"Quinn, I can't go back home without a date for dinner. My parents are still friends with my ex's parents…we've all been going to church together since I was like three. " Santana huffed out as she rolled to her side and batted her eyelashes at her. "Pretend to be my girlfriend for the next 3 holidays and I'll do your biology home work all next semester."
Quinn just rolled her eyes as she turned around in her desk chair, "I don't trust you enough with my GPA. I also will get murdered by my mother if I don't go to Columbus for Thanksgiving and meet her new boyfriend."
The brunette just sighed, "This four day break is going to be such a god damn disaster. I don't even want to go home."
"I bet you my cousin Brittany would pretend to be your date," Quinn smirked a little when she saw Santana's face turn a little red.
"Your tall, beautiful, legs for days cousin Brittany?" The Latina said almost shyly.
"Yeah," Quinn laughed a little bit at her roommates dream like state. "Our grandparents I've in Bellefontaine it's halfway between Lima and my mom. We aren't doing family Thanksgiving until Saturday."
"Brittany has better things to do then go with me," Santana pushed her glasses up and focused back on her organic chemistry book.
"I told you she thought you were cute and was asking about you after you came home with me Halloween weekend," Quinn just shrugged. "I don't know why you never texted her."
"She has a boyfriend at that party," The brunette stated matter of factly.
"I'm going to text her now!" Quinn squealed as a pillow wizzed by her head.
"You better not!" Santana rushed out of her seat towards Quinn.
Santana narrowly avoided having Quinn text Brittany. Not that she wouldn't love to bring the tall beautiful blonde home for dinner, but she had a boyfriend last time Santana checked. She finished brushing her wet hair just as Quinn walked into their dorm room. "What's with the sly as smirk, Fabray?"
Quinn just shrugged as she sat back down at her computer desk. "I texted Brittany while you were in the shower. She said she would LOVE to spend Thanksgiving with you and your parents."
Santana threw her brush lightly across the towards her best friend, "You've got to be kidding me…" The brunette breathed in deeply. "She has a boyfriend."
Quinn laughed a little bit, "You're going to be thanking me after the long weekend and you have someone hot to bring home." Quinn put her hair up in a ponytail and smiled at Santana in the mirror. "She also HAD a boyfriend. She very interested in my geeky side kick."
"Fuck off, Q." Santana huffed a little bit as she crossed her arms over her superman shirt. "If anything you're the fucking side kick."
"I also gave her your number so you guys can iron out the details," The blonde shot her best friend a small smirk. "You can also thank me with your grandmother's pie!"
Santana knew being this nervous about a text conversation was ridiculous, but she couldn't help it. It was even the potential of lying to her family, that didn't bother her so much. It was this conversation with Brittany. She met her about a month ago when she went home with Quinn. She was tall, beautiful, incredibly smart, and funny. All those qualities were hard to find separate, finding them together was a gold mine. This was also just a rouse…it's not like it was going to go anywhere. Brittany probably just wanted some entertainment away from her family. Santana's phone chimed and she felt her chest tighten up a little. Panic attacks weren't something new for her…
Brittany: Hey Santana it's Quinn's cuz Britt. She told me bout ur little idea. I think it could be a blast
Santana: Hi, Brittany. I don't know what she actually told you. I just don't think I can bare going home without a date when I know my ex is going to be at my parents for Thanksgiving.
Santana looked over Brittany's text again, almost panicked about what Quinn might have said. She also realized Brittany was short texting. Her lengthily novel would make to be an even bigger nerd then she was.
Brittany: Basically free food and hanging out w a hot girl. Seems like a good deal to me :) BTW Y would your ex be there?
Santana felt her face heat up a little bit at Brittany's passive flirting. Quinn had mentioned a couple times Brittany had said she thought the Latina was cute. But it coming from Brittany, made it a little more real.
Santana: I'm not bragging but Mami and Abuela can cook! My ex is a childhood friend as well…My parents spend every Thanksgiving with them
Brittany: So free food a little hand holding maybe a hug and play nice with your parents is about the gig?
Brittany: That sux…is ur ex at least nice?
Santana smiled a little at Brittany's cute 'job description.' She stared at her phone for a second trying to think of a good way to describe Rachel. She was very nice and really was a good person, but she was too self-evolved and experimental for Santana.
Santana: Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. She actually is a good person. We just wanted different things. She's an…over achiever to say the least. I just worry everything she has done in school this year will be great grand and wonderful. I'll feel like I've not nothing going for me.
Brittany: Ohhhh….So I should lay on the 'girlfriend' thang on real thiccccc just to annoy her?
Santana let out a small laugh and smiled a bit. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so light, just from a texting conversation.
Santana: I wouldn't say real thick…but maybe a little.
Brittany: K. Sounds good. Got dance in 5. Txt you after class, cutie.
True to her word, Brittany did text Santana a couple hours later after she got out of dance class. They stayed up most of the night texting. Santana almost missed her 8 am physics class. They still had a week to go before Thanksgiving break.
Santana drowned herself in expresso, redbull, and chewing gum to make her way through her day. She didn't know how they had stayed up all night talking about…nothing. Well, what seemed like nothing. They talked about her relationship with Rachel and what buttons Brittany could push if she became unbearable. Just little things in between. She felt her phone vibrate on her.
Brittany: Idek how I am making it thru the day.
Santana couldn't help but smile a little at Brittany's text. She felt exactly the same way. She was a little surprised Brittany texted her first. Although she did have to fight the urge more than once today to text Brittany. The blonde was just doing a favor for her.
Santana: I know exactly what you mean. I almost missed my 8 am and I feel asleep in my 10:15 this morning.
Brittany: I slept through my alarm…I missed my 10 a.m. I have an A in there anyway so it's fine.
Santana shuffled through the hall way making her way to her dorm room. She threw her bag down on her bed exhausted from the day. She wanted to talk to Brittany more but she knew she was in desperate need of a nap.
Santana: I'm sorry you missed your class. I'm in a desperate need of a nap before I start an English paper. Can I text you later?
Brittany: Going 2 nap 2. U txting me is always welcome.
Santana smiled at her phone before she laid it down on her bed and closed her eyes. It was going to be a long week waiting to go home.
Santana talked to Brittany a little bit over the next couple days. It hadn't been like it had been as much before. Santana didn't push talking to her more even though she wanted too. She had texted Brittany a couple times a few hours apart without a response, so she left it alone for the day. From what Brittany said she had a busy week.
Santana woke with an abrupt start when her cell phone vibrated continuously. She looked at her phone. 3:27 am. Brittany was calling her.
Santana tried to clear her throat so she didn't sound completely groggy. "Hello," She spoke softly trying not to wake Quinn.
"Hey, sorry for calling you at such a crazy hour. I literally just got done with my quantum physics project. I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you all afternoon. I left my phone in my dorm room while I was in the library." Brittany yawned a little, "How was your day?"
Santana smiled to herself a little bit. Talking to Brittany so much the last week has made her extremely happy. "Ohh. I understand. You could have just texted me," she sighed out of softly as she pulled her blanket over her head. Logically she knew it would really drown out much of the noise. But it made her feel a little be less like a bad roommate. "I am glad you called though. My day was pretty standard. Class, homework, food, more class, more work, shower, then bed time. How was yours beside your project?"
"I honestly thought it would go to voicemail," The blonde let out a small giggle. "It was about the same as yours. School work, more work, food, more work. Nothing terribly exciting, " Brittany huffed out a little bit. "I guess the exciting part is next week. Is there anything I really have to worry about besides being bored to death by your ex?"
Santana just shrugged to herself even though she knew Brittany could see it. "I leave it on in case my parents were to call. My abuela has had a few rough spells the last couple months. Nothing too serious, honestly. I just like to be on the safe side." Santana rolled onto her side resting her phone on her ear, "Ummm…I am an only child which we talked about. But we didn't talk about how Papi is a little over protective."
"I'm sorry she has been sick on and off. Grandparents are special regardless of how long we get them in our lives," Brittany let out a small yawn. "How protective are we talking? Like sit on the porch with a shot gun?"
"Did you lose your grandparents when you were young?" Santana felt her heart start to ache a little for her before she even really had an answer. "No not that bad. But he will flash the lights from the living room if I'm on the porch one minute past my curfew. He also likes to ask a million questions. So be prepared for that."
"I never met my dad's parents. They died before I was born, but my mom's are alive though. I spent every summer with them growing up. I'm excited to see them at Thanksgiving." Brittany yawned a little from the other side of the line. "I can handle a million questions. Speaking of that, we need to take time to figure out our 'love story' for all the questions I'm sure we'll get asked.'
"I'm glad you get to spend time with them. It will be fun for sure," The Latina let out a big sigh, "I can't believe I didn't really think about that."
"Well, it's almost 4 am and I'm exhausted. We still have a few days to get a story together. Talk to you tomorrow?" Brittany asked softly before another yawn came out.
"Absolutely," Santana yawned herself. "Sounds good. Goodnight, Britt."
Brittany started to call Santana every evening after that first after that first 4 a.m. phone call. The phone calls usually weren't too long, but they did put a little pep in Santana's step. Thanksgiving was only a few days away now.
"So have you and Brittany decided how to introduce her to your family?" Quinn looked up from her laptop at her roommate.
"We're just going to tell them we've been dating a little while and she can't go with your family until Saturday," Santana just shrugged a little. "So some of it what be the truth."
"Ohhh! Now I want to go so bad to see you squirm," Quinn let out a small laugh as Santana just flipped her off.
"It's going to be fine. I just really don't want to hear Rachel drone on about all her first year college achievements," The brunette smiled a little bit as her phone lit up.
"You are like a fifteen year-old with a crush," Quinn scurried across the room and grabbed Santana's phone out of her hand. "She better not be sending you nudes!"
Santana squealed at Quinn and tried to get her phone back, "She's not! We are just talking about our days is all."
"Sry I didn't call U yet. I've been busy with school work." Quinn read the text and laughed at herself a little. "You guys really are putting this thing on for real. Putting it on thick!"
"Hey, this was your idea!" The Latina grabbed her phone back and flipped Quinn off again. "One of the better ones you've had I think."
Quinn just rolled her eyes about AGAIN. "I guess we'll see about that."
Santana nearly dropped her phone when Brittany Facetime called her. She wasn't prepared for this at all. She was supposed to have all of tonight, all of tomorrow and the whole way home the day after tomorrow to prep for 'seeing' Brittany.
She ran her fingers through her hair really quick and answered the call. She couldn't help the huge smile that came across her face when she saw Brittany for the first time. "Hey," She said softly shuffling across her bed. "How was your day?"
Brittany had a huge smile on her face, "Hey yourself." The math student sat down at her desk, keeping her eyes on her screen. "It was good, just super busy. I know it's not finals week yet, but it's almost as bad. How was your day?"
The brunette offered a small laugh giggle, "I know the feeling. My day was busy and full as well."
"I've got a paper to do tonight and a quiz to take," Brittany sighed a little and shook her head. "I'm so ready for a long weekend. Double majoring is a pain in the ass. I also really like the glasses."
Santana groaned a little bit, "Oh that sounds terrible. I only have some reading to do. I'm excited to have four days off too." Santana could feel her face heat up a little bit from the comment. "I….I didn't even realize I had them on."
"What's your favorite thing about going home?" The blonde asked quizzically, "Well, I like them. I didn't even realize you wore them."
"I'll be honest and it might be lame," The Latina said sheepishly, "Mami's cooking and Sunday's watching terrible telenovelas with my Abuela. I really only wear them at night. I wear contacts during the day."
"You've been raving about your moms cooking the last couple weeks she better cook as good as you say," Brittany teased a little. "I don't miss my mom's cooking. She's a terrible cook, but my dad's I do miss. I really miss my cat. I can't have him until I live off campus next semester."
"Don't worry, you will be impressed by their cooking. That's something I can promise," Santana picked her phone up and laid back on her bed. "I'm sorry you can't have him. I'm sure that's hard."
"It's literally the worst. He's my best friend," Brittany stopped talking suddenly. "I have to do my online quiz is due within the next two hours. But I'll text you later if that's okay."
"Ohh, sure." Santana nodded quickly, "You can text me whenever you want."
Thanksgiving was here. The last couple days of class went smooth. Brittany and Santana had talked on the phone each night with each other. Today was THE day. Santana was going to meet Brittany then heading to her parents.
Santana was a nervous wreck. She was tapping all her feet impatiently to the beat of the music. Brittany was late…well, she wasn't late. She just wasn't on Santana time. Which is to be fifteen minutes early for EVERYTHING. She was being a little over dramatic. Brittany had GPS so finding the Lima bean wasn't an issue. What if Brittany actually decided to bail and didn't tell her? Or what if Quinn told her how over bearing her father could be…
She squealed when there was a tap on her window. Brittany was outside her door with a big smile on her face. The Latina took the hint and got out of the car, "Hey, I was starting to wonder if you got lost."
Brittany rubbed the back of her neck and gave her a shy smile. "Well, I know you said I didn't have to bring anything, but my grandma always says never go somewhere empty handed. So I stopped and got wine…But then I thought I didn't know what or if your parents drank." She motioned to the bag on her arm, "So I got red wine, white wine, champagne, and sparkling cider just in case."
Santana couldn't help but smile at Brittany trying to be a good date. "Thank you for getting those. They will drink some of each of it. If they don't, I'm sure my Abuela will kill the bottle of red wine," The brunette giggled as she motioned Brittany to follow her around the car. "Let me get the door for you and we can go to my parents." Santana opened the door for Brittany, "I promise this won't too painful. "
"Santana, don't worry about it." The blonde smiled at her, "Good! It's not a real holiday without a little buzzed grandmother action." Brittany got into the passenger seat and settled in. "I'm really glad you wore your glasses. You look beautiful."
The brunette giggled at her friend's comment, "She's hilarious regardless. But she's extra sassy when she's been drinking." She nearly tripped over her feet on the way back around the car. Brittany texted her she was cute all the time, but seeing the smile on Brittany's face made it all the more real. "Thank you. You look dashing."
The math student was in a dark blue button up with the sleeves rolled up, khaki pants, black shoes and cute suspenders. "Thank you. I wanted to look nice for dinner. Meeting the in-laws for the first time and all." Brittany chuckled a little and patted Santana's leg, "I guess this is it."
Santana smiled at the blonde's joke. "The in-laws can be a little nuts. I have been warning you. But I guess this will be the moment of truth."
Brittany got out of the car first grabbing her bag of drinks along the way. She made her way around the car and opened the door for Santana. "From here on out we have to act like we're dating if you want them to believe it. I will lay it on as THICK as you want." She offered her hand to the brunette to help her out of the car.
The brunette took the other girl's hand and stood up. "I know. I guess here goes the show." She took a deep breath as she messed with her keys getting ready to open the door to her parent's house. "This is it, Brittany."
Brittany put her hand on the small of Santana's back and patted gently. "It's okay, honey. I'm sure your parents will love me."
"Santana," Maribel squealed as she saw her come through the door. "Oh mi amor. Te he echado de menos."
"I missed you too, Mami." Santana hugged her mother tightly. She pulled away and motioned to Brittany. "Mami, this is Brittany. She's the one I was telling you about."
Brittany offered her hand for a hand shake. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Lopez. Thank you for inviting me into your home."
Before Maribel could reply, Alma came into the room and threw her arms around her granddaughter. She poked her in the sides. "Are they not feeding you at your fancy school?"
"Abuela, they are feeding me plenty," She hugged her grandmother tightly. "I've missed you so much." She grabbed Brittany's hand just as she pulled away from her grandmother. "Abuela, this is Brittany. We talked about her on the phone last week."
Maribel looked at Santana with a sly smile, "Just a week? You've been talking to me about Brittany for almost a month."
Alma looked at Brittany up and down and smiled at her softly, "Nunca me dijiste que era tan hermosa." She grabbed Brittany's hand and pulled her towards the kitchen, "Let's get those beverages into the fridge. You can tell me how you've been taking care of my Santana."
Santana groaned at both of the elder women in her family. "Could you please stop trying to embarrass me? We've literally been here for 5 minutes. You have all day to do that…"
"It's so nice to meet you," Brittany smiled at Santana's grandmother. She motioned for Santana to follow as she was getting pulled away. "You should come help in the kitchen, honey."
Santana felt a little chill down her spine when Brittany called her by a pet name. She knew it wasn't real, but it still felt good. "I'm right behind you guys," She reached out for her mom's hand and pulled her into the kitchen. "I want to go taste everything before dinner."
Maribel just rolled her eyes at her daughter, "I usually only let you do that when you've helped me cook."
"Maribel," Her mother just waved her hand at her dismissively, "They came here early to spend time with us before everyone else comes. They also need to eat. So Skinny!" She ushered them all into the kitchen. "I also need to hear how you met!"
The girls weren't in the house long before Miguel Lopez's voice came booming through the house. "Is my little girl home?" He walked into the kitchen as he hung his jacket on the back of one of the dining room chairs.
Santana squealed breaking away from her mom and grandmother's interrogation of Brittany, "PAPI!" The young Latina jumped to her father's arms and hugged him tightly. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, sweetheart." He picked her up a little and kissed the top of her head. "So, you must be Brittany."
The mathematics major stood up from the bar stool, "Yes, Sir. I am Brittany Pierce. It's a pleasure to meet you." She offered her hand for a firm hand shake. "You have a lovely home."
He shook her hand gently and offered a small smile, "And a lovely daughter. But I'm sure you noticed that."
Santana smacked him in the arm and groaned at him, "Papi…Don't scare her off. We've literally been here an hour."
"Honey, if Mami and Abuela haven't scared her off yet I'm sure I won't," He motioned to them cackling like hens in their mother tongue. Brittany was about ever fifth word coming out of their mouths. "Did you know that my Santana is pre-law…I would rather her be pre-med. But, I couldn't convince her otherwise."
Brittany smiled softly at his obvious admiration for his daughter. Santana's reaction to him entering the house showed their bond deeply mutual. "Yes, Mr. Lopez I did. It's one of my favorite things about her. She wants to do as much good for the world as she can."
"What's your major, Brittany? Santana said you've been in several dance recitals," He grabbed a wine class out of the cupboard, "It's a beautiful art, but I'm not sure how lucrative it would be for a career."
Santana wanted to crawl into her own body and disappear. She knew her dad was going to give Brittany the fifth degree, but going her right out of the gate was a little much. "Papi…" She said with a slightly warning tone.
"Mi amour," He said sternly, "It was just a simple question. I'm just trying to get to know Brittany better is all."
Brittany put her hand on the small of Santana's back and offered her father a smile. "San, It's okay." She nudged her in the hip softly with hers. She turned her attention to her father, "Actually, Mr. Lopez, dance is just my stress relief and my cardio. I am double majoring math and organic chemistry. I'll be pre-med for pharmacy school."
"That's excellent, Brittany," Miguel nodded in approval. He looked over at the clock and smiled a little. "Santana, Rachel and her Dads should be her soon. I know you haven't seen her since you've been at school."
Santana grabbed Brittany away from her dad just as the Berry family was knocking on the front door. "So, this is the real deal," The brunette took in a deep breath tried to collect her thoughts for a second. "This isn't at all because I still have feelings for Rachel. She was my first…a lot of things. First friend, first girlfriend, first love and so on. I know she cared about me, but she treated our relationship like an experiment. Like…it was some kind of life experience merit badge. She's majoring in preforming arts and vocal performance. So I think for her the added drama and attention to our relationship was part of the thrill."
"So the break up hurt you and your friendship and you want her to see you're getting over it just fine," Brittany tried to pick her words carefully so she didn't over step. They had talked a little bit about the break up and the reasoning Santana needed a date, but she hadn't heard Santana's voice so pensive.
"That's actually fairly accurate," The brunette let out a soft sigh. "The worst part was she acted like us breaking up wasn't a big deal and that I should act like our friendship should be the same." The Latina put her hand on Brittany's arm and smiled at her. "I appreciate you doing this for me."
The blonde frowned a little bit at the explanation that her 'girlfriend' just gave. "People react different for different reasons. But if you guys had been friends for so long she should know you and how you process things better." She put her hands on the side of the brunette's check, "I'm glad I can help. But I also don't mind spending time with a beautiful girl."
"I don't mean to make her sound all bad either. She really was my best friend for a long time. She's a little over the top but her heart is in the right place," Santana felt goosebumps start go up and down her arms when Brittany touched her face. "You are putting it on really thick…"
Brittany just smiled at her softly, "I'm not putting anything on right now. I really did want to spend time with you. I was bugging Quinn before your 'masterplan' to try and get you to come home with her again soon."
The law student was a loss for words. She knew she and Brittany had started to connect a little, but she thought it was just her wishful thinking. Hearing Brittany say so much herself made her stomach flutter. "Quinn never really said that much, just that you had given her permission to give me your number. But you had a boyfriend at the time, so I didn't want to text you while you were in a relationship."
Brittany stalled for a second a little confused. "Boyfriend…," The blonde's nose crinkled up and she stuck her tongue out kind of disgusted. "Oh, that wasn't a boyfriend. A friend set us up and it was kind of a blind date. I had met him at a party before but was very brief, a friend of a friend kind of situation. I was also fairly drunk at the Halloween party. I remember making out with him."
Santana just laughed a little bit, "Ohhh, yeah. You were making out with him, but you also threw a drink in his face. Then brought him a caramel apple to say you were sorry."
"Ohhh," Brittany rubbed the back of her neck slightly embarrassed. "I don't remember the drink in the face. I remember the candy apple. But I ate most of it after I gave it to him."
"You're so cute when your nervous," the brunette said softly as she reached out and gave Brittany's hand a soft squeeze. "Well, I honestly think you're cute all the time."
Just as Brittany was about to respond the door to the office opened, "Santana I've been…" There was stalled silence between the three young women in the room. "I'm sorry I interrupted your moment."
Both girls turned towards the room's new occupant. Santana shook her head quickly trying to gather her thoughts. Brittany closed the space between her and Santana. She put her arm around the shorter girl's waist. "It's alright. I'm Brittany." She offered her hand out for a handshake.
Rachel's eyes darted between Brittany and Santana trying to judge their interaction. "Ohhh, that was so rude of me," The vocalist shook the blonde's had a little too excitedly. "I'm Rachel Berry. Long-time friend of Santana's."
Hiram and LeRoy Berry were chatting with Maribel and Miguel as they all helped set the table. Brittany and Santana joined them in the dining room.
"Oh, Santana!" LeRoy sat the dish down on the table and cross the room to hug the young Latina. "The first semester is treating you good! Your mom told me everything has been going good."
"Hey, Roy." Santana teased a little bit and gave him a big hug. "It's been going great. I've been busy so I haven't come that much. My classes have been…"
"We know you haven't been coming home, Santana!" Her grandmother calls as she comes from the kitchen was a bowl in her hands. "That's why you are getting so skinny." She poked her side just as she set down the bowl.
"Abuela," Santana huffed at her softly. "I'm not getting skinny. School is feeding me enough."
"Santana Marie," Alma said in a warning tone as she grabbed her granddaughter's cheeks, "You shouldn't be sassing me on a holiday." She teased softly.
"Respect your elders, Santana." Brittany teased her a little before put her arm around Santana's waist and kissed her on the cheek. "Honey, don't sass your Abuela."
Santana felt her whole body start to get warm. She knew that gestures like this were bound to happen over the course of the night, but she was still not prepared for it. "Britt, stop…" She knew her face was red.
Hiram watched the exchange between the ladies. He walked around to room to the little group and offered a hand to Brittany. "I'm Hiram Berry. I know you already met my daughter Rachel. "
Brittany took his extended hand shook it gently, "It's nice to meet you. Santana told me so much about the whole Berry family. I'm Brittany Pierce."
Rachel came from the bathroom just as Brittany introduced herself to her father. "I'm so glad you could join us Brittany. It will be so nice to have a new person at our traditional get together." Rachel pulled a chair out around the table and sat down, "I wish I would have known Santana was bringing a guest. She didn't mention it in our weekly email chain."
"I'm really glad I could be here too," Brittany pulled a chair out on the side of the table for Santana. She motioned for her to sit down. "I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to come today. But my aunt and uncle can't come in until the weekend. So my family is doing our Thanksgiving this weekend." Brittany looked over to Santana's mom and grandmother. "Do you ladies need any help bringing anything in from the kitchen?"
Maribel waved Brittany away, "You're a guest. That is nonsense. You sit down and get to know Rachel. We are just have a few things to bring in."
"That sounds like a fantastic idea, Mr. Berry," Brittany said softly as she but her arm around the back of Santana's chair, rubbing her shoulder softly. The duo of parents walked into the kitchen to finish getting everything prepped for the table.
"How's school been going Rachel?" Santana shifted a little nervously in her seat a little. She felt Brittany's fingers running across her shoulder and towards her neck softly. The Latina tried not to shiver at the blonde's soft touch. She did notice a slight flare in Rachel's nostril. The one that she got when she wasn't the center of attention.
"School has been fantastic," She clapped her hands together in excitement. "I am the first freshmen to ever be invited to sing at the winter showcase. It's always been strictly an upper classman's affair. Which you would know if you would have read or responded to my last two emails…" The short brunette pulled her phone out and starting scrolling through pages of different sheet music. "Do you think I should do classic Christmas or should I do a newer up to date song?" Rachel droned on for another few minutes. "I was leaning towards a classic ."
Santana just nodded through the whole slew of information Rachel has been spatting out. "That is fantastic, Rachel. How did you manage to get that honor?"
"Well, I was doing my normal early morning warm ups in one of the practice rooms and you'd never believe what happened," Rachel threw her hands up with enthusiasm.
"Excuse me, Rachel," Brittany held her hand up softly. "I'm sorry to interrupt you." Brittany ran her hand over Santana's. "Honey, do you want me to get you a drink?"
Santana was a bit surprised that Brittany had stopped Rachel mid-sentence. She was even more shocked that Rachel stammered for second and closed her mouth, only offering a small nod as a reply. "No, I'm okay. I can wait until we are all settled and sitting for dinner."
"Okay," Brittany spoke softly to her girlfriend and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry Rachel. I'm curious about your mind-blowing method of getting so much attention."
Santana squeezed Brittany's leg tightly under the table almost as if try and keep her from poking too much. "I did read your emails. I've just been really busy the last couple weeks. But Brittany doesn't know the story. Please continue."
"You have been busy," The blonde teased Santana openly. She brushed a piece of hair out of her face, barely touching her cheek. "I love when you wear your glasses."
Rachel cleared her throat, making it clear she was unamused by the two lovebirds. "So, Brittany," Rachel said pointed as she folded her napkin up and put it in her lap. "How did you and Santana meet?"
Santana started to panic a little. She and Brittany had briefly discussed what they were going to tell her parents, but dad coming back early saved her from the embarrassment of fumbling through a lie with her mom and grandmother. "Rachel, we don't really have to do this now."
"Oh, honey. It's alright," Brittany rubbed Santana's shoulder more and gave it a small squeeze. "Santana will swear to this day that my cousin, Quinn dragged her to that early Halloween party." She poked Santana in the side a little and smiled at her. "I think it's because she thought her costume was over done. She was Wonder Woman and Quinn was…well Harley Quinn."
"Santana always has liked Superheroes," Rachel slyly commented as she gave a little satisfied smile. She wasn't sure she liked someone else having Santana's attention. Not that it had to be of the romantic verity. "Batman has always been her favorite."
"Batman was her favorite until she watched Smallville reruns and fell in love with Lana Lang, now it's Superman," Brittany tried not to laugh when she saw the annoyance on Rachel's face. "Anyway, I was at the party with a blind date. Kind of a friend of a friend. I met Santana while she was with my cousin. The date and the party ended badly for me. Puking, making out with a dude, and a hang over the next day." Brittany just laughed a bit, "But apparently someone took pity on me. Quinn gave Santana my number because apparently my drunk mumbling was all about Wonder Woman. It did take Santana a week to get back to me. But we did hit it off. We've been kind of annoyingly cute ever since."
"So you've only been seeing each other around a month?" Rachel asked skeptically. Santana was a very sweet girl, but she was also kind of defensive. She had always been polite enough but rarely let anyone really close. The vocalist was very surprised and maybe a little bothered by the obvious attention to detail Brittany was knew and remembered.
"Yeah, I'd say that's close to right." Santana spoke up softly still a little surprised at how good of an actress Brittany was. She knew the blonde could dance, but she had no idea she would be this believable. She thought they would have stumbled through dinner. But Brittany wasn't missing a beat.
Just as Rachel was about to speak up, all the parents flooded into the dining room with hands full of dishes. Brittany pushed her chair out quickly and grabbed a dish from Maribel. "Por favor, Déjame ayudarte con eso."
Maribel was taken a little by surprise at Brittany's Spanish. "Thank you, Brittany." She looked over at Santana who looked as equally as stunned. "Santana, es ella fluida?"
Brittany spoke for herself before Santana answered. "I wouldn't say fluent. But, I'm pretty close." The blonde winked at her girlfriend. "This all looks so wonderful. Seems like it's time for dinner."
The conversation through dinner flowed easier then Santana thought it would. Her parents didn't poke and prod Brittany too much about their relationship. She just assumed her Abuela and mom would do it once it was time for dessert.
Rachel was being as self-involved as usual pretty much controlled the conversation for the first half hour of dinner. The two families were used to it, but Alma didn't always keep her mouth shut. She was making snide comments in Spanish to Santana and Maribel. Brittany was catching almost all of the side conversation.
Hiram picked up his glass of wine and took a small swig of it, "So Brittany, we've known Santana since she could walk basically. So what about you? What's your major? Do you go to the same school as Santana?"
Brittany covered her mouth with her hand softly and nodded for a second as she finished chewing, "I don't go to school with Santana. She's my cousin's roommate and we meet one weekend when she came home Quinn." She folded her napkin and put it in her lap, "I am actually double majoring in organic chemistry and applied mathematics."
Leroy nodded with approval and chimed in on the conversation, "I'm sure that makes for crazy semesters for you. How do you find time for a social life?"
"Actually grad-school isn't as bad," Brittany just shrugged a little bit. "Under-grad was much worse."
Maribel just laughed a little bit and sipped her wine. "Already done with round one of college and picks good wine," The older Latina just laughed a little topping of her class. "Santana, cásate con ella."
Santana almost spit out her mashed potatoes, "Mami!" Santana scolded her softly and pushed her hand softly.
Rachel's mouth was just hung opened for a few seconds, "You brought wine and you're in grad-school. So you're like 25?"
Brittany shook her head no quickly, "Not even close. I turned 21 in June. I was dually enrolled in high-school and community college. A lot of my advanced placement classes transferred as general education credits. I finished my undergrad in May. It's my first year of grad-school. I didn't have much of a summer my junior or senior year of high school."
Santana was surprised that most of the things coming out of Brittany's mouth were things she already knew…Well, with the exception of her excellent Spanish. She didn't realize that had been talking that much about real life over the last couple weeks. Now she didn't want the dinner to end. Not that she did before, but her family seemed to like Brittany. She was starting to like her more and more…Boy was she in trouble…
Alma smiled at across the table at her granddaughter and her girlfriend, "Brittany, ¿Cómo aprendiste tan bien el español?" She watched Brittany's hand slide across the table and grab Santana's free hand softly. She couldn't help her smile from growing even larger.
"I wasn't born in Ohio," She stated matter of factly, "My dad was a mechanic in the army. So when he and my mom got married he was stationed in Texas. The demographic was very blended. I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn Spanish from friends I made as a young age and also take it in school at an early age."
Santana opened her hand and ran her fingers across Brittany's palm, "That was one of the biggest surprises I got of the day."
"I can't tell you all my secrets early on, honey." Brittany teased a little as she pulled Santana's hand to her lips and kissed her knuckles. "I've got to keep you interested."
Rachel had excused herself to make a phone call right after dinner. The short brunette got a text message or email that made her extremely flustered. The men were doing the clean up as per family tradition.
"Jesucristo, mami, ¿por qué me harías esto?" Santana nearly dropped the plate of brownies when she walked into the living room. Her mother and grandmother had family photo albums spread out across the coffee table. "Britt…You don't have to entertain them and look through all of that old stuff…"
"Mija," Her mother said sternly and grabbed brownie off the plate. "We are not trying to embarrass you which is obviously what you think. We just want to share you our favorite memories of you with Brittany."
"Esta es la primera vez que traes a alguien para que nos conozca." Alma said pointedly, "So this is a new experience for us. You are also an old child and only grandchild. So you're pretty much screwed, Santana." Her grandmother smiled broadly as she sipped her wine a little more.
Brittany listened at the whole conversation with amusement, "San, I really like learning all this stuff about you. I also get an unbiased telling of childhood stories that I'm sure you would have skewed in your favor." The blonde teased the younger girl a little and patted the spot on the floor beside her. "Come sit with us."
Santana sat the plate down on the table and made her way towards the couch, "You have to promise not to tell ALL the stories…" She peddled back toward the couch to sit and nearly squealed when Brittany grabbed her hips and pulled her into her lap.
"Sit with me so I can hear your side of the stories," Brittany put her head on Santana's shoulder leaning over looking at the photos. "Ohh..Ohh," She pointed at one of Santana dressed as Batman, "That must have been before the Smallville reruns." Brittany teased her gently and tickled her sides a little.
"I don't even remember telling you about that," She had been replaying their conversations through her mind ever since Brittany had shut Rachel down at dinner about the superhero comment. "How did you know that?"
"One of the times we were up until all hours of the morning, you were mumbling about why you put on the Wonder Woman costume and then told me if you dressed as Lana Lang no one would have known who you were." She gave the brunette's hand a squeeze, "So which Halloween as this?"
Maribel laughed out loudly and shook her head quickly, "It wasn't Halloween…"
"MAMI!" Santana hissed at her and put her head in her hands, "I wore that costume for almost the whole summer before first grade."
"And you were how old when you figured out you were gay," Brittany poked her sides again a little teasing her. She felt Santana start to shake in her lap a little bit. She was more ticklish that she thought. The blonde decided to let it go.
Rachel walked back in to the room pushing the swinging door open dramatically, "Apparently the winter show case music selections are due as soon as we return from Thanksgiving break." She threw her hands up for flare, "How will I ever decide in four days?"
Santana just rolled her eyes a little at her childhood friend, "Rachel…Don't act like you haven't decided which you want to sing. You have a song ready on the fly for ANY possible event," Santana turned to her head to look at Brittany, "I mean she has a list of appropriate songs picked if she's ever asked to sing at Barbra Streisand's funeral."
Rachel just pointed at Santana, "Don't ever say those 3 words in the same sentence again. Barbra Streisand will find a way to live forever." She took a second out of her own self-indulgence to notice what everyone was actually doing. "Ohh, some of the younger years were my favorite. There are so many pictures of us."
Brittany turned a couple of pages and pointed one of the two of them out, "Awe, honey. Look at you in a to-to. Your silver leotard is so cute. Was this a Christmas recital?"
Rachel sat down on the other open seat on the couch and pointed at the difference in their leotards, "Oh no. It was just the leads were in pink," She pointed to herself proudly. "I was one of the youngest in the troupe that year that got to dance with the ten and eleven years old." Rachel laced her fingers back and leaned against the couch, "I'm what you call a triple threat. Singing, Dancing and acting. I can do it all. Well, that's what the industry calls it."
"Oh yeah. I'm a terrible singer," Brittany said softly and shrugged a little bit. "I got accepted to Juilliard, but as much as I love to dance, I knew a professional education was more practical. I can always teach a dance class at a local YMCA whenever I get settled after pharmacy school."
The Berry family had made their exit not long after desert. After another hour of looking through photo albums and a little more wine everyone was starting to settle in to the living room.
Miguel leaned the recliner back and cracked open a beer, "Brittany, in case Santana hasn't told you, it is a Lopez family tradition to watch The Grinch on Thanksgiving evening."
Maribel just laughed at her husband, "It's really just an excuse for us all to take a nap after the big day. We feel less guilty if we are all napping in the same place." Maribel waved her hand at Brittany to get her attention. "It's also Lopez women family tradition to do Black Friday shopping. Since your family Thanksgiving is Saturday you are more than welcome to come with us."
Santana stammered a little bit and put her hands up, "It's not fair for Brittany to drive almost an hour back to her grandparents tonight to drive an hour back here tomorrow."
Alma just rolled her eyes and her granddaughter and waved her excuse off, "It's not like Brittany can't spend the night here. Her driving all that way especially if she plan on getting up early tomorrow to come with us is nonsense isn't it Brittany?"
Brittany was actually taken a little by surprise by both of the older Lopez women. Santana had warned her they don't warm up to very many people easily. She felt kind of obligated to accept the invitation. "I think it sounds like a great time. I really don't mind the drive to and from."
Miguel leaned up from his reclining position and looked at the blonde, "That is not happening. You will stay here tonight. There's no need for you to do all that traveling. I'll make you all breakfast tomorrow, too."
Santana started to panic. This was not part of the plan. She just wanted Brittany to razzle Rachel some then head back to her grandparents…not that she didn't want Brittany around, but this was getting deep and very quickly. "Britt, let's go put some popcorn on." She didn't even give the blonde a chance to answer before she pulled her into the kitchen.
"You really don't have to stay and come do this with us tomorrow." She grabbed a microwave bag of popcorn out of the cupboard. "It's mostly my mom shopping for the toys for tots for the church and Abuela saying things really aren't that much cheaper." She started the timer on the microwave and let out a sigh, "Don't feel pressured to do any of that stuff. It's more than dinner and conversation which I'm sure is all you bargained for."
"Santana," Brittany said softly catching the brunette's attention, "I'm having a great time with you and your family. Tomorrow actually sounds like a really good time," Brittany rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "I know this is really the first time we've hung out, but after talking so much the couple weeks before and now this. I'd really like to go and get to spend more time with you."
Santana felt the faint blush cross her face at Brittany's admission. She also couldn't help but notice how cute she looked when she was nervous. The blonde had kept it together and on point all night. "I'd really like it if you would come with us. We can cool it on the girlfriend thing while we are going out shopping if you want. I don't want any of this to be any weirder for you."
"Santana," Brittany stepped closer to the shorter girl and grabbed her hand gently. "It's weird that it's not weird…" The blonde tried to think of a logical way to put it. They knew each other better than most people probably did by several dates in. "I'm trying to figure out a good way to say this without sounding…I don't know. Crazy." Brittany sighed a little, "Quinn talks about you a lot. She says you're a good friend. Funny, smart, caring, sometimes a little sassy but she adores you. Quinn basically hates everyone. As I've gotten to know you even if it only has been over the last few weeks, I do know I want to get to know you better. I know it all sounds so…"
Brittany was cut off when Santana put her hand over her mouth, "It doesn't sound crazy or weird. Maybe seems a little too good to be true," The brunette took her hand away from Brittany's mouth and rubbed her cheek softly. "I want to get to know you better too. I'd love it if you spent tomorrow with Mami, Abuela and me."
Brittany leaned forward and kissed Santana on the cheek gently, "I think we are going to get along just fine, Ms. Lopez." The brunette opened the microwave and pulled the bag out, "I suppose we should go back out there with this and talk to your parents some more."
"I'm pretty sure they are all three asleep by now," Santana grabbed a bowl down from the cupboard and poured the popcorn in it. "I'll be right back." Santana was right parents and grandmother were asleep. She grabbed a quilt off the couch and made her way back into the kitchen. "Let's go sit on the porch swing and hear embarrassing stories about you since you got some freebies today."
Brittany grabbed Santana's hand and followed her through the front door, "Best Thanksgiving ever."