Hi all! I know, two updates so soon? I was overcome with feels so I thought I'd share it with you. I always love hearing from you, so thank you for your reviews and PMs! xo
When the two made it back to the house, Santana switched to cleaning mode. Sophia was in her room blasting a dancing playlist she had insisted her mom on creating and every now and then Santana could hear high pitched giggles. Two hours before everyone was set to arrive, Santana grabbed her phone and quickly typed her address and sent it to Brittany. She then flopped on the couch and picked her favorite stand-up special from Netflix to relax.
At exactly 3 pm, she heard car doors slamming outside and the unmistakable noise of the twins rushing to see who got to ring the doorbell first. Santana chuckled as she waited for the scream that always followed the doorbell.
"THEY'RE HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" Sophia rushed down the stairs to open the door, but just before she did, she turned around to look at her mom for permission. Santana nodded, and Sophia opened the door. She was instantly drowned by embraces and loud voices, and soon enough all three were rushing towards the backyard laughing.
"BOYS! Manners!" Rachel was shouting fruitlessly as she carried a big casserole and went off to set it on the kitchen counter.
Quinn sighed and followed her wife. "Forget it love, they'll come back and say hello when they get hungry."
Santana got off the couch and walked over to her friends, who each hugged her as a greeting. Rachel was taking the foil off the casserole while Quinn opened the wine and passed a full glass to Santana.
"Thanks Q, how was your weekend?"
The three women went to the backyard and sat on the outdoor living room. Quinn took a sip before answering. "It was fun, the boys had their first official pee wee practice yesterday."
Rachel beamed. "They were so cute, too, with their little bats and whatnot!"
Santana laughed. "I wish Sophia were more into sports and less into dancing, then I wouldn't have to put up with the music blasting at all hours of the day!"
Quinn pointed a finger at her. "Be careful what you wish for though, Luke already made a hole on our fence with his bat because he was killing bugs."
The three women laughed.
A few moments later, they heard a booming voice calling from inside the house. "Anybody home?"
Sophia and the boys stopped and started running towards the voice. "UNCLE SAAAAAAAAAAM!"
Santana got up to see Sam pick up all three kids at the same time and rush forward towards the yard with the kids clinging to him. He flashed Santana and the others a smile before disappearing with the kids. Mercedes walked out behind him shaking her head and smiling.
"He's such a kid, too." She hugged her friends, poured herself a glass of wine and sat down. The four friends spent a few minutes catching up, before Rachel looked up at Santana.
"So how are you doing with the whole Brittany teaching Sophia thing?" Quinn turned to her wife with her eyebrows raised. Rachel shrugged in her direction.
Santana took a moment before answering. "I mean at first it was a big shock and I kind of yelled at her, but Cedes was right, this is a great opportunity for her and so I apologized and I'm just taking it one step at a time." Just then the doorbell rang. Everyone looked at each other in confusion and Santana smiled as she hurriedly said: "Oh and I invited her over so everyone be cool." And she was off to answer the door. The three women shared confused looks and then they laughed.
Santana peeked at her reflection in a mirror and ran a hand through her hair before answering the door. When she did, she saw Brittany in a flowy blue dress and a ponytail, throwing a bottle of wine from one hand to the other. The two women locked eyes and smiled.
"Hey, um, glad you made it!" Santana gestured for Brittany to come in and closed the door behind her.
"Thanks for inviting me. Um, this is…" Brittany held up the bottle and raised her eyebrows in question. Santana grabbed the bottle and withdrew her hand quickly when it grazed Brittany's. Both women laughed nervously.
"Yeah, I'll put this in the fridge." Santana took a couple of breaths to steady herself as she placed the bottle in the fridge and almost jumped when she turned around and saw that Brittany had followed her and was looking at the kitchen wall covered with Sophia's drawings.
"You know parents usually put this stuff on the fridge, right?"
Santana walked over to the wall and stood a distance away from Brittany. "Yeah but when it came to having to throw some of them away to make room for new ones, I just decided to cover this wall instead."
Brittany nodded and smiled. "Good plan."
Santana turned around to look at the blonde. She smiled as she spotted Brittany's tiny scar on her upper lip and the freckles in her nose that were so familiar to her. Brittany could feel Santana looking at her, but couldn't seem to turn to face her.
Santana cleared her throat. "Wanna join the girls outside?"
Brittany finally turned and smiled at Santana, who felt her pulse quicken. "Sure, lead the way."
After a shaky start with the rest of the girls, Brittany felt at ease in the backyard with a glass of wine in her hand and her old friends around. Mercedes and Rachel got up to set the table while Quinn and Santana brought the food outside. Sophia had run up excitedly to Brittany and insisted on her showing Chris and Luke her dance moves.
When everything was set up, Santana walked up to Sam, Brittany and the kids to let them know that lunch was ready. She got there just in time to see Brittany twirl and Sophia and Chris try to imitate it while Sam and Luke played air guitar. "Alright you three, go inside and wash your hands so we can eat." The twins ran inside closely followed by Sophia, who stopped to give her mom a kiss on the cheek. Sam cleaned his hands on his jeans and after a cold stare from Santana muttered "Guess I better go wash up, too." And walked briskly towards the house. Brittany laughed.
"Do I have to go to the bathroom as well?"
Santana crossed her arms and smiled. "That depends, are you also in the habit of digging up worms from the garden?"
Brittany made the same face she made when she tasted raisins in her food. Santana laughed and nodded.
"Then you're good."
They walked back to where the food was and Santana started fixing Sophia a plate. The kids sat on a small circular table to one side, while the adults took their food to lawn couches. Everyone made appreciative noises at the food, while Rachel gushed about all the cool yummy things that went into her vegan casserole. Santana rolled her eyes.
"Shut it Berry, you can't use the words 'nutritious', 'vegan' and 'flavorful' in the same sentence."
Rachel glared at her. "Why don't you try it and find out?"
Sam and Mercedes giggled and sing-songed "oooooooh" before Santana pursed her lips, walked up to the casserole and with a flourish, ate a big spoonful of it. She stood there squinting her eyes as she chewed, while everyone but Rachel stifled a laugh. When Santana finally swallowed, she sat back down and took a sip from her drink before shrugging.
"My initial statement stands."
Everyone laughed over Rachel's "that's preposterous, you're just stubborn" and then continued eating. Rachel excused herself and went to "check on the twins" when in reality they all knew she was just trying to calm down. Brittany leaned over to Santana.
"I thought it was actually pretty good." Brittany's voice was just a whisper.
Santana winked at her. "Me too, but no way I'm gonna tell Rachel that."
Brittany shook her head and was thankful she was in the shade, because she could feel her cheeks blushing.
After eating way too much, they all opened another bottle of wine and settled down inside. Mercedes fiddled with her phone and suddenly there was some quiet music drifting from the speakers. Sam was in the middle of telling a story about his day, when Sophia came in and pulled on Rachel's shirt.
"Tía Rachel, Luke is crying for you." Rachel's eyes widened as she looked at her wife, who rubbed her back before she got up to follow Sophia outside.
A little while later, Rachel came back carrying Luke, who was hugging his mom's neck and sobbing quietly. Quinn immediately got up and walked up to them.
"He's having a hard time breathing, Q, I think we need to take him home and do the asthma treatment again."
Quinn nodded but bit her lip. "Um I can't drive right now, I've had too much wine. Are you ok to drive?"
Rachel shook her head no. But Sam got up.
"Guys, I only had one beer, so we can give you a ride home."
Rachel sighed and looked from Sam to Mercedes. "Are you sure?"
Mercedes smiled. "Of course."
Santana got up to help pick up the twins' bags. "Just come back for your car tomorrow or something."
Quinn took the bag from Santana. "Thanks, sorry we're cutting the evening short."
Santana gave a wave with her hand before opening the door for her friends. They said their goodbyes and soon enough they were all out the door. As Santana closed the door behind them, it slowly dawned on her that now it was only Brittany, Sophia and her. She looked at Brittany with a small smile.
"This doesn't usually happen."
Brittany shrugged. "Is he gonna be ok?"
Santana walked back to sit on the couch on the other end. "Yeah, he has asthma so sometimes they need to nebulize him or something like that, but the doctor said he would probably grow out of it."
Sophia walked in and sat on her mom's lap. She looked up at Santana on the verge of tears. "What happened to Luke?"
Santana ran her hand through her daughter's hair. "You know how you sometimes run around and then you have to stop because you get thirsty?"
Sophia nodded. "Then you bring me water and I can run more."
"Exactly. And Luke sometimes needs more than water, he needs more air before he can run."
Sophia bit her lip. "How can he get more air?"
"His moms have this special device that helps him get more air, and it's in their house."
"Does it hurt him? Is that why he cried?"
Santana cupped Sophia's cheek. "No mija, it doesn't hurt. But it can be scary to feel you don't have air, so that's probably why he was crying."
"How can I help him feel better?"
Santana took a minute. "Well, what do you think can make him smile?"
Sophia closed her eyes as she was deep in thought for a while. "Luke really likes space and stuff, maybe I can draw him a picture in space?"
Santana smiled. "Sounds like a great idea, mija."
Sophia hugged her mom and jumped down. "I'll go do that right now!" And she ran up to her room.
Brittany was watching the exchange with a strange smile on her face, and when Santana noticed her staring, she felt herself blushing.
"You're a really great mom, you know."
Santana looked away towards the stairs. "Thanks, she's a great kid." When she looked back, the two women locked eyes and Santana felt a jolt in the base of her spine. They smiled fondly at each other and stayed silent for a few seconds.
Brittany took a deep breath and stood up quickly, breaking eye contact. "Let me help you clean up."
Santana shook her head a little before following Brittany outside and clearing up the table. After putting the leftovers away (Brittany pretended she didn't see Santana keep a portion of Rachel's casserole to herself), they loaded up the dishwasher and Santana tilted her head towards the almost empty bottle of wine.
"Do you wanna join me for one last glass?"
Brittany bit her lip. "I really shouldn't, cause I have to drive back and get some work done before tomorrow."
"Oh ok, no worries." Santana hoped her voice sounded as casual as she intended it.
"Some other time?" Brittany looked up at Santana. Santana felt the heaviness of the question and saw herself getting lost in Brittany's big blue eyes. She gave Brittany a half smile.
"Definitely."
Brittany's face lit up and Santana couldn't help but chuckle. The blonde gathered her bag and before hesitating, gave Santana a quick hug. "Again, thanks for inviting me. Tell Sophia I said goodbye."
Santana swallowed hard. "Sure, thanks for coming, Britt." Santana froze at that last word, but Brittany breezed past it and gave Santana's arm a gentle squeeze before walking towards her car. Santana stood in the doorway until Brittany got in the car, then she turned around and closed the door. She leaned against it and released a breath she wasn't aware she was holding in.
Brittany
I'd be lying if I said I got a lot of work done after coming home from Santana's. I watched cartoons for a while, trying to get my head to focus on what I needed to do. The outline for the recital is done, and I have finished choreographing two of the dances. Even though I hate to single kids out at this age, I realize that three out of the five dances we are going to present need to have a solo performer at some point. Maybe I can do it the fun way and have a dance-off of some sort? I don't know yet.
Monday morning on my way to school I decide to ask the kids first. I remember how awful it was to be forced to perform alone when you didn't want to, so I think this is a great first step. In the first class, only four kids want to try out for the solo, so we decide to have mini auditions on our next class. My second class of the day is with Sophia's class, and as soon as they walk in, she lights up and runs towards me to hug me, before blushing deeply and biting her lip.
"Mornin' Miss Brittany."
I ruffle her curls and she giggles. "Good morning Sophe, did you give Luke his drawing yet?"
She seems surprised that I remember. "Mom took a picture of it and sent it to tía Quinn, but they are coming over tonight."
She looks so proud of herself and I can't help but see Santana's gestures in her. "That's gonna be really cool I bet."
She nods and I clear my throat and call for the kids' attention. We start as always with warm up exercises and then I show them the new hip hop routine we are starting. They laugh as I make them show me their toughest faces. A few minutes before we finish the class, I ask the same question I did to the other kids, and only two want to try out: Sophia and this little guy named Aiden. I tell them to practice on the dance moves we learned today and that next class we will all decide who gets the solo.
When the bell for the end of the day rings, I walk out the front steps unconsciously scanning the parking lot for the white Lexus. I smile when I see it, and wave back when Santana climbs out to wave at me. I take my time walking towards my car and I see out of the corner of my eye how Sophia rushes over and Santana bends down to envelop her in a big hug. I unlock my wrangler and drop all my stuff in the backseat before getting in and turning it on.
Halfway home I hear my phone buzzing, but I learned from Quinn's accident in high school never to answer my phone while I drive, so I just ignore it until I park in the underground garage of my apartment building. I see the ID and I can't help but smile.
My Sophia is gonna KILL this audition. I feel bad for ginger Aiden already.
I shake my head.
You know that's bullying and it's not cool right? She has until Wednesday to practice and I know she's gonna be great.
I get home and take off my shoes before my phone buzzes again.
It's not bullying if it's true ;) And she's already dancing in her room, I suspect she won't stop until Wed!
On Wednesday I ask Erika to come in as a "guest judge" to help me pick the solo dancers. The process is as follows: Everyone in the class has a smiley face sticker, and they get to put their sticker in a box under the name of the one they thought danced better. I made this "secret booth" so they won't have to do it in front of everyone else.
In my first class all four kids do really well, and by the end it's Tucker who gets picked. Everyone cheers for him and he seems really proud.
For my second class, I get a little nervous for Sophia. I know I shouldn't pick sides, but that's almost impossible for me in this situation. Which is why Erika is here and I put all this voting system in place. Aiden goes first. He's a really good dancer for a kid his age, and he can stay on beat. But he's scrunching up his face in concentration so it doesn't look like he's enjoying it so much. He finishes dancing, we all applaud and he takes a seat. Sophia walks towards the front with what I call the Snixx stance: Chin up, murderous smile and one raised eyebrow. It makes me laugh so much because I don't know if this is on purpose or just the Lopez genes. Of course her purple tutu totally defeats the purpose of the Snixx stance, but I think it's a good thing, given that she's only 4.
When the music starts, I see her face transform and she exudes this absolute joy when she dances. It's not technically perfect, but her smile is extremely endearing and it makes up for the two or three missteps. She gives this awkward bow when she's done and the voting begins. When Erika tallies up the votes, she announces that Sophia is the winner. She squeals and everyone claps and her friends hug her. I congratulate her and then dismiss the class. When I go to check my phone, I laugh at the 5 unread messages.
That purple tutu was all her doing, I hope it doesn't mess up her chances of winning.
Did she get the turn right? She was struggling with it last night.
How did it go? Is it over? Did she win or did ginger Aiden cast a spell on everyone?
No, don't tell me, I want to be surprised because of course she won.
Wait no, please, tell me so I can mentally prepare for when I pick up Sophia.
I decide to let her suffer for a bit while I talk to Erika. When she leaves, I sit back on my chair and type out slowly.
The purple tutu was adorable, and she got the turn right.
I swear I just barely hit send before my phone buzzes again.
Did she win?
Alright, I'll put her out of her misery.
Yes, she was amazing.
FUCK YEAHHHHHH! That's the Lopez way!
I burst out laughing.
The next few weeks fly by. Turns out, there's more to organizing a pre-k dance recital than I thought! I get invited to the Sunday potlucks, but I only show up for one at Quinn and Rachel's house, where Rachel spends the better part of the afternoon glued to the karaoke machine and Santana keeps muttering curse words under her breath because Sophia is clapping and laughing and singing along too. It's fun and I'm extremely happy to be able to spend time with Santana and the rest again, but next Sunday I didn't go to bed until 6 am, so I spent the day recharging at home. Santana kept sending me updates, and the last one was an audio of her laughing as Mercedes yelled at her in the background. Turns out that Sam had a competition with the kids on who could jump from the swings the farthest, and he fell and got a pretty nasty cut above his eyebrow and they were rushing him to the ER. He got 6 stitches, he's fine.
There is only 5 more days to go before the recital! I'm extremely proud of all the kids, because the routines are coming up nicely, but I still need to work a bit on my solo dancers this week, so I decide to talk to their parents so they can either stay for an hour after school or to schedule another practice time. I don't particularly like to meet parents, because they make me feel nervous or like I have to think extra hard about what to say so they won't think I don't know what I'm doing.
It's Monday, and after school ends, I walk out to the parking lot and for the first time since I started here, I make my way towards the white Lexus. I see Santana smile at me, but then I see her wring her wrists and I know she's wondering what I want. It's cute, I gotta say.
"Hey." I smile at her, she relaxes a bit (I think).
"Hi, how was your weekend?"
I let out a long breath. "Long… thankfully the recital is this week so I will be able to sleep a bit more now."
Her eyes are searching mine with concern. "Don't work yourself too hard, ok? It's just pre-k."
I shrug, as I hear Sophia running towards us and Santana immediately bends down to pick her up and pepper her face with kisses. When they are done saying hello, Santana turns to me again. I suddenly remember I had a purpose for coming over.
"Uh, so, um, I want to practice a bit of one on one with Sophia before the recital, just to go over cues and such, so is Thursday after school ok with you?"
Santana whips out her phone to look at her calendar, I assume. "Hmmm yeah, Thursday's fine."
"Cool, it will only take an hour or so." I turn towards the little bundle that is almost asleep against Santana's chest. "Would that work for you, Sophe?"
She giggles and nods vigorously. "Yeaaaah, I love dancing!"
Santana and I chuckle. I make a fist and present it to Sophia, who bumps it and then keeps giggling. "Awesome, it's a dance party."
I look back at Santana and I see her smiling at me. It makes me blush. "Um, I gotta go now, see you!"
I want to hug her but stop myself and wave instead. She waves back and turns around to put Sophia in her car seat. I skip back to the school cause I have more parents to talk to.
Santana
That Thursday Santana woke up earlier than usual thanks to a jumping Sophia.
"DANCE PARTY TODAAAAAAY!" Sophia was chanting and jumping on Santana's bed. She looked adorable in her DC Comics onesie and even though Santana wanted to be mad at her for waking her up, she knew she couldn't. She lunged to catch Sophia and started tickling her. They both giggled.
"Buenos días, princesa." Santana kissed her daughter on the nose and got a hug in return.
"Buenos días, mami." Sophia snuggled closer to her mom and Santana wrapped an arm around her. After a few seconds, Sophia started fidgeting. It made Santana laugh.
"You don't want to cuddle with mami today?" Sophia bit her lip.
"I always want to cuddle with you, mom, but we are going to be late!" She jumped out of the bed and started pulling her mom's hand to get her to move. Santana groaned.
"It's super early mija, we won't be late, I promise!" Santana exhaled and sat up in bed. "Ok, go set the table for breakfast and I will be right down."
Sophia narrowed her eyes. "In how many minutes?"
Santana fought the urge to roll her eyes at her daughter. "Count to 100 and I will be there."
Sophia shouted "OKAY" and ran out of the room counting loudly. "1….2…."
Santana shook her head and quickly went to her bathroom before going downstairs to get started on breakfast.
After dropping Sophia off at school, Santana headed to work, mentally organizing her day.
She had an early meeting with Rachel to go over her contract for her newest play, so she stopped at Starbucks to get her regular coffee but with an extra shot. When she walked into her office, Rachel was already waiting there. The pair hugged and Santana led her into her office.
"You're here early."
Rachel shrugged as she sat opposite Santana. "I always prefer it that way, you know that."
Santana took a big gulp of her coffee before spreading the contract in front of her. "Shocking… ok, so I highlighted some items that I think we need to discuss."
And so the meeting went. Rachel wanted some changes that wouldn't be too hard to accomplish, so Santana called the producer to set up a meeting for the next day to discuss the proposed changes. As she was hanging up, she felt her phone buzz.
Sophia is bouncing off the walls today! Did she sneak some of your Red Bull this morning?
Santana chuckled.
She's excited about your dance party, so this is totally your doing.
She put her phone away, but the smile was plastered on her face. When she looked up, she saw Rachel staring at her with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Santana tried her murderous glare, but the blush creeping up her face ruined the effect.
"I know I'm hot, Berry, but you don't have to stare."
Rachel leaned back on her seat and laced her fingers. "You look happy. Who was that?"
Santana didn't miss a bet. "Q sending me nudes."
Rachel chuckled and stood up. She leaned over to whisper. "Wrong blonde, I'm betting." She winked, turned and left.
Seriously, fuck Berry. Santana shook her head and was tempted to text her something mean, but decided against it. So she drank some more coffee and daydreamed about payback for the dwarf.
She left her office a little earlier than usual because she wanted to stop at home to make Sophia a snack before heading to school. When she was done with the sandwiches and cutting the apple slices, she was gone.
After killing the engine, she looked in her rearview mirror and ran a hand through her hair. She exhaled and walked out. All the kids were running around towards their parents, but she knew Sophia and Brittany were inside in the gym so she went that way and stopped before the double door to look through the tiny window. There was music in the background but Sophia and Brittany's laughs seemed to overpower any other sounds. They were twirling around and laughing. Santana couldn't help herself and quickly snapped a picture with her phone before pushing the doors and walking in.
Both laughing heads turned towards the sound and both smiled at her. Sophia ran over to hug her mom, who gave her a one arm hug. Brittany lowered the volume. Santana walked over and set the bag on the desk.
"Hey, I brought you guys a quick lunch before you start your practice." She handed Brittany a Tupperware and opened another for Sophia. Both of them stared at the sandwich and spoke in tandem.
"Cool, PB and j!" Santana couldn't help laughing. Brittany blushed a little but held her sandwich up and toasted with Sophia before biting into it.
They sat on the floor and ate while Sophia tried to tell her mom all about her day between bites. When they finished, Brittany stood up and stretched.
"Ok Sophe, since we just ate, we can't go jumping around or we will get sick, so let's start slow yeah?"
Sophia looked at Brittany and grew serious. She nodded and mirrored Brittany's position: Legs slightly parted and arms to the sides. Santana sat on the bench to the side and leaned back, smiling.
Brittany fiddled with her iPod for a second until she found the song she wanted and went through some stretching exercises with Sophia. After a few minutes, she turned the music off and started going through the dance routine first without music and then with it.
Santana was beaming at how good Sophia was and how quick she was to learn new steps or new directions. After going through the entire dance 4 times without any mistakes, Brittany clapped and high fived Sophia.
"Alright! That was amazing Sophe! Well done!" Sophia blushed and looked at her mom, who was clapping, too.
Sophia tugged on Brittany's shirt, who leaned down so Sophia could whisper in her ear. Brittany glanced at Santana who raised her eyebrows and then back to Sophia. All Santana could make out was: Go ask!
So Sophia walked up to her mom, biting her lip. "Mom, will you dance with me and Miss Brittany?" Santana looked at Brittany who smiled and shrugged. She looked back at Sophia and nodded.
"I would love to, mija." Sophia grinned as she took her mom's hand and walked her over to the middle of the gym. "What are we dancing to?"
Brittany looked at Sophia. "You go pick a song Sophe."
Sophia ran to Brittany's iPod and started swiping, narrowing her eyes in concentration. She squealed when she found a song and when "Everything is awesome" started playing, both Santana and Brittany started laughing. Sophia was jumping all around, so soon enough they were all dancing and jumping around and singing along. When the song was over, a familiar salsa beat started playing and Brittany instantly froze and blushed. Santana startled, looked at her, but Brittany couldn't look at her. Before Brittany could move to change the song, Sophia chimed in.
"Mami this is Spanish, do you know how to dance it?"
Santana grabbed Brittany's hand to stop her as she was turning towards the iPod. She looked down at Sophia and nodded. Sophia jumped and clapped.
"Can you teach me?"
She was still holding on to Brittany's wrist, and she knew both their hearts started racing at that question. She swallowed hard and was about to say yes, when she glanced at Brittany and saw her eyes swimming with tears. Reluctantly, she let go of Brittany and shook her head at Sophia. Brittany rushed to kill the music as Santana leaned down.
"Another day ok mija? We have to go home now." Sophia looked disappointed, but knew enough not to argue with her mom. She went to pick up her things and Santana saw that Brittany was still holding her iPod and looking down at it. Santana didn't want to end their day like this, so she took a deep breath and walked towards the blonde. She saw her shoulders tense when she walked over.
"Hey… um, so it's beef stew Thursday and you have a standing invitation from Sophia if you want to claim it." She smiled as Brittany looked up. The blonde still couldn't look her in the eyes, but she glanced towards Sophia and took a deep breath.
"Beef stew sounds great right now."
Santana chuckled. "Cool, just follow me with your car, I have everything we need at home."
Brittany nodded and Santana wanted to reach out and… just touch her, but stopped. Instead, she turned around and told Sophia about the plans. Sophia squealed and went to hug Brittany. She then turned towards her mom.
"Mom, can I go with Miss Brittany in her car?"
The request took Santana by surprise. She looked at Brittany who looked equally stunned. "Um I don't think Brittany has a booster seat in her car, mija and – I"
Brittany spoke up in what was barely a whisper. "I actually do, I um once gave Rachel and Chris a ride to the dentist and she insisted on giving me one for 'future reference' as she put it." Santana rolled her eyes and Brittany chuckled.
"That hobbit, I swear." She took a deep breath. She smiled as she raised an eyebrow at Brittany, who finally looked up and half smiled at her. "Settled then, yes mija, you can ride with Brittany."
Sophia clapped. "We're gonna have a sing-along! YAAAAY!" Santana pointed at her daughter and smirked at Brittany.
"Good luck with that!"
They all walked out of the school and Santana helped get Sophia into her seat in Brittany's truck. When she finally got into her own car, she exhaled slowly and stopped fighting the tears that came instantly.
It had been many years since she had listened to that song. What the hell, she was singing it in her head anyway. She fiddled with her phone for a bit before she found it, she hit play and drove out of the lot, checking once in her rearview mirror to see Brittany following her. Soon, she was lost in her memories, letting the tears flow freely.
Junior Year
It was a breezy fall Saturday morning when Brittany ran out of her house crying because she had gotten into an argument with Lord Tubbington about who was the best Kardashian. No one else was at home, so she had no one to take her side. But she knew who was going to agree with her that Khloe was the best: Santana. She ran the 25 blocks that separated them in record time and didn't stop to take a breath until she was in front of the Lopez House. She noted that the only car in the driveway was Santana's beat up red 94 VW Golf and wasn't surprised. Her parents were hardly home at the same time, and on weekends even less. Except for church on Sundays. She knocked on the door but no one answered. Damn, she would've called but she ran out without her phone! Brittany could hear music drifting from upstairs and without thinking, turned the knob. It was open. She called out Santana's name but there was no response, so she just followed the music and stopped in front of Santana's door, where the Latina was salsa dancing and singing at the top of her voice. It was a catchy tune, and Brittany couldn't help dancing to the beat, too.
She pushed open the door and waited for Santana to turn around and find her there. When she finally turned around and saw Brittany leaning against the door frame smiling at her, Santana jumped back.
"Jesus FUCK Britt, you scared me! Don't you knock?"
Santana lounged and turned the music off. The sudden silence rang in Brittany's ears. Santana was blushing at being caught and Brittany thought it was insanely cute.
"I did knock, and I called your name but you didn't listen and the door was unlocked."
Santana glared at Brittany and was on the verge of saying something mean when her expression changed and she sat up and walked quickly over to the blonde.
"Shit Britt your eyes are red, were you crying? What happened? Did four-eyed Speed Racer do something to you? Because I'm not above fighting a cripple." Even though her words were harsh, her touch was gentle as she wiped Brittany's eyes. Brittany went to sit on Santana's bed, and the Latina followed.
"Nothing like that, I was fighting with Lord Tubbington because he thinks Kourtney is the best Kardashian and I told him he was crazy."
Without missing a beat, Santana smiled and nudged Brittany with her elbow. "Well duh, obviously Khloe is the best."
Brittany had long ago understood that Santana was the only one who got her and who she could talk about these things with. Everyone else just looked at her as if she were crazy and called her hurtful things.
"That's what I said but then he hissed at me. And he hasn't done that since I found his porn stash and so I started crying and knew I had to leave so I came here."
Santana put her arm around Brittany and kissed her temple. "He's an ass Britt, you know you can stay here until he, um, cools down."
Brittany rested her head on Santana's shoulder and whispered her thanks. After a few minutes, she looked up and smiled at Santana. "So what were you just dancing and singing to?"
Santana took her arm back and blushed furiously. "Servando y Florentino."
Brittany narrowed her eyes. "Is that a pasta sauce?"
Santana laughed good-naturedly. "No Britt, they are these brothers who sing in Spanish. Kind of like the Latino salsa version of Hanson."
Brittany thought for a minute. "That sounds fun. Can I listen?"
Santana fumbled to get her iPod and played a song. She was softly singing along and stealing glances at Brittany as she sang.
Por tu manera de pensar y el tono de tu voz al conversar
comenzaba a sospechar me volvería a enamorar
por tu sencillo comportar y poseer gran capacidad
de entregar todo al amar tan incondicional
si quieres mátame ya
Estas hecha para mí, yo he nacido para ti
y es por eso que amarnos es tan fácil
y es que somos uno solo, y coincidimos siempre todo
eres para mí
estas hecha para mí , yo he nacido para ti
y es por eso que estar juntos están fácil
nos queremos y decimos sin temor lo que sentimos
eres para mí
Porque has estado siempre ahí, a la hora de llorar o de reír
viviendo a plenitud desde el principio a fin
sé que eres para mí
Estas hecha para mí, yo he nacido para ti
y es por eso que amarnos es tan fácil
y es que somos uno solo, y coincidimos siempre todo
eres para mí
estas hecha para mí , yo he nacido para ti
y es por eso que estar juntos están fácil
nos queremos y decimos sin temor lo que sentimos
eres para mí
Santana was practically dancing as she sat and sang softly, so Brittany stood up and held her hand out for Santana. The Latina stood up holding her hand and looked confused at Brittany. The blonde leaned over to whisper in Santana's ear.
"Can you teach me?"
It sent shivers down Santana's back as she only nodded and grabbed a hold of Brittany's waste as she went over the basic salsa moves. It came to no surprise to Santana that Brittany picked it up instantly, and soon enough they were doing all these complicated dance moves and turns as the song played on repeat. After almost 10 runs, both collapsed on Santana's bed laughing and out of breath.
Santana was on her back and Brittany was next to her propped up on her elbows.
"That was fun! Doing those turns is my favorite part."
Santana laughed. "Yeah, cause you're tall so there's no problem, I have to stand on my toes to let you turn under my arm!"
Brittany lowered her head to rest under the nook of Santana's arm. Santana immediately started playing with Brittany's hair.
"So why were you repeating the same song over and over instead of playing others?"
She felt Santana shrug. "Cause that's my favorite one and, um, itremindsmeofyou." The last part of that sentence came out as just a breath and Brittany had to mentally go over it a few times before understanding.
"Can you tell me what it says?"
Brittany wanted nothing more than to look at Santana because it was one of those rare moments when Santana let her guard down, but she knew the Latina would clamp down if she looked up, so she closed her eyes and concentrated on Santana's breathing and her hand on her hair.
Brittany felt Santana exhale. "Word for word or just in general?"
Brittany shrugged. "Whichever you want." She knew it was gonna be word for word, because that way Santana didn't have to explain or make it personal, and she almost laughed when she heard Santana's voice again.
"So, what they are singing is literally this: because of the way you think, the tone of your voice when we talk, I was starting to suspect I was gonna fall in love again. For your simplicity and your great ability to give it all unconditionally when you love, if you want you can kill me now. You were made for me, I was born for you and this is why our love is so easy. Because we are one and we agree on everything, you are the one for me. You were made for me, I was born for you and this is why being together is so easy. We love each other and we say without fear what we feel, you are the one for me. Because you have always been there, when it came to tears or laughter, living it all from beginning to end, I know you are the one for me." She stopped playing with Brittany's hair and took a deep breath. "Then it goes back to the chorus and some runs and so on, but that's basically it."
Brittany couldn't help herself anymore, she propped back on her elbows and looked at Santana, who was swallowing hard and biting her lip. Brittany leaned towards her, to force the Latina to look at her. When she did, Brittany saw something in Santana's eyes she hadn't seen in… ever: Vulnerability. She smiled and leaned forward to give Santana a kiss. It was short, sweet but electric. When Brittany leaned back again, it took Santana a moment longer to open her eyes. Brittany smiled that smile that only Santana got from her.
"I love it, thank you for translating it for me."
Santana looked at Brittany and the blonde felt her stomach churning. The intensity in Santana's eyes could've set all of Lima on fire, but it was only setting the blonde on fire. "Anything for you, Britt."
Brittany caressed Santana's cheek with the back of her hand, then used it to pull Santana towards her and kissed her hard. Santana's lips parted immediately and Brittany explored her lips and her mouth with her tongue, loving the small moans that escaped the Latina. She bit Santana's lower lip gingerly before resting their foreheads together. Their eyes were still closed, but Brittany could feel Santana's pulse quicken, as she heard her whisper: "Estás hecha para mi." Brittany racked her brains back to the song but she knew the words had already been embedded in her memory so she answered without much effort. "Yo he nacido para ti." She smiled as Santana wrapped her arms around her and kissed her again. They stayed in silence, cuddling and caressing each other, each of them running through the lyrics in their minds. Brittany knew this was more Spanish than she had learned in three years in Mr. Shuester's class.