CHAPTER 1

"Turn left up here," Santana pointed out to Quinn with the flick of her finger, "It should be on the right."

"Are you sure? I thought it was on the left.." Quinn replied, scooting forward a little so her butt was practically on the edge of the driver's seat as she squinted her eyes and peered ahead of her.

"I'm pretty sure I know where my shop is located, Q, I've been there almost every day trying to sort out all the paperwork."

Quinn just shrugged, moving back in her seat, as she turned the wheel. As the truck rounded the corner, Quinn instantly had to slam the brakes.

"Woah, what the fuck?" Santana gasped, bracing herself on the dashboard and shooting Quinn a glare.

"What? Am I supposed to run them over?" Quinn chuckled at her friend's scowl before pointing over to a couple of guys walking out from behind what looked to be a delivery truck that just so happened to be parked directly across the street from Santana's shop, "The streets are narrow as hell, San, we can't get by until they're finished."

"Damnit." Santana grumbled, slumping back in the passenger seat. Santana hated waiting and she definitely didn't have the time for it, especially today.

Santana sort of expected things like this would happen though considering she's going from having her own parking lot, well sharing it with the pet store next door, to having to share the whole street. It was just another thing she was going to have to get used to. A parking lot was nothing if she didn't have too many customers to fill it. Also, it was kind of a bad spot for a bakery with a building riddled with smelly animals next door and it's not like she's had to go over there and give them a piece of her mind before because of their wonderful track record for actually losing animals. What if one of those animals just so happened to wind up in one of her cakes? Say goodbye to her career!

It took her awhile, Santana often has a hard time swallowing her pride, to finally decide it was time for a move. Sugar, Santana's cousin and part time real estate agent, knew what she was talking about when it came to where to move Santana's business and with Santana's growing popularity thanks to Mayor Schuester personally requesting that she design the cake for his second wedding, she needed people who knew what they were talking about.

It was Sugar who suggested that Santana move her shop to the town's "Mini New York City" since Santana needed to be somewhere a little more glamorous. Although it was a downgrade when it came to customer parking, it was an upgrade in scenery and business and everything else that added to a successful bakery.

Just as Sugar nicknamed it, "Mini New York City" was just that: narrow streets, tall buildings, and busy sidewalks only occupying a much smaller area than actual New York City. Though Santana spent only a short time in The Big Apple when she studied for her Bachelor's in Baking and Pastry Arts Management, she appreciated the change of view. In a way, it reminded her of home even if New York wasn't where she grew up. Santana instantly fell in love with the shop and bought it right on the spot, another thanks to Mayor Schuester who paid a ridiculous amount for that wedding cake. Santana's pretty sure he used the tax payers' dollars, he always came off as a dirty politician to her but then again what politician isn't? Santana wasn't complaining though, money is money.

Quinn shot her a questioning look, she knew that they Santana hated waiting too, "I'm blocking the road, we're going to have to park off to the side and wait."

"Alright." Santana nodded, shaking her head out of the clouds, "Let's park right there." She pointed to the next closest spot and waited for Quinn to judge if she could parallel park the huge truck there.

"I'll need you to guide me in, it looks like it'll be a tight fit." Quinn answered seriously, her eyes surveying the empty space strategically. Santana pressed her lips tightly together to keep the word from bubbling out of her but even at twenty-five years old, she often can't contain her immature side.

"Wanky.."

"Ugh, just get out the truck you perv!" Quinn groaned, trying to keep from giggling along with Santana. She was much better at hiding her laughter than her friend thanks to their time spent together at the Culinary Institute of America where the girls first met and have been best friends ever since.

Santana sputtered out another chuckle before swinging the heavy truck door open and hopping down the steps. She walked around the truck, making sure no other smaller cars were attempting to get around them, then proceeded to use her hands to guide Quinn. After about ten minutes of frantically waving her hands just to scare Quinn and Quinn beeping her horn just to piss Santana off, the two successfully parked their moving truck and started heading to the shop to see if they could do anything else in the meantime.

"Well, grab a broom Lucy Q." Santana sighed as she dug through the box of cleaning supplies she dropped off the night before, "You do the floors and I'll hit the counters." Quinn did as she was told while Santana took out her phone and tapped on her Pandora app before reaching for some clean rags and sanitizer.

Seven songs later and Santana felt like she was going to lose her mind. She already cleaned the place spotless the night before because she knew that today was moving day and she couldn't get all her equipment in when the place was still dusty and covered in who knows what! She cleaned and re-cleaned again but all that did was create a slow burning ball of frustration.

Santana hated doing stupid, meaningless things probably just as much as waiting and the two usually coincide with one another. She tried keeping herself calm though, at least until Maroon 5 was finished singing about never leaving beds. Santana instantly groaned: never leaving her bed sounded so nice considering she couldn't exactly remember the last time she had a good night's rest. She tried losing herself into the music, but the more she listened to the lyrics the more she missed her sleep and the more she missed her sleep the more frustrated she got because the only way she could get more sleep was to set up the shop but she couldn't set up the shop because the fucking people across the street couldn't unload their truck fast enough!

Yeah, Santana just about had it.

"I'm going over there." She huffed, throwing down her rag and marched towards the door with anger in her eyes.

"Oh no, you get back here!" Quinn called, hurrying over to cut off Santana's way of exit.

Santana narrowed her eyes on the blonde, "Quinn, get the hell out of my way."

"So you can go and get the whole neighborhood to hate us? No."

"I'm not going to cause a scene, I'm just going to-"

"Stay here and patiently wait for them to finish.."

"I've been patient for a whole two hours!"

"You're so dramatic," Quinn laughed as she looked down at her phone to check the time, "It's only been- HEY! Get back here!" With Quinn distracted by her phone, Santana was able to easily push by her. Quinn was quick to follow, still wielding the broom just in case, "Santana! Come here!"

Santana's answer was the middle finger.

"Nice, real nice." Quinn sighed, shaking her head. She jogged to meet Santana's quick strides as she headed across the street.

"Hey man, are you even lifting it? You have to lift it higher or else it's gunna drag." A gruff voice echoed from inside the truck. The sounds of something scraping made Santana and Quinn cringe, "Fuck dude, lift it higher!"

"I'm trying! I've got the heavy end!"

"No, I got the heavy end!"

"Bullshit!"

"You're just scrawny!"

"Dude, we go to the gym together. I lift more than you!"

"Well then lift your damn side higher!"

There were more scraping sounds as the truck shook from side to side. Santana and Quinn rounded the corner and watched as the two guys that they saw earlier, a blonde with a ridiculously huge mouth and one with a ridiculously ugly mohawk, struggled to carry out some type of bookcase or shelf.

"Santana, let's just go back.." Quinn sighed, tugging on Santana's sleeve, "They obviously don't need any more trouble from-"

"Hey!" Santana yelled as she smacked her hand against the side of the truck, creating a loud echo inside to get their attention.

"What the hell?" The one with the mohawk groaned with his hands over his ears as he squeezed out from the side of the shelf while the big mouthed one raised a brow questioningly at the source of the noise. The two slowly walked to the edge of the truck, the one with the mohawk replacing his scowl with a smirk as he saw Santana and Quinn below, well mostly Quinn. He wore a loose fitting muscle tank that showed off his well toned arms, camo cargo shorts, and clunky black boots that scuffed at the floor as he neared the girls. The blonde looked completely opposite in contrast with his white vneck tshirt, the sleeves tight around his biceps, fade grey shorts, and extra worn black Vans that actually looked more grey than black now.

"Hi, can I help you?" The blonde one greeted politely, eyes squinting against the sun rays. He waited for either of the two to say something back but only received an angry glare from Santana and a soft smile from Quinn. Not knowing why Santana looked so pissed, Sam shrunk back, "Uhm, Brittany's inside if you need some help with the plants.."

Santana scrunched her brows at that: plants? Briefly, her eyes wandered off to her right to find a shelf of different types of potted plants and a few galvanized buckets of fresh cut flowers. With the delivery truck in the way, Santana hadn't noticed the colorful display. Now that she thought of it, Santana hadn't noticed much of the other shops near her since she had been so busy with finalizing paperwork.

"No, you can help me by hurrying it up." Santana huffed, causing the two guys to stare at each other confused. Quinn watched Santana's anger grow and decided it was a good time to intervene.

"What she means is that we just bought the shop across the street from you and we're trying to move in but our truck can't get pass yours." Quinn added politely, "We kind of have a lot of orders still and it's hard to bake without a shop up."

"Kind of?" Santana grumbled sarcastically.

"Hush, Santana." Quinn snapped with her eyes narrowed before turning back to the boys, "So is there any way that you could-"

"Pick up the pace." Santana cut in. Quinn just rolled her eyes and mouthed sorry up to the guys.

The guys' eyes shifted from girl to girl before looking to each other again, "How about we'll do you one better?" The mohawked one offered with a smile as he leaned against the wall of the truck, his biceps tensing causing Quinn to swoon just a little, "Once we move this shelf, we'll get the truck out of your way and we'll come over and help you carry in your stuff? I'm sure there's a lot of heavy equipment in there and I couldn't stand a pretty lady like yourself hauling all of it on your own. "

"Yeah, it can be like a welcome to the block thing." The blonde one added happily, "We can even get my sister out to help with carrying other stuff?"

"Yeah, like you can tear her away from her flower books.." The mohawked one chuckled, "The girl is such a bookworm now. We'll just help."

A delighted smile stretched across Quinn's face as she turned to Santana, "How's that sound?"

"Whatevz." Santana sighed and started walking back towards her shop. The heat was starting to add to her frustration and it was probably best to leave Quinn to deal with everything anyway.

About two minutes later, Quinn walked into the shop with an even dopier smile as she went back to sweeping next to the bay window. Santana wasn't dumb, she knew that the window was in the perfect spot to do some prime creeping on the guys across the street and Quinn was taking full advantage of that.

With Santana back in the cool A/C and knowing that it wasn't only going to be Quinn and her attempting to move in all their equipment, she calmed down quite a bit. She watched with a devious smirk on her face as Quinn stared blatantly out the window.

"You know, if you stare hard enough you might be able to melt holes into the glass." Santana teased from behind the counter.

"Oh shut up, I wasn't staring.." Quinn jolted and quickly tore her eyes from the scene of the two guys successfully carrying out the shelf and walking it into the shop.

"Uh-huh, maybe this move was a bad idea..don't need you being distracted all the time."

"Whatever, San." Quinn mumbled with cheeks flushed and focused her eyes on the floor instead.

Twenty minutes later, Quinn was stumbling over herself to look presentable though it wasn't like we didn't just see the two guys currently walking across the street earlier. Santana just shook her head and watched the scene play out.

The bells jingled atop the door as the two hesitantly entered, Quinn was the first to go over and greet them, "Hey guys, thank you for helping us."

"No problem," The mohawked one replied, "By the way, I'm Puck. That's Sam."

"Hi." Sam waved awkwardly then dug his hands in his pockets.

"Quinn," The blonde pointed to herself, then nodded behind her, "Santana."

"Santana as in Santana Lopez?" Puck asked quizzically. His interest confused Santana as she stepped closer to the group.

"Yeah?"

"You were in the newspaper, front page!" Puck said, "You did the cake for the Mayor."

"Yeah, that's me." Santana sighed. Those photographers decided they wanted to shoot from her right side when she clearly told them her left was better. The picture made her cheeks look way too big and you could see actual wrinkles in the corner of her eye as she smiled, not cute. She's only twenty-five, she didn't need her newspaper debut to show her off as some old grandma lady! Sure she works a lot, almost too much, and yeah sleep doesn't come too easily, but she's still smokin' hot!

Santana clapped her hands together anxiously then nodded to the door, "So can we get started?"

"Toss me the keys, I'll pull the truck around." Quinn answered, but Puck held up his hand in protest.

"I can do it for you if you like, I saw you guys struggling to park it earlier." He offered with a charming smile directed to Quinn, "I'm used to driving big trucks."

"Okay fine, just don't hit anyone." Santana replied as she tossed him the keys. With one last fleeting grin, Puck exited the shop with Quinn trailing not too far behind leaving just Santana and Sam in the shop. Santana saw how the guy looked at Quinn and how Quinn looked at him and instantly made a mental note to remind Quinn of her horrible track record with bad boys.

Santana wouldn't have noticed the unsettling silence if Sam didn't have such a knack for pointing out awkwardness. His hands were still dug deep in his pockets as he averted his eyes to the ceiling or pretty much anywhere else that wasn't Santana's face. If you listened close enough, you could even hear him trying to whistle so random tune just to fill the void.

"I don't have to worry about your friend, do I?" Santana asked, attempting to joke around with the guy. She felt a little bad for how grumpy she came off earlier and she didn't want to seem like she wasn't appreciative of their help.

Sam looked to her nervously, but when his lips parted, no words came out. So much for trying to ease the tension, it seemed like no matter how she talked to him she still got the same response: terror. She really didn't mean to be so abrasive all the time, she could actually be sweet sometimes; it just comes easier to her to be intimidating. Santana guesses it's a Lopez thing.

"He's not going to kidnap her or anything, right?" Santana tried again and even added a smile to loosen the guy up a bit. It seemed to work as Sam let out a sigh of relief and even chuckled a bit.

"No, Puck's harmless." Sam answered with a shrug, "Just don't let him anywhere near your fridge. The dude's stomach is like a bottomless pit."

Santana laughed at that.

"He seems to have taken a liking to your friend though, it's understandable. She's very pretty." Sam added quietly. Santana mistook the quietness of his voice for something else and instantly sighed.

"Oh God, if this is the start of some weird love triangle.."

"Oh, no!" Sam answered, "I have a girlfriend. It's just Puck's a little bit of a heartbreaker."

"Ohh," Santana nodded. She knew how that was, being a heartbreaker and all. Before the bakery, Santana knew a little too much about how that was. It's one of the things why she's grateful of her busy schedule, no time to hurt anyone and no time for anyone to hurt her. Sure, it made Friday nights really boring and lonely and it meant she hadn't had sex in who knows how long but it worked for her.

Santana got a little lost in her thoughts as she mindlessly stared out of the bay window, which now that Puck and Sam's delivery truck was out of the way, gave a clear view of the flower shop across the street. She wasn't staring at anything in particular, just merely staring off into the distance, when a flash of blonde caught her attention and broke her from her thoughts.

A tall, leggy, blonde wearing oversized overalls with her pant legs cut at mid thighs and smudges of dirt on her hip appeared at the display of potted plants and instantly grabbed Santana's attention. She wasn't sure what it was exactly that kept Santana from looking away, but as the girl bent down and unwound the dark green hose from its hook, the muscles in her strong legs and forearms tensing deliciously, Santana found her skin tingling. The girl stood up straight again with the hose gun in hand and began spraying her plants down, getting them all soaked and wet.

Santana would deny it if anyone ever asked, but she saw rainbows. Literally, rainbows were everywhere! The sun did that reflective thing on the water droplets or whatever, science wasn't Santana's best subject. Well actually, it was; baking deals a lot with science so she had to be a mini genius when it came to it or at least know the basics, but this? This was a totally different thing.

Santana swallowed thickly at the sight. She would've kicked herself for thinking that some random chick watering her plants was something to get all hot and bothered over, but Santana was too far gone to care. She also never would've found herself jealous of some mums, but here she is, jealous as fuck. Like seriously, did anyone see how the water droplets made the girl's pale skin sparkle? It was like something out of Twilight and Santana hated that movie! But here she is, comparing this super hot blonde to a sparkly vampire.

If Santana was being honest, she'd totally let that girl sink her teeth into her neck, or wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

Just then, the girl lifted her free hand, her fingers delicately tucking a stray hair behind her ear before her hand slowly fell back to her side. Santana didn't want to seem crazy or anything, but she swore that the girl was putting on some type of show for her. The way her hand glided down her hairline, her fingertips dancing over the protruding vein in her neck as she tilted her head from side to side like she was stretching, then lazily fell over her collarbone before settling at her side.

Someone was definitely fucking with Santana.

She stepped closer to the window as if it would make the scene clearer, as if it would get her closer to the girl that was currently heating up her whole body, as if she was being drawn to her, but instead a big ass U-Haul conveniently blocked her vision.

Yeah, someone was definitely fucking with Santana.

The sounds of the bells above the door jingling broke Santana from her staring contest with the side of the truck and made her instantly spin around to see Quinn giggling at whatever Puck was telling her. She thought about what Sam said earlier about Puck, and she really wanted to care, but with the way the image of the blonde kept reappearing in her head, there was no room for anything else.

Santana followed the boys back outside along with Quinn as she attempted to focus long enough to tell them what needed to be taken inside first before tackling the boxes. The shop came together rather quickly thanks to the guys' help and within a few hours, the moving truck was empty.

"Thank you so much for all your help," Quinn said to them politely, her eyes lingering too long on Puck. If Santana wasn't still slightly riled up from the blonde across the street, she probably would've teased the crap out of her best friend.

"Yeah, I'll have Quinn here bring you guys some cookies or something once we get up and running." Santana offered, her sudden niceness surprising nearly everyone in the room, "What?"

Quinn chose to just go with it, after years of being friends with Santana, she knows not to question the girl's kindness, "Santana makes really awesome chocolate chip cookies, we'll bring you guys a batch."

"Great, we love cookies!" Sam grinned happily. Santana chuckled at his enthusiasm, there was something easy going about the guy that she couldn't help but grow a liking to. His friend though? Red flags everywhere.

After Puck offered to move the moving truck back to where it was parked previously, he and Sam still had a few more boxes to unload from their truck; the two said their goodbyes and headed back to the flower shop.

But for Quinn and Santana? It was unpacking and organizing. Hopefully, if they finished up everything today Santana could have the maintenance crew come in tomorrow and have the kitchen running again by Monday. Quinn suggested that they take a few days to get the shop situated as in giving the place a fresh coat of paint and getting their office set up, but Santana said that there wasn't too much work that needed to be done beforehand. Whoever owned the shop before them must've been some kind of fashion designer or interior decorator because nearly everything matched and the color schemes were perfect for the bakery.

As the day wore on, the shop looked more and more put together. Santana was currently at the bay window again, only this time she was installing the curtain rods so she actually had a reason to be there. Quinn was off somewhere behind her hooking up the phone, technical stuff was never Santana's cup of tea she was more of a hands on person which was why she stuck to her trusty drill. Santana's knees and arms ached as she stretched to keep the drill steady. The whirring sound rang in her ears as white dust fell from the wall, speckling the tip of her nose, as the screw drilled into curtain rod's wall hanger. Santana sat back, glancing up at her work smugly: Bob the Builder ain't got shit on her! She scooted around so that she was facing the biggest of the windows and reached up to position the rod and make her necessary markings so she knew where to drill.

It was any easy task, you know, if it hadn't been the exact same moment the hot blonde from across the street decided to re-appear outside the flower shop again. She wasn't hosing down poor innocent plants or stunning helpless bystanders with her fingers and tucking her hair away. She was still wearing the baggy overalls, only this time her pretty blonde hair was piled atop her head in a messy bun and if anyone could pull of that look, especially with dirt patches and fly-away hairs sticking out in all the wrong places of their bun, it was her.

Santana watched, hypnotized, as the blonde from across the way chatted with Puck and Sam outside of the delivery truck. The girl's pretty blonde hair shined bright even in the setting sun and her smile? Santana could've sworn she swooned at the sight of that smile and she wasn't even in direct line of it! The blonde was all straight teeth, pink lips, and dimples and Santana couldn't help that sinking feeling in her gut. She wondered if she was the first to ever be taken out only by a smile, she wondered if she was just one among a long list of many others who have fallen under the girl's spell.

Santana knew one thing was certain though; the curtains weren't going up any time soon.

"Ow, fucking shit!" She howled in pain as the curtain rod slipped from her grasp and knocked her square in the head. Santana could already feel the bruise forming at the side of her head, the dull throbbing pain coming inevitably.

Quinn's eyes darted to Santana hunched over in the bay window with her hand cupped over the side of her head and the curtain rod dangling off the edge of the where she was kneeling. Her brows knitted in confusion as she watched her best friend grumble in pain but as Quinn's eyes drifted out of the window, she smirked.

"And to think you were worried about me being distracted..HA!"

A/N Hey guys! I'm trying something a little different in regards to writing styles and POVs with this story. As this chapter was mostly about introducing Santana, next chapter will mostly be about introducing Brittany. If you're still waiting for the epilogue to Sloppy Babies, it's coming. I got so sidetracked (excited) about this story that I couldn't think about SB until this was at least drafted out. Anyway, let me know if this is something I should continue! Thanks for reading!