Chapter 1
Don't panic.
Do not panic. Don't do it. Just breathe.
"Breathe" Santana whispered to herself, but could barely hear if the word left her mouth or not over the noise of the airport.
You totally just didn't arrive in a foreign country by yourself with no plan, because that would be crazy. I'm not crazy.
"Ugh, yes I am" Santana argued with her thoughts as people swarmed around her in a flurry jostling her about. She ran a hand through her dark hair and looked around, every sign she looked at was in a different language, people were starting to give her strange and frustrated looks as they pushed past her as she stood having a minor panic attack in the middle of the Nice airport. She spun around desperately trying to look for someone or something that could help her. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain hit her foot, she looked down and saw a woman pulling a floral suitcase whilst clutching a bag and holding tightly on to the arm of a young boy in boy spin around flustered.
"Je suis désolé madame" the woman gasped realizing what she had done and shaking her head at herself "désolé, désolé!" she continued
"It's okay" Santana said figuring she was apologizing "Don't worry about it" she tried to give a reassuring smile to the woman before realizing she should go and collect her own luggage.
Looking around she realized she might be here for hours if she had to find it herself, finally she spotted the familiar information symbol on a sign not too far from her, making her way over to the desk she couldn't help but feel glad there was no queue when she arrived, she was already sick of the crowds here.
"Bonjour" the friendly man behind the desk greeted her with a warm smile
"Hi…uh bonjour" Santana said managing a brief smile "I need to find my suitcase"
The man looked at her confused "it is lost, oui?" he asked
Santana's eyes widened "what? no, i just need to find it" she said
"in here" she gestured around "where?"
The man shook his head "sorry, I don't understand, if it is not lost then why do you need help to find it?"
Santana took a frustrated breathe. Why didn't I got to an English speaking country she thought.
"Because I just got off the plane and I have no idea where to go from here" she said realizing immediately she spoke way too fast for him to keep up with
"Madame" he said seeing her frustration "how can I help?"
"I need to find the round thing with the suitcases" she said gesturing the conveyor belt
"Ah!" he exclaimed "Oui, oui, oui"
"Yes?" Santana said her eyes widening "You know where?"
"Mm" he said and pointed off into the distance "Straight ahead on ze left"
"Thank you" she said a smile spreading across her face "thank you, I mean merci"
She fought her way towards the luggage claim and heaved a sigh of relief when she almost immediately saw her suitcase come past, dodging around several people to get closer she tried to grab it as it went past her but much to her luck she couldn't quite reach and it slipped past her continuing around it's loop.
"Fuck" she swore louder than intended causing several people to send her disapproving looks. Ignoring them, she watched her suitcase travel travel the entire loop and right before it almost disappeared back through the black flaps a hand reached for it and pulled it off.
"What" Santana muttered trying to see who took her suitcase but the persons face was blocked by about five other people
"You have got to be kidding me" she said and spun around crashing into an elderly couple who staggered back a couple of steps
"Sorry" Santana said "Sorry, I just…sorry" she kept her head down and bumped through the small crowd that had now gathered around the baggage claim, and burst out into a gap seeing her suitcase up ahead of her being wheeled away.
"You have got to be kidding me" she said to herself "I am so not in the mood for this airport action scene today"
Taking a deep breath she quickly left behind all embarrassment and dignity and went charging forward at full speed, leaping over suitcases, dodging small children and pushing through everyone else.
Typically the person that takes my suitcase has like the longest legs on the planet she thought as she struggled to keep him in sight. Follow the overgrown teenage man-child in the varsity jacket and baseball cap she told herself, keep your eyes on him. She watched as he headed for the big glass doors and accelerated herself forward perhaps a little too much as she realized quite suddenly she couldn't slow down as fast as she had hoped and went flying straight into his back.
"Oh my god" she said mortified picking herself back up and off the back of the tall stranger.
"I am so sorry, this has happened way too many times today" she started rambling trying to cover up how horrified she was
"Hey, hey it's fine" he said turning around speaking with a familiar American accent "at least it wasn't some huge sweaty fat guy right?"
Santana chuckled "I'm surprised I haven't taken one of them out yet today, I've managed almost everyone else"
The guy laughed, he didn't look much older than she was, except he was probably the tallest person she had ever met.
"Well" she said glancing at her suitcase "I hate to break it you dude, but that's mine"
He looked at her confused for a moment then down at the suitcase, he reached down and flipped the luggage tag over and groaned.
"Oh my god" he said "now it's my turn to be sorry"
He handed the suitcase back over to her and she smiled at him
"It's all good, i'm just glad I didn't have to fully tackle you or follow you back to your hotel to get it"
He laughed again and his chocolate brown eyes sparkled
"I'm Finn Hudson" he said sticking out his hand
"Santana" she said briefly shaking his hand
"Just Santana?" he asked with a cheeky grin "is that like Beyonce or something?"
"It very well might be, watch this space" she said a smile forming on her lips
"Well just Santana, have a good trip and i'm sorry for almost stealing your suitcase" he paused "I'm glad you realized before I did because i'm not sure how well it would go down with my girlfriend if she saw all your stuff in there" he laughed nervously at the thought
Santana smirked "Tell your girlfriend she's welcome" she said almost sarcastically "i didn't really fancy spending my whole vacation in this one outfit"
He let out a loud chuckle
"have fun going back in there" she said
He rolled his eyes "here I was thinking I got away easy"
"Maybe next time" she said as they began to walk away from each other
"Bye Santana" he called out
"Bye Finn Hudson" she said with a smile
Maybe this trip wasn't going to be so bad after all she thought as she walked outside into the warm French summer sun.