A/N:
Told you I'd make it up to you by updating this next chapter super quick ;)
Also, it's super long, so I'm dividing it into 2 chapters.
KIDDING.
You can read the 11k+ words in one go. This one you can read in public but just.. make sure you're not reading it while you're walking. Cause... I bumped into a lightpost this morning reading a fic update. Heh.
But let's go on to the more important things in life:
BRITTANA ARE ENGAGED IN GLEE LIFE OMGAH HOW CUTE ARE THEYYY? THE CUDDLES. THE I LOVE YOU UNTIL INFINITYS. THE FRIGGIN PROPOSAL HOOOOLY CRAP.
It was better than a dream come true– it was A FRIGGIN FANFIC COME TRUE!
Also um... can I just give a shoutout to the costume department for all the on-pointness of the girls' wardrobes? First they wore floral patterns. And you know what they say about those... people who wear flowers are usually feeling flowery inside too. Love, love, love.
Then Santana wore red and black for the proposal. AND she had a ponytail. AND she proposed in the choir room. It's like saying that she's still the same cheerleader (ponytail, black and red = cheerios) who fell in love with her best friend in high school. CREYS...
Aandd it works perfectly for the letsinsultthehelloutofkurt scene because red and black = colors of the devil lol. I love Santana.
As for Britt, she's still the same girl inside too. She might be a math genius now but breakfast is still confusing for her and so she put it on her shirt. Lol no j/k. I do love that shirt though.. with the strategic eggs placement? bahahaha. Win.
Oh, hello, props to the hair department too because Heather's mane is gooooorgeously done. All soft and all I wanted to do was to touch and nuzzle to her. God.
*breaths heavily*
Okay I'm done.
Now on to messages for my rebels:
CrazyRach: Hiiii! I just wanna point out that Rachel wasn't that crazy in 603! I was pleasantly surprised! I mean, I would've thought she'd be the super competitive glee teacher and Kurt the mellow one. Huh. Anyhoo... thank you! I'm actually amazed that I was able to finish that hotness lol. Trust me, it wasn't easy.. (our girls are just too hot!)
Bhari: Well, there's this URL – soulpicnic-rmpDOTtumblr... but there's nothing yet in it except for a couple of playlist. I WILL be updating it with Santana's complete album soon. Just watch this space ;)
Guest (Jan 15): They are! :D Thank you for leaving a review!
Guest (Jan 17): Awww that's so sweet! Thanks so much!
Rent My Pussy
It was the night of my album launch party that the label had organized, and so far I'd say they planned it pretty perfectly. The food was great, the decor was too, the house DJ had been playing his super rad mix (does anybody even use the word rad anymore?) with my songs strategically placed in between the others, and I had been seeing familiar faces all night. The usual suspects like my parents, Carolyn, Quinn and Finn were invited of course; as well as artists that I had worked with before. Then there were the industry people like David, who came with his partner, and Will and his wife, and many of the label's execs. Seriously, aside from nights when Brittany practically worshipped my body, I had never felt this celebrated in my entire life.
"So tell me," opened the one and only Ryan Seacrest. My management team scored me an interview with the uber popular personality that night. Not only that, the label even built a mini studio in the middle of the party – actually, more like right in the back of the room – that allowed us talk into the mics without including the background noise that was sure to be loud.
By the way, it took me everything I got not to tell him about my best friend who got a giant tramp stamp of his face.
Well, okay, not really. Quinn had this murderous look on her face and I really wanna be Brittany's wife before I die, so... I had to bite my tongue.
God. Brittany's wife. I got so giddy ever time I say that. If I were an emoji I'd be the one with my eyes looking like a big X. Kinda like this: XD
"Who is Santana Lopez. How do you define yourself?" asked the guy.
"Wow," I breathed out. "That is such a loaded question. Can I get back to you on that?"
"No, I don't think I'm gonna give you that luxury," he laughed. I laughed with him, but seriously? Bitch. "I'm putting you on the spot now cause I am the host and I can do what I want. But let me make it easier... Give me three words that describe you."
"I mean, how does anyone define themselves?" I threw him back a question and he just gave a grin and shrugged. "Okay, fine. I'm gonna say what my 16year-old self used to say: I am fun, fierce, and phenomenal."
"Fun, fierce, and phenomenal?" Ryan chuckled. "I gotta say, that sounds pretty awesome."
I stuck out my tongue. "My 16-year-old self was a pretty confident HBIC. She walked around with a big stick."
"A big stick, huh? Interesting. I thought only guys say that."
"No, I mean, I literally walked around with this big stick in my hands with a flag on top. I was the co-captain of the cheer squad, and my coach made me carry it around. We won the national championships a bunch of years in a row and I guess we wanted everybody to know."
"What about when you go to the bathroom? Who got to hold it?"
"Me and my best friend, who was the other co-captain at the time, took turns going in the stalls."
"I see," he nodded. "What about when you had to hold each other's hair?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you guys were cheerleaders... Popular... You had to go to a lot of parties back then, right? Most definitely something way wilder than this one," he laughed and looked at me pointedly.
I laughed at his explanation. "It's not like we carried that flag outside the school, Ryan! When the bell rang, that stick went into the trophy cabinet."
Ryan laughed with me. "I just thought with Sue Sylvester as your coach, y'know... She is pretty ruthless."
"Wait," i raised an eyebrow. "You know my coach?"
He pulled his shoulders up shrugging and started using a high pitched voice. "We might've had a thing going on for a while."
Ew, grooooooss. Totally was struggling to not make a face.
"She met a buddy of mine at a club, they went out, but it didn't work out. Then he introduced us, we started dating, but a few months later I found out that she was hooking up with me just so she could get pregnant."
"Ah," I bopped my head up and down, nodding slowly. That scenario sounded familiar.
"So we broke up and... The last thing I heard about her was that she was pregnant with Michael Bolton's baby."
"Hahaha, yeah," I cringed, giving only a short answer in the hopes that we'd stop talking about my coach. I really didn't need to know anything further about Sue's sex life.
"Shame, though. She was a fine woman, that Sue Sylvester," he gushed, looking at the ceiling. "She was wild, too! I still remember when we went to a motel out of a whim and-"
A stern yet slithery, sugary sweet voice that spoke through our headsets suddenly cut him off. "Ryan, this show is about Santana, not Sue."
Thank youuu, Terri!
"Nevermind," the radio host/tv personality/billionaire shot me an apologetic smile and I smiled back. "But you're not here to talk about my love affairs with your former cheer coach, are you?"
"Nope, I'm not," I tried to laugh it off. Truth was, I could barely keep the food in my stomach down. They were already crawling up my throat like those baby octupi I once saw eaten alive in the Amazing Race. Shudder.
Ryan laughed with me, but in a snap he returned to his professional mode. "Let's talk about yours then. You're engaged."
I nodded and grinned. "Yes I am."
"To a woman."
"Yes, to a wonderful, gorgeous woman who's beautiful inside out," I confirmed again with a scrunch on my face. It was one of my camouflage mechanism whenever I get flustered.
"Brittany S. Pierce, that's her name," Ryan read a card in front of him. "I only read the card so I wouldn't say the wrong name. Brittany S. Pierce. That's so close to a particular international popstar. Now, I know that she's very successful, she owns and runs Faunalogy which is a huge company and facility who helps abused and abandoned animals… but I gotta ask this: is your fiancee anything like Brittany Spears?"
I laughed. "Well I never compare them both cause we all know how much we hate comparisons, right?"
"Absolutely."
"But I'm gonna tell you this: my fiancee is a better dancer than Brittany Spears. Like… so much better."
"Wow," Ryan looked at me incredulously. "Is that so? You've seen her dance? I mean of course you've seen her dance, she's your fiancee. But have you really seen her dance?"
"Yup," I nodded firmly. "Definitely."
With the album launch nearing, I was set up with a new management team and publicist. The team was spearheaded by my personal manager, Roz Washington, who I learned was an olympic swimmer back in the day and also coached a high school team. I guessed that was why she was ruthless and excellent in time-boxing. She was the type of person who wouldn't take any crap from other people, so we kind of clicked right away. Quinn told me that it was also because I've missed my cheer coach Sue.
I was horrified at the idea.
Now. About my publicist… you wouldn't believe who it was.
Terri Schuester. My boss' ex-wife who, and I quote, "is the most deceitful person ever to walk this planet!" – according to Will, that is. The strange thing was, he actually recommended her to David and Roz even with their ugly past. When I asked her why, he said, "she might be deceitful and sometimes socially inept, but if there's someone that can charm her way and steal people's hearts… it's Terri. Why did you think I stayed married to her all those years? Definitely not because her selfless traits."
He said I was going to need Terri at least in the first year of my career and David actually agreed. And I really trusted David with his judgements, so… there I was. A legit artist with a publicist and a management team.
(God, I'm so cool.)
(And also a nerd, but you already knew that.)
"Brittany!" a guy's voice greeted us the second we stepped into the room. It wasn't a big room. Just enough for maybe 4-5 people dancing their asses off in front of the mirrors. "How are you?"
The Asian guy walked over to meet us half way and gave Brittany a hug.
Hm. Not sure if I liked that.
So I held on to Brittany's hand and kind of made it hard for them to properly hug. What? Bite me.
"I'm good, Mike. This is Santana," Brittany raised the hand that was entwined with mine to introduce me.
"Yes! Santana! Welcome," he hugged me and caught me off guard.
"Um… hi, Mike," I tried to smile when we pulled away. Awkward.
"Ready for class? I promise I'm a great instructor."
"Wait…" I squinted my eyes. "You're the teacher?"
"He also owns this studio, actually," explained Brittany.
"Oh," I drawled out. "I was expecting someone older as the teacher. Someone less attractive," of course I mumbled that last part.
"Well, all our coaches are around our age," smiled Mike. "Were you looking to learn a particular type of dance? In your email you said your music is basically Pop and R&B, right?"
"It is."
"Cool," Mike smiled again. "Well, I can find you an older person if you really want them. It might take a few days, though.
"That won't be necessary," Brittany looked at me pointedly. It looked like she already knew that I was jealous. But come on… she couldn't really blame me, right? My BSP's a catch. While I trust her with all my life… I couldn't say the same for Asian Persuasion over here. "Santana, I promise you Mike's the best dancer I know."
Mike blushed at the compliment. "N'aahh. You're awesome too."
"Okay, fine," I secretly rolled my eyes at him. Sure, you play your shy boy act now, you lean, mean machine with what was surely a set of washboard abs under that black tank.
(What? Even my lady lovin' bits couldn't ignore the fact that he was pretty hot for a guy. Still not into sausages though.)
"So," he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Ready?"
Brittany made a single nod and tossed her track jacket to the corner of the room. "Ready. Give us all you got."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," I waved my hands around, taking a step back– suddenly reminded that I was there to learn. "I'm totally new at this. The last time I did anything close to this was in high school for cheerleading. I don't even know what you people do here."
Mike smiled sweetly at me. "It's okay, Santana. Would you rather we show you the ropes first, and you sit one dance out?"
"We can do that?" I asked him. "Will we have time for the rest of the class?"
"Totally. Here's how it's gonna go: I'll show Britt here the basics, she's gonna memorize it, then we'll do a run through with music, and/or dance it out for real. Depends on the complexity. Usually it takes about 20-30 minutes for the whole process, but with Brittany here, it'll probably just take about 10 minutes," he explained, talking with his hands. "I got a whole choreography planned for one of your songs, but for now…how about you pick the music, Santana? Whatever you find on Spotify over there."
"Sure," I smirked as I walked over to his computer. Totally gonna give him the hardest song to dance to. He couldn't be that good, right?
He walked to the center of the room with Brittany following behind him. "By the way, you might want to record this whole thing. Your fiancee's the best dancer. I'm not even sure what she's doing taking classes here."
Brittany snorted. "Shut up and dance, Mike."
Mike just laughed. "And obviously not one to take compliments."
I forced a smile through the mirror as a response. Quit trying to win my fiancee, you Dancing Jackie Chan you. "Ready, Mike?"
"Ready. To save time, let's just do three minutes of the song."
"Cool. Will do," I told him and pressed play.
Beyonce's Flawless started to fill the studio and Mike winked at me before he started to move.
Well shit.
Brittany wasn't kidding when she told me Mike was really good at dancing. I was like flabbergasted from the very start, and trust me… when I used big words like flabbityflabbadoogasted, I must meant it.
That guy can move like he was half robot, half worm. He can pop and lock like there were hinges on his body, but he can contort like he had absolutely no bones under his skin! I was so lost watching him in awe that Brittany actually had to walk over and press Pause when the song hit the three minute mark. "Told you he's good," whispered Brittany in my ear. I was totally in trance… and my self esteem deflated a little bit. I would later find out that the guy has been happily married for a couple of years, but in that moment, I knew I couldn't compete with him – at least not in dance.
"So what do you think?" Mike rested his hands on his waist. I could see a little sheen of sweat on his body, but amazingly, after that ridiculously out of this world routine, he was breathing like normal. Like he wasn't just throwing his body around to the music.
I gulped and tried to be as nonchalant as possible. "Pretty good," I told him. Pretty sure Brittany rolled my eyes at me cause he was all kinds of amazing.
"Awesome. Glad you liked it," smiled Mike. Either he was just oblivious, or he was just that nice of guy.
"You think you're ready to try or do you want to see Brittany do it?"
I cringed. "Let's stick to the original plan first."
"Sure," he smiled again.
(Yeah, I was getting convinced that he was just that nice. Damn.)
"Britt, do you need me to go over the steps with you, or are you good?"
Brittany walked to the center of the room and stopped behind Mike, slightly to the right so he could watch her from the mirror. "I just need a little pointer on this step," she made a little turn and moved her shoulders like how Mike moved his earlier. "It's turn, shoulders, kick and body roll?"
"Almost right. It's turn, shoulders, kick, and then roll your body like this," he showed us the move, "but make sure your left foot is on its toes."
"Ah, okay," Brittany copied Mike's movement a couple of times and I must say… she looked damn good doing it. I got a nice ass but narrow boy hips. Brittany, on the other hand… her butt to hip to waist ratio drove me crazy. So perfect. "Got it. Okay, ready."
"Cool. Ready whenever you are, Santana," Mike called after me and I, eager to watch Brittany really dance for the first time ever, pressed the button.
The song intro came on the speakers and–
Fuckmesidewaystilltuesday.
My baby can dance, yo!
Holy shit. Not only could Brittany memorize everything that Mike did, she danced fucking effortlessly! There was no mistake… she was born to dance, I could tell. She could pop and lock. She could do rolls. And her instincts were sharp enough for her to add some little moves here and there. Like, she fuh-lawlessly flipped her blonde hair, looking all sexy doing it. If that were me, my hair would've landed in my mouth like countless time it did back when I was still a cheerleader.
She sent me a wink, oozing sexiness and I was right in the middle of a daydream that included her taking me against the mirrors when she friggin did a hands free flip.
I felt like fainting.
Not because I was afraid she'd hit her head or anything cause I was sure she wouldn't… but I mean..
FUCKING HAAAAAWT.
Why the hell did I wait until this long to watch her dance?!
Excuse me while I wipe my drool– and find a plan on how to get them do that again, so I could record the whole thing and use the video for… um… scientific purposes.
—
I could hear all the commotion happening at the entrance of the venue, and so did Ryan. We both instinctively stretched our necks to see what was going on, and sure enough, we saw a couple of famous friends of ours.
"Folks, if you could hear that loud noise from behind us, that is Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans arriving. Obviously, people went nuts over them… If you were here you'd see all the reporters and paparazzi swarming up to them as they walked down the red carpet," Ryan gave our listeners a background. "Now Santana… You're friends with Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans and Rachel Berry. How did that even happen? Do talented people just flock together or what?"
"Hahaha. Maybe so, but it's nothing like that in my case. I've been Mercedes' producer for a while now, and I've actually known Sam since high school. Believe it or not we used to date each other," I chuckled. "Oh and we also went to the same high school with Rachel. But we weren't really close friends at the time. More like acquaintances, you know? Now she's dating one of my best friends, so we hang out every now and then."
"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold it right there," Ryan let out a small laugh. "Let's rewind a little. You dated Sam Evans?"
"I did. He was my beard in high school."
"Your beard? Interesting."
"Yeah, he has such a good heart. I was so mean to him, though," I bit my bottom lip and grinned my guilt at the same time, embarrassed about the silliness of my teenage years. "Actually, I was mean to everybody."
"Oh? How so?" asked Ryan, leaning back on his swivel chair.
"Well, back then I was still in the closet and… kind of a bitch because of it. Not saying that I'm not a bitch now," I held up one hand as I laughed and the radio host laughed with me. "Back then I felt like everybody was against me. It felt like I was battling a war."
"And now you're so open about everything, including your sexuality. Are you afraid of the consequences at all?"
I gave him a small smile. "I used to worry about it, but I don't anymore. I just hope with me being open like this, I can somehow help people – young or old – who are currently struggling with their sexuality."
"So many gay artists choose to – I don't wanna say hide – they choose to delay their coming out. That doesn't seem to be the case for you. Do you think your past has a role in it?"
"Hmm," I gave my answer a thought before responding. "My past definitely had something to do with the way I'm living my life right now, but it's not the only reason. I've had this conversation with a lot of people before today – y'know, about the consequences of my sexuality – and my answer's the same. I'm more than just a singer. I'm more than just a lesbian. I'm more than just a former high school cheerleader. I'm a person and all of those things are what make me me. Plus I'm engaged to the most beautiful woman in the world and… why would I hide that, you know? I'm proud of who I am– who I've become."
"So in short, you want everybody to know everything about you?"
"Well, not everything. I'm an open book, but not that open," I winked at him and he chuckled. "I still value my privacy a lot, but I owe it to my 16-year-old self to be brave. And this is just one of the ways."
"I bet your 16-year-old self is smiling at you right now," he gave me a gentle smile.
I returned the smile, "I surely hope so."
"Let's take a little commercial break," said Ryan and he pressed a few buttons before talking to his listeners. "We'll be right back with more Santana Lopez, the most talked-about upcoming singer in. the. country. She'll be singing live for us from this launch party so… stay tuned. "
When I saw Ryan take off his headset, I did the same. My poor ears had been hurting from the pressure so 3 minutes without those muffs felt really good.
"I hope that was okay for you. Was I out of the line?"
"No, not at all. I'm sure if you were, my publicist Terri and my manager Roz," I pointed at the blonde women sitting right outside the makeshift studio who was wearing the same headset on her ears and a fake smile on her face, "would've killed you already," I chuckled. It was funny cause it was true; they would. "Thanks for asking though."
I already knew Roz had no problem in me being gay. After all, she was a coach of a high school swimming team. God knows how many sausage action she had to witness. The real surprise was Terri, who not only was very supportive about me being an open homosexual, but also supported doing things my way– for now. I couldn't be sure if it was one of her angles as a publicist, because every time we talked about it she looked and sounded so genuine. Maybe Will was right about his ex-wife. She could probably charm her way to Ann Coulter's heart– and like we all know, it was impossible. She probably didn't have one.
"Is Brittany gonna be here?" asked Ryan.
"I'm not sure. There's a very important meeting she needs to attend," I threw him a small smile and he returned it. "She might be coming later, though."
"Faunalogy's such a great company. It's more than a company, even. I feel like it's a movement with all the effort they're doing."
"Thank you so much," I beamed hearing that thought from a very well-known person. "I'm so proud of Brittany and what she's done with Faunalogy. So hearing you say that is amazing. I'm gonna tell her all about it later."
"You're welcome," he smiled at me and the crinkles around his eyes showed even though he was still relatively young. That guy was definitely working too hard. "Actually, tell her to contact me when you see her. I wanna be involved in anyway I can."
"Oh wow, really? She'll be so happy about it. Again, thanks so much. This means a lot," I cheesed so hard my cheeks were starting to hurt.
He was about to say something else when his producer tapped the window and signaled a countdown with his hands. Ryan then silently told me to put my headset back on.
"You're still listening to Ryan Seacrest on air, and we're still here at the album launch party of the lovely and very talented Santana Lopez," he reintroduced me and pressed a button that made faux applause noise. "So, Santana…"
"Yes, Ryan?" I clasped my hands and put them on the mixing table, getting into a serious-but-still-playful mode.
"Tell me more about your music. What's your sound?"
"The 90's. Definitely the 90's– with a little extra extra," I winked at him.
"Extra extra, huh?" he wiggled his eyebrows. "I like the sound of that. I know that you're doing a few covers in the album."
"That's right. I covered Brandy's Sittin' Up in My Room, Janet Jackson's I Get Lonely–"
"God, I love that one," Ryan gushed. "I remember listening to that song for the first time and thought about how sexy it was. I know it's a sad song, but still so sexy."
"Such an great song. Janet's a beast," I agreed with him. "And the last one is Whenever Wherever Whatever from Maxwell."
"That's beautiful! I love that one as well."
"Right? You'd understand. You're not that much older than me. You're like what?" I smirked. "50?"
"Oohhh," he clutched his left hand with his right like I had just shot him. "Ouch, that hurt! I'm not that old! I'm, y'know… only a couple of years older than you. Okay, that's a lie… but what's in an age, right? It's not about the number, it's about how young you feel."
I laughed. "That's true. And I gotta say, you don't look a day over 49."
Ryan cracked up at this. "You're lucky there's a party going on outside this room cause if not, I'd lunge at you right now. Actually no, I wouldn't. You're too awesome. And I'd miss your voice too much."
"Aw thank you for that," I blushed.
"Did you know that I was there at your concert?"
"You were?" my eyes widened. "No, I didn't know that!"
"Yeah, I got free tickets so I thought why not," he grinned. "Just kidding. I was actually looking forward to see you. I loved the duet with Mercedes Jones when it came out, and I then saw that TMZ video of you singing Alanis at the restaurant. I thought, 'wow, she's just what the music business needs!'"
"Oh my God," I blushed again. "I can't believe you were there!"
"And I loved every minute of it. Sorry you had that technical problem. But I guess everything worked out, right?"
"I had Brittany to thank for that. I was so close to backing out."
"To those of you who weren't there at the concert… Santana's original band suddenly couldn't perform with her, so she had to do some major improvisation. Then I guess Brittany," he looked at me and I gave him a nod, "arranged so that their friends – which included Mercedes and Sam – could be her band. I gotta say, that was a great decision. Genius!"
"That she is," I stated proudly of my fiancee. "Like Finn Hudson, my colleague, always said, 'the show must go on all over the place or something'. The concert was all was a bit messy, but if I had to do it all over again, I would. I'm infinitely lucky to have super talented friends who was willing to help me out."
"Indeed you are. Thinking back, even though you didn't end up singing the songs from your album for the concert, I think I can pretty much imagine what they're gonna sound like. Any particular reasons why you want to bring back the 90's?"
"Well," I started. "I guess the idea came to me because I grew up listening to music from that era. I feel the most comfortable singing songs from TLC, Brandy, Boyz II Men, Alanis and the lot. But don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not stuck in the past. As a producer I love creating something new, breaking boundaries and all that… But like I said before, I really want people to know me– and evolve from there," I paused. Then I nervously laughed. "Hopefully this album would go well enough that there would be a chance for me to evolve."
"Oh, I have no doubt that it will," said Ryan. No doubt he could tell how insecure I felt at the moment. "That's interesting. You know, a lot of artists take the bubblegum pop route for their first albums. But not you. Obviously, you've done something right that the your label's willing to let you do what you're doing."
I nodded. "I'm extremely lucky. They've been so very understanding from the start. I want to give a shoutout to David Martinez who's been an incredible mentor through all this. Love you, David."
"Ah, David Martinez. I know him and his partner. We actually bumped into each other earlier tonight. Great guy."
"Right? He was the one guiding me through the whole process as an artist."
"Now… Tell me more about your music history," Ryan continued. "How did you get here?"
"Well," I stalled. I had to make sure I got it right. It had to be accurate, but I couldn't spend too much time on it. "I've always wanted to be a singer. So I dropped out of a full-ride college scholarship, packed my bags and moved to LA. Found a job as the receptionist of the studio I'm working at, and sneakily made comments here and there until my boss noticed me and hired me as a producer."
"You made it sound so easy," said Ryan.
"Ha! I wish. I actually auditioned for a bunch of stuff that just didn't work out for me," I laughed. "There were weeks where my diet would only consist of boiled spaghetti and McDonald's ketchup. Hands down, best days of my life. I'm being sarcastic, by the way."
"What did your parents say about it? I mean you did drop out of college."
I laughed, reminiscing the day I called my mom and dad from Los Angeles. "They were so mad! I didn't tell them that I was moving, so when I finally called them from a ghetto motel somewhere in Westlake, Los Angeles, instead of the dormitory in Louisville, they actually hung up on me," I laughed.
"Well, that doesn't sound good."
"Tell me about it! I was so shocked and I cried for days. But then at the end of the week they just kinda showed up at my door. They forced my best friend to give up my address, apparently."
"And then they schooled you?"
I made a firm single nod. "Yup. Schooled me till my ears hurt. But then we went out for dinner and at the end of it they surprised me with a new apartment to live in. It was in a good neighborhood, and already paid one year in advance so I didn't have to worry about the rent. All I had to do was make sure I had enough for my bills– which then resulted in me constantly boiling spaghetti," I laughed.
"Wow! Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!" Ryan's jaw dropped. If I didn't know me my jaw would've dropped too. It was a pretty cool story, and I was very lucky to have parents like mine. "I don't think I've ever heard a story quite like this one. They must be very well off, your parents, to get you an apartment like that?"
"Well, they had been saving all their lives for my college fund. Since I was on a full-ride anyway, they basically just allocated the fund to make sure their daughter wouldn't be found dead in an alley somewhere," I laughed again as I explained the whole situation to him.
"Santana Lopez, ladies and gentlemen! What a story!" Ryan spoke to his audience through the mic. "Here's a new song from Calvin Harris. We'll be right back."
Once he took off his mic he darted out the studio. I was sort of taken aback by it, but I would later find out that he had to take a bio break.
(He had to take a dump. Gross, but… where else could you hear about him rushing to the toilet, right? That guy's image was as guarded as my closet door during high school.)
Being the awkward turtle that I was, I tried to find something to do. Looking out the studio's window, I could see Terri, Roz and Ryan's producer busy talking– probably about the live performance I was gonna do later. Luckily, my phone buzzed with a text that brought a stupid little smile to my face.
From: Brittany Sexy Pierce (18:38 PM)
Been listening from the start. You're doing awesome. I'm so proud of you.
.
To: Brittany Sexy Pierce (18:38 PM)
And I'm so proud of you! Wait till I tell you all about what Ryan said to me about Faunalogy. Hey are you still coming here?
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From: Brittany Sexy Pierce (18:39 PM)
Awww. Not cool. Now I'm gonna be thinking about it all day! Anyway, the investor rescheduled the dinner, but now I gotta be somewhere so we'll see. I really wanna be there to see your performance, though.
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To: Brittany Sexy Pierce (18:40 PM)
Don't sweat it if you can't make it. Just do what you gotta do, baby.
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From: Brittany S. Pierce (18:40 PM)
Okay, thanks :) Hey I gotta go. Love you so much, Sexy!
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To: Brittany Sexy Pierce (18:41 PM)
Love you more, Hottie! Byeeee.
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I sighed and locked my phones screen again. I really wanted her to hear the song I was gonna perform later cause just like Welcome Home, I wrote The Sweetest Love for her too. I had been hiding it from her ears since the day Finn was done laying down the music. Even when I played her the rough copy of the album, I always skipped it without her noticing. I just knew there would be a day where I'd have to perform it live and it would be the best time to dedicate it to her.
The studio door opened quietly and the person coming in gave me a small wave.
"Sorry… I think I had a bad burrito for lunch," whispered Ryan when he was close enough. I smiled and shook my head to let him know that it was fine. I myself had my share of bad burritos. Not a pleasant feeling.
We both put on our headsets once again and, not long after that, the producer cued us to continue the interview. "You are still listening to Ryan Seacrest and the smoking Santana Lopez, broadcasting live from her album launch party. So, any relation to Jennifer Lopez?"
"Hahaha, unfortunately no," I playfully scrunched my face. I got that all the time, but I mean… It was Ryan Seacrest. I couldn't exactly roll my eyes at him.
"Okay then! Back to your music, it says in my cheat sheet that you wrote a few songs?" Ryan waved his sheet of paper. Oh, so that was what it was! Terri must've given him that sheet when we arrived.
"Correction, I co-wrote just a couple of songs," I smiled at him. "Beautiful words that rhyme are not my forte. Not yet, anyway. I'm learning as I go. I was so lucky that I got to work with some of the best songwriters there are in the business. And I've actually been friends with quite a few of them for a while now."
My host nodded along. "Which is logical because you've worked in the industry for years. Now… since we're saving your tracks until you perform them later, let's play a game instead."
"Uh-oh," I chuckled. "What game?"
"I'm gonna give you superlatives and you're gonna give me the title of your songs as the answers."
"What? Oh man!" I laughed and ran my fingers through my hair. "That sounds tough!"
"Well let's try it out! First one you wrote?"
"Welcome Home," I answered.
"Oh, that's the song you wrote for Brittany!" he beamed. "See? I paid attention."
I laughed again. He was very good at his job. "Yes, you did."
"Next one. First one you recorded?"
"I Get Lonely. I'm super familiar with Janet Jackson's songs, so that one was the obvious choice."
"Cool. Totally can't wait to hear that one," smiled Ryan. "Next question. The most frustrating song you had to work on."
"Oh, that's easy. Whenever Wherever Whatever."
"Oooh, yeah, I bet it was hard recording it."
"It was very hard," I confirmed with a few little nods. "Maxwell has this certain quality in his voice that you believe in the song's emotions, y'know? Am I making sense?"
"Oh, I know," agreed Ryan. "Every time I hear that song I feel like killing myself. It's such a sad song! Not for people who had just got heartbroken. Or friendzoned."
"Agreed."
"What about the song you're most proud of?"
"Ryan, what is it with you and difficult questions?! Sheesh!" I put my head in my hands again and Ryan doubled over with laughter. "I'm proud of every one of them. We've worked so hard into making them perfect."
"Okay, okay let me change the question. The song you'd most likely sing at your wedding?"
"Hmm… Not that I'll sing at my own wedding, but being the observant person that you are, I think you'll find out the answer to that question after today's performance," I winked at him. "It's one of the songs I co-wrote."
"Really? That's so awesome! Now I'm thinking we should skip this whole thing and go straight to your live set– ah, but I don't think my producer's gonna be happy with that. Look at him already giving me the death glare."
I followed Ryan's eyes as they look at the people outside the studio– who were still caught in a discussion. His producer was totally not paying attention to us. But I guess there was always some acting involved when you're in the entertainment business.
"Most likely to win a Grammy?"
"Seriously?!" I laughed. "Nooo, you can't ask me that question!"
"Sure I can! I'm the host!" he laughed and shrugged the same time. "You do what the host say!"
"Oh, man! I, uh.. um… okay, I don't want to brag but there's a duet in the album that's written by Labrinth. I pick that one not because I sing it, but because it has a beautiful message and I think people are really going to like it. Oh my God, I can't believe you asked me that," I covered my face with my hands. "I promise I'm not that vain!"
Ryan laughed at me. "What's the title of the song and who did you record it with?"
"Ugh," I growled, still feeling embarrassed. "It's called Beneath Your Beautiful, and…"
"Did you sing it with Labrinth? Cause I love his work! That live version of Jealous really gets under my skin."
"No, um… it's John Legend."
"John Le– You're kidding me!" Ryan stood up from his chair hearing the name. "John friggin' Legend! How did that come to be?"
"He, uh… sort of wrote me an email about a duet. Well, actually his people wrote my people about a duet."
"It's the same thing!" the man in front of me sat back down. "His people would've never written you at all if he didn't make the request."
"I, uh," I blushed so hard and looked down trying to conceal how hard I was cheesing. "I guess so. We're actually performing the song later."
"Ah, so he's here?"
I shrugged. "I haven't seen him yet, but my manager told me that he was looking for me earlier."
"What's it like working with him?"
"Oh, gosh… the first time we met I was star struck. He's one of my favorite voices and I love all his stuff, so I couldn't focus at all."
"Did he say anything about it?"
"Not directly, but he called after me, sat me down and gave me a non-speech speech. After that, it was smooth sailing."
Ryan furrowed his eyebrows. "What does that even mean, a non-speech speech?"
"Hahaha, it's basically when someone wants to give you an advise, but they don't wanna seem preachy, so instead they tell a story about themselves in the same situation. He told me about when he met Stevie Wonder for the first time."
"Oh, got it. He sounds like a very nice person."
"He so is," I gushed. "And he knows his sh– I mean… he knows his stuff."
"Whoops, careful there. There are kids out there listening to this broadcast," laughed Ryan. "So anyway. Most likely to win a Grammy. Beneath Your Beautiful. Is that your final answer?"
"I feel like we're in Who Wants to be a Millionaire," I fanned myself. "But yes, final answer."
"I'll be seeing you at next year's Grammy's then," said Ryan as he gave me a little wink.
"Whatever, Ryannn," I said as I continued to blush.
"Okay, okay," Ryan raised both his hands and laughed. "Last question for the game– we're taking another short break after this."
"Yes!" I pumped my fist and he laughed at my antics.
"Most likely to be your first single of the album?"
I tapped my chin with my finger a few times. "I've been hearing a lot of different rumors, but I think the final song will be Right Here. It has nice beats to it, courtesy of Mr. Finn Hudson, beat maker extraordinaire… there's a little bit of electronica going on too. It's one of the more modern songs I have in my album."
"If I'm not mistaken, you also sang that one in the concert, right?"
"Wow, I see someone has a great memory," I laughed. "Is there anything you don't remember"
"Well, I only remember stuff that deserve my memory space," he chuckled. "When we come back, Santana's gonna be singing songs for us live from the party! Don't go anywhere, here is Justin Timberlake with… Strawberry Bubblegum."
"Welcome back guys. Ryan Seacrest here, live with Santana Lopez," Ryan announced us to his listeners. "So, Santana. What's the biggest difference between being a producer, and being a singer? Like, what's it like, that transition?"
"Oh, wow… it's so different. I mean as a producer, my job sort of starts and ends in the recording-mixing studio. But as a singer, there's a demand to do more. Shows, fittings, photoshoots… My work's never done!"
"You better tell Brittany to stock up on vitamins."
I laughed at his joke. "Oh, believe me… she just made Walgreens very very rich last month. I didn't even have to tell her."
After the laughter died, Ryan picked up a paper that was right in front of him and started to read out loud. "Alright. Before we go outside to the stage, we have one more thing to talk about. By your request, we are going to address a rumor that's been spreading like wild fire for a few days now. A post went up on TMZ last Tuesday about something that's quite shocking, really. And you know Harvey wouldn't post anything if he didn't have the legality of the matter checked out."
"Mm-hmm," I hummed and nodded.
"It says here that a family friend confirmed that your future mother-in-law is an escort. What would you like to say about this? Anything to clear up?"
For once, Rick Pierce actually kept his promise. He told the media about Carolyn. The poor woman once again broke down to tears when she first heard it, and apologized profusely to Britt-Britt and I. Of course, we weren't having any of it. We told her that we love her, that she had nothing to be sorry about, and that Rick was just a little rock on a paved road that we can easily ignore– or kick aside.
(How's that for a metaphor? See? I could be great with words too!)
"The only thing to clear up is that my mother-in-law is no longer an escort," I smiled at him. "I don't want to go into details, but I can tell you this: she's a wonderful, loving woman who had to make tough decisions in the past for in order to take care of her young daughter. Both Brittany and I have the highest respect for her and the deepest of love."
"Wow, this sounds like an Oprah episode all of the sudden," Ryan joked to lighten up the mood. "So you have no problem with it whatsoever?"
"No," I shook my head and smiled. "I'm not ashamed of her or her past. Neither does Brittany."
"What about the family friend. Do you know who that person is?"
"Unfortunately, we do," I bitterly smiled. "And he doesn't deserve all the attention that he's getting from all this. We've decided to ignore him for now. But in case he's listening… in the future, I won't hesitate to take matters legally."
"There you have it, folks. Straight from Santana Lopez herself," Ryan shot me a sympathetic smile that I returned. Then he looked at his computer and grinned like crazy, that he almost looked like Will with the lines forming on his face. Almost. His face was actually a lot more tolerable.
"Alright. The moment we've all been waiting for is here. I was just told that the stage is ready, the band is ready, and all we need now is Santana to be there," he told the listeners – and me. "So what do you say we let Santana head outside to get ready? In the mean time, here's Frank Ocean's Super Rich Kids.
"You're still with me, Ryan Seacrest, broadcasting live from the album launch of your soon-to-be the most repeated artist on your iPods: Santana Lopez. Just so you know, guys, the house is packed with the most important names in today's music industry. Mars, Minaj, Legend, Jackson... You name them, they're there. And before you ask why newcomer Santana Lopez already has tons of famous fans, let me tell you that she actually has been in the industry for a while now. She's worked with plenty of artists before, and almost every single she produced became hits. No doubt that these artists are here to support her."
I listened to every word that came out of Ryan's mouth through my earpiece as I got ready for my performance. It was true, I guess... There were a lot of celebrities – mostly musicians – who came to support me and my album. In that moment, I felt very blessed and... Well, not to brag but who wouldn't wanna be me right now?
(Kidding. That was totally me bragging.)
(I'm that vain, after all. Hey, at least I keep it real.)
"Santana's backstage right now, getting ready to perform a couple of songs from her upcoming album, so..." Ryan paused. I heard some rustling in my ear. I think he might've been walking from one point to another. "Let's talk to one of her famous best friends right now. Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans, how are you guys?"
"We're doing great, Ryan," Mercedes answered the question first. Sam was probably stuffing his unbelievably huge mouth of his with some sushi. "How about you?"
"I'm good, good. Really excited about this performance, actually. I've been a huge fan of Santana since I heard her sing that duet from the PSA. Her voice just does something to my soul."
"Praise!" Mercedes responded and I chuckled because that was such a Mercedes thing to do. My guitarist, the blue-haired girl who was in my old band looked up at me to see if there was something wrong with me, but I dismissed her with a smile and a wave of my hand. "You know, I've always told her to step up and be a recording artist since the first day we worked on my first album, but she never listened."
"Oh, why so? What's different about this time."
"Cause of Brittany," this time Sam answered. With his mouth full, no doubt. "Oh, sorry, did I spray sushi on you?"
"Uh..." Ryan took a pause. "It's fine... I'll just, uh, excuse me, can I have some of those napkins please? Yes. Thank you," I think he was talking to one of the waiters. "Mr. White Chocolate just sprayed me chunks of raw fish, everybody."
Ryan made little laughs but I was sure I detected a hint of disgust on his voice. It cracked me up, seriously. Sam had always been a klutz, so i was used to his weird accidents.
"Here, let me get it off–"
"No, it's o– Sam, please– Wait!"
"Sam, honey!" I heard Mercedes' voice sternly warning Sam of something I didn't know what. but then my curiosity was answered. "I don't think Ryan appreciates you cleaning the stains on his shirt with your saliva, baby. Why don't you find his manager?"
There were more rustling after that, and I couldn't help but laugh again, imagining what the listeners must've thought about this live segment. Hope it brought the show a lot of buzz though.
"Anyway, sorry about that, folks... Mercedes, any truth to Sam's answer earlier?"
"You want the full story, or the short version of it?"
"I think short. I just got alerted that Santana's almost ready."
"Got it," said Mercedes. I tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but the stage manager was ushering me to my spot at the same time, it was pretty hard to focus.
"Yes it's true," my award-winning friend continued. "Brittany was the one who came up with the idea for the duet – God bless her – and she was also the one who convinced Santana to sing."
"Wow," Ryan said simply. "And now we're here."
"Yeah, and now we're here, at her album launch. Words can't express how proud I am of her."
"As we all are. Right everyone?" Ryan asked. At first I was confused because... who the hell was he even talking to? His listeners couldn't have answered the question, right?
But then I heard the beautiful sound that consisted of the applause, cat calls and cheers from everyone who attended my party. It made me tear up a little, but I knew I couldn't cry. At least, not just yet. I had a performance to do.
"Alright... Without further ado, here to perform songs from her newly launched album which I am very very excited about... Here is," the curtains opened, "Santana Lopez."
It felt nerve-wrecking at first, performing in front of these big names, but by the time I got to my first song's chorus, it got easier. And since it was an uptempo song, all I had to do was walk from one end of the stage to the other and my audience was already grooving along. Teenage Love Affair was a hit. Awesome. I guess almost everyone could relate to their ridiculously cute (and sometimes annoying) monkey love.
The second song of the night, I invited the gifted, the handsome, the melt-you-with-his-voice singer John Legend onstage. That got a lot of response, of course. Nobody in the room was listened to my interview with Ryan, so they didn't know that I recorded with John. They probably didn't even know I knew him.
There was a reason why I loved the song tremendously, even though I didn't write it myself.
There had been days in Britts and I's relationships where I would get stressed out, but refused to cry on her shoulder about how much of a failure I was, or how I was afraid of losing everything I had built on. Then there had been days when it was Brittany's turn to hide from me whenever she was reminded about her horrible past... About her being scared of the future because her future could turn into her past.
Those were the days that let me know that neither of us needed to be perfect. It didn't matter that we were broken. It didn't matter that we mastered Claire Danes' art of ugly crying. What mattered was that we perfected each other. There'd be no me without her, and no her without me... And the thought of no her in my world just drove me crazy.
Am I making sense?
Probably not. Sorry.
Guess what I was trying to say was that Brittany never demanded me to be perfect. She always allowed me to who I was and what I was feeling. If I felt like crawling into a human cannon, she'd be my net, picking up my pieces, glueing them back together. If I felt like building a freaking wall, then she'd patiently take it down when I was ready, one brick at a time, and let me know that my vulnerable, scared self was just as beautiful as my confident, badass self. And I... I always try to do the same for her.
"Would you let me," John sang the first part of our last line and smiled at the audience. I swear, that guy could do no wrong with his voice and piano playing. Add to that his ridiculously lady-friendly, dimpletastic face. Such a charmer. "See beneath your beautiful..." he played his final keys and when he got to the end, I joined him for the last word of the song. "Tonight."
The crowd in front of me cheered. John got up from the piano and walked over to hold my hand so we could take a bow together. Oh, how I wished Brittany could've seen it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that was Beneath Your Beautiful by the one and only Santana Lopez featuring John Legend," announced Ryan as he walked up to us, more for his listeners than the audience in the room (since they all had eyes and everything. Although I did caught someone with a glass eye earlier, so...). "That was so good, guys. Made me tear up a bit. What a beautiful song. John, what made you decide to do this duet with Santana?"
"Well, I was actually already planning to call her up to see if she'd produce a song with me. Then I heard her duet with Mercedes and I thought, 'man, I gotta get her to sing with me,' you know?" the Grammy-winning artist sent me a smile and I blushed. He was definitely too good for my ego. "That voice is something."
"So you got in contact with her, and then what happened?"
"And then when I first came to visit her in the studio, she just happened to be working on this song and I just gotta do it with her. She had laid down her vocals on it already and I practically begged for her to let me sing it with her."
"No, wait that's not true," I interrupted with a laugh. "There was no begging involved, believe me."
"Yeah, there wasn't. She was generous enough to let me invade her song," John laughed and Ryan did too. "But for the record I'd be more than willing to beg for her to sing with me. Santana, thanks so much for recording this duet with me. You are gonna go far and I wish you the very best," he moved to give me a hug. It startled me for a second but I quickly wrapped my arms around him too.
"Thank you so much. That means a lot," I told him before he stepped off stage.
When my eyes followed the guy walk back to his equally famous wife, my eyes spotted a view that made my heart race and my knees buckle. My eyes widened from being surprised and I think I was beaming that Ryan could tell I was excited to see someone in the audience. His eyes went to see what I was looking at, and there she was, the love of my life.
(I didn't even notice Sugar was right there next to her.)
"Guys, please make way for Brittany S. Pierce so she could come on to the stage," Ryan suddenly told the crowd. I could very well call him Moses now cause my audience immediately parted like the red sea, making a corridor for Brittany.
Compared to the other guests, she was super underdressed with her casual business attire – after all, she was gonna have that meeting with the investor. Her cheeks were red from blushing, and I think she ran from the parking lot judging from the short of breath. She still had a beanie on top of her head that was riddled with raindrops that she quickly took off once she started walking which made her hair look like it was caught in a storm, and yet...
She still took my breath away.
"Hi," she shyly greeted me and Ryan. She turned her head to the right – to look at the people gathering around the stage – and gave a little wave. "Hi, everybody."
"Hi, Brittany," my guests answered in unison. It was hilarious to see grownup men and women acting like kids in preschool.
After a chuckle, Brittany looked at me again. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was awful."
"It's okay, baby," I told her quietly, not really sure what Ryan wanted us to do. I just wanted to kiss her but I couldn't really decipher the look Terri was giving me. Honestly, I think she had had one botox injection too many. Reading her face was like looking at pictures of Nicole Kidman at events and trying to figure out if she was enjoying herself or was just feeling constipated.
"What do you have behind your back, Brittany? You walked a little funny earlier," Ryan attempted to break the awkwardness.
"Oh, um," Brittany pulled her arm from behind her and revealed a cute short bouquet. "It's for Santana. Congratulations, honey."
The crowd aww-ed when I blushed taking the flowers and so did Ryan. He then gently pushed Brittany by the small of her back so she could be closer to me. We bumped shoulders and grinned to each other. If I could, I would've laced my fingers with her, but between the bouquet and the mic, I didn't have any more hands to work with.
"How's it going, Brittany? Glad you're here... For a minute there I didn't think I'd see you at all tonight."
"Yeah, it was a super busy day for me but," she looked at me sweetly, "I won't miss this for the whole world."
Ryan smiled at us. "You guys, I can't even handle the adorableness hat's going on right now in front of me."
"We're so awesomely in love," I said to my mic.
Brittany leaned over to it and continued. "Totally. I'd hate us if we didn't know us. We're so annoying," she joked and the crowd laughed.
"It's true," I nodded. "We even finish each other's–"
"Salads," Brittany cut me off, cracking me up. I just love her sense of humor– and I think, judging from the roar of laughter that was heard, the crowd loved it too.
Ryan shook his head between his laugh. "So cute. So adorable. Now, I gotta ask... How goes the wedding planning?"
I beamed at the question. I know, I know… such a girly girl I was. "It's going great. We stumbled upon a few obstacles, but now everything's in order and… yeah, there's not much to do anymore except to show up in our dresses."
"Am I invited?"
"You are, only if you promise to sing at the reception," Brittany challenged him. We knew that he was shy about his singing voice– which was actually fine. We've seen American Idol. We knew stuff about him.
"I, uh… would rather save your ears from that kind of torture," he scratched the back of his neck and laughed. "What if I promised to behave and bring you both gifts. Or a truck full of wine. Whichever you prefer. I'm telling you, I'll be the most well-behaved wedding crasher ever," he said. "I'll even sit with your mom!"
I laughed. "Okay, fine. You don't have to bring us gifts. You're invited," I told him. He'd been very nice all this interview, I thought I should consider his request seriously. Plus, he was interested in getting involved with Faunalogy, and we're holding the reception at the facility. There was no fault in adding his name and a plus one in my list of guests. I could sit him with Mercedes and Sam so he'd be free from my loud, selfie-taking cousins.
Or maybe I could sit him with Quinn and somehow bait them into talking about the fact that his face is tramp-stamped on her lower back.
(Bwahahahaaa…)
"What should I wear? Is it a formal party or should I, like, dress up as a character?"
"Huh?"
"Y'know, like a costume party?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, we just had halloween a few months ago," I laughed– even though Brittany looked super excited hearing about a costume-slash-wedding party. "Standard black tux and whatever tie you wanna wear."
"Bolo?"
"You can wear it, but you might be competing with Sam if you're wearing a bolo tie," said Brittany. "He's a cowboy like that."
"Sweet! I'll check with Sam. Maybe we can be all matchy-matchy and stuff."
I shook my head as I laughed. "I can't wait what Giuliana would say about you on Fashion Police."
A minute and a kiss on the cheek later, I was left alone again on stage with my band. Ready to kill it one last time that night with a song.
The stage manager had prepared a stool in the corner of the stage like I requested, so I could just use while I sing if I wanted to. I kinda thought it would be the best way to do it, since it was a mellow, sweet song with nothing but a piano in the background. Cliche, I know, but… I had learned that best things in life happen when you don't overthink it.
Right? Riiight?
Santana Lopez. Producer, singer, life coach. How does that sound?
What do you mean, awful?
Oh, shut up and let me sing.
Brad the piano player started off the song with a beautifully played intro. The guy never said much, but whenever he touched those black and white keys? It was like he was speaking through them.
After the intro, Brad paused playing for a dramatic effect that we had planned together. In the original scenario, I would've gone to drag the chair and sit next to the piano. But since Brittany was there and even brought me flowers, I decided to let her know that the song was dedicated to her. I took out a flower from Brittany's bouquet and tucked it safely in my hair– then I did the chair scenario thing.
"This is for you, Britt," I spoke into the mic and Brad continued the music that was almost drowned by the audience applauding. By this time, Brittany was standing super close to the stage with Ryan next to her. I kept my eyes on her, watching her as she bit her lip smiling shyly at me.
"Why do people smile when no one's smiling? It's cause they're thinking of someone they're loving," I started my song and smiled like the words said. "It's cause they're thinking of someone they're loving. Keep on believing we are meant to be and nothing's stopping you and me from going to heaven… Sweetest love."
"I've got the sweetest love," I continued with the hook, this time lightly tapping a rhythm to my thigh cause the beat had picked up. "There ain't nothing sweeter, I got the sweetest love. Ain't nothing beat it, there ain't nothing sweeter."
I blew Brittany a kiss after that (which she caught with her hand, that beautiful dork), and continued with the singing. Only now I didn't focus on just Brittany. I locked eyes with several people in the audience because, well… that was what you're supposed to do when you're a performer. You need to interact and captivate your audience.
"Now I'm a climber, this mountain's just one ladder. It gets better… every second we're together. Ooh, baby, it feels so right… a new beginning starts tonight," I winked at Brittany for that part and Ryan shot me a knowing look. Guessed he figured out the wedding song. "The reason for when it's on.. is because of you and me and…"
"I've got the sweetest love," my background singers filled in the hook as I do my runs. "There ain't nothing sweeter. I got the sweetest love, ain't nothing beat it. There ain't nothing sweeter."
I got up from my chair and walked around the stage singing after that. That way I could see my guests better and well, it was good showmanship. I could see Quinn and Mercedes singing along with the hook, Finn moving his hands around beating his imaginary drums… The best view though – well, the best view after Brittany – was seeing my mom cry happily with pride in her eyes. So I took a chance and walked off the stage towards the woman who had loved me all through my life. I looked at her with tears in my eyes, silently telling her that, 'I did it, mom. I'm finally here,' and she gave me a little nod, a kiss on my forehead, and lastly, a big hug… and all this happened with me still singing.
My name is Santana Lopez.
And I am happy.
