Chapter 28 - Hometown Tour
"Are you ready?"
"Yes. But where are you taking me?"
"You will see soon enough."
"Can't I at least have a clue?"
"Nope. No clues."
"Oh come on. Just a tiny one maybe."
"Um let me think about it. Nope."
Santana sat in the passenger seat of the Pierce family car unaware of where Brittany might be taking her. All she knew was the they were going on a 'Hometown Tour' today. Brittany wouldn't tell her anything else.
When Brittany stopped the car Santana looked around. They where in the parking lot of a little strip mall. "Where are we?" She asked.
"Come on." Brittany instructed as she got out of the car. Santana opened her door and made her way to the front of the vehicle where Brittany was waiting for her. Brittany held out her hand for Santana to take. The brunette took it and they started walking towards the building. Santana read the names on the signs above all of the stores.
They walked past a few before going into one called Carl's Confectionery. As the door shut behind them Santana looked around at all of the goodies. Brittany leaned into Santana. "We're here to see a buddy of mine." She whispered into Santana's ear. The brunette nodded in understanding. "And if there is anything you want just let me know." Brittany took a step pulling Santana along behind her.
The Latina couldn't get over how much candy there was surrounding herself. "Wow." She said under her breath. Brittany heard it though and squeezed Santana's hand and turned around to smile at her.
They walked up to the counter and Brittany asked the guy behind it if Carl was in. The twenty-some year old nodded and told her he would go get him. The guy disappeared to the back of the store and Brittany looked around for a moment before she saw him out of the corner of her eye. She dropped Santana's hand and moved around behind the counter and wrapped the man up in a big hug.
Santana watched dumbfounded. Here was her girlfriend hugging an old man. If she had to guess she would probably say that he was in his sixties or early seventies. He was bald on the top of his head. The rest of his hair was white and he had a big bushy beard. He wore glasses and his pants were held up with a pair of suspenders.
"Carl how have you been since I've last seen you? You look fabulous I might add." Brittany spoke enthusiastically.
Fabulous. Santana thought. Interesting choice of words. He doesn't look to fabulous to me. He just looks like an old man. I wonder if he's got any of those Ring Pops here. Santana wandered off in search of Ring Pops.
Carl looked her up and down once taking in her appearance. It had only been since Thanksgiving since they had last seen each other but a lot had happened since then. "What happen to your arm?" Carl asked seeing the cast on Brittany's wrist.
"Oh well it's kind of a long story." Brittany told him.
"Well I got time dear." He returned.
"Ok well on my way back to New York after Thanksgiving I was in a car accident. It was pretty bad. I was in the hospital for like four days."
"Oh my goodness. That serious huh?"
Brittany nodded before continuing. "Yeah it was pretty bad. I was unconscious for almost a whole day. I was pretty beat up. The car hit me right in the driver's side door. I have this broken wrist as you can see and I have broken ribs. My spleen was damaged in the crash and they had to remove it. But other than a lot of bad bruises that was it, thankfully."
"Wow. My dear girl that sounds like quite the ordeal."
"It was. The hardest part was not being able to do anything. I couldn't dance. That was really hard."
"So how is Jerry? Is he doing alright?" Brittany asked eager to change the subject.
"Oh yes he is fine. He had a doctors appointment the other day and we found out that he has high cholesterol but other than that he is his usual stubborn self. You know how he is." Brittany nodded in agreement. She knew Jerry and knew just how stubborn he could be sometimes. "So what about you? The last time you were here you were telling me about a girl you met, were dating."
Brittany looked around suddenly remembering that she had brought Santana with her. She couldn't spot the brunette from where she was standing though. "Santana." Brittany called out through the store. When she didn't get a response right away Brittany tried again. "Santana."
Santana popped out from around the end of an isle a second later. She walked up to the counter with a Ring Pop in just about every flavor. "What is it Brittany? You said I could pick out something so that's what I was doing." She set the candies down on the counter and looked between Brittany and Carl. "What?" She said confused as to why both of them where looking at her with weird smiles on there faces.
Brittany motioned with her finger for Santana to come near her. The Latina walked around the counter suddenly slightly nervous as to what was going on. She stood awkwardly next to Brittany. "Carl this is my girlfriend Santana." Brittany said with a brilliant smile as she put a hand on Santana's shoulder. Santana nervously held out her hand for Carl to shake.
Carl made eye contact with Santana before taking her hand in his own. The brunette was expecting the man to shake her hand. Instead he turned her hand and pulled it up towards his face. He leaned down and kissed the back of Santana's hand gently. "It's very nice to meet you Santana. Brittany has told me a lot about you." He said as he let go of her hand.
"It- it's nice to meet you too even though I've never heard about you." She said a little baffled. She looked to Brittany for guidance.
"This is Carl. I've known him since I was about five. My dad would bring me here once a week when I was little. Me and Carl got along from the first time we met. My dad thought it was weird but he kept bringing me back every week." Brittany explained smiling at the memory. "Anyway as I got older and things changed I would come to Carl for advice. I could talk to him about anything. Stuff I didn't know how to talk to my parents about yet. I would come in once a week and we would discuss everything that was happening in my life." Brittany finished sharing a warm smile with Carl.
"Really? Wow." Santana looked between the two of them again not really believing what Brittany had just said.
"Yep. It's true. Me and Brittany go way back." Carl added hoping to convince Santana.
"Yeah he was the first person I told that I think I liked girls." She said knowing that that would probably convince Santana of the kind of relationship she had with Carl. Santana's eyes went wide. "I told him and we talked it over and he helped me through it." Brittany looked at Carl before she said what she was going to say next. "He's the first gay guy that I ever met. I didn't know it back then. I didn't figure it out until I was a junior in high school. He never told me. He always let me figure everything out for myself. He just helped me out along the way with whatever it was. He gave me all the clues that I need to figure any situation out without telling me what to do." She smiled at him again. "He's really a great guy. I don't know what I would have done without him." She took a step and gave Carl a big hug.
They pulled back from one another and Carl looked over at Santana. She was standing there seemingly a little dazed trying to process all of this new information. He spoke to her. "I know this all might seem a little strange to you right now and that you don't know me. But when Brittany was here at Thanksgiving she couldn't stop talking about you. So I told her when she came for Christmas that she needed to bring you with her. And now, here you are. I just needed to meet the woman that has my dear Brittany all head over heels for." Santana nodded at what he was saying but didn't know what to respond with so she didn't she anything.
"Well." Brittany said looking at Santana. "We should probably get going we have a few other places to go today." They all walked back around the counter. Carl gave Brittany one final hug before he returned to the backside of the counter.
Santana went over to where she had set the Ring Pops down on the counter. She looked up at Carl who was now standing across from her. "How much do I owe you for these?" She asked. Carl shook his head and chuckled at the Latina.
"They're on the house my dear." He looked from Santana to Brittany.
The blonde chuckled too. "I told you to pick something out and let me know. But I didn't say anything about buying it, did I?" Brittany gave Santana a goofy smile. "Grab the candy and lets go." She added.
Santana looked down at her feet before reached out and stuffing the candy into her pockets. "Thanks Carl." She said looking up to him and then over to Brittany.
"No problem darling. Anytime." He said.
"I will try and come see you again before we head back to New York. Thanks for everything Carl." Brittany gave the old man a tight lipped smile and nod like she did at the end of every conversation they had.
"Ok. Bye ladies." Carl said waving his hand at them.
Brittany turned and held her hand out for Santana. "Ready to go babe. I've got more people for you to meet." Santana gave Brittany a small smile and took her hand as they exited the store.
Brittany pulled the car into a parking space outside a dance studio. She looked over to Santana in the passengers seat. The brunette was looking out the front windshield. Brittany waited for her to say something.
"A dance studio Brittany. I thought we were going to see more people not dance." Santana locked eyes with Brittany as she finished speaking.
Brittany shook her head. "Maybe we can do I little of both."
"Oh." Was all Santana said before Brittany was getting out of the car. Santana followed. They walked together into the studio. There didn't seem to be anyone around. They're weren't any classes taking place. But that was expected seeing as it was the week between Christmas and New Years.
"Hello." Brittany called out. "Anybody here."
Brittany looked around the room for any indication of human life. She saw a bag sitting on the floor across the room. She grabbed Santana hand. "Come on." They started walking to the back of the room.
Brittany knew this place very well. The dance studio was were she grew up. It's were she fell in love with dancing.
They reached the back of the room and Brittany let go of Santana's hand and peeked around a corner. She turned back to Santana was a playful smile on her face. "Stay here for a sec." She whispered. Santana nodded her head. She didn't know what crazy idea Brittany had in her head so she just let her do her thing.
Brittany walked as quietly as she could around the corner. Behind the wall was another room. It was not as big as the main dance floor but was a smaller more private dance floor. Somewhere one could work out a routine without anyone else seeing.
Sitting on the floor facing away from Brittany was a woman who was in her mid-forties. She had headphones on and she had her eyes closed. She was obviously concentrating on the music playing in her ears and the dance routine that was most likely floating around in her head.
Brittany slowly approached the woman from behind. When she was directly behind the woman she tapped her on the top of the head with her index finger. The startled woman spun around with frightened eyes. Brittany chuckled at the woman and how scared she got.
Once the woman figured out who the person was who had scared her a bright smile played on her face. She jumped to her feet, in front of Brittany, and wrapped the blonde up in a big hug.
"Brittany what are you doing here?" She pulled out of the hug and looked the blonde up and down. "And what happened to your wrist?"
"Well hello to you too Joan." She said raising an eyebrow at the woman before flashing her teeth with a happy smile. "I just came to visit. I hope that's ok. You looked kinda busy."
"It's fine. I was just working on something. But it can wait. It's been forever since I've seen you."
"Yeah I know. I came home for Thanksgiving but when I stopped by the studio wasn't open. So… yeah." Brittany scratched the back of her neck with her right hand. She knew it had been a long time and she sort of felt guilty about that.
"So you gonna tell me what's up with the cast?" Joan asked since Brittany hadn't giving her an answer.
"Well it's sort of a long story. But I was in a car accident. I broke my wrist and a couple of ribs and it was bad. But I'm almost better now. Cast should come off in a few weeks."
"Wow, well I'm glad that you're gonna be ok Brittany." She let out a relieved sigh. "So since I haven't seen you in such a long time why don't you fill me in on what's been going on in your life lately?"
A crooked smile appeared on Brittany's face. The smile that she always had when she thought about Santana. She thought for a second about the beautiful brunette, that she had brought with her today, who was waiting in the other room. She thought about why she wanted to came to the studio today. She thought about the question Joan asked her. 'What's been going on in your life?' The answer to that question was simply summed up with one word, one name.
"Earth to Brittany." Joan said waving her hand in front of Brittany's face.
"Santana." Brittany whispered.
Joan pulled a confused face. She didn't recognize that name. "Brittany?" She said again in an attempt to pull Brittany from whatever was going on in her head.
"Huh?" Brittany finally caught on.
"What's up with you right now? I ask you what's going on in your life and you zone out for a minute and then whisper some name that I don't recognize."
"Oh sorry. You want to know what's going on with me. Well I can sum it all up with one word. Santana." That crooked smile reappeared as she continued. "And I brought her with me." Brittany turned away from Joan and skipped over to the entrance to the room. She peeked around the corner and saw Santana leaning up against the wall.
Santana spun her head to look at Brittany when she noticed the presence of someone next to her. "Hi." Brittany giggled as she held out her hand for Santana to take.
"Hey you." Santana answered back.
"Come with me." Brittany added tugging on Santana's hand.
The two girls entered the room smiling goofily at each other. Bringing a new life and energy into the room.
Joan's jaw just about fell to the floor. Yeah she knew that Brittany's sexuality was fluid but she never imagined seeing what she was seeing at that very moment. Seeing the way they looked at each other. Seeing their body language. Seeing the way they held each others hand like it was the most precious thing in the world. Seeing how happy both of them seemed to be. But mostly seeing how in love they were. It was obvious to anyone who had two eyes and a brain.
"Joan." Brittany spoke looking in the older women's direction. "I would like you to meet someone." She said as they approached Joan.
"This is my girlfriend, Santana. She has been what is happening in my life." Brittany said winking at Santana.
Santana extended her hand so that she could shake Joan's. But before she knew it Joan had the brunette wrapped up in a hug. A little shocked Santana looked over to Brittany who had let go of her hand. With a nod Brittany encouraged Santana to hug back. She wrapped her arms around Joan and gave her a quick squeeze. Brittany smiled from ear to ear.
Joan took a step back. She looked over Santana before she looked over to Brittany. "Well that sure does explain your behavior before." She chuckled. Brittany blushed as Santana looked to Brittany not sure what she missed.
Joan addressed Santana. "It seems that you have Ms. Brittany here in some sort of blissful fantasy life." Santana shrugged her shoulders not sure how to respond to that comment.
Brittany cut in though. "You're wrong." Joan looked at her with confusion and Santana turned her head curious as to what Brittany was about to say. "It's no fantasy. It's real life. And it couldn't be better." She said with a proud smile. Santana smiled at Brittany before she took a step towards her so she could reach up and place a cute little kiss on her cheek.
Santana pulled away and started to take a step backwards but Brittany caught her before she could. The blonde wrapped her arm around Santana's shoulder pulling her tight into her side. "Santana this is my dance teacher Joan." She began. She wanted to explain why they had come to the studio and why she wanted Santana to meet Joan. "I started dance class with her when I was five years old. It all started there. My love for dance. I learned so much from this woman. She inspired me everyday of my life. I literally grew up here. This place is very important to me. It's where it all started for me."
Brittany looked between Santana and Joan. Santana nodded when Brittany looked to her. And when Brittany looked at Joan she could see a tear in the corner of her eye. She let go of Santana and took a few step until she reached her dance teacher and pulled her in for a hug. "I didn't mean to make you cry." She whispered in Joan's ear.
"It's alright Brittany really. I'm just so happy for you. You seem to have everything you ever wanted. You work doing what you love. You have your own studio. You're happy. You found love." She leaned back so she could see into Brittany's eyes. "It's just so great."
Brittany gave her a warm smile. "It is great." They broke from there hug. "I hate to be leaving so soon but we have to get back to my parents house. They are expecting us for dinner."
"No no. Don't worry about it. It was great to see you again Brittany." She gave Brittany a genuine smile before turning to Santana. "And it was so nice meeting you Santana." She said with a nod.
"It was really nice meeting you too Joan." Santana said politely.
Brittany walked over to Santana again wrapping her arm around the brunettes shoulder and pulling her into her side. She placed a kiss to her temple as she led them out of the room. "Bye Joan." She threw over her shoulder just before they rounded the corner out of the room.
"Bye girls." Joan said as they disappeared out of the room.
They hopped in the car for the journey back to Brittany's parents house. Brittany's mother told them that they needed to be home by six for a family dinner and Brittany didn't dare be late.
