"When did Sam say his family was coming over?"
Tina turned in her chair that was in front of her desk and faced her mother who was standing in the doorway. "He just text me that they're on their way."
"Nervous?" Mrs. Cohen-Chang asked. She walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of her daughter's bed.
"I'm not nervous to see Sam's parents," she told her mother. "I'm more nervous at how you and daddy are gonna act."
"Tina," she cooed and placed a piece of her daughters hair behind her ear. "Daddy and I love and support you. We're fine with you and Sam dating and living together, you're adults after all."
Tina let out a deep breath and nodded her head. "Thank you."
"You moving out to California is another story completely," she said as she got up and walked out the room.
Tina was shy, everyone who really knew her knew that. She hated change and being introduced to new people. She begrudgingly auditioned for the glee club because Artie convinced her to. He was her only friend at McKinley at the time and practically demanded that they join together. Once she joined, Tina met Mercedes, Kurt, and Rachel. Meeting new people plus the pressure to sing in front of the school made Tina become more shy. She came up with the stuttering act to deter people. Who would want to talk to a girl who couldn't have a normal conversation? It was a defense mechanism that worked perfectly, for a brief moment at least.
Being in glee club and around other people did open Tina up. She was always going to be that shy girl that panicked around crowds but she did have confidence. Mike helped her to see that opening up to people did have its advantages. Even though he was shy himself, Mike had a wise soul. He usually sat back and observed all that was around him which gave him the knowledge to perfectly gauge a situation or person. They were a perfect duo, the quiet couple that observed all but was also open to others.
Senior year found Tina shedding her old ways and embracing the new. She auditioned for the school musical, the second female lead, which eventually went to Unique then Santana. The shy girl may have seemed long gone but from the outside in Tina craved the familiarity of the choir room. She had more friends, yes, but they were all members of a club she had belonged to since freshmen year. She appreciated the new people in her life in New York but she felt most comfortable with her high school friends in her apartment in Harlem or the Brooklyn loft.
Now Tina felt like her fourteen year old self again as she sat at her dinning room table surrounded by her family and Sam's. She had a sudden urge to stutter every other word that came out of her mouth. Breathe, Tina, breathe.
"So, Tina, Sam was telling me this morning that you were cast in a movie," Mary Evans said. "That must be exciting."
"It is," Tina nodded as she played with the food on her plate. "I mean it's the lowest of budget films but Puck believes in me and I need to believe in him."
"She's gonna kill it," Sam beamed with excitement as he spoke. "I mean the apartment is gonna be a little quiet once she's gone but Blaine and I will make do without her."
"Just pretend that I'm in class all day," Tina joked.
"How is that gonna work?" Dwight Evans asked. "You'll be gone for a long part of the semester."
"I spoke to the academic dean before I left and I was allowed to leave for work purposes," she answered and looked wearily over at her parents. "It's a thing people do. Dakota Fanning does it all the time."
"That's good for her, dear," Mr. Cohen-Chang replied sarcastically. "You aren't an A-list Hollywood actress, you're just a simple girl from Ohio."
"Thanks dad," she grumbled from her seat obviously defeated over his words.
"Dakota Fanning is in the Twilight movies," Stacey Evans informed her parents. "You go to school with her, Tina?"
"I've seen her in the halls once or twice before," Tina told the astonished looking girl.
"That's so cool," the little blonde marveled. "I wanna go to school where famous people attend."
"Let's worry about getting you out of junior high first sweetie," Mary told her youngest child.
"You okay?" Sam whispered to Tina who looked absolutely defeated.
"Yea," she nodded not very convincingly.
"Don't worry," he reassured her. "We're meeting Blaine to exchange gifts after this."
"Thank God," she groaned and tried to smile up at her boyfriend who squeezed her hand in support.
After the dinner, where luckily the Evans and Cohen-Chang parents got along swimmingly, Sam and Tina left to meet Blaine at the lake. It was a little past eight o'clock and snow was starting to fall. It was a picturesque Christmas night. Sam unlocked the car door so Blaine could sit in the back seat.
"How was the dinner?" He asked the couple sitting in the front.
"Good despite my parents basically telling me that I'm stupid for going to Los Angeles," she sighed. "They support my dreams but obviously not when I follow them."
"Screw them," Blaine concluded. "I know they're your parents but you don't need them. You've got us, your new family."
"Thanks," she said sincerely and wiped a stray tear from her eye. "Gift time."
"Yes," Sam clapped excitingly and picked up a bag that was lying at his feet.
"Me first, me first!" Tina happily exclaimed and lifted the bag she had in front of her. She distributed the wrapped gifts to both boys. "Merry Christmas gentlemen."
Blaine unwrapped his gift excitingly. It was the perfect reaction Tina wanted. "Oh my God, Tay Tay."
"Like it?" She smiled widely, overjoyed at the reaction the gift received.
"A signed Playbill from the cast of Newsies!" Blaine gasped at the book in front of him. "How did you get this?"
"Rachel helped," she answered sheepishly. "She worked right next door so that helped a lot." She accepted the enthusiastic hug from her best friend and then turned to her silent boyfriend. "Sam? Baby, you like your gift?"
"Thank you," he answered, never looking up from his lap. "Where did you find a personalized sketch book?"
"Lee's on fifty seventh and seventh, the art supply store across from Carnegie Hall," she replied. "You have tons of sketch books for school but none for yourself, so why not personalize it with your name."
"I love it," he told her and ran his hand over the golden letters on the book. "It's simple but holds a lot of meaning."
"You two are sickening," Blaine laughed and broke up the cutesy moment. "Now open my gifts next."
"Sweet," Sam whistled once he opened the immaculately wrapped gift. "This is probably the only book I'll read willingly."
Tina moved so she could see the book properly. "Nerds. Really, Blaine? The encyclopedia of Marvel comics?"
"Well, I got him the DC encyclopedia for his birthday," he responded sheepishly and laughed as Tina rolled her eyes. "Open your gift T."
Tina sat back in her seat and attacked the small package that laid in her lap. "Aww, Blainey Days."
"It's a collage of pictures of the three of us from junior year till now," Blaine explained. "I tried to find a picture from sophomore year but like I suspected, there wasn't any."
"Thank you," she sincerely told him and rearranged herself to properly give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'm totally taking this with me to L.A."
"Last but not least, my gifts," Sam spoke, breaking up the sweet moment. He passed out his gifts and watched anxiously as his friends tore open the wrapping paper. "Tada!"
"A CD?" Tina asked as she just stared at the disk in her hands. "People still listen to these?"
"It's not just any CD," Sam began to explain and took the disk out of his girlfriends hand. He placed it in the car radio and waited patiently for the music to begin. "Sound familiar?"
"Is this Proud Mary?" Tina asked and leaned closer to the speaker to investigate to song better. She watched as Sam changed the song. "True Colors? Sam what the hell?"
"This isn't just some CD," he scoffed at her earlier comment. "This is a collection of every song you sang in glee club. Freshmen to senior year, I got Kurt and Artie to help me with your freshmen year songs."
Tina's eyes grew wide in admiration as she began to skip the tracks so she could hear snippets of the twenty track CD. "This is beautiful."
"Dude!" Blaine excitingly exclaimed. He picked up the box that held his gift to show his friends. "Where did you find Avengers bow ties?"
"Oh my God," Tina groaned at the pair. "I'm stuck with a bunch of nerds for the rest of my life, aren't I?"
"Yes you are," Sam said affectionately and kissed her forehead. "You knew going into this relationship that Blaine and I tend to geek out around each other."
"Can we go home?" Tina asked once the car became silent.
"What now?" Sam asked in slight shock. "Blaine just got here."
"No, not here," Tina shook her head. "Can we leave Lima and go back to New York?"
"Are you sure you're okay?" Blaine asked Tina. "All last week you were looking forward to coming home."
"I can't stay in that house," she sighed and played with the CD case in her hands. "Now that I now know that my parents disapprove of me going to Los Angeles."
"Stay with me," Blaine suggested. "My parents are leaving in the morning for some fabulous European vacation."
"I can't," she told him. "I don't want to be a burden."
"Tina," he eased her worries. "Sam's family heads back to Kentucky tomorrow and he's shacking up with me until we head back to New York."
"So we're bringing New York to Lima," Tina realized with a chuckle.
"We're brining New York to Lima," Sam nodded in agreement.