The Parent Trap
(Santana)
Sometimes I wondered if Rachel actually went to college. All though she wasn't doing a regular academic course, still reading a book or other stuffs should be part of the process, right? At least I thought the musical theater course had some theoretical thing as theater history, paradigms, semiotics and myth. You know? Guys like Adorno, Todorov, Barthes: these things that populate the human studies. The only things I saw her was doing two essays about West Side Story and the presence of the classic literature in the musical plays. She asked me to put it in the academic standards. They were well written, I must admit, but kind of shallow.
Many of the teachers had already asked for the final academic essays of the semester, and some of them planned formal tests. That was time when I stuck my nose in books and on the computer. I'd studied until the late afternoon in the library, then went home, ate something and study more until early morning. Quinn accompanied me a few nights doing her own work.
Rachel has recovered well from her emergency surgery and began rehearsing with the cast again, doing the dance scenes and everything. Paranoid the way she was, Rachel would never give chances to her understudy. In all, she made teas: she loves to spend her time in the market to choose calmly the week exotic flavors. Some of them were very good and I enjoyed the peach one, but she rarely bought it. It wasn't that she didn't like peach tea. The problem was that I liked it and often asked Rachel to make one to me. Somehow, it annoyed her. She insisted that I should try other flavors, but I liked the peach or the mate ones. They had caffeine and the taste was way batter the coffee properly.
I only took a rest of this end of semester madness when I left most of the work done before going to Lima for Thanksgiving. When we got to town yet on Tuesday, we had to deal with some news and a full schedule. The first news: papi adopted a young labrador that had been abandoned by the previous owner. It was a beautiful animal, all I wanted as a child and that Rachel's bummer not allowed. The second news was Tracy. What can I talk about it?
After papi had breakup with Shelby, he had a sporadic case with a male nurse from the hospital. I heard this by chance, but things didn't work out for some reason. Not that papi would talk to us anyway. Now he had a new affair with a massage therapist (!), Tracy. When Rachel and I got home, we were astonished to find the slut was invited by my father to join us for thanksgiving's lunch.
Tracy could only be a gold digger. The story of her life was too cliché to think otherwise: a 23 years old that recently arrived in town without much money and that was living in a small room she rent in a boarding house. She worked at the only spa in Lima, where he met papi. If my father thought I would believe this story, he was completely wrong. Here's what I really think that happened: He felt lonely and went to a strip club where he found Tracy. She gave him a lab dance and then a nice massage on his cock after some visits. Surely he liked it.
I didn't really care if my father had affairs since the breakup with Shelby. What I don't understand was why he invited some person he met less than a month to our Thanksgiving. Of course Tracy accepted because it she must be a smart girl. It's not every day you find a handsome doctor who lives alone in a big house with an adopted dog.
I hated this and I'd fight to end this story before it was too late.
…
(Quinn)
I couldn't deny that this was a different Thanksgiving. The news of my father's girlfriend changed the dynamic of things. Rachel tried to appear calm and even showed acceptance, but she fell asleep muttering, calling her father crazy. Unbelievable that she lost an opportunity to be in her old big bedroom, in her double bed, all alone with me, and didn't use it. Come on, Rachel. I hadn't have sex since she did the surgery and I know Rachel could do it at this time: we just had our periods.
As much as I wanted to, I wouldn't say a word about her family problems. Not after the numerous cuts outs that my girlfriend made regarding my opinions about her family: that it should not meddle in the subjects. Well, so let it be. I decided to only give my opinion if she asked that's why I stayed quiet about Tracy. And what I think about her and all this situation? I didn't meet Tracy yet, but Juan is needy. The fight between the Lopezes and Shelby were childish and idiot. My main concern was about Beth in the middle of it, and unfortunately I couldn't do or say anything. It was very frustrating to see my daughter and can't act like her mother because I didn't have any rights. To Beth, I was just "Kim", her sister' friend (she didn't have the age to understand right about relationships). Having a relationship with Rachel was accepting the package: all Berry-Lopezes and their problems.
I think Rachel barely heard when I said Frannie was in town and we would have lunch with her and my mother. I tried revealed the apparent disinterest she had for the Fabray subject. It was bad knowing that my girlfriend didn't care if my mother was a seamstress slightly alcoholic, or if my father was about to marry for the second time in a ceremony that I wasn't even invited. She was so absorbed in the problems of her family that there wasn't space for mines. I think that why I got to date an egocentric diva goddess.
There were times I wanted to scream in the face of everyone and tell Rachel to stop being so selfish with her problems. But then we sleep together and I could see her by my side so beautiful and peaceful, my heart beating strong and I considered myself the luckiest woman. I removed her hair from her face and kissed her. Rachel started waking up groggy way. She opened one eye, winked, rolled, and then awoke. And whenever she did it, I couldn't help but feel happy. I must be whipped.
"Good morning." I kissed her once more.
"Hi!" She looked around and searched the clock on the nightstand beside the bed. "It's nearly nine?" She frowned and sat on the bed. "We're late! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"
"Because I also woke up late."
"Oh!" She pulled the blankets off and stood up. I even allowed myself a bit of laziness. "The house is quiet..." She marveled.
"Maybe the world has succumbed to zombies apocalypse and we just escaped."
"You've been watching too much Walking Dead with Mike and Santana." She wore the robe and left the room.
I still remained in bed for a few more minuts. I was too lazy to look at all the Lopezes. Maybe I was even too lazy to meet Frannie and my mother. It was the second time that my sister returned to Lima since she moved to Austen for college. She majored in Political Science and now she was accepted in the law school, which was her goal since the beginning. My sister was a big bitch, but she was also smart and clever. My father would be proud of her for sure.
"Today we had lunch with your mother!" Rachel entered the room like she had forgotten.
"Why the astonishment?"
"Santana will take the car to lunch with Shelby." She said with disgust.
"Your home is not so far away from my mother's. We can go walking or cycling. Or ask Santana to give us a ride there before going to Dayton. I'm sure my mother or Frannie get us back at home after lunch."
All it took was a simple question to Santana nod and leave us in front of my mother's house before hitting the road to Dayton. Something told me that she had a plan to get rid of the new young stepmother. Rachel was nervous and armed. I couldn't blame her: the last time she was there was for a disastrous dinner. But a year had passed and my mother was more conformed that I am gay and have a long lasting relationship with Rachel. Things would be better this time. I held my girlfriend's hand and smiles confident before hitting the bell.
Frannie answered the door. I haven't seen my sister for years. She looks a bit older and thin, but she was still beautiful and elegant.
"If isn't it the black sheep of the family?"
"Isn't this the best sheep?" I Stressed before hugging her. "I missed you, Frann."
"Me too, Quinnie."
My mother came to the door and I freed myself from my sister to also embrace me. Rachel was close behind, suspicious and somewhat shrunken. Rachel intimidated out of environments that were strange to her and that she didn't have a roadmap to follow. There she was just my girlfriend entering the home of Fabray "vipers", as Santana said behind my back. But I brought Rachel close to me, I held her hand and introduce her to my sister before sat on the sofa. Of course Frannie knew Rachel, and Santana. She was a senior when we all were freshmen in McKinley, furthermore, she was the one who said me to throw slushie in Rachel's face for the first time. That was when that evil tradition born.
"It was a shock when Mom said you adopted the Berry-Lopez's lifestyle."
"And what style is that?" Rachel fought immediately. I squeezed her hand not to get into the game. Of course I knew Frannie would provoke a little.
"The rainbow style." Frannie simply said. "The news was more shocking than when I heard you got pregnant with Finn Hudson's child."
"Beth isn't Finn's." I opened a smile. "Mommy, didn't you tell her? The father is Noah Puckerman… well biological father, I mean." Frannie didn't know. This was clear in her expression. The communication between us was really a crap.
"Noah Puckerman? That one with a mohawk who had the ambition to sleep with every girl in school?"
"After you graduated, he joined the football team with Finn Hudson and almost fulfilled his word."
"Almost?"
"Puck literally slept with half the girls in school. True story." Rachel explained.
"Included you?"
"No. But we dated for a week and he broke up because I didn't allow him to do things as going to second base." Rachel was kind of proud. What she wasn't saying was that she tried to give her virginity to Puck for revenge when she knew Santana took Finn's virginity, but fortunately Puck refused and I was the one who took her v. card.
"How are things in New York?" Mom asked casually.
"Well The college looks fun forward our jobs." I smiled.
"Cinema is entertainment, right?" Frannie caused.
"But the work we had to do this entertainment is huge. It's a truly team work that demands money and knowledge. I will specialize in film photography that was the essential part of the production, if you don't control the light right, the movie will goes wrong. But you don't see many girls doing it or even directing. Not as much as the guys."
"Kinda sexist, hum." Frannie comment.
"Kinda."
The subject died. Then, we set the table and serve lunch. Rachel stood aside from Fabray interaction, which I considered safer because time or another, Frannie and Mom let out some torpedoes to her: comments that I couldn't control, unfortunately. Rachel was also uncomfortable. The way she looked at the clock compulsively was an explicit sign of her desire to get out of my house. Other sight was that Rachel was monosyllabic and my mom barely looked at her. So Frannie, holding a glass of wine, shot:
"Tell me, Rachel... it's true that the theater is a den of misfits, fucking-crazies and libertines? It should be hard a part of this world, right? I remember you at McKinley: so prude." She provoked and I lowered my head. Rachel was going to burst.
"Although I am aware of this popular belief, I must clarify that such stigmas are false. Theatre is an art that requires extreme discipline and physical and mental preparation. It's necessary to control the emotions so you can make a correct and organic performance true for you character. That's why we do exhaustive exercises of body expression. It's desirable to know a little psychology. Because I am musical actress, I still need to go through a diet and deprive myself of certain things to preserve my vocal skills." Frannie aroused the eloquence of Rachel. I was frozen.
"Yeah. I bet you use a lot to my sister for your physical and vocal exercises." I looked mortified to Frannie. Insinuate my sex life was a low blow.
"Certainly Quinn has much in maintaining my fitness, but being with her could harm the vocal part for making me scream at the top of my lungs, causing hoarseness right after our workouts. Yet I never dispense such moments with you sister." if the meal was represented by a cartoon, it would show Rachel had slapping in Frannie. My mother gasped. "You'd be surprised what two fingers and a tongue can do to your body." Unnecessary complement, Rachel. I took my hand to my face and braced myself for the overflow.
"Could you have the decency to leave this dirty talk off my table?" Mom snapped.
"With all due respect Mrs. Fabray, I didn't come here to fight. I am able to reveal much, but I don't have cockroach blood."
"Really?" Frannie stared at Rachel with more cynicism. "Isn't one of your parents Hispanic?"
Rachel got up from the table to try grab my sister's throat, but I held before she had a chance.
"Take that back your dazzled hillbilly!"
"Frann, please!" I begged still holding my girl tight in my arms.
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, ok. I crossed a line here." Frannie said concealment. "But looks like your little girlfriend can't take a joke."
"Don't joke about these things, ok?" I warn.
"Usted debe arder en el infierno, perra."
"Rachel!" I yelled. I know my mom didn't know Spanish, but Frannie did.
"What?" She looked at me indignantly. "I didn't say anything too!"
"Enough." Mom yelled. She was panting. All of us. She rubbed her forehead and acted like someone who desperately needs to keep perspective. "And no more sex talk on my table."
We sat in silence. Rachel forced freed my hug and she sat back down again. Frannie, disguised, seemed to want laugh, but I wasn't finding it fun. Rachel barely touch her food after the hottest discussion. I couldn't blame her: I also lost the hunger.
…
(Santana)
Okay that Shelby had her reasons when there refused papi's proposal, but I didn't think that the two were done. It wasn't right. They should've stayed together, even if not married, living as two lovers who take care of a small kid. Simple. Unfortunately it didn't happen. Request denied: broken relationship. It seems that the love life of people never fails to get complicated over the years. Not only papi was miserable to the point of getting yourself involved with a scammer: Shelby was also bad with dark eyes, got thin. My mother welcomed me with open arms, filled me with kisses and caresses. It was a strange attitude to the old bitch Shelby. Then I realized that she was also kind of needy.
"Why Rachel didn't come?" She asked trying to sound casual as she helped Beth with the food.
"Lunch at Fabray's home. With luck, she will kill one this time."
"It shouldn't cheer against your sister relationship."
"It's just that I can't help it."
"Do you dislike Quinn that much?"
"I kind of like Quinn. Incidentally, she is a saint compared to Frannie Fabray. Still, I feel that Quinn tries to control herself the entire time as she was hiding a dark side and I'm afraid of what might happen when it comes out."
"How so?"
"You know, mother. Rachel and I will be 19 next month and I can say that we do typical thing of our age. But Quinn is too responsible, too controlled. And she has moments of pop that I do get worried about my sister. I mean, I know she loves Rachel, really, but there is something about it that bothers me."
"I see there. Not wanting to defend her, but Quinn had a hard time, Santana: became pregnant at 16, being throw out of the house by her own father, then returned to a fragmented family unit. She gave up Beth, but I understand the suffering it causes. It wasn't easy to give up of you and Rachel. In the begging, when I signed those papers, I thought it would be cool to give some eggs, get pregnant, take the money and go to New York for my dream. But the pregnancy changed me. It opened an unsolved hole. The first year after your birth was the worst. That's why I understand Quinn, but I also understand why I should keep her in distance for Beth's sake. Well… don't you think you're being very protective of Rachel trying to look for a horn on the horse's head?"
"Maybe." I hushed and focused on my plate.
I noticed my mother was also tired. I thought that if she wasn't so busy with Beth and her job, maybe even let get involved with these big boys like Puck. I was so sure that she wasn't happy away from him and vice versa.
"Papi said it would be okay if you and Beth wanted to go to our Thanksgiving's lunch tomorrow." He actually said that when I played the possibility. Maybe to throw on her face that he had a young girl by his side since Shelby refused him.
"I don't think Juan will like to see me now that he got a new toy." She was bitter and I didn't blame her.
"Did you know Tracy?"
"No... but she has a Facebook profile and she don't hesitate to post some pictures with your father. You know, before, she had all these pictures with guys of her age, and now she post some with Juan saying things like: 'the man I wanna marry with.'"
"The stripper wastes no time then."
"Stripper?"
"Don't tell me you believe she is a massagist from a spa?"
"In fact, she works as a massage therapist at Lima's spa."
"You also checked this story? This is worse than I imagined."
"Pathetic, I know. I look like a cyber stalker. "
I held Shelby's hand to show my support. In this case, I was totally beside her.
"He just looked at someone like Tracy because he is miserable. You two should be together, married or not."
"Really?" The tone was ironic. "For someone who had a lasting gay marriage, your father loves vagina and boobs too much."
"Mother!" I protested and Beth was startled.
"Mama?" She Looked worried for me and Shelby. "Why Santy was angry?"
"I'm not angry, sweetie." I tried to relax my features. "Sorry. My bad."
"Honey." she cleared Beth's mouth with her napkin. "Go play in your room that shortly I'll help you brush your teeth."
We waited Beth got down her seat and run to her princess's room. I drunk the juice and looked back to the focus of the subject. My goal here wasn't only to visit my mother: I had an important agenda.
"You should get back to my father. And he is miserable too. I can have a thousand caveats about you and I have very good reasons for this, but the truth is that you and him are a great couple and you were happy together. You complete each other."
"My story with Juan is over." She said uncertainly.
"Fucking hell, mother. You still love him and he loves you too."
"Santana!" She tried to protest.
"Shelby, look at me in the eyes and tell them you no longer loves my father."
"You are calling me 'mother' only to have more appeal."
"Don't change the subject! Do you love or not my father?" I pressed.
"Yes, I love Juan. But he isn't talking to me. He only call Beth and speak with her for two minutes a week! It's frustrating!"
"So you have to go back to my father. You love each other and a 'no' can't change that!"
"I thought the same thing but I was wrong."
"He was just hurt... we all were! Rachel, mostly. But it needs to end here, before he got involved with that holster."
"Juan is an adult man."
"Yeah, but papi is emotionally fragile. Didn't you see that? He found a girlfriend because he felt terribly alone in that house. I know my father. He can be tough and strict, but he doesn't bear the loneliness."
"He has a dog named Shelry! Don't you think this is make it very clear what he thinks of me?"
"Damn it, Shelby, I thought you were more rational than he is. That scammer can't win, even if she is much more delicious and bitch than you. You know… she is a massagist! You can't leave this battle just because that bitch is an expert on cock massage."
"What?" One thing that Rachel and Shelby had in common was the taste for competition. "Are you suggesting that cow can satisfy your father better than I? You don't know me at all, Santana Berry-Lopez! Nobody can use a strap-on on your father better than me!"
"Yeah… oh… wait… what? I don't have to hear this kind of thing! God, Shelby… oh… horror visual. Now, I'm traumatized for a life." I shaked my head. That was too much! "Anyway, come to our Thanksgiving lunch and talk to him. If you two conclude that you're really done. So, that's it. But if you thing you two still have a chance. Go for it."
"Book two chairs!" That was the Shelby Corcoran I admired.
I played with Beth and talked to Shelby until late afternoon, when I hit the road back to Lima. It was only an hour drive, but I didn't want to hit the road at night. Especially because I stayed a long time without drive a car and my reflexes rusted a bit. When I returned home, my surprise: Tracy was there. She was beside papi talking to Rachel and Quinn.
"And Tracy." My father smiled at me. "This is Santana, my other daughter."
She came all smiles to give me a handshake. I smirked and looked down upon. Tracy was a pretty girl, fake blonde, obviously had silicon in the boobs, and thin. My father really should be in a midlife crisis. As a man of almost 50 years old he could get a woman half his age? Okay, not that this is necessarily surprising because it happens all the time. Mr. Weiz, for example, was more than 70 years old and he only date younger women. Of course, he has money and can buy expensive things. It is common, but it is still disturbing.
I was watching the interaction of the two. Tracy might not be a stripper, but I didn't understand how she could possibly have a conversation with a surgeon that just spends a lot of time away from home by opening others belly. Did the case of cancer that forced him to extract 20% of the intestine of the patient interest her? Or did Tracy know all the classic artists who papi revered? I didn't think he seduced her playing his guitar. Oh, no: they met in this spa when my father had only a towel covering his dick as her hand through his muscles. Maybe that was enough.
Rachel and Quinn went to the room. Tracy dared to spend the night with papi even with his daughters at home. I lost my sleep.
I took my computer to check the internet, chatting on social networks with my friends. Mike said that all was quiet in New York. Andrew was also connected. He, Matt and Lucy remained in the city and said the campus was kind of empty and that was disturbing. Andrew was a fun guy. His obsession for Jean Grey, the X-Men, entertained me. Thought he was in the wrong Columbia's department: he should be working with the creative team at Marvel, not wanting to develop the next WhatsApp. I wanted to talk a bit with Johnny boy, but he had something in common with Brittany: the two weren't closely related to computers. Johnny use his phone and that's it.
"No Sleep?" Tracy downstairs with her robe open, revealing a tiny jersey.
"I'm used to sleeping late." I said dryly and looked at the clock. It was two-thirty in the morning. I was so distracted doing basically nothing on the computer and thinking zucchini that neither saw the time pass.
"Want some company?"
"Whatever."
"Your father said you are studying at Columbia. It's a great university!"
"No big deal! What college did you go?"
"Spalding University, in Louisville but I didn't graduate."
"Why not?"
"Money for start. I wanted to study physiotherapy, but I ended doing a one year technical course of massage therapy."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I love to work with my hands."
"Nice."
"I should be a big brain to study in Columbia. Your father love to talk about you and your sister. It's like I've already known you. I must say you kind of intrigued me. I've never seen a hot big brain before."
"I'm not a big brain. I'm just one more there."
"Don't be modest, Santana. I know you are very smart and beautiful... only seems lonely..." I didn't believe she would do this kind of little game with me. But I decided to give room to see how far she would go.
"The college stifles my social life."
"There is no one special to cuddle with you? Like your sister and Quinn?"
"It's been a long time, I don't know what that is it anymore!" The last person I kissed was Brittany last month, so, I wasn't lying that much.
"Do you want a massage? It will help you to relax and sleep better."
"Thank you, but no!"
"I'm good at it." I had no doubt about that. Apparently Tracy had difficulty understanding that meant no and stuck her hands on my shoulders... and she was really good! No wonder that chore won my father. "You're too tense, Santana. How many knots in your shoulders."
"It's called Columbia and New York." I was trying hard not to drool over the computer. Those cheaters hands were magical. Tracy massaged my shoulders long enough until there stopped to kiss on my head, that way the person leans too much.
"Better?"
"Hum hum." I confess was in alpha, mentally exhausted and didn't have the strength to respond to the attack.
"You're a very pretty girl, Santana. You should follow you sister's example and get boyfriend ... or girlfriend." She said close to my ear.
It was definitely disturbing. Tracy walked into the kitchen, drank a glass of water and then went upstairs with a "sweet smile" on her face. I had to get rid of this massage therapist ASAP. She couldn't even be a stripper or a slut, but something was definitely wrong, not so much from shoulder massage, but the way she hinted. I needed to think. Maybe Rachel could help, despite having reacted indifferently to the new papi's "girlfriend".
…
The annoying this time of year was the cold that kept me to enjoy the pool even though the water heating system. If it weren't so dangerous, I would be swimming to think better. In the absence of water, I was in the comfort of my old room, and my old bed. I wasn't willing to go downstairs and eat breakfast. Someone knocked on my door.
"Santy!" I heard my sister, who didn't wait for my answer to get into my place. "Glad you're awake." She sat beside me on the bed. "We need to talk."
"About what?"
"About... Tracy need to leave?"
"Oh, I'm glad you noticed! You acted so indifferent that I was even worried yesterday."
"Are you kidding? That woman is a holster! What our father is thinking?"
"It's called elbow pain, Ray... and loneliness."
"Quinn thinks I'm overreacting and…" She whispering said. "But I saw her checking out your ass yesterday."
"She kind of flirted with me last night."
"What? What happened?"
"She gave me a shoulder massage... a really good one."
"But that bitch!"
We heard a knock on my bedroom door. This time it was Quinn who came hesitantly before grabbing my chair and put it closer to the bed to talk to us.
"I suppose you will support Rachel in this crazy mission to breakup your father and Tracy?
"You bet!" I said and Rachel gave me a high five.
"You are like those twins from The Parent Trap." Quinn was serious. "Yesterday, Rachel was fancy conniving plans to get rid of the girl." That was my sister!
"I just hope you're referring to the classic Disney version with Hayley Mills."
"What's wrong with Lindsey Lohan's version?" Rachel asked. "At least she did good Disney movies."
"Don't forget that Mean Girls is a classic!" Quinn added. "Sharp script by Tina Fey."
"Let's back to the focus of discussion here?" I complained and Rachel nodded. "I don't know what is Tracy's intention, but I think my dad is trying to overcome Shelby making wrong choices, since he had an affair with a nurse guy that didn't last long, now he is with Tracy and has a dog. Nothing seems in place here."
"As much as I hate to admit it, papi needs Shelby." Rachel grimaced.
"And Shelby needs papi. The best way to do both understand this is to put them together to talk. So today on our lunch when Shelby arrives with Beth, we will act as a perfect family. Rachel, don't to criticize our mother and Quinn..."
"Actually, I'm having lunch in my grandpa house. I'll just wait Shelby to give Beth a hug before leaving. He's not very well and my mother is afraid that this will be his last Thanksgiving. Last year he was just disgusted with life, but now he really is sick. His cancer is kind of aggressive."
"Your family knows that you have been dating a girl for over a year?" I asked.
"If my Aunt Jane knows, all the rest of them should be aware. My aunt doesn't hold her tongue. But I am prepared to be bombard with questions and the looks because I'm gay."
And so it happened: Rachel and I seek to act as a perfect family. I helped papi with the turkey, Rachel made the salad and mashed potatoes, and we both seek the maximum to monopolize the conversation with papi, and not give much space to Tracy, who was already feeling displaced. She could barely interact as papi, anyway, which confirmed my theory that these two were together because of the good sex, and his pocket. We even talked about personal things and yet Tracy didn't look to follow. My father was a fan of Iron Maiden and Tracy's Kesha. Look at the gap between these two.
When Shelby came dressed in simple and elegant clothes. It was the cue for Quinn embrace Beth and give her a small gift before leaving for lunch with her family. Now it was us and Tracy. I tried to observe the reactions papi very closely. God, I wasn't wrong. I had only seen similar brightness in his eyes with another person: Daddy. Beth did her part to fill the house with good energy. She gave joy only to torment Shelry. Even Rachel softened a bit with Shelby. My mother greeted Tracy politely and then ignored her completely, but with class. Yeah, she knew how to be a smart bitch.
I started to interact as a family we were. Points for us and for Shelby who knew how to neutralize the coup simply using education and class.
"We really need to change the dog's name." Papi commented when we were in the kitchen washing the dishes.
"Instead of Shelry, how about Lessie?" Shelby suggested. "It's a classic and it doesn't change much the sound of the word, so it can adapt to the new name more easily." She lifted her glass of wine as if emphasizing some things for papi. It was a way of them talking in code. More proof of how well they were a real couple.
"Lessie is great!" He smiled broadly.
Papi and Shelby spent the afternoon talking privately in the pool house. Tracy threatened to make a little protest, but Rachel and I convinced her to lower her expectation. She came here, she tried won a broken guy, and she lost for the reason.
"You pitched very well." Tracy told me and Rachel in anger. I don't blame her.
"Not that you don't deserve consideration, but those are my parents. Both parents! They need to talk. I don't know if you lost it or not, Tracy, but you need to understand that there is a long history going on here." Rachel was always better than me in those speeches.
"Twins..." Tracy shook her head. "It seems like I'm living a version of that Disney movie."
"Which version do you prefer?" I asked amused to her observation.
"I only know that Lindsey Lohan's. Why? There is another?"
Definitely, Tracy isn't for my father. Or for us. Papi broke up with her the same day, in a private conversation, at a time when Shelby had already gone to Dayton. Papi wasn't so sad with the breakup. I think he was relieved and happy until Tracy's "matured gesture". I didn't know if it was really mature, but it was certainly a relief. It was for the best. Things could be complicated with papi discovery that my almost four year older stepmother grabbed my ass as she was saying goodbye.
…
(Quinn)
It seemed that everything was back to normal in the Berry-Lopez's home. Juan went to work in the morning and it looked like he and Shelby would try one more time. Hoped for the reconciliation because I know it would make Rachel happy and also made things easier with Beth. I know I had no legal right over my daughter and by the closed adoption, I shouldn't even see her until she was 18. Shelby had allowed me to see her twice a year before I start dating Rachel. But now that I was with her daughter and she came back to Juan, things became more flexible.
Rachel and Santana decided to stay at home to organize a party with the old gang. My sister would come back to Texas at night and I arranged to spend part of my day with her to say goodbye. We spent more than two years without seeing each other and who knows how much longer we would be without seeing or speaking again. I know that my sister was the queen bitch, but she was my blood and I loved her. And it just made me understand better Rachel's and Santana's close relationship.
Frannie and I sat in my mother's room talking nonsense while we made our nails. Only then I knew better how was her life in Austin. Frannie had a rich boyfriend, she confessed that she experimented a girl once on a threesomes, but her business was with men. I never doubted that she was the straight queen. And we talked about New York.
"I don't believe all this time you live in New York and was never at Tiffany & Co?" Frannie laughed. "It would be the first place I visit!"
"Of course I've been there. At least I walked in front of it!" I defended myself. "I've just never entered the store."
"Why not?"
"There is a big difference in being a tourist in New York and live in it. I'm not get into a place knowing I can't have anything that is available there."
"You're too pragmatic, sis."
"Realistic. I no longer live in high society, don't you?"
"Unfortunately for you. You can change your condition just having a rich boyfriend... or girlfriend, in your case."
"Rachel is rich. Her family is rich. Berry's side of the family, at least. The difference is that we live our sweat in New York, which, to my way of seeing things, is most rewarding. I give much value to things today than when I could buy the luxuries with Dad's money when I was 15."
"You could use your pride better." I raised my eyebrow and hands as if asking for caution. "Just saying, ok.?"
"Are you saying I should take advantage of my girlfriend?"
"At least you've traveled abroad with them."
"I'm paying my way, okay? On benefits, but I am."
"See, that's what I say. You are very proud that sense... macho pride. Bet if you said to your father in law that you won't pay it, he wouldn't mind."
"I don't exploit my girlfriend or her family, ok? End of discussion."
I looked out the window and felt strange about the bucolic landscape on a large residential street. Lima was a city that could stimulate loneliness. Of course any other place could. But excess spaces brought this impression. So many times I wondered if I could go back to living in a city like that. But I don't think so. The impression I had is that I've lived a lifetime in New York.
"Dad asks about you sometimes..." Frannie said unexpectedly and my heart jumped. "I didn't want to talk about it before because I know it hurts mommy."
"I'm a disappointment to him."
"Truth! Doesn't mean he stopped caring. He's only too proud, you know? Like you. It's Fabray's virtue and a curse."
"I confess that I sometimes I wished talk to him again. I miss him."
"Give time. It'll come a day when you will meet again."
"Hopefully!" I looked at Frannie. I was uncertain of the question and also didn't know if I wanted to hear the confirmation. "Him... you… did he know about me… being gay?"
"He knows." Frannie said dryly. "Although he isn't happy with that. I think he cursed you o little more when he heard about, and then he tried to convince himself it was just a phase."
"It's not a phase. I'm gay. I love vagina and boobs and everything about girl's body. Rachel wasn't the only girl I had. And even if we breakup someday for some reason, I will date another girl."
"Okay!" Frannie frowned.
"When you see him, could you please tell I love him. Which after all, I love daddy."
"I will give the message."
"Thank you."