fitness. However, her few sips of Sprite had long since been worked off, and she called for a water break.
"Ohh, thank god!" Doug groaned, grabbing his theatre shirt to wipe his face and neck with.
"That's gonna be nasty to put back on," Santana teased him, using her forearm to wipe her own forehead.
Doug made a cross face, but he threw his shirt down. "What about you?" he asked, running his hand through his hair as he waited for her to precede him out of the back room, "Aren't girls supposed to 'glow'?"
"Glow my ass!" Santana laughed, pushing his shoulder, making a face at the sweat her fingers touched, "This, this is hard work."
Tramping into the lobby, she and Doug suddenly quieted when they came upon a sight they wouldn't have expected. With her eyes closed, a look of quiet concentration on her face, Rachel was slowly and surely moving through what looked like a sophisticated ballet routine. The earbuds of her iPod were securely within her ears, the music loud enough that Santana could just make out the strains of some sort of classical music. She looked, Santana hated to admit it, good.
"Whoah…" Doug let out under his breath.
Not acknowledging he had spoken, Santana continued staring.
"My Rachel's good, isn't she?" someone commented quietly, and Santana jumped. Without either of the teens noticing, Rachel's father had walked up behind them.
Doug nodded, Santana begrudgingly doing the same a moment later.
Smiling, Daddy Berry looked back at Rachel, "I'm very happy my daughter grew up unafraid to chase her goals. She was the one who begged to take ballet lessons, you know? Four years old, and she just had to do ballet."
Getting uncomfortable with the conversation - Santana had no interest in Man Hands' childhood, dammit, nor did she ask to hear about it - she skirted around the man and turned her focus to the cups of water that still sat on the counter. Taking a cool sip, her eyes strayed back to the… Spectacle in front of her. She wasn't going to call it anything else.
With a few more moves, Rachel came to a stop. She held her pose for a couple of seconds, lowered her arms, let out a breath of air, and opened her eyes.
Santana found herself with her lips wrapped around the straw of her water, staring unblinkingly back at a surprised brown gaze. Coughing as she spat the straw out, she cursed at the stupid position Rachel had caught her in.
"Santana!" Rachel squeaked, straightening and pulling the earbuds out of her ears, "How long have you been spying on me?"
"Excuse me?" Santana sputtered, shooting two glares at Doug and Rachel's father who were standing off to the side and out of Rachel's eyesight, shaking their heads amusedly. Bringing her gaze back to Rachel who was stalking forward, she crossed her arms and affixed a haughty look onto her face. "Why in the hell would I want to be spying on you?"
Rachel firmed her lips, coming to a stop just in front of her, arms crossed. "Then why were you watching me?"
"Well, what do you expect, flouncing around the lobby like you were!" Santana glowered down at her, not appreciating the situation she had been put in. There was no way she would ever admit she had been almost mesmer - entrance - staring at the dwarf with anything close to admir - awe - appreciation.
Rachel gasped. "I was not flouncing!" She took an indignant step forward, voice rising in tone, fists now clenched at her waist, "I'll have you know I've been taking ballet for 12 years, am highly skilled, and I never flounce!"
Santana started laughing. "Jesus, Berry," she choked out between chuckles, "Do you ever listen to yourself?"
Perhaps to stop the rant that was undoubtedly building up within Rachel, Daddy Berry stepped forward, Doug following behind him. "Well, I thought you were great, honey," he smiled at her, throwing Santana a mild glare that seemed to say, 'you should probably stop laughing at my daughter before I feel like I should intervene'.
Making sure to laugh a couple of more times on principle, Santana quieted, shaking her head. "Flouncing Berry," she muttered, smirking, the image coming to mind almost too funny to not burst out with chuckles again.
Walking around Santana and Rachel to grab his own cup of water, Doug turned back and smiled widely at Rachel. "No, that was really cool," he nodded, "Ignore San here. I didn't think you were flouncing."
Rachel blushed, pink rushing across her cheeks. Rolling her eyes, Santana scowled. Of course Rachel would blush at any kind words a boy said. It made Santana sick.
"Well, that is very kind of you…" Rachel searched for Doug's nametag, but since he wasn't wearing his theatre shirt anymore, she smiled shyly, "Uh, you."
"Doug Richards." Doug put his hand out, reconsidered and quickly wiped it on his shirt before holding it out again.
Rachel gladly accepted the handshake, tucking hair behind her ear in a coquettish manner. "Nice to meet you, Doug. I'm Rachel Berry."
Okay, now Santana really wanted to throw up. Seeing the appraising look Daddy Berry was giving Doug and his daughter was putting her in a bad mood. There was no way in hell she was going to allow any romance between Doug and the munchkin! Not that she was interested in Doug herself, but it just… It just wouldn't do.
"Alright! I hate to break up things up, but I believe you and I were in the middle of something, huh, Dougie?" Santana said, sounding as insincere as she could.
"Oh, uh, yeah. That's right." Doug shot her a pained look, but she ignored it.
At his words, Rachel's face dropped, and a look like she remembered something distasteful flowed through her body. That morally superior expression Santana had seen many times before appeared again.
Smirking and giving Rachel and her father a flippant nod, Santana grabbed Doug's arm and started trying to drag him to the back room.
Stumbling a little while trying to stay facing Rachel and her father as Santana tugged on his arm, Doug suddenly stopped in his tracks, jerking Santana roughly. "Oh, hey!" he smiled broadly, whirling around to face Rachel directly, "Maybe you could join us!"
"What!" Santana yelled out. What the fuck? "Oh, hell no - "
But Rachel cut her off, voice almost a shriek, "In front of my dad? You're inviting me to - to," her eyes cut to her father, then back to Doug, mouth agape, her voice now a harsh whisper, "A ménage a trios? Have you no sense of propriety at all? Even if I were interested - which I can assure you I'm not - asking me in front of my dad is - is - it's sick, is what it is!"
Ringing silence echoed through the room.
"Oh god, honey." Speaking into the hand he placed in front of his face to hide what sounded like painful chuckles, Daddy Berry shook his head, "Honey, they're not - Doug told me earlier that he was - uhm, is - is a member of the Roosevelt High's cheerleading team. I suspect he and Santana have been practicing that."
Santana had never seen that particular shade of red on anyone before. Ohh, god, she thought, biting her lip to stop the harsh laughter that was threatening, Rachel would never live that down! It was great!
But what was this shit about the dwarf joining them? How the - why the - seriously, fuck no! Rounding on Doug, she glared at him. "What the hell, man?" she hissed, making sure to keep one ear on Rachel so she'd be able to hear when she tried to babble her way out of embarrassment; she didn't want to miss that for anything!
"Whoah!" Doug put his hands up, "Jeez, San. What's the problem?"
"My problem, Dougie," she paused and took a deep breath to try to stop herself from biting off her friend's head. It wasn't his fault he didn't know about the freakdom status of Rachel and how annoying she was. "My problem is, just, no. No. She's not even a cheerleader! What good would come with her involvement?"
"You saw her, Santana!" Bobbing his head in Rachel's direction, Doug studied Santana, his brow furrowed, "She has rhythm and balance, and she's small enough to be the perfect weight for you to be able to pick up. Honestly, why are you being so bitchy?"
Santana flinched. When Doug said it, it hurt. She'd tried so hard to keep her McKinley High persona from ever encroaching on the theatre, but she couldn't drop it now. Rachel could bury her! God fucking dammit. And - wait, what?
"Pick her up?" she asked disbelievingly, whipping her head around to stare at Rachel who was still pure red but not hyperventilating anymore, something on the floor seemingly incredibly interesting to her.
"Well, yeah. I would appreciate it if we worked on some of the lifting, and, well, you can't very well watch how I'm doing it if I'm lifting you, now can you?"
But Santana was barely listening to him. Lifting and picking up Man Hands? Sure, looking at her, she had a small body and was quite fit, but to have to be… Touching her?
Taking her silence as acquiescence, Doug took the opportunity to leave her and approach Rachel's side. Watching as the two talked quietly enough that she couldn't make out all of it, her heart sunk as Rachel's refusal slowly turned into hesitant acceptance, her father nodding in support.
Feeling like finding the nearest wall and bashing her head against it, Santana shuddered. Dancing with her was one thing, but doing cheerleading with her - the one thing Santana truly felt like she belonged doing - was nothing sacred anymore? First the theatre, then Doug's friendship, and now cheerleading?
Gritting her teeth, Santana made her way into the back room and tried to mentally prepare herself for the agony that was surely to come. Having Rachel's body under hands would probably be something she'd never be able to forget.
Ugh. Fucking hell.