A/N: Just wanted to thank you all for your reviews and follows. I'm amazed and - really - kind of in disbelief. Hope you enjoy this next installment.
Dynamic Duo or Fab Four?
By Ivan Stokes
The cameras have stopped rolling but don't think that means the Teen Titans are breaking up. Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson and Hollywood's favorite might-be couple Sam Evans and Quinn Fabray have been seen tearing up Tinsel Town.
The fearless foursome caught The Black Keys at the Roxy after sharing dinner at Café El. They split up for the ride, taking two cars to the venue, but as soon as the valets had their cars the Titans teamed up again.
Could they be discussing rumors of a sequel? Or might a possible-couple be using group outings as a cover? Take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself.
"Did you ask her?" Brittany asks as she plops down on her friend's couch. She turns off her friend's tablet and sets it next to her.
"I did not."
"San," the girl whines.
"Britt," her friend says, "they aren't dating, okay?"
"But Ivan Stokes –"
"- makes his money making up stories about celebrities," Santana says resolutely. She pats her friend's hand and repeats, "They aren't dating."
Brittany stares at the television, watching while her friend scrolls through her DVR queue. She blinks a few times as Teen Wolf episodes disappear from the list. "Maybe Ivan meant Kurt and Blaine," the other girl says plainly.
"… meant Kurt and Blaine, what?"
"They could be the couple and maybe Sam and Lucy are their friend-beards or something." Brittany nods to herself. "I bet that's what he meant."
"That's not what he meant." Santana scoffs and is about to argue when she remembers something Lucy told her. Her eyes light up and she tilts her head as she considers it. "Is it?" She grabs her phone and sends a quick text message.
: You said that folks were dating on set. Gay?
: Can't say. Sorry.
: And hello.
: We're past the point of needing greetings.
: But, hi.
: And I thought you said no more secrets.
Santana smirks. That's the kind of ammo that's been helping her get the upper hand on Lucy ever since the Great Tub Truce of Twenty-Twelve [© and ™]. All she has to do is play up a little to the other girl's guilt and she gets what she wants: a peek at the photos Lucy took while on set, information about the girl's life before stardom …
: No more secrets that are mine. This is not mine.
: C'mon, I won't tell anyone. Well, maybe Brittany. But that would just be to put her mind at ease.
: About what?
: She thinks you're dating Sam.
: I told you that we're not.
: You told me. You haven't told anyone else.
: Thank our managers for that.
This bit of information does nothing to lessen Santana's disdain for her friend's manager. The guy just seems so clueless and, often times, misguided. Why he thought Lucy needed a stage name is still beyond her. And why he feels that the girl has to be photographed every second she's out of her house also escapes her.
Thanks to him, there has been no shortage of paparazzi photos posted online. She's seen her friend trying to ignore the cameras after a salon appointment with her stylist, pretending to look for something in her bag in an attempt to not have to give the photographers a fake smile after gassing up her car, and scowling deeply when the cameras surrounded her as she tried to make her way through them to get into a restaurant.
Santana decides to try a different tactic. Any discussion about Lucy's manager leads to the other girl defending him as being a good man who is just trying to do his job. And that leads to Santana apologizing for calling someone she's never met a greasy-haired douchebag or suggesting that he poke his butt-chin in someone else's business..
: Does Ivan Stokes know?
: Why?
: No reason. Just curious.
: Does he know?
: If I said he did, what would that mean?
: That Brittany's a genius disguised as a Disney princess.
Santana bites her lip and tries not to laugh when she catches sight of her friend using the remote to program the DVR to record Phineas and Ferb. Because, sure, why not use up all of the space she just freed up for that?
: Okay, sure.
: Awesome. I'll tell her she was right about Kurt and Blaine.
It's unreal how quickly the cell phone in her hand starts ringing. Santana smirks and lets it ring a couple of extra times.
"Are you going to get that?" Brittany asks.
The other girl holds up her finger, rolls her eyes toward the ceiling and waits for one more ring. She slowly hits the answer button and very calmly says, "Hello?"
"You can't tell anyone. Seriously."
"I believe the correct response is 'hello' or – "
"We're beyond needing greetings, remember? And Santana, this is serious." Lucy's voice is low and calm in a way that makes Santana's stomach twist.
"I wouldn't out anyone and neither would Britts," the girl says defensively. "C'mon, you know me better than that, Lucy Q."
Brittany drops the remote on the couch and leans over Santana to shout into the phone. "Hi, Lucy! Thank you for not dating Sam!"
Santana rolls her eyes and leans away from her friend. "… Britt," she says as she laughs softly.
The other girl shrugs and sits back in her seat.
"Santana, are you listening to me?" Lucy asks. "I really need you to understand this. You cannot tell anyone. If word got out –"
"It won't," she promises. "Who am I going to tell?"
Lucy sighs heavily into the phone. "You have a very popular blog and all I'm asking is that you don't mention it or even allude to it. Seriously - no Robin and Kid Flash drawings. No jokes …" she pauses, "nothing."
"Fine," Santana purses her lips and rolls her eyes. "I told you. I'm not outing anyone. What's the big deal?"
"You kind of outed me," Brittany says distractedly as she flips through the channels looking for something to watch.
Lucy asks, "You outed Brittany?"
The other girl narrows her eyes in disbelief and shakes her head. "I did not out anyone," she says. "And I'm not going to."
"You can't."
"I won't."
"Seriously."
"Really? You're serious? Because I couldn't tell by the number of times you've used the word 'seriously' in the past five minutes," Santana says with a huff.
Brittany stops flipping through the channels and watches with rapt attention as a woman, her dark hair pulled back into a tight bun, pours ingredients into a bowl and starts mixing it. It's possible that the woman is giving instructions to make whatever it is that she's making, but it doesn't matter because neither Santana nor her friend speak Vietnamese fluently.
"Lucy," Santana says softly before smirking. "Lampy, c'mon. Give me the benefit of the doubt."
"Never call me that again."
"What? It's a pet name."
"No, sweetie is a pet name," Lucy says. "Lampy is," she lets out a frustrated breath, "ridiculous."
The other girl's smile grows wider. "Okay," she replies. "I won't call you that anymore." She waits a beat and, trying not to laugh, she adds, "sweetie."
This moment becomes somewhat of an historical event. It is known throughout their circle of friends as the moment Santana called open season on pet names. It's soon the norm for her to get her friend's attention by calling her sweetie or some other variation on the word, such as sweetheart, sweetie pie or sweets.
Lucy, of course, chooses to fight sugar with sugar. Tina can hardly cover her insane giggles when she hears her friend tack on honey when speaking to her other friend. The first time Lucy said it, the room got deadly silent (something that has never happened in their chat room before). Santana narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw before simply responding as she would have had the girl used her given name.
None of their friends know what this game means, but each has his or her own theory.
Tina insists that "Lutana is on" at every opportunity – which is any time that Santana and Lucy are both away from the computer. She keeps a list of examples to back up her theory including: direct quotes said by each of the girls to each other, reflective analyses of dialogue or interactions and a running tally of how many times each girl has called the other by anything other than her name.
While Mike thinks that something might happen between the two girls, he hasn't volunteered to swab the decks of the S.S. Lutana just yet. He argues that they are just really good friends who tease each other and that, if they were together, Santana would have said something. It's not like the girl is known for her tact or subtlety.
And, of course, there's Brittany who doesn't really have much to say other than, "As long as Lucy isn't dating Sam. They are my anti-p…"
Anti-p, of course, is the opposite of otp.
Eli hasn't been brought into the online fold – really, he doesn't have time to learn how to type nor does he have the patience to have a text-based conversation (which is almost as bad as watching a movie with subtitles) - but he does knows from what he's seen that something's up. Not just because of the pet names, though that, in itself, is suspicious. Ever since adopting her stage name, Quinn has made a point of using it – and making him use it.
But it's more than that.
The Quinn he knows – now Lucy, he supposes – didn't have friends. Well, no. She had friends but not friends like this. Not friends she actually spent time with, talked to and talked to him about.
He has to admit she still spends a lot of time online. Only now, it's not to research roles or discover clips of black and white movies, random animated shorts or student films to post on her blog. And now, when he sees a photo she's posted, it rarely her apartment he sees in the background.
That, itself, has become a running joke.
"Where's your roommate tonight?" Mike asks, making a show of trying to see behind Santana.
She rolls her eyes. "I don't know why you keep saying that. She's not here that often."
"Really?" Tina asks, her smile growing into a Cheshire grin. "I remember her being there last night, and the night before …"
"And the night before that," Mike says. "When you were trying to do that speed paint and she kept standing in your light because she wanted to watch, remember?"
Santana rolls her eyes again. "We're friends. We hang out. So what? Just …" she presses her lips together and frowns. "Just talk about something else now, okay?"
For the most part, Santana doesn't let these talks get out of hand. She learned her lesson after the first conversation ended with Tina exclaiming "Lutana is on!" and doing some kind of hybrid Time Warp-Macarena-Hand Jive dance.
"Okay," Brittany answers happily. "Hey, where's Lucy? Isn't she usually at your place, San?"
She opens her mouth to say something snarky but she's interrupted by an incoming message.
: Be there in ten. Did you eat dinner?
Santana shakes her head and sighs, knowing that her friends are going to have a field day with this.
: No. I'm feeling lazy.
: In fact, use the hidey key. I'm not about to get up to let you in.
: Okay, twenty minutes.
: What happened to ten?
Tina starts giggling and it isn't long before Brittany joins in. Mike just sits back in his chair and watches his friend's face, an amused smile stretching across his own.
Santana looks up at her monitor to find three faces staring back at her. Her eyebrows arch and she tilts her head. "What?"
"Who ya' textin?" Tina asks, pressing her lips together to keep from smiling too big. "Lucy?"
"Maybe," the other girl answers slowly.
Tina's laugh sets off a chain reaction. Mike's shoulders hitch up and he smile toothily into the camera. Brittany, who has decided that popcorn is a decent replacement for a meal, alternates between giggling and chewing.
"What?" Santana huffs and crosses her arms, her phone still held tightly in her hand.
Her friend says, "You're pouting" just as Brittany chimes in with, "Aw, you're twitterpated!"
"I'm not weighing in. I value my manhood," Mike offers when the other girl's frown turns into a deep scowl.
"I'm not …" she sputters. "… either of those things." She jumps with her phone vibrates again. Before checking her message, she points to her web cam. "Not a word."
: Ten minutes was without food.
"So, what were we talking about?" Santana asks as she puts her phone on the desk. She gets a twinkle in her eye as she smirks and looks at Tina's video feed. "You talk to Mikey about the movie, yet?"
"What movie?" Mike's brows raise curiously. "No one told me about a movie."
Tina glares at her camera and everyone frowns. Two thirds of her friends are not really sure who the intended recipient is. Santana smirks and leans back in her seat. "Yeah, Teeny, what movie?"
Ever since her friend visited the Mercedes Jones show, she's been trying to figure out how to ask Mike to be her plus one. If he lived in the area, she could make it sound like nothing major – two friends making the most of a special engagement. But he's not local. He's at least eight hours by car (not that she Google mapped it or anything) and airfare isn't exactly cheap. And it's not like Mike didn't just make a trip for the meet-up.
"You know how I won tickets to the Teen Titans premiere after our meet up?" she asks quickly.
Mike's eyes light up and he leans closer to his camera. He doesn't say anything but Santana can see the anticipation on his face. Mike saw the show when he got home – she gave him a heads up – and, whenever they talk without Tina, he asks if the other girl has mentioned who she's bringing.
"I won, too!" Brittany says. The way the girl's shoulders are moving, Santana assumes she is kicking her legs under her chair. "I'm going to bring Sam or maybe Santana. But probably Sam."
"Gee, thanks, Dizzy," Santana says mirthlessly and leans back in her chair again.
Mike tries to bring the conversation back to where he wants it. "So, why did you need to talk to me about that?"
Santana bites her lip in an effort not to smile.
"I was going to ask you to come with me, but – " Tina begins before Mike interrupts her.
"- I'd love to." He smiles widely and then his eyes widen. "I mean, if you're asking me. Which it now sounds like…" his smile melts away and his forehead wrinkles as his brows scrunch together, "… you're not."
The other girl smiles sweetly as she looks at Mike's image on her screen. "I can't ask you to spend that kind of money just to go to a movie with me."
"It's not just a movie and, anyway, I don't mind. I'm sure I can save a few bucks and stay with Santana, right San?" Mike asks, his eyes wide and hopeful.
Santana's enjoying the moment – one that's been too long in coming – and doesn't hear her front door open. "My couch is your cou-"
"Honey, I'm home!"
The other girl closes her eyes and presses her lips together at the interruption. When she cracks one eye open, all three of her friends are staring at her in amusement.
"It's a joke," Santana rolls her eyes and says. "She's just joking – it's …" She takes a deep breath, leans toward her computer screen and whispers harshly, "Shut up."
Lucy wastes no time making herself at home. She drapes her jacket over the back of Santana's couch. The girl learned quickly not to assume available space exists in the coat closet after an empty gaming console box fell on her. She tried to replace it and ended up falling over a pair of (under-used) roller blades and getting tangled in a Laser Tag vest that appeared out of thin air.
She drops the bag of food on the table and walks into the other girl's room. "I brought Thai," she announces. She can't help her grin when Santana smiles at her over her shoulder. Once she's behind her friend, she bends down almost close enough to rest her chin on her friend's shoulder. She looks into the camera and gives a little wave. "Hi guys. Just brought enough for two, sorry."
"Lucy!" Brittany shouts. "We were just talking about you!" Her smile is wide and infectious and Lucy finds her own smile growing at the sight of it.
"Good things, I hope," she replies not noticing how Santana is side-eyeing her nervously.
Brittany nods. "Very good. We were talking about how you're not dating Sam."
Lucy's brows furrow and she straightens her back and steps away from her friend, giving her a warning look. Santana shakes her head. "We were not. We were talking about Mike and Tina's date to your movie premiere."
Tina blushes and Mike smiles brightly when their friend uses the word date. To take some of the heat out of her cheeks, Tina asks, "Who are you going with, Lucy?"
"Myself, I guess," the girl replies, her nose crinkling cutely. "The boys and I kind of made a deal that none of us would go with dates. We're all just going to go together." She forces a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "It'll be fun."
Brittany sighs and, with a pout, says, "I guess I'm taking you, then, Santana."
"Well, geez, Dizzy, don't hurt yourself with all of that enthusiasm. You might sprain something." Santana rolls her eyes at her friend's grimace. "And maybe I don't want to go, anyway."
Lucy presses her lips into a thin line and tilts her head at her friend. The girl hadn't mentioned wanting to go but that didn't translate, in Lucy's mind at least, to the girl not wanting to go. "Are you going to eat in here?" she asks, deciding to change the topic.
"No, last time we tried eating without a table you got fortune cookie crumbs in the bed," the girl responds, shaking her head. "Confucius didn't tell me you needed a bib."
"Confucius didn't tell me I'd have to wrestle my cookie from a fortune thief." The other girl raises her brows, expecting a reply. When she doesn't receive one, she gives a curt nod, waves at the camera again and says a quick goodbye before squeezing her friend's shoulder. "I'll put the food out. Beer?"
Santana nods and watches the other girl leave the room. When she turns her attention back to her monitor, three faces look at her expectantly. "What?"
"Nothing." Tina's smirk relays the opposite message, though. After a beat, she enquires, "There was wrestling?"
Mike's eyes are wide when he adds, "There was a bed?"
"Uh uh - don't start." Santana holds up her index finger and gives them a warning look. "I'm not even messing with you right now."
Tina makes a quick motion with her finger across her lips. "Zipped," she says through clenched teeth. It doesn't keep her from shimmying in her seat.
Santana is quick to disconnect from chat. Tina getting on a roll now would only lead to her trying to continue it later. And later, she's hoping Lucy will still be around. Her stomach clenches at the thought of her best friend spouting her ridiculous shipping ideas in the presence of the other girl. It's one thing to tease her when she's alone but …
… she chooses not to think about it anymore and to stuff herself with Thai take-out, instead.
When she makes it into the living room, Lucy's already plated their food and set it out on the coffee table. All thoughts about being too lazy to eat are gone as she takes in the spread. "You plan to feed an army, sweets?"
"I couldn't remember if you liked the pork or chicken better," the other girl says. She's sitting on the floor with her legs stretched under the coffee table. "I got both. And you can always have leftovers."
Santana takes her place next to her friend and gives her a sideways glance. "Are you trying to fatten me up or something?"
"Why would I want to do that?" Lucy asks.
"I don't know. Prepping for the impending zombie apocalypse?"
The other girl shakes her head and laughs. "Right …"
"It's a great strategy, actually," Santana says, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling and giving it some real thought. "Imagine how hungry a zombie'd have to be to eat through a family of thick folks to still wanna get a piece of you?"
The fork Lucy is holding stops midway to her mouth. She looks at the piece of chicken dangling from it, scowls and puts the fork down. "Thanks, Santana."
"What?"
"Am I supposed to be able to eat while you're talking about zombies eating people?"
"That's, like, chicken or pork or… " Santana squints at the other girl's plate. " … whatever. It's not Soylent Green or something."
"Soylent Green …"
"Yeah, you know," Santana shrugs as though going over something that should be common knowledge. She raises her brows, her eyes widening in mock horror as she throws her hands in the air dramatically. "Soylent Green is people!"
The giggles bubble out of the other girl though she tries not to let on that she's amused. "No, I get it. I've actually seen the movie."
"Yeah? As far as apocalypse type things go, not my favorite." Santana points to her friend's plate. "Chicken?" When Lucy nods, she grabs the abandoned fork. "It's fine for what it is," she says, "but I prefer zombies."
Lucy tilts her head, certain her friend isn't saying that she prefers zombies to chicken.
"You know, I like my apocalypses to be, like, run for your life and survival of the fittest," the girl explains. "Zombies are, by far, the best because you have to be more than strong or fast. You have to be smart."
"This is something you've thought about," the other girl comments knowingly.
"Well, yeah. Look," Santana stops talking long enough to swallow her mouthful. "You can't control most apocalypses, right? You can't outsmart a super virus or an asteroid smacking into the planet. But zombies? When it's us against them, we have the advantage because we can plan."
"Stay alive is a good plan."
"Well, yeah," Santana agrees and then asks, "But how?"
Lucy picks up her bottled water, takes a sip and says, "Hole up in Costco until we run out of water or food."
"Costco? Please, you'd be dead within minutes of arrival." Santana shakes her head in disappointment. "I can barely make it out of there alive when they're handing out cheese samples and you want to head there when the masses are infected and looking for human happy meals?"
The other girl presses her lips together as she thinks about it. Her friend has a point about warehouse shopping and, really, who wants to get trapped in a huge, poorly lit building with nothing but overstocked shelves and zombies?
Santana chews another mouthful and points at the girl with her fork. "What you need is a low population area, a car with good gas mileage and few to no pre-existing mechanical issues … and arrows and a bow."
"Have you ever even shot an arrow?"
"Nope." Santana smirks, "But you're gonna wanna stick with me anyway, sweetheart. I can be the one with the plan and you can be the one who makes bad survival choices." She nudges her friend with her elbow and spears another forkful of her food.
"Why am I the one who makes bad choices?" Lucy asks defensively, her brows furrowing and her lips twisting down.
Santana looks into her friend's eyes, narrows her eyes and tilts her head as she says, "Costco?"
The blonde watches her friend take yet another piece of chicken and her shoulders start to shake as she laughs to herself. "You know you have the same thing on your plate," Lucy notes as she looks over at her friend's nearly untouched food.
Santana nods and continues to steal food from the dish in front of Lucy. "S'good," she says with a wink. "You should try it."
Lucy holds her hand out for the fork and smiles sweetly as her friend hands her the unused fork from her own plate. "Sorry," Santana mumbles around a mouthful of spicy chicken.
The other girl switches the two plates around, putting the full one in front of herself and giving her friend better access to the one she's already been using. As she moves the food around on her plate and tries to sound curious, but not overly so, and asks, "So, you're not interested in going to the premiere?"
"I dunno," Santana answers. "Don't get me wrong. I clean up nicely and all, but – " she doesn't finish her thought and simply raises her shoulders.
"But …"
"But Britts has her heart set on going with Sam and, really, how fun would that be for me? My whole night would be spent listening to her tell me that she'd prefer to be there with him. And," she points with her fork to her friend. "It's totally unfair that you and Sam have to go without dates when you know Kurt and Blaine are going. Together."
"They're our friends," Lucy explains. "Once Blaine's contract with his manager is up – " She stops and sighs. "Contrary to popular belief about my planning skills, we actually do have a plan."
"Maybe I'm not a great friend or something because I don't see how you being vague about Sam and not bringing a date to your own movie premiere is a win for you," the other girls comments, turning her eyes away from her friend and staring at her food, instead.
"I never said it's my favorite thing to do, but it is a good plan."
Santana side-eyes Lucy. "And what is this plan, exactly?"
"You don't want to know," the girl answers. "It will force you to change the way you think about someone. And I know you – once your mind is made up …"
"It depends who it is." Santana blinks a few times and then almost shyly asks. "You?"
Lucy shakes her head. "My manager."
"He's a douche."
"Santana …"
The girl frowns and points her fork at her friend. "He's having you followed by men with cameras and he's making it seem like you and Sam are a thing. It's manipulative."
"And I gave him permission," Lucy informs her. "He doesn't do these things without checking that I'm okay with it. Which makes me – and Sam – manipulative, too, I guess." She presses her lips together and raises her brows. "Did I expect so many cameras and so often? No. But I haven't complained because it's part of the plan."
"My question remains - what is this miraculous plan?" Santana frowns in annoyance.
Lucy purses her lips and looks at her friend. It's a look Santana has come to know very well.
"I won't tell anyone," she promises. It's starting to become second-nature to say those words when her friend gives her that look. "You should know that by now. I have a comic art blog, not a gossip blog."
"Blaine wants to come out but his manager won't let him," the other girl says softly. "He threatened to ruin his career." Lucy pokes her fork at her plate. "So, we make sure that when he goes out with Kurt, they're in a group. He's never photographed with Kurt alone because rumors spread fast and - " she exhales slowly. "Kurt isn't just out – he's the gay community's most eligible bachelor. People are very interested and if they assume that his hanging out with Blaine is more than just two cast mates having dinner …"
Santana puts her fork down. "His manager does what? Sends him bad scripts to audition for?"
"Sells stories to tabloids," Lucy corrects. "And he can twist scenarios or give them photoshopped pictures and no one would bat an eye because it's a tabloid and it's expected. Given that he's a paid rep, he has automatic credibility when it comes to anything he says about Blaine."
"So, Blaine does an interview with Mercedes Jones and tells the truth and says his manager is evil," Santana suggests simply. "It doesn't have to be that complicated."
Lucy is quiet for a few minutes as she rearranges the piles of food she's made. "Complicated is what we're avoiding," she says. "It's easier to avoid a mess than it is to clean it up," she adds sagely.
"Which you know from experience?"
"Luckily, no. I have a manager who I trust to not let me make too many stupid mistakes and who, I know, supports me," the girl answers. "And for the record," she says, raising her brows as she looks at Santana, "he didn't like the no-date deal, either."
"If you tell me he wants to date you …"
Lucy wrinkles her nose as she swats at her friend's arm. "Oh, Santana! No! He's …" she shakes her head as she laughs. "He's like my dad or an uncle or ... something. And he's definitely not my type."
"You could be his type."
"He's married."
"So? Unless he's married to a man, your rationale is irrelevant."
Lucy rolls her eyes. "He's a better person than you think he is."
Santana scoffs. "Sure he is. He's helping Blaine out of the goodness of his heart," she says as she bats her eyes and places her hands over her heart. She blinks a few times, her expression shifting to a more serious, sober one as she looks into her friend's eyes. "Not because he's going to get a new client out of this plan of yours. That's the deal right? Blaine leaves his d-bag and signs with yours."
The other girl rolls her eyes again.
"What? Are you going to tell me he's not in it for that?" Santana challenges. She bends her legs under the table as she shifts to face her friend more fully. "He gets Blaine, the Boy Wonder. He's going to play nice now and there's nothing to stop him from changing his tune later."
Lucy shakes her head. "He's not like that."
"Not with you, no. You play the game, right? Like he wants you to? Pretend to be Sam's date, photo op with organic veggies at Whole Foods …You do what he says like a good little puppy and he keeps the treats comin', right?" Santana's voice softens when she sees her friend's eyes narrow with hurt. "I didn't mean it like that."
Lucy folds her hands in her lap. "You don't know what you're talking about, Santana." She looks up into the other girl's eyes, her voice dangerously calm. "So, maybe you should stop talking."
The other girl frowns and gives herself a moment to calm down. "I didn't mean that you – "
"- I know what you meant, Santana," Lucy says coldly as she slides her legs out from under the coffee table and stands up. "I know it's hard to believe, me being a useless pawn in my own life and all, but I was able to figure it out."
Santana's eyes widen and she struggles to untangle herself from the low table. "You know I didn't mean it like that. But you have to admit that these guys – these managers and agents – get too much control over their clients' personal lives. Case in point? Blaine."
"My manager didn't come up with the plan, Santana," Lucy says, her back straightening as she takes a step closer. "Sam and I did. We took a story that Will was going to squash and turned it into something else because we saw what it was doing to Blaine."
The other girl frowns in confusion.
"He was paranoid - all the time, especially when he was out with Kurt, and," she sighs and shakes her head as she explains, "being closeted must be really hard. But imagine being closeted and threatened about it constantly." Lucy says, her eyes soft as she thinks about her friend's situation.
"So, Sam and I decided there are worse things in life than people thinking that we find each other even remotely attractive." She picks up her jacket and slings it over her arm. "We went to our managers and pitched the mystery relationship idea. I told Will the situation and suggested that we just let the press think what they want to think. He was onboard until the whole no-date thing because, as his client, I'm his top priority and he was trying to get me to – " she stops and shakes her head. "He agreed to the idea and came up with the details because I asked him to and because he doesn't believe that careers can't survive an outing."
Santana looks down at her feet, her hands clasped behind her back and her voice soft, as she says, "I'm not trying to make you angry, okay? I just – I don't think it's fair, that's all."
"But it's fair to assume that I would relinquish control over my personal life in exchange for a few good scripts? That'd I'd sell myself to a cut-throat just to get a job?" The other girl shakes her head. "Even if you don't think better of my manager, I'd hope you'd think better of me." She tightens her arm around her jacket and heads for the door.
"Lucy …"
"Not that I think it will mean a whole lot," the girls says as she reaches for the door handle. "But when Will said he wanted to represent me, I asked him about this - specifically." She purses her lips together and looks into her friend's eyes. "Not only did he not change his tune, but he reminded me of his answer when I told him about not bringing a date to the premiere."
Santana's brows furrow. "Why does he care if you take a date?"
"He thinks it'll make me more approachable or open or - " she shakes her head and looks down. "Or something. I guess my sparkling personality doesn't come through in interviews as well as my cast mates' do." She shrugs and adds, "I'm too serious and he said someone tweeted that I was cold and impersonal."
"That's bullshit. You're awesome."
Lucy bites her bottom lip and looks up through her lashes. "Which is why he was disappointed that I made this particular concession." She lets out a slow breath as she opens the door. Her eyes search Santana's before she offers the girl a timid smile and says, "He really wanted to meet you."
The front door clicks closed in the time it takes Santana to blink. She swallows roughly, her eyes trained on the door. But it doesn't open and Lucy doesn't come back to explain the connection between my manager wants me to date and he wants to meet you.
What she puts together for herself creates a twisting in her stomach and a fluttering in her chest in the best possible way. Her feet feel heavy when she finally uproots them from the floor and grabs her phone from the table that holds their now abandoned meal.
"Hey," she says before Tina can get a chance to greet her. "Thought you'd like to know - Lutana? That shit's about to be on."