Darling reviewers, thank you so much. I was worried about the last chapter but you have all restored my faith in the story. Without further adieu here is more :) ** excuse any typos or grammatical errors.. actually let me know if you see any so I can fix them immediately, but other than that don't let them deter you**
Adolt-Affair, I think we are officially even but I know you are right on my heels :)
Mr. Lopez wraps his arms around his daughter when she walks up to him, he looks over her head to Brittany who is standing in the doorway. "Lovely artwork in the driveway girls. I almost decided to park in the street so I wouldn't ruin it."
"Well you could've parked over mine, it sucks anyway." Santana mumbles into his chest.
"And ruin that cool looking sun? No way!" Santana pulls away and looks up at her father, wondering how he knew which one was his. "You learned the sun drawing from your sister, anytime you have chalk, that's kind of your go to drawing. That, and cartoon faces." Santana laughs and shakes her head at her artistic predictability.
"Did you have fun at abuela's? Is mom still there? What did you bring for lunch?" Santana walks over to lean against the counter, nodding her head to tell Brittany to join her.
"Oh, always fun over there," he replies, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "no, your mother should be on her way home, she said she was leaving a few minutes after me and I just stopped at the store and got a frozen pizza and some sandwich stuff, I figured you girls could decide which one you wanted. Did your sister ever come home?"
Santana looks at Brittany, "sandwich or pizza?" Brittany shrugs, she noticed Santana's panic as soon as her dad got home. She's not sure how she can act right now with him home, if she can still stand near her like she used to or if Santana will shy away from her. She hates feeling unsure and forces a smile even though she knows that Santana can see right through it.
Santana eyes Brittany for a moment, trying to figure out what is going on in her friend's head. "Sandwiches then," she turns back to her father, "and yes, Jamie came home to change her clothes and now she's apparently at work."
"Good. Well, you girls know where the stuff is. I'm going to go work outside and enjoy this lovely weather, holler if you need anything." The girls watch as he walks out the door to the backyard.
Santana walks to the fridge and grabs the miracle whip, lettuce and tomato even though she doesn't like tomato, Brittany does.
"Santana?"
She looks up from spreading the condiment onto two pieces of bread. "Yeah B?"
"Why did you panic when your dad came home, we weren't doing anything."
Santana bites her lip and takes a deep breath, "because what if he had gotten home earlier when we were doing something. What if he saw. What if it was my mom who came home instead of my dad. Britt, I realize this whole thing is new and awesome but we need to be careful. I'm too young to be living on my own."
Brittany walks over to her friend and wraps her up in a hug. Santana stiffens in the embrace.
"Relax S, it's just a hug. Your parents aren't going to think anything from just a hug." She feels Santana's body relax slightly, and her arms weakly reach around. "There, see, completely fine, nothing wrong with a hug. Let's finish up these sandwiches and go back outside or something." Santana nods and pulls back, smiling at Brittany and pulling out two more pieces of bread for Brittany to start her sandwich.
Santana and Brittany spent the rest of the afternoon outside watching Mr. Lopez prepare his garden for planting. Neither of them thought it was logical to already be planting but apparently early in the season is perfect for certain things so they just watched as he dug up the soil and killed bugs with the end of the shovel. It may have been the grossest but most amusing thing they'd seen in a while. Both of the girls were glad they'd finished their sandwiches before any bugs were squished.
When Mrs. Lopez came home, she went right into cleaning around her own house. Again, the girls didn't see the logic in leaving one house after cleaning all morning just to come home and continue. To them, relaxation seemed like the better idea, but neither of them wanted to comment about it to her out of fear that they'd be roped into the whole thing.
After a long day of working, and watching people working, they all decided to just go out for dinner.
They're sitting around a circular table waiting for Jamie to join them after she gets out of work. Santana and Brittany talk about homework they have yet to do and how excited they are for summer vacation in a month and a half. Mrs. Lopez comments how she has several ideas for home improvement projects that can be done while everyone is home and how they are going to renovate Jamie's room when she leaves for college in the fall.
"Could you not think about re-doing my room while I'm still living in it?" Jamie sits down next to Santana and shoves her over so she's nearly sitting on top of Brittany. A slight blush creeps onto Santana's cheeks which doesn't go unnoticed by her sister, or Brittany.
"Well, I was just thinking of tearing out that old carpet and maybe putting some wood floors in, that's all. I'm not going to turn it into a work out room or anything. But hello dear, it's nice to see you too. Glad you could join us." Mrs. Lopez says, rolling her eyes at the rude nature of her oldest daughter.
Jamie plasters on her best fake smile, most likely learned from her many years on the pom & dance team, and being one of the more popular girls at school. "Hello family and Brittany. How is everyone?" She doesn't actually acknowledge anyone's responses, having already directed her attention to her menu.
Once they've ordered, Jamie starts off on a rant about customers she had to deal with at work and how she can't wait to get out of the "gross small town" environment and into the bigger city at Ohio University.
"Well, glad to see you'll be missing us dearly." Mr. Lopez jokes leaning back as the waitress places his california burger in front of him.
Santana laughs at this, but quiets as soon as she feels her sister's gaze set upon her.
"Did you guys see Santana's lovely artwork in the driveway when you got home? Don't you think she should consider taking an art class when she gets to high school?" Santana grits her teeth, her nose snarling and her eyes squinting. Brittany sees her hands grip the seat, knuckles turning white. She wants so badly to reach out and pry Santana's hands away from the seat and hold them in her lap, to wrap her arms around her friend, kiss her cheek and tell her not to worry but after the incident in the kitchen earlier, she knows that would make things worse.
"Yes, about that, can you please wash that off when we get home or right away tomorrow?" Mrs. Lopez grimaces, remembering what she'd drove over earlier in the day. "I can always buy you a sketch pad or something if you need a place to draw things. I don't think taking over the driveway is the best place for that kind of thing." Santana's jaw drops. She'd expected some kind of parental support on this, but she knows she shouldn't have.
"It's already cleared off dear." Okay, maybe she was wrong but she swears she saw it when they'd left. She looks to her father then to Brittany trying to see if maybe she was just going crazy.
Brittany leans over to whisper in her ear. "I told you, he's on your side, even when you think he isn't." Brittany's pinkie slides into hers, her other hand stabs at the noodles on her plate, trying to get more than two on the fork along with a mushroom. It's a simple gesture to Brittany, something they do when reassuring the other, but to Santana, it felt like something bigger. They aren't holding hands but with their pinkies linked, they may as well be. She loosens her grip on the seat and grabs her fork to continue eating.
Mrs. Lopez shakes her head, still very confused and certain she had seen the drawings when they'd pulled out earlier. "Well then, never mind, I guess you don't have to do anything then." She smiles when the waiter places a glass of cabernet in front of her.
Good, the more she drinks the less likely she is to find out the drawings are still there, now if only we can get Jamie to not rat me out.
"So Jamie, plans for after dinner? I'm sure your boyfriend is wondering where you are, it's been what? Ten hours since you've seen each other? He must be a mess without you!" Santana smirks when she all but sees steam come from her sister's ears.
Mrs. Lopez sets her fork down, her eyes boring into Jamie who is trying very hard to not reach over and strangle her sister or stab her with her fork and knife. "Jamie, what have we told you about that boy? He is bad news! I can't believe you are still seeing him, I thought we were very clear about your association with that boy."
"Yeah mom, I get it. He's a bad influence, I should just cut him lose. Whatever, can we just eat in peace, I actually do have somewhere to be tonight, final project for this stupid physics class I had to take."
Mr. Lopez raises his eyebrows in disbelief, slowly wiping his mouth with his napkin. "You're working on a project on a Saturday night?" No one at the table believes this story has any truth to it and are all very interested to see how she works her way around it.
"YES okay!? Andi and I are partnered up and she's going to be super busy tomorrow with some stupid churchy thing an it is due on Monday so we have to finish it. This the only time we can work on it since I had to work today and then decided to be a good daughter and show up to dinner." Santana isn't stupid enough to believe it, but it seems her parents are, or they just don't want to create more of an ordeal than has already been created.
Mrs. Lopez smiles, "That's fine honey, if you're done you can head over there now so you have more time to get it done and done well."
"No sense rushing things if you can have time to get it done properly." Mr. Lopez adds with a grin. Jamie rolls her eyes at her parents' apparent need for her to do well on a stupid class that she'll never need in the future. "Have fun learning." He adds as she gets up from the table with a thanks and a wave to the others.
"You do know she's not doing a project right? She's completely lying to you." Brittany nudges her, giving her a what are you doing look but she just shakes it off. "The seniors go on a field trip to six flags for physics, that's why she took it this year and not last year."
"We know honey. We weren't born yesterday." Mr. Lopez smiles, handing the waiter his card as soon as the bill comes.
"I'm confused, so you just let her go? Just like that knowing that she's probably going to meet up with what's his face?" She looks to her mother, "you're okay with this?"
"Trust me darling, I'm not okay with any of this, but also trust that when she's caught, she will learn that lying to your parents is not a very good idea." Santana's stomach drops. Why did she say that and look directly at me? Does she think I'm lying about something? Does she know about me and Britt kissing?
Brittany can sense the panic radiating off of Santana, she's hiding it well, but Brittany knows what her mother said set something off that is connected to her earlier panic. Oh my little Santana, why are you so worried? We aren't really doing anything wrong! Your parents have no idea and even if they did I think your dad would be awesome and your mom would just deal with it. It hurts my heart that you worry so much. I would do anything to make you not so worried. Maybe I can find a way to make you not so worried or to show you that it's okay. Kissing isn't dating even if it makes me happier than I was that one Christmas when my parents gave me Lord Tubbington in his little box with a tiny toy mouse between his paws. Cutest thing EVER, but then I met you and now you're the cutest thing ever! Cute things shouldn't be sad or worried, even if you're still cute when you are those things.
"Santana is super honest Mrs. Lopez. Jamie may be a bit untruthful sometimes, but Santana is super honest, you did well with this one." Brittany panics as she thinks of the implications of her words, "I mean, not to say you didn't do well with Jamie because she's really cool too but I mean-"
Mr. Lopez laughs, "It's okay Brittany, we understand. Santana is our good daughter, fortunately for her she has Jamie's mistakes to learn from." He smiles at his daughter, his foot nudges hers under the table. "She's a good kid and picks good people to surround herself with, like you and Quinn. I was almost worried with that Puckerman boy but it seems that's been settled as well." Brittany beams at the compliment, happy that she's seen as a good part of Santana's life. She didn't doubt that she was, but sometimes it's nice to have a reminder from those that have a bigger part in Santana's life. However, these compliments are only from one half of the Lopez's. Mrs. Lopez is sitting silently in her seat merely nodding a long with what her husband is saying with an obviously forced smile.
"Shall we go kids?" She asks, taking the last sip of her wine before gathering her purse and jacket from beside her.
I'm the good daughter. Good daughters don't kiss their best friends. Good daughters don't wish they could kiss her again and again. Good daughters date good boys and get good grades and don't screw up. Good daughters listen to their parents and don't make them upset. Then again, I can learn from Jamie's mistakes and not have sex with boys and not do drugs, that's still good daughter material right? One indiscretion of repeatedly kissing another girl isn't going to taint my status is it? NO, good daughters date boys. Good daughters date boys but are just smarter about the activities that they do with them. Good daughters DON'T kiss their best friends... even if they want to... even if they know they are going to again before they go to bed tonight... even if they want to lay listening to the beating heart of this friend, to smell the distinct scent of her laundry detergent mixed with the musty smell of her house that never seems to disappear from her clothes. It's unique just like she is. It's happiness.
I'm going to be honest, I thought this chapter was longer before I uploaded it but I didn't want to leave you all waiting so long because I had most of this written 2 weeks ago and got caught up in other things to finish it. Please let me know what you think so far, I'll get to writing Ch 26 soon and hopefully can avoid the BS that I've been dealing with lately to get it up soon.