The days that followed Christmas were amazing. Brittany didn't have to hide her true feelings for Santana anymore and she felt as if a weight was lifted off of her.
It was the day of New Years Eve now and excitement filled the air. Santana loved New Years Eve, it was like her number one favorite holiday of all time.
"I still don't understand why you like New Years Eve so much, babe." Brittany was washing the dishes while Santana put the extra food away from breakfast. "It's just another night you know?"
"Just another night? What are you talking about?!" Santana looked over at Brittany, jaw dropped.
"Yeah. I mean, what do you do other than watch the fireworks show?"
Santana laughed, shaking her head a bit. "We don't just watch the fireworks show here babe. We can light fireworks ourselves."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Every year my mom goes to Costco and she buys like at least $200 worth of fireworks and I play for hours. It's actually kind of funny. Because I used to be afraid of them." Brittany placed the last dish on the drying rack and turned towards Santana. "You'll see later tonight why I love it. You're parents are coming tonight right?"
Rachel's dads owned a place in Waikoloa (Why-Ko-Low-Ah) in the newer neighborhood near the skatepark. Since they were going to rent out the place soon they decided that they should have a get together with friends for the coming of the new year. Everyone was invited which included and was not limited to the entire softball team and their parents and her dad's friends.
"Yes they are. But they told me that they weren't going to stay all night because that dude that my dad works with, Justin, he invited them to his beach house. It's like a work thing so my dad said he has to at least show up. I don't have to go though."
"Good. Cause if you did, then I'd be pretty sad."
"Sad? Why?" Santana looked over at Brittany. They were sitting in the living room now. "Because I wouldn't be spending the whole night with you?"
"Yeah that's part of it. But also because I never had a midnight kiss on New Years Eve before and I was looking forward to um. That's all."
"You have..never had one?"
"Well like I told you, I've only been in two other relationships and I have never had that kiss. I know it sounds stupid but, it's something that's on my bucket list." Santana looked down towards the ground as if she were disappointed.
"Don't worry babe you have me this year." Brittany walked over and sat on Santana's lap. "I love you."
"I love you too." And they kissed.
As night fell, the girls and Brittany's parents headed for Waikoloa. Santana's mom would be meeting them there later after she finished her shift.
When they arrived at Rachel's dads place, Brittany spotted Quinn, Rachel and a couple of the other girls in the driveway lighting sparklers.
"B!" Quinn called out running towards the car that was now parked. "Come on! Hi Mrs. Pierce, Mr. Pierce."
"Hi honey." Brittany's mom said as she opened up the passenger side door.
"Come on San! We're waiting on you so we can do the bomb thing! We gotta test um before we do the actual one at 12." Kama was holding a lighter and what looked like a box filled with a assortment of different fireworks.
Santana jumped out of the car and ran over to the girls. Brittany followed behind, walking arm and arm with Quinn.
"So? What did your mom say about the ring?"
"She hasn't seen it. I've been wearing it on on the necklace that Santana gave me just so that my mom doesn't ask questions." Brittany pulled out the necklace from inside her shirt and held it. "I love it so much though. All of this just feels like a dream"
"Its beautiful, B. You really did find a good one this time." They stopped in their tracks to watch as Rachel lit a sparkler for Santana. She started waving it around in the air. "The past two weeks have been wonderful, and I don't want it to end."
"I don't want it to either. And I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay."
"Britt don't do that." Quinn looked over at her friend who was running her hand through her hair. "Come on. I know you only do that when you want to cry. Let's just enjoy the night okay? Come on. I got us stuff to drink over there."
Brittany nodded and walked towards the rest of the girls. She sat in one of the empty chairs and Quinn handed her a cup of the mixed drink she just poured. Quinn took the seat next to her and they watched as their girlfriends lit fireworks. The smiles plastered on their faces were those similar to a child's after getting a new toy. Santana lit the fuse of a smaller sized firework and held on to it. She watched as the fuse got smaller and finally disappeared into the explosive.
"Babe what are you doing?!" She jumped up from her seat as Santana threw the firework high into the air and it spiraled as it lit up. It fell to the ground and eventually burned out.
Santana walked over to Brittany and smiled. "Don't worry okay I know what I'm doing, sweetheart." Brittany held her arms out and she sat down on her lap.
"I believe you but it just scared me." Brittany grabbed onto Santana's face and kissed her.
"Oh stop love birds, you guys never separate or something yeah?" Kalei was standing at the end of the driveway with a fountain in her hand. "San can you please light this thing you know I don't like doing um."
"Quit being such a baby Kalei you do um." Kalei stood there, waving the firework in her hand. "God okay fine yeah I'll do it. Scrub."
"I not one scrub, scrub."
Santana ran down then drive way and grabbed the tube out of her hand and placed it in the middle of the road. She squatted down and lit the fuse then casually walked back towards everyone as the sparks started to fly from the tube.
The rest of the night was filled with fireworks, smoke and good times. Brittany made sure not to get too buzzed too soon. It was about 11:30 now and her parents were just leaving for Justin's party.
"Now I don't want you burning yourself or anything so be careful okay? Please honey." Her mom hugged her.
"And don't be drinking too much." Her dad smiled. Brittany didn't think they could smell it on her but she was wrong. "Its alright, Britt. At least there are adults around. No driving alright. Be responsible."
"I will. I promise."
"We love you baby. See you tomorrow." And they got into their car and left.
Brittany walked back towards the rest of the girls. Quinn had a pretty good buzz going, and mostly sat and watched as Rachel and Santana lit fireworks. As much as Santana wanted Brittany to join in on lighting the fireworks she didn't want to. She did, however, promise to light one of the super thunder cracker fireworks at midnight. It was a team tradition so she was basically dragged into it. The firework was basically a string of fireworks, with a big bomb at the end.
The box of fireworks that was overflowing at the beginning of the night was now tarting to bottom out and you could see the disappointment on Santana's face. Brittany gel a little bad but what she really wanted was for her girlfriend to come and spend time with her.
At around 11:45 Jen and Wehi tied a rope that extended from the fence that was across the street to the tree that sat at the end of the driveway. Twelve thunder cracker fireworks were taken out of their boxes and tied onto the rope.
"We decided that Quinn should join in also, since she's basically one of us."
Quinn, surprised, raised up her hands in front of her. "No guys I can't. It's a team thing."
"Its alright. I was our idea, we ran it by Rachel to see if it were okay with her and she's said yeah." Nalani replied. "Please, we want you to be apart of this."
Rachel turned towards Quinn and nudged her arm. She accepted their offer and was given the firework that was tied near Rachels.
"So you guys do this every year?" Brittany wondered all night about the tradition and how it came to be a team thing. She was helping Tash tie the fireworks onto the rope.
"Every year. It became a thing when Santana became captain. We had choke trips within the team and she wasn't having it. She was pissed because she knew that we had potential as a team. But the drama that was going on off the field was interfering with on field chemistry." She finished tying the last string firework. "So she had a get together at her house one New Years eve and since then we all have been close. That girlfriend of yours, she's a natural born leader. She's humble about it all too and doesn't let the fact that she's captain get to her head."
"Shes done a lot for the team huh?"
"More than you can imagine, Sooner." Santana came walking over to the two girls.
"You guys ready? It's 11:55. Almost time to light it up."
Brittany found herself staring at Santana. Out of all the people she could have met by moving to Hawaii she found the one person that she had always dreamed about. Humble, caring, loyal, loving.. The list could go on and on. There were possibly a million reasons why she loved this girl but there wouldn't be enough time for her to list them all.
"You alright babe?" Santana was waving her hand in front of Brittany's face. "Spacing out or what?"
"Oh yeah sorry. I'm good I'm good." Santana gave her a quick kiss then turned back towards the team who were now all standing close together.
"Alright guys. Another year has come to a close, and I am blessed to have you all standing here with me today. You're pretty much my second family, and I wouldn't have my year come to a close any other way. 2010 is going to be our year, the year we finally go to states. The year we finally get a banner in the armory." Everyone started to high five. "11:59. Don't forget to think of something you wanna achieve this coming year while lighting your string. 10."
And the countdown began. Brittany thought back on the last couple months. She realized that she had experienced things that others only dream about. That most people never see in their entire lifetime. She grabbed onto Santana's waist and looked straight into her eyes. It was like the world was fading out and all she could see were those deep brown eyes staring into hers.
"Happy New Years!" Everyone was screaming and hugging.
Wehi lit the first string firework and it started to explode.
"Happy New Years, babe." Brittany ran her hand through Santana's hair.
"Happy New Years."
Santana leaned in and their lips met about halfway. By now they must've kissed a million times but this one felt different. Maybe it was the hype of the fireworks or the excitement of starting a new year together, as a couple. Whatever it was, it felt amazing.
They parted, and Santana had the biggest smile on her face.
"Im guessing it was everything you imagined?"
"Everything and more, my love." Santana grabbed onto Brittany's hand and their fingers interlocked.
They watched as each of the girls lit their firework, when finally only two were left. Santana had Brittany go first, then lit hers a little after. Once the last of it had finally burnt out, they all went back to where their chairs were. Jen poured everyone a shot of vodka.
"To the first drink of 2010. Cheers everyone." Rachel held up he shot glass and so did everyone else.
They all finished their shot and put the glass back down on the table.
As it got later in the morning, the girls started going to sleep one by one. Santana and Brittany were the last ones awake, and found themselves buzzed and laying on the trampoline, looking up at the stars. Santana had a blanket, which they shared. There was a nice cool breeze, which felt nice.
"Tonight was perfect. Just straight, perfection." Santana was laying flat on her back, waiting for Brittany to cuddle with her. "Where did you want to sleep tonight?"
"Anywhere as long as I'm with you." She yawned, then laid on Santana gently. "I hate that I get so tired after drinking."
Santana pulled the blanket up over both of them, then started to gently run her hand through the blondes hair. She knew it was like her kryptonite. "You're too much, B."
After a couple minutes, Santana realized that Brittany was asleep.
"Goodnight beautiful."
And with that, Santana allowed herself to fall asleep.