Chapter Two:

Family Dinner

Light from her open window spilled into her bedroom. A cool breeze knocked the papers off her bed and blew them onto the floor. Her dark hair tossed around as she rolled of her bed to grab her homework. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, which Santana had spent avoiding everyone. On her bed-stand sat her cell phone with two missed calls and a handful of texts from her cheer captain. Normally she won't miss an opportunity to chat with the bitchy god fearing girl, but today she wasn't in the mood.

Santana tossed her papers onto her lacquer desk before crawling back onto her bed and flipping open her laptop. Her mouse wandered across her desktop until it found the Google icon. When the page popped up she lazily went to the search bar and hit the 'L' button. Right away the web address she wanted popped into the search bar. It was only a month ago that she had found the 'L-Chat: Lezzie gossip and drama for the Elisabeth and Bertha in all of us.' by total chance. She couldn't quite recall what she had searched for originally, but when she stumbled across the chat room she found herself drawn in. It wasn't long before she was checking the sight regularly.

She flipped through the old posts looking to see if there was anything new on the Rizzoli and Isles boards. Santana bit her lip as her eyes scanned over a few gifs manipulated to make it seem as though the two main characters where kissing. I shouldn't be looking at this. She scolded herself, but couldn't look away. They're just so hot and clearly meant for each other. Anyone who watched the show would see that. She right clicked her mouse to leave a comment under the username: Lima_Bitch. Her fingers danced over the keys as she tried to figure out what exactly she wanted to say.

"Hey, are you coming downstairs or what?"

Santana jumped out of her skin and slammed her laptop shut.

"Jesus Christ Roman! What the fuck! Don't you know how to knock!" She yelled at her brother who looked bewildered standing in the door jamb. He wore a nice shirt and pants while Santana was still in her pajamas from the night before.

"Pop is downstairs. We're waiting for you so we can start eating." Roman gave her a concerned look.

"Shit, why didn't you tell me when he got here?"

"I tried calling you. Maybe you should trying picking up your phone once in a while."

Santana rolled her eyes and jumped out of bed grabbing a simple dress out of her closet as she tore off her sleep clothes.

"Maybe you could try not being such a lazy ass all the time." She snapped back at him.

She knew Roman understood her sudden abrasive attitude. Saturday night dinners were stressful enough as is. Doctor Lopez was almost never home. He traveled constantly throughout the state giving conferences and performing some of the most difficult surgical procedures in the nation. Saturday nights where the one day he would return home to visit and check up on his children. Navarro had a strict standard for which his children were expected to live up to. Santana refereed to them as the "ABC's": Academics, Behavior, Church. Each was to be the center of the Lopez children's life. Unfortunately, Santana always seemed to fall short.

"Hey, don't forget about the date thing okay? I really need you to have my back on this."

Santana shot her brother a look that told him just how thrilled she was about this little plan of his. She hadn't even thought about it since he brought it up yesterday.

"If I do this, you owe me." She barked as she pulled her hair back into a tight elegant bun, but he was gone.

Santana went quickly back to her lap top and closed the window, just in case someone climbed through her window and decided to go through all her personal things. Lima Heights was just down the street, after all. It didn't hurt to be too careful

She skipped down the steps two at a time as to not keep her father waiting any longer then necessary. He wasn't a pleasant man, but when he was hungry, Navarro was unbearable.

"Glad to see you finally decided to join us Santana, maybe now we can actually eat. Is that okay with you? " Her father asked rhetorically.

"Sorry." She mumbled taking her seat across from her brother.

"Sorry what? Manners matter Santana. How many times must I tell you this? And speak up, no one will ever pay attention to a woman who mumbles."

"Sorry, sir. It wont happen again." Santana spoke clearly and plightly.

"Better. Now would you like to lead us in prayer?" He asked. His cold dark eyes bore into her own.

"Why don't you do it, honey? You always have a way with words." Her mother swooned in a sickeningly fake voice,when she didn't speak right away. Santana was surprised she was even able to sit up right.

As the local district attorney Maria Lopez had a small habit of drinking away her loneliness on the days that her husband wasn't around, which was nearly everyday. It was a not so secrete of a secrete that her father had more than his fair share of affairs, but the couple chose to look past one another's transgressions for the sake of appearances and their children.

"Very well" Navarro folded his hands and bowed his head as did everyone else at the dinner table. "Heavenly father please bless this bountiful spread, which my wife has prepared for us. Bless my son so that he may succeed in his up coming game against Brown. Lord I ask that you teach my daughter responsibility, so that she may bring honor to you. I ask that you also watch after my patients, some who are in critical condition, and please look after my mother Alma. Amen"

Santana couldn't help the bad taste in her mouth she always got when her father did the prayer. It always seemed nice enough, but it left her feeling as though she were his greatest disappointment.

"Roman, how are your classes?" their father asked as he dug into his stake.

"Very well sir. I've got straight A's so far, but it's only the start of the semester. Everyone begins with an A." He said with a boyish innocents that Santana had grown accustom to over the years.

"And you Santana? How are your grades?" Santana pushed the salad on her plate around for a moment thinking of a way to answer.

"Good, papi. I've got an A's in English, math, history and science."

"And what about Spanish?" He said coolly as though the other classes were meaningless.

"Erm. I have a B+. I misunderstood a question on the last test, but I'm going in on Monday to retake it. I'll have an A then."

Santana glanced up at her brother practically willing him to say something to change the subject. Roman just looked back at her with a confused shrug. He didn't know how he could save his sister from the shit storm she was about to receive.

"Actually papi, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

All eyes darted to Roman. It was very rude and unheard of for someone to interrupt Navarro when he was about to lecture someone. Their father's icy gaze fell onto the shaggy haired young man. He raised an eyebrow expectantly waiting for his son to speak.

"Well, as you might know I've been seeing this girl for a while and I think I'd like to bring her over to meet you guys."

The dinning room was silent as their father continued eating. No one else dared to touch their food. Santana was practically holding her breath.

"Santana wants to bring home her boyfriend too!" Roman blurted out when the elder man didn't speak.

Santana felt as though she were about to faint. That or chuck her knife at her brother's head.

"Boyfriend? What boyfriend? Why was I not informed about this sooner." Navarro demanded to know. His voice shook the table with an angry rumble.

"It-it's new, sir. His name is P-p-er Noah. He's really nice and he's on the football team. " Santana lied through her teeth. She had never spoken of boys before and everyone seemed to be in utter shock.

"I think having them both over is a wonderful idea. Don't you Anthony?" The way her mother called him by his middle name made Santana squirm unpleasantly. It was far too intimate for the estranged couple.

Her father gave a gruff 'humph'.

"Very well. Next Saturday, it is then. Dinner will start promptly at 7 o'clock pm."

The rest of dinner when by quietly. Their mother attempted to ease the tension by making small talk, but Santana didn't feel as though she could stomach another bite. She wanted nothing more than to disappear into her room and never come out. The brother and sister both helped their mother clear the table while Navarro retreated to the living room to catch up on local news.

"Sorry San. I'll make it up to you I promise." Roman whispered in her ear, but she didn't want to hear it.

"It's whatever. May I go now?" She shot snidely at her mother who was pouring a glass of after dinner wine. Maria waved her off and Santana darted up the stairs to her bedroom and slammed the door. She pulled off the suffocating evening dress as though it were a symbol for everything wrong with her life.

She threw herself back down onto her bed and fought back the tears welling up in her eyes. How the hell was she suppose to convince Puck, the biggest play boy perv. in school, to pretend to be her boyfriend? Not to mention have him act as though he actually had manners. She pulled a pillow over her head and groaned as loud as she could.

After a few calming breaths she finally decided to find a distraction. Santana reached over and flipped through the phone she had ignored all day. As expected there were several missed texts from various Cheerios and Quinn. They all pretty much said the same thing: Oakwood needed to be taken down. However the last text caught her eye.

Quinn: Also will I be seeing you at Church tomorrow? We can talk about what we plan to do as payback then.

"Fuck" She had nearly forgotten the second part of her weekend tradition.

San: Yea, I'll be there, but I won't be able to talk long. I have to go to my gran's house after church for lunch.

Quinn: Shit I forgot you do that. I thought you only go once every two weeks? Didn't you go last week?

San: No, you're thinking the week before.

Quinn: Alright. We'll figure something out.

San: Sounds good.

Talking to Quinn had never been easy, but after harboring a hopeless crush on the girl for the last few years seemed to make it a little easier. As time wore on Santana had given up pretty much any hope of being truly noticed by her. After all head cheerleaders didn't just drop their popularity to run away with closeted dykes or at least they didn't in Lima, Ohio.

Santana shut her lights off and lay in bed thinking again about the beautiful blonde she had met the other day. She wished for a name or something to call the girl by or a way to find her on facebook. So now you're an Internet stalker? Perfect. Santana thought bitterly to she knew it Santana had fallen asleep with dreams of the strange girl she had met only days ago.

A/N: Unlike my other stories this is more of a slow burn. It's not going to be super angsty or anything (unlike my other work). I really wanted to focus on the internal struggle, family, and the little moments. There will be outside forces against Santana as well as internal ones. There will be religious and body image talk so if those offend you I'd stop reading now. Not sure how long this story will be so I hope you guys are cool with just sitting back and enjoying the ride. That being said thank you for all your wonderful comments on the first chapter.