Summer before freshman year

"Hey Brit, come here for a second." Santana shouted from the living room. Brittany was in the kitchen, desperately trying to figure out the microwave.

"Um…ok…" Brittany shouted back before throwing caution to the wind and pushing a few buttons and rushing back to her best friend. Santana lay on the couch and Brittany nonchalantly flopped down next to her, cuddling close. The two of them had always been like this since they first met in elementary. Physical contact was natural. Santana didn't really get the affection anywhere else; it was always, gymnastics, cheerleading, homework, school. And then she had to maintain her façade, date the popular boy even if she hated the way they draped their arms around her. Santana always envied the way Brittany seemed natural with any sort of affection, perhaps that was what drew them together. She needed what Brittany was all too happy to give.

"Mm, why do none of these scenes make sense?" Brittany asked.

"These are previews, Brit." Santana sometimes wondered how the blonde's mind worked. It was a wonder she was even able to get to high school, albeit Santana helped Brittany with all her studying. Even if Brittany wasn't the brightest light bulb, she was still able to understand what Santana taught.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Brittany replied and snuggled closer. Santana ruffled her hair. Suddenly, Santana sat up.

"I smell burning." Brittany looked guilty.

"Oh…whoops." In a second, Santana was on her feet and ran into the kitchen. Brittany stared at the floor, twiddling her thumbs until Santana came back with a not-burnt bag of popcorn.

"I threw the old one out." She said, dropping the new bag into Brittany's lap. "B, you should've told me what you were doing." Brittany couldn't look her best friend in the eye. No matter what stupid thing she did, Santana would never get angry at her and it made her feel bad.

"Sorry, I was trying to do something right." Santana linked pinkies.

"I know, come on, let's get back to the movie." This time, she rested her head in the blonde's lap.

"This is so cool, it's like…my first R movie." Brittany whispered in awe. Santana turned to look at her.

"You mean you've never snuck into one?" Brittany shook her head. "Seriously? We need to do that sometime. Puck and I have done it so many times I've forgotten." The blonde could only nod, entranced by the screen in front of her. Santana shrugged and grabbed a fist full of popcorn.

About halfway through the movie, the two main characters had started engaging in rather intimate activities. Santana felt slightly embarrassed to be watching this so she instead turned to look at Brittany. She had a slightly awed, slightly confused look on her face.

"What are they doing?" Brittany asked. The comment shocked Santana so much that she literally fell off the couch.

"Are you serious?" She demanded, pausing the movie. "Did you sleep through sex-ed?" Brittany stared at her friend.

"No…I just didn't understand what they were doing…I mean, it looked like they were just naked…and stuff." Santana stared at her friend. She was not about to explain the workings of sex. "Hey San?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you kissed Puck?" Santana gave her an incredulous look.

"We're dating, aren't we? So yeah. Wait, don't tell me you've never kissed…" Brittany shook her head.

"When we tried, I head butted him." She admitted. "After that he was kind of afraid to go near me." Santana sat on the couch and let the movie play on. But she couldn't get the idea that Brittany had never kissed anyone out of her head. She had stopped paying attention to the movie but Brittany, ever engrossed in it, ignored her friend's troubles. By the time the movie had ended, Santana had only paid attention to about half of it. In that instant, she made up her mind.

"Hey Brit?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Santana pulled away from their cuddling.

"Do you want me to show you how it's done?"

"Making popcorn?" Brittany asked innocently. Santana laughed.

"No, kissing!" Brittany cocked her head curiously.

"Wait…how? There's no boy…" She replied.

"You don't need a boy. Girls can kiss too. We're just friends, we can friend kiss." Santana explained. This seemed to make sense to Brittany.

"Ok." She sat indian style, facing the Latina and closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Santana giggled.

"No, that's not how you do it. Open your eyes." Brittany opened her eyes. In the dark, illuminated by the light of the tv, they glittered a dark, inviting blue. Santana sat a little closer.

"Ok, when you kiss someone, usually you make eye contact with them first." Brittany stared deep into Santana's eyes. "Alright, lean in a little, not too fast." Brittany leaned in. When Santana continued it was a whisper on Brittany's lips. "Now…close your eyes…and kiss me." The blonde did just as she asked and kissed her deep and hard. Brittany's lips were soft and tasted like cherry lip gloss. They were the exact opposite of Puck's, who had hard, chapped lips and often attacked Santana's in an unhindered, rough manner. Santana almost melted into the kiss, but before she lost control, she pulled away.

"That was, um, good. Are you sure you haven't done it before?" Brittany blinked and shook her head. "Well, um, you're a natural, that's all I have to say."

"Thanks!" Brittany was glad, that was the first time she had been told she was a natural at something besides dancing. Santana turned away, trying to act normal but the kiss was anything but. She had kissed plenty of guys before but this was her first girl, and it happened to be Brittany. It was fine though, they were just best friends. Best friends were allowed to do this, plus it was purely educational. Santana remembered when she taught Brittany how to back flip; it was just like that, nothing more. She reclined in Brittany's arms, ignoring the nagging feeling in her chest.