Chapter Text
Quinn sighed as she aimlessly re-winded the video that played before her, it was a video of Santana's 15th birthday, obvious by the beaming candles and cheap decorations. A sound came from behind her, "Wow, total creep Q" Santana teased, resting her chin on the quiet girl's shoulder. The blonde rolled her eyes, "Shut up". Santana simply urged Quinn to hit play on the video.
A young looking Santana was at a table, surrounded by friends, family and of course Brittany. "Go on, blow out the candles mija" Her mami persisted. Santana sighed good naturedly. "Mami, I'm 15 not 5", her father chuckled, You'll always be our baby girl" he claimed fondly. Quinn and Brittany sat on either side of the Latina. "Go on, baby" Brittany said, planting a kiss on the tanned girl's cheek. Santana pursed her lips for a few seconds before giving in and blowing out the first candle, a 1, before the second, a 5. Cheers and claps were heard before the video cut off.
"I remember that perfume you wore that day" Santana laughed into the girl's shoulder, staring blankly at the screen. Quinn nodded, she had worn a fruit scented body mist, to the surprise of no one. Quinn always loved the smell of fruit. It was because of a summer's day she had fondly remember, where her, Brittany and Santana had a picnic. It wasn't like the short blonde was third-wheeling as the other two girls hadn't realised their feelings for one another yet. Quinn's heart sank a little at the thought of Brittany, the only person Santana had loved, aside from her and her parents of course. The two sat in silence for a little while, staring at the screen, somehow expecting it to change to another video Quinn had saved. Nothing happened.
Quinn shut the computer with a sigh, not really wanting to remember anything at the moment, like what happened or what was currently happening.
"Can you feel ghosts?" Santana blurted out randomly, the shorter girl frowned, "Well I can feel you". The live girl before that moment in time forgot that Santana was dead, which she enjoyed doing frequently, sometimes in her delusional mind she was waiting for an alarm clock to blast fervently in her ears, realising this was all a dream and that Santana wasn't actually killed in a car crash, that Brittany's soul and heart hadn't been crushed under the weight of her passing, that Quinn could remember what hugging the Latina felt like. A few minutes of silence passed by before Quinn got up, noticing she had been in her room for most of the morning.
"Go to sleep" she said to Santana, motioning to the now empty bed. When Quinn was halfway down the hallway she could hear Santana's sarcastic reply : "Ah, yes, I need to sleep, it's not like I've been doing that for the past 4 months''. The girl scoffed at the ghost's reply before thumping down the stairs. Once in the kitchen, Quinn opened the cabinet to take her pills, and to perhaps come up with enough courage to eat or talk to her mother. Though she realised she had no choice with the latter as her mother silently entered the kitchen.
"Morning, Quinnie", her voice was unusually quiet, which wasn't like the older woman. Quinn's mother was warm and loud, not cold and quiet. Though everyone had changed in some way at the passing of the outgoing girl. Her mother continued speaking, which cut off the girl's depressing thoughts, "Is Brittany coming round today?" she asked, light eyebrows furrowing at her daughter. In truth, Brittany hadn't been to their house in a while, claiming she was 'busy', that was a lie of course, all Brittany had been doing recently was crying and indulging in copious amounts of food, she kept her lean figure though through various exercise. The younger girl pondered for a moment, thinking of a response.
"Um..no I don't think''.
Flash forward 30 minutes and Brittany was in Quinn's room, kissing her with force. Quinn let out a muffled gasp before forcefully pushing the girl off her. "What the hell?" She asked, trying to contain her upset, Brittany simply shrugged before flopping onto Quinn's bed. "I'm sad" she said into the shorter girl's blanket. Luckily, Santana wasn't present at the moment otherwise Quinn and/or the taller blonde would be dead. "Just because you're upset doesn't mean you should make out with someone without their consent." Brittany sat up reluctantly and looked at the floor guiltily. "I wanted my first kiss with someone who wasn't S-Santana to be you" She muttered, staring at the floor. Brittany stuttered on the dead girls name, it felt unnatural to her, different.
A bad different.
"I'm sorry Britt, I didn't know that. Just ask me...next time?" The shorter blonde questioned, she wondered if kissing her was a one time thing, Brittany nodded. "That will only happen once by the way, don't worry" The tall girl sighed, laughing slightly in amusement. Q simply nodded and sat next to her on the bed, Brittany sat there for a moment before letting out a shaky breath. "Do you have any videos...of...her? If so can we watch some?" She quietly asked.
"I don't think that's a-" Quinn was cut off by the pleading girl. "Please, I just want to see her, not in a picture." Q nodded, before grabbing her laptop and flipping it open. After a few minutes of scrolling she found a video that would be suitable to watch. Not like there was any suitable videos to show a friend of their dead girlfriend, but whatever. The girl hovered over the mouse reluctantly for a few moment before pressing play.
There was a beach and Santana was currently tanning, body splayed out on a fluffy towel. She seemed at peace, sunglasses on the bridge of her nose without a care in the world: a good moment. The camera zoomed in on her relaxed face before a younger Quinn started talking, "San, you're on video" She says joyfully. Santana laughs, from what she can see of the girl's eyes it looks like their scrunched up in laughter. The taller girl takes a minute before replying : "Okay, Q, but why?" She questions, the blonde sighs, "Simply catching a small moment" the Latina scoffs at Quinn's cliche reply. "Okay, whatever dude...", she then pushes her sunglasses back up her nose, indicating she was done with the conversation. After a quick shot of the crystal blue waves the camera cuts off.
A nervous Quinn glance's over at the taller blonde, who's eyes were glassy. "I remember that day, she was so annoyed at me..." Q whispered, head leaning on Brittany's shoulders. "Can we watch one-two more?" Brittany hesitantly asks, not expecting such a positive reaction from the girl. The blonde, who has the laptop on her lap, nods at the tall girl, after a few seconds of searching she finds another one.
All three of them were sitting on the floor, Brittany holding the camera as Santana and Quinn played one of those stupid sleepover games. Their attention wasn't on each other but rather Brittany, after no satisfying result of the game, the two moved towards the camera with the intention to talk and make silly faces. Quinn then started talking about herself, whilst Santana done pretend bunny ears behind her head, sometimes mocking Q's expressions. The shorter girl noticed after a while and began to play fight with the Latina. The camera cut off when one of the two's flailing limbs hit the lense of the device.
The two didn't talk or look at each other at the end of the video, craving more Brittany took lead and clicked on a random video of her girlfriend, well now technically ex.
It was of a very cold looking Santana out on the streets of NYC, spring break they assumed as that's when they made the trip. She was currently holding a pretzel the size of her head, Quinn laughed as Santana took a massive bite of the snack before fake moaning, like a porn star, Santana laughed at her own joke whilst Q, most likely, was giving her a scolding look from behind the camera. The Latina continued to review some street food, talking excessively about random things she'd seen on the street : a dead rat, another dead rat, homeless men peeing, the usual thing you'd see in a city like New York. In the video, they could hear the loud traffic before it zoomed on the sky and the video ended.
After watching the clip, the blonde closed the laptop, trying not to feel any sudden emotion. Brittany simply left the room and headed towards the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Quinn was expecting to hear loud sobs and/or crying but instead heard nothing. Anxiousness took over her body as she rushed to the door, knocking on it excessively. Her chest relaxed when she heard a disgruntled Brittany answer.
She sank to the wall, trying not to cry.