Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the long delay in updating. Between the writing I've had to do for work and writing another story, it's just been really hard to get around to this one. Also, I know next to nothing about the particulars of football...Anyway, I really appreciated everyone's reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
"How have you never heard of retail therapy?" Kurt asked, incredulously as they walked through the mall.
"Seriously, Blaine…" Santana said, shaking her head. She nudged Kurt. "Are you sure he's gay?" Kurt chuckled. The foursome walked towards the food court, their bags in hands. Well, everyone except for Brittany, because Santana was holding her bags.
They sat down at a table, Kurt and Blaine with their coffee and Santana and Brittany split a bowl of ice cream.
"So…I was thinking…" Santana began, squeezing Brittany's hand underneath the table. "You know how you guys wanted to do that GSA mixer thingy?" Kurt and Blaine nodded. "What if we did a GSA/Glee Clubs mixer with the local schools at my place. I mean, let's be honest, Glee Clubs really are just GSA's with singing, and I know my mom would love to have all of you over…" Santana tried making eye contact with Brittany, who had been quiet ever since leaving her house. "Would you like that, Britt?" Brittany nodded.
"Then it's decided. Saturday we'll have a Glee/GSA mixer at Santana's!" Blaine said.
"I love planning parties…I'm so excited!" Kurt squealed, clapping his hands together.
Santana struggled to open her eyes at seven in the morning, groaning to herself about getting up so early. She moved to slip out of the bed, but Brittany's tight grasp around her waist stopped her.
"Where are you going?" Brittany struggled to say through her voice, heavy with sleep.
"My mom is going to be up soon."
"But it's Saturday."
"Who cares, adults wake up, like, freakishly early." As if on cue, there was a knock on the guest room door.
"Santana! Brittany! Make yourselves decent! You have to start helping me prepare for this party!" Santana's eyes widened as she jumped out of bed and ran into the closet.
"Come in!" Brittany yelled after the closet door had shut. Maria entered the room and smiled at Brittany who was sitting straight up in bed with a huge grin.
"Good morning, mija, are you excited for the picnic?" Brittany nodded. Maria smirked and a devilish grin played across her face. Brittany looked at her curiously—her face was so much like Santana's, but she couldn't figure out why Maria would have that particular look at the moment. Maria sat on the bed, gently tousling Brittany's hair. "You know, I'm so glad that you and Santana have one another." Brittany nodded. "You know how she is…she can just be such an angsty teenager sometimes. You really bring out the best in her."
"She brings out the best in me, too." Brittany said, softly.
"You know last year, when you two weren't speaking, all she did is mope around the house all day, watching a lot of those Real Housewives shows. It was painful to watch her pretend that it wasn't about you, that it wasn't because she was in love with you. Also a little gross to watch her lay on that couch all day drowning herself in ice cream and potato chips. She's lucky she has such a fast metabolism."
Santana shifted nervously in the closet. What was her mother doing?
"Especially since she had been so vocal about how much she loved you when she was a little girl."
"Really?" Brittany asked. Maria nodded.
"It was constant. She would go on about how she was going to love you forever, and how perfect, and beautiful, and smart you are." Santana could feel her face flush even in the darkness of the closet. "When Christian brought over his first girlfriend, Santana told him that she was alright, but she would never compare to you, and that she was obviously the most attractive Lopez with the most attractive girlfriend." Brittany smiled and Santana paced in the closet, trying to use some sort of telepathy to will her mother to stop speaking. "Sometimes I don't think Santana even remembers these things…you know when she was 12, you two had one of those nights where you were on the phone for 5 hours, even though you had already spent the school day together. When her phone finally died, she came downstairs and asked me if it was possible to like someone too much—when I told her-"
"MAMA!" Santana came bursting out of the closet. "What are you doing?" Maria burst out in laughter.
"I just wanted to see how long you would stay in the closet the second time around."
"What? You knew I was in there?"
"Santana. I've spent the better part of your life attempting to get you to clean that dungeon of yours you call a room, to no avail. Now, suddenly, the bed is always perfectly made? Plus, I can always hear you scamper over to your room at 6:55 in the morning." Santana turned red.
"Can you please just not be this embarrassing when everyone else gets here?"
"But it's my job." Maria said, shrugging. "Now get ready! We have a lot to do before your guests arrive!"
"I hate everything about this." Santana whispered over to Sam, throwing her hot dog down on her plate. "We need some booze. That would really get this party started."
"It's not that bad," Sam said. "I think it's kind of nice, that even though we'll eventually be competing with each other, to have all the Glee Clubs together in one place, sharing a common bond, you know?" Santana rolled her eyes. "Like we all compete, but then we go back to our respective schools and we're treated like complete losers."
"I can't believe I ever dated you." Santana said.
"Right back at you."
"I should have known you were gay. God must have given you those guppy lips for a purpose." Santana smirked. Sam playfully shoved her.
"You're gross. Besides, I should have known you were gay when you sang me a song about fishy lips…" Sam laughed and Santana rolled her eyes. Her eyes quickly narrowed into a smirk. She nudged Sam.
"Look over there," she said, pointing to a spot by the pool where Brittany was speaking with a girl from one of the other school's. "Is that girl talking to Britt here for the Glee Club part of the mixer, or for the GSA part of the mixer?" Sam shrugged.
"I think she's in Aural Intensity. Although, I mean, she could be here for both, like us…besides, I'm more interested in that Warbler over there." Sam said, gesturing to the other side of the pool. Santana had stopped listening though. She jumped up and stormed over to Brittany, quickly putting her arm around her.
"Hey, San!" Brittany said, excitedly.
"Hey, baby," Santana said, looking sweetly at Brittany and then instantly putting her glare on for the girl in front of her. "Who's this?"
"This is Danielle, she goes to Westvale! She's in Aural Intensity!" Santana relaxed a bit knowing that she was just a Glee Club geek.
"Hey, Danielle," Santana said, not doing a good job at feigning interest. "I'm Santana." They shook hands. "Are you having a good time?"
"Definitely," Danielle said. "You know, we've been talking about having a GSA mixer for so long, I'm glad McKinley finally stepped up to the plate and had one! Plus, it was such a good idea to mix it with the Glee Clubs. Maybe it will finally reduce some of the animosity between the schools. I mean, Glee Clubs are practically GSA's, let's be real." Santana had stopped listening after Danielle had said GSA, and now was seeing only red. "So, are you in New Directions with Brittany, here, too?"
"I am," Santana said, smiling sweetly. She wrapped her arm more tightly around Brittany.
"Ouch, San, you're hurting me." Brittany said. Santana reluctantly released her death grip around her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Baby, I think Sam needs your help talking to a guy." Santana said, gesturing to Sam looking awkwardly at the Warbler he pointed out earlier. Brittany clapped her hands.
"Yay! I love playing winglady!" Before Brittany could run off, Santana pulled her into a tight, overly passionate kiss. Brittany skipped away. Santana walked closer to Danielle.
"Look, Aural Intensity, bitch. I don't know how they do it over at Westvale, but you best back off my girlfriend. Just because this is a freaking gay-rainbow-singing party, does not mean I will not beat you down."
"Whoa," Danielle said, backing up. "I have a girlfriend, we were just talking about dancing. My girlfriend wants to be a dancer too." Santana backed off a bit.
"If you have a girlfriend, where is she?"
"She's been talking about musical theater since we got here with that annoying girl from your glee club." Danielle gestured over to a pretty blonde chatting happily with Rachel Berry. "I just couldn't take it anymore. How do you deal with that girl all day?"
"I don't. I pretty much want to stab myself every time she opens her mouth."
"Is there any booze here?" Danielle asked.
"Ugh. No." Santana said. "It would be so much more manageable if there were. What's your girlfriend's name?" Santana asked after an awkward pause in the conversation.
"Jack. Well, Jackie. She and loudmouth are both applying to Julliard, so they pretty much won't shut up."
"Want to find some booze?" Santana asked.
"Yeah, but where? I don't have an ID."
"Well this is my house. Let's try to raid the liquor cabinet and really get this party started."
"Deal," Danielle said. They walked off toward the house. Santana never really had any lesbian friends her own age before…well, to be honest, Santana never really had any friends that didn't sometimes fall into the frenemy category. It was kind of nice. Maybe this mixer wasn't such a bad idea.
Maria watched the whole exchange between Brittany, Santana, and the unknown girl from her window. It would never amaze her how alike all of the Lopez's were. They had such strong, possessive, biting exteriors, but underneath they were all just looking for companionship. She glanced over at Brittany. She was talking to Sam and a boy from Dalton, a smile on her face. Maria smiled; it had been so long since she had seen a genuine smile out of the girl. She picked up the phone and did something she had been planning on for awhile, but was just finally working up the guts to do.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Caroline? It's Maria Lopez."
" No, this is Alexis. Hey, Mrs. Lopez."
"Oh, hi, Alexis! It's been so long since I've seen you…or heard your voice! You sound so grown up!"
"I know! I'm a sophomore now. Daniel and I have a couple of classes together…want me to get my mom?"
"That'd be great. Thank you, dear." Maria waited on the line in silence for a bit.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Caroline, it's Maria."
"Hi, how are you?"
"I'm doing well, how are you?"
"I'm doing fine as well, thanks for asking." The two women sat in awkward silence for a moment.
"How is Brittany?"
"She's doing well. She's actually why I called."
"Oh?"
"I know you're taking this better than your husband is…and obviously I love having Brittany here all the time, I was just wondering what the plan was…" Maria could hear Caroline take a deep breath on the other end of the phone.
"I just don't know what to do anymore, Maria." Brittany's mother struggled with what to say next. She hadn't really spoken with Maria since the girls' had been old enough to plan their own play dates without their mothers' help. Caroline made a mental note to eliminate the phrase "play dates" from her vocabulary, at least when it came to her daughter and her best friend…girlfriend.
"I was thinking maybe I could help?" Maria offered after the silence seemed to have gone on too long.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking you could bring the family over for dinner tomorrow night. It would be neutral because everyone would be here, and it might give your husband a chance to see that nothing between Brittany and Santana has changed other than the label on their relationship." There was another silence on the phone. "I know that Brittany's comfortable here, and, like I said earlier, we always love having her, but she misses her family, Caroline, and I can't, with good conscious, just sit by and pretend like nothing is happening with her."
"Of course. I understand. What time for dinner tomorrow?"
"7:30?"
"Okay, we'll see you then. Thanks for calling, Maria."
"Of course. See you tomorrow." Maria hung up the phone, just in time to see Santana walking out of the basement with her new friend.
"Santana?" Maria said.
"Hey, mama!" Santana replied.
"What are you doing?"
"I was just giving my new friend, Danielle, a tour of the house. Aren't mixers great mama? Danielle goes to Westvale and she's in Aural Intensity and their Gay-Straight Alliance."
"What's behind your back, mija?"
"Nada, es sólo agua, mama."
"Santana, puedo oler su agua?" Danielle nudged Santana.
"She wants to smell my water," Santana whispered over to her.
"It's just mine!" Danielle said quickly. "no es nada de que preocuparse, señora López," Danielle struggled out. Santana raised her eyebrows at her new friend. "I took a year of Spanish." Danielle shrugged at Santana. They shuffled out the door and proceeded to top off all their friends' lemonades with "water".
The usual crew had stayed over at the house again. Maria left for the grocery store in the morning, carefully stepping over sprawled out teenagers. She knew she'd have to stock up on provisions for the afternoon, when they finally woke up. She quietly shut the door behind her, wondering when she had agreed to run a halfway house for gay teenagers.
By early afternoon, everyone was awake and the TV blared from the family room. Maria poked her head in the doorway. Santana, Blaine, and Kurt were on the couch. Santana had her head on Blaine's shoulder, and Kurt was braiding Brittany's hair, who sat on the floor below him. The girls from Aural Intensity were curled in the loveseat in the corner and that freshman cheerio, Taylor, was lying on her stomach staring intently at the show. David Karofsky was chasing Sam around the room trying to grab his phone.
"Just open your big lips and read us that damn text, fishy. All this running is distracting me from my America's Next Top Model." Santana said.
"Seriously," Kurt said, pausing his braiding for a moment to stare at them. "Priorities, gentleman." Maria cleared her throat. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her.
"I just wanted to let you know that there are sandwiches in the kitchen, if you're hungry. You all are welcome to stay for as long as you like, but Brittany's family is coming for dinner at 7:30 and I think it would be best if you found your way back to your homes by then, given the circumstances." Brittany and Santana's heads whipped around.
"Wait? What?" Santana asked.
"My family's coming? Like, including my dad?"
"Yes, everyone except Grace will be joining us for dinner tonight. But not until 7:30, so you all can continue whatever is going on in here," Maria said. "By the way, Sam, is it a text from that nice boy from Dalton you were talking to?" Sam turned bright red.
"Yes, Mrs. Lopez."
"Well what does he have to say for himself?" Sam reluctantly opened his phone. He could say no to his friends, but it was beyond awkward to say no to his ex-girlfriend's mother.
"Really glad we got to hang out yesterday. Hope to do it again soon. You free this weekend, blondie?" The group burst out in laughter. Santana whistled.
"He called you blondie," Karofsky laughed.
"OMG, Wes is such a cheeseball," Blaine laughed.
"I think it's cute," Maria said. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." She left the room.
"Santana, you have, like, the best mom ever." Sam said.
"Seriously." Karofsky added. "Your mom is great."
"Your mom and Kurt's dad should, like, get together and teach parenting classes." Blaine added. Santana shrugged, but a small smile played on the corners of her lips.
"How do I look?" Brittany asked Santana as she finished putting on her makeup.
"You look beautiful, as usual," Santana said. "Plus, it's not like this is a date, Britt, I'm pretty sure your parents know how beautiful their eldest child is."
"Still. I want to remind them so they can't help but love me back."
"They do love you back, Britt," Santana said, pulling Brittany to her. "It's impossible to not love you back. Look at you…you're adorable." Brittany placed a light kiss on Santana's lips.
"We have to get it out before they show up." Santana said, deepening the kiss.
Santana had never felt more awkward in her life. Her parents sat at either end of their long dining room table. Santana sat next to her mother, followed by Brittany and Daniel. On the other side sat Mr. and Mrs. Pierce and Alexis. Their dads' had talked briefly about their jobs, and Daniel and Alexis talked about their Geometry teacher, but since then it had been painfully awkward at the table.
"So…" Santana's father began. "Brittany tells us you're a football fan?"
"Yes. She told me you're a bit of a football family?" Brittany's father said cautiously. "I'm a Viking's fan…" he said cautiously, not wanting to put anyone off.
"You shouldn't worry about what you say in this house," Santana's father said. "We are a house divided, but we haven't fallen yet." Her father chuckled to himself and Santana rolled her eyes. "We 're pretty much all over the place until it's clear who has made it into the post season. I am a hardcore 49ers fan, my eldest son, Christian, lives, eats, and breaths the Browns, Carlos loves the Bears, and Daniel, here, is a Packer's fan. And of course, Santana, will not let go of her love for the Bengal's. Even though they never have a chance."
"I'm sorry, dad, but were you even watching this season? The Bengal's QB was a rookie and he still managed to throw more receiving passes than your beloved 49ers. And you know that he has more touchdowns than any player in NCAA history? Plus, we consistently have some of the best defensive linemen before they get traded out to teams that will pay them more money."
"Doesn't mean that you have what it takes to make it through the playoffs."
"Have you heard of the Saints?"
"That was a fluke."
"I have to agree with Santana, here." Brittany's father added, to everyone's surprise. "I mean yes, since he had such a phenomenal rookie season, it's unlikely he'll be with the Bengal's another season, but the Bengal's do tend to take rookie's that ultimately go far. Who's not to say that a strong batch of rookies couldn't create an upset, like the Saints."
"Thank you," Santana said, indignantly, waving her arms in the air, forgetting for a moment that it was Mr. Pierce she was talking to.
"Besides, the Bengals and the Vikings are out for the playoffs." Mr. Pierce added.
"I mean, I always defer to the Seahawks." Santana said.
"Hasselbeck is definitely a QB to be reckoned with." Mr. Pierce said.
"You do realize he started out as a Packer," Daniel added.
"Well," Maria said, looking over at Brittany, "I kind of wish we were watching paint dry,"
"At least I can understand what's going on when paint is drying." Brittany said.
The rest of the dinner was more relaxed, with small conversations going on among individual groups at the table. Around nine, the Pierces' decided it was time to go.
"This was great," Caroline said, pulling Maria into a hug.
"I know," Maria said, "I'm really glad you could come."
"See you in Geometry tomorrow?" Alexis asked Daniel.
"Ugh, yeah, I guess so." They shyly waved goodbye.
"You know, when the boys come home for their winter breaks from school, we have big football parties all day Sundays," Santana's father said somewhat shyly to Brittany's father. "Brittany usually comes, and a couple of my friends from the hospital, it's usually a good time. You're welcome to come by if you'd like."
"Thanks," Brittany's father appeared to be thinking, "watching with a group would definitely beat sitting at home being yelled at by my wife." Caroline rolled her eyes.
"Great. Well, the first game is at 2 next week."
"I look forward to it." Mr. Pierce glanced down at Santana. "Should we wear our Seahawks shirts?"
"You know it, Mr. P!" Santana said, breathing an enormous sigh of relief that the man she knew nearly all of her life was returning to some semblance of normalcy. She squeezed Brittany's hand tightly for a fraction of a second.
"Night, San." Brittany said.
"Night, B. I'll pick you up for school tomorrow, okay?" Brittany just nodded. There were so many things Santana wanted to say to Brittany in that moment, but she couldn't in front of her father, so she let herself be content in how well the evening ultimately ended up going.
Santana snuggled down into her black sheets, loving the feeling of her comfortable bed on her freshly showered body after so many days of sleeping in the guest room. She missed Brittany though. She pulled out her phone and sent her a quick text message.
In her own bed, Brittany smiled when she felt her phone buzz.
Sany:
I think tonight went well.
I miss you, though, B.
I love you, a million times.
A few minutes later, Santana's phone buzzed.
BritBrit:
I love you a million times more.
My dad hasn't seemed this
normal in weeks. Loveyou
loveyouloveyouloveyou
Santana smiled and fell fast asleep.