A/N: Sorry this took so long. I took a little break from writing this weekend and this chapter didn't turn out to be nearly as long as I thought it would, I ended up editing out some unnecessary things. Anyway, next chapter is going to be another fairly short one and should be up sometime in the next couple days. I can't believe this is Chapter 13... That's crazy. Thanks so so much to everyone who is still reading and reviewing :D!
"We're not picking up Santana again are we," my father said as we sat with my mother in the back of the limo, en route to pick up Rachel. "Because after the fiasco that happened last time, I am a little weary of bringing her again."
"No," I sighed, remembering how Santana had gotten into a fight with a waiter the last time over a mixed up drink order, ending in me dragging her out of the club while she continued to scream out Spanish profanities, "We're picking up Rachel."
"The Broadway starlet," my mother questioned, looking up from her cue cards outlining her acceptance speech.
"Future," I nodded, as she smiled and turned to my father excitedly.
"I caught them in the pool together, the other day, I told you about that," she said, poking him in the chest with the stack of cue cards.
"First I'm hearing of this," he shrugged at her.
"I know I told you," my mother concluded, but turned back to her speech.
"Any history of insanity with this girl," he asked, for the most part I knew he was joking, but since he had issues with Santana on many different occasions in the past, I knew that he was still expecting an answer.
I thought about it for a moment and realized I wasn't too sure how to answer. Rachel definitely had her moments, like sending Sunshine to a crack house because she was afraid of her talent, or we all heard about the time that she had the major crush on Mr. Schue and showed up to his house uninvited, even cooking dinner and cleaning his bathroom. She had stormed out of Glee rehearsals more times than not and her fashion sense alone could have her committed, but getting to know Rachel, I had learned to adore the quirks that everyone else teased and loathed her for. Even her bossiness and control issues were no longer a problem, but maybe that was because I had noticed that when we were alone, not only was I able to be myself, an entirely different person from who the world knew, but Rachel was different too. She tended to relinquish the control, when we were together, that she usually fought so hard for with everyone else at school, and that made me feel special, like she trusted me enough to let her barriers down.
"Do I have a history of insanity," I asked my father, smartly avoiding the question, because what teenage girl wasn't insane in the eyes of a middle aged man?
My father smirked back and gave me a wink, "That old smarts is in there somewhere, Britt."
I shrugged and turned my attention outside the window, seeing the sign for Rachel's street pass, I began to feel my stomach flutter as we neared her house. It was silly to feel like this, we'd hung out a lot now and had even gotten our first date out of the way, but maybe the butterflies were what you were supposed to feel when you were with the right person. I had been with so many people, but always felt so empty. I thought I had felt something with Santana and maybe if she had accepted me it would've grown into something real, but the feelings that I got with Rachel, they didn't feel like they grew over time. It felt more like I got hit by a freight train of emotions one day, like I woke up and everything was completely different and somehow everything that annoyed me about her before were now my favourite things. Maybe she worked some kind of voodoo on me.
The limo stopped on Rachel's driveway and I could hear the thundering of my heart in my ears as I waited for the chauffeur to cross over to my side and open the door. I took a deep breath and let it out as I stepped out of the limo and heard my mother call out, "No dottling, dear. We're already running behind."
I found myself taking more slow deep breaths as I smoothed down my lime green halter cut gown that feathered to cream coloured at the bottom. It was fairly simple design with a quite low neckline, revealing more than enough cleavage, and a diamond broach in the middle, just below my breasts. I finished the dress off with a pair of matching lime green sandals with two inch heels. I had tried to stay away from heels that were too large so I wouldn't be towering over Rachel while we were there, but I couldn't bring myself to wear flats with the beautiful gown, it just didn't feel right. I left my hair down, against my mother's gentle prodding to wear it in an up-do that was usually required at these events, but Rachel liked it down, and I liked Rachel.
No sooner had I pressed the doorbell when the door swung open and Leroy's smiling face greeted me, "Well don't you just look like a perfect angel."
I gave him a little curtsy and laughed as he ushered me into the house continuing to speak before I could get a word out, "Just wait until you see Rachel. She looks absolutely like a real princess."
"I told her she should wear one of her tiaras, but she refused," Hiram added, as we walked into the living room.
"Where is she," I asked, peering into their kitchen as I passed the doorway hoping to catch a glimpse of her.
"You know, Rachel," Leroy chuckled, rolling his eyes, "She had to go back upstairs to make her grand entrance down the staircase."
"Why do you have to embarrass me so much," Rachel's shrill voice called from upstairs.
"It's our job as fathers," Hiram called back to her and I smiled at them. I hated to admit it, but I was quite jealous of their family dynamic. Maybe Rachel was tired of being smothered by them, but it had to be nice knowing someone was always there for you and they looked like they loved her so much. I knew my parents loved me, but I never saw them enough to feel it.
Suddenly Rachel appeared at the top of the stairs, angrily folding her arms across her chest and growling as she stomped down the stairs, "You've ruined it now! It was going to be a perfect moment from an old movie and now-"
Rachel froze three steps from the bottom as I walked closer to the stairs. I knew that with Kurt picking out her clothing again I would be blown away, I was even prepared for possible drool, but still all that preparation was not enough, because suddenly I felt as if someone had knocked the air right out of me. Her dress was cream coloured, matching perfectly with the bottom of mine, and strapless with a thick band of embroidered sparkles just below the bust, the material draping down to her toes where matching sandals were decorated with even more sparkles and peeked out beneath her dress. She was wearing long Audrey Hepburn style gloves, matching the dress, that went up her arms past her elbows and really did give her look that old movie feel. She had straightened the curls from her hair, leaving most of it down except for two thin braids on each side of her head that were tied together at the back and more simple white gold jewelry that made her sparkle all over. Her fathers were right, add one of her tiaras and she was a princess, or maybe even a beautiful look for her wedding day. The image of me standing at the altar in a tux and her walking down the aisle in that dress appeared in my head and yeah that was how I would want her to look. Also, I could totally rock a top hat and coat tails.
"Brittany," she gasped, tearing me back to reality and I realized that I was in fact drooling. "You look beautiful."
Did I? I forgot I was even dressed out of the ordinary. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't find the word that meant a million times more than stunning or gorgeous or breathtaking or anything, so I simply took another step towards her, slowly raised one of her gloved hands in mine and gently placed a kiss to the back of it. My eyes never left hers as I did and her mouth had fallen open slightly as if she was in a trance.
I heard a clicking noise from behind me and Hiram's voice broke through the silence, "That one's going on the wall."
Rachel and I both broke from the spell as we turned to look, I had completely forgotten that her dads were even in the room, and found Hiram holding a large camera in his hands, while Leroy looked at the screen over his shoulder to see the photo he had just taken. I felt myself blush, realizing how cheesy the motion had just been, but suddenly his words sunk into my head and all I could feel was honoured. Looking around at all the pictures the Berry's had in their living room, the majority were of Rachel by herself and the only other pictures that had other people in them, were ones of her with her dads. There weren't any pictures of her with Finn or Jesse or Mercedes, no childhood friends, no one else and yet second date and I was already being welcomed onto the wall.
Was I crying?
"Brittany are you okay," Rachel asked, turning me towards her as I tried to quickly brush the embarrassing tears away. I forced a big smile and in one swift motion, wrapped my arms around her waist and swung her around, lifting her from the stairs and putting her down on the floor at my level, all the while I could hear the familiar clicking noise in the background that was making my heart tighten.
I leaned in towards her so I could whisper in her ear, "Whatever happens in the future, I will always look back on this moment to remember how perfect everything can be."
I kissed her cheek quickly as I pulled back from her, her eyes sparkling along with her dress as a sweet smile formed on her glossy lips.
"Alright girls, turn this way," Leroy said and I immediately turned towards them, feeling Rachel's eyes lingering on me a moment longer before she finally turned towards her dads. Her arms wrapped tightly around my waist and her head rested against my arm as Hiram took more pictures.
"Our carriage awaits," I said to Rachel, when Hiram had finally stopped taking pictures and Leroy had left the room complaining about something in his eyes.
Rachel raised an eyebrow as if she was half expecting a horse drawn carriage to be waiting outside her house and I laughed and corrected, "Okay, our limo awaits. And so do my parents so we should probably hurry."
"Limo," Rachel asked in disbelief as she waved to her parents and we headed towards the front door.
"Didn't I tell you that," I joked, knowing full-well I hadn't told her, and opened the door.
She stepped out of the house first and stopped at the sight of the limo in the driveway and chauffeur waiting patiently by the door to open it for us, "You most certainly did not."
"Don't get too excited," I laughed, holding her hand as I led her to the car, "my parents are inside."
Just before we got to the car, as the chauffeur was opening the door, Rachel tugged on my hand, forcing me to turn back towards her.
"What's wrong," I asked when I caught sight of the worried look on her face.
Her eyes looked past me at the open door and she leaned in and whispered, "What if they don't like me?"
"Who doesn't like Rachel Berry," I scoffed and then added, "Besides, you're not Santana. They'll love you."
I loved how I could make Rachel smile like she was now. Just a simple phrase and I could bring back that grin that could light up the Arctic in the winter.
I moved to let Rachel into the car first, but her nerves got the best of her and she practically pushed me into the open door, with her following timidly behind.
"Dad, this is Rachel," I announced, once the chauffeur had closed the door behind us and my father leaned across the car so that he could shake her hand.
"Strong handshake for such a petite girl," he noted and in that moment I knew she had managed to impress him already, without even saying a word.
"Thank you," and suddenly all the confidence was back in Rachel, "My dads always believe that a firm handshake is a good foundation to a future relationship."
"Dads," he questioned, "As in you have more then one?"
Rachel looked towards me, silently questioning if my parents were going to react badly, but I nodded her on, urging her to continue.
"Yes," she responded, holding her chin up, "I have two gay dads."
"Wonderful," my dad nodded, clapping his hands together, "They must be pretty excited about the legalization of gay weddings in New York."
"Yes," she smiled and I don't think even she was ready for such a welcoming response, "However, they will be much happier when it is legalized all over America."
"Of course," he said and then leaned over to give her knee a firm poke, "But we still have a lot of work to do."
"We," Rachel asked, her brow furrowed as she turned towards me.
"My parents are heavily involved in the LGBT community," I explained pointing towards my mother, "She's actually getting an award for all her community service and volunteer work with the Ohio chapter."
Rachel looked completely stunned and I think she was so used to being met with negativity towards her parents and family situation her whole life that she was surprised to find people that immediately accepted it.
"That's very commendable," Rachel said slowly, her eyes falling back to me for support.
"My father had a brother who committed suicide in his teens because of the harassment he was forced to endure," I explained, while my father nodded. It wasn't a hidden family secret, my father spoke out about it to the public whenever he could, making sure to get the awareness out there in the hopes that one day no more families will have to go through the same pain that he went through.
"Our family is all about accepting people for who they are and not trying to change them," my mother said, keeping her eyes on the cue cards as she continued to mumble her speech.
Suddenly I felt a hand moving along my thigh and I realized Rachel was blindly trying to find my hand as the shock still coursed through her body. I took her hand, interlacing our fingers and giving it a squeeze as the information she had just been given sunk in to her.
"So you wouldn't care if Brittany was gay," Rachel questioned boldly, and for some reason I couldn't help blushing.
"Brittany is who she is," my father answered, his face serious, "As long as she's happy, I don't care who it's with."
Rachel relaxed back into the seat as her eyes fell to the floor of the car and a smile spread across her lips. I knew what she was thinking. We may have problems at school, but both of our homes will always be a safe haven for our relationship.
As the limo pulled into the long driveway of the country club, a knot tightened in my stomach as I saw a couple of girls walking up the steps with their families. They were Cheerios and I knew them well. In all the excitement, I hadn't even thought about all the people from school that would be at this dinner, watching Rachel and I together and rushing home to report back to everyone they knew. I knew that by the end of the night, Santana and Quinn would both be entirely aware that I had brought Rachel with me. Quinn I wasn't so worried about, but Santana was ready to turn into the She-Hulk when she found out about the tutoring. I couldn't even imagine her reaction when she found out Rachel had taken her place as my guest.
"You okay," Rachel whispered, giving my hand a gentle squeeze and I turned my attention from the window to look at her.
"Just a bit of a headache," I lied, trying to bury my fears because I knew there was no possible way I could turn back now.
"I know the cure," Rachel whispered, glancing up to judge how much time we had before we got to the door and realizing we were a few seconds away she said, "I'll fix you when we get seated."
I gave her a puzzled look, wondering what could possibly be her cure for a headache when I clearly could not see a bottle of Tylenol hidden anywhere in her dress, but was instantly distracted as the chauffeur pulled open my door for me. I stepped out, looking around the area to see if I could spot anyone I knew from school and when I didn't, I offered Rachel my arm when she stepped our of the car. I knew she loved the small old fashioned gestures. Maybe we were two girls in princess dresses, but that didn't mean I couldn't add a little old fashioned romance into the mix.
Her hand gripped my arm and I didn't wait for my parents to get out before we began up the stairs and into the building. A man dressed in a very smart looking tux greeted us at the door and waited a second for my parents to follow in behind us as he led us to the head table.
"This is where we're sitting," Rachel whispered to me as he pulled out our seats for us.
"My parents practically own the country club," I whispered back, sitting down in the seat.
"What does your dad do again," she asked, her eyes scanning the ballroom at all the people that were sitting at their tables.
"He's the president of the largest insurance company in Ohio," I said, leaning back as the man laid the napkin in my lap. He turned to Rachel but she was leaning against the table watching the people and oblivious to him.
"Rach," I said, calling her attention and she finally noticed the man was trying to put the napkin in her lap and she sat up quickly, blushing slightly.
"Sorry," she apologized and when he left she leaned back in towards me, "I think those are Cheerios over there."
I followed her gaze and saw the two girls I had seen earlier staring towards us and whispering to each other.
"I know," I sighed, dropping my eyes to the table and wondering if I could slide under the white tablecloth and hide there for the rest of the night.
Rachel noticed my disappointment and said, "How's that headache?"
"It's getting worse," I groaned, chancing another glance at the Cheerios who were throwing disgusted looks at us.
Then, Rachel was removing her gloves, tugging at each finger before finally pulling them off completely and placed them on the table. She took my hand closest to her, holding it in her lap below the table, and began to use her thumbs to knead the flesh on the heel of my hand, pressing them in a circular motion. Her thumbs slowly moved around the palm of my hand before smoothing out each finger separately and then moving back to my palm. The sensation was amazing and all I could do was sit there and stare at my hand as this incredible feeling shot through my body. I had no idea that someone massaging your hand in this way could make you feel so good.
"How's your headache," Rachel asked again after a few minutes had gone by.
"What headache," I asked lazily and she gave me a smile as she placed my hand back in my own lap. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
"My dads used to massage my palms when I got headaches when I was little," she shrugged, "Something about distracting the mind so you're not thinking about the pain."
I was staring at her. I couldn't tell you what the look on my face was, but inside my head all I could think of was how did no one else see how truly wonderful she was? I wished everyone else could see her like I did.
Dinner came and went and was uneventful except for a frightened Rachel when she heard that they were serving steak. Before she managed to get too worked up I was able to assure her that I had put her down for the vegan dinner ahead of time and after she settled down she couldn't get over how sweet it was that I remembered. I thought that was silly, of course I remembered that she was a vegan, but apparently the others she dated, namely Finn, seemed to forget this little fact on an hourly basis, even trying to feed her a meatball once which caused her to shudder at the memory.
After dinner my mother was called up to accept her award and say her speech, which went on way too long in my opinion, and then after that the music started up for people to dance. It was all waltzes and classical music and all those kinds of dances that you needed a partner to dance with. I saw Rachel watching the couples with such envy and I could see it in her eyes that she was dying to go up there. I was still having trouble with the fact that Cheerios members were here watching us and I had completely ruled dancing out until I saw Rachel's wistful gaze. I so badly needed everything to go perfect for her so I sucked up all my courage and stood up from my chair, holding out my hand towards her and looking into her eyes as I said, "May I have this dance?"
Rachel bit down on her lip as she smiled and took my hand with a nod, "You may."
I led her to the middle of the dance floor, hoping some of the other couples would provide us with enough camouflage, pressing one hand to the curve of her hip as her hand rested on the side of my upper arm, and our other hands clasped together. Our bodies were an arms length away and I figured as long as we stayed at this distance we wouldn't have any problems and with the amount of smiles and laughs Rachel was letting out as we circled around the dance floor, it seemed it was all worth it.
Suddenly the waltz ended and the string band began to play a slow song. Before I could decide whether it would be best if we moved off the floor or not, Rachel had decided for us as she moved in against me, resting her head against my chest and pulling our clasped hands in against our bodies. I wrapped the hand that was on her hip around the small of her back, holding her tightly against me as I closed my eyes and we swayed to the gentle melody. It was like something out of a storybook. So perfect, so amazing, so wonderful and all those fears I had had before vanished because once again Rachel was in my arms and I was invincible.
"What are you doing, Brittany," I heard an obnoxious voice lash out from beside me, ripping away my perfect moment and reminding me that I'm not invincible. The two Cheerios girls had come on to the dance floor and were staring at us with their arms folded across their chests like mirror images of each other. "You do realize who you're dancing with don't you?"
I didn't even think before 'Stupid Brittany' switched on and answered the question for me, "My mom says it's important to do community service."
Suddenly the soft, gentle hands that had been caressing me, pressed harshly to my shoulders as Rachel shoved me backwards with all her strength. I stumbled back and turned towards her just in time to see her run into a waiter, knocking him off his feet like a football player, on her sprint out of the country club. I looked over at the Cheerios who were smirking and sneered angrily at them, "What makes you think you're so special?"
I didn't wait for an answer as I took off after Rachel, leaping over the still fallen waiter as I ran faster than probably I ever had in my life. When I got to the door Rachel was demanding that the valet call her a cab and tears were streaming down her face. My heart broke because once again it was my fault.
When she saw I had followed her out, she quickly began to run down the stairs to get away from me but I wasn't giving up.
"Rachel stop," I pleaded, causing people who had gathered outside to have their after dinner cigarettes to stare at the commotion I was making. I didn't care.
"No," Rachel yelled back, continuing her descent down the stairs.
"Please, Rach," I continued and the fear in my heart that I was losing her drove me to move faster than I ever had. I grabbed hold of her wrist when we got to the bottom of the stairs and I turned her to face me, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
"I understand having to hide our relationship," Rachel spat, "for now, anyway, but I can't handle you making fun of me and talking about me like that to other people. You're supposed to care about me. Do you even know how much it hurts to hear you talk about me like that?"
"Please stop crying," I said, trying to brush away her tears with my fingers but she turned her face away from me when I tried to touch her. "How can I fix this?"
Rachel was quiet for a moment, her eyes like steel as they bore into mine with her jaw clenched and finally after a full minute she said, "Go back in there and kiss me."
"What," I answered, completely shocked, not even close to anything I had imagined her saying.
"You heard me," she said, determination filling her voice.
"I can't," I whispered in defeat.
Rachel ripped her wrist from grasp and tried to turn away but I grabbed on to her again, turning her to face me.
"I can't not just because of the Cheerios watching us or all those other people, but because if I take you back in there and I kiss you because you told me to, it would ruin it," I said softly, hoping she would be able to see that I had never held out for anyone before as long as I had with her, even if that was only a week and a half, I usually had sex on the first date no questions asked. I needed this kiss to mean something. "Do you really want our first kiss to be like that?"
I could see her thinking it over, but when a couple minutes went by and she was still staring at me I sighed and turned towards the door, dragging her with me.
"W-Where are we going," she asked, her voice sounding frantic as she tried to pull back away from me.
"I'm giving you what you want," I said, turning towards her again, "If that's what you want, if that's what you need then fine. I'd give you anything, Rachel. I just didn't think you'd ask for it all so soon."
"No," she whispered, her voice quivering as she began to sob, "I don't want that. I just don't want to be hurt by you anymore."
I cradled her face in my hands kissing her forehead before looking her in the eyes, "I promise. I promise that was the last time."
We were quiet for a moment, her face in my hands as she stared up at me, with tears still rolling down her cheeks that I brushed away every so often with my thumbs.
"You know you can kiss me," she whispered finally, her eyes dropping to my lips and then back up to my eyes.
I gave her a lopsided smile and pressed a long kiss to the tip of her nose, "Not yet. Now come on back in and dance with me."
Rachel glanced around at the crowd that had begun to form outside, watching our outburst and then noticed the cab coming up the drive.
"I can't," she said, shaking her head and trying to wipe her tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands, "I've embarrassed myself enough tonight."
"No, you didn't," I pleaded, wrapping my arms around her waist in an attempt to get her to stay, but she pushed my hands away.
"I'm tired," she said sadly, opening the door to the cab and getting in, "I think I just want to go home to sleep."
I caught hold of the door before she could close it and asked desperately, "Are we okay?"
She nodded back, pulling the door from my hold and closing it, but the look in her eyes made me question it. She rolled down the window and gave me a forced smile.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow."