Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day!
"They say that in every relationship, there's always someone who loves more. In our relationship, that someone is me."
"Brittany! It's time!"
"For what?" She stuck her upper body out of the bathroom door, hair dripping with water and water slipping down her neck…to her naked breasts—her naked breasts!
"Britt! Put some clothes on!"
"Why?" she asked coyly, wiggling her eyebrows at me. "You don't like it?"
"No, no, I do. Of course I do, I just—"
I immediately stopped explaining once I caught Brittany giggling at my enthusiasm.
"You think it's funny, don't you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.
She feigned a casual shrug and said, "Maybe I do; maybe I don't."
I crossed my arms, studying the both annoyingly and adorably arrogant pout on her face. Brittany had somehow deceived herself into thinking that she was seductively mysterious, which—even given how much I loved her—she was not.
"You're not that mysterious, you know." I cocked an eyebrow at her, expecting the remark to throw her off guard.
And it did. "I am, too!" she exclaimed, dropping the act completely.
"No, you're not," I told her again, uncrossing my arms and approaching her. "Brittany, I love you more than anything in the world, but you are not seductively mysterious."
She gasped, backing away from me as I neared her, as if hurt by my honesty. "How dare you, Santana Lopez? Oh, the things I could do to you! I could…" Brittany trailed off, failing to come up with something she could actually hold against me.
I took another step closer to her and grabbed her wrists as she tried to flinch away. I grinned at her, trying my best to contain my smugness. Of course I had won. I always won.
But then her lips curled into a smirk, and she inched her face closer to mine. With her lips hovering dangerously close for minutes, she whispered, "I could withhold sex."
My eyes widened, and I hissed, "You wouldn't!"
"Oh," Brittany drawled smugly, straightening her back, "try me."
I gritted my teeth. "What a haughty…conniving…" Then I failed to hold in a grin as the next adjective came to mind. "Most…perfect girl in the entire world," I finished.
The little smirk on Brittany's face slowly softened into a genuine smile as she pulled me into her arms, kissing me over and over again. "I love you," she said afterward.
I tucked her wet hair behind her ears and poked my fingers into the cute dimples on her cheeks.
"I love you, too."
"I remember everything. The giggles, the whispers, the stolen kisses. The pinky links, the casual caresses, the quiet I love yous. How could I ever forget?"
"See? We're going to be late!" I tugged Brittany along as I hurried my way to Little Bee's, Brittany's favorite restaurant of all time.
"Calm down, Santana. It's just dinner. We can eat somewhere else if we missed our reservation."
I spared a second to glare at Brittany before rushing her again. "God, Britt, have a sense of time, will you?" I muttered.
Brittany rolled her eyes. "Since when did you care about being on time?"
"Look, this is all your fault. Just admit it. You were the one who distracted me with your wet, naked body."
"Well, you sure seemed appreciative of this wet, naked body an hour ago," she scoffed.
"Fine!" I yelled, shaking her hand out of mine. "Whatever." I tucked my freezing hands back into my pockets and strutted along ahead of her. For two people deeply in love, we sure bickered a lot. I walked in silence for the next five minutes, only throwing a brief glance over my shoulder once in a while to make sure Brittany was still there.
At the next street corner, though, I felt a hand suddenly slip into my coat pocket and icy fingers intertwine through mine. Although I peeked at Brittany out of the corner of my eye, I continued walking. I was stubborn like that.
"Hey," Brittany whispered.
"Hey." I kept my eyes straight ahead.
She was silent for several moments, just trying to catch up to my rapid pace. Then, the softest melody broke into the cold winter air. "You are my sunshine…"
I couldn't help but smile. What a Britt thing to do. "My only sunshine," I sang along.
"You make me happy…" She stopped walking and pulled me to a stop as well.
I looked up into Brittany's eyes, knowing every lyric rang true. "When skies are grey," I whispered.
"You'll never know, dear," we sang quietly together, our bodies shifting closer to one another, "how much I love you…"
Brittany's voice cracked at the last word, and it sent goose bumps all over my skin. Then I tiptoed…and she bent down…and we kissed. And, like every time we kissed, it was just about us—about how much we loved each other, and nothing else in the world mattered.
"Please don't take my sunshine away," she breathed into my neck.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
"I just... I love you. I love your dimples. Your naughty smiles, your strong arms, your voice."
"Welcome to Little Bee's. Do you have a reservation?"
"Yes," I answered hurriedly. "For seven." I cringed at the clock hanging on the far side of the wall. 7:30. "I'm so sorry we're late." I could feel Brittany's curious glance from beside me. While I did not believe in apologies at all, tonight—this occasion—was an exception.
"That's alright," the hostess answered rather unpleasantly. "And your name is?"
"Lopez. Santana Lopez."
She flipped through the reservations schedule and raised her eyebrows when she saw my name. "Oh," she said knowingly.
"Yeah," I said with a nod.
She looked back and forth between the oblivious Brittany and me and smiled. "This way, please," she said, leading us to our table with two menus in her hand.
Brittany shuffled closer to me and whispered into my ear, "Why are you being so polite, Santana?"
I brushed it off with a quiet, "Oh, please, I have manners, Britt."
But Brittany continued eyeing me dubiously, and I knew the only way to distract her was with a quick peck on her lips.
She smiled widely afterward and proceeded to our table with no more questions asked. Then I swiftly skipped ahead of Brittany to pull her chair out for her, giving her a sly wink along the way.
She cocked her head at me again; apparently, I had reminded her of my uncharacteristic politeness. So I resorted to the same remedy, leaning in and kissing her quickly on the lips. After that, she gladly sat down and waited for me to take a seat across from her.
"Little Bee's," she sighed contentedly. "My favorite."
I grinned. "Mmhmm."
Brittany searched through the menu, finally ending up with a conflicted frown on her face.
"What's wrong, baby?" I asked.
"There's so much food, I don't know what I want."
I smiled at her, reaching across the table to rub at her hand. "Then just get everything you want."
"Santana!" she said. "I can't get everything I want. Then…then we'll have way too much food."
"We can indulge ourselves once in a while, can't we, Britt-Britt?"
She pinched her lips to the side, mulling over my suggestion. "I guess so…"
"Yes, we can," I said in confirmation. "Now order whatever you want."
Brittany glanced between the menu and me, a mischievous smirk soon appearing on her face. "Really?" she asked.
"Really."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"You're spoiling me, Santana."
"Awesome."
She giggled, pulling my hand up to her lips and planting a long kiss there.
"I love you," I whispered.
"I love you, too."
"So, if in every relationship, there's always someone who loves more, it's me. I love you more than anything in the world, even more than you love me. And, if you'll let me, I'll keep on loving you more for the rest of my life."
"You know what I always say."
"What?" I asked, smirking at Brittany's regretful tone. I knew exactly what.
"If only Little Bee's had macaroons."
I smiled and took a sip of my wine. Brittany and I had just cleaned off our plates and were taking some time to digest before moving on to dessert. "Then what?"
"Then…" Brittany shrugged, tugging at the necklace I had given her exactly a year ago for our anniversary. "Then I'd die of happiness."
"Well, I sure hope you won't die," I teased.
Brittany giggled, running her fingers up the arm I had laid on the table.
"Because," I continued as I raised my other arm and beckoned at our waiter.
"Because?"
Before I answered, though, I paused to study her. To remember everything about her. The blonde hair that slipped and slid through my fingers. The blue eyes that always gleamed, as if the world were actually a beautiful place. The freckles, the most perfect imperfections I had ever seen. The soft lips that pumped hot blood through my cold heart.
And then our waiter arrived and placed a plate of macaroons in front of us. "Thank you," I said to him. He nodded politely and walked away.
Brittany glanced back and forth between the macaroons and me, a puzzled expression on her face.
"Don't die yet, Britt," I joked.
She beamed at me, and I knew right then I was making the best decision of my life. "You are just perfect, Santana," she said, diving right in.
As expected, she reached for the coffee macaroon, her favorite. And then, her smile faltered. "Is that my name?" she asked, noticing the letters etched onto the macaroon.
I shrugged. "I guess that one's meant for you then."
She cocked an eyebrow at me, cutting through her macaroon with her fork. "What are you up to, Santana?"
I chuckled and took a macaroon for myself, opting not to answer that question.
Because, soon enough, Brittany's fork hit something hard, and she paused, putting the pieces together. I watched as she slowly broke the macaroon in half and let out the quietest gasp at the treasure she discovered inside.
"You know, Britt," I started to say, "they say that in every relationship, there's always someone who loves more. In our relationship, that someone is me. Because I love you more than I knew I could, more than my little heart can bear, more than you could ever, ever imagine. Remember Lima? Glee club? I remember. I remember everything. The giggles, the whispers, the stolen kisses. The pinky links, the casual caresses, the quiet I love yous. How could I ever forget? I remember I knew then. And I know now. I just… I love you. I love your dimples. Your naughty smiles, your strong arms, your voice. So, if in every relationship, there's always someone who loves more, it's me. I love you more than anything in the world, even more than you love me. And, if you'll let me, I'll keep on loving you more for the rest of my life."
"Brittany Susan Pierce, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Brittany covers her trembling lips with her hands as the softest tears fall from her eyes. I pick the diamond ring up from her plate and hold it up to her ring finger, just waiting for her approval.
And then, she nods. "Yes," she whispers through her tears, "yes, yes, yes!"
The widest smile takes over my face as I slip the ring onto her finger. It's a perfect fit.
Brittany pulls my face toward her from across the table and kisses me, again and again. I feel her wet cheeks press into mine, her trembling hands cradling my face, and her passionate lips moving along with mine.
"I love you, Santana," she mumbles into my lips. "I love you so, so much."
"I love you, too."
