A/N I know, I know. This update took me forever and trust me it was torturing me just and much as you guys. I don't know why I was having such a mental block. I couldn't even get out as many words as i usually do. It's these college essays I swear, they're taking all the creative writing out of me. Anyways, I know I said Quinn would be next, and she will be, but other things needed to be addressed before we got to that. There will probably be one more chapter after this one and then Quinn will have the big confrontation. Although I love Faberry, this is still a Brittana story so they always come first! Well here is the family dinner, Lopez style. Enjoy!
I still own nothing.
"At least the fact that I'm freaking out is normal. You were just being ridiculous."
"Now is not the time to mock me. Unless you want me and my mami to randomly disappear during dinner. Then you and my papi can have a nice chat while we're gone."
"I love you!" She said with puppy dog eyes.
"Well how could I say no to that."
"So that works on you. I'll have to keep that in mind for the future."
"You know you don't even have to beg. I'll give you whatever you want." I said with a wink.
"Santana! You can't say things like that when your parents are here." Brittany said slapping me on the arm.
"Britts their my parents. I don't want them being around to change anything about us okay? I don't want to have to act like I don't love you just because they're being annoying about this."
"You should control yourself a little bit at least. They're trying here San." Britt said putting a more serious look on her face.
"I will trust me. Otherwise my dad is going to freak out. No one wants that."
Just then my mami walked into the room and I was happy she didn't walk in a minute sooner. I mean what I say about not changing how I am around Britt, but there is no reason for me to be throwing innuendos around when my parents are in the room.
"Hey girls." She said sitting down at the table behind the couch that me and Britt were on.
"Hi Mami. How was work?" I asked her.
"It was good, I guess. I think people are getting crazier by the day though. You should've heard some of the calls I was getting today."
"She's a 911 operator. She's the person who you get when you call 911 that sends the police and the ambulance." I told Brittany after seeing the confused look on her face.
"Wow that's like the coolest profession ever. I don't think I've ever met someone who did that." Brittany said.
"It's not that exciting really. All I do is answer phones and push buttons all day. But I'm glad you think it's exciting. I'm going to go start dinner. Don't let Santana drag you away before I actually get a chance to talk to you okay Brittany?" She said heading towards the kitchen.
"One parent down." I said turning back to face Britt after she was gone. "That wasn't so bad right?"
"That's because your mom is cool. She wasn't the one I was afraid of meeting." Britt answered rolling her eyes.
"It's not going to be that bad. I promise. My papi is just really overprotective of me and he was raised in a really catholic household. He's really not as bad as he sounds." I told her. I downplayed what happened between my papi and I when I told him about Britt, but only because I don't want her to worry. If she knew the truth she would never be here tonight and I want my mami to meet her atleast.
"San you know he's going to ask me like every question that pops into his mind right?"
"Do you have anything to hide?" I asked her. Kidding of course.
"Yes. I forgot to mention I actually hate you and this is all a lie."
"That's okay. I don't really like you that much either. Your parents actually paid me to go out with you. My parents – actually just actors. This is all a set up."
"That's a shame. I kind of liked your mom." Britt answered.
"Niñas, estoy en casa!" I heard following the sound of the front door opening, and then closing.
"Estoy en la sala de estar con Brittany, papi." I yelled back. "Mami está en la cocina."
"Translation please." Brittany said. I always forget other people don't speak Spanish. It just feels so natural to me when I'm at home.
"Sorry. My papi is home and I just told him we were in the family room and Mami was in the kitchen." I answered her. I could feel her tense up as soon as I mentioned my papi.
"You never mentioned you don't speak English at home." Britt said looking at me curiously.
"It doesn't seem weird to me. It's just something that I've always done. My mami doesn't do it as much as my papi and I do. It sort of became a thing between the two of us."
"That's cute that you guys have your own thing. Are you two close?" She asked me.
"Not as close as we were when I was younger. He started working more hours at the hospital when he became chief and with soccer we just drifted. We're still close though."
"Aw well at least that let you become closer with your mom. From what I've heard she's more like your sister."
"Probably accurate. But enough of this, time to meet the parents officially."
"Let the inquisition begin."
"Oh would you relax please." I said pulling Britt up from the couch and moving towards the kitchen where my parents would be. Papi sounded like he was in a good mood and with Mami there it's not like he would be outwardly mean to Britt. I'm sure he'll be a little cold to her at first, but that's just a Lopez thing. We're protective of the ones we love. But that includes Brittany now and I want my parents to feel the same way.
"Hola mija." My papi said to me when I walked through the kitchen still holding hands with Britt who was basically hiding behind me.
"Hola papi. Podría detenerse con la española para esta noche, por favor. No quiero Brittany se sientan excluidos."
He looked slightly annoyed by the request, but I feel like it's rude to speak Spanish if front of Britt. Plus I'll have to translate everything we're saying.
"Sorry Brittany, I didn't mean to be rude, I'm just used to speaking Spanish around here. I'm Santana's father." He said shaking Brittany's hand with his classic business smile on. At least it seemed like he was being nice, Brittany didn't need to know it was fake.
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Lopez." Brittany said. I think I was the only one in the room that caught the nervousness in her voice. She sounded a lot different than her usual bubbly self. It's not like Britt was the happiest person alive or anything, but she was usually pretty care free and seeing her so nervous about something was really different. I felt bad that my papi was the cause of it.
"Please call me Carlos. Mr. Lopez makes me feel so old." He said laughing. He said pretty much the same thing to Quinn when he met her. And to him she was just a perfectly normal, good catholic girl. So at least I know that was a legitimately nice statement. Progress.
"Carlos it is then." Britt said.
"When's dinner going to be ready Mami?" I asked trying to break the awkward silence that's always created after introductions are over.
"It's done right now mija." She answered me pulling the lasagna out of the oven.
"Great. Let's head over to the table then. I'm starving." My papi said. At this point I think I'm as nervous as Britt. I really don't know what's going to happen at dinner. All I can do is sit next to Brittany and hold her hand through dinner so she knows that I'm there.
"Dinner looks great Mrs. Lopez." Britt says after we sit down at the table. I sat next to Brittany with my mami across from me and Papi next to her.
"It's Maria sweetheart and thank you, but it's just lasagna, even Santana can cook this."
"Hey! No need to insult my cooking ability. It's not my fault I have a tendency to burn things." I yelled. So I'm not the best cook. Not necessary information to share with my girlfriend.
"Can you cook Brittany?" My papi asked while scooping a piece of lasagna out of the pan and onto his plate. It seemed like a simple enough question, but it was only the beginning.
"Yes I can actually. My grandma was an excellent cook and she taught both my mom and I how to cook. All the girls in my family help cook all the meals for holidays." Britt answered proudly. She mentioned that her grandma baked and I tasted her mom's cooking so I could definitely vouch for her, but I didn't know that she could cook too. Maybe I could convince her to cook me dinner one night.
"Maybe you could teach Santana too. God knows she could use some lessons." My mami added.
"Moving on from the topic of my lack of skill in the kitchen." I make up for it with my skills in other rooms I thought. I had to refrain from saying that otherwise I'd have to get into a conversation with my parents that I would prefer not to have.
"How are your classes going Santana? Haven't heard anything about school from you in a while. It seems like all you've talked about recently has been how much you want it to be soccer season." My papi asked curiously.
"Well soccer happens to be one of the only things I actually like and classes are boring as usual. My grades are good, teachers suck. Same as every year." I answered nonchalantly. The only reason I haven't been talking to my parents about other things is because everything else includes Brittany.
"How about you Brittany? Do you feel the same way about school?" He asked her. At least he asked me a question first.
"Pretty much. I just look forward to my sports that come after school. But my grades are still good. I give Santana a run for her money in some of our classes. Except for Spanish, she definitely has me in that class." Britt said smiling. It's true, I'm smart, but I think the only one smarter than Brittany is Quinn.
"That's surprising. And I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that Santana is pretty smart. It's rare that we ever hear about someone smarter than her." He responded.
"Papi, I'm not that smart. Quinn is like ten times smarter than me, but Brittany has much higher grades than me in chemistry and calculus. Girls got a brain under all that blond." I said.
"What do you want to do for school Brittany?" My mami asked.
"Hopefully I'll get into a good medical program somewhere in New York. My dream school is NYU, but college is still a little while away." Damn I didn't know that. At least we both want to end up in New York.
"That's very ambitious. What field of medicine do you want to go into?"
"Pediatrics. I love kids so being able to help them would be amazing. I want to open up my own practice one day." I could tell my father was impressed. Brittany had her life together pretty nicely and most teenagers didn't have any idea what they wanted. I'm beginning to wonder why she was even remotely nervous about meeting my parents.
"Seems like you know exactly what you want Brittany. You mentioned you play sports?" He asked. Holy shit, what else does he need to know? I looked at my mami trying to make him stop, but she just gave me a sympathetic look. I know she's just trying to tell me that this is the only way I'm going to get his approval. But come on, Brittany has already impressed him, I've never met a single guy who could answer any of these questions.
I squeezed her hand telling her to just keep going before she answered his question. "Yes I play soccer and lacrosse. I was varsity in both at my old school and I just started running winter track this year."
"I hope Santana has warned you about Coach Sylvester." He said laughing. This time it was a genuine smile, and both my mami and I could tell. I felt the tension drop from my shoulders when I saw him smile. He didn't have to say anything; I knew that he approved of Brittany.
It didn't matter what happened the rest of dinner or what was said. The whole point of this dinner was so that my parents could learn about Britt and so that my papi could understand why I liked her so much. Once I saw that smile I completely zoned out knowing that he understood. After how he reacted when I told him about Britt, I never really thought we'd get to this point. I felt like I'd be dealing with my papi only tolerating me for the rest of my life. But this gives me hope. Maybe Quinn's parents would react the same way. Who knows what could happen at this point.
Before I knew it the dinner was over and Brittany was offering to help my mami clean up the table.
"Santana."
"Si papi?"
He took a deep breath like he was about to say something profound. "I like her."
It was only three words, but the smile that spread across my lips would make anyone think that I was just handed a million dollars. It meant that much to hear him say that.
"Thank you Papi! She's amazing isn't she?"
"That she is. It seems like you've found yourself a real keeper with that one. Don't you screw this one up mija." He said nudging me on the shoulder with a smile.
"Isn't it usually the girlfriend who's threatened by the father? Why are you telling me not to screw this up?" I asked pushing him back.
"Because you're a Lopez which means you're bound to screw this up somehow. Just make sure you remember to fix it." He said walking out of the room passing by Brittany who was walking back into the dining room.
"I'm not going to get a stern talking to from papa Lopez?" Brittany laughed. I just rolled by eyes at her. Less than two hours ago she was afraid to walk into my house and now she's cracking jokes about it.
"Glad you think that's funny because I have now been threatened by both your dad and mine. Apparently I'm going to screw up and then have to fix it."
"That's just because I'm perfect. All parents love me. I bet if I was dating Quinn, even her parents would love me."
"I don't think I'd push your charm that far. And please don't kid about you dating Quinn, it makes me want to throw up somewhere."
"Oh please as if I'd ever date Quinn. Rachel can definitely have her. Too much drama for me there. No offense to her or anything, but I just don't think I could deal with all of it." Britt said making her eyes darken the way I love so much.
"I know what you mean. Q is my best friend and I feel bad for her, but I totally would have cracked by now. Blondie is strong, gotta at least give her that much."
"I think she's starting to break. Having someone you actually want to share with your family tends to break everyone down after a while. I think if Quinn had your parents she would have told them last year."
"You're probably right about that one. My parents were pretty cool about everything. You know, after the quoting bible passages and nearly banning me from seeing you thing." I said shrugging like it was nothing.
"Oh yeah, if you just ignore that little part…" Brittany said laughing.
"Hey Britts?" I asked trying to pull her back to me after a few moments of silence. When she snapped her head back around I continued. "We never really talked about what happened the other night…between us."
"I didn't really think there was much to talk about. Something I'm missing?" She asked nervously.
"No. No of course not. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it. You know everything happened kind of quickly and I was sort of running off an adrenaline rush – not that I regret anything because I really don't." I said quickly not wanting her to take anything I said the wrong way.
"Calm down San. I don't regret it either. It was a little in the heat of the moment or whatever, but I don't think either of us would change it. I love you and I wanted it to happen."
"Which bring me to my next point. Think we can go upstairs and talk in my room?" I said trailing off a little.
"You're doing that thing again where you're really vague and nervous which then makes me nervous. You really need to stop this." She said half annoyed and half worried following me up the stairs.
"Sorry, I really don't mean to do that, it just happens when I get nervous." I said sitting down on my bed and pulling her on it after me.
"You should never be nervous when you're talking to me. It's not like you could have done anything wrong since this morning, I've been with you all day." She said laughing at the last part.
"Why am I always the one that does something wrong? You know what don't answer that, that wasn't my point. I wanted to ask you something."
"Well what is it?"
"Well I was just thinking about the last few months and everything we've been through since November and how you said Q could only last so long when she wanted to share someone with her family."
"Is there question in there…?"
"Well if you would let me finish." So fucking impatient. "I was just wondering what you think about coming out at school. I mean everyone that I care about knows now so I don't see why we can't be together at school." Before I could even finish Britt was smiling wide. I knew this wouldn't be much of an issue with her. She told her parents after the first date for Christ sakes.
"Why were you even nervous to ask me about that San?"
"I'm more nervous about the idea of it all. I still want to do it, but I don't know. It's just a big step."
"I know what you mean. Just because I'm more okay with all of this stuff doesn't mean that it doesn't scare me too."
"So how about this. We'll start this slowly. We'll just act like we usually would around each other and if people ask us we just don't deny it. It's not like we need to have a formal announcement about this or anything. Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn, and Rachel already know so that covers anyone that we actually care about."
"I like the idea. Also I have another idea, although this one is much less serious." Brittany said getting a bit of an evil glint in her eye.
"Do I feel a prank coming on?" I asked smirking.
"I was just thinking of a small way we could prank Quinn and Rachel. Nothing too big, but Rachel seems to think they're the more 'bonded couple' because of all the drama they've had."
"Someone has a little bit of devil in those angel eyes."
"You think I have angel eyes?" She said seductively pushing me down across my bed and leaning over me.
"Yes, yes I do." I said as Brittany leaned down and kissed me slowly. "Let the prank war begin." I said stealing Quinn's infamous eye brow raise.
A/N Hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully my stupid schedule will calm down and I can get another update within the week. Review! (: