Amazed

(Rachel)

"You shouldn't have come here." Santana complained. "You should have stayed home decorating your lines."

"First, we shouldn't have come here without a lawyer. Second, my lines are very well studied, thanks for your concern. Third, you're in bad shape: You haven't eaten or sleep right, you lost weight... no way would I let you face jew Don Vitor Corleone alone. And this issue concerns two of us."

"Please. Say there isn't a fifth item!" Santana interrupted me.

"I have a list!"

"Of course you have." She rolled her eyes.

We entered Mr Weiz's office anteroom. I haven't seen him for more than a year since the dinner he offered when I was beginning my year in Across the Universe. I didn't know how I would react to meet him again. The image I had of him before was a great friend we could count on, and then he turned into a violent mobster. Yes, I was afraid of him, and especially, I feared for Santana. On the other hand, I wanted to fight back each slap my sister received.

I didn't believe he would do something stupid or would say more shit about our family. What possible could be worse than revealing that bubbee was his particular prostitute? Even worse: my daddy was his biological son? What I expected was a civilized conversation, of course. I was looking for some understanding and ask him to stop making my sister's life o difficult. Santana explained that the fact that many of the entrepreneurs of New York didn't want to meet her, limiting her action basically to on-line services. And not everyone had Nasty Gal's lucky.

"Hi Cho." Santana greeted Mr. Weiz's secretary with surprising sympathy. The Asian woman seemed to be in her 40s. "Is your boss waiting for me?"

"I would say yes." She looked curiously at me. "You must be Rachel. I only knew you for a picture in your sister's phone."

"Yeah… but it is Rachel Berry-Lopez." I greeted her. "Berry alone is just for artistic purposes."

"Ok. I will announce you two." And then she leaned a little more on the table and whispered. "Be wary. His humor is awful today and his personal lawyer, Mr. White, is there."

We entered the office then. It was my first time there. I had imagined it to be huge and well decorated. At that point, I wasn't disappointed. Mr. Weiz was sitting in his chair behind his modern desk. His lawyer - the same who came to visit us - was in one of the chairs in front of his chair. White stood up when he saw me and grabbed an extra chair from the small conference table, so he could accommodate all of us. I looked at my sister, and she was visibly tense with her jaw pressed and eyes fixed on the old man.

"Good morning Santana and Rachel. I am grateful that you two came here." He said with a grim smile.

"After so many boycotts and visit your employee here, how could I refuse?" I nudged Santana. She was so armed, and this wasn't a good strategy to face a mobster.

"Boycott?" He frowned. "This is a serious accusation, Santana, amenable to sue." He pointed to the lawyer who confirmed the information with a nod. "Of course what I want here is resolve our differences and call an understanding. I know you have things to ask and I'm willing to take your questions."

"I know this story from my sister, Mr. Weiz. I'm sure she didn't increase the information. So what I would like to know is why now? Why reveal this story now? And why so much trouble to prepare Santana to lead your business when I'm sure you do have partners who have much more affection and identification with your business' history than us?"

"It's a good question, Rachel." Mr Weize braided his fingers and leaned slightly forward, to face us better. "I understand why Hiram said nothing to you. It was his option and I respected that as far as I thought I should. You can call me selfish because I am, but I did my duty for continuity. The truth is that Hiram was my heir, thus as you. I want to give you a bit of what I built over a lifetime. The question, therefore, is not now, Rachel. It was the process that counts. The outcome wasn't as I wanted or planned, but I didn't regret it."

"What about your company?" I kept asking.

"Santana has a unique talent, Rachel. She was born for the world of business and I believe she will do a great job running Weiz Co in some years." He returned his attention for my sister. "I know we had a serious friction, but that doesn't change what I think: you can learn a lot working in Weiz Co. This company can be yours, if you want and if you learn what is necessary."

"So much good will!" Santana ironically muttered. "You want me to be so attached to your company that is willing to sabotage mine."

"Sorry Santana, but I never sabotage your life, much less your company. True be told, along with their grandparents, I sought to interfere in guiding you to a path where you could put into practice all your potential, but the final word, my dear, was yours. You could have chosen not study at Stuyvesant and tried stage career instead, as your sister. You could have done a thousand things more. However, you chose New York, you chose Columbia e Economics, you have decided to start your own small business for on-line sales. You and nobody else."

"You're full of yourself."

"No, you're an arrogant immature young woman and a poorly skilled dealer. You said I sabotage your company. Why?"

"I'm sure you're sabotaging my contacts with the business community."

"Sorry, but I have nothing to do with it. If you are unable to contact, perhaps it's because your strategic plan is bad. Don't you ever stop to think about it? In our little test, you proved that you know how planning a product and projects, I'm sure you can read the market easily and be a reasonable manager, but you suck about communication and partnerships strategies. What is not a problem, Santana. I am a great dealer, I'm political and I see the opportunity. But I'm not good at many other things. That's why I pay people to do it for me. It's called delegating."

I felt my sister tensed in the chair. Weiz was known for his good rhetoric and forced us to put things in perspective. He was the villain? Maybe so. On the other hand, we might have over blamed him on certain points.

"But I didn't come here to discuss these little things. I don't want to occupy your time, so let's cut to the crap. I want to make a deal: Santana, work for me until you graduate. Flexible schedule, so you can study and work on your on-line company. What I want is to you experience the daily life of a large company with responsibilities. But if after this time you want to drop everything, so I won't bother you anymore. I'm doing it not only because I recognize a true talent when I see one, but also because your father. He would be entitled to inherit all my fortune. For him and your sister, accept my offer and try not only to win everything, but also to deserve it."

"You have strange ways of showing consideration." Santana shot and I was almost crawling her out of the office. Not that I had some sympathy for Mr Weiz, but I had to admit that my sister could be somewhat difficult at times.

"What Santana means..." I said lowering the tone, interrupting my sister. "Is that your approach wasn't appropriate. I understand your position and I agree on some points with you, but I can't ignore that all this is wrong. Maybe we can establish some kind of contact. But you are wrong when you say that your fortune belonged to my father. He didn't want any contact with you, so we should respect that."

"I disagree." Weiz nodded to Mr. White, who took an envelope inside his briefcase and handed it to Santana.

"What is this?" My sister said harsh and I got curious.

"Homework. There is a story that I would like that you investigate by your own. Take your time and then come talk to me later. I know I'm an old spiteful going to the end of life. What I did with your grandmother was inexcusable, but Hiram was the good part of it. I love Sarah on my own way."

"Oh, please. He's just being manipulative as ever! Don't fall in his conversation, Rachel."

"Could you give us a few days?" I ignored my sister.

"Sure. Take your time."

I left his office with an angry Santana. Not my fault that she was being irrational and emotional. She held the envelope in her hand and stuffed carelessly into the bag. I was curious to see what it was, but I needed work first. I had fifteen minutes to get to the theater where we were filming Slings and Arrows. Luckily, I wasn't far from the set, so I called a taxi and asked the driver to run a little bit.

My schedule this week said I had only one scene today wherein I would say a line and do a lot of backgrounds. It would be great if I could do it the next day, when I would have a bigger scene with Luis Segal. But it was the dynamics of TV, especially for a supporting character, even though it had a storyline.

The production took the structures of the theater itself to save on trailers. For me, that's fine, because I was more used to the dressing room space after two years doing musical plays. It was comfortable, but some actors didn't seem to feel the same. Grace Hemon, for one. She was a real bitch. Grace made movies when she was a young beauty, and indeed was a good actress, but the good roles offers in movies decreased after her 30s, like it happens a lot with us actresses, unfortunately. She did a drama play on Broadway, and she was in an indie film recently. Now, at her 40s, she was doing her first TV series. Okay so far, her career was still solid even more discreet, but her bad habits of a Hollywood star remained.

My friends used to call me diva in school and also in Broadway because of my perfectionism. But Grace Hemon was, in fact, the definition of diva that drew much of her character. The other day she complained because there wasn't a car just for her for shifting the crew and cast between sets and she had to go by van with us, poor mortals. Andrew May, Will Stone and Jane Bright were awarded actors. Andrew won a Bafta and a Laurence Olivier (the main theater award from UK) once, Jane won an Emmy, Will Stone was an Oscar nominate and won a Golden Globe for a TV role. I would understand even if they had diva behavior, but it was the opposite: they were the most friendly, professional and helpful players the set. Grace won a People Choice, a MTV Movie Award and was nominated once for a Golden Globe for supporting actress. That's it. Still, she thinks she is Meryl Streep.

But I related better with the so-called "Young Block", which was formed by me, Luis Segal (my romantic couple in the series), Amanda Springfield and Rom Tyler. Amanda played my best friend who wasn't a good actress, but she would be Ophelia just because she was daughter of one of the sponsors. I was her understudy. Luis Segal played the TV star who wanted to become a serious actor, and Rom played his understudy: a sly bisexual that stalled the role of Romeo in the next assembly of the theater company, it would be one of the plots on a possible second season.

I was Kate, who was clearly most talented than her BFF. The two fights because Kate was romantically involved with Jack (Luis Segal), and she was accused by her friend to open her legs for the main actor to steal her part of Ophelia. Simon (Rom Tyler) was a malicious and manipulative character, feeding the bonfire of vanities in his own cause. It is like mafia within the company.

In the end, Sarah loses the open night because she was too stoned after a sex and drug festival with Simon, who decides to use his dirty tricks for a good cause. Kate replaces her and is critically acclaimed, making the director (Andrew May) effective her as Ophelia despite the risk of losing one of the sponsors. Jack is enshrined as Hamlet and becomes a respected young actor. The season ends with Jack saying goodbye to shot a film in Australia for six months and Kate is on the crossroads between being Juliet, her dream role, or drop everything just to keep her romance up. In the original series Kate leaves, but the series adapted by HBO has several modifications, making me believe that Kate stays is a possible second season. I was still recording the second episode, but we already had the scripts in the hands of the entire season. I called this organization!

In real life, Luis was the most reserved guy and truly talented (he was also a director), Rom was outgoing straight funny guy, and Amanda was a great comedian actress, though she adored gossip.

"Berry!" Rom hugged me like he always does, from the moment we met on our first reading table. "You won't believe! Brian invited us to dinner at his house." Brian was one of the few assistants who lived in New York City, specifically in the Bronx.

"Cool!" I said already preparing to leave to my home.

"You won't go?" Rom looked disappointed.

"Not today."

"Why not?"

"I promised my sister to be at home for dinner today."

"Bring her along. I would love to meet her. I saw her photo, she is hot!"

"Another time."

So I'd like to go out more with my castmates, to know them better, but I really had family issues head on. It was still early night when I called a day. I called Quinn, but she was still dealing with NYU stuffs. That was ok, since she was working hard to achieve her dreams. I found my sister again between computer and books. It wasn't healthy. Now my mission to take care of my sister implied get her to sleep at least one whole night.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Homework." She said without look at me. I hate when people do it.

"Weiz's homework?"

"No. Columbia's homework. I didn't open that envelope and I won't, if this is what you want to ask."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to visit our family past anymore. The more we discover, the worse it gets. Then leave things as is."

"Ok, I agree in parts, but I won't discuss it right now, anyway. So, why don't you take a shower and relax a little?" I said already closing her computer.

"Rachel! Can't you see that I still need to finish my work?"

"Is it for tomorrow?"

"No."

"Then you can finish it tomorrow. You will get sick that way."

"Ray..."

"Bathroom! Now!" I did my best murderous expression.

She sighed defeated and obeyed. Meanwhile, I prepared an orange juice with sleeping pill. Nothing strong, I guarantee. It was just a pill a doctor prescribed Quinn to take when she fells too stressed. The pill is very weak, just to help her relax. Quinn was having problems to sleep in this past months and now Santana's. Knowing my sister, she would wake up in the morning to work. I know what I was about to do was unethical, but I preferred to think that my cheating was a necessary evil aimed at the greater good. She left the bathroom already dressed in her pajamas, as always.

"Ready! Satisfied?"

"Bed!" I pointed to her room.

"Aren't you exaggerating? It's not even nine yet!"

"No, Santy! If you don't care about your own healthy, at least do it for me... or our father... or abuela..."

"Okay."

We walked into her room and I lay beside her delivering the juice in the process. She tried a bit.

"It's good, but I'm not in the mood."

"You need better line your stomach." And I nudged her in the belly and let not escape her pain expression. My father was a doctor and I was hooked in series on the subject. I knew what a sensitive stomach is and pain was an indicative of gastritis or worse, an ulcer. "How long are you experiencing pain in your stomach?"

"I feel no pain!"

"Bullshit!" I pressed her stomach region and again she wince. "Santy, lies right." I lifted her tank top to reveal her abdomen and then pressed the same region as my father did to me once. Santana couldn't pretend and mumble out a pain. "You need urgent to go to a gastroenterologist. You are too nervous and stressed these past weeks, and stress along with gastritis is dangerous combination. This is why you haven't feeding right?" Santana, defeated, looked at me and nodded positive. "You should have told me."

"I'm not a baby, Rachel. We both already have too many problems to solve."

"But nothing is more important than our health. And you overlook yours too much."

"I'm not a hypochondriac like you."

"I take some vitamins prescribed by a responsible homeopath doctor. And you know I rarely get sick."

"Yeah, whatever... tomorrow we solve it."

"Drink the rest of the juice, please... and no discussion."

Only I was pleased when I saw the empty glass. It was the guarantee that my sister would sleep the whole night. As she straightened the bed, I grabbed a thin blanket in the closet. The days were getting warmer, but the night was still cold. And Santana used to sleep with the window partially open.

"Ray... thanks."

"Sisters are also for these things..." I leaned over and placed a goodnight kiss on her cheek.

When I turned to get out of bed, I was surprised to see Quinn on the bedroom door. She had a raised eyebrow, that way she did when she was slightly jealous. I learned over time to not take it so seriously.

"Goodnight, love." I gave her a peck on the lips and Quinn followed me, as I had expected. "How was your meeting with this documentary guy?"

"It was great. The idea is awesome and he will be able to pay me. So I accepted. I will attend a meeting with the team tomorrow after college."

"Wow. Quinn... this is your first professional film as cinematographer!"

"More or less... I will be the camera… kind of. Lewis Gore will be the cinematographer. But it's great. It's a professional production anyway and Alan Gehl is a known filmmaker that already took part of national and international festivals. He's a serious guy."

I looked at Quinn with her shorter cute haircut above the shoulders. She was wearing the jacket she loved over the dress. My girlfriend could be ridiculously beautiful with so little that I should be the one who get jealous all the time, not her. Sometimes I caught myself admiring her beauty, her strong jaw, her perfect nose, her gorgeous eyes. I couldn't resist and kissed her passionately.

"Did you bath already?" Quinn said still hugging me.

"No!"

"How about a shower together to save water and celebrate my new job?"

"Great idea."

…

(Quinn)

A monumental difference in a documentary regarding a fiction movie: the crew is smaller. Things need to be treated with more objectivity too. A project like this usually takes years and years to materialize. The director and the producer usually first do a thorough research on the subject, so they need to sell the idea to get some money. It's not easy to find someone to finance a genre that doesn't profit. Documentary filmmakers are driven by passion, basically, and blue ray market.

In the case of Lewis Gore and Alan Gehl (who was the director and creator of the project), the idea of making the documentary is five years old, and they've been developing this project for two years. It's about the folk scene in New York using the P.O.V of unusual characters. The part of the shooting is usually faster, because the money is already in hand. Our team consists of nine persons, out those who will be responsible for post-production. In a normal film, even though independent the number of people involved is much higher.

Lewis Gore is an interesting person: he's a redhead from Arkansas, but he is a democrat with socialist ideals. Go figure. I'm sure he only advocates pro-Cuba because he loved Havanna Social Club. If he changes the order of words, he will talk about the crackers. Anyway, Lewis Gore was the crazy guy who will give my paychecks and play cinematographer. I think that's why Gehl looked for someone that actually could stir in a camera: me. On the other hand, Gore really knew how to articulate a crew. Alan Gehl is a journalist that worked in Washington Post for a few years until he decided to leave his career in the newsroom to become a filmmaker. From the little I saw, Gehl is the brain and Gore is the heart of the team.

We discussed schedules throughout the week and planned at least 45 nonconsecutive days shooting which I will earn $20 per hour. The production didn't have much money to pay professional technicians, but the project was very good and it was my debut in a professional production. Not bad for someone like me, but it no longer compares with the thousands of dollars that Rachel got shooting "Slings And Arrows".

Best of all is that the footage timing wouldn't disturb much my work in the studio. It would only be a matter of reallocating some of the schedules and days. If my boss Corey accepted, great. Otherwise, bye studios. I was that confident because I received a savior text from the prom committee of the NYU's 2015 class. They contacted me to photograph the graduates for the invitations. It would be enough for me to secure my share of the rent money and a few other accounts.

Also during the meeting with the crew, I received a text from Rachel. She said she was going to the watch a movie with Santana, Andrew, Mike and Johnny, and they would dine after that. I wanted to come meet them, but I wasn't sure when my meeting would over.

"Where are you going?" Monica, the production assistant, asked me at the end of the meeting.

"Home."

"You said you live in Queens, right? Where?"

"Astoria."

"Oh. I live in Brooklyn. Bushwick. You are kinda on my way. If you want, I can drive you home or leave you near there."

"Thank you, but I don't want to give you trouble."

"Not trouble at all. But I will stop to eat something on the way. If you join me, we can have a burger and them, I leave you somewhere close to your home."

"I'm kinda hungry, I won't lie."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

We stopped at a diner still in New Jersey. The place was nice and seemed that Monica was well aware of the place.

"So, this is your first time working with Alan and Lewis?" She asked me after we ordered.

"Yes. And you?"

"It's my third time working with Lewis. He filmed an edition of Sofar Sounds once and called me, and the other time was when he shot a short-film."

"Sofar Sounds? What is it?"

"It's a secret show that happens in somebody's living room. You subscribe for the edition, but you don't know where will be the gigs or who will play. So 48 hours before the gig, the organization sends you the address. But the artists playing are a surprise."

"Seems crazy, and a bit dangerous."

"Not at all. Sofar is an international project. The organization is very good and the gigs are great. Really."

"Nice… well, so that's the first time you work with Alan so."

"Yeah. I knew Alan because he and Lewis are close friends and they've been working on this project together for a long time. And you?"

"Oh, it's my first time working with both."

"Really? How they found you."

"My current boss, Corey, appointed me to work on the project. I think he and Alan are close friends."

"What did you think of the team?" She asked and then drank her coke.

"I think everyone is very passionate about it. This will make all the difference." Monica laughed and I didn't understand why.

"Well, I noticed that you are very reserved and thoughtful with your comments, Quinn. Maybe you will be the other reasonable mind, after Alan, working with crazies. I think I know why he hired you: you are the one that can control Lewis with a camera. He is shit and everybody knows it, but he knows where find the money!"

"I just try to do my job in the first place. Nothing more. But I'm not as reserved as I appear." I smiled awkwardly. I didn't know why people think I'm a snob or reserved (at best) when they met me.

"So tell something about your life!"

"There isn't much to tell. I came from a small town in Ohio to study in New York. It's what I do today: studying and working."

"But this is the story of several young people in this town. I even got out of Rhode Island to study at City University of New York. I dropped the college and I've been working to pay my stuffs since. Do you know? Same old, same old."

"I didn't quit NYU. And my story is uninteresting. I swear!"

"And that ring on your finger? Is there someone special in your life?"

"Yes, there is."

"The lucky one has a name?"

"The lucky one is me... Rachel is her name."

"Oh, I didn't know you were gay."

"Is that a problem to you?"

"Not even close. I am bisexual, myself. You know, the hipsters would say: 'oh, my sexuality is fluid'. Bullshit, man! It's just a pseudo-intellectual way to say the person likes to screw whatever walks in two legs. So I say this: I'm bisexual, so what? I like dicks, I like vaginas and boobs. It depends on my mood." The waitress brought our dinner and there was a brief pause in the conversation. "But what is funny is that I have a pretty good gaydar and it didn't beep on you. Maybe because you are too femme." She bitted her burger.

"Well, I don't have any rainbow flag, I'm not militant on political causes, much less I go to gay pride parades, and I've been on gay clubs twice, but... I'm a lesbian. This is not a secret, much less something that I'm ashamed for. I just don't need to announce my sexuality, up because nobody has anything with what I do in my personal life. But if someone asks me, I won't deny."

"You see... reserved."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"Of course not." She smiled. "It makes more fun to discover things about you. So, your girl is a femme like you or are you into butches?"

"I'm not sure if I want to talk about it. Anyway… Rachel is very girly. And that's it."

Monica was a good company at dinner. She left me the impression that we would work well together. She also told me some other things about herself. She was 23 and lived alone in a studio. She used to live with an ex-girlfriend, but she had to leave the apartment in Manhattan when the two broke up months ago. Then moved to Brooklyn and was currently "fucking" a guy, as she said. Monica was kind of punk, with tattoo on her arms and blue and black hair… I think it was because of the movie. She had an exotic beauty, had curvy body, big boobs and talked a lot. I paid her diner, since she was driving me home in her old car. At least she wasn't that kind of person who drives like crazy in the traffic. Monica was quite prudent, even though I couldn't escape to hear songs that didn't like.

I opened the door quietly. I was so tired! The apartment was quiet and a dim light was burning in my room. Strangely, therefore expected to find find nobody home. I was curious and apprehensive at the same time, thinking it might be a stranger. I opened the door at once and I caught Rachel lighting candles. I assumed she was preparing a romantic evening for us.

"You're home!" She said startled!

"I thought you would be with Santana and the boys in a bar." I tried to not smile.

"I went to the cinema with them, but I changed my mind…"

"And all of this?"

"It's an improvise."

"I like your improvises." I approached Rachel and held her by the waist before kissing her good.

"I should be on my lingerie to you." She said a little upset.

"It doesn't matter. I would appreciate you on lingerie for two seconds before want to take all them of your body." We kissed once more. This time, I allow Rachel to dominate the kiss just a little, while my hands began to go through very well known curves. "Won't you will ask me how my day was?" The only pulled to charm a little bit.

"Tomorrow." She tried to kiss me again, but I stopped her gently putting my finger on her lips indicated.

"Was something happened in your day?"

"Nothing special. I just want to make love to the girl I love."

"In that case..."

Rachel looked at me with so much love when I hugged her before starting to undress her. I wanted to kiss every inch of her delicious skin, as I had done countless times already and I was sure I would never get tired of doing it. I always wanted more of my Rachel. There, still standing, we started making love in silence. No dirty talk, no questions, no comments yet. It was just a demonstration of our love for touching and caressing.

I kissed her lips and neck before took off her blouse and mine's. Then, my skirt was gone. Rachel was wearing jeans. I got her up and pointed to put her legs around my waist. So it could carry her to the bed so that I would position myself on top. I took of her bra and kissed her everywhere, before give attention to her breasts. Rachel tried to press against my pelvis so I just took off her jeans. As I didn't answer her urges, Rachel tried to get ahead, already eager for my touch.

"No!" I stopped her just to tease a little more.

"I need you…"

"And you have me. Just hold on a little."

I wanted to take her to the limit between kisses, caresses and light massages in erogenous points. So I kissed her breasts, nibbling the halo, sucked it a bit. And then, I stopped just to admire her a little, running my hands between her breasts to the abdomen, which also deserved my attention. Rachel looked stunning at my mercy. I finally pity on her and took off her jeans, revealing a completely wet panties, and so was mines. I ran my hand in the wet tissue and Rachel lifted her hip, desperate for my touch. She moaned and begged with her eyes. It was a silent making love, one of my favorite situations, when we could communicate only through our bodies.

I took off my bra, my panties and hers. Rachel opened her legs to me, waiting me to decide what I wanted to do. True be told: I was also in the edge. I decided that the first orgasms of the night deserved to be shared. On a new position, we started rubbing our vaginas against our thighs. We started a slow pace, and I could feel that Rachel struggled to keep up. Our bodies were sweating against each other, we kissed, exchanged caresses, until our movements became more erratic as our breath.

"Quinn…" She said between moans that no longer controlled. "So close..."

"Keep going… my lady"

She moved as desperately tried to look in my eyes, but always failed overcome by feelings of pleasure and ended by closing them. Even her moans were music, I swear! It was poetry. I swear it was pure poetry. When she finally came a little ahead of me, she threw back her head. Erratic. My orgasm came soon after. It was beautiful. So beautiful.

"Oh Quinn." She said a bit breathless, but I was more since I didn't have the same breath.

"I love you, that sometimes it scares me."

"Why?" She took off a lock of my hair that was stuck to my forehead by sweat.

"I don't know what I would do without you by my side."

"But you do have me. All of me. Body and soul."

We made love for a few more rounds until Rachel couldn't resist her tiredness anymore and was the first to sleep. I was reluctant a bit with my tiredness just to watch her a little bit before closing my eyes. It was moments like this, after making love with Rachel, when she looked so peaceful, which renewed all my assurances that I would spend the rest of my life with her.

…

Rachel ran out of our apartment late to work. She was brave. After all the love making we did the night before, I would be tempted to stay all the morning in my bed. The problem was that it wasn't fun without her. Rachel was finishing to shoot the second episode and then she would have a little break before comeback in the episode four, when she would have to shoot a sex scene with Luis Segal. HBO made all the cast signed a contract that says everyone has to do nude scenes if necessary. Damn HBO. But I was trying to prepare myself to not freak out. Actually, I shouldn't think about it.

Santana and I ended up taking our breakfast and got out. She had Columbia and I had a free day, so I could use my time to speed up my freelancer job: I had to rent some equipment, hire an assistant, ask the girls to borrowed their car (it wouldn't be a problem). And I had to study a little bit. But no. I was so lazy.

I spent the day walking around Queens to watch people and see showcases. I didn't even bother with the thin drizzle. Ha… "drizzle"! I went to the usual bookstore and decided to read something about Folk in New York. I could do my job with zero knowledge of Folk Scene, but it wouldn't be so nice. I selected three books and I paid $ 15 for them. On the way back home I passed in front of a jewelry store. I looked out the window and saw a ring of diamonds very elegant and understated. Ideas ran through my head. Why not?

"Good morning, sir." I went to the seller. "I'm interested in an engagement ring." He looked at me weird not used to see a woman buying an engagement ring, unless it was for a different reason or because the lady is gay, since same sex marriage was allowed in New York.

"We have some nice options here, miss." He showed me a series of them. All gorgeous. "Do you have a preference?"

"Good price, scope of benefits." I felt my face flush. "Elegant and understated."

The seller was good. He showed me a beautiful ring. The perfect one!

"This piece consists of a set of small bright set and worked on yellow gold and white gold. It's very stylish and has a fair price. Only six thousand dollars."

The problem was that the more benefits, more interest rates, and more expensive product in the end.

"Well... It's beautiful for sure. Perfect even…"

"Or if you prefer, miss." He was fast too. "We have this other piece of gold with a single brilliant stone. It's simpler, however it is a well finished piece coming out for only $1,500."

I analyzed the ring. It wasn't as elegant as the six thousand dollars one, but it was beautiful and yes I could afford without compromising my other accounts. I know that Rachel deserved more. I know I could wait. But I had this fire in my chest.

"I'll take it."

Now I just have to find an appropriate time to make my official propose. By the time, I left the jewelry store and an old song Paul McCartney invaded my mind. I went home humming it through the streets wet by the drizzle.

"Baby, I'm amazed at the way you love all the time/ and maybe I'm afraid of the way I love you/ baby, I'm amazed at the way you pulled me out of time/ and hung me on a line/ maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you"