Everybody was gone. Santiago, Brittany and Liam were lying around the living room. The TV was only a background noise. Santiago told the blonde before his family arrived that he wasn´t much of a talker. Especially, after his family was there, he loved to not talk and Brittany enjoyed the silence at the moment.
Although, she knew that this bubble of happiness would burst soon, she wanted to enjoy every second of it. The way Santiago interacted with Liam was too much for her. Tears began to cover her face and when she sniffed he noticed.
Gone was the happiness.
"What´s wrong?" He asked.
"I don´t know where to start." She said. Liam didn´t like that he wasn´t the center of attention anymore and squeaked. "Everything is kind of fucked up," a deep breath "and Julia… Julia…" she shook her head.
Damn this shit he thought. Julia has done something stupid. Again. "Britt, what did she say?" He has been through this once before. Julia must have overstepped some sort of line.
"She told me to let you down easy. Since, all of this, you know, my occupation became public knowledge. She told me to let you down easy… break up with you. I-"
"What? Are you kidding me? I´m going to call her right now," he jumped up from the floor looking for his cell phone "puta" she heard him mumble "mierda". He was furious and Brittany didn´t want him to do something impulsive and grabbed his hand, as he walked past her.
"San, please calm down. Stop for a second." She begged him. He did stop and sat down on the couch. Liam smiled at him and just then Santiago picked him up and let the baby stand on his legs.
There it was again. This silence which was supposed to be calming, at the moment, it was anything but that. The blonde knew that Santiago was just calm, because he was holding her son. Deep inside he was raging.
"What do you want me to do, Britt?" He addressed her. However, Santiago wasn´t looking at her. He looked past Liam, watching TV absently. All he felt was rage and he never had this feeling before. Right now, all he wanted to do was call his sister and yell at her. How dare she to say something this outrageous to his girlfriend? Sure, her job was nothing he liked at all, still, he wanted to be with her and nobody -not even his sister- would stop him. Having a part of his family not agreeing with his girlfriend was hard, but threatening her was too much.
"Tell me," he repeated " what do you want me to do, Britt?" Liam didn´t understand what was going on and kept smiling at Santiago.
"I don´t want to cause any trouble, San. You know that. But at this moment I can´t pull myself away from you. I love you." She almost whispered. "I just wanna bounce back from this and continue being happy with you. I know my job is shitty, but it is paying the bills," she began sobbing harder and caught Liam´s attention "but I promise you I´ll find something to support me and Liam and pay the bills and go back to college."
"Move in with me." Santiago blurted out.
Brittany didn´t know if she heard right. Did Santiago just asked her to move in with him? Holy shit. Nobody spoke, even Liam sensed something was going on and he looked with big eyes at his mother.
"What did you just day?"
His look was stern. He followed every word she said. He understood her question.
"I asked you to move in with me, Britt. It is simple. You, me and Liam living under one roof. Finn was planning on moving out anyways. It is only a matter of weeks until he is gone. Believe me."
He saw her face, her eyes slightly bulged, but he couldn´t and wouldn´t stop. Santiago wanted this. Brittany could quit her job and live with him. The rent was payed ahead and she could focus on online classes and keep an eye on Liam.
"I want you to live me with. No more stripping, no more leaving Liam with Quinn. You can stay here and take online classes and get back into college. I can help with Liam and I really want to. I want to have you two around as much as possible. Most importantly, I don´t give a tiny rats ass about what others think. I want you and only you."
Applause for this speech. There was silence. Santiago for one didn´t know where all those words came from and two how Brittany would only smile at him. A thousand thoughts were running through his head. He asked her to live with him. Santiago just poured his heart out. All he could think off was the answer he hoped to receive.
"Thank you," she said "but no. I have to stand on my own feet."
That wasn´t it.
His whole world crashed down. Why wouldn´t she want to live with him? She wasn´t his slave or anything, all he wanted want to have them close and help them out.
"Why not?" He was becoming desperate. "What do you want me to do? Do you want me to ask you to marry me? Seriously, Britt! What do you want me to do to proof to you that I am desperately in love with you?"
Well, there went a rash decision. Santiago had to admit, he planned on asking Brittany to move in with him sooner or later, but he never thought that asking for her hand would happen so soon. Still, he didn´t regret it.
"What?" Brittany yelled and Liam looked at her in shock. Santiago was still focusing on her. Brittany was so beautiful.
Yes, he would marry this girl and it didn´t matter what the world would say.