Jencey86

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Santana sat off to the side in the choir room as she kept her eyes on Finn and Quinn. She was attempting to talk to him, but he seemed more interested in his phone then the most amazing girl in the entire school. She was happy when Schuester decided they were done for the day. “Quinn…” She called out to her best friend before she was able to get out of the room.

“I’ll see you later, babe.” The blonde ran her hand along Finn’s back some. “What’s up, San?”

The Latina rolled her eyes as Finn didn’t even bother to wait around for Quinn. “When are you going to dump him and run away with me?” She meant it jokingly… mostly. She didn’t hide her feelings for her best friend.

Quinn just laughed softly and shook her head. “You know I love him. And I’m not gay.”

“But he couldn’t give two shits about you. He was on his phone the whole time when you were trying to talk to him.” Santana walked with her best friend down toward their lockers. “Besides, you don’t have to be gay. Just have an open mind. I’ll treat you so much better the lumps the clown ever would.” She wiggled her eyebrows and swore she saw a slight blush rise to her friend’s cheeks. “I’ll see you tomorrow Quinn.” She winked at her best friend and openly let her eyes travel over Quinn’s body before she tossed her backpack over her shoulder and walked out of the school.

--Choir Room Next Day-- song “Treat you Better by Shawn Mendes”

Santana rolled her eyes as she walked into the choir room and saw Quinn and Finn in the front row together. Once again, Finn seemed totally uninterested in anything that Quinn had to say to him. She wished that her best friend could see the fact that he was using her. He was a neanderthal and wouldn’t have his social status if it wasn’t for him dating the head of the Cheerios. Even though he was the quarterback, his personality was atrocious.

“Alright guys, we’re going to start working on our Regionals-”

“Mr. Schue…” Santana spoke up, effectively cutting the teacher off.

The man looked a little confused. Santana hardly ever interrupted him for anything. “Yes… Santana?”

“I have a song I’d like to sing… if that’s okay.” She smiled smugly at her best friend when Quinn turned around to look at her.

“Sure, we didn’t have any assignment for this week though.”

“Doesn’t matter. This is what I’ve been wanting to get out there for a while now. I feel like now is as good a time as ever.” She stood up from her seat and went over to the band to tell them what she wanted. Once the music started, she turned to face the group but her eyes were only on Quinn as she opened her mouth to sing. “I won't lie to you. I know he's just not right for you. And you can tell me if I'm off. But I see it on your face. When you say that he's the one that you want. And you're spending all your time. In this wrong situation. And anytime you want it to stop. I know I can treat you better. Than he can-” She was cut off then when Finn suddenly got to his feet.

“What the hell is this?” 

Santana just smiled toward him. “Trying to get your girlfriend to realize you’re just using her.”

Finn just glared at Santana before he looked down at Quinn. “She’s full of it.”

The blonde swallowed thickly and shook her head. She looked at her boyfriend before she looked at her best friend. She hadn’t expected Santana to do that in front of everybody. Without a word, she gathered her things and got up to leave the room.

Finn didn’t go after her.

Santana did.

The Latina rushed down the hallway after her best friend. “Quinn! Quinn, wait.” She called out to her.

The blonde stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked back at the other girl. She should have known Finn wouldn’t have followed her. He never seemed to care when she was upset or hurt by anything. But Santana always did. Santana was always there. “He’s… not coming is he?” She asked softly as she looked at the floor. Everything was starting to finally sink in for her.

“No, he’s not. He just watched you go.” 

Quinn took a deep breath before she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Santana. “I… I need to break up with him.”

“You should just slap him in the face in front of everybody.”

“I’m not going to hit him.”

“I didn’t mean literally. Though, I wouldn’t be opposed to him getting a well deserved bitch slap.” Santana rested her hands on Quinn’s hips and smiled softly to her. “Does this mean I can take you out on a date now? Ya know, like you should have accepted months ago. He’s an oaf that’s been using you for his own image. He has no personality.”

Quinn just shook her head and couldn’t hold her smile. “This is new to me… so be patient with me. I do care about him.”

“Don’t know why.” She leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss to Quinn’s cheek. She didn’t want to push the girl, but she just wanted to show her how much she truly cared about her.

Quinn sighed softly and nodded some. She stayed close to Santana, but didn’t keep contact with her. There was so much running through her mind at that moment. When they went back into the choir room, Finn got up and approached them.

“What was that shit, Santana?” He glared at the Latina instead of worrying about his girlfriend.

Quinn stepped between them before Santana could open her mouth. “She’s right. You’ve never cared. You just wanted to be the quarterback that dated the head cheerleader. I was just blind to it because I thought you were cute. She’s always been right though.” Quinn shook her head some to him. “Go back to playing on your phone, Finn. You obviously have always cared more about that then me anyway.”

Santana just smirked at him before she took Quinn’s hand to lead her back to the seat she’d been sitting at before. She expected Quinn to pull her hand back once they were there. 

But she didn’t.

Quinn just squeezed her hand comfortingly and gave the girl a sideways glance.

World of Silence

Chapter 2

 Dani was nervous. Santana had called her cute and she wasn’t sure what to think of it. Her past relationships had all failed, but at 35 she knew she wasn’t getting any younger. She couldn’t just be afraid to put herself out there anymore. She decided to register for the next round of Santana’s sign language classes. It had been two weeks since she was at the school and wrote the article about it. The Tuesday classes were for beginners and the Thursday classes were more intermediate conversational sign language.

 She pulled into the parking lot and grabbed her purse before heading inside with a few other people. Learning sign language, or at least enough to get by would only be beneficial for her. She’d encountered deaf individuals in the past and had no idea how to communicate with them and she felt bad.

 Dani found an empty seat in the classroom and placed her purse on the floor beside her before glancing around the room some. Part of her worried that Santana wouldn’t remember her, but as the Latina came into the room and saw her she smiled shyly and waved to her.

 Santana wasn’t expecting to see Dani sitting in her class, but she could admit to herself that it was nice to see the woman again. After putting her bag down, she got some papers out to hand to everybody. She lingered for a moment near Dani and smiled again to her.

 The paper that was placed in front of her only had a few lines on it, stating to everybody Santana’s name and the fact that she was deaf. All beginning communication with her needed to be in some form of writing. Once Santana finished handing the papers to the few people that were sitting in the classroom, she went up to write something onto the board.

 Alphabet.

 Dani made sure to pay attention as Santana wrote something onto the top piece of paper from her next stack before she passed them out to the group of adults. Dani looked at the paper that was placed in front of her before looking up to meet Santana’s eyes. ‘Stay after please?’ Dani looked up at her and nodded some before actually looking at what was on the paper. It was the alphabet and how to do each letter.

 “Names.” Santana’s voice came out, filling the room and causing Dani to look up. It wasn’t often that Santana actually spoke, but when she did, she always struggled to keep her volume under control. Santana took her time, spelling out her own name so the others could see each of the letters. Santana started around the room, pointing to each person for them to spell out their names.

 When it was Dani’s turn, she looked down at the paper before lifting her right hand to spell out ‘Dani.’

 “Good,” Santana lifted her right hand to her lips before lowering it to rest on her left palm toward Dani. She’d done the same thing with all the others. “Hi, my name is…” Santana took things slowly with each sign and motioned for the others to follow her.

 Santana kept everything simple for the first class, focusing on the alphabet and numbers, along with some basic conversation. When she finished, she wrote good night up on the board and signed it to everybody as they started to gather things up. “Work on the alphabet for next Tuesday.” Santana sat at her desk and took her time to pack up her leftover papers.

 Dani watched as the others left before also taking her time with the papers Santana had given to them. She folded them in half and slid them down into her purse. Once they were alone in the room, she stood up and moved toward Santana.

 “It’s nice to see you again.” She spoke and signed to the blonde.

 Dani smiled toward Santana before pointing to her and holding up two fingers. “You too.”

 Santana covered her mouth to giggle some and shook her head. She really appreciated Dani trying. She held up her hand to show Dani how to properly respond. “Same.” She smiled when Dani copied her.

 The blonde decided to make a bold move then as she watched Santana. Reaching out, she grabbed the marker from the board and wrote ‘coffee?’ on it. She looked back to see Santana tilt her head some, obviously thinking about it.

 “Tonight?” She asked as she checked the watch on her wrist.

 “If you’re free.” Dani spoke without thinking. When she saw Santana just smirk at her and shake her head, she wrote it on the board for her to see.

 Santana got Dani’s attention to show her how to sign it. She waited to see Dani do it before she answered her. “Yes. I would love to.”

 XXXXXX

 Dani took a deep breath as she got out of her car at Starbucks. It was only just down the road from the school. If she were being honest with herself, she had no idea what she was doing. When she got up by the door, she spotted Santana coming toward her as well.

 Santana smiled when Dani reached out to open the door for her. “Thank you,” she signed and watched Dani think for a minute before replying to her. At least Santana could tell that Dani was actually paying attention during her lesson earlier.

 Getting in line, Dani felt a little awkward, she didn’t know how to talk with Santana, but she figured that the Latina had something figured out. When they got to the counter, Dani ordered her drink before motioning to Santana. She smiled as she watched the woman interacting with the barista.

 Santana was happy that the normal man that she dealt with was there that night. He immediately pulled out a menu for her to decide her drink before handing her a small device. Santana turned to just stare at Dani when the woman insisted on paying for both of their drinks. “Thank you.” She definitely wasn’t expecting the other woman to treat her. While Santana knew nothing of this woman besides the fact that she worked for a newspaper, she felt an instant attraction to her.

 “I have a notebook in my purse.” Santana told Dani, as softly as she could.

 “Okay.” Dani watched Santana for a moment. The woman was beautiful and she was interested in getting to know her some more, but it would be hard until she learned some more sign language. When their drinks finally came up, Santana handed her device over and grabbed her latte. Dani picked up her own cup and followed Santana off to the side so they could sit in peace.

 Once they were settled, Santana dug into her purse for her notebook and pen. Being deaf, it was easiest to have the notebook with her in case she had to spend more time with someone. She ran her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face as she started writing something on the paper then showed it to Dani.

 Why are you taking my class?

 Dani blushed some as she looked at it then glanced to Santana. She accepted the pen from the woman before writing out her response.

 I wanted to see you again

 Santana slowly grinned to her and sipped her latte before she dug through her purse to find another pen. She turned the notebook back to her.

 How old are you Dani?

 35, you?

 Just turned 34

 Dani leaned back some on her chair and sipped her coffee. She pulled the notebook in front of her again as she watched Santana.

 Anybody special in your life?

 Santana chuckled and shook her head to her. Dani took the notebook to write something else.

 I know this is bold but can I take you to dinner sometime?

 Santana thought for a moment. She needed to see how serious Dani was before attempting to pursue anything. She’d given women a chance before that claimed they wanted to learn sign language to communicate with her, but they never stuck to it because it wasn’t easy to learn. Since Santana taught it, she knew it wasn’t easy.

 No. Not right now. Learn some more sign language first. I’ve dated women before that said they’d learn but never did.

 Dani watched as Santana wrote. Her heart sunk some when she read the word ‘no,’ but as Santana kept writing, she understood.

 What do you recommend for me to learn?

 My classes, youtube videos. I recommend to a lot of people when they start learning to wear earplugs so they understand better what it’s like to not hear.

 It made sense. Dani didn’t understand Santana’s struggle, but she did understand why the woman was being cautious. Dani nodded to her before watching as she wrote something else.

 But I am interested in getting to know you better. Let me see your phone

 Dani reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Once she unlocked it for Santana, she handed it to her and watched as the woman put in her own phone number. Dani knew at that point that it was all up to her. They’d be able to talk through text message, but Dani had to work to be able to talk with Santana without their phones in front of them.

 Santana watched the woman for a moment then gathered up her notebook to put back into her purse. “Thank you for the coffee, Dani.” She signed to her slowly, seeing Dani’s confusion at the new motion. She pointed to her coffee cup and signed it again to her.

 “You’re welcome.” Dani picked up her purse and followed Santana out of the building.

 Once outside on the sidewalk, Santana turned toward Dani. “Good night, Dani.” She winked to her and reached out to touch her arm gently before she headed back to her car. Once she was inside, she sighed softly and pulled out her phone to send her best friend a text message.

 Santana: So, I think I met someone. But she’s not deaf

 Quinn: Remember last time that happened, San?

 Santana: I know. I had coffee with her. She’s cute. And she asked me to dinner. But I told her she had to learn sign language first

 Quinn: Good. You got in deep with the last one that said shed learn but didn’t

 Santana: I’m on my way home now, see you soon